to consider then that the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh did more powerfully and effectually take away Sin than any other way or means of Salvation could have done I. The Doctrine and Preaching of the Son of God had more Power and Authority with it than the Preaching and Doctrine of a Man or Angel could have had God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Hebr. i. 1 2. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience receiv'd a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him Heb. ii 1 2 3. This being the last Message which God had resolv'd to send to Mankind a Person of the greatest Dignity and Authority was to bring it But last of all he sent unto them his Son saying they will reverence my Son Matt. xxi 37. It is the last expedient and the very utmost that could be done to reduce Sinners to Obedience and if this will have no effect upon them they must be lest without all excuse This is the heaviest aggravation of Sin and that which renders Men utterly inexcusable he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not He came unto his own and his own received him not Joh. i. 10 11. If the only begotten Son of God had not come and manifested himself in so wonderful a manner to the World something of a Plea might have been pretended but to reject the Son of God was an evident despight done to the Father and even hating of the Father who had sent him as our Saviour declares Joh. xv 22 23 24. And the Blaspheming of the Holy Ghost in those who vilified the Miracles of Christ and ascribed them to Beelzebub was therefore without forgiveness because it was a rejecting of Christ not as the Son of Man but as God blessed for-ever and a despising and vilifying that which is the last means that can be used to reclaim the World and that means whereby he manifested himself to be the Son of God To reject Christ was to reject the whole Trinity which was jointly concern'd in this wonderful dispensation The Dignity of Christ's Person adds all the force and efficacy to his Doctrine that is possible and therefore it was requisite that the Son of God should become incarnate God had before spoken from Heaven but that was too terrible and full of Majesty to be born by Mortals and they that heard the voice entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more for they could not endure that which was Commanded and so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. xii 19 20 21. But now God was pleas'd to converse with Man in a more familiar and humble manner and our Blessed Saviour came to live amongst Men with all the gentleness and meekness of the Humane Nature and all the Authority of the Divine For in him dwelleth all the Fullness of the Godhead Bodily Colos ii 9. The Godhead dwelt here in him under our Humane Nature laying aside that awful Majesty which no Man can approach unto II. We have a greater Example of all perfection and Holiness set before us by the Son of God Incarnate than we could otherwise have had It has been the general complaint made of other Teachers and Lawgivers that they seldom observe their own Rules or live themselves according to what they require of others But our Saviour has given us an Example if it be possible even beyond his own Doctrine For tho' he be no rigorous Lawgiver but a most indulgent and gracious Master to us yet he was pleas'd to excuse himself from no Duty or Instance of Obedience but fulfilled both the Moral and the Ceremonial Law there is nothing so mean nor so difficult and painful but he perform'd it to set us an absolute Pattern of Obedience to the Whole Duty of Man in all that ever God requir'd of Mankind It became him to fulfill all Righteousness this was the end and intention of his coming into the World and he fulfilled it in the most absolute and perfect manner in all particulars And to give such an Example is of unspeakable use and benefit for Men are more easily led by Example than by Precept and it is commonly observ'd that it is Example for the most part which governs the World Men will follow the Vices of those whose Vertues they never imitate and the Faults of Wise and Great Men have too sure and too fatal an effect upon such as their Excellencies never reach It was necessary that an Example of absolute perfection should be given to the World and this Example must be given by one of the same nature with our selves or else it might have been an Example for Angels and Spirits but not for Men and therefore such an Example the Son of God Incarnate only could give because it was impossible for any created Being under all the Infirmities and Temptations incident to Humane Nature to live up to such a Divine Height and Excellency of all perfection as our Saviour did and to leave such an Example to the World He came not to teach us the wisdom of this World how to get Riches and Honours in this Mankind was well enough instructed before and it could not but be unworthy of the Son of God to be Born into the World with a design to enjoy the pleasures and the profits and the honours of it this was beneath the Majesty of Heaven and the Insinite Perfection and Essential Bliss and Happiness of the Divine Nature But to manifest himself to shew the mean and worthless Vanity of those things of which Men are so fond to give an Example of Contentment in a low Condition of Victory under Temptations and of Patience and Meekness under the severest Afflictions and Torments to discover to Men the way to Happiness in the worst Circumstances of this World to teach those who enjoy this World's goods not to be proud of them nor despise others and those who want them to be contented and happy without them to lead Men in the way to happiness thro' all Conditions thro' all the Miseries and Calamities which must befall many of us in this Mortal State this is a Glorious and Godlike Design it is such as none but the Son of God could perform and such as we may in reason believe he would undertake and for which he might vouchsafe to live a Humane Life upon Earth III. The
that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all Flesh come Ps lxv 2. And all Flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob Isa xlix 26. All Flesh shall come to worship before me saith the Lord Isa lxvi 23. And all Flesh shall see the Salvation of God Luke iii. 6. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh Acts ii 17. Joel ii 28. By the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified Galat. ii 16. And we say in our own Language any Body thinks or any Body understands tho' we all know it is the Soul and not the Body which thinks and understands It is very usual in other Books and very agreeable to the stile of Scripture and to the common speech and sense of Men for those Actions of a Person to be attributed to one of the united Natures which could be perform'd only in the other And the Union between the Godhead and the Manhood being like that which is between the Soul and the Body the Son of God is said to have Suffered and the Son of Man to have come down from Heaven not that the Godhead Suffered or that the Humane Nature of Christ was in Heaven before his Incarnation but according to the usual stile of Scripture the Union between the Divine and Humane Natures entitles the Person consisting of them both under the denomination of either Nature to that which was done in the other tho' as the Humane Nature did not partake of the perfections of the Divine so neither did the Divine Nature partake of the sufferings of the Humane But both Natures being personally united the person is sometimes denoted by one and sometimes by the other Nature All the Objections against the Incarnation of the Son of God proceed upon the like mistake with theirs who are apt to imagine that it is unworthy of God to be every where and in all places to behold and be present at the worst of Actions as if the Sun's brightness would not be the more resplendent and glorious if it could penetrate into the obscurest corners and recesses of the Earth or as if his Rays could be sullied and defiled by the foulness of any Object which they shine upon And if it be no diminution to God's Infinite Glory and Majesty to be Omnipresent it can be none to be more nearly and even Personally united to some part of the Creation and therefore it cannot be unworthy of God to be so united to the Humane Nature to manifest his love and favour and extend his goodness to Mankind As God is every where present so he is in a more especial manner present in some places than in others by the acts of his Power or of his Grace and Favour and he has vouchsafed a more especial presence to some Persons than to others and thus he was present with his Prophets who were sent to prepare for and foretell Christ's coming But he was personally united to the Humane Nature of Christ And this is the highest Honour and Advancement to our Nature for God thus to assume it but it can be no diminution to the Divine Majesty because God continues as he was from all Eternity without any alteration only by his personal Presence and Union with our Humane Nature he causes all the performances and sufferings of it to be meritorious for the Salvation of Mankind The Son of God did not so come down from Heaven as to be no longer there but to forsake his Father's Kingdom He still continued in Heaven in the same Bliss and Glory that he enjoy'd with his Father from all Eternity tho' he so manifested himself to the World as to come and abide in it by assuming our Humane Nature Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Joh. iii. 13. No Man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven He who fills Heaven and Earth with his presence was still in Heaven as much as ever with respect to his Godhead tho' he made a more peculiar residence than he had before done on Earth by dwelling in our Nature here The Son of God who is at all times every where present is yet in a peculiar manner present where ever he is pleas'd to manifest himself by peculiar acts of his goodness and power as he was pleas'd to do in a most stupendous manner in that Flesh which he took upon him of the Blessed Virgin And it cannot be thought inconsistent with the Majesty of God to actuate the Humane Nature and to be joyned in the most strict and vital union with it supposing God only to act upon it and not to be acted upon by it nor to suffer the miseries and feel the pains which the Humane Nature endures which would be Blasphemy to assert of the Divine Nature of Christ but to be in Heaven still in his sull Power and Majesty But some Man will say how is this Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ made or wherein doth it consist To whom we may reply as our Saviour sometimes did to the Scribes and Pharisees by asking another Question and enquiring how the Body and Soul in Man are united or how God is present in all places and how in him we live and move and have our Being And if no Man can tell how these things are tho' no Man can deny the truth and reality of them then it is not to be expected that we should be able to tell how the union between the Divine and the Humane Nature in Christ is made or in what it consists We must acknowledge it a Mystery which it is above any Man's capacity to explain but that there is such an union we learn from the Scriptures and thither we appeal for the truth of it And the putting such Questions argues either a great mind to cavil or great inconsideration and shortness of thought For what Man is there pretending to Reason and Argument of so little observation as not to take notice that of all the things which we daily see and perceive to be in the World the nature and manner of existence of very few or rather of none of them is fully understood by us It is sufficient for us to know that great Reasons may be given for this dispensation of the Son of God Incarnate and that no Material Objection can be framed against it Secondly No other way as far as we can apprehend could have been so proper and expedient as the Incarnation of the Son of God to procure the Salvation of Mankind and therefore none could so well become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness The proof of this must depend upon the Reasons for Christ's coming into the World and they are all comprehended in this one thing the abolishing or taking away of Sin And ye know that he was manifested to take away our Sins and in him is no Sin 1 Joh. iii. 5. We are
Mediation and Intercession of Christ for us is of greater power and efficacy than any could have been if the Son of God had not become Man to die for our sakes There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. ii 5. he was to be Man as well as God that coming with Divine Power and Authority and yet with the Affability and Accessibleness of a Man he might in all respects be fully qualified to perform the Office of a Mediator between God and Man If he had not been God he could not have come with absolute Authority to offer us Terms of Reconciliation and unless he had been Men he could not have treated with Men in so familiar and condescending a way upon these terms And the Right and Authority of Christ's Mediation and Intercession in behalf of Sinners is founded upon his merits and satisfaction for the Sins of Men and this supposes him to be both God and Man Man that he might Suffer and Die for us and God that his Divine Nature might give an infinite value to his Death and Sufferings and render them satisfactory for the Sins of the World Tho' it should be supposed which can never be proved that God in his Mercy might have pardoned Sinners without the satisfaction of Christ yet if in mercy he might have forgiven he might in justice have punish'd them unless satisfaction had been made and nothing could have made satisfaction to his Justice but the Sufferings of his Son The Obedience and Sufferings of no Created Being could have been of that value as to make satisfaction for the Sins of Mankind and therefore no Creature could have Redeemed Man or have become Mediator for him upon the terms of his own merits in Man's behalf so as to plead the price of Redemption laid down for him God may grant the Requests of Angels and Men out of his free Mercy and Bounty but there can be no necessary force and efficacy in Intercessions where there is no precedent merit and satisfaction on the part of the Intercessor But Christ pleads his merits on our account and mediates our Cause with his Father upon the terms of strict Justice and by vertue of the Ransom of his own Blood and is so powerful an Intercessor for us that not only the Mercy and Goodness but even the Justice of God cannot deny his Intercession It was the free grace of God to send his Son to Suffer in our stead but since he was pleas'd to admit of this Commutation of the Punishment which we had deserv'd and to tranferr it upon his own Son his Death was a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World which the death of no Creature could have been and therefore no Created Being could have become our Mediator by vertue of his own Merit and have satisfy'd the utmost Justice of God much less could any Creature have merited the assistance of Grace and the Rewards of Glory for us IV. The Incarnation of the Son of God is the most effectual means to excite in us Faith and Hope and Charity and unfeigned Love of God and of our Neighbour the love of Vertue and the hatred of Sin and to dispose and engage us to all Vertue and Piety The Son of God assuming our Nature gives us the greatest assurance of his compassion for our Infirmities and his desire of our Happiness God is infinitely merciful in his own Divine Nature but he never could give such an instance of his mercy and love towards ours as by taking it upon himself God is essential Truth and Holiness and yet willing more abundantly to shew to the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel he confirm'd it with an Oath and in like manner in the present Case God being willing to give us all the grounds for Faith and Confidence in him that can be imagined took our Nature upon him that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to deceive we might have a strong Consolation both from the goodness of the Divine Nature and from the tenderness and compassions of our own For we have not an High-Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities and therefore are exhorted in this confidence to come boldly unto the Throne of Grace Heb. iv 15 16. vi 17 18. We are assured that he has the greatest concern for that Nature which he has taken into a personal Union with himself and continually presents before his Father in Heaven for us And we are likewise assured of the Father's love towards us For now we know that he loves us seeing he has not withheld his Son his only Son from us but sent him into the World to die for our Salvation He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us Rom. viii 32 33 34. And as the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh is peculiarly adapted and design'd to raise our Faith and Hope and Trust and Confidence and Dependance upon God so it is above all the most prevailing motive to engage our Love The infinite Love of Christ in dying for us must needs require and even extort from us all possible returns of Love and Praise and Adoration (y) Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 7. St. Chrysostome gives this as one Reason why the Son of God was Incarnate to become the Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind because if it had been possible for a Creature to undertake and effect our Redemption Men would never have thought they could have had esteem enough for him or have made due expressions of their gratitude unless they had Deified him and committed Idolatry in Worshipping him and paying him all Divine Honours and to prevent this in Moses who was but a Temporal Deliverer and but a Type of Christ his Sepulchre was conceal'd from the Israelites So dear is the memory of great and generous Benefactors wont to be that Men are apt to think they never can be sufficiently grateful to them unless they even adore and worship them which was one chief occasion of Idolatry among the Heathens therefore the Redemption of the whole World was a thing that could belong only to the Son of God to whom all Love and Reverence all Worship and Adoration is due And this being the great Aim and Design of the Christian Religion to bring us to obey God upon Principles of Love the Foundation of it is laid in the Love of God towards us Nothing can be conceiv'd which could have so powerfully prevail'd upon Men to love God as the Incarnation of his Son
and of seducing and Apostate Spirits without any sufficient Means afforded them to undeceive and rescue themselves Can we suppose that God of Infinite Majesty and Power and who is a Jealous God and will not give his Honour to another should suffer the World to be guilty of Idolatry to make themselves Gods of Wood and Stone Nay to offer their Sons and their Daughters unto Devils and to commit all manner of Wickedness in the Worship of their False Gods and make Murther and Adultery and the worst of Vices not only their Practice but their Religion Can we imagine that the True God would behold all this for so many Ages among so many People and yet not concern himself to put a stop to so much Wickedness and to vindicate his own Honour and restore the Sense and Practice of Vertue upon Earth I shall in due place prove at large That Mankind have in all Ages had the greatest necessity for a Revelation to direct and reform them and That the Philosophers themselves taught abominably wicked Doctrines who yet were the best Teachers and Instructors of the Heathen World And we have no true Notion of God if we do not believe him to be a God of Infinite Power and Knowledge and Holiness and Mercy and Truth and yet we may as well believe there is no God at all as imagine that the God of Infinite Knowledge should take no notice of what is done here below that Infinite Power should suffer it self to be affronted and despised without requiring any Satisfaction that Infinite Holiness should behold the whole World lie in Wickedness and find out no way to remedy it and that Superstition and Idolatry and all the Tyranny of Sin and Satan for so long a time should enslave and torment the Bodies and Souls of Men and there should be no Compassion in Infinite Mercy nor any Care over an erroneous and deluded World in the God of Truth Would a wise and good Father see his Children run on in all manner of Folly and Extravagancy and take no care to reclaim them nor give them any Advice but leave them wholly to themselves to pursue their own Ruine And if this be unworthy to suppose of Natural Parents how much more unreasonable is it to imagine this of God himself whom we cannot but represent to our selves with all the Compassions of the tenderest Father or Mother without the Weakness and Infirmities that accompany them in Humane Parents How unreasonable is it to entertain such a Thought of Almighty God infinite in Goodness and Mercy as to suspect that he would suffer Mankind to make themselves as miserable as they can both in this World and the next without putting a Stop to so fatal a Course of Sin and Misery or interposing any thing for their Direction to shew them the Way to escape Destruction and to obtain Happiness The Fall of our First Parents is known to us only by Revelation and therefore is not to be taken into Consideration when we argue upon the meer Principles of Reason But I consider Mankind as we find it in Fact setting aside the Advantages of Revelation Wicked and abandoned to Wickedness in the Snares of the Devil taken captive by him at his will unable to work out their own Salvation lost and undone without Power or Strength without any Help or Remedy And in this State of the World however it came to pass is there no Reason to believe that infinite Goodness should take some Course and not disregard all Mankind lying in this Condition The great Argument of the Scoffers of the last Days St. Peter tells us would be this That all things go on in their constant Course and that God doth not meddle or concern himself with them Where is the Promise of his Coming For since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the Creation 2 Pet. iii. 4. And if no Promise had ever been made they would have had some Reason in their Arguing For that which rendred the Heathen without Excuse was That they did not make use of the Natural Knowledge that they had of God to lead them to the Knowledge of his Revealed Will which they had frequent Opportunity of becoming acquainted withal and had many Memorials of it amongst them in every Nation but they did not like to retain God in their Knowledge And this is the Force of St. Paul's Argument Act. xvii Rom. i. unless this latter Chapter were to be understood as Dr. Hammond interprets it of the Gnostick Hereticks That the Gentiles ought not to pervert and stifle those Natural Notions which God had implanted in their Minds but from the Law of Nature to proceed to find out the Written Law and for this Reason the Bounds of the Habitation of other Nations were determin'd and appointed by God according to the Number of the Children of Israel that they might seek the Lord and might be able to find and discover the True Religion and Way of Worship among that People to whom he had reveal'd himself Deut. xxxii 8. Act. xvii 26 27. They might have been less vicious than they were without the Knowledge of a Revelation and therein they were inexcusable that though they could not free themselves from the Power of Sin yet they might not have given themselves so wholly up to it as to become excluded from the Grace and Salvation to be obtained by the Revealed Will of God And when God has revealed himself all who will not use the Means and by a due Improvement of their Reason endeavour from Natural Religion to arrive at Revealed become inexcusable for their Negligence and Contempt of God and the Abuse of those Talents and Endowments which God has bestowed upon them For when God has once given Men warning and directed them in the way of Salvation and they will not regard it they must be wilfully ignorant if they will not consider that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day and it is Argument of his Patience and Long-suffering that he doth not bring speedy Vengeance upon a disobedient and rebellious World The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night Now this is very well consistent and exceedingly agreeable with all the Divine Perfections that he should give Men Warning of the Evil and Danger of Sin and afterwards leave them to their own Choice whether they will be Righteous and Happy or Wicked and Miserable and then that he should not take the first Opportunity to punish them nor lay hold of any Advantage against them but give them time for second Thoughts and space for Consideration and Repentance but if they abuse so much Patience and Loving-kindness that he should at last come
recourse to the History of the Bible since it is acknowledged by all learned Men to be so much the ancientest Book which can give us an Account of Religion in the World For unless we will reject all History and believe nothing related of Ancient Times we must take our Accounts from such Books as treat of them And till by the Method proposed I have proved the Bible to be of Divine Authority I shall alledge it only as an Historical Relation of Things past in which respect it would be unreasonable to deny it that credit which is allowed to other Books of that nature And this is all that is now desired in order to the clearing of what I am at present upon which is to shew That nothing requisite to a true Revelation is wanting to the Scriptures and therefore that they have been sufficiently promulged and made known to the World In the Beginning of the World God was pleased to create but one Man and one Woman and to People the Earth from them which must exceedingly tend both to the preservation of Order and Obedience amongst Men and to the retaining of the Knowledge of God and of his Ways and Dealings with the first Parents of Mankind But if Multitudes had been created and the Earth had been peopled at once the natural effect of this had been Ambition and Strife Confusion and Ignorance For as the Inhabitants of the World multiplied so did all Sin and Wickedness encrease though all descended from the same Parents and these Parents lived to see many Generations of their Off-spring and to instruct and admonish them which if any thing could have done it must have kept up a sense of God and Religion amongst Men. Adam himself performed the Office of a Father a Priest and a King to his Children and the Office and Authority of these three descended upon the Heads of Families in the several Generations and Successions of Kingdoms amongst his Posterity For that the same Person was both King and Priest in the earlier Ages of the World we learn from the best Antiquities of other Nations and it was so likewise amongst the Jews till God had appointed an Order and Succession of the Priesthood in one Tribe and therefore Esau is stiled a profane Person for selling his Birth-right Omnesque primogenitos Noe donec sacerdotio fungeretur Aaron fuisse Pontifices Hebraei tradunt Hieronym Quaestion seu Tradit Hebraic in Genes because the Priesthood went along with it Heb. xii 16. By all the Accounts we have of the World before the Flood we are assured that God was pleased at first to afford frequent Communications of himself to Mankind and even to the Wicked as to Cain whose Punishment it afterwards was to be hid from the face of the Lord and driven out from his presence Gen. iv 14 16. And when the Wickedness of Men had provoked God to drown the World he revealed this to Noah and respited the execution of this Judgment an Hundred Years and Noah in the mean time both by his Preaching and by preparing an Ark warned them of it and exhorted them to Repentance by preparing of an ark to the saving of his house he condemned the world Heb. xi 7. and he was a preacher of righteousness to the old world 2 Pet. ii 5. He made it his business for above an Hundred Years together to forewarn the wicked World of their approaching Ruine which he did by all the Ways and Means that a Wise and Great Man could contrive proper for that End Noah lived after the Flood Three hundred and fifty Years Gen. ix 28. and it was between One and Two hundred Years before the Division of Tongues and the Dispersion of the Sons of Noah And when all the Inhabitants of the Earth were of one Language and lived not far asunder Noah himself living amongst them the Judgment of God upon the wicked World in overwhelming them with the Flood his Mercies to Noah and his Family in their preservation when all the rest of the World perished and the Commandments which God gave to Noah at his coming out of the Ark with his Promises and Threatnings respectively to the performance or trangression of them must be well known and the sin in building the Tower of Babel for which the Universal Language was confounded and the Race of Mankind dispersed could proceed from nothing but the heigth of Presumption and Perverseness After the Confusion of Languages and the Dispersion of Mankind they could not on the sudden remove to very distant and remote Places by reason of the unpassable Woods and Desarts and Marshes which after so vast an Inundation must be every where to be met with to obstruct their passage in those hot and fruitful Countreys when they had lain uninhabited for so many Years This we may the better understand from the slow progress which was made in the Discoveries of the West-Indies For the Spaniards in those places where they found neither Guide nor Path did not enter the Country ten Miles (f) See Sir W. Rauleigh l. 1. c. 8. §. 3. in ten Years And in those Ages they could not but be ill provided either by their own Skill or by convenient Tools and Instruments with fit means to clear the Countrey which they were to pass and they were likewise unprovided of Vessels to transport any great numbers of Men with their Families and Herds of Cattle which were for many Ages their only Riches and absolutely necessary for their Sustenance for Navigation had never had so slow an Improvement in the World if it had so soon been in that Perfection as to enable them for such Transportation And as for these Reasons the Dispersion of Noah's Posterity over the Earth must be gradual and many Generations must pass before the remoter Parts of it could be inhabited so the several Plantations must be supposed to hold Correspondence with those to whom they were nearest allyed and from whom they went out they must be supposed to own some sort of Dependance upon them and pay them such Acknowledgments as Colonies have ever done to their Mother-Cities It is natural to suppose that they first spread themselves into the neighbouring Countries and as Sir Walter Rauleigh has observed the first Plantations were generally by the Banks of Rivers whereby they might hold Intelligence one with another which they could not do by Land that being overspread with Woods and altogether unfit for travelling And the great affinity which is observable between the Eastern Languages proves that there was a continual Correspondence and Commerce maintained between the several Nations after the Dispersion All which considering the great Age that Men lived in those times must without a very gross Neglect and Contempt of God preserve a true Notion of Religion in the several Parts of the World For Noah himself lived Three hundred and Fifty Years after the Flood his Sons were not soon dispersed their Dispersion was gradual and
till the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and in the Synagoges the Scriptures were read in the Greek Tongue which was the most universal Language then in the World Some have affirmed that as much of the Scriptures as was written in Solomon's time was then translated into the Syriac Tongue and there is little doubt (a) Clem. Alexand. Strom. l. 1. Euseb Praepar Evang. l. 13. c. 12. but that at least part of the Bible was translated into Greek before the time of Alexander the Great but the Version of the Septuagint was soon dispersed into all hands which was made at the Command of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus to whom likewise and his Father (b) Euse b Eccl. Hist l. 7. c. ult Aristobulus dedicated an Exposition of the Law of Moses By all these means vast multitudes of Proselytes were made to the Jewish Religion in all Parts of the World What numbers there were at Rome of this Religion we know from the Roman Poets and Historians and we have as good Evidence of the spreading of it in other Places Not to repeat what has been already related nor to mention particular Persons of the greatest Note and Eminency nor particular Cities as Damascus (c) Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 2. c. 25. where it more remarkably prevailed it is evident what numbers of Persons in all Nations professed this Religion from the incredible Treasures which Crassus found in the Temple of Jerusalem being Ten thousand Talents amassed there by the Summs of Gold sent from all Places by the Jews and such as became Proselytes to their Religion And for the Truth of this Josephus cites Strabo's Authority who says (c) Joseph Antiq. l. 14. c. 12. that the Jews were every where dispersed and every where gained Men over to their Religion and that in Alexandria they had their Ethnaychae or proper Magistrates by whom they were governed And another Proof of the multitudes of Proselytes made to the Jewish Religion may be had from the great numbers assembled (e) Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 7. c. 17. Act. ii 5. at their Passovers and at the Feast of Pentecost out of every Nation under Heaven Thus mightily prevailed the Religion of the Hebrews till the City and Temple by a Divine Vengeance as (f) Ibid. cap. 24. pag. 979. Josephus often confesses was destroyed and the Law it self with the Utensils of the Temple was carried among the Spoil in Titus's Triumph And when the Jewish Religion had its full Period and Accomplishment the Christian Religion which succeeded in the room of it and was prefigured by it soon spread it self into all corners of the Earth and is at this day preached among all Nations But before I proceed to consider the Propagation of the Christian Religion it may be requisite 1. To produce some Testimonies of the Heathens concerning the Jews and their Religion 2. To shew That there have been always remaining divers Memorials of the True Religion among the Heathen 3. To consider the Authority of the Sybilline Oracles I. As to the Testimony of Heathen Authors it were no more an Objection against what has been alledged though they had taken no notice of the History of the Jews than it can be supposed to be an Objection against the Truth of the Taking of Troy or the Building of Rome that the Scriptures make no mention of either of them The Greek Historians were so ignorant of Foreign Affairs as (g) Joseph contr Ap. l. 1. Josephus has observed that Ephorus one of the best of them thought Spain to be but one City and neither Herodotus nor Thucydides nor any Historian of their Times made any mention of the Romans The Roman Authors are but of a very late date in comparison and the Greeks besides their ignorance in Antiquity and in the Affairs of other Nations are known to have been a vain People who despised all besides themselves accounting them Barbarians and taking little notice of Rome it self before they fell under its Power Yet many of the Heathen Writers as Josephus shews have made famous mention of the Jews though others have given a wrong and malicious Account of them whom he proves to contradict one another and sometimes themselves Some again have omitted the mention of the Jews though they had never so much occasion for it of which he gives a remarkable Instance in one Hieronymus who though he were Governor of Syria and wrote a Book of the Successors of Alexander and lived at the same time with Hecataeus yet never vouchsafed to speak of the Jews of whom Hecataeus wrote a particular Book But the Works of him and of many other Greek Authors are now lost which were written concerning the Jews the Fragments whereof are still to be seen in Josephus Clem. Alexandrinus Eusebius and others Of those whose Works remain Herodotus relating the Victory of Pharoh Necho in the Battle at Megiddo calls Jerusalem Cadytis by a small variation as (h) Light Chorog on St. Mark c. 3. §. 6. Strab. l. 16. Diodor. Sic. l. 1. Plin. Nat. Hist l. 5. c. 14. Tacit. Hist l. 15. Dr. Lightfoot has observed for Kedosha that is the Holy City the usual denomination of that City Strabo mentions Moses and the ancient Jews with commendation Diodorus Siculus names Moses amongst the chief Law-givers of ancient Times Pliny says Jerusalem was the most famous City not only of Judaea but of the whole East Tacitus himself gives this testimony of the Jews That they worshipped the Supreme Eternal Immutable Being But above all Varro (i) S. Aug. Civit. Dei l. 4. c. 31. the learnedest of the Romans much approved their way of Worship as being free from that Idolatry which he could not but dislike in the Heathen Religion And it is generally agreed by all that the Religion of the Jews was received all over the World and as Seneca (k) Ibid. l. 6. c. 11. express'd it Victi victoribus leges dederunt II. There have been always remaining divers Memorials and Remembrances of the True Religion amongst the Heathen The Flood of Noah and the Ark (l) Joseph Antiquit. l. 1. c. 3. were generally taken notice of by Heathen Historians and the Flood of Deucalion was (m) Luciaâ—â— de Dea Syr. plainly transcribed from that of Noah Jove is a plain depravation of the word Jehovah and Diodorus Siculus said (n) Diod. Sic. l. 1. that Moses received his Laws from the God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is another variation from it And this proves the Antiquity of the Heathen Tradition concerning the True God since the Jews of latter times would not speak the name themselves much less communicate it to others Appollus Clarius being consulted to know who the God Jao was answered That he is the Supreme God of all as Macrobius (o) Macrob. Saturn l. 1. c. 18. informs us from Cornelius Labeo which both shews that the Heathen had knowledge of the God Jehovah and that
by the name of America or that the Torrid and Frigid Zones could be habitable No mystery in Religion can seem more incredible to any man than these things did appear even to Wise and Learned men and if they had not been found to be by Navigation they might have seem'd incredible still for ought we can tell tho now we wonder at the ignorance of former times that they should make any doubt of them and admire how they came to lye so long unknown for these things seem obvious when they are once discovered and it would be a disparagement to us if we could not make as great discoveries at home as those do who travel to the Indies And if we will but consider a little with our selves we shall find that we may be at least as much mistaken in our Philosophy about the things of another World as our Ancestors were for so many ages concerning so much of this and shall conceive it very possible that there may be a Heaven and a Hell tho we never spoke with any body that had been in either of those places and that there may be a Trinity and a Resurrection tho we were able to give no account of them For Nature it self exceeds our comprehension and therefore the Divine Essence and the Almighty Power of God must needs much more exceed it The motion of the Heavens and of the Winds and Seas the light of the Sun and Moon and Stars the conception and birth of all Creatures nay the growth of Corn and of the very Grass of the Field and all the most obvious and inconsiderable productions of Nature have so many wonderful difficulties in the explication of them that if we were not mightily inclined to flatter our selves I am afraid we should sooner turn Scepticks than be able to imagin that we can give any tolerable account of them For when all is done we know just enough of them to acknowledge and admire the infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God and to be led to a stedfast belief and assurance of what he has revealed of himself and of the World to come that the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World may be clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 How little is it that we know of this Earth where we live and which we dote so much upon For by the least calculation it is above three thousand and five hundred miles to the Center but the Art and Curiosity of Man has never reached according to Mr. Boyle's account after all his enquiries among Navigators and Miners (a) Excellency of Theology Sect. 4. above one mile or two at most downward and that not in above three or four places either into the Earth or into the Sea yet all Astronomers agree as he afterwards observes that the Earth is but a Physical point in comparison of the Starry Heaven Of how little extent then says he must our knowledge be which leaves us ignorant of so many things touching the vast bodies that are above us and penetrates so little a way even into the Earth that is beneath us that it seems confined to but a small share of the superficial part of a Physical Point And to shame the pride and vanity of Mankind the chiefest discoveries in Philosophy as he likewise observes have been the productions of Time and Chance not of any Wisdom or Sagacity Which is a remarkable acknowledgment in a person who has oblig'd the world with so many wonderful Improvements in experimental Philosophy The Circulation of the Blood has been but lately found out and was looked upon as absurd at its first discovery tho now what man can doubt of it And some of the most common effects of Nature might seem as strange as any if the frequency of them did not prevent our wonder Maimon More Nevoch pt 2. c. 18. If as Maimonides puts a case we suppose a man of never so good natural parts so brought up as to be ignorant of the manner how the several species of Animals are preserved and propagated in the world how many scruples might he raise to himself concerning their Conception and Formation Might he not object that it is impossible that the Infant should ever live and be nourished and grow in the Womb and would he not offer abundance of Demonstrations to prove that the Natural Birth of Mankind and of all other Creatures is utterly impossible Our Saviour in his discourse with Nicodemus answers his Doubts concerning the New Birth by putting him in mind that he was as little able to give an account of the Wind and that he could not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth implying that there is much less reason to doubt of things of a Spiritual nature because we are able to give no sufficient explication of them when we are thus at a loss about the most common and obvious things in the world Joh. 3.8 And S. Paul confutes all objections against the Resurrection by a like Argument alledging that as it would be intolerably absurd to deny or doubt of the growth of Corn because it cannot perfectly be explained so it is much more absurd to deny or doubt of the Resurrection for no better reason since supernatural things must be more obscure and harder to be understood by us than natural 1 Cor. 15.36 Indeed Infidelity could never be more inexcusable than in the present Age when so many discoveries have been made in Natural Philosophy which would have been thought as incredible to former Ages as any thing perhaps that can be imagined which is not a downright contradiction That Gravitating or Attractive Force by which all Bodies act one upon another at never so great a distance even through a Vacuum of prodigious extent lately demonstrated by Mr Newton the Earth together with the Planets and the Sun and Stars being placed at such distances and dispos'd of insuch order and in such a manner as to maintain a perpetual ballance and poise throughout the Universe is such a discovery as nothing less than a Demonstration could have gained it any Belief And this System of Nature being so lately discovered and so wonderful that no account can be given of it by any Hypothesis in Philosophy but it must be resolved into the sole Power and good Pleasure of Almighty God may be a caution against all Attempts of estimating the Divine Works and Dispensations by the Measures of Humane Reason The vastness of the World's extent is found to be so prodigious that it would exceed the Belief not only of the Vulgar but of the greatest Philosophers if undoubted experiments did not assure us of the Truth of it We are assured by men of the best art and skill in those things * See Mr Boyle of the high vencration Mans Intellect owes to God that every Fixt Star of the first magnitude is above an hundred
equivalent to the Distinction of Persons among Men. That there is this Unity and this Distinction we learn from the Scriptures but what kind of Distinction this is or how far it is to be reconciled with our Notion of Persons amongst Men and after what manner it is consistent with the Unity of the Godhead the Scriptures have not told us and it is impossible for us to determine II. Other things are and must be believed by us which are as little understood as this Doctrine Our Knowledge at the best concerning Finite Things is very imperfect which is so generally acknowledged by all Men of Wisdom and Experience that it is esteemed a great point of Wisdom for a Man to be truly sensible of his own ignorance and it is the Character which Solomon himself giveth of the Fool that he rageth and is confident Prov. xiv 16. But when we consider things Infinite we are much more at a loss That there must of necessity be something Eternal must be acknowledged by all who understand what is meant by the word even those that are so foolish as to say in their hearts there is no God yet must believe something else to be Eternal they must believe that there always was something because if ever there had been nothing there never could have been any thing For how could any thing have been produced by Nothing Out of Nothing it might but then there must have been something to produce it We can be certain therefore of Nothing if we are not sure of this that there is something Eternal the Atheist himself cannot deny it unless he be so stupid as not to know what it means And yet what apparent contradictions may he fancy to himself in the Notion of Eternity For what is Eternal can never be capable of either a shorter or a longer Duration than it always had so that Millions of Ages hence it will not have continued longer than it had done as many Million of Ages past And how strange and contradictory doth this seem to be that not only Three Ages and one Age should be the same but that there should be no difference between one Hour or Moment and never so many Ages in respect of Eternity And there is no avoiding this difficulty if a Man be of any Religion or no Religion let him but apprehend what is meant by Eternity and he must own both that there is such a thing and that he is utterly unable to explain it Here then is an unaswerable Difficulty in a thing which all the World must believe if they have it but so proposed to them as to be made understand what it is And there is no difficulty imaginable in the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity which can be pretended to be greater than that which is inseparable from this Notion which all must of necessity hold And if we do but observe it in Finite things which are usual and familiar to us and the Objects of our Senses every day we Believe what we very little understand or are capable of understanding Our Knowledge indeed is so very imperfect concerning the Nature of most things that I may almost venture to say that if we will but be contented for the present to believe what God has delivered concerning his own Nature we may hereafter know God himself as plainly as now we know many things here For now we see through a Glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known 1 Cor. xiii 12. If it be thought unreasonable however that such abstruse Mysteries should be made necessary to Salvation and that we should pronounce that whosoever will be saved must thus think of the Trinity and that all who do not thus think and believe shall without doubt perish everlastingly Let it be considered that in all Religions whether Natural or Revealed there must be something believed which is above all Humane Comprehension and which can be known no further than in order to be believed there can be no Faith without all Knowledge but Knowledge if it were compleat would exclude Faith which is the Evidence of things not seen Knowledge may be considered either as it is general and imperfect or as it is particular and adequate to the Nature of the thing known we must have a general Knowledge of whatever is the Object of Faith but if we had a particular and adequate knowledge of it there could remain nothing of it unknown to be the Object of Faith The difference between Science and Faith is not that we are less certain of the Objects of Faith than of the Objects of Science but that we know less of them For Certainty depends upon our general Knowledge as that God is true and therefore what he has revealed is as certain as if we saw it or could demonstrate it in every particular And this general Knowledge which is necessary in order to Faith is in Natural Religion attained to by Reason and in Revealed Religion from Revelation Thus we attain to such a general Knowledge of the Divine Nature by Rational Evidence as to be convinced that Infinite Power and Goodness and Truth and all manner of Infinite Perfections belong to it but we believe the Divine Perfections without any particular comprehensive Knowledge of them in like manner from Revelation we attain to this general Knowledge that the Divine Nature consists of Three Persons in One undivided Essence but we believe these Three Persons to be One God without any particular and comprehensive Knowledge of so great a Mystery for then it would no longer be a Mystery and Faith would be no more Faith I would therefore ask the Adversaries of this Doctrine whether the Belief of a God Omnipresent Eternal Almighty Omniscient Infinitely Holy Just and Merciful be not necessary to Salvation No rational Man can deny it I enquire further whether Insants and Ideots are obliged necessarily under pain of Damnation to this Belief They must certainly answer no because none can be obliged to Impossibilities I demand then again whether if one or more of these Attributes or the Agreement of them one with another be impossible to be understood with a general and imperfect Knowledge by any who are capable of knowing and believing the rest the ignorance of these Articles which are above their Understandings even as to this general and imperfect way of Knowledge can be destructive of their Salvation They must needs say it cannot because God can require nothing impossible of any Man And the very same Answers applied to the Cavils against the Athanasian Creed will be sufficient to Silence them That Creed contains such Truths as are necessary to be believed in order to Salvation but necessary to particular Persons so far only as they are capable of knowing them in order to believeing them He that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity but this supposes him capable of thinking
in part of what he related yet the People in a Rage and Tumult lift up their Voices and said Away with such a Fellow from the Earth for it is not fit that he should live they cried out and cast off their Clothes and threw dust into the Air Act. xxii 22.23 These are not the Actions of Reasonable Men no wonder therefore that they were not convinced by Reason 5. False Christs and false Prophets with their Signs and Wonders were then very frequent insomuch that if it had been possible they would have deceived the very Elect Matt. xxiv 24. And the Jews were much more enclined to give Credit to these who complied with their Lusts and Desires than to examine and consider the clearest Evidence which must oblige them to take up the Cross and follow a Crucified Saviour The Cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling Block and they would believe any thing rather than it 6. Upon these and such like Causes the Jews rejected their Messias and still continue in Unbelief whereby are fulfilled many Prophecies concerning this very thing and whilst they endeavour in vain to disprove all other Arguments their Infidelity and Obstinacy it self is an Argument against them the Prophets having foretold that they would thus reject their Messias as St. Paul proves Rom. ix 27. And it was no new or strange thing that the Jews should resist the Holy Ghost they always did it as St. Stephen tells them as your Fathers did so do ye Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted And they have slain them which shewed before of the Coming of the Just One of whom ye have been now the Betrayers and Murderers Act. vii 55 52. II. What great Numbers of the Heathen Nations in all parts of the World were converted to the Christian Religion is evident both from Christian and Heathen Authors of those Ages in which the Gospel was first Preached and considering the general Depravation both of the Manners and Principles of those Times it is no wonder that many should be contented with any Religion or with no Religion at all so that they might retain their Vices rather than attend to any Arguments which could be brought in proof of a Religion that must oblige them to abandon and Crucify all their Lusts and Sins and renounce their Ease and Safety to live in Disgrace and Misery and die in Torments However notwithstanding all these Discouragements there was no Rank nor Order of Men nor Sect of Philosophers but divers of the best and wisest of them were early Converts to the Christian Faith such as Dionyssius the Areopagite Justin Martyr Athenagoras Tertullian Arnobius and others And as nothing but the clear Evidence and Force of Truth could convert these so it is no unaccountable thing that others should stand out and oppose it For I. The Greeks sought after Wisdom they were only for high and Subtil Speculations and were so possest with their own Notions and a Conceit of themselves that they would give no Attention to a Company of ignorant Men who told them a plain Truth of one that had been Crucified and Rose again from the Dead Christ crucified was unto the Jews a Stumbling-Block and unto the Greeks Foolishness 1 Cor. i. 22. 23. And the several Tenets of Philosophy then in Vogue were a great obstruction to all such as thought themselves skilled in them to hinder them from becoming Christians and we find that some of them after their Conversion could not soon lay aside all their Philosophical Notions The Epicureans a confident and vain Sect would receive nothing that could be said to them of a Resurrection and another Life but with Scorn and Contempt And some said What will this Babler say And when they heard of the Resurrection of the Dead some mocked Acts xvii 18 32. The Platonists held a Revolution of all Things into their former State in some certain Term of Years and therefore they by their own Principles must look upon all only as a Consequence of such a Revolution and a Period of Time The Peripateticks were persuaded that the World is eternal and therefore laught at those who seemed to them to teach that it was now just at an end and declared that it had a Beginning not many Thousands of Years before The Stoicks who mightily improved the Moral Part of Philosophy by borrowing from the Christian Doctrin yet holding that all Things are under an inevitable Fate and Destiny had such a perpetual curb upon them as left them no Liberty to think of changing their Opinions one of which was that there is nothing Immaterial a plain Contradiction to the Fundamental Doctrins of the Christian Religion Besides there was a great deal of Pride in the very Composition of a Stoick It (t) Arrian Epict. lib. III. c. 22. appears from the Account which Arrian has given of Epictetus that neither the Jewish Law nor the Christian Religion was unknown to him for in the Discourses which he has preserved of Epictetus we find him sometimes using the same words with the Scriptures But it appears likewise from those Discourses that Epictetus was a great Admirer of Diogenes the Cynick and imitated him in his Pride and Haughtiness For magnifying himself as one sent by God to be an Example to the World and to prove that the high Sayings of the Stoicks are not vain Boasts but real and practicable Truths he at last thus concludes How do I converse says he with these Men whom you fear and admire Do not I treat them as Slaves Who when he sees me doth not think he sees his King and his Master There could be little hope that such a Man should be wrought upon by a Religion which enjoineth That in lowliness of mind eâ—ch esteem other better than themselves Phil. ii 3. (u) Prope est a te Deus tecum est intus est Ita dico Lucili sacer intra nos spiritus sedet bonorum malorumqâ— nostrorum observator custos c. Senec. Epist 41. Seneca in some places writes as if he had been transcribing the Scriptures but he is not always the same and he likewise discovers a strange Vanity and Conceit of himself and his own Writings For citing a Passage of Epicurus where he told his Friend That if he desired Glory his Letters should make him more famous than all those things which he esteemed or for which he was esteemed a Seneca assures Lucilius (x) Epist 21. That he could promise him as much as Epicurus had done his Friend For he should be Famous in future Times and could raise and perpetuate the Fame of whomsoever he pleased The Pythagoreans were a superstitious Sect and were apt to ascribe all to Magick and besides they had given themselves up by a blind Obedience to their Master's Dictates and therefore were to regard no Reasons nor Arguments against them In short the Philosopers were all exceedingly prepossest and prejudiced by some peculiar
Opinions of their own besides the general Prejudices which they lay under with the rest of the World And all Men of any Learning and Education studied the Books of the Philosophers and were commonly addicted to one Sect or other It must be confest that Vanity and the Praise of Men was the chief aim of many of the Philosophers as Tertullian and others of the Fathers object and therefore they were very unlikely to become Proselytes to a Religion which was looked upon in the World with such Disdain and Contempt Philosophy in general if we believe (y) Instit lib. I. c. 1. Quintilian was in his time by most used as an Artifice and Disguise to conceal the worst of Vices under a morose Look and a Habit different from that of other Men. And from such Philosophers as these we must expect that the Scriptures should be read with no manner of Candor or good and serious Intention (z) Contra Celf. lib. II. Origen gives Instances of the wilful Abuse of the Scriptures by some of his Time who cavilled at half Sentences without taking notice of the Coherence which they have of the rest And he complains that (a) Ib. lib. I. Celsus seemed never to have read the Scriptures though he pretended to a very exact Knowledge both of the Jewish and Christian Religion but understood little of either (b) Philip. Sidet apud Dodw. Append. ad Dissert in Irenae e. Cod. MS. Baroc Athenagoras who before him had read the Scriptures with more care and sincerity tho' with the same Design became converted and wrote in Defence of that Religion which he intended to oppose (c) Euseb contr Hier. Lactant. Institut lib. V. c. 2 3. De Mortib Persecut c. 16. Hierocles likewise had read the New Testament with a design to write against it but he who could believe the Miracles of Apollonius Tyaneus and prefer that notorious Impostor to our Blessed Saviour and Maximus Aegiensis Damis the Philosopher and Philostratus to St. Peter and St. Paul shews so strange a partiality as might be expected only in him who opposed the Christian Religion by his Persecutions more than by his Arguments for Hierocles was the chief promoter of the Persecution under Diocletian 2. The Gentiles looked upon the poor persecuted Condition of the Christians as an Argument against their Religion and were not only prejudiced against a New Religion which must expose them to Sufferings by that fondness which Men naturally have for their own Ease and Safety but (d) Aug. Civit. Dei lib. I. c. 29. when they saw the Christians in Distress they would upbraid them as the Psalmist's Enemies reproached him saying Where is now thy God They considered their own Religion as the Religion of their Country and of their Ancestors which was what Tully said for it when he ruined all the Grounds and Pretences in behalf of it They alleged that this had been the Religion of their Forefathers and that the Roman Empire had arrived to so much Power and Greatness under its Influence This was so much insisted upon as is to be seen in Zosimus Symmachus and others that Orosius set himself to answer it in a particular Work and St. Austin who put him upon Writing it thought himself concerned in his own Works to oppose so unreasonable but fatal a Prejudice 3. The Consequence of these Prejudices against the Christian Religion both in Favour to the Religion of their Country and in Fondness for their old Opinions and out of an Abhorrence of Afflictions and a Disregard of those who were so much exposed to them as having but small pretence to any part of the Divine Care the Consequence I say of these Errors and Prejudices was that the Gentiles despised the Christian Religion before they understood any thing of it For many Men of Learning and Observation were so little acquainted with it that they did not distinguish Christians from Jews as we see by (e) Sueton in Claudio c. 25. Suetonius They knew not so much the true Pronunciation of the Name of Christ or Christian but were wont to write (f) Nam nee Nominis certa est notitia penes vos Tertul. Apol. c. 3. Sueton ib. Lactant. Lib. IV. c. 7 Chrestus and Chrestianus This the Apologists much insist upon that they condemned and persecuted what they did not understand the Christians desired no more than a fair Hearing and if they might but be suffered to make their Religion fully known to their Adversaries they begged no further Favour 4. It was believed (g) Aug. de Civit. Dei Lib. XVIII c. 53 54. that the Heathen Oracles had delivered that the Christian Religion should continue no longer than Three hundred and sixty five Years and it is observable that Julian the Apostate died A. D. CCCLXV according to some Chronologers tho' others place his Death Two Years before It seems the Devil had some great Expectation from his Reign but at or near that very time in which he had foretold that the Christian Religion should have an end if the Computation were to be made from the Nativity of Christ he saw an end of all his hopes in the Death of that Emperor who was so zealous in his Service and had given out severe Threatnings against the Christians of what they were to expect if he had returned victorious from that Expedition in which he perished And this Prediction had respect probably to his Reign though the Greek Verses in which it was delivered might be altered afterwards or so contrived at first as to extend it to a longer time leaving it uncertain from whence the Calculation was to begin However this Oracle kept many of the Gentiles from being Christians till they saw the time past which they supposed to be meant by it as St. Austin assures us 5. The Heresies and Schisms which soon arose in the Church gave great Scandal and Offence to such as judged of these things at a distance and in the gross without examining into the Occasions of them The (h) Just Martyr Dialog Jews not only Blasphemed Christ in the Synagogues but made choice of Men on purpose whom they sent from Jerusalem into all Parts of the World to vilifie him and his Religion (i) Id. Apol. 2. And because Christians spoke of Christ's Kingdom this was understood to their Prejudice as if they had been for setting up a Temporal Kingdom by Rebellion And the evil Doctrins and Practices of divers Hereticks confirmed Men in any ill Opinion which they had conceived of Christians in general The absurd Doctrins and Heresies of the Gnosticks and other Hereticks were by the Enemies of the Gospel in their Censures and Invectives applied to all Christians without distinction and were taken upon Trust by most Men. (k) Orig. cont Celf. lib. 6 7 8. Celsus makes Objections from the erroneous and wicked Notions and Practices of the Ophitae the Valentinians the Marcionites and others This