Lord of all other Beings That at his Word the Heavens and the Earth and all things in them were made and are upheld That he is Good Wise Just True Benign or Merciful c. Besides this Instruction what God is it teacheth us what we are viz. Sinful wretched Fallen Creatures that can have no Good or Happiness in our selves It informs us how we should behave our selves towards God viz. as Dependent things and that we should love him obey him fear to do any thing contrary to his Will trust him or believe him c. and how we should carry it to one another viz. to do as we would be done by that is every one to confer as he is capable towards another's Happiness Having propos'd things to the Understanding Secondly It addeth the Perswasive Part to the Will moving us to behave our selves suitably in the Actings of our Wills to such Truths known by setting before us Good or Evil Profit or Disprofit Pleasure or Displeasure Seemliness or Unseemliness accompanying or consequent on our orderly or disorderly Behaviour Now these things propos'd and urged in these Books as the main Scope and Design of them appear to be of God as they come with evidence of Truth and Goodness such as are agreeable to the Reason of a considerate Man and are seen proper and convenient for the Creatures Will to comply with things beseeming the all-perfect Being to teach and command convenient and profitable for the Creature to learn and obey Which if we consider with our selves and compare with what has been said in the former part of this Book will appear to be the very same Principles and Practice of that we call Natural or Rational Religion which is knowable by the Light of Nature to all Mankind But that these same things may and how far they may be call'd Revelations will appear by considering the Times and Circumstances and Manners of their Delivery Thus if when Men had given up themselves chiefly to the Consideration of sensual Objects and bent their Wills to the disorderly Satisfaction of their Bodily Appetites neglected the due Consideration of their Author and the End of their Being Began to fancy God too much like themselves Had low mean gross Conceptions of him and too high Conceits of Creatures Confounded the Properties of God with those of his Works Gave Divine Honour to Men or any thing they fancied excellent or useful Made Bodily Representations of God and as some represented him by one thing some by another their various and disagreeing Images could not be reconciled so as to be taken all so different for Images of one and the same Being but they began to fancy as many Gods as their differing Conceits had made Images So that Divine Nature was mistaken even as to number uncertain without end And even those who by long Instructions had been brought again to the Belief and Worship of but One God had so far mistaken his Will as to fancy their good Behaviour to him consisted in external Ceremonies supposing that he would be affected with the Slaying of Beasts and pleas'd with a Custom of little Observances as wearing of odd fashion'd Garments keeping of certain Days using divers Gestures c. when at the same time they neglected Justice Judgment Mercy Truth Goodness c. grew corrupt and unreasonable in their Actions even to one another had brought themselves into divers present Miseries and laid a foundation for future Unhappiness to themselves after this Life and to their Posterity yea lived as if they believed there was no future Life If then in such times of Ignorance and Corruption God sent or particularly instructed and sent some one or more to the rest expresly to teach the Truth and command his Will here was a Revelation and a time for the Goodness of God to shew it self in supplying the necessity of blind miserable Sinners when nothing could be more profitable for Man or becoming God than such gracious Discoveries But if these Men also declar'd some things that could not be otherwise known to them than by Divine Inspiration as certain future Events If there accompanied them a Supernatural Power effecting things could no otherwise at least by them be effected here is enough to be call'd Divine Revelation and Miracles And there can no more Scruple remain if we can but be perswaded to believe that the History of the Bible it self is true which is the Second thing to be consisidered And in order to which I think it not unnecessary to lay down some general Considerations about Faith as following Faith is an Assent to a thing as a Truth on the Word of another which we our selves don 't know or see according to that compleat Diffinition thereof Heb. 11.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence of things not seen or known for Knowledge leaves no room for Faith any more than it does for Hope which is the Desire of what we only believe will be Faith being its only Basis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the foundation or ground of things hoped for for where we have no Faith of the real Futurity of a thing there Hope has no ground But Faith if it hath its due Circumstances it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Convictive Argument And tho' Faith and Knowledge are so different that we can no longer properly say we believe a thing when once we can say we know it yet Faith if right is as near to Knowledge as that which is not Knowledge can be and far from that doubtful Supposition call'd Opinion That which is to be believed or assented to as a Truth on anothers Word is either First an Assertion or Affirmation that such or such a thing was is or will be Or Secondly a Promise when the Person on whose Word we rely for the real Futurity of the thing makes us expect it from him as the Cause Now that Faith may be as it ought an Assent indeed to a Truth tho' we don't know it and not the believing a Lye these things we ought to be certain in First that the Person that hath asserted or promised the thing we are to take for a Truth could know it or were not lyable himself to be deceived or can or will be able to do it it being in his power Secondly that he be Trusty or one that will not deceive us As to the Knowledge and Power of the Person that we may be sure he could or might know the thing or can or will be able to do it we must see that the thing is in it self knowable or that it may possibly be a Truth for that which I see absurd contradictory or absolutely impossible to be suppos'd I can never well believe on any one's Word nor could I do so would it be of any use to me Whatever I am to believe must at least seem possible to be a Truth for nothing else can challenge my Faith or be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
a sufficient Argument So whatever I am perswaded to do must at least seem a Good As Truth alone is the Object of Knowledge so should it be of Faith Nothing can well be believed but what may come to be known Secondly I must see that the thing be not only knowable and possible in it self but also knowable or possible to the Person on whose Word I believe it Which I may do by considering well the Person and his Circumstances As to the Trust of the Person whose Word I assent to I may be satisfied that he would not deceive me if First I see he could propose no at least seeming good end in so doing Or Secondly if I see he could not suppose it possible to attain his end if it were to deceive me For no one proposes to themselves the doing any thing but for some at least seeming good end much less the doing what they see they cannot be able to effect Faith without these Circumstances would be groundless uncertain and as lyable to be the Belief of a Lye as of a Truth and to no good purpose at all But in giving our Assent to the Word even of Man if thus cricumstanced we need fear no Deception Now as the crediting Man's Word may be call'd a Natural Faith so an Assent to the Word of God is that which is properly said to be a Divine Faith But the Word of Man thus differs from the Word of God That tho' divers Men may concur in saying one and the same thing and ought so to do in some cases that Man's Word may rationally demand our Belief and God being but one can be but a single Witness yet God's Word is greater and surer than Man's Because God cannot so much as be suppos'd to be deceived being Omniscient or be thought unable to perform his Promise being Almighty nor can he be suppos'd to will to deceive us who is the self-sufficient Fountain of Good nor therefore can he propose the getting of any Good to himself by deceiving his Creatures Absolute Perfection being uncapable of advantage Man may possibly be deceived knowing but a little or will to deceive wanting Goodness or propose an advantage to himself being needy and that by deceiving as he may want power to get his end another way He may suppose himself able when he is not and so not perform his Promise tho' he would or his Will may change not knowing always what is best and so not will to do at one time what at another he made us expect from him Wherefore we cannot believe or assent to as true what Man saith merely because he saith it but on these divers requisite Considerations There can be but one thing necessary or pre-requisite towards our believing God's Word and that is That we be sure that what we credit as God's Word is indeed his Word or that he does indeed say what he is suppos'd so to do Whether This or That is truely the Word of God we may determine by considering what is before said of Revelation and Miracles with the Matter the Manner the End c. of the thing said But now as to the business under Consideration What has been said may be easily apply'd to the Scripture and here particularly to the Historical Parts thereof without any farther help and as they appear by thus regularly considering them so let them be esteem'd But I shall name for example the chief of them and that briefly in which Books as I have before hinted is observable a Drift or Design all along against Wickedness and Deceit a Recommendation and Encouragement of Goodness Truth and all Vertue which can hardly be thought so to concur in so many Writers writing at such different times could they be thought to agree in a design to deceive Mankind or to propose any seeming Good End in so doing First The Books of Moses containing a Narrative of such things as could not be done without the Knowledge of a considerable part of Mankind cannot be suppos'd to be mere Fictions The things which he writes or whoever writes them as his own Knowledge he could not easily be deceived in nor can he be thought to have seen any possibility of deceiving Mankind so grosly as he must be said to have done if his Writings be no true History it being so easie a matter for the then present or immediately succeeding Ages to detect the Fallacy but they have not so done but concurr'd with him to deliver them down to Posterity A History of famous and publick Actions for so many years if no such things were done could never be suppos'd to gain Belief as a True History and be so generally receiv'd and deliver'd down for Truth from Age to Age as these Books have been Nor could the Design he seems to aim at viz. The instructing the Israelites in the Knowledge and Service of the One True God with the promoting of all Vertue and Duty to Man run so smoothly along with so apparently wicked and unprofitable a Design as the deceiving Posterity with a Fiction instead of a true Story As to the things done before his time which he speaks of but briefly in order to his design they might possibly be made known to him by Revelation tho' I confess I see no ground for such a Belief or of what use it would be much less of any necessity he should so receive them any more than the things he saw done when he might receive them by either Oral or written Tradition But that Moses was sent of God to teach and instruct the Israelites and whosoever would learn of them cannot be discredited if those Miraculous things were done which the whole Nation of the Hebrews and many others could not be deceived in As the Wonders in Egypt the Passage through the Red Sea and especially the giving the Law viz. the Ten Words expresly by a Voice from Mount Sinai which that numerous People could not easily concur to deliver down to Posterity to deceive their Children witnessing those Laws to be in such a manner given of God tho' they were themselves so inclinable to break them if there had been no such Laws so given Nor are the other Prophets less to be credited in their Narratives or whoever writes their Stories or the Books under their Names That such and such Men came in the Name of God delivering Instructions Reproofs Warnings c. to the People could not be a Mistake Nor could they impose upon Men in those Miracles they are sometimes said to do much less in the Predictions of Future Events even of particular Persons by name Telling the Councels of distant Enemies and even what should be the future Actions of some whose Hearts had not yet conceived the Thoughts of them giving also the infallible Test to know a False Prophet by viz. if what he saith comes not to pass Which Predictions were such as could be made by none without particular Divine Revelation which
a more particular and express more clear and convincing Manifestation of God's Will a second Witness of the same Truths confirming what is testified by the natural Light of Reason which alone were enough to leave all without excuse who do not hearken to its Dictates and sufficient to lead all to the way of Obedience were it hearkened unto But Revelation being added dictating and enforcing in a manner plain and clear enough for any Capacity whatever is absolutely necessary for Man to believe and do in order to Happiness is enough to inform and convince any of their Duty that do not strongly resist For the clearing of which matter let us take these Considerations As God is the Fountain and Cause of all Truths so he is the Giver or Discoverer of all Truths that come within the reach of Created Understandings But he doth not make known things to his Creatures always the same way He hath given us Sense and Reason by which with his general and common Assistance we most commonly come to know things for some time unknown to us But whensoever it pleaseth God to discover some Truth in an express particular or extraordinary manner then there is that which we call Divine Revelation Now this Revelation may be considered two ways In relation to the thing made known And in relation to the Manner or Measure of the Manifestation But before we come to consider it these ways let it be noted that as we have said Revelation is some Truth discover'd or made known to the Creatures so we at the same must necessarily suppose it a Truth knowable to the created Understanding For to suppose a thing that is above our Understanding to be revealed to us is to suppose a Revelation and yet no Revelation whatever is made known to us we know and what we know is not above our Knowledge The Capacity of Man's Understanding we readily believe may be enlarged so that he may hereafter know what at present he is not capable of but till he is capable of knowing such or such a Truth or at least seeing it knowable it can be no Revelation to him As for instance None can pretend that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is revealed while it is that which is inconceivable That all the Properties wherein the Nature and Essence of Bread consists should remain and yet the Bread be changed into Flesh is that which is unintelligible and not a Revelation Nor can they well say that tho' the manner how this unseen Change can be is not revealed yet that it is indeed changed into Flesh and yet more strange the Flesh of Christ is revealed For how this Change can be conceived to be made and that it can be conceived to be made is the very same thing or at least as unintelligible Nay such a supposed Change is a Contradiction and a Contradiction can with the least reason of all be suppos'd a Revelation For Man is not only unable to know how it can be but is able to know yea clearly sees it is impossible to be With as good a pretence might a Man say that tho' to any Man's Understanding two and one make three yet God has revealed to him that in God's Understanding two and one is but one or is nine or what you please But as to Divine Revelation it may be as I said considered either as to the Thing revealed or the Manner of the Revelation As to the Thing revealed it may be either that which is or can be known no other way viz. a Truth God has reserved to such his Peculiar Teaching or that which might be known without Revelation but not so clearly easily or soon and in both it may be of a Truth past present or to come As to the Manner of Revelation a Truth may be communicated either immediately to the Understanding supposing only that it is God's special Will that I or he thus immediately know such or such a Truth we knew not before or yet to the Understanding mediately by the Ministry of some superiour Intelligent Creature that God first made know the thing or yet still more mediately a Truth may be made known in way of Revelation even by our very Senses by means of some Bodily Object as a Voice Vision or the like Again as to the Manner of Revelation it may be more general or particular more partial or full or in other words fewer or more Truths may be thus made known at the same time Now that God can and may in a particular and express manner make a Truth known to his Creature or to one and another and yet not to the third or to every one that he may give a Revelation to some immediately and command them to tell it others none but those that disbelieve the Power Goodness and Sovereignty of God can deny It cannot rationally be suppos'd but that the Author of Truths can make a Truth known He who has made Creatures sensible and capable of Reasoning and finding out Truths by way of Induction and Argument may if he please sometimes give Men the Knowledge of some Truths a nearer and easier way or cause them to understand Truths not knowable by Sense and Reason alone and this immediately to whom he pleaseth and to others by them Creatures that can come to the Knowledge of many things by their own Industry or Application of Thought may either know the same things or things they would never have found out so by a special Instruction As a Man unassisted by a Master may find out many things in Arts but by the Instruction of a skilful Artist he may come to know the same and more and in far less time than he could have known without such a Teacher Now it cannot be thought unbecoming the Wisdom and Goodness of God or unsuitable or unnecessary for the present Condition of Mankind if we consider it that God should have had some special Scholars of his own particular instructing and have commanded them to teach other Men in things most profitable and necessary to them or that he should have sent some particular Messengers to the rest of Mankind to teach his Will to those that through their own Negligence or others Hinderance knew it not or to teach it more clearly and fully to those that knew it but in part and to urge it upon all that were negligent to do it That God may do thus I think is now undoubted That he has done so seems to me the only thing needs farther to be proved to any rational Man And that we may rationally be perswaded that God has thus instructed or sent some particular Men either to teach others or urge them to do their known Duty let us take these Considerations It is most evident to all those who have took notice of the Actions of Mankind conveighed by the most unquestionable Tradition from Generation to Generation that now and then in the Ages of this World there have been some
THE Atheist turn'd Deist AND THE Deist turn'd Christian OR THE REASONABLENESS and UNION OF Natural and the True Christian Religion BY THO. EMES Chirurgo-Medicus LONDON Printed in the Year 1698. Speak every Man Truth with his Neighbour for we are Members of one another Eph. 4.25 AND So speak ye and so do ye as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty Jam. 2.12 ERRATA PAge 3. line 10. for certify read certifie L. 20. for Lier r. Lyar. P. 4. l. 26. for ll read all P. 6. l. last for unbeholding r. un-beholden P. 21. l. 20. for then r. than P. 22. for beholding r. beholden So P. 34. l. 34. P. 43. l. 36. r. Marriage-Constancy P. 45. l. 5. for countervaile r. countervale P. 84. l. 6. for God's r. Gods P. 95. after same add time P. 118. l. 26. blot and after David P. 181. l. 16. for they r. the before Oaths Some of the principal Heads of this Discourse under which divers other things are touched upon Numb 1. WHAT necessary to the End of Man Numb 2. Three Ways whereby we know Truth Numb 3. The nearest Way to prove the Being of God Numb 4. Self what The Necessity of supposing a Divine Being thence proved Numb 5. God knowable by Experience or Sense Numb 6. Self more largely considered and said to be Cogitation or Mind Numb 7. Objections against Cogitation's being the Essence of Self answered Numb 8. God considered more largely and as in himself or essential Attributes Numb 9. The common Notion of Omnipresence false Numb 10. God considered in relation to the Creatures negatively and positively Numb 11. Of the End of God's making things Numb 12. Man's Duty or Religion considered in general Numb 13. The same considered more particularly in Love to God Numb 14. And Love to his Works Numb 15. Love the Foundation of all orderly Behaviour No. 16. The Natural Reason and Sense of the Decâ—logue No. 17. The Goodness and Well-being of the Creaturâ— wherein it consists No. 18. The Ground of Vnhappiness No. 19. The true Notion of Sin and that Sin is a ways an Act and Original Sin as supposâ— distinct from Actual Sin a Mistake the triâ— Notion of it No. 20. The Fall of Man from Innocence naturalâ— known No. 21. The Aggravation or Greatness of Sins Diâ—order No. 22. How the Creature should behave it self on thâ— Conviction of Sin With the Natural Dutâ— of Repentance No. 23. Forgiveness with God apparently discoverabâ—â— by the Light of Nature No. 24. Why God made Creatures capable of Sin No. 25. Free will considered No. 26. What an Arbitrary Command of God and hoâ— reasonable No. 27. All the Commands of God tend to Mans Happiness or Pleasure Disobedience to the contrary neither Obedience nor Disobedience add to or take any thing from God No. 28. That the Creature having once sinn'd is more inclinable to go on sinning than to repent No. 29. Convicted Sinners at first unapt to believe that God will forgive No. 30. The Scope of all God's Dealings with Sinners in order to their Recovery No. 31. Immortality and a future Life discoverable by Reason what Death is and its use since Sin with Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul No. 32. The Resurrection of the Body rationally concluded No. 33. Future Judgment necessary No. 34. Man capable of Repentance and doing his Duty No. 35. The divers Motives and Arguments God has given Men to perswade them to repent and what the compleatest No. 36. Revelation chiefly for enforcing Natural Religion Divers Considerations about Revelation Miracles Faith c. No. 37. Of Christ and his Work No. 38. Of his Person No. 39. All that are saved saved the same way viz. by Christ No. 40. Scripture a Gift of God argued and the need of Revelation No. 41. Some things taught in the World as Doctrines of the Bible not tending to the true End and Scope of Revelation No. 42. As Mistakes about Reconciliation Christ's Death and Sacrifice Propitiation c. No. 43. About Satisfaction No. 44. Mistakes about Punishment God not to be thought the Cause of the Creatures Misery No. 45. Mistakes about Imputation of Sin and Righteousness No. 46. Mistakes about Merit No. 47. About Redemption No. 48. About Intercession No. 49. How the Mediation of Christ becomes â—â—fectual No. 50. Of the Doctrine of Fate or absolute Predestâ—â—nation No. 51. A Reflection on the present State of Christiâ—â—nity 1. THERE are Two Things necessary for Man in order to his attaining the End of his Being To know the Truth And to Will well Or in other words To be Wise and Good As for Knowing the Truth there are two Things wherein this Necessary Wisdom doth chiefly consist The Knowledge of God and the Knowledge of Ones Self And there is one thing wherein Man's Goodness doth consist and that is in the Conformity of his Will to the Will of his Maker to will as God wills The Order of our Knowledge of these two Objects God and Self seems to be this We begin to know our Selves as the Objects of which we are first aware and then we proceed to the Knowledge of God But the Connection of the Knowledg of God and of our Selves is such that we can never know our Selves well tell we arise to the Knowledge of God nor know God as we ought if we know but little of our Selves 2. There are but three Ways I conceive whereby we can have any Knowledge of God our Selves or any thing else 1. By Sense 2. By Reason Or 3. By Revelation By the Knowledge of Sense I do not mean only the Sensation or Perception of Bodies but also and rather the Experience Sense or Conscience we have of our own Thoughts or may have of others All those Notions we have as it were passively received without reasoning and which are as it were the Matter or Ground on which Reason works The second way of Knowledge Reason is the Faculty of arguing or discoursing with our Selves whereby from considering our passive Knowledges or Sensations we arise to get more full Knowledge of things and of what we had no immediate Sensation or Intuition and by getting the Knowledge of some things we proceed by Arguments and get the Knowledge and better Knowledge of others As by considering the Creatures especially our selves we may arise to the knowledge of God and then by considering our Maker we are led back again better to know our selves and from a better knowledge of our selves we get still the clearer knowledge of our Author The third way we may be made acquainted with God our selves or other things viz. Revelation is but as it were a compendious Assistance of the two former An express or particular Instruction from God telling the Creature in short what he would have been either ignorant of or not so soon or easily have known without such an immediate Teaching As for instance What God is and will be found to be what we are ought to
that he hath deceiv'd himself but also the Unreasonableness of his Disbelief slighting disbelieving and affronting his Maker in not studying but rejecting his most wise Order and Direction So that if a Man wills that which is good but impossible to him or what belongs not to him that which is but little good and takes away more good hinders good to another is but an appearance of good his Will is evil He that desires his Neighbour's Wife wills Evil tho' she be the best Woman in the World for tho' she be good she is not his he invades another's Property and so wills an Injustice nor can he have his desire without abating the Happiness of his Neighbour and the Woman 's too in her becoming Evil and finding its Consequences And here I cannot but take notice of the a foolish Abuse common among Mankind that is they confidently call the Desire One Man has to Another's Wife or a Woman to Another's Husband with all such disorderly Desires by the name of Love meaning Love to the Person desired when it is nothing less being always that which so far as it is satisfied divers ways effects the Unhappiness of the Person said to be beloved which such a Lover can hardly be so blind as not to see Yea farther that it is but a Self-love if it can be call'd Love at all and a grosly mistaken one too rendering the Lover himself more unhappy than he would have been had he never so affected tho' he enjoy the Object of his Love I would say his Lust for that is the proper name on 't But to draw towards a Conclusion of this matter I say whatever a Man desires the Act of desire is free to suppose otherwise would be all one as to suppose Volition not to be Volition or a Will not a Will A Will cannot be said to be compell'd for tho' it cannot but Act or Be it is freely or willing Compulsion and Volition are contrary and incompatible But the Will is led by Arguments and at least Appearances of Good If there could be suppos'd but one Object of the Will it could not but apply to that yet it would be freely but where there are many Objects it chooses by appearance But Man having the Faculty of Reasoning as well as Desiring ought to suspend the Acts of his Will by a kind of Indifferency at least as to their Effects till he is sure his choice will be good The Will is led by Arguments I say whether the Act of Will be according to God's Will or no and Volition is Volition or to be willing is to be willing And a Man is in short more properly said to will or desire Evilly than to desire an Evil I mean to himself for that a Man may be so wicked as often to will and consequently freely yea and knowingly an Evil to another Man and sometimes effects it and would also affect God with an Evil or a real Displeasure if it were possible that Man's foolish Will could be so done is daily apparent and true beyond all dispute And that Sinners may be said to will Evil continually is not to be understood as if they never desired any thing that is good but that every act of their desire tho' they desire Good hath some Evil Circumstance or other as an Evil Manner Evil Means or Evil Ends c. Now God as abovesaid cannot will either an Evil or Evilly his Will being the Rule of Good and to suppose God to will Evil would be all one as to suppose him to will what he don't will Nor is it for want of Power or Freedom that God can't will or do Evil but it is rather a Note of Power that he cannot be deceived but can know all things as they are and cannot be suppos'd ignorant of any Truth because he is the Exemplar and Cause of all Truths He cannot be suppos'd to do amiss because he is All-perfect He cannot will one thing now another anon because he is unchangeable always knowing what is best And as God in whose Being is no now and then cannot will contrary to his own Will so he cannot be suppos'd without the height of Contradiction to will that the Creature should will contrary to his Maker's Will this would be to suppose God to will contrary to his own Will or will a thing and yet not will it Besides if God please to make known his Will which he must be suppos'd to do one way or other or the Creature cannot well obey it or be determined to its Duty when the Creature knows it or has reason to believe God wills so and so he can have no reason to suppose God can have a Secret Will or Determination that the Creature should do the contrary This would be to suppose God a Lyer and to deceive his Creature yea to deny God to be either true or good I have the greatest reason to believe God would have me do what he commands me that is any way causes me to take for his Will and that he commands me what is best for me to do I cannot err here if I am sure he commands If God could be suppos'd to will one thing and command the contrary he would contradict himself for the Commands of God can be nothing but his Will made known to the Creature and he cannot be supposed to frustrate his own Will Such an Absurdity foolish Man would hardly be capable of as to will his Child to do what he commands him not to do or to command him to do that which he wills he should not do Yet I have known some so bold or inconsiderate or displeas'd with the good Will of God as to affirm in plain words so unreasonable a thing of God as that he will'd Man should do what he commanded him not to do But God has done very great things both within us and without us and will do to vindicate his Wisdom Truth and Goodness against all those that are so hardy or foolish as to deny them either plainly or in consequence 26. And tho' God may oblige his Creature to a thing for a time especially in that which seems an Arbitrary Command which he may not will him to do always but afterwards something else it is no Contradiction or Change in God's Will who wills that which is first and last in respect to the Creature altogether but the Creature being changeable what is best for him or his Duty under one Circumstance is not so under another Which Will of God the Creature comes to know part now part anon As for instance God wills me to do that when I am a Child or a Servant which is not my Duty when a Father or a Master and that when I am a Father or Master which is not or ceaseth to be my Duty when I am in no such relation An Arbitrary Command of God I call that which Man sees not or not clearly the reason of to himself nor
has any evident Argument to perswade the doing or not doing of it but because God commands That which is not evidently a Natural Duty but some Express Command God may please to give the Creature without giving him the reason of it Such a thing also God may oblige his Creature to if he please only for a time But those Duties that result from the very notion of our being God's Creatures as Love Reverence Trust Dependance c. are unchangeable while God is God and the Creatures are Creatures whether God expresly command them or no. But if God shall expresly command his Creature a thing and yet not give the Creature the Reason of it as good to the Creature it must nevertheless necessarily be suppos'd to be good and must so far at least appear to him as that he sees it is not evil or contrary to a natural Duty or former Command And if we consider we shall find it most reasonable and convenient for Man to obey the Will of God not only in things that are apparently agreeable to Man's relation to his Maker and for Man's Benefit but in things he may not readily see the Agreeableness or Benefit of if first he be sure God commands them tho' therein God may seem for the present to limit or abridge Man's Happiness concluding God is wiser and better than the Creature For the Creature is beholden to God for all he has and if God deny him something that he may now fancy a Good he has no more reason to be displeased with God who arbitrarily gave him his Being than because he made him a Man and did not make him an Angel As a Man who should have the Gift of a good Estate from a Person who was no way obliged to him would be thought most unreasonable to deny a small quit Rent as an Acknowledgment to his Benefactor from whence he received the Estate Such a Reservation of at least a Seeming Good from Man was very suitable in his first Creation Make and Excellency as he was in the Likeness of God Lord of all the Inferiour Creatures that he might thereby acknowledge his Subjection and Dependance on God and God's Sovereignty and Dominion over him And yet it must also be affirm'd most for Man's Profit to part with this Acknowledgment tho' the thing he fore-go should be suppos'd a Real and not a Fancied Good for him because he would have kept a vastly greater Good than can be suppos'd in any one particular Creature that is the Satisfaction comes to a dependent Mind in obedience to his beloved Maker and Sustainer with the most pleasing sense of his Love and Favour to him the Sweet Familiarity Presence or Converse with his God which was consequently interrupted or destroyed by Disobedience Yet it may be a question whether what-ever God may be supposed to will Man to abstain from is not in it self inconvenient for him and whether it may not be thought a sufficient tryal of Man's Submission and Acknowledgment when only the Reason of the Command is reserved from him Whatever God has created is certainly Good and for some wise End Those things we call Poysons or which eaten or applied in a small quantity will destroy the Frame of Man's Body are good some way or other but it is not always necessary Man should know the Uses of them If a loving and wise Father a Physician should thus warn his beloved Son Meddle not with that Drugg tho' it hath a pleasant Taste if you eat it 't will kill you giving him no farther account of it or for what use he keeps it Yet this Son would not believe it or be satisfied tell he had tryed the Experiment would he not be highly to blame as discrediting his Father's Truth and Goodness and disobeying his Will How could he come without Shame to his Father for a Remedy So much more is Man blame-worthy if he refuse the Direction of God in the use of the Creatures what way soever he gives it 27. But the keeping all the Commands of God or whatsoever he can be known to will certainly tends to Man's Happiness and tho' he be obliged to abstain from many things good in themselves or rather from the use of them according to his own hasty inconsiderate Fancy yet a general Conformity to the Will of God is so far from being an unpleasant Burthen or Yoak that it is the only way of the greatest Happiness and Pleasure The more obedient the more easie the more joyous a Man is or will soon be And that Man is not perpetually and as much as may be so is because in some thing or other he has disobeyed or yet disobeys or the Disobedience of some other Creature affects him But to be fully obedient is the height of the Creatures Felicity The life of Obedience even at present is not a way of Unpleasantness Sadness and Thraldom but a Path of Pleasure Joy and Liberty There is nothing in doing the Will of God that in it self tends to make a Man uneasie or that hinders his being pleas'd or happy as much as possible and whoever fancieth there is it is from some Mistake as either a Supposition of that to be the Will of God which really is not or that the Actions of the Creature tend to one thing when indeed they tend to another I cannot forbear not only to assert this as that of which I have a most clear Rational Conviction but also to witness it as having here had something of unquestionable Experience And that short Pleasure which a Sinner may take in an unduly enjoy'd Sensual Good in stealing or snatching as it were from God what he would in better Time and Order have given him I have found more than equall'd by the bare Satisfaction in the Thoughts of not having transgress'd were the pleasure of Innocency no longer than the pleasure in Transgressing But in obeying are sometimes even in this life Joys unspeakable as Fore tastes of Joys future full and perpetual accompanying a State of perfect and perpetual Obedience Those that know nothing of these Felicities that are greater than can be in the disorderly Enjoyment or abuse of God's Creatures let them but try the Experiment as I have done of God's Goodness of the pleasure of Divine Love as they easily and freely may and they will be for ever convinced Neither let any think they loose any thing even of the good of the Creatures themselves by being restrain'd or rather directed by whatever Rule God gives us how to use them no he envies us not the greatest Pleasure we are capable of taking in them We cannot be suppos'd while Creatures to be capable of all Pleasure or of full Satisfaction in Creatures God has indeed given Man a quick Sense of Good or Delight even in the use of Bodily things and that not that it should be unsatisfied but the Creatures design'd for Man's use are so numerous that they cannot all be used
been effected by his hand that we believe God will not let him loose his Body or cut the bond of Corporal and Spiritual Nature for ever but rather give it him again and that so alter'd as where-with he may be more capable of all those things he ought to do and be in Bodily Nature The Creatures inferiour to Man and subject to his Knowledge and use are but very little known or duly used in this Life therefore it is probable they will in another and without a Body we cannot see that the material World can signifie any thing to the Mind of Man Man at his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Dissolution probably ceases to be to the BodilyWorld and the Bodily World to him but in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resurrection standing up or using a Body again he is again united to Bodily Nature to do and be something again therein And that he may be more capable of what he should be and do than he was in his first State or of finding the great Unreasonableness and Unhappiness of persisting in the contrary to his Duty it is requisite that the Body he receives should be altered or not exactly the same but otherwise modified so as to be capable of the state the Soul is then determined to And if we have reason to believe the Body shall be changed we cannot well think it shall be exactly the same numerical and like figured Parts of Matter it had before such a Supposition is needless as well as groundless if not contradictory The Body a Man of Forty or Fifty has is not the same numerical Matter he had at his Birth but has received the greatest part of its bulk from the various matters of his Food so that he was truly eating from his Trencher what is his Body But every Soul hath its own Body tho' the Body now be in continual change The Matter of the Bodies of Men and Brutes in the long tract of the Ages of this World hath been confounded and the same Matter or part of it that was the Body of one at one time has become the Body or part of the Body of another at another time but that needs not trouble us when the Sameness of a Person does not consist in the Sameness of the Matter of his Body but in the Continuation of his Thinking and Conscience of his Thoughts Nor perhaps have we any ground to suppose the raised Body will be altogether unchangeable it will be enough if to the happy it be such as will never any way hinder their Happiness to the wicked such as will continue tho' in the want of all the disorderly beloved Gratifications of Sense To believe the Possibility of a Soul 's having a Raised or Refitted Body either from the common Matter of the Earth or partly from those very Particles it formerly had is no difficulty when the Will of God is supposed the Cause Nor need we perswade the Possibility of a Recollection of dispersed Matter or tell you that even the Art of Man can gather together that which seems to be separated as much as a rotten Corps There is no manner of Difficulty or Contradiction in believing the Resurrection to those that believe a God The Difficulties that some have pretended in the notion of the Numerical Sameness of every Particle of Matter are nothing when we are no way obliged to believe it such a Resurrection 33. Moreover as all things in this sinful Life are very much out of order and Men do not sufficiently see their Disorders but think well of that which is ill and ill of that which is well It is very requisite and becoming the Perfections of God beseeming his Justice and Truth or his Approbation of his Will to Man and of his Constancy with the Manifestation of the true Causes of all Good and Evil that there should be some time or other after this Life for a time of Discovering Determination Judgment or Declaration of the Truth of things That the Work of Repentance and Obedience may be approved and appear to be good and most profitable for the Creature and Disobedience and Impenitence may be no more mistaken by Sinners for the way of Goodness and Happiness That Justice and Injustice may no more be taken one for the other that the Good may appear to be delivered from the power of the Wicked and the Wicked appear to be the Fools that were deceived And that the Truth of things may be most manifest and the Determination of them clear even to wicked Men it is not only highly probable but necessary that Men shall appear again in such Bodies as whereby they may be known to one another and these things be effected by such a means and in such a manner as may most aptly tend to the undoubted Determination of all things to their due and lasting Condition 34. Now as it is evident that Man's Business is to be conformable to the Will of his Maker according to that order the Most Wise thinks fit wherein his Perfections may be most seen and whereby the Creature may be most happy or pleas'd and since it is as evident that Man has failed and gone out of this order and vainly sought out himself an impossible way of Happiness wherein his Maker cannot be duly seen It follows that Man ought to repent and change his Mind To the doing of which it is necessary that Man should be capable of so doing It cannot be an immediate Obligation on a Creature to do what he cannot do Tho' the Creature has disobey'd yet the Obligation to future Obedience still remains so consequently a Capacity of obeying It would be very hard to be required to give what one has not and cannot have The Difficulty that may seem in several Instances wherein a Man may in some sort render himself uncapable of what he ought to do may be solved by this Consideration That Man cannot be thought to be disabled of a Will or Faculty of Desire While he has a Being he always wills or desires something and his Will is changeable by the strength of Argument or new appearance of Good from one thing to another There are the greatest Arguments on the side of Duty which may possibly appear to the Man whereby his Will may be changed and the willing according to God's Will is the act of Obedience which God accepts where the Soul cannot effect the outward things which are to Men the Testimonies Signs and Effects of it And such hearty Desires continued God often assists to be shewn forth and have their Effects to others or by his Providence some way or other rectifies the matter As for instance If a Man borrows Money spends it and then can't pay it he repents that he has done amiss desires and endeavours to get Money to pay but can't God forgives his Sin wherein he willed amiss accepts of his Will to pay for the deed supplies his Creditor another way or
Men teaching and perswading others things which when duly considered will be found Truths tending to their Good and some of these have declar'd themselves sent of God and commanded to teach and perswade the things they have taught and perswaded Now suppose some of them have not had the things they taught in this Special Manner immediately from God yet they are Revelations to those to whom they were before unknown tho' not properly Divine Ones as to the manner of their Discovery But yet if the Persons were really sent by God's express and special Command to teach Men even what they might have found out themselves nevertheless that such a Person was thus sent of God is a Divine Revelation and a high Argument to perswade Compliance with the things taught But if they have received the Truths from God in this extraordinary special and particular Manner and been expresly sent and commanded to teach and enforce them there is all that can be desired to a Divine Revelation We have two things here principally to be satisfied in First Whether the Person teaching Men was thus particularly taught of God Secondly Whether he was expresly commanded of God to teach either this his expresly received Divine Doctrine or what he otherwise knew That the things are of God we cannot doubt if they appear when declar'd with Evidence and Demonstration God being the Author and Fountain of all Truths That the things are Revelations we cannot doubt if they are such as were not knowable or could not then be known any other way As for instance If the Person tells us or brings to remembrance some things past and forgotten that were never committed either to written or unwritten Tradition or if he gives us the Knowledge of things present done at a distance which he could not know any ordinary way or such things to come which can be fore-known to none but God who is incomprehensible in Knowledge and to whom he is pleas'd to reveal them That the Person was sent of God we may be perswaded partly by the things he declares appearing thus to be Revelations partly by their being such as were good very necessary and beneficial to be known or done by the Persons to whom he declares himself sent But fully and sufficiently if some extraordinary Effect is also produced by means of the Person such as never is done or at least could be done by him without the special and uncommon Operation of the Divine Power or the Finger of God such as we call a Miracle When such Effects accompany Persons asserting themselves sent of God to teach and exhort Men things in themselves shewing no Repugnancy to Truth there can be no more rational Doubt of them or of the Authority and Divine Mission of the Persons God cannot be suppos'd to alter the common order of things in his Creatures in Concurrence to perswade a Lye or to give his Special Testimony to any Deceiver But yet here we had need use our Reason and have some skill to judge of and distinguish a True Miracle from a False one that we may be certain of the Matter of Fact For there have perhaps been more Pretences to Miracles or False and Lying Wonders than True ones Now that I may a little help those who have not so well consider'd this Matter I shall lay down a few more Considerations of the nature of a Miracle before I come to consider how these things may be apply'd particularly to the Book commonly call'd the Holy Scripture A Miracle negatively is not a Contradiction in nature or any thing that implyeth a Contradiction Absurdity or absolute Impossibility as that a thing should be made to be and not to be so and so and not so and so at the same time That which the Understanding of Man can no ways apprehend but as absurd or impossible can neither be pretended as a Miracle nor could it so be would it ever have the end of a Miracle As for instance That a certain Saint beheaded should afterwards carry his Head in his Mouth for some miles or that the Body of Christ should be in divers places at the same time Nor can the Almighty Power of God be any pretence for the Belief of such Absurdies for Things or Truths are the Products and Subjects of Divine Power and not Contradictions Again A Miracle is not a Fallacy or Deception of Mens Senses or Understanding for a Deceit hath the nature of a Lye and is not likely to come from the God of Truth Nor is a Miracle a thing done by the Power or Art of the Man howsoever great or strange any Man's Power or Art may be to others that are weak or ignorant Nor is a Miracle any more in the Will of Man than in his Power or Skill the Time or Subject for a Miracle is not determin'd by Man's vain Will to satisfie Curiosity or unnecessary Desires but is generally wrought upon serious and weighty Occasions nor is God's Will so properly said to concur with Man's Will when Man would work a Miracle as Man's Will to concur with God's Will when God pleases and sees fit to work one But a Miracle is an extraordinary Effect or Alteration in Nature wrought by the Will of God above the Power and Art of Man at least of him who is the Instrument of effecting it in the way it was effected A thing done by the Special and Uncommon Operation of the Divine Power The end of a Miracle is the Confirmation of some Revelation or Truth as from God to promote some considerable Good no less than to perswade Sinners to repent or will as God wills or to confirm them that so do in their well-willing And where-ever there is said to be a Miracle that tends not to this end it ought to be suspected and will be found upon serious Examination to be but a Pretence and no real Miracle But now to come a little nearer to Matters of Fact that we may be perswaded that there have indeed been Divine Revelations and some Persons sent to declare the Will of God to others and the Truth of their Mission and of the things declared confirm'd by Miracles we need no more but seriously read and consider the Books of Moses and the Prophets and especially the Writings of the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ In the Reading and Consideration of which Books if these two things appear I think there is enough to satisfie any rational Man in this matter First That the things related as taught perswaded and done agree with the most rational and crittical Account of Divine Revelations and Miracles Secondly That the History it self be undoubtedly true Let us consider both these as briefly as we can In the first place there is to be considered in the Scripture the Doctrinal or Instructive Part which teacheth for a foundation That there is one Most high Sufficient Being or God And that he is the Author and Continuer and consequently Sovereign
act as a living Man On the account of his Resurrection too he is called the first begotten Son of God Rev. 1.5 1 Cor. 15.20 Col. 1.18 And by his Resurrection also was given a Testimony of the Truth of his Doctrine especially of the Points of the Resurrection of the Body and Life immortal And having fully instructed his Disciples and authorized them his Ministers to prosecute the same end he was sent for viz. the bringing rebellious disorderly Sinners to Repentance and Obedience for the fulfilling his Promise of the Mission of the Holy Ghost the Power by means whereof they wrought Miracles it was requisite he should leave this Earth which he did in the sight of many and go to some Heavenly Mansion till his Second Personal Appearance which Angels at his Ascension inform'd the Beholders should be in like manner and which he had before promised and wherein he will wholly finish his Office of Mediator between God and Men a part of which is his Ruling or Judging the World fully determining what 's right and what 's wrong as God has authorized him After which he shall give up that his Kingdom to his God and Father's immediate Government to whom he is and then will more eminently appear to be Subject tho' God has made him the Head or Chief of the Creation But I can but name things where every head would yield a large Discourse This is the Sum and Substance of the Revelation of God's Will by Jesus Christ And whosoever believes Christ's Doctrine and does it or in his own words He that hears his Word and believeth on him that sent him hath everlasting life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death unto Life Joh. 5.24 And not every one that suith Lord Lord unto him shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of his Father which is in Heaven Matth. 7.21 But whosoever heareth the Sayings of Christ and does them not whatever he may think of Christ or how great soever an Opinion he professeth of him hath but built upon the Sand v. 27. It is Obedience that is the end of all true Doctrine and whosoever having been convinced of Sin and changed from doing his own disorderly Will does the Will of God and persevers in so doing will be happy nay is saved by what means soever this Change hath been wrought Where the End is accomplish'd it is accomplish'd Many have been the Instruments and various the Means that God hath used to reduce Sinners and some rebellious ones have been changed to comply with their Maker's Will by smaller Arguments some by greater The Means of Conviction God hath given the World seems from the beginning to have grown greater and greater as Wickedness hath increased but some Sinners have been so perverse that the greatest Motives God has pleas'd to give them have not done but they have appear'd resolved to abandon God and to devote themselves to their Sin and Misery Yet there have been many righteous Men who have not seen and heard what some others have and yet have indeed been righteous And they that have seen and heard the most of the Manifestations of God have little cause to censure and condemn them that have seen and heard the least when these have sometimes shewn as much or more of the End Goodness accomplished in them 39. But whatsoever means God may make effectual towards the Salvation of Men or bringing them from Sin to Obedience it may truly be said they are all saved the same way and that is by Christ Which must not be understood that it is absolutely necessary that every Man should be instructed in the Will of God and receive his Commends from Christ's own Mouth or from those he hath expresly sent to preach the Gospel Nor is it to be thought impossible that any should be saved without Reading or hearing read the Books we call the Holy Scriptures But whosoever is saved is necessarily some way or other instructed in the same things Christ hath taught viz his Duty to God and his Neighbour and brought to comply therewith and so to follow Christ in a Life of Obedience Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life There is no other Way Sinners can come to the Father but what he hath shown viz. Repentance bringing forth the meet fruits thereof There are no other Truths necessary to be known in order to living that Life of Obedience Christ gave us the highest Example of than what he taught There is no other Man a Master or Teacher teaching another Doctrine in which is Salvation for God hath given him the chief coruer stone of the Spiritual Building to which the rest must be squared and he hath given no other name among Men under Heaven in which we must be saved There is none a different or so compleat a Rule Acts 4.11 12. The Way the Truth and the Life is the same that all must go in believe and live However Men may disagree in Speculations and Opinions if they know but enough to subject their Wills in Agreement to this Life of Obedience which Christ in the name of God commanded and himself gave an Example of they may meet in Heaven Those that disagree from this Living Rule and persevere in their Dissention will not see Life notwithstanding their highest Pretences to Faith or Knowledge And if I am brought to submit to the Will of my Maker by reading the Bible or hearing Discourses on it it does not follow that none could be inform'd of the same Truths and reduced to the same Obedience any other way Before the Scripture was written there were Righteous Men accepted of God no doubt and since the Love of God has appeared larger than the Love of Christians in recommending and communicating that most useful Book to the rest of Mankind For there have been Examples out of the Pale of the visible Christian Church of such a Life as would become a considerable Christian at least of such as was proportionable to the measure of Knowledge And some things left so excellent in the Writings of some of those we call Heathens that Charity methinks would excuse me if I should esteem them Christians indeed without the name or such in Conformity to the Will of God as Christians should be And there have been not a few who have been no happier than to be educated in the Worship of the True God under no better an Instructer than Moses or Mahomet that might have shamed the Nominal Christian to behold their Vertues God sent Prophets of old in a special manner to instruct the Sons of Heber and doubtless it was their Duty to teach others the Knowledge and Worship of the True God and he sent his Son Jesus also first unto some of them but Christ commanded his Disciples to teach all Nations If Hebrews and Christians have not done their Duty it cannot be thought that therefore the rest of Mankind must
needs all perish But they have not only been negligent in endeavouring the Information and Reformation of all Mankind but have been even Stumbling-blocks not only by teaching for the Oracles of God the unreasonable Traditions of Men but even by their wicked Lives and uncharitable Actions Yet God hath not left himself without a Witness in all Nations but his Goodness hath been an Argument to perswade to Obedience some of those who have seen the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World being understood by the things that are made even his External Power and Godhead The Light of Reason hath been universal to all Mankind and those who have acted according to that Light where through the fault of others no more hath been given doubtless no more will be required Nor dare we deny but that God may have sometimes acted graciously by his Spirit where the Letter of the Gospel hath been wanting So that many I am perswaded will come from the East and from the West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven that in the opinion of many Christians are excluded In whose Hearts perhaps hath been more of the Love of God and Man than in many of those Christians so ready to condemn them who I doubt are more likely to be themselves shut out I think it may be well said of the Christian and Christianity in this matter as the Apostle speaks of the Jew and Circumcision Rom. 2.29 He is not a Christian which is one outwardly neither is that Christianity which consists in outward things but he is a Christian who is one inwardly and Christianity or the Religion that Christ taught is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Praise is not of Men but of God The fruits of which Christian Spirit are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such who are endued with these Vertues there is no Law Gal. 5.22 But the advantage of the visible Christians is much because unto them are committed the Oracles of God and where much is given much will be required The bare believing Christ to be the Messias yea the Faith of those who believe most concerning his Person will not be found enough or a Saving Faith but the believing his Doctrine so as to do the Will of his Father is that which will give a Title to the Promise of Admission into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 7.21 40. To perswade to Repentance or a turning from a Life of Sin to a Life of Obedience to God we find the chief End and Scope not only of the Gospel but of the other parts of the Old and New Testaments which Books the Divine Providence hath graciously given and preserved as a means to that End Many have undertaken to prove these Books to be the Word of God but they have not all gone the right way to do it Some think they do not enough unless they can perswade us that every word in them was given by Immediate Inspiration But there is no need of such a Belief if a considerate Person were capable of having it That they were given by the Good Providence of God none can well doubt But some part of them as the Historical needed no such thing as Inspiration Some part as the Prophetical could not come without it But a due esteem of the Scripture may be had and its End well accomplished taking it altogether as it is and as none can in reason deny it to be viz. considering the parts of it as some inspir'd some written according to the Knowledge of Faithful Men some deliver'd according to the Wisdom given the Writers thereof But the Affirmation that every Word of it is inspired is not only no Point of Faith necessary to Salvation or ever thought so as I can find by the Primitive Christians but has divers Inconveniences following it which are Grounds of Objection to Athiests and Deists As for Instance There are some little Difficulties in the Historical Part which are better attributed to some Mistake in the Writer or Coppier than to God Some few things in the Old Testament that seem dissonant to the Spirit of the Gospel which are better thought to be from the Spirit of the Writer than from the Spirit of God c. Some reckon by name so many Books of the Old and New Testaments and go about to prove them the Word of God first before they have well considered what they contain But I think we should begin there and see what we find written in them for we cannot well assert any thing to be of God till we know what it is To talk of believing this or that to be a Revelation or the Word of God before we know what it speaks is very inconsiderate But when we find things that are apparently good reasonable excellent and suitable to the Understanding Nature and Circumstances of Man a Design most profitable to Man and becoming God we may well nay cannot but think God the Supream or First Author however or by whomsoever they were given The Truths would have been the same had they never been written but as they are written the Way of their Delivery the Matters of Fact or Historical part appearing to have all the Marks of Truth a History can or at least needs have cannot in reason but be believed Whosoever for instance should deny the History of Jesus Christ may as well reject all History or question the Truth of every thing others declare as Witnesses which would be very foolish Nor could such a one reasonably desire any Man should believe him in any thing he relates tho' never so probable Now as God in his good Providence hath given us the Bible a Book if considerately read appearing to be more full of Instructions Precepts and Examples tending to bring Man who is turn'd aside to the exact way of his Natural Allegiance or Religion to God than any other Book it cannot but be acknowledged that the Bible is a great and estimable Gift of God not to be under-valued as an Ordinary Book nor yet to be idolized as the uncorruptible Word of God but to be duly used to our Benefit And I think I may be bold to say in relation to the Contents of this Book and all others whatsoever has not an Instruction in it to inform Man of his Duty to God and his Neighbour or cannot yield an Argument to perswade him to be reconciled thereto cannot rationally be thought a Dictate of God but is better suppos'd should there be found any such thing meerly from Man And I think tho' we grant that the Bible is not free from all manner of Corruptions but that some Mistakes have been therein made at least by Coppiers tho' we affirm many Faults to have been committed by Translators so that better Translations are not only to be desired but also wanted yet we cannot rationally have the