Loretto and by St. Iames at Compostella I could shew that the Miracles of the Papists are question'd by themselves their Truth is doubted of by Cajetan de Concept Virg. Espencaeus in 2. Tim. 4. and others of that Communion 9. We may with Reason suspect the Roman Miracles because our Religion was proved and confirmed by Miracles long before It is not requisite they should be repeated and reiterated afresh There is no more need of New Miracles than there is of New Revelations They were wrought to confirm the Truth which we hold at this day therefore since we have the same Truth that was confirmed by those Miracles of old what need is there of any farther Confirmation Lastly the Popish Miracles are no True Miracles because they are exerted to maintain a false Religion for such is that of the Church of Rome consisting of damnable Doctrines Superstition Idolatry and all manner of Ungodly Lewd and Prophane Practices We cannot think then that God will by Miracles attest and allow of such Abominations If then they still insist on the Miracles wrought by some of them among the Indians as they pretend I say this that if it can be proved they were done among those Infidels it was to confirm the Christian Religion not the Popish Thus you see that these Boasters of Miracles and who make them a Note of their Church are found to be but Pretenders and can lay no claim as they are of that Church to those Miracles which are Real Geâ—uine and True and which only are the certain Testimonies of the Truth of Christianity Which brings me to the 3 d and last thing I undertook viz. To evince that these Miracles are and ought to be look'd upon as an Infallible Testimony of the Truth of Christianity To these Christ himself appealed as a Proof of his Divinity and Messiahship Mat. 11. 4 5. To that Question Art thou he that should come or do we look for another the Answer was Go and shew those things which you hear and see the Blind receive their Sight the Lame walk C. So when the Iews were earnest with him to declare who he was If thou be the Christ say they tell us plainly Iesus â—nswer'd them The Works which I do in my Father's name they bear witness of me John 10. 24 25. These are a sufficient Attestation of my Divine Authority Therefore he saith in John 15. 24. If I had not done amongst them the Works which no other Man did they had not had Sin i. e. their Unbelief had been no Sin for if those Works were not a Proof of my Divine Commission they were not bound to believe me But on the contrary those miraculous Works being undeniable Evidences of his acting by a Power from Heaven it was a grievous and damning Sin to disbelieve him So the Apostles when their preaching the Gospel was opposed and contradicted thought they sufficiently disproved the Gainsayers by shewing that Iesus of Nazareth whom they preach'd was a Man approved or demonstrated of God among them by Miracles and Wonders and Signs which God did by him in the midst of them as they themselves also know Acts 2. 22. Christ's Miracles were a Demonstration of the Truth of his Doctrine and consequently of that of the Apostles because it was the same Thus St. Paul argues the Truth of Christianity from the miraculous Indowments and Gifts of the Apostles and declares to the Hebrews that it is extreme dangerous to neglect that Doctrine and that Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord himself and was afterwards confirmed unto them by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with diverse Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost Heb. 2. 3 4. Here is the just Method of the Progress and Proof of the Gospel here is first the Author and Founder of it the Lord Christ Jesus who at the first began to speak and deliver it Secondly the Evidence of its delivery it was confirmed by them that heard it i. e. by the Apostles who were Ear-witnesses of this Divine Doctrine Thirdly the Truth and Certainty of the Apostles Testimony concerning Christ and his Doctrine God bore them witness with Signs and Wonders and with diverse Miracles which are as great a Confirmation of what they deliver'd as can possibly be desired Yea Miracles have been always accounted such even by those who were not very forward to imbrace our Saviour and his Doctrine The Common People when they had seen the Miracles that Iesus did could say this is of a Truth that Prophet that should come into the World John 6. 14. This was the reasoning of the Man that was born blind and was restored to his sight Since the World began was it not heard that any Man by his own Power opened the Eyes of one that was born blind If this Man were not of God were not assisted with an infinite Power he could do nothing of this nature Iohn 9. 32 33. And not only the simple and illiterate but the wise and learned argued after this manner Nicodemus a Ruler of the Jews came to Christ with this Acknowledgment we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no Man can do these Miracles that thou doest except God be with him John 3. 2. Here he confesses it as a known Truth that Miracles are sufficient to attest a Person or Doctrine to be from God and consequently they are good Arguments of the Truth of what our Saviour taught and they prove him to be the Messias And the Chief Priests and Pharisees could say this Man doth many Miracles if we let him thus alone all will believe on him John 11. 47 48. This strongly implies that Miracles are able to create Belief and so unawares they acknowledg that the Miracles which Christ and the Apostles wrought are good evidence that their Doctrine was from God and that it was to be believed and imbraced The Iewish Rabbins in their Writings speak much of the Miracles the Messias shall do which is an Argument that those Men were really perswaded that Miracles are a Proof of a Divine Commission and that they are to seal the Truth of God This was the very Notion and Sense of the Pagan World as is plain from that Passage recorded in the Acts of the Apostles chap. 14. 8 11 12. When Paul cured a certain Man at Lystra impotent in his Feet being a Cripple from his Mothers Womb who never had walked the People of the place seeing this Miracle presently lifted up their Voices saying the Gods are come down to us in the likeness of Men. Their natural Reason dictated to them that this was done by Divine Power and could not be done otherwise The Workers of Miracles are by these poor Heathens reputed as Gods St. Paul was taken by them for Mercury he that could give motion and nimbleness to the Lame Man of Lystra was thought to be the God with
the Fields of Marathon consisted of six hundred thousand But Xerxes's Army which he brought into Greece exceeded all that ever we read of for it consisted of two Millions of fighting Men. But Herodotus makes the number somewhat less Seventeen hundred thousand on Land and two hundred and fifty thousand at Sea And we read of very great numbers in the Ages afterwards Tamerlan the Scythian came with nine hundred some say with twelve hundred thousand Men into the Field against Bajazet the Grand Seignior who had five hundred thousand on his side and in this Battel the fortunate Tartar took not only Bajazet but slew two hundred thousand of his Soldiers But now there is no need of such vast numbers of Men as heretofore and the numbers of the slain are not as they used to be of old We have a more compendious and speedy a more thrifty and frugal way of killing our Enemies than by Bows and Arrows by Javelins Battel-axes and Speers The modern Mortar-pieces will end the Quarrel sooner than the Roman Battering Rams A Tempest of Bombs and Granadoes will dispatch the Business more easily than a Shower of Arrows A Broad Side will do quicker Execution on a Navy than Archimedes's Burning-Glasses did Yea we have now the advantage by our late Invention of Gunpowder either to beat down or blow up our Enemies Seeing then there will be in this World till it be better occasion of War and Controversies cannot be decided but by Blood it is well that there is now a way whereby Victory may be got with less expence of Time and Blood than formerly which is the Fruit of this Invention of Gun-powder and the Engines that convey and discharge it Which things if Wencestaus the German Emperâ—ur had foreseen he would not have caus'd the ingenious Inventer as it is said to be executed We might add here that the Military Art is inâ—initely improved as to Sieges Fortifications c. which are intirely the discovery of these latter times So was the Art of Printing of which I will speak next For I attend not to what some have suggested that this Art was known to the Chinois very near two thousand Years ago That which those People had attain'd to then tho it was of great use to them was inferiour to this Typographick Skill and is not to be the compared with it Germany and Holland in the former Mentz in the latter Harlem contend for the honour of this Invention Iohn Guttenberg of the first and one Koster of the second lay claim to it but the former generally carries it Or if this latter first invented it as some say he did about A. D. 1430 the other was the first that publish'd and practis'd it in the Year 1440. Others ascribe it to Iohn Faustus a Goldsmith in Mentz others to Iohn Mentell and others to Lawrence Ienson But Guttenberg is the most celebrated he was born in Stratsburg and was a Soldier by Profession and Employment yet it pleas'd God that this Martial Man was instrumental in discovering this peaceable Art and at that time when it was so seasonable for Learning then ran very low and was like to decay yet more and more All Books being in Manuscript and the Monks and Friars having the keeping and ordering of them what could be expected but that they should be corrupted and depraved as without doubt they had been in great measure already For before the Invention of Printing Books used to be transcribed and the Transcribers sometimes out of mere carelesness and negligence at other times out of Ignorance yea sometimes out of Wilfulness left out or added something to the Originals They writ not what they found but what they understood and whilst they undertook to mend other Men's Errors they shew'd their own And hence we have had innumerable Errors crept into the Writings of the Fathers especially since the Controversies were started relating to the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity or to the Points of Popery Those who Patronized Arianism corrupted several Passages in Books and those who excessively doted on the Roman Church and its Universal Bishop and the Doctrines and Ceremonies maintained by it did the same by altering mangling transposing inserting or leaving out some Things in the Copies they transcribed And if you consider the Variety of MSS. and how many Times during the Space of several Centuries of Years they were Copied out you must needs conclude that either by Design or Negligence many Errors and Corruptions crept into the Text and Books varied very much from what they were at first This was the necessary and unavoidable Effect of Transcribing of Authors and Copying out their MSS. which is now most happily taken away by the Press Now after a little Care taken at first in Correcting and Revising many Thousands of Copies are dispatched and sent into the Woâ—ld free from Mistakes and Corruptions and that in a lasser Time than One of those Copies could have been Transcribed The Seasonableness of this Noble Invention may be discovered from this That it was so unspeakably Serviceable to the bringing on the Refâ—rmation For by the Benefit of Printing the World was blessed with the excellent Labours of Learned and Pious Men who lived in that Time and thus by this means the Popish Ignorance was laid open the Errors and Impieties of the Church of Rome were expos'd to view and whereas before Learning was lock'd up in Cloysters now it spread it self over all Europe and the Truth of the Gospel was Propagated almost to a Miracle Of such great use was this Art which hath been Improv'd of late to a Wonder For the first Inventors are not the most exact they that come afterwards far excell them for so it is oftentimes they that are good at Inventing are not so happy in Improving as others Thus we see in the Country where Printing was first found out there is the worst Printing as well as the worst Paper But these Latter Times have extremely Cultivated both for which we have great reason at this day to Bless God In short Learning and Victory are now soon acquired since Printing and Guns have been found out That we may the better manage our Studies and all other Business and Affairs by Timing them rightly Clocks and Watches were invented For though Sun-dials and Hour-glasses whether made with running of Water or Sand were of great Antiquity yet these Automatous Organs or Horologies by Wheels were lately found out maugre the groundless fancy of those Painters who Picture St. Ierom who lived in the 4th Century with a Clock by him We are indebted to the excellent Mechanick Wit of the Germans for this useful Contrivance whereby the Time is so Artificially divided that we can know the just and precise Seasons of beginning or leaving off our Work of what Nature soever it is and the publick notice of the particular divisions of Time is imparted to the Eye-sight and at a greater distance communicated to
by mere Opinion or by Matters of an indifferent Nature We live in an Age wherein Men talk and discourse much concerning Religion and yet the Generality of them have less Religion than any Age ever had Why Because they place Religion in Words and Pretences in some peculiar Sets of Opinions and in a meer external Shew of some Performances that relate to Devotion But in that happy Kingdom which we look for Substantial Religion will take place and the only Standard of it shall be True and Solid Piety Thirdly A greater Measure of Grace shall be bestowed on the Christian Church more of that Divine Spirit Not in the Sense that some mean that Extraordinary Gifs and Supernatural Endowments shall be confer'd and that the Outward Teachings of Man shall cease and become useless But I mean thus that the effectual Power of the Holy Spirit shall be seen in making Men better which indeed is the grand Design and Office of the Holy Ghost and therefore shall take Place in that happy Time The most admired and glorious Gifts are mean and base in respect of Real Goodness and Holiness i. e. a hearty Love of God and his Ways and an upright Life resulting from it Therefore we may infer that by a more abundant Communication of the Spirit these shall be advanced in the World In the Golden Age of Christianity there shall be a mighty Power and Efficacy on Mens Minds exciting them to worthy and noble Actions causing them to be zealous for Religion and to act with Vigour and Concernedness and to overcome all Difficulties that lie in their way and in a Word to design and bring to pass Great Things for the Honour of the Supreme Being and the Good of the World Fourthly IESUS shall then in a more eminent Manner be exalted his blessed Undertakings for our Redemption and Salvation his Merits and Perfect Righteousness shall be more than ever esteem'd admir'd and extoll'd This shall be a more especial Time of magnifying and celebrating the meritorious Transactions of our Lord Christ for the Saving of Mankind Which must needs produce a very high Degree of Holiness in Mens Lives for there is not a more genuine Source of it than the Consideration of what Christ hath done and suffer'd for us There is not a more effectual Spring of True Obedience nor a more powerful Motive to it than the Free and Unmerited Love of God the Father through his beloved Son Iesus Wherefore now the Reformed World shall exercise itself more and more in this true Way that leads to Purity and Holiness viz. a perpetual valuing and prizing the Grace of God in the Gospel through the Blood of the New Covenant This hath not been sufficiently done hitherto yea it hath been shamefully neglected in all Ages of Christianity Therefore now it shall be performed with great Zeal and Application by all the Inhabitants of the New Ierusalem Though their Works and Obedience shall exceed all that went before yet they shall not presume to rely upon them Though their Lives shall be more strict and blameless than ever yet they shall entertain no Opinion of their own Worthiness but confide wholly in the Spotless Obedience of the Lamb of God and they shall attribute all to Iesus and his Holy Spirit Lastly to heap up many Things together in those blessed Days there shall be no New Religion but New Hearts that is more enlightned more warmed and more sanctified There shall then be a continual Striving to excel one another in laudable and vertuous Actions Religion and Piety shall be Fashionable and Goodness and Holiness shall be esteemed most Honourable All Perfidiousness and Fraud all Lying and Falshood shall cease and Truth and Sincerity Integrity and Open-heartedness shall universally prevail Swearing will then be of little Use unless it be as a meer Act of Solemn Worship and owning a God for where there is no distrust of one another where 't is known that Persons deal Truly and Uprightly Oaths are not needful to attest or confirm what they say In those Days Men shall conciliate an assent to what they speak they shall perswade others of the Truth of what they assert or promise by plain Words and by an honest Life Briefly all-sinister and base Designs all unworthy Aims and vitious Ends shall be laid aside and the Glory of the Great God and of his Son Iesus Christ shall be the main Thing which shall influence upon their Lives If it be demanded How this great Change shall be wrought I answer It shall be done by the powerful Aids and Assistances of Heaven which shall be vouchsafed to Men in a very plentiful Manner Hereby they shall be inabled above their own Abilities and Strengths to subdne their Lusts to conquer their Vices and in the most exact manner to conform their Lives to the Rules of the Gospel If you further ask What outward instruments and Means God will make use of to accomplish this Great Work I conceive it shall be effected by Active and Zealous Governors For we cannot but take Notice that Persons of that Character have been raiâ—'d up continually in order to great Revolutions and Alterations in Church and State as is evident in the Examples of Cyrus Alexander the Great Constantiâ—â— the Great Charles the Great and the Electors of Saxony And in the beginning of our REFORMATION in this Land what strange Things did a Resolute and Couragious King bring to pass Much more may be effected here and all the World over by God's inspiring the Hearts of some Christian Kings and Princes with Valour and Resolution especially by adding Goodness and Holiness to these by blessing them with a real Sense and relish of Religion in their own Minds and Consciences Being thus qualified what is there too hard for them to accomplish What may not be expected from Governors of this Character Wicked Rulers are the greatest Mischief and Plague of the World and accordingly it hath been Satan's Stratagem throughout all Ages to procure such Magistrates as will abett and further his Design i. e. that will patronize all Vice and Wickedness and if it be possible establish it by a Law This hath been the Cause and Sourse of that horrid Deluge of Vice which hath broken in upon all Cities and Countries and miserably overspread them Therefore I infer that when God will vouchsafe to stem this mighty Torrent he will set up some Eminent Persons in High Places who by their powerful Laws as by so many Walls and Ramparts shall effectually stop its impetuous Course I question not in the least but that those Words in Rev. 20. 4. I saw Thrones and they sat upon them and Iudgment was given unto them refer partly to this they signify to us that Power and Authority which shall be at that time Evil-doers shall be call'd to an Account and punish'd according to their Offences and the Earth shall in a manner be cleared of all wilful and stubborn Criminals This
and that by the wonderful disposal of Heaven Whereupon the Evangelist saith This was done that the Scripture might be fulfill'd A Bâ—nâ— of him shall not be broken ver 36. Which plainly refers to this passage concerning the Paschal Lamb of the Iews that they were commanded not to break any bone of it And if according to St. Iohn that particular injunction concerning the Lamb be applicable to Christ and was fulfill'd in him there is just ground so believe that the other passages and circumstances relating to that Lamb are to be apply'd to Christ the Lamb of God and are accomplish'd in him This no man of composed thoughts can deny And whereas the Iews were to eat their Paschal Lamb with Vnleavened Bread ver 8 20. the Apostle hath told us the meaning of that for after he had said Christ our Passover iâ— sacrificed for us he immediately adds Let us therefore keep the Feast not with old Leaven neither with the Leaven of malice and wickedness but with the Vnleavened Bread of sincerity and truth The corrupt Ferment of Sin especially of Hypocrisie and Dissimulation which our Saviour also calls Leaven Luks 12. 1. futeth not with the Bread of Life which we are to eat Yea we must purge out all sin and wickedness which the same Inspired Author in the same place again calls the Old Leaven ver 7. If we would keep the Christian Passover aright we must abandon every known Vice which is fitly compared to Leaven because it spreadeth it self and soon corrupteth the Soul a little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump ver 6. Gal. 5. 9. But from what we read in Deut. 16. 3. we may gather that something besides this is shadowed out there they are bid to eat all the time of the Passover Vnleavened Bread even the Bread of affliction because they came forth out of the Land of Egypt in haste Vnleavened Bread then is the Bread of affliction but why is it call'd so I conceive it hath this name because it is such Bread as the Poor and Afflicted by reason of pressing hunger eat not staying till it be leavened This sort of Bread they were to eat And so we are taught here in what manner we are to eat the Christian Passover viz. with the Bread of affliction we must not pamper our carnal part we must not make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof we must according to the Apostles Example keep under our bodies and bring them into subjection to our better part And this was partly signified by the eating of the Paschal Lamb with bitter herbs ver 8. The spiritual meaning whereof is that we should not indulge our selves in the pleasures of Sin that we should celebrate our Evangelical Passover with godly Contrition and Sorrow with hearty Remorse and Repentance and that with the Penitent Apostle we should weep bitterly for our Sins The Crucified Iesus is best entertain'd with a broken Heart And moreover the posture and demeanour which the Israelites were to observe in their celebrating the Passover viz. with their loins girded and with shâ—â—s on their feet and staves in their hands ver 11. which exprest their readiness to leave Egypt and to depart out of it at the first warning represent unto us our duty which is to be prepar'd to quit our sins which make us worse than Egyptian Bondslaves Christ being sacrificed and ascended we are to fit our selves to follow him we must gird up the loins of our minds we must have our feet shâ—â— with the Evangelical preparation we must be constantly in the posture of Pilgrims whose thoughts are on leaving the place where they are and we must be willing and ready to follow our Blessed Saviour which way soever he calls us This is to be remarked likewise that no Vncircumcised person was to eat of the Passover no Fâ—reigner or Stranger ver 43 44. Which acquainteth us that none but those who are admitted into Christ's Church and are True and Proper Members of it can partake of the Benefits which accrue by the death of our Lord and also that Strangers and Aliens from the Covenant of Grace and those that are Uncircumcis'd in heart receive no real Advantage by coming to the Lord's Supper they partake only of the outward Elements but are excluded from sharing in the Inward Grace and Blessing which are represented by those External Signs Thus you see the Parallel between the Iewish and Christian Passover The Paschal Lamb was a Male and without Blemish and of the First Year It was taken out of their own Fold and kill'd in the Evening and the Door-posts were sprinkled with the Blood It was roasted and then eaten whole not a bone of it was to be broken and nothing of it was to remain It was eaten with Unleavened bread and bitter herbs with loins girt and in haste it was eaten not by Strangers and Uncircumcised persons and in every one of these particulars it was Typical and Representative For tho it is true there was this general Reason why these several Observances concerning the Paschal Lamb were enjoyn'd namely because of their direct opposition to the Heathen Ceremâ—nies then in practice as you shall hear afterwards yet there was a more particular reason and distinct ground of the prescribing of these several Rites viz. because they in some manner were Types and Significations of what our Lord Christ was to do or suffer and of what is required of us in solemnizing the Gospel-Passover If any man shall despise these things and imagine them little and not worthy of the Spirit of God he may correct his prophane mistake by looking into the Epistles of St. Paul especially that to the Hebrews where he will find that the Apostle takes notice of such passages as these which relate to the Iewish Observances and by the direction of the Divine and Infallible Spirit applies them to our Lord and his Blessed Undertakings and the main things of the Gospel-Dispensation Let none then be so presumptuous and impâ—ous as to say that these are Little and Contemptible seeing they are such as the Holy Spirit was pleased to dictate Nay I might add with great reason and truth that this Mystical way of delivering the most weighty matters was heretofore used and approved of by all the Antient Sages and Men of Wisdom especially by the Egyptians whose Learning chiefly consisted in Hieroglyphicks And therefore when we see that some men who have a great esteem of the Egyptian Learning and admire it at a very high rate do yet slight and vilifie those Mysterious Representations of the greatest and most important Truths which the Old Testament presents us with we cannot but observe their wicked perversness whilst they disregard and even ridicule that very way of communicating Truth in the Holy and Inspired Scriptures which they magnifie and extol in Prophane Writers But I have not finished this Parallel yet To make it every way compleat Christ our
Israelites yet they were as good as taken in as to other Clauses of it and as to the Effence and Substance of it viz. the Spiritual Mercies couched in it Thus they were comprehended in the Covenant of Life and Salvation for all of what Nation soever were Partakers of the Benefits of it upon their believing and repenting Not only Iews but Gentiles were interested in it In the full Meal and Provision which God made for his own People the Israelites some Portions some Fragments fell besides the Table which others gather'd up This is God's Administration to the Gentiles and I make it a particular and distinct Dispensation tho I see those who reckon up the different Dispensations of Religion omit this The Reason I suppose is because this Gentile Dispensation is mixed with the rest of the Dispensations Because it was concurrent with the Patriachal and Mosaical Oeconomies and was not a thing by it self they took no notice of it But notwithstanding this it is a peculiar Dispensation and a very remarkable one too as the Premises may convince us And at last our Blessed Saviour perfected this Dispensation for a little before he left the World he enjoyn'd the Apostles to go and teach all Nations Mat. 28. 19. to Evangelize the Goyim the Nations for so the Iews call'd all People besides themselves to propagate Christianity throughout the whole World And accordingly we read that when the Apostles had continued some time at Ierusalem after Christ's Ascention only some of them now and then slepping abroad to confirm the neighbouring Churches that were lately planted they issued out with one consent into several Countries where by their Travels they spread the Gospel as effectually as David and Solomon did the Hebrew Tongue the one by his numerous Conquests the other by his prosperous Fleets and Commerces so that even in St. Paul's time the Gospel was Preached to every Creature under Heaven Col. 1. 23. Thus at length the Gentile Dispensation was swallow'd up of the Evangelical one which now I will particularly speak of CHAP. XI The Christian or Evangelical Oeconomy It agrees with the former Dispensations of Grace as to the Designation of the Messias As to the way of Salvation As to the Conditions and Qualifications of it This corroborated by the suffrage of the Antient Fathers It differs from the Mosaick Oeconomy or Law as to the Author in some respect As to the Actual Discovery of it As to the Clearness of it As to its Spirituality As to its Extent As to several Circumstances that relate to the Conditions of Salvation which are largely enumerated As to the Motives of Obedience The Doctrine of the Socinians viz. that there were no Promises of Eternal Life under the Old Testament confuted As to the Perfection of its Pattern As to its Helps and Assistances This Query Whether Christ added any new Laws to those which were before under the Old Testament resolved in several Particulars It is proved against the Socinians that Prayer was commanded under the Law How Love is call'd a New Commandment THe Christian or Evangelical Dispensation is next to be treated of God having at sundry times and in divers manners spoken in times past hath now in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Heb. l. 1 2. He was pleased to reserve the utmost Completion of all the Promisâ—s made to the Patriarchs and the Iews till this time Now by Christ's coming we have the perfect Accomplishment of them all Christianity comprehends all the other Dispensations and is the Upshot of them all This is called the Revelation of the Mystery which was kepe secret since the World began but now is made manifest Rom. 16. 26 27. and the Mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known unto the Sons of Men but is now revealed unto his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit Eph. 3. 4 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly he that brings forth and distributes that which was before laid up This is agreeable to the Oeconomy which we are now to discourse of the great Things which were hidden and treasured up before are now brought forth and discovered and communicated to the World This is that Dispensation which brings Everlasting Righteousness with it this is the Highest and Noblest Exertment of the Covenant of Grace and all the Mercy and Pardon which former Generations found were on the sole account of this Period This Dispensation of the Messias is represented by Iohn Baptist and by Christ himself to be the most Glorious State that hath yet appeared in the World or that ever shall appear for Christianity as most perfect includes all the Laws before named and all the ways of Discovery that can be made 1. I will shew the particular Nature of this Dispensation and how it differs from the others 2. I will shew why this Evangelical Dispensation took not place in the World before 3. I must particularly and directly prove the Truth and Certainty of this Oeconomy and of the Christian Religion 4. I will discover to you the several Degrees of this Dispensation All which Particulars are of great use for the right understanding of this last Administration of Religion 1. I will display the particular Nature and Quality of this Oeconomy this new Oeconomy of the Gospel Here I will let you see 1. That as to the main it agrees with all the other Oeconomies of Grace viz. from the Restoration of Adam 2. That tho as to the main it agrees with all the foregoing Dispensations yet as to sundry particulars it differs from them First all the Dispensations agree in the main i. e. 1. The Divine Designation or Appointment of the Messias reach'd to them all This Lamb was slain from the foundation of the World Rev. 13. 8. His Sufferings and Death were decreed from all Ages Christ was crucified from the beginning even from Eternity For tho some interpret this place as if it alluded to the Murder of Abel the first holy Person that was slain and as if it took in the rest of the Martyrs in after Ages the Lamb here signifying the whole Succession of Saints who were innocent and spotless in their Lives and invincible in their Deaths and so Christ as well as others may be said to be slain from the foâ—ndation of the World because there was at First even at the Beginning of the World this Example of the Wicked's murdering the Just yet this must be look'd upon as a forced Interpretation of the words for in the stile of Scripture excepting those places where the Sense must needs be restrained and limited because of the subject matter from the foundation of the World is as much as from Eternity as is plain from Mat. 25. 34. Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World and from Ioh. 17. 24. Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the World for from the foundation or before the foundation are here
Beasts that have a sensitive Life and at last he came to what was perfectest Man who hath a reasonable Soul and is the most excellent of all God's Works in this lower World Man the worthiest Piece of the Creation was made last of all So there was the like Order and Method observed by God in framing and fashioning his Church it was set up first with weak and imperfect things The Laws and Constitutions given to the Sons of Men were mean and low and went no further than Natural Religion it was like their feeding upon Herbs and Plants only But afterwards Religion was inhanced by extraordinary Revelations and Discoveries by positive Laws and Precepts and by the Offering of Beasts and other such Legal Observances the Sensitive and Animal Life as I may so say the External and Bodily part of Religion was chiefly maintain'd But at length Religion was inspired as it were with a Rational Soul it became Manly Spiritual and Refined by the Gospel it came to be a Reasonable Service indeed an inward Principle a Law of Liberty and Love Christianity is the last but is the perfectest Dispensation in this Life What the Platonists hold concerning the several Powers and Faculties of Mens Souls that in due time and place they orderly awaken into act and when a lower Power is extinguish'd a more extended and enlarg'd Capacity succeeds it a more divine Faculty and Life spring up and are envigorated what these Philosophers I say hold concerning human Souls is true of Religion and its several Dispensations There is a gradual Subordination of these â—everal Oeconomies and upon the Cessation and Extinction of one that is inferiour a more Sublime and Perfect one arises in its Room and it is God's Will and Pleasure that these divers Administrations shall take place in their Order and that one shall not anticipate the other It seems good to the All-wise Creator to reveal the knowledg of himself by degrees to discover his Will as it were by parcels God dispenseth not all his Favours together not all at once but the maniâ—estations of his Will grow greater and greater successively He gradually instill'd into the World the Notion of a Messias the Prophetical Promises concerning him were higher and higher by little and little the Sun of Righteousness arose and shined more and more unto a perfect Day This is the Divine Method he proceeds from imperfect to perfect things from the Shadow to the Substance from Types to Realities from lesser to greater Discoveries He thought good to train up his Church in this manner and by meaner Communications to make way for the most compleat delivering of his Will Still all along one Administration exceeded another till at last Christianity arrived which was Highest of all Those words of the Apostle to the Hebrews are very remarkable to this purpose those under the Law saith he received not the Promise i. e. the full extent of it in the Coming of Christ God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Heb. 11. 39 40. He gives here the Reason why the Iews under the Legal Oeconomy had not the Promise compleated why Christ came not in those days viz. because the Church was to be perfected by Degrees The condition of the Church before Christ was not to be compleat They had their good things but we were to have some better thing that it might be seen that God proceeds in a gradual and successive Way and that he will have things done in their due Season and Course that we may take notice of this that the Frame and Fabrick of Religion shall be reared by little and little to its Perfection that God intends to reserve the best things till last in short that after Christ's Coming Religion was to be at its full Age and that this Glorious Dispensation should crown all Thus by the different Stages and Progressions the divers Courses and Periods of the Church in successive Ages God hath thought fit to shew himself a God of Order and not of Confusion And so I have finish'd the Reasons why the Christian Dispâ—nsation was deferred so long and why the Blessed Author and Founder of it came no sooner The End of the First Volume ΠΟΛΥΠΟΙΚΙΛΟΣ ΣΟΦΙΑ A Compleat HISTORY Or SURVEY Of all the Dispensations and Methods OF RELIGION From the beginning of the World to the Consummation of all things As represented in the OLD and NEW Testament SHEWING The several Reasons and Designs of those different Administrations and the Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Government of his Church through all the Ages of it The Second Volume In which The Certainty of the Christian Religion is demonstrated against the Cavils of the Iews Deists c. By IOHN EDWARDS B. D. LONDON Printed for Daniel Brown Ionath Robinson Andrew Bell Iohn Wyat and E. Harris M. DC.XC.IX THE CONTENTS OF THE Second Volume CHAP. XIV THE Truth and Certainty of the Christian Oeconomy and consequently of Christianity it self evinced That the Mosaick Dispensation was not design'd to be perpetual is proved from 1. The Prophesies concerning the enlarging of the Church together with the nature of the Jewish Observances 2. God's dispensing with the Mosaick Rites and Laws 3. Their being neglected sometimes by the Holiest Men. 4. God's disregarding them 5. The Confession of the Jewish Rabbies An Objection viz. that it is said the Mosaick Law shall be for ever disâ—inctly answer'd Prophesies which seem to relate to the Jewish Church are to be interpreted concerning the Christian one It is not necessary that there should â—e a Formal Abrogation of the Ceremonial Law because when the Reason of a Law ceases the Law it self ceaseth But yet it is shew'd from sundry places in the New Testament that the Ceremonial Law is formally and expresly abrogated We are assured of the Truth of the Christian Religion from Humane Testimony The Testimony of the Outward and Bodily Senses is made use of and appealed to in the New Testament as an Argument of the truth of Christianity St. John's Words 1 Ep. 1 Chap. 1 2 3. ver commented upon There is no certainty in Religion especially in the Christian if the Testimony of Sense be not allow'd of The Apostles and those who heard and saw the things done by our Saviour were Credible Persons The four Evangelists and other Writers of the New Testament were competent Witnesses of what they relate Their Personal Qualities which are particularly reckno'd up render their Testimony worthy of all acceptation The Christians that succeeded them faithfully deliver'd things to us Their Lives are a proof of their Integrity Their Sufferings and Death are an undeniable Argument of their testifying the Truth to us An Heap of Evidences that we are not imposed upon by them The very Jews bear witness to the Truth of Christianity The manner of their congratulating our Saviour at his riding into Jerusalem particularly consider'd Heathens attest the Truth of the
Christian Religion So do Infernal Spirits P. 417. CHAP. XV. All the ways of Divine Revelation under the Mosaick Dispensation were made use of under the Christian one Voices The Testimony of Angels Visions Dreams The Holy Spirit The fulfiâ—ling of the Prophesies of the Old Testament is an irrefragable Argument of the Truth of the New Testament Prophesies concerning the Birth of our Saviour Isa. 7. 14. cleared from the Cavils of the Jewish Expositors It is shew'd how these Words may have reference to something in King Ahaz's days and yet belong to Christ's Birth Prophesies in the Old Testament that relate to Christ's Life and Actions Others that refer to his Sufferings and Death Some that foretel his Resurrection and Ascension Other more general Predictions concerning him Several prophetick Passages concerning the Branch proved to be spoken of Christ. The Hebrew Word for the Branch is refer'd to in the New Testament The two Zacharies agree The Iews Objection viz. that the Messias was to be another kind of Person than what Jesus of Nazareth was answered Another Objection viz. that the Messias was to bring universal Peace answer'd A third Objection of the Iews viz. that their Sins have hindred the Messias's coming at the promised time answer'd The Objection raised from 2 Sam. 7. 13. removed by clearing the sense of the Text. Other extravagant Fancies concerning the Messâ—as caus'd by their mistaking the Prophesies of the Old Testament concerning Christ's Coming The Conclusion that all the Prophesies concerning the Messias are fulfil'd in Jesus and consequently are a demonstration of the Truth of Christianity p. 457. CHAP. XVI The Miracles wrought by Christ. What those Baskets were which were fill'd with Fragments Christ not only fed but healed the Bodies of Men. He did other Miraculous Works The Apostles as well as our Saviour exerted many Miracles An Objection from 1 Tim. 5. 23. answer'd Five Properties of a true Miracle Counterfeit and lying Wonders The Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were accompanied with seven peculiar Circumstances which prove them to be from God What were the Ends and Designs tâ—ey propounded to thâ—mselves in working of Miracles An Objection from Mark 11. 14. answer'd Several Interpretations of 〈◊〉 Words the time of Figs was not yet Why Christ cursed the barren Fig-tree Another Objection from Mat. 8. 30. answer'd Two other Objections answer'd The Personal Qualities of the Apostles argue the Miracles which they wrought to be true and real A Reply to the several Cavils against the Miracles of our Saviour An account of the wonderful things done by some Pagans especially Vespasian and Apollonius Tyanaeus The Miracles which the Church of Rome pretends to are proved to be Counterfeit It is shew'd from Scripture the Confession of Jews and Pagans and the nature of the thing it self that Miracles are a Testimony of the Truth of Christianity Miracles were necessary for confirming of the Gospel on several Accounts p. 491. CHAP. XVII The wonderful prevailing and spreading of Christianity another proof of the Truth of it Some of the learnedst and wisest Jews converted to Christianity A Catalogue of knowing and learned Pagans in the five first Centuries that abandoned Gentilism and embraced the Christian Religion Remarkable Instances of the Power of the Christian Truth The virtue of the Gospel far exceeds that of Philosophy Examples of great and rich Men converted to the Christian Faith This prevail'd against the rage of the most powerful Persecutors The more the Gospel was oppress'd the more it flourish'd and prosper'd in all Nations Examples of God's remarkable Judgments on the Enemies of Christianity especially on the Nation of the Jews This latter insisted upon and shew'd to be an Argument of the Truth of Christianity Particular Inferences from this part of the Discourse viz. 1. Assent tâ— the Christian Religion 2. Assert and defend it More General Inferences from the whole Christian Dispenpensation are such as these 1. Admire the transcendent Excellency of it 2. Be thankful for it 3. Learn â—ence our great obligation to Holiness and strictness of Life This enlarg'd upon 4. If we live not sutably to this Dispensation our doom will be more intolerable than that of others under the foregoing Oeconomies It appears from the general behaviour of Men that this is not thought of 5. We are to look upon this as the last Dispensation This is the meaning of Eph. 1. 10. which words are fully expounded This is infer'd from the Gospel's being call'd the New Testament And from those Expressions the last times the last days Wherefore we must not expect any New Dispensation P. 534. CHAP. XVIII The several Ages of Christianity It was in its Infancy in our Saviour's time The Apostles knew little concerning his Sufferings and his Resurrection The effusion of the Holy Spirit was but mean in respect of what it was afterwards The Church was in its Childhood in the times immediately after our Saviour There are no Errors and Mistakes in the Writings of the New Testament Some necessary Points of Christianity deliver'd in the Apostolical Epistles that are not in the Gospels and Acts. Some relicks of Judaism remain'd in the Apostles times An Explication of the Decree of the Council at Jerusalem It is particularly proved that the Prohibition concerning the eating of Blood is not obligatory under the Gospel Yet in the first times of the Church many observed it The difference of Dispensations as to Abstinence from some sort of Food Judaism and Christianity were mingled together in the primitive Ages An enumeration of several Extraordinary Gifts that were in the Christian Church at first The Youth or riper Years of Christianity described The cessation of extraordinary Gifts argues the Progress and Growth of the Christian Church Miracles no part of this subordinate Dispensation The non-Appearance of Angels is a Proof of the Improvement of Christianity The usefulness and necessity of attending to the different Administrations of Religion especially the Christian p. 585. CHAP. XIX That Christianity shall arrive to Manhood or Full Age is proved by several Arguments 1. God's Method in the World 2. The low ebb of Christianity hitherto 3. The number of those that perish 4. The gradual Improvement of all Arts and Sciences The several Objections concerning the Decay and Senescency of the World made use of by Jewish Pagan and Christian Writers fully answer'd That the World decays not as to Learning and Arts is made good from the Improvements of Navigation the Inventions of Gun-powder and Guns of Printing of Clocks and Watches the preparing of Sugar the Advances in Anatomy and Physick Astronomy Arithmetick Chymistry Mechanicks the Stile of Writers It is congruous to the Divine Providence and Wisdom that Religion also should have its Improvements as well as Arts and Sciences and accordingly it hath been greatly advanc'd and increas'd by the Reformation From the Increase it hath had already we may gather that there will be farther Accessions afterwards The virile and complete
It is not necessary that there should be a Formal Abrogation of the Ceremonial Law because when the Reason of a Law ceases the Law it self ceaseth But yet it is shew'd from sundry Places in the New Testament that the Ceremonial Law is formally and expresly abrogated We are assured of the Truth of the Christian Religion from Humane Testimony The Testimony of the Outward and Bodily Senses is made use of and appealed to in the New Testament as an Argument of the truth of Christianity St. John's Words 1 Ep. 1 Chap. 1 2 3. ver commented upon There is no Certainty in Religion espâ—cially in the Christian if the Testimony of Sense be not allow'd of The Apostles and those who heard and saw the things done by our Saviour were Credible Persons The four Evangelists and other Writers of the New Testament were Competent Witnesses of what they relate Their Personal Qualities which are particularly reckon'd up render their Testimony worthy of all acceptation The Christians that succeeded them faithfully deliver'd things to us Their Lives are a proof of their Integrity Their Sufferings and Death are an undeniable Argument of their testifying the Truth to us An Heap of Evidences that we are not imposed upon by them The very Jews bear witness to the Truth of Christianity The manner of their Congratulating our Saviour at his riding into Jerusalem particularly consider'd Heathens attest the Truth of the Christian Religion So do Infernal Spirits 111. I Am to shew the Truth and Certainty of the Christian Oeconomy and therein of the Christian Religion And here first we must grapple with the tenacious and stubborn Iew for his Dispensation being so Antient and Authentick he is loth to quit it I must prove therefore before I go any further that it is nulled abrogated and superannuated We need not say much of the Iudicial Law It is the Ceremonial one which makes Iudaism properly and is the most opposite to the Christian Administration The Iudicial Laws so far as they make for Peace and good Order in the Government and so far as they are sutable to the present State of Affairs may be observed still but then they oblige not as part of the Mosaick Law but as they are good Rules of Government in themselves But the main Part of the Iudicial Law is not at this Day practicable amongst the Iews themselves they being dispersed and no longer in a Body that Law cannot be made use of and consequently doth not oblige them And any one may see plainly that that Polity and Government was not to last for ever as they foolishly dream For it was not fitted for the Tempers of all People not proper for all Countries but was in most things calculated for the Iewish Meridian only and for the present Circumstances that People were in at that time and therefore it is evident that it was to be changed afterwards I do not lay any stress on what may be observed of the different Manner of delivering the three Laws Moral Ceremonial and Iudicial but only let it be an occasion to suggest to us a right Notion concerning the different Nature of them The Ten Commandments or Moral Law was delivered on the top of the Mount in the face of the World as it were to signify that it was of universal Influence and obliged all Mankind But the Ceremonial Lâ—w was received by Moses in private in the Tabernacle which may hint to us that it was of a peculiar Concern it belong'd to the Iews only it was to cease when the Tabernacle was down when the Veil of the Temple was rent And as for the Iudicial Law it was neither so publickly and audibly given as the Moral Law nor so privately as the Ceremonial which may intimate to us the Nature of that sort of Law it is of an indifferent kind and may be kept up or not according as its Rules sute with the Place and Government It is then the Ceremonial Law wherein the Religion of the Iews as distinct from other People chiefly consisted which I am ingaged more especially to speak of at present The first thing that I will undertake is this to shew that the Mosaick Oeconomy was not designed to be perpetuated but that it was to be changed and to give way to the Evangelical one If this be proved it is a good step towards the main Point viz. the Truth of the Evangelical Oeconomy 1. That the Mosaick Dispensation was not to last always is clear from the many Promises in the Old Testament of inlarging Religion and of extending the Church to the uttermost parts of the World Which is no ways consistent with the Mosaick Oeconomy for according to the Law all the Males were to assemble at Ierusalem and to worship there thrice a Year But when upon the Messias's coming all Nations were to imbrace the true Religion how was it possible for the remotest Nations of the World to come and sacrifice at Ierusalem and constantly to meet there at solemn Feasts Ierusalem could not hold them the Temple would be too little for the Worshippers This is a Sign that God intended not to confine his Church to Iudea but that he designed a Religion which should be Universal and oblige the whole World According to the Law Sacrifices were to be no where but at Ierusalem But it is said in Isa. 19. 19 23. There shall be Altars and Sacrifices to the Lord in Egypt and Assyria and in Mal. 1. 11. From the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offer'd unto my Name and a pure Offering Therefore the City of Ierusalem was not to be the only Seat of solemn Worship and Sacrifice but upon the coming of the Messias Oblations were to be all the World over God saith of his Church which is his House that it shall be called a House of Prayer to all Nations Isa. 56. 7. Mark 11. 17. That is the Church shall be open to all without respect of Persons or Countries which must needs be and was always acknowledged a Prophesy concerning the spreading of Christianity and its being imbraced by some of all Nations under Heaven Therefore it is said by the same Evangelical Prophet in the last Days all Nations shall flow unto it Isa. 2. 2. So in Isa. 56. 3 4 5. we find that Strangers and Eunuchs Persons uncapable by the Mosaick Law of being of the Communion of the Iewish Church shall be admitted into it And that is yet more remarkable which you read in the same Prophet Chap. 66. where after it was plainly foretold that the Gentiles should have a Holy Church and that there should be an Offering to the Lord out of all Nations ver 20. this is added in the next Verse I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites saith the Lord. Observe it there shall be Priests and Levites taken from the
them in the least none but God could alter them who designed to do so in due time for he intended those Mosaick Precepts should continue to such a certain period of time and no longer These Words of Ieremiah are very observable Chap. 3. 16. It shall come to pass in those days saith the Lord they shall say no more the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord neither shall it come to mind neither shall they remember it neither shall they visit it neither shall it be magnified any more i. e. The Mosaick Rites and External Ceremonies of the Law shall not be in request as they were before Men shall not prize and value them as they used to do yea they shall lay the use of them aside but this they must not do till they have Authority from God And God revealed to the Prophet Daniel that he would alter the Law after a certain Revolution of Years The Messias shall cause the Sacrifice and Oblation to cease Dan. 9. 27. But it was unalterable in respect of the Jews themselves 3. The Promises and Predictions in the Old Testament which are very many concerning the perpetual Duration of Ierusalem and the Temple and the Iewish Worship and their Polity and Government are to be understood of the Perpetuity of the Church of Christ and his spiritual Kingdom And to this purpose you may observe that in the Writings of the Old Testament where the Times of the Gospel are foretold the Evangelical Worship and Service of God are set forth by sacrificing and other the like Observances commanded in Moses's Law By the Ritual Worship of the Jews is express'd the reasonable and spiritual Service of the Gospel and by those Expressions which seem to denote the Perpetuity of the former the Duration of the latter is signified and ascertained to us This is a most certain Truth and the observing of it will lead us to a right understanding of a great number of Texts which speak of the Iewish Laws and Government as if they were to continue for ever without any Limitation and Restriction We are to know that those places especially the Prophesies in Isaiah concerning the glorious things that shall befal Ierusalem and the Iews are to be interpreted of the State of the Christian Church they are to be understood of the Spiritual Kingdom of the Messias and the Times of the Gospel Sacrifices and the Temple signify Spiritual Oblations and the Gospel-Church for the Evangelical Prophet is to be understood in an Evangelical Sense The Angels Words concerning Christ in Luke 1. 32 33. The Lord God shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David and he shall reign over the House of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end are a plain Comment on all those places in the Old Testament where the Perpetuity of the Mosaick Laws and the Jewish Oeconomy and Government is promis'd They shew that they are all meant of Christ and his Kingdom i. e. his Church both here and hereafter which was prefigured by David's Kingdom From what this Heavenly Messenger saith here we learn that the Prophesies concerning the endless continuance of the Throne of David of raising up to 〈◊〉 David their King Jer. 30. 9. of raising up the Tabernacle of David Am. 9. 11. of God's setting up his Servant David Ezek. 34. 23. are all accomplish'd in Christ. And indeed the Jewish Commentators themselves acknowledg that the Messias is often stiled David in these and other Prophesies of the Old Testament nor are they backward to confess that by David's Throne and Kingdom is meant the Messias's Government as is plain from Psal. 132. 11. 2 Sam. 7. 12. 1 Chron. 22. 10. where God promised David that Christ should sit on his Throne which is taken notice of and applied not only in the forenam'd place in St. Luke but in Acts 2. 30. For Christ is represented by David and the Evangelical Dispensation is express'd in Terms which relate to the Iewish Administration and Government So that it is no wonder this is said to be for ever for it shall last to the end of the World and afterwards Christ shall reign in the Kingdom of Glory to eternal Ages This if duly considered cannot but yield a satisfactory Answer to the foregoing Objection as well as give light to several Prophesies of the Old Testament But here it will be asked where hath God formally abrâ—gated the Ceremonial Law of the Jews I answer it is not necessary he should do this for the Law ceaseth when the Reason of it ceaseth Now the Reason of the Câ—râ—monial Law and all its Observances was chiâ—fly to prefigure Christ and the Gospel of which he was the Institutor and therefore they are now ceased Christ being come of whom they were but Figures and Shadows The Abrogation then of those Mosaick Rites wherein the Religion of the Iews was placed may be proved by this one Argument viz. that Christ was designed by the legal Rites that the Ceremonial Law was a Prefiguration of the Gospel-Dispensation Here it might be shew'd that the Evangelical Oeconomy was prefigured by certain Persons as Abel Noah Abraham Isaac Ioseph Melchisedec about the last of whom the Author to the Hebrews spends a whole Chapter these were Typical Persons as well as Moses and Ioshua and some others afterwards And not only Persons but Things were Typical as the Pillar of a Cloud the Red Sea the Manna and the Rock which two last were Symbols of the Evangelical Sacraments the Eucharist and Baptism 1 Cor. 10. 1 2 c. and the lifting up of the brazen Serpent signified Christs Crucifixion Iohn 3. 14. But if I should speak of those that are properly Legal Rites and Vsages it is yet further evident that they were Representations of our Saviour and of the grand things of the Gospel As for Sacrifices I have treated of them already and made it appear that they foresignified the expiatory Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. As for the Tabernacle and all the appurtenances of it I have particularly display'd their Typical Nature and how they all pointed to this Dispensation I am now speaking of I might proceed to make this good concerning the Ceremonious Washings and Purifications under the Law that they typified some greater Purity they signified the Spiritual cleansing and sanctifying of the Soul and the abstaining from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit The Apostle acquaints us that the difference of Meats and Drinks observing of a Holy Day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath Days were a shadow of things to come but the Body of this Shadow is Christ Col. 2. 16 17. The Truth the Solidity the Substance are to be sought for in some higher things than those were even in Christ Jesus and in the Benefits of the Gospel Yea he tells us that the whole Mosaick Law is but a shadow of good things to come Heb. 10. 1. All the things contained in it are but rude
and Death St. Luke had St. Matthew and St. Mark 's Writings to direct him And he professes moreover chap. 1. 1 2. that he receiv'd all he writ from those very Persons who were Eye-witnesses Besides he was a constant Companion of St. Paul who had all those things revealed to him by God in Heaven which is as much as if he had seen and heard them As for the Acts of the Apostles St. Luke could not but give a full and perfect Account of the Actions related there because he was an inseparable Attendant and Associate of St. Paul about whom most of that Book is spent The Epistles contain chiefly holy Doctrines divine Counsels seasonable Reproofs and pathetick Exhortations but they are not wholly destitute of Matter of Fact They were writ either by those that were properly stiled Apostles as St. Peter St. Iames St. Iohn and St. Iude who therefore could not be ignorant of what they delivered concerning Christ and the things he did or they were writ by St. Paul who was an Apostle extraordinary immediately called and sent by God to preach the Gospel being first fully instructed in all Matters relating to Christ and it by divine Revelation It might be yet further made evident that the Writers of the New Testament had perfect knowledg of what they writ and that they were sufficient Witnesses of what they relate because the Matters of Fact were so frequent and so often repeated as also because they were done near them and not far off and so they could easily know the truth of them moreover because they were done publickly and in the open Light and not in a Corner because they were done before so many Witnesses before Apostles and Disciples and thousands of the People who were Spectators and Auditors of what happen'd I might add that the Evangelists publish'd the Stories of Christ and his Doings when thousands were alive who knew the Facts and might have oppugned them if they would but they did not Especially St. Matthew publish'd his History while yet the Persons lived on whom Christ's Miracles were wrought and innumerable others who were Witnesses thereof were then surviving Hence it appears that it was difficult for the Evangelical Writers to conspire and combine together in a Lie and to deceive the People if they had had a mind to it They might soon have been confuted if the things they attested had been false The Cheat was easily to be found out amongst so many Witnesses and in things so often acted and in the Face of the World Therefore it is morally impossible that there should be a Cheat and Delusion these things being thus 2. The Personal Qualities of the Evangelical Writers and other Christians who attested these things argue that they were credible Witnesses and that their Testimony was worthy of all acceptation This is clear from such Considerations as these viz. that most of them were simple and unlearned Men and so were not fit Persons to devise these things It is no ways probable that they could invent such high and mysterious matters yea indeed no humane Wit was able to do it This shews that they were not deceivers and that they did not voluntarily deliver a falshood Likewise it is to be remembred that they were no idle and loose Persons but were of an honest condition and way of Life they were poor Tradesmen and Fishermen that lived on their work and lawful callings and therefore it is altogether improbable that they were designing Men and that they made it their business to cheat and impose upon the World Again their Integrity Candor and Simplicity appeared most signally in their Writings seeing they relate their own failings and impartially set down the grossest miscarriages of their Brethren as Thomas's Infidelity Peter's denying of his Master the Apostles flying from Christ at his Passion and many other things which none but Honest Plain and True-hearted Men would have recorded and transmitted to Posterity Further what they did was not out of Ambition and Love of Honour for Pride self-seeking vain Glory over-valuing of Men crying up Paul and Apollos and Cephas were Vices and Practices which they both preach'd and writ against And to let you see that this was not counterfeit their Lives answer'd to what they professed in their Carriage and Behaviour none were more humble and self-denying which proves that they acted not out of Applause and Affectation of Honour from the People but were sincere and faithful in what they did Nor could they speak or act for Gain and Wordly Profit for they were Men that despised Riches as much as Honour They lived meanly and poorly and were beholden to the Charity of others for a subsistence Which shews that they had no design to enrich themselves and to grow great in the World They foresaw and knew and perswaded themselves of this before-hand that their Profession would expose them to the greatest Dangers and Hazards and that Bonds and Imprisonment and Death it self would attend them yet notwithstanding this they resolved to preach the Gospel and to follow their Master whatever befel them And lastly to give you an irrefragable Demonstration of their Integrity and Sincerity most of them laid down their Lives to testify and confirm what they had deliver'd they sealed the Gospel with their Blood they died for what they preach'd and writ This is a sign they were in earnest Thus if you consider the Personal Qualifications of the Apostles and Evangelists who were Witnesses of Christ's Actions you must necessarily grant that they were Persons to be believed that their Evidence is authentick and we have no reason to think they were deluded themselves or deluded us For the Proof of Fact consisteth chiefly in Witnesses who must be knowing and honest Men. This makes them to be credible Persons and such were the Relators of those things which concern our Saviour Wherefore to have them attested by a sufficient number of Persons of that Character is enough to assure the Truth of them We have no cause to dispute whether those things were so or no but on the contrary we have good Foundation for a firm Assent to them But tho the Disciples and Apostles did not cheat us yet perhaps we are deluded by thâ—se that came after them It may be they have not truly deliver'd things to us How can we depend on their Words Reports are oftentimes false There are untrue Representations of things which are very near to us much more may there be of Actions which are so far off and were so long ago How then shall we credit History and Tradition i. e. the Church's delivering these things to us I answer we may and we ought to believe the Persons who receiv'd these things from the Apostles viz. the pious Teachers Fathers and Bishops of the Primitive Church and the Godly and Faithful Christians of those days we ought I say to credit these as well as the Apostles themselves for we have the most
cogent Reasons to perswade us that they truly and faithfully delivered down to us those things This I will make good from the Consideration 1. Of the Persons that transmitted these things 2. Of the Evidence of the Cause First as to the Persons I will consider both their Lives and their Deaths Their Lives are sufficient proofs of their Integrity in delivering the Scriptures of the New Testament to us and of their confident belief of the Truth of all that is contain'd in them The Primitive Christians lived after another rate than we do now They did not wrangle and quarrel as we do they did not â—ight and devour one another as the manner of too many is of latter times but they were remarkable for their mutual Love and Concord for their Humility Meekness and Condescension to one another and they were admired for their Gravity Sobriety Self-denial and Patience they were eminent for their Piety towards God and their Innocent and Righteous dealing with all Men. The Ministers practised what they preached and the People were ambitious to imitate their Preachers and both were singularly Good and Virtuous This was it which gain'd so many Proselytes to Christianity in those first times this brought them to a perswasion of the Truth and Reality of Christ's Doctrine Therefore when Origen had excellently proved the Truth of Christianity to Alexander Severus that noble Emperor ingenuously confessed that he was more convinced of the Truth of that Religion by the humble and loving carriage of Christians than by all Origen's Arguments The exemplary and blameless Conversation of those Primitive Professors argued that the Doctrine and Principles of their Religion were real and certain For how can it enter into any sober Mans thoughts that such holy and upright Men true followers of the Apostles and Disciples of Christ would have constantly confessed and owned the Christian way unless they had been throughly convinced of the Truth of it and that it was the very same which was confess'd and acknowledg'd by the Apostles themselves These Holy and Godly Men made Conscience of a Lie and counted it a heinous Crime to falsify yea they esteem'd it no less than a damnable Sin to disbelieve or misreport those things concerning Christ and the Christian Doctrines They were really perswaded in their Minds that their Salvation lay at stake that their Eternal Welfare or Everlasting Ruin were concern'd in these things And can you imagin then that they would report them falsly and impose upon the World by delivering things which were counterfeit Again as the Lives so the Suffering and Death of the Saints in the Primitive Days and in the succeeding Ages are an undeniable Argument of the Truth of what was deliver'd to them and of what they conveyed to us They underwent the most exquisite Pains and Torments with ineffable Courage and Constancy and nothing could prevail with them to renounce the Christian Religion insomuch that when the Pagan Adversaries in those days would express any thing to be impossible they did it thus Ye may sooner make the Professors of Christ quit their Mastersâ— Doctrine This was a thing not to be effected for those Persons first of all forsook their worldly Goods and then parted with their Lives to hold fast their Religion This patient Suffering and undaunted Dying of so many thousands is an unquestionable Proof of the Truth of Christianity For those enlightned and sanctified Men would never lay down their Lives to maintain a Falshood and to perpetuate a Lie No they knew whom they believed in and for whom they suffer'd and that made them so couragious We may conclude then that the Christian Doctrine is confirm'd by the Blood of those Worthy Men those expiring Saints did testify the Truth of Christianity and therefore they are stiled Martyrs Secondly The Evidence of the Cause is an impregnable Argument of the Reality and Truth of these things which I am speaking of There is this following heap of Evidences 1. A great Presumption arising from just Causes and Circumstances yea and from a multiplicity of them which in all Courts of Judicature is of considerable weight and value with understanding Judges This first but lowest sort of Evidence the Christian Church since our Saviour hath not been destitute of for there were never higher Presumptions in any Cause under Heaven than there were in this But we need not mention this when we have 2. The Notoriety of the Facts i. e. when the things in trial are openly and commonly known when they are avouched by publick Fame and the universal Vogue of Men. And that this was the case of Christianity ever since Christ left the Earth cannot be denied by any Man of Modesty and Truth 3. The Succession of Christians and Churches in the World is a plain Proof that they verily believed those things which made them Christians and Churches Hereupon they deliver'd to us those Writings which they receiv'd from the Hands of the Evangelists and Apostles by their transmitting them to Posterity they shew that they believe them to be sacred and certain Verities 4. The Succession of Bishops and Pastors is an other Evidence for it was their Office to read publickly the Scriptures of the New Testament and to preach the Doctrines contain'd in them and consequently to own them to be Truth which is a good Motive to us to do the same 5. The frequent Disputes which Christians in all Ages have held with those who opposed the Scripture and Christianity are no mean Testimony in this Cause 6. To these may be added the famous Writings of the Christians in the several Centuries their Apologies Dialogues Sermons Homilies Orations Commentaries Histories All which proclaim their serious and firm Belief of what they have convey'd down to us 7. All Christian Churches have deliver'd to us certain Symbols or Articles of Belief which they reckon'd to be the Standards of Evangelical Faith and Truth 8. The Constant Communion of the Church and the publick Worship of God in the solemn Assemblies of Christians ever since the days of the Apostles the setting apart a Day for that Worship the reading of the Scriptures at such times the instructing the People out of them the celebrating the Lord's Supper the constant custom of openly rehearsing and proâ—essing the Christian Belief the Prayers and Praises offer'd to God in the name of Christ the yearly Commemoration of the Birth Death and Resurrection of our Saviour the Sacrament of Baptism which acknowledgeth the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 9. The sundry Decrees and Canons of Synods and Councils held in the Christian Churches Lastly the many Laws and Edicts of Christian Emperours and Princes in defence and confirmation of our most holy Religion These and all the rest before-named are clear Proofs and Evidences that the Evangelical Writings which contain the Doctrine and Actions of our blessed Lord were rightly and truly convey'd to us and that we are in possession of the same Faith and
Prayer was heard and the People that stood by and heard it said that it thunder'd others said an Angel spake to him John 12. 28 29. Thus Christ was signally glorified by his Father and declared by him to be the Messias the Son of God by a Voice from Heaven attended with a kind of Thâ—nder To this we may annex God's speaking in a rushing mighty wind on the day of Pentecost Acts 2. 2. And Christ Jesus himself being in Heaven spake to Saul thence by a Voice saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts 9. 4. St. Iohn in the Apocalypse makes frequent mention of a Voice speaking to him and revealing great things to him where it is observable that Thunders and Voices go together chap. 4. 5. and 8. 5. Thus the New Testament as well as the Old had the benefit of that Divine Oracle which the Iews stiled the Daughter of a Voice i. e. a Voice from Heaven declaring the Will of God to Men. Afterwards we are told in Ecclesiastical History that those who were set on work by Iulian the Apostate to rebuild the Temple at Ierusalem were defeated by Thunder and a TERRIBLE VOICE that accompanied it from Heaven thereby bearing witness to the Cause of Christianity 2. The Iews had the Testimony of Angels and so have Christians to confirm this Oeconomy By these Heavenly Messengers Zacharias had notice given him of the approaching Birth of Iohn the Baptist and the Virgin Mary had tidings brought her of the miraculous Conception of the Holy Babe Jesus in her Womb and these were the Heralds that proclaimed the News of his Birth to the Shepherds One of this Celestial Order appeared to Ioseph and warn'd him to flie into Egypt with the Blessed Infant These glorious Spirits gave notice of Christ's Resurrection and when he ascended up to Heaven another of this Celestial Hierarchy address'd himself to the Apostles and assured them that in the like manner Jesus should come again to Judgment Another of these Ministring Spirits came to the devout Cornelius and bid him send for Peter that he might be the great and happy Instrument of converting him to the Christian Faith The Angel of God stood by St. Paul in the Night when he was on his dangerous Voyage and ascertain'd him of his safety Acts 27. 23. And sundry other instances there are of Angels making known the will of God unto Men in those early times of the Gospel and thereby attesting the Truth of Christianity 3. The Iews had the Mosaick Dispensation attested by Visions and we have the same way of Revelation to ascertain us of the Truth of Christianity Thus Zachariah saw a Vision in the Temple relating to the forerunner of Christ Luke 1. 22. The Apostles who were at our Saviour's Transfiguration had the same manner of discovery Mat. 17. 9. The Lord spake to Ananias in a Vision Acts 9. 10. You read of St. Peter's Vision whereby he was taught not to despise the Gentiles Acts 10. 10 c. A Vision appeared to Paul in the Night Acts 16. 9. And again the Lord incouraged him in a Vision Acts 18. 9. Of St. Stephen it is said that he looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw the Glory of God the Divine Shekinah and Iesus standing at the right hand of God Acts 7. 55. And we read in the Book of the Revelation that St. Iohn had frequent Visions And hither may be refer'd those visible representations spoken of in the New Testament as the Holy Ghost's descending on Christ in the shape of a Dove after he was baptized The appearance of Cloven Tongues like as of fire over the Apostles heads The Light from Heaven which shone round about St. Paul at his Conversion All these appertain to the Shekinah the Glorious Presence and Lustre of theâ— Heavenly Majesty And hither may be refer'd the Radiant Presence of Christ the bright and glorious Manifestation of his Person which is often mention'd by the Evangelists Mat. 17. 2 5. Mark 9. 3. and Rev. 1. 16. He dwelt among us he was the true Shekinah and we behold his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten of the Father John 1. 14. 4. Dreams were another sort of divine Revelations among the Jews and these also were not wanting to confirm the Truth of Christianity For we read that Ioseph was warned once and again in a Dream concerning Mary whom he had espoâ—sed and concerning the blessed Babe Mat. 1. 20. chap. 2. 12 13 19. And Pilate's Wife suffer'd many things in a Dream because of Christ who was then standing at the Bar before her Husband Mat. 27. 19. But because these Operations on the Imagination by Dreams are more liable to mistakes than Visions and other kinds of Revelation we have but few Instances of this However we are not wholly destitute of this Testimony under the Gospel 5. There was among the Jews that which they signally call'd the Holy Spirit viz. when Men were wonderfully and extraordinarily stir'd up to deliver the Will of God to make some divine Discoveries to the World and to assert their holy Religion This was in Christ himself Luke 4. 1. Acts 1. 2. 10. 38. and in the Apostles Acts 2. 4. 5. 8. 6. 3 5. 7. 55. 11. 24. 19. 6. and in all the holy Men that were sent by him to preach the Gospel By this they were enabled to speak without any premeditation before Rulers and Kings Mark 13. 10 11. for our Saviour tells them it is not ye that speak but the Holy Ghost With this the Apostles were all fill'd when they met together on the Day of Pentecost and utter'd such divine and heavenly things By this Prophetick Afflation or Inspiration the Evangelists penn'd the Scriptures of the New Testament for tho these Writings may be said to be humane Testimony as they were writ by Men yet these Persons being inspired by the Holy Ghost and not speaking of themselves but by extraordinary Assistance their Writings and Testimony are Divine This is part of that more sure Word of Prophesy spoken of by St. Peter Ep. 2. ch 1. ver 19. which in the next Verse he calls the Prophesy of the Scripture By this Divine Inspiration the Prophets and Apostles saw and foretold what should come to pass afterwards By this inward Afflation the Apostles tho mean and illiterate Persons preached the Gospel with that Authority and Evidence which some of their most implacable Enemies were not able to resist These are the Divine Witnesses of the Truth of the Gospel-Dispensation and of the Christian Religion Yea even at this Day and to the Worlds end this last Testimony viz. of the Spirit is useful and necessary I do not mean any Miraculous gift of the Spirit but a special and peculiar assistance of it such as all regenerate Persons have experience of That we may be throughly certain that this or that was deliver'd by God that we may assuredly know that such things were of Divine
Revelation there is need of this help of the Spirit the internal Testimony of the Holy Ghost such a hidden but powerful Operation of that giver of all Grace whereby a firm Faith and certain perswasion of the Truth of those things are wrought in us For that we may be certain of Divine Truth first it is requisite that we be outwardly helped that we make use of Moral Arguments and Evidences that we attend to Reasons and Proofs that we weigh especially the several particular Testimonies in the Word of God the Scriptures of Truth These in a moral way will make it evident to the mind that this or that which is propounded to us is Divinely reveal'd and can proceed from no other but God But then besides these outward means we must have our minds inwardly illuminated by the Holy Spirit for it is this alone which can inable us effectually to see and discern the Light and to take the force of the Arguments which prove the several Truths and to turn the Moral Evidence into Divine Demonstration Lastly as I mention'd among the divers ways of Revelation under the former Dispensations the Divine Impulse whereby Persons were instructed and excited to undertake and atchieve great things so at the erecting of the Gospel there was not wanting this way of communicating the Divine will and pleasure By such an Impulse as this Christ himself whipped the buyers and sellers out of the Temple by this powerful Afflation his Apostles and Followers were stir'd up to do strange and extraordinary things several of which are mention'd in the Acts of the Apostles and many more in Ecclesiastical History which nothing but this Divine Motion could legitimate it being immediately from the Spirit whereby they were instructed as well as enabled to effect these wonderful things Secondly The next Divine Testimony of the truth and certainty of the Christian Oeconomy and Religion is the fulfilling of the Prophesies of the Old Testament which had respect to the New I have already in another place when I proved the Authority of the Holy Scriptures insisted upon the fulfilling of the Prophesies of the Old and New Testament as they are an attestation of the Truth of those Sacred Writings But at present I am to mention only the Prophesies of the Old Testament and among them only those that relate to the Messias and the circumstances which more nearly and peculiarly appertain to him And the producing of these and shewing how they were exactly fulfill'd will be a clear and demonstrative Argument of the Truth of Christianity For though Spinosa would perswade Men that all the Prophesies in the Bible were the mere result of a brisk Fancy that there was no foundation in the things themselves but that Imagination made all yet surely the bold and impious Man would not have gone so far as to have asserted that the actual fulfilling of the Prophesies is nothing but Fancy No certainly he could not have the face to deny that the completion of those Predictions is some real thing and not founded on Imagination For here is matter of fact which carries reality and certainty with it and therefore is a convincing proof not only of the Truth of those Prophesies but of Christianity it self This then is that which I will now enter upon The Prophets of the Old Testament speak frequently of the Messias they have described and characterized him nothing almost was done by Christ but they predicted it every particular act circumstance and accident of Importance that should happen about him was foretold Now all these were actually verified and fulfilled as namely what related to his Birth his Life his Death his Rising again First what related to his Birth as that Iohn Baptist should be his Forerunner and make way for him Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me Mal. 3. 1. And ch 4. v. 5. Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord. Compare these places with Mat. 11. 10 14 Mark 1 2 9. 11. Luke 1. 17 and 76. 7. 27. and you will not question their Accomplishment And the Birth it self and the Conception which was in order to it were plainly prophesied of many Ages before As that in Ier. 31. 22. is thought to be a Prophesy concerning the Conception of Christ the Lord hath created a new thing in the Earth a Woman shall compass a Man Some indeed have interpreted it thus the Church tho weak as a Woman shall compass and besiege her Enemies and take them Captive But this is very flat and frigid especially if you observe the Preface to the Prediction the Lord hath created a new thing in the Earth It is no new thing that the Church gets the better of her Enemies there are many Instances of this in the History of the Israelities So that something else is justly thought to be the meaning of the words And what should it be but this that Christ who was made of a Woman should be incompassed and shut up by her in her Virgin-Womb Her compassing a Man expresses the conception of him The word Sabab circumdedit agrees very well with it for the Mother encompasses round the Faetus with her Womb. And the Greek â—itly answers to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 1. 23. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 1. 31. The plain meaning then is that a Woman Nekebah not Ishah one that is no Wife but a Virgin shall conceive a Man-child in her Womb. And the Woman here meant is the blessed Virgin Mary and the Man is Christ who is God and Man See Dr. Pâ—câ—ck in Not. Miscâ—l in Port. Mos. And this Interpretation is the more remarkable by reason of the Hebrew word which we here translate Man It denoteth not barely one of the Male kind in contradistinction to one of the other Sex but it properly signifies a Man of Power and Might and so it is fitly applied to the Messias who is Omnipotent Yea the antient Iews as Abarbinel one of their own Rabbins testifies understood by this word here God himself to whom Power more peculiarly and eminently belongs It is no wonder therefore that the Fathers of the Church generally interpret this place of the Virgin Mary bearing Christ in her Womb in which he may properly be said to be incompassed and infolded by her This was a new thing indeed there never was the like before nor shall ever be afterwards And therefore a worthy Writer is here to be blamed who unadvisedly saith the Iews might justly laugh at this Interpretation The Delivery and Birth of the Messias thus shut up in the Womb is expresly foretold in Isa. 9. 6. To us a Child is born to us a Son is given and the Government shall be upon his Shoulder It is true some of the Jews say Hezâ—kiah is spoken of here but they are confuted hence that the Epithets here
they would have been found out 5. Miracles were done in all parts of the World and not confined to Iudea only The Acts of the Apostles relate what Miracles they exerted in several Countries where they went and afterwards the whole World was visited by one or other of them and yet we never read that they were proved to be Impostors But on the contrary we are credibly informed that their Miracles were owned and approved of not in one place only but in all places where they came 6. These Miracles were wrought these Cures were done and the strange Languages were spoken amongst them for many years together whereas what is counterfeit holds not long 7. These Miracles were not control'd and check'd by any greater as the Wonders of the Egyptian Sorcerers were by Moses You may observe that those Magicians could not plague Men and Cattel with Boils they could not restore the Waters to their former quality tho they could gather the Frogs together yet they were not able to kill them They could not counterfeit the Miracle of Fleas and Lice tho they did those of the Serpents Blood and Frogs Here was some restraint the Devil was overpower'd But that was not all They had not been suffer'd to effect so much as they did but that Moses was there ready to countermand them and to baffle their Delusions They turned the Rods into Serpents but Moses's Rod devoured theirs i. e Moses's true Serpents devour'd the Magicians counterfeit Ones But Christ and his Apostles wrought Miracles and there was none to countermand them which shews that they were real Miracles Thus true Miracles may be known by their manner and circumstances Again These may be known to be such from the Ends and Designs which Christ and his Followers propounded to themselves in exerting them First True Miracles are always for the Confirmation of the Truth but seeming and counterfeit Ones are wrought on purpose to maintain some false Doctrine Therefore if a Pretender to Miracles teacheth any thing derogatory to Providence and to the Nature of God and Religion we must look on him as an Impostor for Miracles that are true never contradict the Divine Testimony and the Truth recorded in Holy Writ This then you must know that as Miracles confirm a Doctrine so they are authorized by the Doctrine We must not rest in Miracles alone but to the Word and to the Testimony we must appeal Christ saith the Works I do bear witness of 〈◊〉 John 5. 36. but he adds ver 39. 〈◊〉 thâ— Scriptures they are they which testify of me By this then we may ascertain our selves of the Authority of those Miracles which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought when they were upon Earth They were done to attest a Doctrine which as it contradicted no part of Moral Religion nor the natural Notions of Reason so it was conformable to the written Word of God and all the Truths in the Old Testament In the second place True Miracles tend to the overthrowing of Satan's Kingdom in the World they never confirm and abet Sin and Prophanation in those that do them or in any one else As we observ'd before from Deut. 13. 1. that God some times permits false Prophets to work Signs and Wonders among his People so the Verses following tell us how we may know them to be lying Wonders viz. if the Prophet makes use of them to entice Persons to gâ— after other Gods and to serve them If the Signs and Wonders were intended to seduce them to a false Worship to perswade them to Idolatry and forsaking the true God they were not to be credited they were to be look'd upon as no true Miracles but counterfeit ones For it is not a sufficient proof for the truth of Miracles that they are for attesting the Orthodox Faith unless they also uphold a Holy Life In the third place Our Saviour's Miracles were such as were beneficial to others and was for the good of Mankind He procured Food for Multitudes of Persons when they were almost â—amished he cured the Lame and the Blind he ejected troublesom Devils out of Mens Bodies he relieved the most impotent and distressed But the Signs and Wonders which are done by Impostors are rather harmful than advantageous It is not unworthy of our Remark what was partly suggested before that the Egyptian Magicians turn'd the Water into Blood but they could not reduce it to its Nature again they brought up Frogâ— but they could not clear the Houses of the Egyptians of them They could bring Plagues but they could not remove them And it may be observed also of Impostors that if what they do is not harmful yet it is oftentimes fruitless and unprofitable it is vain and trifling and fit only to entertain fond and scrupulous Minds But here it may be objected that all Christs Miracles were not beneficial for his â—ursing the Fig-â—ree Mark â—1 14. and his sending the unclean Spirit into the Gaderens Swine Mat. 8. 30. were not so As to the first viz. Christs cursing the Fig-tree it was a Symbolical Act figuring the Judgment of God against the unfruitful Religion of the Jews and being thus consider'd it was of great use and benefit Some indeed have thought it strange that our Saviour should do thiâ— when he himself saith the time of Figs was not yet v 13. as if it were unjust to blast the Tree for not bearing Fruit before the time of bearing was come but they mistake the meaning of those words which is no other than this that it was not the time of Figs with that Tree but it was with others The year was not unseasonable for Figs but this Tree bore nothing but Leaves therefore our Saviour dealt thus with it This I take to be the plainest and clearest Interpretation of the Place and then the Objection vanishes for who will be concern'd at the witâ—â—ring of a Barren Tree I know there are other Solutions of the place but none of them seem to me to be genuine That of Episcopius is not to be allowed of viz. that when Christ cursed the Figtree and said the 〈◊〉 of Figs 〈◊〉 not yet he did not know that it was not time of Figs. A learned Writer of our own hath this peculiar Notion that Christ look'd for Figs and yet saith thâ— time of Figâ— is not yet because he look'd not for any Figs that he thought could be ripe and fit to eat that Spring it being about that time but he look'd for those that grew the last Summer and had hung on the Tree all Winter But tho Iudâ—â— was a very fruitful Country and had in it several things different from other Soils yet it is to be question'd whether there were Fig-trees in the Field of this nature and whether the Jewish Writings which this Author refers to speak of this sort of Fruit. Besides if this Tree bore Figs as the Author supposes it is not material whether they were old or
the winged Feet But the Reason assigned in the History why St. Paul was taken for Mercury is because he was so excellent a Speaker Barnabas said little or nothing and so pass'd with them for Grave Iupiter who had his Interpreter And this was St. Paul he was Mercurius a good Spokesman indeed one of an admirable Tongue that could perswade the Lame to walk and a Cripple to use his Feet However these ignorant Heathens were mistaken as to their making Gods of Men yet in the main they were in the right viz. that that miraculous Healing argued Divinity and that none could do such things but those who are authorized by Heaven And as this is the sense of Mankind so indeed it must be thus in the very nature of the thing it self for what is above created Power proceeds from God and what is from him is to some great end and purpose worthy of him thus Miracles exceeding the Power of Nature are the Attestation of God himself and are design'd to evidence that Truth and to authorize that Doctrine which is from God which are very great and excellent Ends and becoming the Author of them Accordingly the Miracles which Christ and his Apostles wrought were intended to confirm and establish the Gospel which they preach'd and to demonstrate to the World that that Gospel is true For God would not throw away Miracles much less would he use them to confirm a false Doctrine We may be assured of this that God's infinite Wisdom and Goodness would not give up the World to such an unavoidable Deceit as such a Multitude of Miracles would lead Men into if they were used to attest an Imposture to confirm a Lie If I cannot know the Messias to be sent of God when he raised the Dead wrought all other sorts of Miracles and rose himself from the Dead I have no possibility of knowing who speaks from God or whether I am deceived or no or whether there be any truth and reality in things or no. This then we may build upon there being Truth in the World Miracles undeniably point us to it for they being a Testimony from God they cannot attest Falshood but must necessarily direct us to and confirm us in that which is true Our Christianity being founded on Miracles cannot but be of divine Allowance it is impossible but that it should be from God Christ and the Apostles could not have had Power to work true Miracles if their Doctrine had not been true for God would not and cannot maintain a Lie by a Miracle for then he is no God We cannot then expect a more convincing Evidence of Divine Authority than this viz. that our Saviour spoke great and excellent things and that he wrought Miracles to confirm what he said What would you have more It was necessary that he should confirm the Truth of his Doctrine by his Miracles and now they are wrought there is a necessity in order to our being Christians that we heartily believe them I say Miracles were necessary for confirming the Gospel because the Gospel was look'd upon as a thing new and unheard of as you may remember the complaint of the Athenian Philosophers against St. Paul was that he delivered a New Doctrine and brought strange things to their Ears Acts 17. 19 20. They were long accustomed to other Notions and so there was a vast Prejudice on their Minds Wherefore Miracles were necessary to gain Credit to the Christian Faith and to bring them off effectually from their former Sentiments Again many things in the Gospel were above the flight of Humane Reason and on that account were not easily entertain'd which made it requisite that they should be declared to be true by extraordinary Signs and Wonders Likewise because the Persons who preach'd and profess'd the Christian Religion were poor inconsiderable Men it was necessary that they should bring Credentials from God to attest what they deliver'd When they shew'd this Seal this broad Seal of Heaven none could question their Commission Besides the World was then full of Idolatry and false Religions which could not be rooted out but by such a strange and unusual way as this viz. the working of Mighty Signs and Miracles even such as outvie the Power of Nature and the Pranks of Magicians Lastly the Mosaick Law and Oeconomy having been before establish'd by Miracles it was neeessary that the Evangelical Law and Dispensation should be attested in the like manner God himself had constituted several things before which now were taken away by Christ therefore he taking them away ought to shew his Authority which he did by working of uncontroulable Miracles And to shew that the Law was to give place to the Gospel he and his followers wrought far greater Miracles than any that were done before to attest the Mosaick Religion Therefore he told the Jews that he did among them the Works which none other Man did John 15. 24. And as they were greater so they were more in number than those of Moses and the Prophets which was also necessary to take away all scruple from Mens Minds and to beget in them a hearty and full Belief of Christ's Doctrine For this was the end of their being wrought viz. to confirm the Belief of the Gospel and to ascertain Men even us at this day that God himself bears witness to what Christ and his Apostles delivered The use of these Miracles I say extends to us and to all Ages of the Church tho we saw them not yet their Virtue comes down to us All the Miracles done by our Saviour and his Apostles are as forcible and convincing now as if they were done in our Days they are still and ever will be an infallible Proof Evidence and Demonstration of the Truth of Christianity To shut up this head if the Christian Religion be founded on the Mighty Miracles of our Lord and his Apostles the Scripture is true and our Religion is true but if these are not take notice to confound the Folly and Sottishness of such Supposers it is the greatest Miracle of all if I may so say that Christianity was receiv'd and believ'd without Miracles So much concerning the Divine Testimony of Miracles CHAP. XVII The wonderful prevailing and spreading of Christianity another proof of the Truth of it Some of the learnedest and wisest Jews converted to Christianity A Catalogue of knowing and learned Pagans in the five first Centuries that abandoned Gentilism and embraced the Christian Religion Remarkable Instances of the Power of the Christian Truth The virtue of the Gospel far exceeds that of Philosophy Examples of great and rich Men converted to the Christian Faith This prevail'd against the rage of the most powerful Persecutors The more the Gospel was oppress'd the more it flourish'd and prosper'd in all Nations Examples of God's remarkable Judgments on the Enemies of Christianity especially on the Nation of the Jews This latter insisted upon and shew'd to be an Argument of
were to no purpose they were an Inticement rather than a Discouragement to Christianity and that when they come to take a view they should find the numbers of Christians increas'd by their murdering of them for the Seed of this wonderful Increase is the Blood of Christians And another very excellently saith the Blood of the slain Christians is but the watering of the new Plants i. e. the new Converts to Christianity are daily increased and thrive by the bloody Persecutions which are rais'd against them Out of the Ashes of the dead Martyrs spring up new Advocates for Christianity And those elegant Words of another Author are very remarkable who speaking of the Persecution under Dioclesian saith thus At that time the whole World almost was dyed with the sacred Blood of Martyrs for they strove who should run fastest to those glorious Prizes Martyrdom by glorious ways of dying was more greedily courted in those days than Bishopricks are now hunted after with wicked Ambition The World was never more exhausted by all its Wars nor did we Christians ever conquer with more Triumph than when we could not be conquer'd by ten years bloody Persecutions Here is to be discern'd the Power and Efficacy of Christianity and from thence we may infer the Truth of it For as One saith well there is not a more powerful and convincing Testimony in the World of the Truth of Religion than dying for it And this is the Testimony which is abundantly given to Christianity Thousands of Martyrs have confirmed the Truth of it with their Blood And that Blood was the Advancement of Christianity this thriv'd and prospered upon it and Proselites were continually gain'd to it by their observing the patient Sufferings of the Servants of Jesus Thus it was even in the very beginning great multitudes of People flock'd to the Baptismal Waters and entred themselves into Christianity because they beheld the undaunted Courage of the Professors of it even at their dying hour and were moved thence to imbrace the Faith which they saw them so zealously maintain even unto death These were the baptized for the dead whom St. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 15. 29. as I have shew'd in another place where I have proved that the words are meant of the Baptism of Water and that the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators render for is as much as because of or by reason of or for the sake of and consequently the genuine purport of the words is that several were converted to Christianity and were admitted into the Church by Baptism by reason of those Martyrs who died in defence of the Christian Cause They were so far from being discouraged that they were excited to Christianity by their beholding the deportment of the suffering Saints And thus it was afterwards the Blood of the Sufferers brought in great numbers of Converts to the Evangelical Faith and thereby the Cause of Iesus was mightily advanced They are remarkable words of one of the Antient Christians who was afterwards crowned with Martyrdom The Torments which the Pagans used faith he in hopes of preserving themselves and their Paganism entire were not only the cause of the destruction of Paganism but of the establishment of Christianity And in another place Do you not see saith he that the more numerous the Punishers are the more the number of others increases which appears to be a thing that is not a human Work but wholly from God and demonstrates his Power And certainly it is one of the greatest Proofs of the Verity of the Christian Religion and therefore is made use of by the generality of the Antient Fathers of the Church and particularly by St. Chrysostom in several places it is insisted upon and urged most pathetically that the Church was miraculously establish'd notwithstanding the universal Opposition it met with and that at last the Patience and Constancy of Christians made a final Conquest and gloriously triumphed over all Thus I have shew'd that the Vnlearned and Weak got the better of the Wise and Potent and we see the Truth of the Apostle's words God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise and weak things to confound the things that are mighty 1 Cor. 1. Christianity prevail'd against Policy and Power against the Wisdom of Statesmen against the Eloquence of Orators and the Sagacity of Philosophers against the Edicts of Princes the Decrees of Senates and the Forces of Emperors The more it was struck at the stronger it grew the more furiously it was opposed either by the inward Indisposition and Antipathy in Mens minds to receive it or by the outward Endeavours of the World to silence it the more did it prosper and flourish No Lawgivers could ever bring it to pass that other Nations should receive their Laws neither among Greeks nor Barbarians could this be done tho they endeavour'd what they could to effect it so Origen discourses in his Philocalia But the Laws of Christ were receiv'd by many Nations both Greeks 〈◊〉 Barbarians renounced their own Laws and 〈◊〉 and embraced the Institution and Discipline of our Blessed Saviour And altho the Sacred Script ures especially those of the New Testament which contain the Christian Laws were sought for by theâ— Emperors especially by Dioclesian as Eusebius who was an Eye-witness of it testifies and were brought into the Market-places and there committed to the Fire as Antioâ—â—us before labour'd to destroy the Writings of the Old Testament in the same manner and altho the Christians themselves were forced to deliver up their Bibles to be burnt yet these Hoâ—y Writings were not extinguish'd but were in many places preserved with great care and diligence and by the Providence of God kept out of the hands of those who design'd their utter extirpation Yea the more this Holy Book was hunted after by the Enemies of Christianity the more it was prized by the Christians the more its Divine Truths were admired loved and embraced And the more Christianity it self was depressed the higher it rose and lifted up its glorious Head above all its Persecutors In a word like some mighty River the more it was stopp'd in its course the higher it swelled and with its impetuous Waves carried all before it This wondrous prevalency of the Gospel against the Wit and Wisdom the Strength and Power of the World is a Divine Testimony of the Authority and Truth of Christianity and plainly shews that it is not the Device and Invention of Man but that it is from God and from him alone Fifthy Let me add the severe hand of God in remarkably markably punishing the Enemies of Christianity as another Divine Testimony to the Truth of it King Herod sirnaâ—ed the Great who sought for the young Child Iesus to dâ—stroy him and murder'd the Infants at Bethlehem for his sake felt a particular Judgment from Heaven upoâ— him for as Iosephus acquaints us he
not of Human Race And further it is remarkable that this People endeavour'd in the Emperor Adrian's Reign to restore and reedifie their Temple but were forced to desist from it And afterwards when Iulian out of hatred to the Christians set them about that Work as they were laying the Foundation an Earthquake shatter'd all they had done and Fire flash'd out of the ground wherewith many thousands of the Iews were destroyed as is testified not only by several Christian Writers but by Ammianus Marcellinus who was a Heathen But by the way it may be observ'd when the Christians built a Temple in the same place they were not molested but finish'd it and made it the Patriarchal Seat and flourish'd five hundred years till the time that Ierusalem was taken by the Saracens This Iewish People now have neither Temple nor Priest Altar nor Sacrifice their Rites and Ceremonies are ceas'd their Tribes are confounded their Prophets are extinct they have no certain State or Commonwealth no Laws no Prince no Governor of their own they are scatter'd over the face of the whole Earth and are a despised and loathed People This cannot but be thought to be the just Iudgment of God upon them for their murdering of Christ. And there cannot be a more visible Evidence of the Truth of Christianity than this viz. the Destruction of the Iewish Poliâ—y and the miserable Dispersion of that People for these sixteen hundred years It was observ'd by the Enemies of the Iews heretofore how they prosper'd above all other People They are a certain sort of Men saith an Historian who tho they have been often diminished yet they have so increas'd that they have been too hard for the Power of the Roman Laws and they have almost arrived to the Confidence and Liberty of making Laws for the rest of the World But this singular Providence of God towards the Iews is long since changed and they have been through many Ages the remarkable Example of Divine Justice and Vengeance such as no Story can parallel Tully is not to be regarded when speaking of the Iews he saith That Nation doth sufficiently declare by its being conquered and made Tributary and by being reduced to the utmost Servitude how dear it was to the Gods He speaks this after his Pagan manner But Sulpitius Severus who was a better Judg of Religion and of the Issues of it speaking of the Destruction of Ierusalem by Titus and of the dispersion of the Iews thereupon gives us this Remark This last overthrow of the Temple and Captivity of the Iews whereby they are banished from their Country and are daily seen to be scatter'd over the whole Earth are a Testimony to the World that this Punishment hath befallen them for no other cause than for laying their wicked hands upon Christ for when at other times this People were deliver'd to Captivity for their Sins they never underwent that slavery beyond seventy Years But now these Persons who were the Dear Off-spring of those that were the Darlings of God Almighty the Beloved of the Lord his Chosen People his peculiar Charge and the singular Care of Heaven have been for sixteen Centuries forsaken of God and all Men and are the very Offscowring of the World This utter Extermination of the Iews is an unanswerable Argument against them and shews that they lie under the Curse of God for their rejecting the Saviour of the World and for putting to Death the Messias Two of their Rabbies seriously pondering this Argument urged upon them by Luther were convinced of their gross Error and Sin and were the day after baptized at Wittenberg in the face of the whole University And truly this must be said that the total dispersion of the Iews can never in all its Circumstances be reconciled with the Providence of God his Goodness Wisdom and Promises if they continue the People of God still and are in favour with him For can it be imagined that God would leave his Beloved People so long and wholly disown them Is it worthy of God and agreeable to his Wisdom and Mercy which are interested in the Salvation of Men to let the True Religion so they count Iudaism fall to the ground and be utterly abolished and to set up another a False one so they reckon Christianity to be in its place This is plain and convincing I think It is harsh and incredible that the God of Order and Righteousness should deal thus that he should cause this Confusion in the World and throw down and even break in pieces a Religion which is the only True one according to them It cannot enter into any Reasonable Mans mind that God would let his own Religion and People be thus confounded It is evident therefore that the Iewish Religion was but for a time and that the Christian Religion was to succeed that and that this is the True Religion likewise that God sent this severe Punishment on the Iews for their refusing of Christ the True and Only Messiah and for their Opposing and Persecuting and at last Crucifying this Holy One. Thus the Christian Religion is attested and vouched by the dreadful Plagues and Iudgments on the Persons and Nations that opposed it Vengeance hath pursued the Enemies of the Gospel Lastly from the Excellency of the Christian Religion and of all the Principles Doctrines and Truths that belong to it I gather the Reality and Certainty of it This is another Divine Testimony which might be enlarg'd upon Never was Holiness so strictly urged as now never was there an Institution that was so Heavenly and Sublime as this never was there any that directed Men to such Noble Ends and afforded them such Joys and Solaces Wherefore it cannot proceed from any but God A Religion that so immediately leads to him must needs come from him Since Christianity doth fit us for Heaven we have Reason to believe that it came from thence But because I had occasion to insist largely upon this Particular when I undertook to assert the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and afterwards when I demonstrated the Excellency and Perfection of them I will say no more of this last Argument of the Truth of Christianity And thus you see the firm Basis of it These arâ— the Testimonials to prove the Truth of our Religion and that it is a Dispensation different from all the rest These are the Proofs whereon we found this Oeconomy and there is no other evidence that a Reasonable Man can desire I say no other becausâ— here are all kinds of Evidience Christianity is proved by the Witness of credible Men and by the Attestation of God himself It is proved by Natural and Supernatural Arguments by Reason and by Faith We have the Certainty both of Human and Divine Testimony which may be call'd a Demonstration for a thing is demonstrated when it appears that there is an absolute Impossibility that the thing should not be thus
and when there is a Contradiction involved in the Matter otherwise So here is a Moral Impossibility that it should be otherwise take all things together and it is not possible but that it should be thus and the contrary implies a Contradiction to Sense Reason and Scripture I should now proceed to the last Thing I propounded to speak of viz. the Degrees of the Evangelical Dispensation but this bâ—ing the Administration which is peculiarly ours and wherein we are most concerned I will before I go any further offer such Rational Deductions to you as this part of our Discourse naturally affordeth 1. Assent to the Christian Religion Which is a very Reasonable Inference for Assent or Belief naturally follows on the Clearness of Evidence and the more Clear and Demonstrative the Evidence is the Firmer and Stronger will the Belief be For as the Testimony is such must this needs be and therefore if the former be not only Human but Divine and consequently be Infallible the latter must be proportionable What is Divine saith an Excellent Writer doth by its Excellency conciliate Belief and by its Truth gain Authority For this Reason no Art or Science can pretend to that Certainty which is in Divinity Politicks are fallible Philosophy goes upon contrary Hypotheses Medicks guess rather than know the inward Causes and Springs of Diseases The Lawyer hath his Ieofail Law it self is very Uncertain and Arbitrary if you consider the infinite Disagreement of divers Nations even about the same thing Yea even Mathematicks if we may believe those that best understand them are mixt with Uncertainties and Falshoods there are Fallacies and Paralogisms in Geometry all is not plain downright Demonstration as appears from the Quarrels and Contests among Mathematicians themselves But Divinity is truly a Science and surpasseth all others because the Ground of it is supernatural Light and the very Testimony of God himself Particularly the Articles of Christianity are founded on Divine Revelation and therefore are unquestionable The Doctrine of the Gospel is built on this Rock this Stable and Impregnable Rock The Foundation of God standeth sure it continues the same and cannot be moved Christian Theology is founded on a sure Bottom Christ Iesus the Son of God and who is himself God having fixed it Heaven and Earth shall pass away but this Word shall not pass away With relation to this Mr. Boyle's Treatise of the Excellency of Theology compared with Natural Philosophy is well worth our perusal That admirable Person so well skill'd in the Study of Physiologie shews the Preeminence of the Study of Divinity above it on this account that Theological Truths are evidenced by Divine Testimony and therefore we may firmly acquiesce in them and require no further or greater Proof as indeed there can be no greater tho as I have shew'd they are not destitute of other Evidences The Evangelical Truths especially are the True Theologie That of Plato and Aristotle and other Philosophers to which they were pleased to vouchsafe This Name being but a sorry and ill contrived Rhapsodie therefore the Christian Church gave the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to St. Iohn because he above all the rest of the Evangelists so expresly â—â—clared the Divinity of the Son of God which is the Noblest and Sublimest Point of Christianity and is matter of pure Faith and Divine Revelation Be convinced then of the True Grounds of your Christian Belief of the solid Foundations and undeniable Evidences which Christianity is built upon Know this that God could not have done more for the begetting of a strong Faith and Assurance 2. Assert and defend maintain and hold fast your Religion and let nothing shake your Faith and Confidence Indeed it is a wonder that such strong Supporters of the Christian Religion should be struck at by any but so it is Hereticks Iews and Pagans of old and high-flown Enthusiasts Deists Atheists Lewd and Dissolute Christians of late have endeavour'd to shake these Foundations Be you therefore the more Zealous in the defence of Christianity knowing that it is no Shadow or Phantom it depends not on Imagination and Conceit but is certainly True beyond all the subtile evasions and subterfuges of Sophisters It is an Excellency in a Man's Life to be upon sure Grounds and consequently to know what to do You have this Advantage in the Christian Religion it being something which is certain and fixed and therefore this should make you constant in the Profession and Exercise of it this should make you steady in your Resolves and Actions Your Religion being so Firm and Certain you ought to stand to it and to suffer none to rob you of it but to part with all for it These are the two Particular Inferences from this last thing I have discoursed of viz. the Truth and Certainty of the Christian Religion There are more general Deductions to be made from the whole Dispensation and they are these 1. Let us take notice of and admire the transcendent Worth of the Christian Religion I have traced Religion through all its several Stages I have lâ—t you see the whole intire Progress of it and you cannot but observe that all the former Dispensations made way for this of Christianity It must then be a very admirable Thing to which all that went before in God's own Oeconomies was but a Prelude a Preface a Preparative All before were but rude Draughts and imperfect Models They were a Foil only to set this off they were but as the dusky Twi-light to the brighter Day All that went before was but Infancy and Childhood This is Manhood and full Age. This one Consideration is sufficient to convince us of the Greatness and Majesty of the Kingdom of Christ under the Gospel Tho the Law which immediately preceded it and was the choicest of all the former Dispensations had some Lustre in it yet in comparison of the Gospel it had none its Glory vanished as the Light of the Stars when the Sun appeareth They saw in a Glass darkly they had but short and dim Representations of things they had none of that Clearness and Certainty which we under the Gospel have attained to Notwithstanding what was said before that they had many Ways and Rules to judg of True Prophets by and to know them from False ones yet this must be added that it was very difficult Prophecy might be easily counterfeited Fancy and Imagination made strong Impressions and deceived many they frequently had delusive Dreams and Visions In most of the Differences between the True Prophetick Spirit and the Enthusiastick Impostures of Pseudo-Prophets as they are set down by the Iewish Writers I find little satisfaction nor can any one who looks for Rational and Solid Accounts But the Prophecies and Revelations under the Evangelical Dispensation are Satisfactory and Certain We have now a more sure Word of Prophecy The excellent Discoveries made to the World by the Sacred Oracles of the Gospel are
so too If it surpasses all others why do not our Lives exâ—el those of others If we have so Holy a Doctrine why do we not reduce it to Practice If our Religion be so excellent why do we not obey its Laws and why do we not discern the Advantages we have above all others to do well and worthily If in the Apostle's time the night was far spent and the day was at hand i. e. the times of Ignorance were gone and the Gospel was come then surely now the night is vanished and it is broad Day and we are obliged to walk as Children of Light I pray seriously consider of the great Change of Affairs in Religion by the Coming of our Saviour remember that it is now unspeakably Advanced and Exalted in so much that that which was reckon'd Religious and Pious in the Jewish Oeconomy is not accounted the same in this great Alteration of things If you weigh this you will be convinced that you are obliged to a stricter Life and Behaviour than what would have served under the Mosaick Law At that time Men stumbled and stagger'd they made imperfect Discoveries of Truth and of their Duty they could not see distinctly and they were excusable because the Medium was defective the Judaick Shadows and Mists hindred their sight But the Day-spring from on high hath visited us all is clear and conspicuous all Truths as well as Duties are plain and intelligible all the parts of our Religion are fixed and determined we cannot mistake unless we will and if we are Vitious it is not from Ignorance but our wilfulness and stubborness But we who have this redundant Light are concerned to walk worthy of it and to conform our Lives and Manners to it Certainly this is our proper Duty and we must first extinguish our Reason before we can disown this to be our Interest It is absolutely undeniable that a greater accuracy of Life a more exact Course of Virtue is required of us than of those who lived under the former Dispensations and were unacquainted with the Laws of Christianity A Pagan Historian tells us that those who piously embraced the Christian Faith were presently put into a State free from Sin However he understood it it is certain that Christianity ingageth men to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit and to perfect Holiness in the fear of God to act according to the admirable and matchless Rules of so Transcendent a Religion and to live according to that great measure of Grace which is vouchsafed them A Pious Writer of the primitive times speaking of the Profession of Christianity and displaying the true Nature of it lets us know what was then judg'd to be the genuine Efficacy and Power of it viz. it s being effectual to root out all unlawful Anger Evil-speaking Licentiousness Lust Covetousness and to implant the contrary Virtues and Graces of the Spirit And in another place he sums up Christianity in short thus It consists wholly in this to live without wickedness and defilement On which account it is observed by him that Morality came short of Christianity it had not that Power and Energy on Mens minds that this hath It smooth'd their Tongues but reform'd not their Lives Or if it in some measure reform'd their outward and publick Actions yet their more retired and private ones were not taken care of and their Principles were unsound and corrupt But this is the singular Benefit of Christianity that it doth not only rectifie Mens Principles but teaches them to order their Conversations aright A Christian is not only a Knowing Man whence Clement of Alexandria gives him the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Stromata but he is one of a holy Life and Practice as that Excellent Person characterizes him his Manners are answerable to his Knowledg This then is the Catholick Concern of us all to add to our Knowledg and Profession of the Christian Truth a Holy and Religious Life that our Behaviour may speak the Excellency and demonstrate the Efficacy of the Evangelical Principles that it may be seen that those who are bless'd with true and right Perswasions live better than the deluded and erring World If we excel Hereticks Pagans and Jews in the Orthodoxness of our Opinions it is fit we should also surpass them in the Eminency of our Actions as one of the Antients religiously speaks Let us not dare to hold the Truth in unrighteousness but let our hearts be mightily affected and our Lives wholly govern'd by the great Truths of the Gospel by the indispensible Laws of Christianity 4. Let us assure our selves that if we live not thus the final Doom of us Christians will be more intolerable than that of all other Men. You know who said it Light is come into the World for in respect of the times of the Gospel all the World before was in Darkness but Christ Iesus brought Light with him a Light so Great so Powerful that tho we shut our Eyes never so hard yet it glares through our very Eye-lids but he adds This is the Condemnation that notwithstanding this Light is come Men love Darkness rather than Light they wilfully indulge themselves in the ways of Sin and mind not the Discoveries which are made by the Gospel This this is that which shall Condemn them for as their Means are greater so their Accompts will be higher Their Reckonings will bear proportion to their Receipts their Final Sentence will be adjusted to their present Helps and Advantages according to that of our Saviour If I had not come and spoken and spoken so plainly so evidently so powerfully to them they had not had sin but now have they no cloak for their sin John 15. 22. That this is little thought of in the World we may gather from the Behaviour of Men. How Strangely do they forget themselves and their Duty the End both of their Creation and Redemption They run counter to all the Undertakings of Christ Jesus they confront all his Designs and labour to undo all that he came to do They disparage the Wisdom of God in finding out the way of our Salvation they despise his Goodness in offering them the Means of being happy They uphold and maintain that which Christ came to destroy for whereas the purpose of his wonderful Manifestation was to beat down Satan's Kingdom they set it up as fast as they can Which is a plain contradicting of Heaven and a bidding defiance to the Almighty He that views the Lives and Manners of Men at this day and takes notice of their open Prophaness and Debauchery would be apt to perswade himself that they really think that Christ's Coming into the World was for no other end than to indulge them in their Follies and Vices and to give them a Licence to be as lewd as they pleas'd So fond and groundless are the Imaginations of a great part of the World
the Disciples for a time such Prejudices had they on their minds that they could not conceive the meaning of our Lord and they durst not ask him concerning those things It was not as yet reveal'd to them by what means the Messias was to deliver them they dreamt of an Earthly Kingdom as the blinded Iews at this day they promis'd themselves much temporal Prosperity and Grandeur in the World Neither could the Doctrine of Christ's Resurrection gain assent with them for we read that when he spake of it to the three Apostles before whom he was transfigured they questioned one with another what the rising from the dead should mean Mark 9. 10. And afterwards when he told the other Apostles as well as these that he should rise again the third day they understood not that saying Mark 9. 31 32. That our Saviour's Friends believ'd not his Resurrection appears from their dressing his dead Body with Aromatick Gums and Spices which were design'd to preserve it It had been vain to use these glutinous Gums and Persumes if they thought he was in a short time to rise again And when he was risen they would not believe it as appears too plainly from that Speech of Cleophas one of those whom Jesus talk'd with presently after his Resurrection tho then he pass'd incognito We trusted saith he that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel Luke 24. 21. Still he doubted tho he had heard of the Lord's Resurrection in saying we trusted he discover'd his distrust and impli'd that Iesus could not be the Messias who was to redeem Israel Tho the Apostles were certified of Christ's Resurrection by those that saw him yet their words seemed to them as idle Tales Luke 24. 11. and they would not be perswaded till they themselves saw Christ among them Nor did they know that he was to ascend for just before he left them they put this question to him Wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel Acts 1. 6. Wilt thou repair the Iewish State and recover its pristine Splendour yea raise it to a higher Dignity than ever it arrived to as we expect should be done by the Messias So likewise it might be proved that some of them were in an Error about the End of the World for they believed it would be about that time By these and other Instances their Ignorance and Mistake were apparently discovered they had very false apprehensions and conceptions of things and some of the chief Articles of the Christian Belief were not credited by them Here I might add that in our Blessed Saviour's time there was not such an effusion of the Holy Spirit as there was afterwards Iohn 7. 35. The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified For this Reason several things were not disclosed to them but were reserved till a further communication of the Spirit for tho Christ had said All things which I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you yet he adds I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot hear them now Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth John 16. 12 13. As much as if he had said there is no new Truth or other Doctrine to be preach'd to you than what you have receiv'd from me already but the time is coming when there shall be a greater Manifestation of those things to you tho the Truths as to the main shall be the same yet your Understandings and Capacities shall be greater you shall then comprehend those matters which before you could not as the calling of the Gentiles the Spiritual Kingdom of the Messias c. And moreover the Holy Spirit shall increase your Love and Zeal to God and all Truth so that you shall be enabled not only to preach it to all Nations but undauntedly to suffer Persâ—cution and even to lay down your Lives in the defence of it By this it is evident that Christianity was revealed by degrees as well as the other former Dispensations of Religion Their knowledg in the Christian Institution was gradual they were not to know all together neither were their Zeal and Courage of the same proportion that they were afterwards Secondly in the Times and Ages immediately succeeding our Saviour's being upon Earth the Church was but yet in its Childhood and State of Infirmity It is true they were much increased and advanced in their knowledg of spiritual Truths this being the Accomplishment of our Saviour's Promise as well as Prediction that the Holy Spirit should guide them into all Truth By a more immediate and special Directioâ— of this Holy Guide the Evangelists and Apostles indited and pen'd the Books of the New Testament so that there are no Errors and Mistakes in them of any kind Therefore what a Learned Writer saith on 1 Cor. 15. 51. and 2 Pet. 3. 11. and other places in St. Paul's and St. Peter's Epistles viz. that these Apostles verily believ'd the day of Iudgment was at hand and consequently were under a mistake is not to be admitted is by no means to be credited for these Persons as well as the other Penmen of the New Testament being immediately inspired by that Infallible Guide and Director could not possibly commit any Errors in their Writings whatever their misapprehensions were at other times When therefore they use those Terms with respect to the last Day We and Ye as if they of that Age should survive to see that Day we must remember that they speak not of themselves particularly and definitively but of the whole successive Body of Christians in several Ages who will be expecting the last Day This is the meaning of those Expressions as is plain from their using them on other occasions We have no Reason then to think that the Apostles were deceiv'd about the Day of Judgment or any other matter that they writ of and deliver'd to the World Here is no weakness no defect as to any thing of this nature Nay there was a great Advance and Accession in respect of what there was before in the foregoing part of this Dispensation viz. in the time that our Saviour lived upon the Earth For the Doctrines of the Gospel of which I speak now were gradually deliver'd and consequently the Apostles attain'd now to more than was discover'd in Christ's time he having not thought fit then to communicate all in so evident and plain a manner as we find it was afterwards done Therefore that late Writer is under a great mistake who declares that the Apostles Epistles are only occasional and that we can find no necessary Points of Divinity deliver'd there which were not deliver'd before in the Gospels and Acts whereas the Truth is the Epistles contain the most perfect and complete Doctrines of the Gospel for by degrees the Evangelical Truth display'd it self All the necessary and fundamental Articles of Christianity are explain'd
were laid aside when the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost ceased when immediate Inspirations were withdrawn and when Signs and Wonders and working of Miracles were out of use From the time of the cessation of these we are as I conceive to date the Youthful and Stronger State of Christianity Then it began to be entire when it was no longer blended with Judaism when there were no more Typical Ceremonies in the Christian Service In the place of the Extraordinary Gifts of Praying and Prophesying there succeed now in the Church those Religious Exercises of Praying and Preaching which tho they are never rightly performed without the help of the Spirit yet proceed not from immediate Illapses and Inspirations The Apostles and first Christians were extraordinarily taught of God but we must make use of the Means and Helps which are given us in order to attaining the Knowledg of Him and of our Duty We must arrive to this by God's Blessing on our Studies and Industry Knowledg is not purely infused now but the Spirit of God cooperates with our endeavours Scholarship was not necessary for the first founding the Gospel because the effusion of the Spirit was then extraordinary But when this ceas'd human Learning became necessary in those who are to instruct others and to confute Gainsayers Therefore in the Disputes between us and the Quakers and other Sects about these Matters we must urge this that there is now an Oeconomy different from that in the times of the Apostles When they talk of doing all by immediate Impulse of the Spirit and despise outward Means and Helps and cry that they are above Ordinances we must let them know that they are forgetful of the different Dispensations of times and thence proceeds their Error They do not observe that there are subordinate Oeconomies even in this one grand Oeconomy of Christianity and the want of seriously attending to this leads them into very extravagant Opinions and Practices When there were extraordinary Gifts in the Church a Fisherman any illiterate Person was as able as any one to preach For as in that time those were able to heal all Diseases who had never studied Physick so there were those that could speak to the People with all Tongues who had never been taught any For the speedier propagating of the Gospel some of the commonest Christians had Ability to do this But it is not so since those supernatural Gifts are ceas'd and now Learning is requisite in a Minister of the Gospel Schools and Universities Skill in Arts and Languages which can be gain'd only by Study are become necessary For as an antient Writer of the Church saith well After the Apostles time the Church began to be govern'd by another Order and Management of Divine Providence As for the Spirit of Prophecy we know it was an immediate extraordinary Gift whereby Persons were divinely enlightned themselves and had ability to reveal things in an extraordinary manner to others which was frequent among the Iews in the Old Testament but even that fail'd at last there was not a Prophet between Malachi and Iohn Baptist whence it was that the People ran out of all the Regions round about to see the Baptist a Prophet being a very rare Sight But Prophecy was restored by Christ and by his Apostles in a most eminent Degree afterwards yea Iustin Martyr who lived in the middle of the second Century tells us in his Apology for the Christians that the Gift of Prophecy was then in the Church but after that there is no mention of it because it ceas'd And so as for other immediate of extraordinary Revelations as Dreams and Visions and such like ways by which God used to communicate his Will unto Iews and Christians heretofore they are now laid aside or are very rare and unusual And the Reason is because Christianity is out of its Childhood it hath gather'd more Strength it is youthful and vigorous I know that others have different Notions of this matter The Learned Daille expresly saith Christianity was in its heighth and perfection in the time of the blessed Apostles tho so far as I can perceive he himself soon after partly retracts this Assertion It is generally thought and said that those extraordinary Endowments before named in the Christian Church are an Argument of its Manhood and Perfection and because those Gifts in the primitive Times were so great and venerable far exceeding what we have at this day they reckon all Christians since those times to be but puny Christians But I cannot give my suffrage to this yea I look upon it as a great mistake for if a Man rightly considers things he will find that these splendid Gifts were bestow'd on purpose for the propagating of the Gospel at that particular time and that the Weakness and Unsettledness of the Church were the only occasion of them Christianity wanted at its first Rise confirming and corroborating by such wonderful Methods and Expedients as these And therefore if we understand the true Nature of them we cannot but confess that they were Proofs and Evidences of the imperfect State of the Christian Church in those days Now those extraordinary Gifts are vanish'd the inspired Men are gone but the Holy Scriptures which were written by Divine Inspiration are left with us to be the great Standard of Truth and the Rule of our Actions God hath rais'd up eminent Men to open and explain that Holy Book and to instruct us in all the great and necessary Points of it We have now a more setled Knowledg of Religion and there is a greater Progress in Christianity The Oeconomy hath receiv'd some Alteration and we need not extraordinary Helps when God vouchsafeth us those that are ordinary And as for Miracles they are not of this part of the Christian Dispensation and therefore are not to be look'd for now Those mighty Wonders are for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not as the Apostle speaks 1. Cor. 14. 22. Therefore they were proper in the first Ages to convince the unbelieving World and for the propagating of Christianity But now they are become useless and more regular and ordinary Methods are used The Gospel being sufficiently promulged among us and the Authority of it being proved by those mighty Works which have been done we are not to expect any more of them Ordinary Means now serve us tho we have the Benefit likewise of those extraordinary ones which were before I do not say Miracles are so creased that there shall never be any wrought again for a Power of doing Miracles is indefinitely promised in Mark 16. 17. It may still remain so as to be exerted on occasion viz. when Heathens and Infidels are to be converted But that belongs not to this Part of the Evangelical Dispensation which I am now speaking of but to that more perfect one which is to succeed in erecting of which perhaps God may enable his Servants
in order to the compleat enlarging of the Church to work Wonders But at present this way of Divine Attestation is unnecessary for Christians have sufficient Means with regard to all the ends of Religion and Salvation among themselves there is no need of any greater at present Nay the cessation of those extraordinary visible and sensible Means is an Argument of the meliority of our Condition Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed saith our Saviour Iohn 20. 29. The meaning is they are more blessed i. e. their Faith is more excellent and laudable and they shall have a greater Reward It is a more blessed and eligible State to believe without such forcible and violent Means than with them Other things might be here mention'd as under the Law and before that time there was scarce any thing done without the ministration of Angels so in the first times of the Gospel the Appearance of these glorious Spirits was common but after Christ's Ascension and to this very time the Church is a Stranger to this particular Dispensation and is not to expect the Attestation or Confirmation of any Truth in this Way The Reason is because the Scriptures of the New Testament being now given us that former way of Revelation which was a Sign of an imperfect and weak State now ceases There is no need of these Divine Admonitors seeing we have the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles which are a certain standing Rule and an infallible Direction to us And in several other particulars if it were requisite it might be shew'd that the State of Religion is alter'd and improved since our Saviour's time and the times after the Apostles And now in the close of this Head we cannot but take notice of the Usefulness and Necessity of attending to what hath been suggested concerning the different Administrations of Religion and particularly of the Christian. We cannot frame right thoughts concerning the Nature and Model of it unless we carefully observe the several Degrees and various Modifications of it before mention'd for tho there be the same general Dispensation yet there is an Alteration as to the particular Scenes of it That which we are under at present differs much from those which were in the first and early Ages of Christianism and therefore it is unreasonable to require now the very same things in the Church of Christ that were then There are some sober and well meaning Persons that attending not to this perswade themselves that there ought to be as to every particular the same Face of Administrations at present that there was at first and thence they look to the primitive State of the Church and examine every thing by that But this is not right for there hath been a Change of things in the Christian Church and this Change was by the particular Superintendency and Disposal of the Divine Providence and supreme Director Hence it is that we are not to expect that all things should be now as they were in the Beginning God himself having been pleas'd to alter the Dispensation in part Let us then remember the particular Division of the Oeconomy we are under and let us be concern'd to do what is fitting and proper to it and thereby we shall help to promote and hasten the next and better one which I am now to speak of CHAP. XIX That Christianity shall arrive to Manhood or Full Age is proved by several Arguments 1. God's Method in the World 2. The Low ebb of Christianity hitherto 3. The number of those that perish 4. The gradual Improvement of all Arts and Sciences The several Objections concerning the Decay and Senescency of the World made use of by Jewish Pagan and Christian Writers fully answer'd That the World decaies not as to Learning and Arts is made good from the Improvements of Navigation the Inventions of Gun-powder and Guns of Printing of Clocks and Watches the preparing of Sugar the Advances in Anatomy and Physick Astronomy Arithmetick Chymistry Mechanicks the Stile of Writers It is congruous to the Divine Providence and Wisdom that Religion also should have its Improvements as well as Arts and Sciences and accordingly it hath been greatly advanc'd and increas'd by the Reformation From the Increase it hath had already we may gather that there will be farther Accessions afterwards The virile and complete State of the Christian Church prov'd from several places of Scripture Mat. 24. 3. 19. 28. Acts 3. 21. Rom. 8. 19. 20. Heb. 2. 5. 9. 10. 1 Cor. 1. 7. 1 Pet. 3. 8. From those divers Texts that we meet with in the Old Tastament which make mention of the Kingdom and Reigning of the Messias A five-fold acception of the Kingdom of Christ in the New Testament The 1 Cor. 15. 25. urged The Millenary Reign The rise of the Antient Opinions about it It is proved that Christ shall not Personally reign upon Earth The deceased Saints shall not rise again to reign with him here What is meant by the Souls of them that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus What is to be understood by their living and reigning with Christ. Two late Writers take it in a literal Sense but without any ground Who are the rest of the Dead that lived not again What are the first and second Resurrection The Reign of Christ a thousand Years is to be upon Earth By a thousand Years we are to understand a certain and definite Number Some Opinions concerning the Beginning and End of the thousand Years refuted Mr. Brightman's odd Fancy rejected We have had some Fore-runners and previous Pledges of the millenary Kingdom Mr. Medes's Opinion which joins Christ's Reign and the Day of Iudgment together consider'd THe â—â—ird and most eminent Part of the Evangelical Oeconomy is that which I call'd the Manhood or full Age of the Christian Church Before I enter upon the Description of this I will give you some account of the Truth and Reality of such a State by shewing that Christianity shall arrive to a greater Heighth and Perfection than it is at present It is very observable what one of the Antient Writers who was a great Judg of the Nature and Genius of Christianity saith of this matter The Vnderstanding Knowledg and Wisdom of single Persons as well as of whole â—odies of every individual as well as of Churches in general shall hugely increase and be exceedingly advanced according to the gradual Successions of Times and Ages But as he explains himself this Proficiency shall be in the same kind in the same Perswasions in the same Sense and Iudgment so that the Christian Faith shall still remain the same as to its Substance tho it shall be much better explain'd and known than it is noâ— And he uses the same comparison that I haâ—e expres'd this matter by for he distinguishes between the younger and the riper Years of Christianity he holds the former to be the first Ages of the Gospel the
a brighter Day and the Industry of a farther Age shall bring to light those things that now lie hid in darkness The time will come when our Posterity shall wonder that we were ignorant of things which were so plain and intelligible This Prediction is now fulfill'd we have a clear Discovery of many Secrets which were kept from former Ages we have fresh Experiments by which the Stock of Notions is greatly improved and advanced Diligent Researches at home and Travels into remote Countries have produced new Observations and Remarks unheard-of Discoveries and Inventions Thus we surpass all the times that have been before us and it is highly probable that those that succeed will far surpass these in all manner of human Literature And why a proportionable Improvement in Divine Knowledg and in Moral and Christian Endowments may not be expected I confess I don't understand Can there be any Reason given why God should not prosper Religion as well as Arts Why we may not look for increase of knowledge in the Church as well as in matteâ—s that relate only to Nature Why there may not be a Perfection of Understanding in the one as well as in the other I am sensible that it will be said here and that with Truth that the daily decay of the World as to intellectual and moral qualities is believ'd and held by some very great Men yea they tell us that the natural Frame and Constitution of it wax old It is certain that the Iews had this apprehension The World hath lost its Youth and the times begin to wax old And again The World shall be weaker through Age. The Hebrew Doctors and Rabbins cry out that the Generations grow worse every Day and Knowledg is more and more decreased And what a vast difference they make between the Antients and Moderns may be seen in another Proverbial Saying One mail of our Forefather's Fingers is better than the main Body of them that come after them And we may learn from another Adage of theirs how exceedingly they prefer the former days before the latter The Heart of our Predecessors say they was like the Gate of the Outward Court in amplitude but the Heart of their Successors is like the Gate of the Temple which was far less but ours is like the eye of a Needle least of all And several other Sayings they have to this purpose that the World is impair'd and grows worse and worse and that the further we are removed from the beginning the more we decline But who knows not that hath convers'd with these Gentlemen that they are very fanciful and capricious and that they either out of prejudice or discontent pronounce what they please of any thing so that their approbation or dislike is not to be a Standard to any Man's thoughts and sentiments And as to the Texts before cited they refer to the Iweish State which is foretold to be mean and low and running to decay and therefore no general Judgment can be made thence Among some of the Pagans likewise there was this Notion that the World was decaying as to Men and Manners Damnosa quid non imminuit dies AEtas parentum pejor avis tulit Nos nequiores mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem And they particularly alledg the Stature of Men to confirm their Opinion thus Lucretius Iamque adeâ— fracta est â—tas effâ—tque tellus Vix animalia parvacreat quâ— cuncta creavâ—t Sâ—cla deditque fâ—r arum ingentia corpora partu According to him all Animals as well as Man himself were at first formed out of their Mother Earth but since that time the procreative Virtue of the Earth is worn out and the kindly heat and moisture are gone and Nature is grown feeble and therefore Men and other Creatures have not that bulk and size which they were famed for in the days of yore So Pliny the Naturalist had a Conceit of the Senescency of the World and the declension of Nature and he instances in the Stature of Men. The same doth Aulus Gellius and complains of the Decrescency and Wearing away of Things and Men. This was founded on what they had heard or read concerning Giants heretofore the notice of whom might be derived to them not only from their own Authors but from the Sacred Writings which mention Og King of Bashan and Goliah of Gath and the Zummim Zanzummim Anakim Emim who were of a vast Procerity Whence they gather that the World is decay'd because we see no such People now adays But such consequences are easily silenc'd if we consider first that some of their own Authors are of little Credit or Repute and many reports of Giants are Poetical Inventions So if you will believe Geoffery of Monmouth and some other fabulous Writers Albion now call'd Britain the Isle which we inhabit was kept only by a Remnant of Giants Secondly those Writers that we can depend upon especially the Sacred Penmen tho they assure us that there were such big and tall Men yet they represent it as a very rare and uncommon thing they give us to understand that the number of those huge Persons was very small whence we gather that tho there were none such now in being it doth not alter the case of the World considerably But thirdly it appears that since those times spoken of by antient Historians there have been and even at this time are some of that large â—ize Modern Travellers of good esteem and credit ascertain us that there are Giants in some particular Countries which overthrows the vain Conceit of those that found the Decay of the World on a supposal that none but the former Ages afforded Gigantick Folks But the truth of the matter is this that tho Countries differ as to their size of Men nay tho some are in the same Country of a large others of a lesser Proportion yet the Stature of Men was not generally higher and bigger heretofore than it is now All People are for the most part of the same heighth and breadth that they were three thousand Years ago and upwards as is demonstrated by Doctor Hackwill and others from the Vrns and Rings and several other Antiquities which have been derived to after-Ages There is no Decay then as to this I might observe further that some of the Christian Perswasion as well as Iews and Pagans have asserted and defended Nature's universal Decay Some of the Antient Writers of the Church have inclin'd this way but Cyprian is very positive You must know this in the first place saith he that the World is now arrived to its old Age it hath not that force and virtue that strength and vigour which it was endued with heretofore And he goes on to instance both in natuâ—â—â— aâ—d moral things wherein he thinks this Defâ—ction and Failure may be seen Among some of the Moderns this Sentiment hath prevail'd and I will mention only two of them and they are of
the Ear. If I would go abroad and observe what hath been found out for the Use and Benefit of Mans Life I might take notice of that so Pleasant and Profitable Commodity of Sugar For whereas former Ages knew the use of Honey only as the Universal Sweetner there is now discover'd a more convenient one by which a great part of our Food is made more delicious and many things in Physick are prepar'd and by which the whole work of Confectioning is maintain'd It is true Pliny speaks of Sugar Saccharum as it was taken out of the Canes and saith it was used in Medicines but it was rare and in small quantities and in Galen's time it was scarcely known and then it was used raw and indigested and was unserviceable to many Purposes But at last this useful Condiment was Boyl'd and Bak'd Dried and Condens'd and made up as now we see it This is an Invention not above 200 Years old And the first Confectionerâ— or Comfit-maker in England was one Baltazar Zanches a Spaniard A. D. 1596. I might mention the many Ingenious and Artificial Contrivances about Planting Agriculture ordering of Bees Architecture Painting which last is in some respects much better and more exact than it was of old as Monsieâ—r Perault hath shew'd And in several other things the Moderns have made great and worthy Improvements and very considerable Additions to what was before But I will confine my self to some of the Arts and Sciences and briefly recount some of the Improvements which have been made in them To begin with Medicks unto which Anatomy belongs it is true Pliny tells us that the Egyptian Kings caused Dead Bodies to be cut up to find out the Situation and Structure of the Parts of Man's Body and the Causes of Diseases But another tells us that Hierophilus was the first that Diffected the Bodies oâ— Men he was Contemporary with Phalaris and practis'd this on Malefactors that were sent to him out of the Prisons Democritus of old used Dissections by the same token that he was thought by the Abderites to be made for doing so i. e. for cutting up Cats and Dogs But it doth not appear that he or Hippocrates or Galen or any of the Famed Physicians open'd Humane Bodies But we have of late ventured to search frequently into these as well as those of Brutes and from both we have found out several things worth our search The Circulation of the Blood may justly pass for a New Invention even the Discovery of this Age for though some and even a Physician too have thought that Solomon meant this by the Wheel as the Cistern Eccl. 12. 6. Though Plato in his Timaeus seems to have had some knowledge of this according to others and though a late Writer before mentioned affirms very confidently that the Chinese were no Strangers to it above 4000 Years ago yet we are not certain that the Wise Man's Words are to be understood with reference to this thing and Plato's Words can much less be understood so and that Relation concerning the People of China as well as their extravagant Computation is disbelieved by most of the Learned Or say that this was not first found out by Dr. Harvey yet if we consider that he was the Person who so plainly Illustrated this matter and set down the true way and method of it and clearly demonstrated how this Operation in the Body is perform'd and fully answer'd all the Arguments and Objections which were brought against it we may justly stile him the first Inventor of it Not to speak of the Infusion or Injection of Blood into the Veins of Animals first used by Dr. Wren which afterwards was advanced into Transfusion and first practised by Dr. Lower I might mention several New Passages and Conveyances in the Body lately found out as the Valuae of the Veins by Fabricius ab Aquapendente the Lymphatick Vessels by Bartholine the Lacteal Veins dispers'd through the Mesentery by Asellius the Common Receptacle of the Chyle fastned to the Vertebrâ— of the Back a little above the Reins and the Lacteal Veins of the Breast or the Ductus Thoracicus which go from the Receptaculum to the Subclavian Veins found out by Pecquet Glisson hath nobly search'd into the Liver Wharton into the Glandules Willis hath discover'd several things in the Brain And what plenty of useful Inventions do we meet with in the Writings of Sylvius Bilsius De Graeff Diemerbroek Malpighius Vesâ—ingius Densingius Steno Highmore c. Indeed Physick and Anatomy have had the greatest Improvements of late of any Faculty whatsoever Medicks are exceedingly Cultivated the Nature of Diseases is more narrowly enquired into and understood the Signs and Symptoms of them are daily more manifested and the Therapeutick part is infinitely more inlarged and advanced by a mixing of Galenical and Chymical Medicines by the vast variety of Observations and Experiments and by the Skill and Sagacity of those that have lately labour'd in that Art so that this Age is grown Famous for Great and Wonderful Cures and the Health and Long Life of Man are marvellously promoted In Astronomy there are New Discoveries also The late Ages have been more knowing in the Heavens than those that went before Now we are acquainted with the Suns Spots i. e. the Filth and Scum which it sometimes contracts the Mountains and Shadows of the Moon the Lunulae or Satellites of Iupiter mutually Eclipsing one another and the Ansulae Saturni So that whereas heretofore there were but Seven Planets known now Six more are added 4. about Iupiter and 2. about Saturn We have found Mercury and Venus to be Horn'd and to be subject to the other Aspects of the Moon The Stars are grown into Suns in our Days for there are as many Suns as Fixed Lights and there is on difference between these and that Luminous Body which we call the Sun but that they are further off from us than this There are New Hypotheses of the Heavens and the Earth and of the Rest and Motion of either which if they be not adjusted to exact Truth yet serve to illustrate and better set forth the Doctrine of the Celestial Bodies and their various Phaenomena and thereby to lead us to admire the Wonders of the Creation and to extol and praise the Great and All-wise Contriver of this Mundane Fabrick Nor is Astronomy yet come to its Zenith to its Meridian We on good Grounds expect that by the benefit of the Optick Tubes and Telescopes which are every day growing more perfect we shall penetrate farther into the Nature of the Heavenly Bodies and have a more compleat insight into them And it is not to be doubted that we shall in time have a more correct Account of the Suns Course and consequently a Reformation of the Calender and then that Complaint will cease that the present Computation is not exactly agreeable to the Natural Motion of the Sun or Earth Arithmetick is mightily
is said to be their Fulness ver 12. shall go along with this second Calling of the Gentiles For so the Apostle acquaints us That when the Fulness of the Gentiles is come all Israel shall be saved i. e. all the Iews as well as Gentiles shall be received into God's Favour But some think that Israel is not opposed to the Gentiles here but signifies the Whole People of God the Whole Israel of God as the Apostle speaks Gal. 6. 16. i. e. the Spiritual Israel All Believers whether Jews or Gentiles But if not from this place yet from a great part of this Chapter it appears that after the Fulness of the Gentiles shall follow the Fulness of the Iews For as some of the Iews in the Apostles Times were blinded and harden'd till they saw the Gentiles imbrace the Gospel and then they were provoked by their Example to come in so shall it be at their Last and General Conversion of which I am next to speak But first I will add a few Words concerning the Occasion and Manner of the Gentiles Conversion so far as I can guess When the Impostures of Rome are exploded by the Christian World and her pernicious Doctrines and Practices are loathed by them and when the Dominion and Tyranny of Rome are laid in the Dust and that by some strange and amazing Acts of Divine Providence which shall be known to all the Inhabitants of the Earth we may easily conceive that then the Gospel will have its free Course and God will stir up some Persons to preach it in the remotest Country where Paganism hath prevail'd and that the Tidings which have come to their Ears concerning the Fall of the Roman Babylon will in some measure prepare them to receive the more welcome Message of the Gospel and to imbrace the Christian Faith which they have either been wholly Strangers to or which they have wilâ—ully refused This is to be said also That the Lives of Christians will at this Time be very Exemplary which will be very serviceable for the promoting of the Gospel among the Gentiles Nothing hath hinder'd the Propagation of Christianity in the World so much as the wicked Conversations of Christians The Story is known of the American who said he would chuse rather to go to Hell than live in Heaven with the Cruel and Bloody Spaniards Some of the Indians shewing a piece of Gold have said Lo here is the Christians God! And their Faithlessness as well as Avarice hath been objected to them by the Pagans whom they traâ—â—ick with It is no wonder then that Infidels imbrace not the Christian Religion when its Professors are so scandalous in their Practices But the Case will be otherwise in those happy Times which I am discoursing of the Lives of Christians will be answerable to their Professions they will commend their Religion by the Strictness and Circumspectness of their Walking which when Pagans observe they will be incited to think well of their Ways and afterwards to Admire and Love and at last to Imitate and Practise that Religion which hath so great Command and Authority over Mens Minds and Manners Nor shall there be Signs and Wonders and mighty Miracles wanting if there be occasion for them if that be the most proper Method to reduce some stubborn Infidels and to bring them to a hearty Confession and Acknowledgment of the Truth Though these as I have suggested before are not properly of this Dispensation and accordingly shall be soon laid aside Where this Work shall first have its Beginning and in what Order this Great Conversion of the Gentiles shall proceed is difficult to assign Therefore I will only submissively offer my Conjecture It hath been the Observation of some Learned Men that thâ— Arts and Sciences have imitated the Motion of the Sun Learning set out first with Adam in the East He had his Philosophy from God and by virtue of That gave fit Names to all Creatures He communicated his Knowledge to those Eastern Countries of Assyria and Chaldaea whence it came into Egypt where Moses was skill'd in all the Learning of that Time He it is Probable left his Skill among some of the Israelites and so it travell'd into Canaan where Solomon was Famous for this Learning and with great Success propagated it among the Iews From the Chaldaeans Egyptians and Iews it found its way to Greece where it was first entertain'd by Musaeus Orpheus Pythagoras then Socrates Plato Aristotle c. And here by the bye we may remember That the most Inquisitive Men among the Graecians as Pythagoras Plato Solon and others who proved Great Sages travelled into Egypt and other Eastern Countries to bring home with them their profitable Arts and Sciences Learning past from Greece to Italy and so to Rome for with the Graecian Empire their Arts also were transported to Rome and she dispersed them continually by her Victorious Arms. Passing from Italy they climbed the Alpes and visited Germany and France whence we Britains and others fetched them over Thus Learning followed the Course of the Sun an Intimation of which seems to be in the Poets when they made Phoebus the God of Light and Learning all humane Arts and Knowledge were derived down to us from the Eastern Parts of the World where Mankind itself first had its rise The like Observation may in part be made of Religion viz. that it imitated the Suns Motion I say in part for the Progress of Religion doth not exactly answer to that of Learning and Philosophy It arose first in Paradise in the râ—moter Parts of the East And Adam Seth and Noah cherished it in those Regions It was preserved in the Ark by Noah and coming out thence it was propagated by him and his Son Shem but especially by Abraham the Chaldaean Having thus escaped the Flood and liv'd among the Chaldaeans it sojourned a while in Canaan and from thence came into Egypt with Ioseph first and soon after with Iacob and the rest of the Patriarchs From thence it took its way through the Wilderness and so into Canaan again where it continued a long time under many Vicissitudes till it began to go Eastward again viz. in the Time of the Captivity But Seventy Years put and end to that Thraldom and fetched back the True Religion to go on in its way its Western Road that it was in before Observe especially how when it began to be Christian though at first it took its Circuit through the whole World to inform all Mankind of its being Arrived and afterwards Constantine the Great carried it with the Empire and settled it more Eastward yet still it ran the same Course with the Sun generally from Ierusalem to Greâ—ce to Africa to Rome and so to all Italy to Germany France Britain Spain Though I do not say the Gospel went exactly in this very Order successively yet we find this to be the Progress of the Gospel at last It began in the East and
Judgment shall be chiefly Effected by the Preaching of Enoch and Elias So far we may allow it to be true that such Holy and Zealous Men as they were shall be the Instruments of this Great Work and you may be certain it will easily be brought to Perfection when such Persons are raised up by God to act in it And with Pathetick Instructions Invitations Admonitions and Convictions shall be joyned most Ardent Prayers for at such a time the Christian Church will be stired up to pity the forlorn state of this miserable People and to solicit Heaven with importunate Addresses in their behalf The Devout Mr. Herbert may be a Pattern in this particular who when he had express'd his sense of there Condition in these and the like Words Poor Nation whose sweet Sap and Iuice Our Cyens have purloyn'd and left you dry Compassionately adds O that my Prayers mine alas Oh that some Angel might a Trumpet sound At which the Church falling upon her Face Should cry so loud until the Trump were drown'd And by that cry from her dear Lord obtain That your sweet Sap may come again Moreover the wonderful Conversion of the Gentiles which shall be a forerunner of that of the Iews shall be another cause of the coming in of these latter and of their accepting the Gospel This is suggested to us by our Apostle v. 11. of the 14. to the Romans Salvation shall come for so we may read it because there is no Verb in the Original to determine the time to the Gentiles to provoke them i. e. the Jews to jealousie And this is yet more clear from 25 and 26. v. of the Eleventh Chapter before insisted upon which not only assert the General Calling of the Iews but that it shall be after the Fulness of the Gentiles i. e. when the Gentiles are Converted Blindness in part i. e. for a certain time is happen'd to Israel untill the fulness of the Gentiles be come in And when this is come in then the Jews shall no longer be blinded I take this to be a clear Text for the Priority of the Gentiles Conversion before that of the Iews though I find it opposed by several and particularly by our Learned Hammond who attempts to distort the Words and by the Author of The State of the Church in Future Ages Chap. 6. where he contends that the Apostles Words are to be understood in a qualifi'd sense and that is this Blindness in part is befallen Israel for so long as until the time come in which the Gentiles shall come in in their fullness that is they shall come in then more generally than ever before But whatever this dark Gloss drives at this is a plain obvious and intelligible Truth that though there was a great and notable Conversion both of Gentiles and Jews in the Apostle's time yet that could not be meant here because the Apostle speaks of something to come in Future Ages viz. a Compleat and Vniversal Conversion of those two And as to the Order of them he lets us know that the Gentiles shall be first Converted and then the Iews for saith he the Blindness and Hardness of these latter shall not be taken away until the fulness of the other comes in i. e. until the full number of Gentiles be come into the Church of God by a hearty imbracing and professing of Christianity Can any thing be plainer than this Could the Apostle have used any clearer Words to express this matter viz. That the Conversion of the great Multitude of the Heathen World will preceed that of the Jews that it will be a means to remove their Blindness and Hardness and to cause them to own the Christian Faith Wherefore I can't submit to this Authors qualifi'd sence and that for a Reason which himself assigns in another Place To force an unusual Signification upon a Word where the Scope of the Place and Nature of the Matter where it is used does not necessarily require it hath little Authority in it to procure assent But this Sence which I offer is further evident from what the Apostle adds in the forenamed Place So all Israel shall be saved The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so is very Emphatical and Remarkable here for it acquaints us that the General Conversion of Salvation of the Iews shall be such shall be so that it shall be the Effect and Consequence of the Gentiles foregoing Conversion SO they shall be Converted in this Manner they shall be Saved and no otherwise The Jews shall behold that strange Revolution and sudden Change in the Pagan World and thence be stirr'd up to make an Alteration among themselves A holy Emulation shall possess their Minds which shall push them on to this great Work So i. e. in this Manner and Method all Israel shall be Saved the whole Body of the Jews shall be received into the Church Perhaps this Universal Call may be promoted by some extraordinary Appearance or Spectacle in the Heavens Some would infer from that Place before-cited They shall look on him whom they have pierced that our Saviour will come and be seen at that Grand Change of Affairs but from what I have said already on that Passage it is manifest that it is not capable of the Sence As for Rev. 1. 7. Behold he cometh with Clouds and every Eye shall see him and even they which pierced him and all Kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of him which is thought by some to be a parallel Place with that which I last named because there is some likeness in the Words in both Places I rather think it is spoken of the Last Day the Day of Judgment when they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven Matth. 24. 30. which is generally acknowledged to the meant of Doomsday Then all impenitent Sinners and more especially they that pierced and crucified Christ and died in their Sins shall see him to their unspeakable Sorrow But those Words if any in Dan. 7. 13. may seem to be some proof of Christ's Appearing himself in the Clouds when his Kingdom on Earth is to be set up anew One like the Son of Man came in the Clouds of Heaven and there was given him Dominion and Glory and a Kingdom c. for I have shew'd before that these Words are a Prediction of the Millennium Though I cannot be positive here for it may be this coming in the Clouds of Heaven may only refer to the Manner of the Vision which Daniel had I saw in the Night Visions saith he one like the Son of Man who appeared as if he came in the Clouds yet I must needs say I am rather enclined to think that this Place speaks of a visible Appearance of our Saviour at the Entrance of the Millennary Reign especially in order to the rouzing and alarming of the Hardned Iews who will be looking after Signs from Heaven And therefore at such a time it
his Christ Rev. 11. 15. But when this Last Angel shall do this Office we are ignorant though a Learned Foreigner lately is confident that this is the Time But we see he had but little ground for it for his Calculations have proved false though he thought he had some more than ordinary Foundation in the Transactions and Events of these late times for what he offer'd And he hath been follow'd by some of our own Countrey Men who presumed to assign the Punctual and Precise time when those Prophetick Passages in the Book of the Revelation were to be accomplish'd as if they above all other Men had a Key to those Divine Secrets and were authorized to unlock them I look upon this as the Product of a well-meant Mistake of their misapplying some Apocalyptick Texts which they were betray'd into by apprehending that the Circumstances which the Publick Affairs were in at that time were agreeable to those Prophecies But certainly this Rashness is very blamable because it may give occasion to ill-minded Men to disbelieve all the other Prophecies in the Apocalypse because the Period of these which was with so great Confidence determin'd is found to be untrue Nay indeed it hath sometimes happen'd that when Positive Men have peremptorily set a certain Year it hath generally proved a worse Time than ordinary on one account or other instead of a welcome issue of their Predictions some very unusual and dismal thing appears upon the Publick Stage as it were a doom for such rash Prognostications Here therefore ought to be a great deal of Caution Prudence and Sincerity But so it is we may observe that it is the way of these Apocalyptick Men like the Clocks of Basil always to anticipate the time they are too hasty in fixing the Periods of Prophetick Occurrences either because they impatiently desire the approach of them or because they are ambitious of being thought the first Discoverers of these Secrets In the Book of the Revelation the Time of the Beasts Reign seems to be determined viz. 1260. Days Rev. 11. 3. 12. 6. i. e. as all grant so many Years for that is the Prophetick way of Numbering which are the same with the Time and Times and half a Time Dan. 7. 25. Rev. 12. 14. and with the 42. Months i. e. of Years Rev. 11. 2. 13. 5. Now if we could tell when the Apocalyptick Beast began we might from what is here expresly set down exactly know its end but the former being no where mention'd we are at a loss for the latter A very Sober and Modest Pen fixes the beginning of the Beasts Reign in the Year of our Lord 456. and consequently by adding 1260. to that number makes the end of it to be A. D. 1716. But according to this way of Computing the Papal Beast was in being before there was Popery properly so called in the World which is sufficient to invalidate that Calculation However if those Numbers refer to the end of the Beast as it is certain they do I agree with this Writer that it cannot be very far off But as to the precise time we may conjecture but we cannot be certain It may be our Chronology is Defective it may be the Account which we have of Years is not Exact and consequently our Calculations cannot be accurate Or suppose they were yet our Saviour acquaints us when he speaks of such Affairs that the time shall be shortned for the Elects sake Mat. 24. 22. So that our exactest Chronology will not avail us then I have nothing therefore to say concerning the Punctual Date of this Notable Revolution which hath been the matter of our Disquisition Yea perhaps it is impossible for any Man to know it infallibly I mean without a particular Revelation Yet I will not as the Iews curse those who Calculate these Times but rather wish that Men would be Sober and Modest in this as in all other difficult and intricate Points It is folly to be over-curious and sollicitous here but it is no less than Presumption and Arrogance to be Peremptory This should suffice us that there is a time when these things shall be accomplished In the mean season let us comfort our selves with the expectation of that Blessed State of the Church Let it be remembred that however things go now there shall be a better Face of them hereafter and though we may not live to the arrival much less the fruition of it yet it is some solace to our Minds that with Moses we have a sight at a distance of that Blessed Canaan the Land of Promise in which all the Defects and Declensions that have been either in Nature or Morals shall be repair'd and amended Nor doth the ill posture of things at present in the least retard my hopes or belief of a change for the better for though it sounds like a Paradox yet it is an experienced Truth that things farthest off are nearest Look into the Calendar and you will see that December which is at the greatest distance from Ianuary is the next Month to it See it in Nature when the Night is darkest it is nighest break of Day Look on the Globe of the Earth and you will find the extream parts of the East bordering on the West And so it is here when things seem to be most remote from this Revolution they are nearest to it Extremity proves successful sometimes The worst Times introduce the Best The Condition of the World is like that of some Disâ—ased Bodies which must of necessity be brought low before they can arrive to a sound and perfect Constitution Our weak languishing and perishing State may by the Divine Disposal make way for our Health and prove the fore-runner and occasion of our lasting Happiness Though the World in some Ages is palpably worse than in others yet bating the Last Scene of all when in respect of the Universal prevailing of Vice it seems to be worst of all as at this time even then it is tending to the best for this hath been always observable since the first Creation that the greatest Corruptions and Apostasies have made way for the most remarkable Reformations and accordingly the horrid Degeneracy of these present times not only among our selves but in all Christian Countries is one Argument to incline me to believe there will be a mighty alteration Irreligion Impiety and Atheism are now making their greatest and last Efforts before that Glorious Day which I have been describing arrives An Universal Prophaneness is to preceed and usher in an Universal Holiness and Purity Unchristian Wars and Commotions Divisions and Contentions in Churches and States are the fore-runners of a General Peace and Repose The World will not go off thus as it is but a more pleasant and delightful Scene of it will appear and this so Vitiated and Corrupted Age shall be followed with as Eminent a Restoration Though we are ignorant of the exact time of it yet this
here the grand Points of the Christian Belief are here set forth in a clearer Light than before they are proved and confirm'd in these Writings Yea several great Truths and weighty Doctrines of the Christian Faith are mention'd and illustrated here which neither the Gospels nor the Acts speak of Especially St. Paul's Epistles which are thrice as many as any of the other Apostles writ are fraught with extraordinary Discoveries of Divine and Heavenly Mysteries And we could not expect less for this Apostle was the only Person of them all that had the Privilege to be taken up into the third Heaven the Seat of Glory where he was in a more especial manner enlightned and had those sublime Points of the Trinity c. as his Writings abundantly testifie reveal'd and open'd to him so far as the matters were capable of it which the Evangelists and other Apostles knew but little of which makes his Writings more eligible and valuable than all the rest This is so plain and obvious that it is wonderful that any Man who hath read and perused his Epistles can contradict it and which is worse undervalue them as if they were writ only by the by and were not designedly indited to instruct us in the most necessary Articles of our Religion We cannot believe this when we consider the extraordinary Revelations which this Apostle was honoured with and when we observe the gradual Discovery of the Truths of the Gospel But still the Gospel was in its Childhood and Inferior State which is the thing I have now undertaken to make good This Dispensation of Christianity under which the Apostles were was not arrived to a very considerable Pitch There were some Relicks of the Iewish Oeconomy still remaining they had not quite laid aside the Ceremonial Law and Mosaick Rites St. Paul when he was among the Gentiles or writ to them as to the Galatians declared against all Mosaick Observances whatsoever but the other Apostles when they were among the Iews did no such thing yea St. Paul himself to comport with the Iews or Gentiles as he saw occcasion used or used not the Jewish Ceremonies Thus he circumcised Timothy but not â—itus And so without doubt the other Apostles behav'd themselves according to the people they dealt with They kept the first Day of the Week the true Christian Sabbath Acts 17. 7. 20. 7. 25. 66. 1 Cor. 16. 2. and they observed likewise the Iewish one Acts 13. 14 42. 16. 13. for they found it convenient to comply with some because of their weakness therefore for the sake of the converted Iews they observ'd the seventh day Sabbath tho with the converted Gentiles they celebrated the first Day of the Week We find that two or three Iewish Ceremonies were kept up by the Apostles when all the rest were abrogated Acts 15. 28 29. It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things that ye abstain from meats offered to Idols and from Blood and from Things strangled and from Fornication Here St. Iames the Bishop of Ierusalem and St. Peter and St. Iohn Apostles and others of the Church determine what the Gentile Christians shall do in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia as touching the Iewish Rites and Ceremonies They are not to be Circumcised but it is required of them as of all Proselytes of the Gate that they observe the Precepts of abstaining from things offered to Idols c. This is the Decretal Epistle or you may call these the Canons of the Apostolick Council And these things are enjoin'd for no other end but to comply with the believing Iews that in some Observances those Gentile Converts might agree with them Besides as One observes these things named in the Decree and forbidden by it were such as the Pagan Idolaters chiefly observ'd and practised They are four grand Marks of Gentilism and therefore those Gentiles who were converted to Christianity ought to renounce all those things as Idolatrous Especially as to Fornication they were bid to abstain from this not as if it were of the same nature and as indifferent in it self as the other things mentioned but they are joined together because the Gentiles thought Fornication or Whoredom an indifferent thing and they usually allow'd themselves in it A Learned Man of our Nation is of Opinion that by Fornication is meant Poligamy a sort of Fornication as he calls it among the Iews which seem'd to them lawful and marrying within the prohibited degrees is he thinks here forbidden likewise But if we remember that what the Synod decrees here is for the sake of the Converted Gentiles not the Iews we shall rather believe that Fornication properly so call'd is here forbid especially if we consider that the Pagans had no positive Laws among them against this tho they had against Adultery Wherefore this Practice which was look'd upon as an indifferent thing among them is here directly caution'd against and hence you see the Reason why this is ranked with the rest And the abstaining from these things is mention'd as necessary not as if they were all unlawful in themselves and their own nature for Fornication only was so but the rest were for that time and juncture necessary Otherwise they are call'd a burden and therefore not morally good and consequently not Necessary in themselves Yet they were I say Necessary tho not to all Christians yet to all Proselytes of the Gate and for that time only because it was requisite to symbolize with the Iudaizing Christians who urged some Ceremonial Observances and this was the way to unite both converted Iews and Gentiles who then were mixed together But when Christianity prevailed and there was no fear of giving offence to the weak the Obligation of this Decree ceas'd and these things were not observ'd in the Church But one of these viz. abstaining from Blood hath not so soon and so easily been laid aside as the others The Reason of which I conceive was this this was an early Prohibition this was a Law given to Noah Gen. 9. 4. Flesh with the life thereof which is the Blood thereof ye shall not eat and thus having the start of the Ceremonial Law of Moses they might think it forbad something which was morally Evil and that as it obliged before Moses's Law so it ought to do afterwards and that therefore there lay an obligation on Christians to observe it But several things I will here suggest 1. It should be consider'd there were Ceremonial Laws and Rites prescribed before Moses that are universally acknowledged to have no obligation under Chrisâ—ianity and therefore this may cease as well as they 2. It should be remembered that when this Law was deliver'd to Moses the Reason annex'd to it was this The life of the flesh is in the Blood and I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an Atonement for your Souls for it is the