of God dying to deliver Men from Sin and the effects of it The fallen Angels may understand and believe it without any Affections being unconcernâ—d in it To them 't is a naked History but to Men 't is a Promise and cannot be rightly received without the most ardent Affections This is a faithful Saying and worthy of all acceptation That Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners 'T is essentiaâ—â—â— good as true its Sweetness and Profit are equal to its Certainty So that it commends it self to all our Faculties There are severe and sad Truths which are attended with fearful expectation and the Mind is averse from receiving them As the Law which like Lightning terrifies the Soul with its amazing Brightness and there are pleasant illusions which have no solid Foundation And as Truth doth not delight the Mind unless united to Goodness such as is suitable to its Palate so Goodness doth not affect the Will unless it be real Now the Doctrine of the Gospel is as certain as the Law and infinitly more comfortable than all the Inventions of Men. 'T is in the knowledg of it alone that the sensible and considering Soul enjoys perfect Satisfaction and the most composed Rest. 'T is evident that the Understanding doth not behold these Truths in their proper light when the Will doth not embrace them For the rational Appetite follows the last judgment of the Mind When the Apostle had a powerful Conviction of The Excellency of the Knowledg of Christ this made him so earnest to gain an interest in Him For this reason those who are only Christians in Title Having a form of Godliness and denying the power of it are in Scripture-language stiled Infidels It being impossible that those who truly and heartily believe this great Mystery of Godliness should remain ungodly 'T is a strong and effectual Assent that descends from the Brain to the Heart and Life that denominates us true Believers So that when the Death of Christ is propounded as the cause of our Reconciliation with God the wonder of the Mystery doth not make it incredible when as the reason of the Mortiâ—â—â—ation of our Lusts the Pleasures of Sin do not disguise its horrour When Salvation is offer'd upon our accepting of Christ for our Prince and Saviour the Soul is ravisht with its Beauty and chooses it for an everlasting portion To conclude The Doctrine of the Gospel clearly discovers its Divine Original 'T is so reasonable in itself and profitable to us so sublime and elevated above Man yet hath such an admirable agreement with Natural Truths 't is so perfectly corresponding in all its parts that without affected Obstinacy no man can reject it And if after the open revelation of it we are so stupid and wicked as not to see its Superlative Excellency and not to receive it with the Faith Love and Obedience which is due to it what contempt is this of that infinite Wisdom which contriv'd the astonishing way of our Salvation What a reproach to the Divine Understanding as if it had been employed from Eternity about a matter of no moment and that deserves not our serious Consideration and Acceptance The neglect of it will justly bring a more severe punishment than the Hell of the uninstructed Heathens who are strangers to Supernatural Mysteries CHAP. VIII The Mercy of God is represented with peculiar advantages above the other Attributes 'T is eminently glorified in our Redemption in respect of its freeness and greatness The freeness of it amplified from the consideration of the original and object of it God is perfectly happy in Himself and needs not the Creature to preserve or heighten his felicity The glorious reward conferred upon our Saviour doth not prejudice the freeness of his love to Man There was no tie upon God to save Man The Object of Mercy is Man in his lapsed state 'T is illustrated by the consideration of what he is in himself No motives of love are in him He is a rebel impotent and obstinate The freeness of mercy set forth by comparing him with the fallen Angels who are left in perfect irremediable misery Their first state fall and punishment The Reasons why the Wisdom of God made no provision for their recovery ALthough all the Divine Attributes are equal as they are in God for one Infinite cannot exceed another yet in their exercise and effects they shine with a different glory And Mercy is represented in Scripture with peculiar advantages above the rest 'T is God's natural off-spring he is stiled the Father of Mercies 'T is his dear Attribute that which he places next to himself He is proclaim'd the Lord God Gracious and Merciful 'T is his delight Mercy pleases him 'T is his Treasure he is rich in Mercy 'T is his triumphant Attribute and the special matter of his Glory Mercy rejoyces over Judgment Now in the performance of our Redemption Mercy is the predominant Attribute that sets all the rest a working The acts of his Wisdom Justice and Power were in order to the illustration of his Mercy And if we duly consider that Glorious Work we shall find in it all the ingredients of the most sovereign Mercy In discoursing of it I shall principally consider two things wherein this Attribute is eminently glorified the Freeness and the Greatness of it The Freeness of this Mercy will appear by considering the original and object of it 1. The Original is God and the notion of a Deity includes infinite perfections so that it neeessarily follows that he hath no need of the creatures service to preserve or heighten his feliâ—ity If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand From Eternity he was without external honour yet in that infinite duration he was perfectly joyful and happy He is the fountain of his own blessedness the Theatre of his own Glory the Glass of his own Beauty One drop encreases the Ocean but to God a million of Worlds â—an add nothing Every thing hath so much of Goodness as it derives from him As there was no gain to him by the Creation so there can be no loss by the annihilation of all things The World proceeded from his Wisdom as the Idea and Exemplar and from his Power as the efficient cause and it so proceeds from him as to remain more perfectly in him And as the possession of all things and the obedience of Angels and Men is of no advantage to God so the opposition of impenitent Rebels cannot lessen his Blessedness If thou sinnest what doâ—t thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplied what dost thou unto him The Sun suffers no loss of its light by the darkness of the night or an Eclipse but the World loâ—es its day if intelligent Beings do not esteem him for his Greatness and love him for his Goodness 't is no injury to him but their own infelicity Were it for his
Types of Christ under the Law was justified in his Coming and the accomplishment of our Redemption by him Some special Predictions consider'd that respect the time of his Coming The particular Circumstances that respect the Messiah are verified in Jesus Christ. The Consequents of the Messia's Coming foretold by the Prophets are all come to pass The Types of the Law are compleated in Christ. A particular Consideration of Manna the Rock and the brazen Serpent as they referr'd to him The Paschal Lamb considered A short Parallel between Melchisedec and Christ. The Divinity of the Gospel proved by comparing the antient Figures with the present Truth and Predictions with the Events The Happiness of Christians above the Jews in the clear revelation of our Saviour to them From the accomplishment of Prophecies concerning the first Coming of Christ our Faith should be confirmed in the Promises of his second THe Original Law given to Man in Paradise had a severe Penalty annext that upon the first breach of it he should die The end of the threatning was to preserve in him a constant reverence of the Command After his Disobedience the honour of the Divine Truth was concern'd as to the inflicting the punishment For although the Supreme Lawgiver hath power over the Law to relax the Punishment as to particular persons yet having declar'd that according to that Rule He would proceed in judgment with Man the Perfection of his Truth required that Sin should be punish'd in such a manner that his Righteousness and Holiness might eminently appear and the reasonable Creature for ever fear to offend Him Now the God of Truth hath by the Death of his only Son so compleatly answered the Ends of the legal Threatning that the glory of that Attribute is broke forth like the Sun through all the Clouds that seem'd to obscure it Mercy and Truth meet together Righteousness and Peace kiss each other Of this I have so largely treated before that I shall add nothing more concerning it There is a Secondary respect wherein the truth of God is concern'd as to the accomplishing our Redemption by Jesus Christ which I will briefly explicate God having decreed the sending of his Son in the quality of Mediator to purchase our Salvation was pleased by several Promises to declare his merciful purpose and by various Types to shew the design of that glorious Work before the exhibition of it This was the effect of his Supreme Wisdom and Goodness First To comply with the weakness of the Church when 't was newly separated from the World For as a sudden strong Light overpowers the Eye that hath been long in the dark so that full bright Revelation of the Gospel had been above the capacity of the Church when 't was first freed from a state of Ignorance Light mixt with Shadows was proportionable to their Sight Therefore he was pleased by several Representations and Predictions to exercise the Faith entertain the Hope and excite the Desires of his People before the accomplishment of our Salvation by his Son Secondly To render the belief of it easie and certain afterwards Now for the honour of his Truth he was engaged to make good his word For although pure Love and Mercy is the Original of all God's Promises to Man yet his Truth and Fidelity are the reasons of his fulfilling them Not that God is under the obligation of a Law but his own righteous Nature is the inviolable Rule of his actions Accordingly the Apostle laies it as the foundation of our Hopes That God who cannot lie hath promised eternal Life The Divine Decree alone concerning our Salvation by Christ is a sure Foundation For God is as unchangeable in his Will as his Nature In Him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning But the Promise determines the Will of God to perform it upon another account For 't is not single Inconstancy but Falshood not to perform what is promised from both which He is infinitely distant St. Paul alledges this for the reason why the Covenant of Grace is unchangeable and of everlasting Efficacy in that the counsel of God was by his Promise and Oath confirmed That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation For the Promise gives a rightful claim to the Creature and the fulfilling of it is the justification of God's Fidelity In this Sense 't is said The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ i. e. the Grace of the Gospel is the substantial and compleat accomplishment of the Types and Promises under the Law I will not enter into the discussion of all the Prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament to shew how they are verified in Jesus Christ But briefly consider some special Predictions that concern the time of the Messiah's Coming his Person and Offices 1. The Prophecy of dying Jacob. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet till Shiloh come By the Scepter and Lawgiver are meant divers Forms of Government the first being the mark of Regal Power the other title respects those whose Power succeeded that of their Kings in the person of Zerobabel and his Successors Jacob prophetically declares two things their establishment in Judah and their continuance till the coming of Shiloh This Oracle doth not precisely respect the person of Judah for he never ascended the Throne nor possest the Empire over his Brethren nor solely his Posterity as a Tribe distinguisht from the rest although it had special advantages from that time For the Banner of Judah led the Camp in their march through the wilderness That Tribe had the first possession of the land of Canaan these were the beginnings of its future Glory And from David to the Captivity that Tribe possest the Kingdom But the glory of his Scepter was lost in the person of Zedekiah Therefore the full meaning of the Prophecy regards the People of Israel in the relation they had to the Tribe of Judah For that Tribe alone returned entire from the Captivity with some reliques of Levi and Benjamin so that the Nation from that time was distinguisht by the title of the Jews in relation to it and the Right to dispose of the Scepter was alwaies in the Tribe of Judah For the Levites that ruled after the Captivity received their Power from them 'Till Shiloh come that is the Messiah as the Chaldee Paraphrase and the antient Jewish Interpreters expound So that the intent of the Oracle is that after the establishment of the Supreme Power in the Family of Judah it should not pass into the hands of Strangers but as a certain Presage and immediate Fore-runner of of the coming of Shiloh And this was fully accomplish't For in the Captivity there was an interruption rather than extinction of their Government Their Return was promised at the time they were carried Captives to
something although 't is rather a Twilight than clear But when 't is brought from the narrow sphere of things sensible to contemplate the immensity of things Spiritual and Supernatural its light declines and is turn'd into darkness 2. The Pride of the Humane Understanding which disdains to stoop to the height of these mysteries 'T is observable that those who most excell'd in Natural Wisdom were the greatest despisers of Evangelical Truths The proud Wits of the World chose rather to be Masters of their own than Scholars to another They made Reason their Supreme Rule and Philosophy their highest Principle and would not believe what they could not comprehend They derided Christians as captives of a blind Belief and their Faith as the effect of Folly and rejected Revelation the only means to conveigh the knowledg of Divine Mysteries to them Therefore the Apostle by way of upbraiding enquires Where is the wise man Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this world God hath made the wisdome of the world foolishness As those who are really poor and would appear rich in the Pomp of their Habits and Attendants are made poorer by that expence so those who were destitute of true Wisdom and would appear wise in making Reason the Judg of Divine Revelation and the last resolution of all things by that false affectation of Wisdom they became more foolish By all their Disputes against the appearing absurdities of the Christian Religion they were brought into a more learned Darkness 3. The prejudices which arose from Sensual Lusts hindered the Belief of the Gospel As the carnal Understanding rebels against the sublimity of its Doctrine so the carnal Appetite against the purity of its Precepts And according to the Dispositions of Men from whence they act such light they desire to direct them in acting The Gospel is a Mystery of Godliness and those who are under the love of Sin cherish an affected Ignorance lest the Light should enflame Conscience by representing to them the deadly guilt that cleaves to Sin and thereby make it uneasie This account our Saviour gives of the Infidelity of the world That men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil And that this was the real cause what ever was pretended is clear in that the Gentiles who opposed Christ adored those impure Deities whose infamous Lusts were acknowledged by them And with what colour then could they reject our Redeemer because crucified As if Vice were not more incompatible with the Deity than Sufferings Now though Reason enslav'd by prejudice and corrupted by Passion despises the Gospel yet when 't is enlightned by Faith it discovers such a wise oeconomy in it that were it not true it would transcend the most noble created Mind to invent it 'T is so much above our most excellent Thoughts that no Humane Understanding would ever attempt to feign it with confidence of persuading the world into a Belief of it How is it possible that it should be contriv'd by natural Reason since no man can believe it sincerely when 't is reveal'd without a supernatural Faith To confirm our Belief of these great and saving Mysteries I will shew how just it is that the Understanding should resign itself to Divine Revelation which hath made them known In order to this we must consider 1. There are some Doctrines in the Gospel the Understanding could not discover but when they are reveal'd it hath a clear apprehension of them upon a rational account and sees the characters of Truth visibly stampt on their Forehead As the Doctrine of Satisfaction to Divine Justice that Pardon might be dispens'd to repenting Sinners For our natural conception of God includes his infinite Purity and Justice And when the design of the Gospel is made known whereby he hath provided abundantly for the honour of those Attributes so that He doth the greatest Good without encouraging the least Evil Reason acquiesces and acknowledges this I sought but could not find Now although the primary Obligation to believe such Doctrines ariseth from Revelation yet being ratified by Reason they are embraced with more Clearness by the Mind 2. There are some Doctrines which as Reason by its light could not discover so when they are made known it cannot comprehend but they are by a clear and necessary connexion joyn'd with the other that Reason approves As the Mystery of the Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God which are the Foundations of the whole work of our Redemption The Nature of God is repugnant to Plurality there can be but one Essence and the nature of Satisfaction requires a distinction of Persons for he that suffers as guilty must be distinguish'd from the person of the Judg that exacts Satisfaction and no meer Creature is able by his obedient sufferings to repair the Honour of God so that a Divine Person assuming the Nature of Man was alone capable to make that satisfaction which the Gospel propounds and Reason consents to Besides 't is clear that the Doctrine of the Trinity that is of three glorious Relations in the Godhead and of the Incarnation are most firmly connected with all the parts of the Christian Religion left in the Writings of the Apostles which as they were confirmed by Miracles the Divine Signatures of their certainty so they contain such authentick marks of their Divinity that right Reason cannot reject them 3. Whereas there are three Principles by which we apprehend things Sense Reason and Faith these lights have their different objects that must not be confounded Sense is confin'd to things material Reason considers things abstracted from matter Faith regards the Mysteries revealed from Heaven and these must not transgress their order Sense is an incompetent judg of things about which Reason is only conversant It can only make a report of those objects which by their natural characters are exposed to it And Reason can only discourse of things within its sphere Supernatural things which derive from Revelation and are purely the objects of Faith are not within its territories and jurisdiction Those Superlative Mysteries exceed all our intellectual Abilities 'T is true the Understanding is a rational Faculty and every act of it is really or in appearance grounded on Reason But there is a wide difference between the proving a Doctrine by Reason and the giving a reason why we believe the truth of it For instance we cannot prove the Trinity by natural Reason and the subtilty of the Schoolmen who affect to give some reason of all things is here more prejudicial than advantageous to the Truth For he that pretends to maintain a point by Reason and is unsuccessful doth weaken the credit which the Authority of Revelation gives And 't is considerable that the Scripture in delivering supernatural truths produce God's Authority as their only proof without using any other way of arguing But although we cannot demonstrate these Mysteries by Reason yet we may give
a rational account why we believe them Is it not the highest Reason to believe the discovery that God hath made of Himself and his Decrees For he perfectly knows his own Nature and Will and 't is impossible He should deceive us This Natural Principle is the Foundation of Faith When God speaks it becomes Man to hear with Silence and Submission His naked Word is as certain as a Demonstration And is it not most reasonable to believe that the Deity cannot be fully understood by us The Sun may more easily be included in a spark of Fire than the infinite Perfections of God be comprehended by a finite Mind The Angels who dwell so near the Fountain of Light cover their faces in a holy Confusion not being able to comprehend Him How much less can Man in this earthly state distant from God and opprest with a burthen of Flesh. Now from hence it follows 1. That Ignorance of the manner how Divine Mysteries exist is no sufficient Plea for Infidelity when the Scripture reveals that they are For Reason that is limited and restrain'd cannot frame a Conception that is commensurate to the Essence and Power of God This will appear more clearly by considering the Mysterious Excellencies of the Divine Nature the certainty of which we believe but the manner we cannot understand As that his Essence and Attributes are the same without the least shadow of composition yet his Wisdom and Power are to our apprehensions distinct and his Mercy and Justice in some manner opposite That his Essence is intire in all places yet not terminated in any That He is above the Heavens and beneath the Earth yet hath no relation of high or low distant or near That He penetrates all substances but is mixed with none That he understands yet receives no Idea's within Himself that He wills yet hath no motion that carries Him out of Himself That in Him Time hath no Succession that which is past is not gone and that which is future is not to come That He loves without Passion is angry without Disturbance repents without Change These Perfections are above the capacity of Reason fully to understand yet essential to the Deity Here we must exalt Faith and abase Reason Thus in the Mystery of the Incarnation that two such distant Natures should compose one Person without the confusion of Properties Reason cannot reach unto but 't is clearly reveal'd in the Word Here therefore we must obey not enquire The Obedience of Faith is to embrace an obscure Truth with a firm assent upon the account of a Divine testimony If Reason will not assent to Revelation till it understands the manner of how Divine things are it doth not obey it at all The Understanding then sincerely submits when 't is enclin'd by those motives which demonstrate that such a Belief is due to the Authority of the Revealer and to the quality of the Object To believe only in proportion to our narrow conceptions is to disparage the Divine Truth and debase the Divine Power We can't know what God can do He is Omnipotent though we are not omniscient 'T is just we should humble our Ignorance to his Wisdome And that every lofty imagination and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledg of God should be cast down and every thought captivated into the obedience of Christ. 'T is our wisdom to receive the great Mysteries of the Gospel in their simplicity for in attempting to give an exact and curious explication of them the Understanding as in an Hedg of Thorns the more it strives the more 't is wounded and intangled Gods Ways are as far above ours and his Thoughts above ours as Heaven is above the Earth To reject what we can't comprehend is not only to sin against Faith but against Reason which acknowledges it self finite and unable to search out the Almighty to perfection 2. We are obliged to believe those Mysteries that are plainly delivered in Scripture notwithstanding those seeming Contradictions wherewith they may be charged In the objects of Sense the contrariety of appearances doth not lessen the certainty of things The Stars to our sight seem but glittering Sparks yet they are immense Bodies And 't is one thing to be assured of a Truth another to answer all the difficulties that encounter it A mean Understanding is capable of the first the second is so difficult that in clear things the profoundest Philosophers may not be able to untie all the intricate and knotty Objections which may be urged against them 'T is sufficient the Belief of Supernatural Mysteries is built on the Veracity and Power of God this makes them prudently credible This resolves all doubts and produces such a stability of spirit as nothing can shake A sincere Believer is assured That all opposition against Revealed Truths is fallacious though he cannot discover the Fallacy Now the transcendent Mysteries of the Christian Religion the Trinity of Persons in the Divine Nature the Incarnation of the Son of God are clearly and expresly set down in the Word and although subtile and obstinate Opponents have used many guilty Arts to dispirit and enervate those Texts of Scripture in putting an inferiour sense upon them and have rackt them with violence to make them speak according to their prejudices yet all is in vain the Evidence of Truth is victorious A Heathen who considers not the Gospel as a Divine Revelation but meerly as a Doctrine delivered in Writing and judges of its sense by natural Light will acknowledg that those things are delivered in it And notwithstanding those who usurp a Sovereign Authority to themselves to judg of Divine Mysteries according to their own apprehensions deny them as meer Contradictions yet they can never conclude them impossible For no certain Argument can be alledged against the being of a thing without a clear knowledg of its nature Now although we may understand the nature of Man we do not the Nature of God the Oeconomy of the Persons and his Power to unite himself to a Nature below Him 'T is true no Article of Faith is really repugnant to Reason for God is the Author of Natural as well as of Supernatural Light and He cannot contradict Himself they are emanations from Him and though different yet not destructive of each other But we must distinguish between those things that are above Reason and incomprehensible and those things that are against Reason and utterly inconceivable Some things are above Reason in regard of their transcendent excellency or distance from us the Divine Essence the Eternal Decrees the Hypostatical Union are such high and glorious objects that it is an impossible enterprise to comprehend them the intellectual Eye is dazled with their overpowring Light We can have but an imperfect knowledg of them And there is no just cause of wonder that Supernatural Revelation should speak incomprehensible things of God For He is a singular and admirable Being
THE HARMONY OF THE Divine Attributes IN THE Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord JESUS CHRIST OR DISCOURSES Wherein is Shewed How the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that Great and Blessed Work By William Bates D. D. Which things the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 Nihil tam dignum Deo quam salus Hominis Tertul. LONDON Printed by J. Darby for Nathaniel Ranew and Jonathan Robinson at the Kings Arms and Golden Lyon in St. Pauls Church-Yard and Brabazon Aylmer the at three Pigeons in Cornhil 1674. THE PREFACE THe Subject of the ensuing Discourses is of that inestimable excellency and importance that it deserves our deepest reflections and care to consider and apply it 'T is the great Mystery of Godliness the design of Eternal Wisdom the chiefest of all Gods Works that contains the Glorious Wonders of his Mercy and Power wherein he renders himself most worthy of our Supreme Veneration and Affection Our most raised Thoughts are infinitely beneath its Dignity Although the Light of the Gospel hath clearly reveal'd so much of it as is requisit to be known in our earthly state yet the sublimer parts are still secret and reserv'd for a full discovery by the brightness of our Saviour's Appearance Now if the Excellency of things excites our Spirits to be attentive in searching into their nature this Divine Object should awaken all our Powers and arrest our Minds in the serious steady contemplation of it being alone capable to satisfy their immortal appetite The Importance of it is correspondent to its excellency for 't is no less than the recovery of us from extream and eternal misery and the Restoring of us to the enjoyment of the Blessed God a felicity without comparison or end If we have any regard to Salvation and who would be so unhappy as to neglect it for unconcerning frivolous Vanities it will be delightful to know the means by which we may obtain it and to employ the flying moments of our short time in those things that are profitable for our last End that we may not lose Temporal and Eternal Life together Many of the Ancient and Modern Divines have written of this noble Argument from whom I have received benefit in the following composure But none as I know hath considered all the parts together and presented them in one view There still remains a rich abundance for the perpetuall exercise of our Spirits The Eternal Word alone was able to perfect all things by once speaking Humane words are but an Eccho that answers the Voice of God and cannot fully express its Power nor pass so immediately through the sence to the Heart but they must be repeated May these Discourses be effectual to inflame us with the most ardent Love to our Saviour who ransom'd us with the unvaluable price of his own blood and to perswade us to live for Heaven the purchase of that Sacred Treasure I shall for ever acknowledge the Divine Grace and obtain my utmost aim W. B. CHAP. I. The Introduction A short view of Mans primitive State His Conformity to God natural moral and in Happiness and Dominion over the Creatures The moral resemblance as it refers to all the faculties The happiness of Man with respect to his sensitive and spiritual Nature Of all sublunary Creatures he is onely capable of a Law What the Law of Nature contains God entred into a Covenant with Man The Reasons of that Dispensation The Terms of the Covenant were becoming God and Man The special clause in The Covenant concerning the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil. The Reasons of the Prohibition THe felicity which the Lord Jesus procured for Believers includes a perfect freedom from Sin and all afflictive evils the just consequents of it and the fruition of Righteousness Peace and Joy wherein the Kingdom of God consists In this the second Covenant excels the first the Law supposes Man upright and the happiness it promises to exact Obedience is called Life it rewards Innocence with Immortality but the Blessedness of the Gospel is stil'd Salvation which signifies the rescuing of lapsed Man from a state of misery and the investing of him with unperishing Glory In order to the Discovery of the excellency of this Benefit and the endearing Obligations laid on us by our Redeemer 't is necessary to take a view of that dreadful and desperate Calamity which seiz'd upon Mankind the wretchedness of our Captivity illustrates the Glory of our Redemption And since the misery of Man was not the original condition of his nature but the effect of his guilty choice 't is requisite to make some reflection upon his first state as he came out of the pure hands of God that comparing our present misery with our lost happiness we may revive in our breasts the affections of Sorrow Shame and Indignation against our selves and considering that the Heavenly Adam hath purchased for us a title to a better Inheritance than was forfeited by the Earthly one we may with the more affectionate gratitude extol the Favour Power of our Redeemer God who is the living Fountain of all Perfections spent an intire Eternity in the Contemplation of his own Excellencies before any creature was made In the moment appointed by his Wisdom he gave the first Being to the 〈◊〉 Three distinct orders of Natures He form'd the 〈◊〉 purely Spiritual the other purely Materiall and between both one mixt which unites the 〈…〉 in it self This is Man the abridgment of the 〈◊〉 verse ally'd to the Angels in his Soul and to material things in his Body and capable of the Happiness of both By his internal Faculties enjoying the felicity of the Intellectual and by his external tasting the Pleasures of the Sensitive World Man's greatest excellency was a perfect Conformity to the Divine Patern God created Man in his own Likeness in the Image of God created he him This includes First The Natural Similitude of God in the substance of the Soul as it is an intelligent free spiritual and Immortal Being This is assigned to be the Reason of the Law That Whoso sheds Mans Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed for in the Image of God made he Man Secondly A moral Resemblance in its Qualities and Perfections Thirdly That Happiness and Dignity of Mans state which was the consequent and accession to his Holiness The Natural resemblance I shall not insist on for the distinct Illustration of the other we must consider God in a threefold respect 1. In respect of his absolute Holiness unspotted Purity infinite Goodness incorruptible Justice and whatever we conceive under the notion of moral Perfections 2. With respect to his compleat Blessedness the result of his infinite Excellencies as he is perfectly exempt from all evils which might allay and lessen his felicity and enjoys those pleasures which are worthy of his pure Nature and glorious State 3. In regard of
nor of Adam's Subjection to it But when that which in it self was indifferent became unlawful meerly by the Will of God and when the Command had no other excellency but to make his Authority more sacred this was a confining of Man's liberty and to abstain was pure Obedience Besides The restraint was from that which was very grateful and alluring to both the parts of Mans compounded Nature The Sensitive Appetite is strongly excited by the Lust of the Eye and this fruit being beautiful to the sight the forbearance was an excellent exercise of vertue in keeping the lower appetite in obedience Again The desire of Knowledg is extremely quick and earnest and in appearance most worthy of the rational Nature Nullus animo suavior cibus 'T is the most high and luscious food of the Soul Now the Tree of Knowledg was forbidden So that the observance of the Law was the more eminent in keeping the intellectual Appetite in Mediocrity In short God required Obedience as a Sacrifice For the Prohibition being in a matter of natural Pleasure and a curb to Curiosity which is the Lust and Concupiscence of the Mind after things conceal'd by a reverent regard to it Man presented his Soul and Body to God as a living Sacrifice which was his reasonable service CHAP. II. Mans Natural state was mutable The Devil moved by hatred and envy attempts to seduce him The Temptation was suitable to Mans compounded Nature The Woman being deceived perswades her Husband The quality of the first Sin Many were combin'd in it 'T was perfectly voluntary Man had Power to stand The Devil could only allure not compel him His Understanding and Will the causes of his Fall The punishment was of the same date with his Sin He forfeited his Righteousness and Felicity The loss of original Righteousness as it signifies the purity and liberty of the Soul The torment of Conscience that was consequent to Sin A whole Army of Evils enter with it into the World MAN was created perfectly holy but in a natural therefore mutable state He was invested with power to prevent his Falling yet under a possibility of it He was compleat in his own order but receptive of sinful impressions An invincible Perseverance in Holiness belongs to a supernatural state 't is the priviledg of Grace and exceeds the design of the first Creation The rebellious Spirits who by a furious ambition had raised a war in Heaven and were fallen from their obedience and glory designed to corrupt Man and to make him a companion with them in their revolt The most subtile amongst them sets about this work urged by two strong passions Hatred and Envy 1. By Hatred For being under a final and irrevocable Doom he lookt on God as an irreconcileable enemy And not being able to injure his Essence he struck at his Image As the fury of some beasts discharges it self upon the Picture of a Man He singled out Adam as the mark of his malice that by seducing him from his Duty he might defeat God's design which was to be honoured by Mans free obedience and so obscure his Glory as if He had made Man in vain 2. He was sollicited by Envy the first native of Hell For having lost the favour of God and being cast out of Heaven the Region of Joy and Blessedness the sight of Adam's Felicity exasperated his Grief That Man who by the condition of his nature was below him should be Prince of the world whilst he was a Prisoner under those chains which restrain'd him and tormented him the power and wrath of God this made his state more intollerable His torment was incapable of allay but by rendering man as miserable as himself And as hatred excited his envy so envy inflam'd his hatred and both joyn'd in mischief And thus pusht on his Subtilty being equal to his Malice he contrives a Temptation which might be most taking and dangerous to Man in his raised and happy state He attempts him with art by propounding the lure of Knowledg and Pleasure to inveigle the Spiritual and Sensitive Appetites at once And that he might the better succeed he addresses to the Woman the weakest and most liable to seduction He hides himself in the body of a Serpent which before Sin was not terrible unto her And by this instrument insinuates his Temptation He first allures with the hopes of impunity Ye shall not die then he promiseth an universal knowledg of good and evil By these pretences he ruin'd innocence it self For the Woman deceived by those specious Allectives swallowed the poison of the Serpent and having tasted Death she perswaded her Husband by the same motives to despise the Law of their Creator Thus Sin enter'd and brought confusion into the World For the moral Harmony of the World consisting in the just subordination of the several ranks of beings to one another and of all to God When Man who was placed next to God broke the Union his Fall brought a desperate disorder into God's Government And although the matter of the Offence seems small yet the Disobedience was infinitely great it being the transgression of that command which was given to be the instance and real proof of Mans subjection to God Totam legem violavit in illo legalis obedientiae praecepto The Honour and Majesty of the whole Law was violated in the breach of that symbolical Precept 'T was a direct and formal Rebellion a publick and universal renouncing of Obedience Many Sins were combin'd in that single act 1. Infidelity This was the first step to ruine It appears by the order of the Temptation 't was first said by the Devil Ye shall not die to weaken their Faith then ye shall be like gods to flatter their ambition The fear of Death would have contrould the efficacy of all his Arguments till that restraint was broke he could fasten nothing upon them This account the Apostle gives of the Fall The woman being deceiv'd was in the transgression As Obedience is the effect of Faith so Disobedience of Infidelity And as Faith comes by hearing the Word of God so Infidelity by listening to the words of the Devil From the deception of the Mind proceeded the depravation of the Will the intemperance of the Appetite and the defection of the whole Man Thus as the natural so the spiritual Death made its first entrance by the Eye And this Infidelity is extremely aggravated as it implies an accusation of God both of envy and falshood 1. Of Envy As if he had deni'd them the perfections becoming the humane Nature and they might ascend to a higher Orb than that wherein they were placed by eating the forbidden fruit And what greater disparagement could there be of the Divine Goodness than to suspect the Deity of such a low and base Passion which is the special character of the Angels of Darkness And 't was equally injurious to the honour of God's Truth
our eyes from it to vanity Here the complaint is more just Ad sapientiam quis accedit quis dignam judicat nisi quam in transitu noverit we content our selves with slight and transient glances but do not seriously and fixedly consider this blessed design of God upon which the beginning of our happiness in this and the perfection of it in the next life is built Let us provoke our selves by the example of the Angels who are not concern'd in this Redemption as man is for they continued in their fidelity to their Creator and were alwayes happy in his favour and where there is no alienation between parties reconcilement is unnecessary yet they are Students with us in the same Book and unite all their powers in the contemplation of this mystery they are represented stooping to pry into these secrets to signifie their delight in what they know and their desire to advance in the knowledge of them With what intention then should we study the Gospel who are the Subject and end of it CHAP. VII The simple Speculation of the Gospel not sufficient without a real Belief and Cordial Acceptance The Reasons why the Jews and Gentiles conspir'd in the contempt of it How just it is to resign up the Understanding to Revelation God knows his own Nature and Will and cannot deceive us We must believe the things that are clearly revealed though we do not understand the manner of their existence Although they are attended with seeming contradictions No Article of Faith is really repugnant to Reason We must distinguish between things incomprehensible and inconceivable Between corrupt and right Reason How Reason is subservient to Faith Humility and Holiness qualifie for the belief of the Gospel-mysteries A naked belief of Supernatural Truths is unprofitable for Salvation An effectual Assent that prevails upon the Will and renders the whole Man obsequious is due to the quality of the gospel-Gospel-Revelation THe simple Speculation of this glorious Mystery will be of no profit without a real belief of it and a cordial acceptance of Salvation upon the terms which the Divine Wisdom prescribes The Gospel requires the Obedience of the Understanding and of the Will unless it obtains a full possession of the Soul there is no saving efficacy derived from it And such is the sublimity and purity of the Object that till Reason is sanctified and subdued it cannot sincerely entertain it I will therefore distinctly consider the opposition which carnal Reason hath made against it and shew how just it is that the Humane Understanding should with reverence yield up it self to the Word of God that reveals this great Mystery to us The Apostle tells us that Jews and Gentiles conspired in the contempt of the Gospel Reason cannot hear without great astonishment for the appearing contradiction between the terms that God should be made Man and the Eternal die The Jews esteem'd it an intolerable Blasphemy and without any Process of Law were ready to stone the Lord Jesus That being a man he should make himself equal with God And they upbraided him in his Sufferings that he could not save himself If he be the King of Israel let him come down from the Cross and we will believe on him The Gentiles despised the Gospel as an absurd ill-contrived Fable For what in appearance is more unbecoming God and injurious to his Perfections than to take the frail garment of Flesh to be torn and trampled on Their natural Knowledg of the Deity enclin'd them to think the Incarnation impossible There is no resemblance of it in the whole compass of Nature For natural Union supposes the parts incompleat and capable of Perfection by their joyning together But that a Being infinitly perfect should assume by personal Union a nature inferiour to it self the Heathens lookt on it as a Fable forg'd according to the model of the fictions concerning Danae and Antiope And the Doctrine of our Saviours Death on the Cross they rejected as an impiety contumelious to God They judged it inconsistent with the Majesty and Happiness of the Deity to ascribe to Him that which is the punishment of the most guilty and miserable In the account of carnal Reason they thought more worthily of God by denying that of Him which is only due to the worst of men Celsus who with as much Subtilty as Malice urges all that with any appearance could be objected against our Saviour principally insists on his Poverty and Sufferings the Meanness and Misery of his condition in the world 'T was fit saith he that the Son of God should appear as the Sun which renders it self conspicuous by its own light But the Gospel having declared the Word to be the Son of God relates that he was a man of Sorrows that had no power to defend himself and was deserted by his Father and Followers scourged with Rods and shamefully executed He could not reconcile so many things that seem'd utterly incompatible as Sovereignty and Servitude Innocence and Punishment the lowest of humane Miseries Death with the highest of divine Honours Adoration Briefly Nothing was more contrary to Flesh and Blood than to believe that person to be the Redeemer of the World who did not rescue himself from his Enemies and to expect Immortality from him that was overcome by Death Now the Causes of this Infidelity are 1. The Darkness of the Mind which is so corrupted by Original Pravity that it cannot behold Heavenly Mysteries in their proper light so as to acquiesce in the truth of them The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned There is no proportion between the Natural Understanding and Supernatural Truths For although the rational Soul is a Spirit as 't is distinguisht from corporeal Beings yet till 't is purged from Errour and vitious Affections it can never discover the Divinity of things Spiritual so as to embrace them with certainty and delight As there must be a Spirit of Revelation to unvail the object so of Wisdom to enlighten the eye that it may be prepar'd for the reception of it As Heaven is only seen by its own Light So Christ is by his own Spirit Divine Objects and Faith that discerns them are of the same original and of the same quality The natural Understanding as the effects declare is like the Funeral Lamps which by the Antients were put into Sepulchers to guard the ashes of their dead Friends which shine so long as they are kept close a thick moist vapour feeding them and repairing what was consum'd but in opening the Sepulchres and exposing them to the free air they presently faint and expire Thus natural Reason whilst conversant in things below and watching with the dead that is in the Phrase of the Antients studying the Books of Men who have left the world it discovers
with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And by his knowledg shall my righteous Servant justifie many 4. 'T was requisite the Mediator should be God and Man He must assume the nature of Man that he might be put in his stead in order to make satisfaction for him He was to be our representative therefore such a conjunction between us must be that God might esteem all his People to suffer in him By the Law of Israel the right of Redemption belonged to him that was next in blood Now Christ took the Seed of Abraham the original element of our nature that having a right of Propriety in us as God He might have a right of Propinquity as Man He was allied to all Men as Men that His sufferings might be universally beneficial And He must be God 't is not his Innocency onely or Deputation but the Dignity of His Person that qualifies Him to be an all-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin so that God may dispense pardon in a way that is honourable to Justice For Justice requires a proportion between the Punishment and the Crime and that receives its quality from the dignity of the person offended Now since the Majesty of God is infinite against whom sin is committed the guilt of it can never be expiated but by an infinite Satisfaction There is no name under Heaven nor in Heaven that could save us but the Son of God who being equal to Him in greatness became Man If there had been such compassion in the Angels as to have inclined them to interpose between Justice and us they had not been qualified for that Work not only upon the account of their different nature so that by substitution they could not satisfie for us nor that being immaterial substances they are exempted from the dominion of death which was the punishment denounc'd against the sinner and to which his Surety must be subjected but principally that being finite Creatures they are incapable to atone an incensed God Who among all their glorious Orders durst appear before so consuming a fire who could have been an Altar whereon to sanctifie a Sacrifice to Divine Justice no meer Creature how worthy so ever could propitiate the supreme Majesty when justly provoked Our Redeemer was to be the Lord of Angels The Apostle tells us that it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell This respects not his original Nature but his Office and the reason of it is to reconcile by the blood of the Cross things in Heaven and in the Earth From the greatness of the Work we may infer the quality of the means and from the quality of the means the Nature of the Person that is to perform it Peace with God who was provoked by our Rebellion could only be made by an infinite Sacrifice Now in Christ the Deity it self not its influences and the fulness of it not any particular perfection only dwelt really and substantially God was present in the Ark in a shadow and representation He is present in nature by his sustaining Power and in his Saints by special favour and the eminent effects the Graces and Comforts that proceed from it but he is present in Christ in a singular and transcendent manner The Humanity is related to the Word not only as a Creature to the Author of its being for in this regard it hath an equal respect to all the persons but by a peculiar conjunction for 't is actuated by the same subsistence as the Divine Essence is in the Son but with this difference the one is voluntary the other necessary the one is espoused by Love the other received by Nature Now from this intimate Union there is a communication of the special qualities of both natures to the Person of Christ Man is exalted to be the Son of God and the Word abased to be the Son of Man As by reason of the vital Union between the Soul and Body the essential parts of Man 't is truly said that he is rational in respect of his soul and mortal in respect of his body This Union derives an infinite merit to the obedience of Christ. For the humane nature having its complement from the Divine Person 't is not the nature simply considered but the person that is the fountain of actions To illustrate this by an instance the civil Law determines that a tree transplanted from one soile to another and taking root there it belongs to the owner of that ground in regard that receiving nourishment from a new earth it becomes as it were another tree though there be the same individual root the same body and the same soul of vegetation as before Thus the humane nature taken from the common mass of Mankind and transplanted by personal Union into the Divine is to be reckoned as intirely belonging to the Divine and the actions proceeding from it are not meerly humane but are raised above their natural worth and become meritorious One hour of Christs Life glorified God more than an everlasting duration spent by Angels and Men in the praises of him For the most perfect creatures are limited and finite and their services cannot fully correspond with the Majesty of God but when the Word was made Flesh and entered into a new state of subjection he glorified God in a Divine manner and most worthy of him He that comes from above is above all The all sufficiency of his Satisfaction arises from hence He that was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God that is in the truth of the Divine Nature He was equal with the Father and without sacriledge or usurpation possest Divine Honour he became obedient to the Death of the Cross. The Lord of Glory was Crucified We are purchased by the Blood of God And the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin The Divine Nature gives it an infinite and everlasting efficacy And 't is observable that the Socinians the declared enemies of his Eternity consentaneously to their first impious error deny his Satisfaction For if Jesus Christ were but a titular God his Sufferings how deep soever had been insufficient to expiate our offence in His Death He had been only a Martyr not a Mediator For no Satisfaction can be made to Divine Justice but by suffering that which is equivalent to the guilt of sin which as 't is infinite such must the Satisfaction be CHAP. XIII Divine Justice is declared and glorified in the Death of Christ. The threefold account the Scripture gives of it As a Punishment inflicted for Sin as a Price to redeem us from Hell as a Sacrifice to reconcile us to God Man was Capitally guilty Christ with the allowance of God interposes as his Surety His Death was inflicted on him by the Supreme Judg. The impulsive Cause of it was Sin
Repentance and Faith which are humbling Graces to be the conditions of our obtaining Pardon By Repentance we acknowledge that if we are condemned 't is just severity and if we are Saved 't is rich Mercy And Faith absolutely excludes boasting For it supposes the Creature guilty and receives Pardon from the Sovereign Grace of God upon the account of our Crucified Redeemer The benefit and the manner of our receiving it was typified in the miraculous cure of the Israelites by looking up to the Brasen Serpent For the act of seeing is performed by receiving the Images which are derived from the objects 't is rather a Passion then an Action that it might appear that the healing Virtue was meerly from the Power of God and the Honor of it intirely his In short God had respect to the lowliness of this Grace in appointing it to be the qualification of a Justified person for the most firm reliance on Gods Mercy is alwayes joyned with the strongest renouncing of our own Merits Briefly to excite humility in us the Gospel tells us that the Glorious reward is from rich bounty and liberality The gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As the Election of us to Glory so the actual possession of it proceeds from pure Favour There is no more proportion between all our Services and that High and Eternal felicity than between the running a few steps and the obtaining an Imperial Crown Indeed not only Heaven but all the Graces that are necessary to purify and prepare us for it we receive from undeserved Mercy So that God crowns in us not our proper Works but his own proper Gifts 2. The Gospel strictly commands Self-denial when the Honor of God and Religion is concern'd Jesus tells his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Life and all the endearments of it Estates Honours Relations Pleasures must be put under our feet to take the first step with our Redeemer This is absolutely necessary to the being of a Christian In the preparation of his mind and the resolution of his will he must live a Martyr and whensoever his duty requires he must break all the Retinacula Vitae the voluntary bands that fasten us to the World and die a Martyr rather than suffer a divorce to be made between his Heart and Christ. Whatsoever is most esteem'd and lov'd in the world must be parted with as a snare if it tempts us from our Obedience or offered up as a Sacrifice when the Glory of God calls for it And this command that appears so hard to sense is most just and reasonable For God hath by so many titles a right to us that we ought to make an intire Dedication of our selves and our most valuable interests to him Our Redeemer infinitely denied himself to save us and 't is most just we should in gratitude deny our selves to serve him Besides an infinite advantage redounds to us for our Saviour assures us that whosoever will save his life when 't is inconsistent with the performance of his duty shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for his sake shall find it Now what is more prudent than of two evils that are propounded to choose the least that is Temporal Death rather than Eternal and of two goods that are offered to our choice to prefer the greater a Life in Heaven before that on the Earth Especially if we consider that we must shortly yeeld the present life to the infirmities of Nature and 't is the richest traffick to exchange that which is frail and mortal for that which remains in its perfection for ever 3. The Gospel enjoyns Universal Love among Men. This is that fire which Christ came to kindle upon the Earth 't is the abridgment of all Christian perperfection the fulfilling of the Divine Law for all the particular Precepts are in substance Love He that loves his Neighbor will have a tender regard to his Life Honour and Estate which is the sum of the second Table The extent of our Love must be to all that partake of the same common nature The universal consanguinity between Men should make us regard them as our allies Every Man that wants our help is our Neighbour Do good to all is the command of the Apostle For the quality of our Love it must be unfeigned without dissimulation The Image of it in Words without real Effects provokes the Divine displeasure for as all falshood is odious to the God of Truth so especially the counterfeiting of Charity that is the impression of his Spirit and the seal of his Kingdom A sincere pure affection that rejoyces at the good and resents the evils of others as our own and expresses it self in all real Offices not for our private respects but their benefit is required of us And as to the degree of our Love we are commanded above all things to have fervent Charity among our selves This principally respects Christians who are united by so many sacred and amiable bands as being formed of the same Eternal Seed Children of the same Heavenly Father and joynt-Heirs of the same Glorious Inheritance Christian Charity hath a more noble Principle than the affections of nature for it proceeds from the Love of God shed abroad in Believers to make them one Heart and one Soul and a more Divine pattern which is the Example of Christ Who hath by his Sufferings restored us to the Favour of God that we should Love one another as He hath Loved us This Duty is most stricty injoyn'd for without Love Angelical Eloquence is but an empty noise and all other Virtues have but a false lustre Prophesie Faith Knowledge Miracles the highest outward Acts of Charity or Self-denial the giving our Estates to the Poor or Bodies to Martyrdom are neither pleasing to God nor profitable to him that does them Besides That special branch of Love the forgiving of Injuries is the peculiar Precept of our Saviour For the whole World consents to the returning evil for evil The vicious Love of our selves makes us very sensible and according to our preverse judgments to revenge an injury seems as just as to requite a benefit From hence revenge is the most Rebellious and Obstinate Passion An Offence remains as a thorn in the mind that inflames and torments it till 't is appeased by a vindication 'T is more difficult to overcome the Spirit then to gain a Battel We are apt to revolve in our thoughts injuries that have been done to us and after a long distance of time the memory represents them as fresh as at the first Now the Gospel commands a hearty and intire forgiveness of injuries though repeated never so often to seventy seven times We must not only quench the Fire of Anger but kindle the Fire of Love towards our greatest Enemies I say unto you Love your Enemies
are more then Conquerours through Christ that loves them They are always in an ascendent State and believing rejoyce with an unspeakable and glorified Joy Death it self is not only disarmed but made subservient to their everlasting good Briefly Christian Patience endures all things as well as Charity because it expects a blessed issue It draws from present miseries the assurance of future Happinss A Believer while he possesses nothing but the Cross sees by Faith the Crown of the Eternal Kingdom hanging over his head and the lively hope of it makes him not only patient but thankful and joyful This sweetens the loss of all temporal goods and the presence of all temporal evils St. Paul in his Chains was infinitely more contented than Caesar or Seneca than all the Princes and Philosophers in the World I will conclude this Argument by a short reflection on the immoral maxims of several Sects of Philosophers The Cynicks assert that all natural actions may be done in the face of the Sun that 't is worthy of a Philosopher to do those things in the presence of all which would make impudence it self to blush A maxime contrary to all the rules of decency and corruptive of good manners For as the despising of Vertue produces the slighting of reputation So the contempt of reputation causes the neglect of Vertue Yet the Stoicks with all their gravity were not far from this advice Besides among other unreasonable Paradoxes they assert all sins are equal that the killing a Bird is of the same guilt with the murdering a Parent a Principle that breaks the restraints of fear and shame and opens a passage to all licentiousness They commended Self-Murder in several cases which unnatural fury is culpable in many respects of rebellion against God injustice to others and cruelty to ones self Zeno the founder of that Sect practised his own Doctrine For falling to the ground he interpreted it to be a Summons to appear in another World and strangled himself Aristotle allows the appetite of revenging injuries to be as natural as the inclination to gratitude judging according to the common rule that one contrary is the measure of another Nay he condemns the putting up an injury as degenerous and servile He makes indignation at the prosperity of unworthy Men a Vertue and to prove it tells us the Grecians attributed it to their Gods as a passion becoming the excellency of their natures But if we consider the Supreme Disposer of all things may do what he pleases with his own that he is infinitely Wise and in the next World will dispense Eternal recompences there is not the least cause of irritation for that seeming disorder He also allows pride to be a noble temper that proceeds from a sublime Spirit He represents his Hero by this among other characters that he is displeased with those who mention to him the benefits he hath received which make him inferiour to those that gave them as if humility and gratitude were qualities contrary to magnaminity He condemns Envy as a vice that would bring down others to our meanness but commends Emulation which urges to ascend to the height of them that are above us But this is no real Vertue for it doth not excite us by the worth of moral good but from the vain desire of equality or preheminence And Plato himself though stiled Divine yet delivers many things that are destructive of moral honesty He dissolves the most sacred band of humane society ordaining in his Common-wealth a Community of Wives He allows an honest man to lie in some occasions whereas the rule is Eternal We must not do evil that good may come thereby In short a considering Eye will discover many spots as well as beauties in their most admired institutions They commend those things as Virtues which are Vices and leave out those Vertues which are necessary for the perfection of our nature and the Vertues they commend are defective in those qualities that are requisit to make them sincere If Philosophy were Incarnate and had exprest the Purity and Efficacy of all its Precepts in real actions yet it had abundantly fallen short of that Supernatural Angelical Divine Holiness which the Gospel requires Till the Wisdom of God remov'd his Chair from Heaven to Earth to instruct the World not only the depravation of the lower faculties but the darkness of the humane understanding hindred Men from performing their universal duty The Gospel alone brings light to the Mind Peace to the Conscience Purity to the Affections and rectitude to the Life CHAP. XVIII Examples have a special Efficacy above Precepts to form us to Holiness The Example of Christ is most proper to that end being absolutely perfect and accommodate to our present state Some Vertues are necessary to our condition as Creatures or to our condition in the world of which the Deity is uncapable and these eminently appear in the Life of Christ. They are Humility Obedience and Love in suffering for us His Life contains all our Duties or Motives to perform them Jesus Christ purchased the Spirit of Holiness by his sufferings and confers it since his Exaltation The Sanctifying Spirit is the only Concomitant of Evangelical Mercy The Declaration of the Law on Mount Sinai was not accompanied with the renewing Efficacy of the Spirit nor the natural Discovery of the Divine Goodness in the Works of Creation Providence The lower Operations of the Spirit were only in the Heathens The Philosophical change differs from the Spiritual and Divine Socrates and Seneca consider'd Our Saviour presents the strongest Inducements to perswade us to be holy They are proper to work upon Fear Hope and Love The greatness of those Objects and their Truth are clearly manifested in the Gospel THe Second Means by which our Redeemer restores us to Holiness is by exhibiting a compleat Pattern of it in his Life upon Earth For the discovery how influential this is upon us we must consider That in all the most noble works the principal Cause is an exact Idea in the mind of the Agent and Examples are the same He that desires to excel in Painting or Sculpture must view the most accomplisht Pieces of those Arts. Thus in Morality the consideration of Eminent Actions performed by others is of admirable efficacy to raise us to perfection That Examples have a peculiar Power above the naked Precept to dispose us to the practice of Holiness appears by considering 1. That they most clearly express to us the Nature of our Duties in their Subjects and sensible Effects General Precepts form abstract Idea's of Vertue but in Examples Vertues are made visible in all their Circumstances 2. Precepts instruct us what things are our Duty but Examples assure us that they are possible They resemble a clear Stream wherein we may not only discover our Spots but wash them off When we see Men like our selves who are united to frail flesh and in the
most worthy of a rational Contemplation to be exercised upon Now that the Philosophers who were so diligent to improve their minds who receiv'd with complacency truths of a lower descent and of infinitely less importance should reject Evangelical Truths sublime in their Nature saving in their Efficacy and reveal'd from Heaven what account can be given of it Tertullian reproaches them with reason That the Christian Faith was the only thing which Curiosity did not tempt them to search into Hic solum curiositas humana torpescit Besides whereas the Gospel is a plain and perfect Institution for the government of Life wholly conversant about the Souls of men and assures a Blessedness infinitely more excellent than was ever thought of by them it might have been expected that those who in regard of Morality seem'd most to approach to it and whose profest design was to search after Happiness should have readily entertain'd and used their best endeavours to have drawn others to embrace it But if we consider things aright our wonder will vanish for their Knowledg and Morality which in themselves were Preparatives yet accidentally hindered their submission to the Gospel and caused the most potent prejudices against it and that upon a double account First Of Pride Secondly Of Satisfaction in their own way 1. Pride was their Universal Disease they had a liberal esteem of themselves as raised above the common rank of Men. And because Philosophy had instructed them in some truths they believed the false as well as the true and concluded all things impossible that did not concur with their old tenets they admitted no higher Principle than natural Reason and utterly rejected Divine Revelation which was as unreasonable as if one that never saw but the light of a Candle should contend there was no other light in the World Now a Person that doth not believe Divine Revelation is wholy unqualified to judge of supernatural Mysteries For till the Authority of the Revealer is submitted to he cannot truly consider their Cause and their End Besides they lookt on it as a reproach that any secret should be revealed to others and not to them It seem'd to darken their Glory that any School should be more knowing than theirs Therefore they chose to be instructors of Error rather than Disciples to the Truth Add further they thought their honour concern'd to defend the Principles they had once espoused From hence a rose the great contestations between themselves accompanied with Invectives and Satyrs being very jealous for their Opinions and passionate for the interest of their Sects Now the Gospel was in some things contrary to all of them so that being toucht in their tenderest part no wonder they were so violent against it Our Saviour asks the Jews how can ye believe which receive honour one from another and seek not the Honour which comes from God only He propounds it as an impossible thing The Gospel would strip them of all their pretended excellencies and commanded as its first Article they should humbly resign their understandings to Divine Revelation this they lookt on as a submission unworthy their refined strong Spirits 2. They had satisfaction in their own imperfect Vertues Because they did some things to recover the Humane Nature from its degenerate state they were more confirmed in their Infidelity than the grossest Idolaters and the most vicious Persons For the more probable Arguments they had to obtain happiness in their own way the more obstinately they refused any other They thought there was no need of a Saviour to intercede for them or of the Spirit of Grace to assist them but they had self-Sufficiency for the acquiring of Felicity Like foolish Chymists that have melted away a great part of their Estates in vain yet in expectation of the great Elixir create in their fancies treasures of Gold and inrich themselves So the Philosophers who wasted their time and Spirits in searching after Happiness to little purpose although the best of their Principles and the height of their Vertue were insufficient to support them under any pressing Affliction yet they had vain hopes of obtaining perfect Tranquillity and Content by them Now the Gospel commanding an intire renounceing of our selves to embrace the sole Goodness and Will of God it was hard for those who were so full of pride and vanity to relish a Doctrine so contrary to them In truth whatever the Philosophers pretended concerning the incredibility that the Son of God should suffer death yet it was not so much the Cross to which Christ was nailed by his Enemies that made them reject the Gospel as the other Cross to which Jesus would fasten them i. e. the strict and holy Discipline to which he commands them to submit A Discipline that condemns the vanity and glory of their Wisdom Vertue that mortifies sensual pleasures which many of the Philosophers indulged themselves in notwithstanding all their discourses of the purgative and illuminative life And that this was the real cause of their rejecting Christ crucified is evident for they knew it was not unusual for Persons of extraordinary Wisdom and Vertue to suffer in the World Their presents and example upbraids the Vitious and Wounds their Spirits as a great light sore and distempered eyes And some of them acknowledged the Wisdome of Providence in permitting this for an excellent end that Vertue tried by the fire might be the more resplendent Socrates himself so admir'd by them was so disguised by the malice of his enemies that he was condemned to die by Poison Yet this was so far from obscuring his Reputation that his suffering Death was esteem'd the most noble effect of his courage and the most excellent Proof of his Vertue Why then should they make a contrary judgment of our Redeemers Sufferings whos 's Innocenee was perfect and whose Patience was so Holy and Divine that in the midst of His torments he Prayed for his Murderers No reason can be justly alledged but some darling lust spiritual or fleshly which they were resolved to cherish The light that comes from above illuminates the humble and dazles the proud The presumption of their own knowledg was the cause of their Prodigious stupidity Simple ignorance is not so dangerous as errour which hath a false light that deceives and leads to precipies We find therefore that none were fiercer enemies to the Gospel then the Philosophers The sacred story tells us that when the Apostle Preacht at Athens that was as much the seat of Superstition as of Sciences the Epcureans and Stoicks though most opposite in their Principles yet conspir'd to encounter him they entertained him with scorn what will this Babler say and his success was but small there He that fisht with a net in other places and brought great numbers to Baptism there did only with an angle and caught but one or two Souls And in the progress of the Gospel they persisted in their opposition The most
credit and reputation destitute of all humane strength and had only a Crucified Person for their leader Christianity was exposed naked in the day of its birth without any shelter from secular Powers 2. They had not the advantage of Art and Eloquence to commend their Religion There is a kind of charm in Rhetorick that makes things appear otherwise than they are the best cause it ruins the worst it confirms Truth though in its self invincible yet by it seems to be overcome and Errour obtains a false triumph We have a visible proof of this in the Writings of Celsus Symmachus Caecilius and others for Paganism against Christianity What a vast difference is there between the lyes and filthiness of the one and the Truth and Sanctity of the other Yet with what admirable address did they manage that Infamous Subject Although it seem'd incapable of any defence yet they gave such colours to it by the beauty of their expressions and their apparent reasons that it seem'd plausible and Christianity notwithstanding its brightness and purity was made odious to the people But the Apostles were most of them wholly unlearned St. Paul himself acknowledges that he was weak in presence and his Speech was not with the enticing words of Mans Wisdome A crucified Christ was all their Rhetorick Now these impotent despicable Persons were imployed to subdue the World to the Cross of Christ and in that season when the Roman Empire was at its height when the most rigorous Severities were used against all Innovations when Philosophy and Eloquence were in their flower and Vigour so that Truth unless adorn'd with the dress and artifice of falshood was despis'd and a Message from God himself unless eloquently convey'd had no force to perswade Therefore the Apostles debased themselves in the sense of their own weakness We have this treasure in earthen vessels That the excellency of the power may be of God not of us 'T was from distrust of themselves their true confidence in God proceeded They were onely so far powerful as he enabled them like inâ—â—ruments in which there is not Vertue sufficient for the carving of a Statute if they do not receive it imprest from the Artificer that uses them Briefly as God the Author of Wonders uses that which is weak in Nature to conquer the most rebellious parts of it He makes the weak sand a more powerful bridle to the impetuous Element of Waters than the strongest banks rais'd by the industry of Men and compos'd of the most solid materials so he was pleased by a few artless impotent persons to confound the wisdom and overcome the power of the World 3. The great sudden and lasting Change that was made in the World by the Preaching of the Gospel is a certain Argument of the Divine Power that animated those mean appearances and that no instrument is weak in Gods hands 1. The greatness of the Change is such that it was only possible to Divine Power 'T is a great Miracle to render sight to the Blind but 't is more miraculous to inlighten the Dark mind to see the truth and beauty of Supernatural Mysteries when they are disguis'd under reproach sad representations and effectually to believe them especially when the inferiour appetite is so contrary to Faith 'T is a prodigy to raise the Dead but 't is more admirable to sanctify an habituated sinner For in comparing the quality of those Miracles that is the greatest in the performing whereof God is discover'd to be the absolute Lord of the greater Nature Now the intellectual Nature is superiour to the corporeal Besides there is no contradiction from a Dead body against the Divine Power in raising it on the contrary if any sense were remaining it would ardently desire to be restor'd to the full enjoyment of Life but corrupt Nature is most opposite to renewing Grace Now these marvelous effects were produced by the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Heathens The glorious light of Truth scattered the thick and terrible darkness of Ignorance and errour that was so universal The Gospel in its power and the quality of its effects was like those words Let there be Light which the Eternal Word pronounced upon the confused Chaos and infused a Soul and Life into the World The clear knowledge of God in his Nature and Glorious Works of Creation and Redemption of the duty of Man of the future state was communicated to the meanest understandings And in proportion to the Light of Faith such was the measure of Piety and Holiness Idolatry that had Number Antiquity Authority of its side was intirely abolisht The false Deities were cast out of the Temple and the Cross of Christ was planted in the Hearts of Men. Accordingly the Apostle tells the Thessalonians For they themselves shew of us what manner of entring in we had unto you and how ye turned to God from Idols to serve the Living and true God and to wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the Dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come Innumerable from secret Atheism publick Gentilism were converted to acknowledg and accept of the Redeemer for their Lord. What could produce such a marvelous change in the World but an Almighty power How seemingly impossible was it to bring so many who were proud in their natures perverse in their customs and indubitably assenting to their false Religions from such a distance as the Worship of innumerable Deities to adore a Crucified God 'T was admirable that Alexander broke the Persian Empire with an Army of Thirty Thousand but what is there comparable in that Conquest to the Acts of the Apostles How much less difficult is it for some Nations to change their Kings than for all to change their Gods How far more easie is it to overcome the bodies of Men than subdue their Souls Upon the most exact inquiry there will never be found in humane nature any cause capable to produce such an effect nor in the Records of all Ages any example like it Add to this the excellent Reformation in the hearts and lives of Men. As their understandings so their wills and affections the sources of action were miraculously alter'd What the Sages of the World could not effect in a few select Persons The Gospel hath done in great numbers nay rais'd them above all their feigned Ideas above the higest pitch of their Proud Philosophy Those strong and furious passions which Natural Reason was as unable to restrain as a threed of silk is to govern a fierce beast the Gospel hath tamed and brought into order It hath executed what Philosophy durst never enterprise despairing of Success The Gospel hath made the Wise Men of the World resign their Reason to Faith it hath perswaded Carnal Men to mortify the Flesh the Ambitious to despise secular Honours the Voluptuous to renounce their Pleasures the Covetous to distribute their Goods to the Poor the
despis'd whatever is amiable or terrible in the world How is it possible He should deny the Knowledg of Himself to those to whom He gave such a pure Love to Himself But the humane Nature in its corrupted state is contrary both to the Doctrine of the Gospel that propounds Supernatural Verities hard to believe and to the commands of it that enjoin things hard to do For this reason 't was necessary that God by some external Operations the undeniable effects of His Power should discover to the World his approbation of it Now that Christ is the Son of God and Redeemer of the World was miraculously declared from Heaven by the whole Divinity There are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father and the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One. The Father testified by a Voice as loud as Thunder at his Baptism and Transfiguration Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased The Son by his glorious appariton to Paul when He struck him to the earth with these words Why persecutest thou me The Light was so radiant the Voice so strong the impression it made so deep and sensible that he knew it came from God And He manifested Himself to St. John with that brightness That he fell at his feet as dead till in compassion He reviv'd him and said I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore And the Holy Spirit by his miraculous descent in the shape of a Dove upon Him and in fiery Tongues upon the Apostles gave a visible testimony that Jesus Christ was sent from God to save the World I will particularly consider one Effect of the Divine Power the Resurrection of Christ this being the most important Article of the Gospel and the demonstration of all the rest For 't is not conceivable that God would by his Almighty Power have rais'd Him from the Grave to a glorious Life and it is impossible He should be otherwise if He had taken the Name of the Son of God in vain and arrogated to himself Divine Honour and only pretended that he was sent from Him By the Resurrection He was declar'd to be the Son of God with Power For that being the proof of his Mission justifies the truth of his Doctrine and particularly of the quality of God's Son which He alwaies attributed to Himself Now if Infidelity object that we who live in the present Age have no sensible testimony that Christ is risen and what assurance is there that the Apostles who reported it were not Deceivers or deceived In Answer to this I will briefly 〈◊〉 how valuable the Testimony of the Apostles is and worthy of all acceptation and that 't was equally impossible they should be deceived or intend to deceive His Death is attested by his Enemies 〈◊〉 a Pagan relates that He Suffered under Pontius Pilate And the Jews to this day 〈◊〉 so unhappy as to boast of their being the causes of his Crucifixion and call him by a name that is the mark of his Punishment But his Resurrection they peremptorily deny Now the Apostles being sent to convert the World were to â—ay this down as the foundation of their Preaching that Jesus Christ was rais'd from the dead that all might yield Faith and Obedience to Him This was then special charge as St. Peter declares Wherefore of thâ—se men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the Baptism of John unto the same day that He was taken up from us must be one ordained to be a witness of his Resurrection They were to testifie concerning His Doctrine and Life His Miracles and Sufferings but principally His Resurrection For this reason St. Paul who was extraordinarily admitted into their Order had a miraculous Sight of Christ from Heaven Last of all He was seen of me to testifie it to the World Now for our full conviction 't is necessary to consider the quality of the Witnesses and the nature of their Testimony 1. The Witnesses were such of whom there cannot be the least reasonable Suspicion In Civil Causes of the greatest moment the Testimony of the Honourable and the Rich are accounted valuable because they are not easily corrupted one of a low degree may from baseness of Spirit through Cowardize and Fear be tempted to deny the Truth one in a poor condition may be so dazled with the lustre of Gold when he considers the price of Perjury as to be induced to assert a falshood But who is more incorruptible the Noble that from a sense of Honour abhor a Lie or those who by their Divine Birth and Qualities did so detest it that they would not tell a Lie for the Glory of God Who is more worthy of Credit the Rich whose Riches sometimes excites their desires after more or those who by a generous disdain despised all things Besides Persons of known Integrity whom the different images of hopes and fears cannot probably encline to evil are admitted to decide the weightiest Causes Now the Apostles were so innocent sober honest and unblameable in the whole tenour of their Conversations that their most malignant Adversaries could never fasten an accusation upon them Indeed if their carnal Interests had been concern'd there might have been some colourable Objections against their Testimony But if we duely consider things it will appear utterly incredible that any deceit could be in it For as all the actions of reasonable Men proceed from Reason solid or apparent so particularly Imposture and Fiction are never without some Motive and Design For being contrary to Nature there must â—ntervene a forreign Consideration for their contrivance Now the universal Motives to invent Fables are Honour Riches or Pleasure But none of these could possibly move the Apostles to feign the Resurrection of Christ. Not to insist on the Meanness of their Extraction and Education who had only seen Boats and Nets and convers'd with Lakes and Fishes whereas Ambition usually springs up in Persons of high birth and breeding 't is evident that no respect to humane Praise excited them since they attributed the Doctrine of the Gospel that should give them reputation in the World to the Holy Spirit and ascribed the Glory of their miraculous Actions entirely to the Divine Power When the People of Lystra would have given Divine Honour to St. Paul he disclaim'd it with abhorrency And presently after those who would have ador'd him as a God stoned him as a Malefactor he chose rather to be their Sacrifice than their Idol Besides how could they expect to be great or rich by declaring that One who came to such a Tragical End in the face of the world was rais'd to Life when the hands of the Jews were still bloody with the Wounds of their Master and their hearts so enraged against all that honoured his Name as to excommunicate
pretended Hero rather than have given his Life for a Lie Now the Apostles endur'd the most cruel Deaths to confirm the Truth of their Testimony And what could possibly induce them to it if they had not been certain of his Resurrection Could love to their dead Master animate them to suffer for the honour of his Name This is inconceiveable For He promis'd that He would rise the third Day and ascend to Heaven and make them partakers of his Glory So that if He had lain in the rotâ—enness of the Grave What charm what stupidity was able to make them preserve so high a Venâ—ration for a Deceiver Nothing could remain in them but the memory and indignation of his Imposture Now if it be the dictate of natural Reason that the concurrent Testimony of two or three credible Persons not weaken'd by any exception is sufficient to decide any Cause of the greatest moment that respects Life Honour and Estate how much more should the attestation of the Apostles put this great Truth beyond all doubt since they parted with their Lives the most precious possession in this World for it and which is infinitely more if Deceivers they would certainly be deprived of Eternal Life in the next In short Since the Creation never was a Testimony so clear and authentick the Divine Providence so ordering the circumstances that the Evidence should be above all Suspicion Neither did it ever happen that any thing affirm'd by so many and such worthy Persons was ever suspected much less found to be false 'T is the most unreasonable stifness not to yeeld an intire Assent to it For there would be no secure Foundation of determining innumerable weighty Cases if we should doubt of things reported by the most credible circumspect Persons since we can be certified by our own Senses but of a few Objects I shall only add That the Apostles did many and great Miracles in the Name of Christ which was the strongest demonstration that He was rais'd to a glorious Life They were invested by the Spirit with the habits of various Tongues This kind of Miracle was necessary for the universal Preaching of the Gospel For how difficult and obstructive had it been to their Work if they must have return'd to their Infant-state to learn the Signification of forrein Languages to pronounce the words in their original Sound and the Accents proper to their Countrey Therefore the Holy Spirit according to the promise of Christ descended upon them and became their Master and in a moment imprest on their Memories the forms of discoursing and on their Tongues the manner of expressing them Where-ever the Doctrine of Jesus was preach'd God bare them witness both with Signes and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will When St. Peter pass'd through the streets fill'd with persons diseased and half dead he caused an universal resurrection by touching them with his reviving shadow They tamed Serpents and quencht the malignity of their Poison they commanded Death to leave its prey and Life to return to its mansion that was not habitable for it And that miraculous Power continued in their Successours so long as was requisite for the conviction of the World Justin Martyr Irenaeus Tertullian Origen Cyprian mention divers Miracles perform'd by Christians in those times Tertullian offers to the Emperour to whom he addrest his admirable Apology to compel the Devils that possest Humane Bodies to confess themselves to be evil Spirits to constrain the Prince of darkness to enlighten his own Slaves And Cyprian assures the Governour of Africa that he would force the Devils to come out of the Bodies they tormented lamenting their ejection Now we cannot imagine they would so far discredit their Doctrine and Reputation as to pretend to such a Power without they had it In short To deny the Miracles wrought by the Primitive Christians were as great rashness as to deny that Caesar conquer'd Pompey or that Titus succeeded Vespasian For we have the concurrent Testimony of the gravest and best Men of Understanding and Conscience who were Eye-witnesses and which was not contradicted by those of the same Age. Briefly There are such clear characters of the Divine Hand to render the Gospel authentick that to deny it to be true is to make God a liar The Conclusion is this We see how reasonable it is to give an entire assent to the truth of Christianity The Nature of the Doctrine that is perfecty Divine declares its Original 'T is confirmed by Supernatural Testimonies The Doctrine distinguishes the Miracles from all false wonders the illusions of Satan and the Miracles confirm the Doctrine What doubt can there be after the full deposition of the Spirit in raising Christ from the Grave in qualifying the Apostles who were rude and ignorant with Knowledg Zeal Courage Charity and all Graces requisite for their great enterprise and in converting the World by their Ministry and Miracles If we believe not so clear a Revelation our Infidelity is desperate When our Saviour was upon the Earth the Meanness and Poverty of his appearance lessen'd their Crime who did not acknowledg and honour him in the disguise of a Servant Therefore they were capable of favour Many of his bloody Persecutors were converted and saved by the Preaching of the Apostles But since the Holy Ghost hath convinc'd the World by so strong a Light of Sin Righteousness and Judgment viz. That Jesus whom the Jews most unworthily Crucified was the Son of God that in dying He purchased the Pardon of Sin since He is risen and received to Glory That all power in Heaven and Earth is given to Him the effect of which is most visible For spiritual Wickednesses trembled at his Name were expelled from their Dominions and sent to their old Prison to suffer the Chains and Flames due to them To refuse his Testimony is a degree of Obstinacy not far distant from Malice of of the Devils and puts Men without the reserves of pardoning Mercy And 't is not a slight superficial Belief of this great Truth that is sufficient but that which is powerful in making us universally obedient to our Glorified Redeemer who will distribute Crowns to all his faithful Servants We cannot truly believe his Resurrection without believing his Doctrine nor believe his Doctrine without unfeigned Desires after the eternal Felicity it promises nor desire that Felicity without a sincere compliance to his Commands in order to the obtaining it In short 'T is Infidelity approaching Madness not to believe the Truth of the Gospel but 't is Madness of an higher kind and more prodigious to pretend to believe it and yet to live in disobedience to its Precepts in contempt of its Promises and Threatnings as if it were a meer Fable CHAP. XXII The Honour of God's Truth with respect to the Legal Threatning was preserv'd in the Death of Christ. The Divine Truth with respect to the Promises and