it very easily But there were such multitude of Miracles wrought at the Sepulchres I spoke of and so many Witnesses of them that they extorted even from Porphyry a confession of it SECT VIII The Truth of the Writings confirmed from hence that many things are found there which the event hath proved to be divinely revealed THESE things ought to suffice but there are other Arguments which we may heap upon these to prove the truth and fidelity of these Authors Writings For many things are therein foretold which were impossible for Men by their own power to know or bring to pass yet we see the truth thereof wonderfully confirmed by the event Thus it was foretold that this Religion should upon a sudden have a large and ample increase that it should continue for ever and though it were rejected by most of the Jews yet should it be imbraced by the Gentiles Thus likewise was foretold what hatred and spight the Jews would bear against them that professed this Religion and what grievous Persecutions they should undergo The siege also and destruction both of Hierusalem and of the Temple together with the miserable Calamities of the Jewish Nation SECT IX As also from God's care in preserving his People from false writings BESIDES this if it be granted that God out of his providence takes care of humane affairs specially such as belong to his honour and worship then it cannot be that he should suffer so great a multitude of Men who had no other design but to worship God after a holy manner to be cheated with lying Books And forasmuch as since the time that so many Sects have sprung up in Christianity there hath not been one that received not either all or the most of those Books excepting some few that contain no singular matter differing from the rest it is a great argument that no material thing could be objected against these writings specially since the said Sects were so partial and spitefully bent against each other that what one approved others rejected even for this reason because it was there approved SECT X. Answer to the Objection that divers Books were not received by all THERE were some indeed though very few among those that would be called Christians who rejected all those Books which they saw contradicted their peculiar Opinions Such for instance as out of hatred of the Jews reviled their God the Maker of the World and the Law which he had given them or on the other side such as for fear of the evils which Christians were to undergo chose to lurk and lye hid under the name of Jews who had liberty without any danger to profess their Religion But these very Men were renounced in those times by all other Christians throughout the World when as yet all that differed in their opinions with the safety of piety were tolerated by the order of the Apostles with great patience As for the former kind of these adulterate Christians I think they have been sufficiently confuted both by that which we have said before when we proved that there was but one only true God the sole framer of the whole World As also by those very Books which that they might have some semblance of Christians they did admit of specially the Gospel of Luke wherein is evidently shown that the same God whom Moses and the Hebrews worshipped was preached by Christ And the other sort we shall more fitly confute when we come to oppugne those that both are and would be called Jews For the present only this I say that their impudence is wonderful great who slight and extenuate the authority of Paul seeing there was not one of all the Apostles that founded and taught more Churches than he did and his Miracles were at that time reported to be exceeding numerous when as e're while we said there might easily have been trial and inquiry made of the truth of the matter If then it be true that he wrought wonders why may we not believe him concerning his Heavenly Visions and instruction received from Christ himself to whom if he was so dear it cannot be that he should teach any thing inglorious or ingrateful unto Christ as falsities or untruths would have been And as touching that particular which is the only thing whereof they accuse him namely his doctrine of the liberty and freedom which was purchased for the Hebrews from those Rites and Ceremonies that were formerly commanded them by MOSES He had no reason at all to teach it but only the truth of the thing which he asserted For he himself was both circumcised and did also of his own accord observe very many things which the Law enjoyned And then for the sake of the Christian Religion he both did more difficult and suffered harder things than the Law required or could be expected upon the account of the Law and taught also his Disciples to do and suffer the like Whence it appears that he uttered no flattering or enticing speeches unto his auditors who were taught in stead of the Sabbath to keep every day holy for divine worship and in stead of the little expences which the Law required to suffer the loss of all their goods and in stead of the bloud of Beasts to consecrate their own bloud unto God And further Paul himself plainly affirms that Peter John and James in token of their consent with him gave him the right hands of fellowship which he never durst have spoken if it had not been true because the same Men being then alive might have convicted him for a lyar These therefore of whom I have now spoken being excluded as scarce deserving the name of Christians the most manifest consent of so many Congregations of Christians who received these Books added to what hath been spoken of the Miracles which the Writers of them wrought and the singular care which God takes about matters of this kind ought to be sufficient to induce any indifferent Men to give credit thereunto specially considering that they are wont commonly to credit any other Books of History which have no such testimonies unless they see some plain reason to the contrary which cannot be said of any of those Books whereof we have spoken SECT XI Answer to an Objection that these Books seem to contain things impossible FOR if any body say that some things are related in these Books which are impossible to be done the Objection vanishes when we consider what hath been before discoursed that there are things which cannot indeed be done by Men but are possible with God such that is as include in themselves no repugnancy or contradiction as we speak and that in the number of such things are even those Miraculous Powers which we most of all admire and the recalling of the Dead to Life again SECT XII Or things contrary to Reason NEITHER are they to be more regarded who say that some doctrines are comprised in these Books which are disagreeing to right reason
and piety And that they might confirm this to be their sense of the Divinity they bid the Jesuites observe one part of the Altar in their Temple to be void of Images and to be hid in an obscure and dark place which they said was the proper seat of the most high God the Maker of Heaven and Earth who could not be represented in any form and shape and that the Images which stood about that place were the representations of their Intercessors with Him who having great power with the most high God did obtain many gifts and blessings for those that invocated them How this differs from the notions of the Roman Church I do not see unless it be in this that they have sometimes adventured to represent God himself in a shape Otherwise the worship is the very same the dead Men who are the objects of it only changed and may very well justifie us if we say and therein we speak very moderately that their worship is an Image at least of the ancient Idolatry And moves them to make the resemblance more perfect unto the very same rage and violence which was in the Pagans against all those that differ from them and cannot consent to worship God in that way prosecuting them with all manner of cruelty as if they were utter enemies of God and of all Religion By which we may certainly know that they are so far from being the only true Christians that they are a very degenerate part of Christs Church wanting that great mark of his faithful Disciples to love one another even as Christ loved us To which they are such strangers that quite contrary they not only hate and persecute but endeavour as I said to root out those from the face of the Earth who obediently believe all that they can find our Lord and his Apostles have delivered and profess they are ready with all their hearts to receive and do whatsoever any body can further teach them to be his mind Nay are very desirous and diligent to know it sparing no pains to understand the whole Truth as it is in Christ Jesus SECT XV. Answer to what they say about Miracles THEY pretend indeed abundance of Miracles wrought in their Church as a sufficient condemnation of those who obstinately refuse to invocate Saints to worship their Images and the consecrated Hoste to believe Purgatory and all other things for the proof of which these wonders are alledged But herein also they imitate the Pagans who were guilty of the like deceit and the same answer will serve here which Grotius gives there L. iv Sect. 8. in his confutation of the old Idolatry For First the wisest Men among them have rejected many of these Miracles as not supported by the testimony of any credible witnesses nay as plain fictions Others also of them which are pretended to be of better credit hapned in some private place in the night before one or two Persons whose eyes crafty Priests as he speaks might easily delude with false shows and counterfeit appearances of things And further there are others which only raise admiration among People ignorant of the nature of things and are no true miracles I deny not but there may have things been done among them which no humane power could effect by the strength of natural causes and yet no Divine that is omnipotent Power be needful to their production For those Spirits which are interposed between God and Man are able by their nimbleness cunning activity and strength to make such strange application of things very distant one to another as shall astonish the Spectators with wonderful effects But there is too great reason to think they are not good Spirits that do these feats because they revive hereby the ancient superstition or uphold the Image of it still in the Christian World to the great dishonour of our Saviour and the indangering the Souls of his People Who have been so far misled as not only to fancy great Virtue in the Images of the Saints and to cry up also some Images particularly of our Lady of Loretto for instance as indued with some singular power and vertue which is not to be found in others but to honour them so highly as for one Miracle said to be done by a Crucifix to report a hundred to be wrought at such or such a Shrine of hers It is very considerable also to omit the rest which he notes in the V. Book out of the Law of Moses that it supposes God might permit some wonders to be done only for their trial whether the People would persist in the worship of the true God which had been confirmed by undoubted and far greater and more numerous Miracles Read Deuteron xiii 1 2 3 c. This is excellently expressed and with advantage by a great Man of our own in these words or to this effect The Doctrine which we believe that is the Bible hath been confirmed as is confessed on all sides by innumerable supernatural and truly Divine Miracles and consequently the Doctrine of the Roman Church which in many points is plainly opposite to the Bible is condemned by them I mean the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles And therefore if any strange things have been done in that Church they prove nothing but the truth of Scripture which foretold that God's Providence permitting it and the wickedness of the World deserving it strange signs and wonders should be wrought to confirm false doctrine that they which love not the Truth might be given over to strong delusions So that now we have reason rather to suspect and be afraid of pretended Miracles as signs of false Doctrine than much to regard them as certain arguments of Truth Neither is it strange that God should permit some true wonders to be done to delude those who have forged so many wonders to deceive the World SECT XVI Answer to another Objection BUT it is not likely they say that Religion should be thus depraved in the Roman Church because their Ancestors were Men of greater vertue and honesty than to suffer the least alteration Which is the very thing that is alledged by the Jews why they should not believe our Saviour was unjustly condemned and his Religion rejected by their Priests and Elders as Grotius observes in the Vth. Book Out of which I might produce several things as I have done out of the foregoing to prove the vanity of the Romish Traditions as well as of the Jewish and show also how they have brought back Judaism in a great measure by the vast burden of Rites and Ceremonies wherewith they have incumbered Christian Religion But I shall wave all this because I would make this Book as short as the rest and only observe in answer to what was now pretended that whosoever shall consider as he speaks of the Ancestors of the Jews what kind of Men for several Ages sate in the Chair of Rome and how ignorant the People generally were he
the downfal of the worship of Daemons and of Magical Arts and one God was worshipped with a detestation of Daemons whose power and authority Porphyry acknowledges was broken by the coming of Christ Neither is it to be thought that any wicked Spirit is so ignorant and foolish as to effect and often bring to pass things that are causes of its own hurt and disgrace and no way conducing to its honour or benefit Besides it stands no way with the wisdom or goodness of God himself to believe that he would suffer so harmless and innocent Men such as feared him to be deceived by the delusion of Devils and such were the first followers of Christ as is plain by their innocent life and by the many calamities which they endured for conscience sake But on the other side if thou affirmest that those works of Christ proceeded from some good Spirits which are inferiour to God in so saying thou dost confess that the same works were well pleasing unto God and did tend to the honour of his name forasmuch as good Spirits do nothing but what is acceptable and glorious unto God To say nothing now of some of Christ's works which were so miraculous that they seem to have God himself for the author of them and could not have been done but by the immediate finger of an omnipotent power as specially the restoring divers Persons from Death unto Life again Now God doth not produce any Miracle nor suffer any such Wonders to be wrought without just cause For it becomes not a wise Maker of Laws to forsake and depart from his own Laws unless upon some good and weighty reason Now no other cause of these things can be given than that which was alledged by Christ himself namely that hereby his doctrine might be verified and confirmed And doubtless they that were Spectators of his Works could conceive no other reason thereof amongst which since there were as was said many godly Men piously and devoutly affected it is horrible impiety to imagine that God did work these things only to delude and deceive them And this was one cause why very many of the Jews who lived about the time of Jesus even such as could not be perswaded to relinquish or omit one jot of Moses his Law such as those who were called Nazarenes and Ebionites did notwithstanding acknowledge that this Jesus was a Doctor or Master sent from Heaven SECT VII Christ's Resurrection proved by credible Reasons BEsides the Miracles that Christ wrought to confirm his Doctrine another like Argument may be taken from his wonderful Resurrection to Life again after that He was Crucified Dead and Buried For the Christians of all Ages and Countries alledge the same not only for a truth but also as the most strong ground and chiefest foundation of their Faith which could not be unless those that first taught Christianity did perswade their Auditors that the thing was so for certain And yet they could not induce any wise Man to the belief hereof unless they could verily affirm that themselves were eye-witnesses of this matter For without such an ocular testimony no Man in his wits would have given credit unto them especially in such times when to believe them was to expose themselves to the greatest mischiefs and dangers But that this was their constant assertion both their own Books and other Writings do testifie For out of their Books it appears that they appealed unto Five hundred Witnesses that had beheld Jesus after he was risen from the Dead Now it is not the fashion of lyars and dissemblers to appeal to so great a number of Witnesses Neither could it possibly so fall out that so many Men should agree and conspire together to bear false witness Or suppose there had been no other witnesses save those twelve known Apostles the first publishers of Christian doctrine yet this had been sufficient No Man is wicked for nothing And honour for their lying they could not expect in regard that all kind of dignities and promotions were then in the hands of the Pagans or Jews from whom they received nothing but reproach and ignominy Neither could they hope for any Wealth and Riches because this profession was oftentimes punished with the loss of goods and possessions or if it was not yet the Gospel could not be taught by them unless they omitted or neglected all care about worldly goods Neither could the hope of any other worldly advantage move them to utter untruths seeing that the very preaching of the Gospel did expose them to labours hunger thirst stripes and imprisonments To get credit and reputation only among their own Country-men was not so much worth that they poor simple Men whose life and doctrine was abhorrent from all pride should therefore run upon so great inconveniencies Neither again could they have any hope their doctrine would make such progress as to win them any fame being opposed both by the nature of Man which is intent to its own advantage and by the authority of them who then every where governed unless they had been some way animated and incouraged by the promise of God To which we may add that they had no reason to promise themselves that this fame such as it might prove would be durable since they expected God on purpose concealing his counsel in this matter the end of the whole World as nearly approaching which both their own Writings and the writings of those Christians that followed them make most evident It remains therefore that we say if they did lye it was for the defence of their Religion which cannot with any reason be laid to their charge if the thing be rightly considered For either they did sincerely believe that this Religion which they professed was the true Religion or else they were of a contrary mind If they did not believe it to be true nay if they thought not that it was absolutely the best they would never have made choice hereof and refused other Religions far more safe and commodious Nay further though they conceived it to be true yet they would not have professed it unless they had been fully perswaded that the profession thereof was necessary specially for that they might have easily foreseen and partly they could tell by experience what troops of Men would be exposed to death for this profession which without just cause to occasion was no better than plain robbery or murder But if we say they believed that this Religion was true and the very best and by all means to be professed and that after the death of their Lord and Master surely that could no way be so if their Masters promise concerning his Resurrection had deceived them and not proved true For that had been enough to make any Man in his wits disbelieve even that which he had already entertained Moreover all Religions and Christianity more than any other forbids lying in bearing false witness especially in divine things wherefore they could not
were blasted with the spirit of giddiness are fallen away to filthy fables and doctrines very ridiculous wherewith the books of the Talmud do abound which they are bold to call the law given by word of mouth and are wont to equal or prefer to that which was written by Moses For such things as are therein to be read concerning God's weeping and lamenting because he had suffered the City to be destroyed of his daily care and diligence in reading the Law of Behemoth and Leviathan and many other matters are so absurd that it would be irksome even to repeat them Howbeit the Jews in all this time have neither turned to the worship of false Gods as they did in times past neither have they defiled themselves with bloudy murders nor are they accused of adulteries But by prayers and fastings they labour to appease God's wrath and yet are not heard Which things being so one of these two must needs be granted namely that either the covenant that was given by Moses is quite abolished or the whole body of the Jewish Nation lies under the guilt of some notorious crime which hath continued for so many Ages together which what it is let themselves speak or if they cannot tell then let them believe us that this sin is no other but the contempt of the Messias who was come before that these evils began to fall upon them SECT XVII Jesus is proved to be the Messias by those things which were foretold concerning the Messias BY this which hath been spoken it is manifest that the Messias came many Ages ago we add further that he is no other but Jesus For what other persons soever either were or would have been accounted the Messias they have left no Sect behind them to uphold and maintain that opinion There are not any at this day that profess themselves to be followers either of Herod or of Judas Gaulonita or of that great Impostor Barchochebas who living in the times of Adrian said that he was the Messias and deceived some even of the most learned But those that profess the name of Jesus have continued from the time that he lived upon Earth even until this day and are still not a few only in this or that Countrey but very many dispersed as far as the World extendeth I could alledge many other testimonies anciently foretold or believed concerning the Messias which we believe were accomplished in Jesus since they are not so much as affirmed of any other as namely that he came of the posterity of David and was born of a Virgin which was divinely revealed to him that married that Virgin when he would have put her away supposing she had been got with child by another Also that this Messias was born at Bethlehem and began first to publish his doctrine in Galilee healing all kinds of Diseases giving sight to the blind and making the lame to walk but this one may suffice for many the effect of which continues unto this day It is most manifest by the Prophecies of David Isaiah Zachariah and Hosea that the Messias was to be an Instructor not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles that by him the worship of false Gods should fall to the ground and a huge multitude of aliens and strangers should be brought to the worship of the only true God Before Jesus his coming almost the whole World was overspread with false worships and religions which afterward by little and little began to vanish away and not only single persons but both People and Kings were converted unto the worship and service of one God This was not owing to the Jewish Rabbins but to the Disciples of Jesus and their Successors Thus they were made the people of God that before were not the people of God and the saying of old Jacob Gen. 49. was fulfilled That before all civil Authority should be taken from Judah Shilo should come Which the Chaldee and other Interpreters expound of the Messias to whom even foreign Nations should be obedient SECT XVIII Answer to that which is objected of some things that are not fulfilled THE Jews usually object that some things were foretold concerning the times of the Messias which are not yet fulfilled But for answer those matters which they alledge are obscure and admit of divers significations wherefore we ought not because of them to forsake those things that are manifest Such as the holiness of the commandments of Jesus the excellency of the reward and the perspicuous language wherein it is propounded to which if we add the testimony of his miracles these ought to be sufficient inducements to the receiving of his doctrine As for those Prophecies which go under the name of a shut or clasped Book oftentimes for the right understanding thereof there is requisite some divine helps and assistances which they are worthily deprived of that neglect manifest truths The places of Scripture which they object are diversly expounded as themselves cannot deny And if any Men please to compare either the ancient Interpreters which lived when the People were led captive into Babylon or such as lived about Christ's time with those that writ after that Christianity began to be hateful and odious unto the Jews he shall find new expositions purposely invented to cross those former that well agreed with the sense of Christians They know well enough that there are many things in the holy Scriptures which must be understood by a figure and not in propriety of speech as when God is said to have descended and to have a mouth ears eyes and nosthrils And why may not we likewise expound divers things that are spoken of the times of the Messias after the same manner as that the Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and the fatling together and the sucking child shall play with the Serpents and the mountain of the Lord shall be exalted above other mountains whither strangers shall come and worship There are some things promised which by antecedent or consequent words or by the very sense imply a tacite condition in them Thus God promised many things unto the Hebrews upon condition they would receive the Messias that was sent and obey him which same things if they come not to pass accordingly then may they blame themselves that are the cause thereof Again other matters were promised determinedly and without all condition which if they be not already accomplished yet may be hoped for hereafter For it is evident even among the Jews that the time or Kingdom of the Messias must endure unto the end of the World SECT XIX And to that which is objected of the mean condition and death of Jesus MANY do take exception at the low and mean condition of Jesus but unjustly because in sacred Writ it is often said that God will exalt the humble but cast down the proud Jacob when he passed
Truth of Christian Religion p. 47 Sect. II. Here is showen that Jesus lived p. 48 Sect. III. And was put to an ignominious death ib. Sect. IV. Yet afterward was worshipped by prudent and godly Men. p. 49 Sect. V. The cause whereof was for that in his life time there were Miracles done by him p. 50 Sect. VI. Which Miracles were not wrought either by the help of Nature or assistance of the Devil but meerly by the Divine Power of God p. 51 Sect. VII Christ's Resurrection proved by credible Reasons p. 55 Sect. VIII Answer to the Objection that the Resurrection seems impossible p. 60 Sect. IX The Resurrection of Jesus being granted the Truth of his Doctrine is confirmed p. 61 Sect. X. Christian Religion preferred before all others p. 62 Sect. XI For excellency of reward p. 63 Sect. XII Answer to an Objection that Bodies once Dead cannot be revived again p. 66 Sect. XIII The excelency of holy Precepts given for the worship of God p. 69 Sect. XIV Concerning the Offices of Humanity which we owe unto our Neighbour p. 72 Sect. XV. Of the Conjunction of Man and Woman p. 74 Sect. XVI Touching the use of Temporal goods p. 76 Sect. XVII Of Swearing p. 79 Sect. XVIII Of other Matters ib. Sect. XIX Answer to an Objection touching the Controversies abounding among Christians p. 80 Sect. XX. The excellency of Christian Religion is further proved from the dignity of the Author p. 82 Sect. XXI Also from the wonderful spreading of this Religion p. 86 Sect. XXII Considering the meekness and simplicity of them that first taught this Religion p. 88 Sect. XXIII What great impediments there were that might terrifie Men from the embracing or the professing hereof p. 90 Sect. XXIV Answer to them that require more forcible Reasons p. 94 The Contents of the third Book Sect. I. TO Prove the authority of the Books of the New Covenant 〈◊〉 Sect. II. Here is known that such Books were written by the Authors the Names they have prefixed p. 99 Sect. III. Some Books were anciently doubted of p. 100 Sect. IV. The authority of such Books as have no Titles is proved from the quality of the Writers p. 101 Sect. V. These Pen-men writ the Truth because they had certain knowledge of what they writ p. 102 Sect. VI. As also because they would not lye p. 104 Sect. VII A confirmation of the fidelity of these authors from the Miracles which they wrought p. 106 Sect. VIII The Truth of the Writings confirmed from hence that many things are found there which the event hath proved to be divinely revealed p. 108 Sect. IX As also from God's care in preserving his People from false writings p. 109 Sect. X. Answer to the Objection that divers Books were not received by all p. 110 Sect. XI Answer to an Objection that these Books seem to contain things impossible p. 113 Sect. XII Or things contrary to Reason p. 114 Sect. XIII Answer to an Objection that some of these Books are repugnant to the other p. 116 Sect. XIV Answer to an Objection taken from outward testimonies which make more for these Books p. 118 Sect. XV. Answer to the Objection that the Scriptures were changed p. 119 Sect. XVI For the authority of the Books of the Old Testament p. 123 The Contents of the fourth Book Sect. I. A Particular Confutation of the Religions opposite to Christianity p. 129 Sect. II. And first of Paganism that there is but one God Created Spirits are good or bad the good not to be honoured but as the most high God directs p. 131 Sect. III. Evil Spirits adored by Pagans and how impious a thing it is p. 132 Sect. IV. Against the worship which in Paganism is exhibited to men after their death p. 135 Sect. V. Against worshipping of Stars and Elements p. 136 Sect. VI. Against worshipping of Bruit-beasts p. 137 Sect. VII Against worshipping of things that are no substances p. 139 Sect. VIII Answer to the argument of the Gentiles taken from Miracles done among them p. 141 Sect. IX And from Oracles p. 144 Sect. X. Paganism decayed of its own accord so soon as humane aid ceased p. 146 Sect. XI Answer to the Opinion of some that think the beginning and decay of Religions depend upon the efficacy of the Stars p. 147 Sect. XII The chief Points of Christianity are approved of by the Heathen and if there be any thing that is hard to be believed therein the like or worse is found among the Pagans p. 150 The Contents of the fifth Book Sect. I. A Refutation of the Jews beginning with a speech unto them or prayer for them p. 153 Sect. II. The Jews ought to account the Miracles of Christ sufficiently proved p. 154 Sect. III. And not believe that they were done by the help of Devils p. 156 Sect. IV. Or by the Power of Words and Syllables p. 158 Sect. V. The Miracles of Jesus were divine because he taught the worship of one God the Maker of the World p. 159 Sect. VI. Answer to the Objection taken from the difference between the Law of Moses and of Christ where is shown that a more perfect Law than that of Moses might be given p. 160 Sect. VII The Law of Moses was observed by Jesus who abolished no Commandements that were essentially good p. 163 Sect. VIII As the Sacrifices which of themselves were never well-pleasing unto God p. 167 Sect. IX The difference of Meats p. 172 Sect. X. And of Days p. 174 Sect. XI Also of outward Circumcision p. 177 Sect. XII And yet the Apostles of Jesus were gentle in the toleration of these things p. 179 Sect. XIII A Proof against the Jews from the promised Messias p. 180 Sect. XIV Who is proved to be already come by the limited time of his coming which was foretold p. 181 Sect. XV. Answer to that which some conceive touching the deferring of his coming for the sins of the people p. 184 Sect. XVI Also from the present state of the Jews compared with those things which the Law promiseth p. 185 Sect. XVII Jesus is proved to be the Messias by those things which were foretold concerning the Messias p. 188 Sect. XVIII Answer to that which is objected of some things that are not fulfilled p. 190 Sect. XIX And to that which is objected of the mean condition and death of Jesus p. 192 Sect. XX. And as though they were honest men that put him to death p. 197 Sect. XXI Answer to the Objection that many Gods are worshipped by the Christians p. 200 Sect. XXII And that a humane nature is worshipped p. 201 Sect. XXIII The Conclusion of this part with Prayer for the Jews p. 203 The Contents of the sixth Book Sect. I. A Confutation of Mahumetanisme the beginning of it p. 205 Sect. II. The overthrow of the foundation of Mahumetanisme in denying inquiry into Religion p. 208 Sect. III. A Proof against the Mahumetans taken out of the Books of the Hebrews and Christians which are not corrupted p. 209 Sect. IV. By comparing Mahumet with Christ in their Persons p. 212 Sect. V. And in their Deeds p 213 Sect. VI. Also such as first embraced both Religions p. 214 Sect. VII The manner how both their Laws were pro pagated ib. Sect. VIII The Precepts of both Religions compared p. 216 Sect IX Answer to the Mahumetans Objection concerning the Son of God p. 218 Sect. X. Many absurd things in the Books of Mahumetans p 219 Sect. XI A Conclusion directed unto Christians admonishing them of their duty upon the occasion of what hath formerly been handled p. 220 The Contents of the seventh Book Sect. I. AN Introduction showing what makes the Addition of another Book necessary p. 229 Sect. II. Divisions among Christians no such objection against Christianity as is imagined 230 Sect. III. As appears even in the Roman Church which hath given the greatest scandal p. 232 Sect IV. But both contradicts it self and departs from the ancient and truly Catholick Church p 234 Sect. V. Christianity therefore is not there in its purity but much corrupted p. 236 Sect. VI. Answer to an Evasion from the force of the foregoing Argument p. 237 Sect. VII Their absurd explication of the Vnity of the Catholick Church p. 239 Sect. VIII Which forbids us to joyn in Communion with them upon such terms p. 240 Sect. IX But on the other side not to slight Episcopal Authority p. 243 Sect. X. Arguments enough in the foregoing Books to prove the true Christian Religion not to be sincerely preserved in the Roman Church one is their way of worship p. 244 Sect. XI Another is the way of promoting their Religion p 248 Sect XII The Romanists themselves overthrow their own Religion p. 250 Sect XIII Other Instances of it p. 256 Sect XIV Whereby they have spoil'd Christianity as the Pagans did the Natural Religion p. 259 Sect. XV. Answer to what they say about Miracles p. 262 Sect. XVI Answer to another Objection p 265 Sect. XVII Popery and Mahometisin had the same Original p. 268 Sect. XVIII And supports its self by the same means p. 269 Sect XIX And refuses to be tried by Scripture p. 272 Sect. XX. The Vanity of their appeal to Traditions p. 277 Sect. XXI And their guilt in what they say about the holy Scriptures p. 279 Sect XXII It is our wisdom therefore to adhere to the Scriptures p. 283 Sect XXIII Which have more manifest notes of certainty than the Church p. 284 Sect. XXIV The great incouragement we have to do so p. 287 Sect. XXV Conclusion of all p. 294 THE END
for the love of Religion and that such a Religion be induced to tell untruths Besides these Men were of an upright conversation their life was spotless and unblameable even in the judgment of their adversaries who had nothing to object against them save their simplicity which of all other dispositions is the most unlikely to forge a lye Nay there were none among these Primitive Christians whereof we speak who did not suffer grievous torments for professing that Jesus was risen and many of them were put unto most exquisite pains of death for bearing testimony of the same Now granting it to be possible that a Man in his wits may be content to endure such things for some opinion which he hath conceived and really believes in his mind yet that for a falshood which he knows to be so not only some one Man but a great many Men who are like to gain nothing at all by making that falshood to be believed should consent to suffer such cruel torments is a thing altogether incredible Now that these were not Mad-men both their conversation and their writings do abundantly testifie Likewise what is spoken of the first Apostles may also be said of Paul who openly taught that he saw Christ sitting in Heaven who also was not inferiour to any in the Jewish Religion nor might he have wanted dignities and preferments if he would have followed the foot-steps of his Fathers Whereas on the contrary by taking upon him the profession of Christianity he became liable to the hatred and malignity of his kinsfolks and ingaged himself to undertake difficult dangerous and laborious travels thorough the World and last of all to undergo a disgraceful death and torment SECT VIII Answer to the Objection that the Resurrection seems impossible SUCH and so great testimonies no Man can disprove or gainsay unless some will reply that the thing it self is impossible to be done for so are those things which imply a contradiction as they speak Howbeit that cannot be affirmed of this matter It might indeed if one could say that one and the self same Man lived and died at the self same time But that a Man may be restored from death to life especially by the power and vertue of him who first gave life and being unto Man I see no reason why it should be accounted for a thing impossible Neither hath it been thought impossible by wise Men For Plato writes that this was done to Eris an Armenian And the like is related of a certain Woman by Heraclides a Philosopher of Pontus of Aristaeus by Herodotus and of another by Plutarch all which whether true or false do shew that in the opinion of learned and wise Men the thing was conceived to be possible SECT IX The Resurrection of Jesus being granted the Truth of his Doctrine is confirmed NOW if it be neither impossible that Christ should return to Life again and it doth sufficiently appear by great testimonies wherewith Rabbi Bechai a Master of the Jews was so convinced that he acknowledged the truth of this thing and this Christ himself also as both his Disciples and others confess did publish a new Doctrine as by a Divine commandment truly it necessarily follows that that Doctrine is true For it doth not consist with the divine Justice and Wisdom to honour Him after so excellent a manner who had committed the crime of falsifying in so weighty a matter Especially considering that before his Death He had foretold to his Disciples both his Death and the kind of it and his Resurrection to Life again adding this withal that these things should therefore come to pass that they might testifie and confirm the truth of his Doctrine And thus much for the Arguments which arise from the facts themselves which were done Let us proceed to those which arise from the nature and quality of his Doctrine SECT X. Christian Religion preferred before all others AND here truly we must say that either all kind of divine worship whatsoever must be rejected and utterly banished from among Men which impiety will never enter into the heart of any one that can believe there is a God who takes care of all things and withal considers how Man is endued with excellency of understanding and liberty to chuse what is morally good or evil and upon that account is capable as of reward so of punishment or else this Religion is to be admitted and approved of for the very best not only in regard of the outward testimonies of works and miracles aforesaid but also in consideration of such inward and essential properties as are agreeing thereunto namely because there is not neither ever was there any other Religion in the whole World that can be produced either more honourable for excellency of reward or more absolute and perfect for precepts or more admirable for the manner according to which it was commanded to be propagated and divulged SECT XI For excellency of reward FOR to begin with the reward that is at the end propounded to Man which though it be the last in fruition and execution yet is it the first in his intention If we consider the institution of the Jewish Religion by the hand of Moses and the plain or express covenant of the Law we shall find nothing there promised save the welfare and happiness of this life as namely a fruitful Land abundance of Corn and Victual victory over their Enemies soundness of Body length of Days the comfortable blessing of a hopeful Issue and surviving Posterity and the like For if there be any thing beyond it is involved in dark shadows or must be collected by wise and difficult reasoning Which indeed was the cause why many in particular the Sadducees who professed themselves to be followers and observers of Moses his Law had no hope of enjoying any happiness after this life As for the Grecians who received their learning from the Chaldeans and Aegyptians and had some hope in another World after this life was ended they spake thereof after a very doubtful manner as appears by the disputations of Socrates by the Writings of Tully Seneca and others And the Arguments they produce for it are grounded upon uncertainties proving no more the happiness of a Man than of a Beast Which while some of them observed it was no wonder if they imagined that Souls were translated and conveyed from Men to Beasts and again from Beasts into Men. But because this opinion was not confirmed by any testimonies or grounded upon certain reason and yet it was undeniable that there is some end proposed to Man's actions therefore others were induced to think that vertue was the end or reward of Mens endeavours and that a wise Man was happy enough even though he were put into that tormenting brasen Bull made by Phalaris Howbeit this fancy was justly distasteful and improbable to another sort who saw well enough that Man's happiness especially the highest could not consist in any
the first Christians and by those next to the first and by the Doctors which followed afterward even those that witnessed their faith in Christ by their death For in the opinion of any indifferent Judge that must needs be reputed the true doctrine of Christ which so many have successively acknowledged and professed like as we are perswaded that was the doctrine of Socrates which we read in Plato and Xenophon as also that of Zeno the Philosopher which we find held by the Stoicks SECT XX. The excellency of Christian Religion is further proved from the dignity of the Author THE third thing wherein we said Christian Religion excelled all others that are or can be devised was the manner whereby it was delivered and divulged Where first we shall speak of the Author They that were authors of the wisdom among the Grecians confessed that they could not affirm almost any thing for certain in their doctrine because quoth they truth lies bid in a deep Pit and our minds are no less dazeled in the contemplation of divine things than the eyes of an Owl in beholding the bright shining of the Sun Besides there was none among them but was notoriously guilty of some vice or other For some were flatterers of Princes others addicted to the impure love of Boys or Harlots others gloried in a Dog-like impudence And that they all envied one another their scolding about words or matters of no moment is a great argument as this is of their coldness in the worship of God that even they who believed one God set him aside and not only worshipped others but such as they knew were no Gods making that only the rule of their Religion which was commonly received and practised in publick Touching the reward of godliness they determined nothing for certain as appears by the last farewel disputation of Socrates at his death Mahomet the Author of a Religion that is spred very far his own Followers do not deny to have been a Man that abandoned himself to lust throughout his whole life But gave no assurance at all by which Men may be satisfied that there shall indeed be such a reward as he promised consisting in banqueting and in venery since they do not so much as pretend that his Body was raised to life again but it lies buried at Medina to this day And as for Moses the Founder of the Hebrew Law though he was an excellent Person yet he cannot be freed from all blame since he could scarcely be perswaded with much rejuctance to undertake the Embassy which God charged him withal to the King of Egypt and expressed also some distrust of God's promise for bringing water out of the Rock as the Hebrews themselves confess And he did scarce partake of any one of those promises which by the Law he made unto the People but was perplexed with continual mutinies and seditions in the Wilderness neither was he permitted to enter into that blessed and pleasant Land so much desired But Christ is described by his Disciples as a Person without all sin nor did others ever produce any testimony to prove that He was guilty of the least but whatsoever He prescribed to others He performed Himself For there was nothing that God gave Him in charge which He did not faithfully perform being most simple and void of guile in his whole life most patient of injuries nay of cruel torments as He showed in suffering even the punishment of the Cross most loving and kind to all Men even to his Enemies yea those Enemies who put Him to death on whom he had such compassion that he beseeched God to forgive them As for the reward which he promised unto his Disciples it is both said and proved by undoubted arguments that He himself is made partaker thereof after a most eminent and excellent manner For after he was risen from the dead there were many that beheld and heard and handled and felt Him He also ascended up into Heaven in the sight of his Twelve Disciples where He obtained the highest power as was evident in that according to his promise made at his departure he endued them that were his Followers with ability to speak those Languages which they had never learnt and with other wonder-working Powers which will not let us doubt either of his faithfulness nor of his Power to bestow upon us the reward which he hath promised And thus we have shown how that this Religion is more excellent than others in regard that Christ the Author of it hath himself performed what he commanded as also in his own person obtained and already enjoyeth the happiness that he promised SECT XXI Also from the wonderful spreading of this Religion LET us in the next place descend to the effects of this doctrine brought by him to the World which if they be well weighed will appear to be such that if God have any care of humane affairs this doctrine cannot but be believed to be Divine It was very agreeable to Divine Providence to make that which was best to be of the greatest and largest extent Now such was the success of the Christian Religion which we see published and taught through all Europe not excepting the most Northern Provinces and no less through all Asia even the Islands of it in the Sea through Egypt also and Aethiopia and some other parts of Africa And lastly through America Nor is this only done now but was so anciently as is witnessed by the Histories of all times by the Books of Christians the acts of Synods and by that old Tradition at this day preserved among the Barbarians concerning the Travels and Miracles of Thomas Andrew and other Apostles Clemens Tertullian and some Ancients besides have noted how far the name of Christ was known amongst the Britains Germans and other most remote Nations in their times And certainly there is no other Religion comparable hereunto for ample and large extent Paganisme indeed is one name but cannot be said to be one Religion since that it was neither agreed upon by the Professors thereof what one thing they should worship but some adored the Stars others the Elements and a third sort reverenced their Cattel others such things as have no subsistence Nor was this worship performed by vertue of the same Law nor from any common Master The Jews indeed are dispersed and scattered up and down yet remain one people Howbeit their Religion had never any notable growth or increase after Christ's Ascension and their Law was not so much made known by them as by Christians Then for Mahumetanisme it is possessed of Land enough but 't is not alone for Christian Religion is also professed in the same Countries where in some places there are greater numbers of Christians than of Turks who on the contrary are not to be found at all in most parts where Christianity is planted SECT XXII Considering the meekness and simplicity of them that first taught this Religion IT
and Apparel we ought to content our selves with so much as will suffice nature and the like Or if happily there be some points in Christianity hard to be believed yet the like also is found amongst the wisest of the Heathen themselves as before we have shewn concerning the immortality of Souls and of the Resurrection of Bodies Thus Plato as he learned from the Chaldeans distinguished the Divine nature into the Father and the mind of the Father which he calls also the branch of God the Maker of the World and the Soul or Spirit which keeps together and preserveth all things Julian as great an enemy as he was of Christians thought that the Divine Nature might be joyned to the humane and gave instance in Aesculapius whom he imagined to have descended from Heaven to the end he might teach Men the Art of Physick The Cross of Christ offendeth many But what do not the Pagan Writers tell of their Gods that some of them waited upon Kings and Princes others were Thunder-struck others cut in sunder And the wisest of them say that the more it costs us to be honest the more joy and delight it affords us To conclude Plato in the second Book of his Common-wealth as if he had been a Prophet saith for a Man to appear truly just and upright it is requisite that his vertue be bereaved of all outward ornaments so that he be by others accounted a wicked wretch and scoffed at and last of all hanged And indeed that Christ might be the Pattern of greatest Patience could no otherwise be obtained The Fifth Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. A refutation of the Jews beginning with a speech unto them or prayer for them JUST like that glimmering between light and darkness which appears to those who by little and little are endeavouring to get out of a dark Cave or Dungeon such doth Judaism present it self to us who are stepping out of the thick mist of Paganism of which we have been discoursing as a part and beginning of Truth I request the Jews therefore not to be averse to hear us We are not ignorant that they are the off-spring of holy Men whom God was wont to visit both by his Prophets and by his Angels Of this Nation sprang our Messias and the first Doctors of Christianity It is their Tree whereinto we are ingraffed they are the keepers of God's Oracles which we do reverence as much as they and with St. Paul sigh unto God for them and pray that the day may quickly come when the Vail being taken away which hangs over their Faces they with us shall see the fulfilling of the Law And when as it is in their Prophecies every one of us that are strangers shall lay hold on the Cloak of him that is an Hebrew desiring that we may together with a pious consent worship the only true God who is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. SECT II. The Jews ought to account the Miracles of Christ sufficiently proved FIRST of all then we must intreat them not to think that to be unjust in another Man's case which they judge to be just and equitable in their own If any Pagan demand of them why they believe that Miracles were wrought by Moses they can give no other answer save that there was always so constant a report thereof among their Nation that it could not but proceed from the testimony of such as had seen the same Thus that the Widows Oyl was increased by Elisha that Naaman the Syrian was suddenly cured of the Leprosie that the Womans Son in whose House he lodged was restored to life and other such like are believed by the Jews for no other reason than because witnesses of good credit have recorded to posterity that such things were done And they believe Elias his taking up into heaven only for the single testimony of Elisha as a Man beyond all exception But we produce twelve witnesses of unblameable life to testifie that Christ ascended up into Heaven And many more that saw him upon the Earth after his death Which things if they be true then necessarily Christs doctrine is true also and indeed nothing at all can be alledged by the Jews for themselves which by equal right or more just title may not be applyed to us also But to omit further testimonies it is the confession of the Authors of the Talmud and other Jews themselves that strange wonders were wrought by Christ which ought to suffice for this particular For God cannot any way more effectually gain authority unto a doctrine published by Man than by the working of miracles SECT III. And not believe that they were done by the help of Devils THESE Miracles of Christ some said were done by the help of Devils But this calumny hath been confuted before when we shewed that wheresoever the doctrine of Christ was taught and known there all power of the Devils was broken in pieces Others reply that Jesus learned Magick arts in Egypt but this slander hath no more nay not so much colour of truth than the like accusation by the Pagans framed against Moses whereof we read in Pliny and Apuleius For that ever Jesus was in Egypt doth not appear save only out of the Writings of his Disciples who add further that he was an Infant when he returned thence But it is certain by his own and others report that Moses lived a great part of his time after he was grown to Mans estate in Aegypt Howbeit the Law as well of Moses as of Christ frees them both from this crime plainly forbidding such arts as abominable in the sight of God And without all question if in the time of Christ and his Disciples there had been either in Egypt or any where else any such Magical art whereby Men might have been enabled to do the like marvels as are related of Christ to wit giving speech to the Dumb on a suddain making the Lame to walk and the Blind to see then would Tyberius Nero and other Emperors have found it out who spared no costs and charges in the inquiry after such like things Nay if it were true which the Jews relate how that the Senators of the great Council were skill'd in Magick arts that they might convince them that were guilty of that iniquity then surely they being so mightily incensed against Jesus as they were and envying the honour and respect which he obtained chiefly by his miracles would either themselves have done the like works by the same art or by sufficient reasons would have made it appear that the works of Christ proceeded from no other cause SECT IV. Or by the Power of Words and Syllables MOreover that is not only a meer fable but impudent lye which some of the Jews have invented concerning the Miracles done by Christ which they ascribe to a certain secret name which as they say being placed in the Temple by Solomon was preserved safe by two Lions
hand I now take into my hands to present unto thy Majesty under the form of Bread and Wine Him thou canst not reject nor me his Priest who offer Him unto Thee c. Or some such like words more befitting their present notions than desiring an Angel may carry what the Priest offers and present it unto GOD. But we find quite contrary which is the last thing I shall observe that in conclusion the Priest acknowledges that by Christ Jesus God always creates and sanctifies and quickens and blesses making a cross upon the Host and the Chalice at every one of those three last words all these good things Which can be meant of nothing but the Bread and Wine consecrated to the commemoration and representation of Christ's body and bloud sacrificed for us For Christ's own very natural body and bloud cannot in any tolerable sense be said to be continually created and quickned or made alive unless you will suppose him to have been dead before nay not to have been at all For creation implies the thing not to have been and vivification not to have been then alive when it was quickned Yet this fancy of Christs real presence in the Sacrament by Transubstantiation against which there are such numerous Testimonies in their own Communion Service is now become the main Article of their Religion For we all know to our great grief and astonishment that when the publick Authority of this Realm was on their side subscription was not urged to any Article of their Religion upon such violent and bloudy terms as unto this of the Real Presence The Mystery of which iniquity as a great Man of our own said in the Age before us cannot be better resolved than into the powerful and deceitful working of Satan who delights thus to do despite to our Lord and to his Religion by seducing his professed Subjects into a belief of such things as make them and Him ridiculous unto unbelievers and ingage them in the worst kind of Rebellion he could imagine by worshipping Bread and Wine instead of their Saviour and all this upon the least occasions and shallowest reasons SECT XIII Other Instances of it BUT besides these plain confessions of that Church against it self there are many other things which I shall but just name wherein we have the testimony of several of their own learned Men ready to be produced for our and against their belief proving clearly that the present is not the old Religion of that Church but that they have brought into it many Innovations by adding to the Canonical Books of Scripture by making their vulgar Latine Translation of the Bible about which they themselves cannot agree authentical by forbidding the People to read the holy Scriptures in their own Language and by denying them the publick Prayers in a Language they understand by giving the Pope not only a new Title of Universal Bishop but an authority and jurisdiction which was never heard of for many Ages by increasing the number of Sacraments and altering their nature by taking away the Cup from the People and turning the Sacrament of Christs body and bloud into a proper expiatory sacrifice by celebrating the Eucharist without any body to communicate by setting up Images in Churches and ordaining Religious Worship to be given to them by invocating Saints and Angels as was said before and by the Doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgences and many other together with a vast number of strange ceremonies in the making holy water consecrating bells c. For which no antiquity can be pretended The woful effect of which is this if we may speak the plain Truth that by pressing upon Mens belief a great deal too much and placing great vertue in trifles they have tempted Men to believe nothing at all As is apparent from hence that where and when as an excellent Writer of our own speaks this Religion hath most absolutely commanded there and then Atheism or Infidelity hath most abounded And how should it do otherwise when as he observes so many lying Legends have been obtruded upon Mens belief and so many false Miracles forged to justifie them as are very likely to make suspicious Men question the truth of all And so many weak and frivolous ceremonies devised and such abundance of ridiculous observances in Religion introduced as are no less apt to beget a secret contempt and scorn of it in witty Men and consequently Atheism and Impiety if they have this perswasion setled in their mind which is indeavoured to be rooted in them from their childhood that if they be not of that Religion they were as good be of none at all And when a great part also of the Doctrines now mentioned so apparently make for the temporal ends of those who teach them that sagacious Men can scarce forbear thinking they were on purpose devised to serve those designs That particular doctrine also of Transubstantiation being so portentous that joyned with the forenamed perswasion of No Papists no Christians it hath in all probability brought more than Averroes to this resolution since Christians eat that which they adore let my Soul be among the Philosophers And lastly the pretence which is so common that there is no ground to believe the Scriptures but their Churches infallibility and yet no ground to believe their Churches infallibility but some Texts of Scripture being too plain a way to lead those who discern the labyrinth wherein they are to believe neither Church nor Scripture SECT XIV Whereby they have spoil'd Christianity as the Pagans did the Natural Religion THESE things which have been already urged by the Writers of our Church for the conviction of those who are capable of it I repeat here again because they seem to me very powerful for the preservation of those who are not already tainted or too far gone in that delusion Which is so great that to summ up all belonging to this Head we may safely say Popery is just such a depravation of the true Christian Religion as Paganism was of the Natural Religion There cannot be a righter conception of it than this which appears too plainly in the absurd doctrines and opinions which they have mingled with the Christian Faith in their multiplied superstitions in their fabulous relations of the Saints wherein they have surpassed the very Poets themselves and to pass by the rest in their prostrating themselves before Images and giving religious worship to Men departed Which last instance furnished the Pagans of Cochin with this answer to the Jesuits as Christoph Borrus one of that Order relates when they pressed upon them the belief of one God and no more We do believe it said they but those whom you see us worship in their Images were Men of great Sanctity whom pious People therefore worship according to their merit just as you give to the Apostles and Martyrs and Confessors divers degrees of honour and religious service as you know them to have excelled in vertue
which are plainly and perspicuously enough set down in the Scriptures without the help and assistance of the Churches infallible authority which the Scriptures cannot be supposed to teach but by places far more doubtful SECT XXII It is our Wisdom therefore to adhere to the Scriptures TO this Rule then let us stick keeping those words of our Saviour always in mind iii. Joh. 21 22. He that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Let that be his Guide who would not go astray in dangerous Paths into which he cannot fall who keeps close to the directions of the Holy Books wherein all necessary Truth being set down as the most ancient and best Doctors unanimously agree we are certain every way by believing them to believe all necessary Truth and if our lives be accordingly without which they tell us our belief will be vain it is impossible we should fail of everlasting Salvation To these alone as St. Austin speaks for himself in his Book of Nature and Grace we owe an absolute consent without refusing any thing they propound to us Whatsoever it be as his words are in his CXII Epistle that is confirmed by the perspicuous authority of the divine Scriptures those viz. which are canonical in the Church it must be believed without any doubting But as for any other witnesses or testimonies to which thou art perswaded to give credit thou mayest believe them or not believe them according as thou perceivest them to deserve or not deserve to be relied on A great reverence is due to the Church and its testimony though less to the present Church of Rome than others because it hath so grosly abused the World by false records and forged Miracles and such like things yet only as to an humane Testimony which cannot equal that of the Holy Scriptures SECT XXIII Which have more manifest notes of certainty than the Church FOR if we take their own way and method to assure our minds that we follow an infallible Guide there is no note which they give of the true Church which they say ought to be our Guide but pleads far more strongly for the Holy Scriptures that we should rather follow them and give an undoubted credit to them I shall not run over all those Notes nor examine the certainty of them but only briefly name some of them and show that if they prove any thing it is the Authority of the Scriptures above the Church First they say the very name of the Catholick Church is venerable and ought to be regarded But as that Name is not proper to them alone so if there be any power in Names to make us respect any thing what more awful than the Name of the Word of God and the Sacred Scriptures which were always given to these Books to which we advise all Christians to adhere The next Note which is Antiquity is on the side of the Scriptures also which more justly claim to be ancienter than all other Books which pretend to any Divinity than the Catholick Church can claim to be ancienter than all other Societies which call themselves by the Name of a Church Nay the Doctrine contained therein must be supposed as I have shown to be before the Church which is made by belief and profession of that Doctrine and the Old Testament certainly written long before the Church was made Catholick As for unity in that the Church is not comparable to the Scriptures whose agreement and consent of parts is admirable And if we speak of the surest bond of true Catholick Vnity it is as manifest as the Sun that the Holy Scriptures lay the foundation of it and preserve us in it if we adhere to them by keeping us close to one Lord one Faith one Baptism but the Church of Rome which hath usurped the Name of Catholick makes this blessed Unity impossible For there being but two ways to it either that we all agree in our Opinions about Religion or that while we differ it be no hinderance to Communion they have made the latter as impossible as the former because they make it absolutely necessary to communion and salvation to believe in every thing as they do The like might be said of Holiness and efficacy of Doctrine which depends upon the Churches speaking according to the Scriptures sanctity of the authors of our Religion which cannot be known but out of the Scriptures the glory of Miracles the light of Prophecy and all the rest but I shall only touch upon one more the Amplitude and Universality of the Church in which they make their boast But herein the Scriptures most evidently excel their Authority being there sacred where the Church of Rome whose Notes these are is not known or not regarded For all Christians in the World of whatsoever Sect they be believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God whereas they alone say that they are the only true Church of God All Christians besides who know any thing of this pretence of theirs absolutely deny it and maintain the Divinity and Authority of the Scriptures against all their Cavils SECT XXIV The great incouragement we have to do so BY following the Scriptures then we follow the surest Guide by their own confession For first by following the Scriptures we are certainly led by God but by following the Church we are only led by Men. And consequently the Faith we build upon the Scriptures is a Divine Faith but the Faith we build upon the authority of the Church meerly can be no more than humane For the Scriptures are fully and amply proved to be of Divine Authority by all those Arguments which are alledged in the Third Book of this Work the like to which cannot be produced to prove the infallible authority of the Church Which cannot so much as pretend that God hath bid us believe it but by sending us to the Holy Scriptures from whence it derives all its Authority Which is the second thing to be considered and here I will take the liberty to transcribe part of the discourse of a great Man on this Subject with some Additions that by following the Scriptures we follow that which they themselves are forced to follow as was noted before and on which they intirely depend for the proof of their own authority on which they would have us intirely depend Who have reason rather to rely on that which they rely and in so doing tacitely confess the Scriptures are of greatest authority and that they are surer of their Truth than of the Churches Infallibility And Thirdly by following the Scriptures we follow that which must be true if their Church which they would have us follow have any truth in it for their Church cannot but give attestation to them whereas if we follow their Church we must follow that which
lived in those times and was present when the things were done In like manner it ought to suffice us that whosoever wrote the Books we speak of both lived in the primitive Age and were endued with Apostolical gifts For if any body will say that these qualities might be feigned as the very Names might be in other Writings he says that which is not credible viz. that they who every where press the study of truth and piety would for no cause at all make themselves guilty of the crime of forgery which is not only detestable among all good Men but by the Roman Laws was to be punished with death SECT V. These Pen-men writ the Truth because they had certain knowledge of what they writ THIS therefore must be allowed that the Books of the new covenant were written by those Authors whose Names they bear or by such as bear sufficient witness of themselves To which if we farther add that they were also well acquainted with the matters whereof they wrote and had no purpose to lye or dissemble it will follow that the things which they committed to writing were both certain and true because every untruth proceeds either from ignorance or from a wicked desire to deceive As touching Matthew John Peter and Jude they were all of the society and fellowship of those Twelve whom Jesus did chuse to be witnesses of his Life and Doctrine so that they could not want notice of those things which they did relate The same may be said of James who was either an Apostle or as some think the next a-kin to Jesus and by the Apostles consecrated Bishop of Hierusalem Paul also could not erre through lack of knowledge about those Points which he professeth were revealed to him by Jesus himself reigning in Heaven nor could he or Luke either who was an inseparable companion to him in his travels be deceived about those things which were done by himself This Luke might easily know the certainty of those things which he writ concerning the life and death of Jesus For he was born in the places next adjoyning to Palestina through which Countrey when he travelled he saith he spake with such persons as were eye-witnesses of the things that were done For doubtless besides the Apostles with whom he had familiarity there lived many others at that time who had been cured by Jesus and had seen him both before his Death and after his Resurrection If we will give credit to Tacitus and Suetonius in those things which happened a long time before they were born because we are confident that they diligently enquired into the truth thereof how much more ought we to believe this Writer who saith that he received all the things which he relates from them that had seen the same It is credibly reported of Mark that he was a constant companion with Peter so that whatsoever he writ are to be lookt upon as dictated by Peter who could not be ignorant thereof Besides the same things that he writes are almost all extant in the Writings of the Apostles Neither could the Author of the Apocalypse be deceived or deluded in those Visions which he saith were sent unto him from Heaven Nor he that writ the Epistle to the Hebrews erre in those things which he professeth either to be inspired into him by the Spirit of God or else taught him by the Apostles SECT VI. As also because they would not lye THE other reason we spake of to prove the truth of the said Holy Writers because they had no will to tell an untruth is twisted with that which we handled above when in general we proved the truth of Christian Religion and of the history of the Resurrection of Christ Those that will accuse any Witnesses for the pravity of their will must produce something by which it may be thought credible their will might be diverted from uttering the truth but this cannot be averred of the said Authors For if any do object and say that they acted in their own cause and did their own business we must see why this should be thought their cause and interest Not that they might get any thing by it in this World or thereby avoid any danger when for the sake of this profession they both lost all the goods of this World and ventured upon all manner of dangers This therefore was not their cause and interest but only out of reverence to God which sure doth not perswade Men to lye especially in such a business whereupon depends the everlasting Salvation of Mankind Such an impious piece of villany we cannot believe they could be guilty of if we consider either their Doctrines every where most full of piety or their life which was never yet accused of any wicked deed no not by their greatest Enemies who objected nothing to them but their want of learning and unskilfulness which did not qualifie them sure for inventing falshoods And indeed if there had been the least spice as we speak of fraud and cheating in them they would not themselves have recorded their own faults and preserved the memory of them as of their all forsaking their Master when he was in danger and Peter's denial of him three times SECT VII A Confirmation of the Fidelity of these Authors from the Miracles which they wrought ON the other side God himself gave illustrious testimonies of their Fidelity by working wonders which either they or their Disciples with great boldness publickly avouched adding also the names of the persons places and other circumstances So that the truth or falshood of their assertion might easily have been discovered by the inquisition of the Magistrate Amongst which it is worthy our observation which they have most constantly delivered both concerning the use of Tongues which they had never learned among many thousand Men and their curing the diseases of the body upon a suddain in the sight of the People Neither were they any whit dismayed with fear either of the Jewish Magistrates of those times whom they knew to be most maliciously set against them or of the Romans who were far from having any good will to them and they were sure would lay hold on any thing on which they might ground a charge of their being inventors of a new Religion And yet neither Jews nor Pagans in the times immediately following durst ever deny that wonders were wrought by those Men. Yea the Miracles of Peter are mentioned by Phlegon in his Annals who lived under Adrian the Emperor Moreover the Christians themselves in those Books that contain a reason of their faith which they exhibited to the Emperors to the Senate and to the Governors do relate these things as most manifest and unquestionable truths yea they openly report that there continued a wonderful vertue of working strange effects at their Sepulchers for some Ages after their Death which if it had been false they knew that to their shame and punishment the Magistrates could have confuted