that was divided into the Porch the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies is answerable the World the Church and the Heavens the eternal Sanctuary of God To the Levites all the Faithful without Exception that are designed to serve God to the White Cloathings of the Ministers of the Tabernacle the Innocence and Holyness of all those who design to approach unto him to the Purity of the Body the Purity both of the Heart and Conscience to the Blood of Goats and of Lambs which was a Confirmation of the Old Covenant the Blood of Jesus Christ which confirms the New Testament to the Entrance of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies wearing the Names of the Twelve Tribes written upon his Breast and presenting to God the Blood that was shed in the Porch corresponds the Ascention of Christ into Heaven where he continually presents us to God his Father and intercedes for us by virtue of that Blood which he shed for the Expiation of our Sins to the purifying Waters which washed away all the Pollutions of the Body the Waters of Grace which sanctify the Spirit To Mount Sinai Mount Zion to the sound of the Trumpet of Rams Horns the Voice of the Gospel to Moses himself the Mediatour of the Law Jesus Christ the Mediatour of the New Covenant The different state and condition of the Church is is also further represented to us by the various condition of the People of Israel Our spiritual Bondage is marked out by their temporal Slavery our Deliverances by their Deliverances our Enemies by their Enemies and so just and reasonable is the Conformity there is betwixt those Images and their Original that the Holy Scripture often makes little distinction betwixt them and intermixes in one and the same Chapter that which concerns the temporal State of the Israelites and that which concerns the Spiritual condition of the Faithful as also the Events that attended the Jewish Oeconomy and the Wonders of the New Covenant These things are worth our Observation and he that does not duly consider them will never be able to understand any thing in the Prophecies contained in the Books of the Old Testament Lastly The Wisdom of God was resolved we should not want a competent number of Types that might sufficiently represent to us the Excellence Offices and Ministry of our Mediatour Thus Isaac conceived in the Womb of a barren Woman the Delight of his Father the Foundation of all the Promises of God offered up for a Sacrifice upon a Mount by the very hand of his Father rising as it were from the Dead by being delivered from the Knife he had already lifted up against him and having afterwards a Seed as numerous as the Stars of Heaven and the Sand of the Sea this Isaac I say was a lively Image of Jesus Christ who was conceived in the Virgins Womb the Darling of his Father in whom he was well-pleased the Foundation of all his Promises the Source of his Blessings dying upon Mount Calvary rising again in a wonderful manner after his Death and seeing his Seed after him when he had made his Soul an Offering for Sin Thus again Joseph sold by his Brethren betrayed out of Envy accused tho' Innocent condemned because he would not submit to the immodest Desires of a lascivious Woman delivered out of Prison appearing before Pharaoh cloathed in Garments suitable to that Honour and then sitting at his Right Hand was a wonderful Representation of Jesus Christ betrayed out of Envy sold by the Jews themselves who were his Brethren condemned for refusing to comply with the Synagogue cast down into the Darkness of Death endued with heavenly Gifts raised again to Heaven and sitting at length at the Right Hand of God Moses defigned to be the Mediatour of the Legal Covenant rescued at his Nativity from a Deluge of Blood exposed to the River-side and as it were given up to a sure and infallible Death but afterwards delivered by a kind of Miracle from the Fury of the Waters and also delivering not long after his own Nation himself by a lucky Turn when he seemed to be cast away was an exact Representation of Jesus Christ who came into the World to be the Mediatour of the New Covenant was delivered at his Birth from the Murder of Herod and saved Men after his having suffered Death Jonas who was cast into the Sea to appease the Tempest and swallowed by a Whale which three Days after cast him again on the Shore sufficiently gives us to understand who it was that calm'd by his Death that Storm our Sins had raised that went down into the Grave and afterwards rose again the third Day Lastly David being raised from the State of a Shepherd to that of a Monarch was an excellent Type of Christ who after his Humiliation inherited a Name that is above every Name And as for those Prophecies which have described to us by such notable Epochaes and signal Characters both the Person Coming and the Time of the Coming of the Messias we have already very largely spoke of them so that what we have said in that respect is more than sufficient to make us admire the exact Proportion there is betwixt the first and second Covenant as well as betwixt the Jewish and Christian Religion Moses Illustrates Christ as we have proved in our first Part of this Treatise and Christ again Illustrates Moses as appears plainly by the Comparison we just now made of them XI Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the Proportion it bears to natural Religion WE have already described the Christian Religion as it is thus considered in having fully proved in several places of this Work that it takes away the Corruption which had disordered Nature that it subverts Paganism which was the Corruption of natural Religion that 't is the perfect Restauration of the latter that it reestablishes the Principles of Justice and Equity which God had imprinted in our Hearts that it produces the most perfect Union of Society by Love and Charity that Humility Temperance Wisdom and all other kind of Virtues which support natural Religion derive the Force of their Motives from the Christian Religion they alone being equivalent to all sensible Objects and lastly that it makes us answer the End of our Creation 'T is a wonderful Comfort and Satisfaction to our Minds and at the same time exalts our Nature to reflect that the End for which Man was designed is the same with that of Christian Religion and the End of Christian Religion the same with the true End of Man's Creation Every thing that goes to the Constitution of Man's Nature does in a manner seek after God The infinite Curiosity of our Minds incessantly thirsting after the Knowledge of New Objects seeks after that Deity which the Christian Religion discovers to us because that Deity contains all things in the Excellence of its own Nature The greedy and hasty Desires of our
be here if thou wilt let us make here three Tabernacles What a strange piece of stupidity was this and how well does it appear how incapable such gross and ignorant Men were of entertaining the least Design of imposing upon others Besides what makes St. Matthew relate this Circumstance What Honour could accrue thereby to Peter and how could it of itself enter into his mind Vers 16. And I brought him to thy Disciples and they could not cure him In this passage appears the Evangelists sincerity For nothing else could have obliged him to relate that Circumstance or make him so freely own the defects and want of Faith in a Society he himself was a Member of Chap. XVIII 3. Verily I say unto you except ye be converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That Children should be so simple no Man ought to wonder because their want of knowledge is a pure effect of their Age but that even Men should be obliged to return from the most refined Notions of worldly policy from that sinful cunning and dexterity so often seen in them to a State of a Holy and Amiable Sincerity That they should at once become simple and prudent righteous and religiously wise is such a thing that Men are wholly unacquainted with and which discovers to us both the greatness and highest perfection of that Person who taught Men a Doctrine so sublime and elevated Vers 4. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little Child the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven How different are these Notions from the common ones of Men How different is the Kingdom of Heaven from all worldly Empire And how well does it appear that such surprising maxims as these could not possibly proceed from the mind of Man Vers 9. And if thy Eye offend thee pluck it out c. By the Eyes here are to be understood our darling Sins or whatever else is dear to us So that Christ hereby teaches us that we ought to sacrifice to the glory of God whatever we dearly prize and value most Did ever any teacher less flatter mens vanity Vers 22. I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven This is a certain number made use of for an uncertain one which signifies that we must continually forgive that Mercy has no bounds and that Charity cannot be limited Who does not see that such a concern to unite all Hearts together to banish all misunderstanding amongst Men in giving so vast a latitude to Charity and Mercy can proceed from none but him that was Master of all Hearts and the common Father of Mankind Chap. XXI 43. Therefore say I unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof This is indeed a very express prediction of the Calling of the Gentiles Vers 46. But when they thought to lay hands on him they feared the multitude because they held him for a Prophet What could be so remarkable in Jesus Christ that he should be taken for a Prophet but the efficacy of his Doctrine and the Miracles whereby he confirmed it Chap. XXIII 36 37. Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this Generation O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest c. Here the Destruction of Jerusalem is very plainly set down Chap. XXIV 28. For wheresoever the Carcass is there will the Eagles be gathered together The Body of Christ crucified was the Carcass and the Roman Standards where the Eagles which were to fall upon the City of Jerusalem where the Carcass was Vers 34. Verily I say unto you this Generation shall pass till all these things be fulfilled The same Reflexions must be made in this place as we have made above Chap. XXVI 13. Verily I say unto you wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole World there shall also this that this Woman hath done be told for a memorial of her A Prophecy that has been sufficiently fulfiled Vers 28. For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of Sins Did ever any Man act or speak after so unheard of and surprising a manner Can we find a Man who not only foretells his sufferings but also establishes before-hand some memorial of a Death he might easily have avoided And who but Christ ever took upon him to shed his Blood for the Remission of the Sins of Mankind Vers 38 39. Then saith he unto them my Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death c. And he went a little further and fell on his Face and prayed saying O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass away from me T is easie to explain what this exceeding Sorrow and Agony was yet it must be confessed that it presents us at first view with an Object very surprising and that it can't be imagined that those Men whose chief Design was to invent such things as should be most for their Masters Honour should yet give us such a Description of his Sufferings At least we find here the sincerity of the Disciples which sincerity shews us that we ought without scruple to receive the rest of their Relations Chap. XXVII 42. He saved others himself he cannot save if he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe him By this Text it appears that Christ passed for a Person that had performed several Miracles Vers 45. Now from the sixth Hour there was darkness over all the Land unto the ninth Hour How is it possible they could have made a whole City believe such a thing were it not true Vers 51 52 53. And behold the vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened c. How could St. Matthew have persuaded Men to such things as these against their own knowledge to the contrary Could the Vail of the Temple or the Rocks be rent could the Earth quake and the Graves open and yet the Jews know nothing of it To whom did the Evangelist relate all these things He wrote them before the Destruction of Jerusalem nay in the days of the Apostles themselves and consequently in a time when there were several thousands of People still living that could witness the Truth of them How then could he so much as imagin he could deceive so many Witnesses concerned in the business to whom he preached these things and whom he designed to bring over to his Party nay some of whom had already embraced the Gospel and formed a very numerous and considerable Church at Jerusalem where all these things had happened and where he attempted to perswade others to the belief of them CHAP. VII Wherein we shall further produce out of the other Gospels several Places very proper to make us truly sensible of
at her c. When Jesus had lift up himself and saw none but the Woman he said unto her Woman where are those thine Accusers hath no Man condemned thee She said no man Lord. And Jesus said unto her neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more There is no need of a Comment to understand the Divine energy of these words A Heart rightly disposed will sooner be sensible of it than able to express it Vers 51. Verily verily I say unto you if a Man keep my sayings he shall never see Death How could Christ advance such a Paradox Or how is it probable that John should make him utter it he who had already seen several of his Master's Disciples die These words then must secretly imply something more sublime and uncommon than appears to us at first sight And those who taught them had deeper Understandings and more piercing Judgments than other Men. Chap. XI 25. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me tho he were dead yet shall he live This is such a strange discourse as was never met with before Vers 43 44. And when he had thus spoken he cried with a loud Voice Lazarus come forth And he that was Dead came forth bound Hand and Foot with Grave-cloaths and his face was bound about with a Napkin c. Nothing can be more circumstantially told than this matter of fact Lazarus had been Dead about four Days He was buried and a Stone had been rolled over his Grave Nay he already began to Stink Some of the Jews that were there present murmured and said among themselves Could not this Man who opened the eyes of the Blind have caused that even this Man should not have died John 11. 37. And others that were come to comfort the two Sisters were there assembled The Dead Person was raised to Life again he was seen and heard to speak Several that were there believed in Jesus Christ so that the great Council among the Jews was terrified at it and the Chief Priests and Pharisees being gathered together upon this Occasion many of them cried out and said What do we for this Man does many Miracles If we let him thus alone all Men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and Nation c. Had this matter of fact been falsly invented how durst the Evangelist so exactly describe it with all its Circumstances Why did not others make a strict enquiry and dive into the Bottom of it Did the Christians want Enemies to do it they who were continually exposed to the Persecutions of all the Powers upon Earth This Gospel was believed at Jerusalem which place was yet extant and Bethany was but a few Furlongs distant from Jerusalem The Falshood alone of that single matter of fact which was so signal and so publickly known would have utterly overthrown the whole Fabrick of the Apostles New Religion given up the Cause to the Jews and universally silenced the Christians Why then did they not manifest the Truth upon the Spot Chap. XIII 35. By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another A Divine Mark indeed and a Character not in the least to be suspected Chap. XIV 11 12. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the very works sake Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth in me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do What could the Evangelists think when he related these things if he was truly convinced by his own experience and by that of his Associates that Christ 's Disciples could not perform any Miracles Chap. XV. 24. If I had not done among them the works which none other Men did they had not had Sin He continually laid before their Eyes the Testimony of his Works Chap. XVI 2. They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service 'T is evident by this prediction the Evangelist ascribes to Jesus that the Disciples did not then expect nay were not to expect any thing but crosses and tribulations What then could support them in their present sufferings and the dismal prospect of worse to come but the hopes of such a reward as is inconsistent with the quality of Impostors A Name which our Incredulous Adversaries are pleased to give them Vers 33. In the World ye shall have Tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World He was continually foretelling them what misfortunes they were to expect This in all appearance should have disheartned them but it only serv'd to try their Patience and confirm the Word which they preached Chap. XVII 25 26. O Righteous Father the World has not known thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me And I have declared unto them thy Name that thy love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Can a Man imagin that an Impostor should express himself thus Is falshood then so different here from what it usually is and does it breath out nothing but Virtue Innocence Love and Charity Has it altogether that Spirit of pure Holiness and elevated Simplicity of ineffable consolation and wonderful Trust and Reliance upon God which run's through all the latter Discourses Jesus made to his Disciples to comfort them for his approaching Departure Chap. XVIII 36 37. My Kingdom is not of this World c. Pilate therefore said unto him art thou a King then Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King And for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the Truth Every one that is of the Truth heareth my Voice Jesus plainly declared that his Kingdom was not of this World Yet he called himself King Had he been an Impostor he would have pretended to have reigned somewhere or at least shewed some Ambition of it Chap. XX. 25 26. The other Disciples therefore said unto him we have seen the Lord. But he said unto them except I shall see in his hands the Print of the Nails and thrust my hand into his Side I will not believe c. Jesus saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed Could any one have made Thomas believe that he had been more incredulous than the rest of the Disciples and that he would not be persuaded till he had seen and felt the Body of his Master Chap. XXI 3. Simon Peter saith unto them I go a fishing They say unto him we also go with thee They went forth and entred into a Ship immediately and that Night they caught nothing But when the Morning was now come Jesus stood on the shore c. Christ being Dead the Disciples betook themselves again
Consequence only Divine Wisdom was also pleased that Jesus Christ should be born in Obscurity and Humiliation that those mean outward Appearances being offensive to the prejudice of carnal and worldly minded Jews they might as it were by chance give occasion to the execution of those things which the Council of God had determined And this is one of the principal causes of his Poverty and Humiliation of the Meanness of his Birth and the Vnworthiness of his first Profession the choice of his Disciples c. The Justice of God acting in concert with his Wisdom obliges him to speak to all prophane Contemners of his Mysteries in an obscure Language and so as it were to conceal those Pearls from them lest like unclean Beasts they should trample them under their Feet And this may very well serve for a Reason of the denial which Christ formerly made to the Unbelievers of those Times of signalizing his Power among them and of the great care he often took to conceal his Miracles from them For this cause therefore spoke he sometimes in Parables to Strangers but he always very clearly exprest himself to his Disciples giving them to understand the meaning of those Parables and telling them that as for them they had the Priviledge of seeing all things openly Neither does his Majesty suffer him to reveal himself as familiarly to the sinful Man as he would to the innocent This we ought not to wonder at since Men themselves are wont so to deal with one another There is nothing more common than for Great Men to banish their Presence those who have incurr'd their Displeasure To think it then strange if God conceals himself from a Sinner would be to entertain a more unworthy Idea of his Majesty than that of an Earthly Monarch This was the Reason why God took such care to conceal himself even when he design'd to manifest his Glory And for this Cause he shewed himself only in Visions and Dreams or when hidden in the Cloud and Ark or covered with some other Veil On this account also he was wont to banish from his Presence all those as were defiled in their Bodies and order the Priests of the Sanctuary to purifie themselves He commanded too the People to wash their Garments when he gave them notice that within three Days he would come down to them nothing but an external and corporeal Purity being sufficient to qualify those that were to approach the Deity manifested under corporeal Symbols But Christ fulfilling in the Spirit every thing hidden in the Letter of the Law teaches us that those only shall see God who shall be found pure in Heart so that we have no reason to wonder if when Man by reason of his Guilt hides himself from God the Almighty withdraws the Influence of his Glorious Majesty from Man Lastly The Goodness and Mercy of God overshadows Revelation with some sort of Darkness to exercise our Faith and keep up our Minds in Vigour which also would grow sluggish if not stirred up by such Difficulties as are proper to Mysteries as also to humble our proud and haughty Reason which is immediately puffed up with its own Knowledge to make us submit our Understandings to him since we ought to believe any Truths tho incredible if he reveals them as also to sway our Hearts and Affections which ought readily to embrace any sorrowful and mortifying Objects that he is pleased to offer them to strip our Pride of all its Pretences and to dispose our Minds that we must necessarily acknowledge every Benefit we enjoy springs from him and that too so much the more because we thereby attain to life Eternal by such means and objects as are above our Capacity to comprehend So necessary is it that it should appear that our Sufficiency is of God and that the Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1. 16. To this Principle we owe the choice of those persons which God has made use of to preach the Gospel the nature of those seeming Paradoxes he commanded them to publish so contrary to the Light of Nature and Reason the Silence of the Holy Ghost in those things which a few Words from him would have rendred plain and easy to our Understandings But God is not content to exercise our Faith by those Obscurities we find dispersed throughout the Divine Revelations he further permits Heresies Schisms and Errours nay Superstition it self to reign among us that those who are approved may be made manifest Thus we may say he suffers all Egypt to be covered with Darkness the more eminently to discover his wonderful Protection in blessing at the same time the Land of Goshen with the Light of his Truth that is by giving us a Religion accompanied with so bright an Evidence as carnal and worldly minded Men can never comprehend because their Reason is eclipsed by Sensuality and the Corruption of their Hearts produces those thick Clouds that hide the Truth from their sight God 't is true enlightens the Minds of Men but Men wilfully blind themselves He permits it should be so to confound their Ignorance and demonstrate to us that he is the Father of Light But let us now enquire into the Principles of that Obscurity which solely springs from Men. And I. So gross are all the Prejudices of the Senses that there is no body so void of shame as to follow them openly Yet 't is certain they are very prevalent in the Hearts of most Men who stick not to say I never saw the like I could willingly believe it if I should but see it Who ever saw dead Men rise again from their graves And who ever ascended into Heaven or went down into the Pit All which Reasonings are manifestly absurd For can there be any greater Folly in a Man than to refuse to believe that which he does not see when these Objects of his Faith could have no Existence were they not invisible Did any one ever see the Time past long before he liv'd or the future long after his Death Did he ever see his own Soul the Deity c. For 't is nothing else but the Time past and the future the Objects and Interests of the Soul together with the Benefits of God which Faith offers to our Consideration II. We are accustomed by Education not to believe any thing that happens not in the ordinary course of Nature We confine our selves as it were to a Circle of Objects which we willingly admit of because they contain nothing that is repugnant to Experience or Probability So that the Custom we have of refusing to give our Assent to all other things reaching even unto matters of Religion inevitably casts us into Scepticism and Incredulity Yet should we but throughly consider those Objects which fall under common Experience they would certainly appear as surprising and incomprehensible as those of Religion If you think it strange that the Soul should outlive
the Emperour that having strictly inquired into the lives of the Christians he found nothing else but that they assembled together in remote places early in the morning and there said their prayers to heaven and bound themselves under a Solemn Oath not to commit Murder Adultery Injustice or any other crime They would also produce an answer from Trajan to Pliny wherein that Emperour gave positive orders that for the future there should be no particular enquiries made after the Christians but those only should be punished who should discover themselves And that we may not think that these letters are forged we may consider that 't is Tertulian that mentions them in his Discourse to the Senate and the Roman Emperour whom he could not impose upon without endangering his own life and prejudicing his Religion CHAP. II. Wherein we shall examin the Martyrdom of the Primitive Christians BUt Perhaps we may sooner suspect the credulity of the Primitive Christians than their innocence We are sure their Constancy proceeded from their hope and their hope from their perswasion But who knows the ground of that Perswasion Are there not Mahumetans so strongly perswaded of the Divinity of the Alcoran as to die in defence of that Errour The multitude then of Martyrs shews an infinite number of persons to be strongly perswaded of the truth of Christian Religion but proves not that perswasion to be well grounded We mâ—st therefore go a little further And here we may easily suppose without fear of being mistaken that the Primitive Christians had some sort of Common sense Those who made it their profession to ridicule the plurality of Gods and the many superstitions of the Heathens which were really contrary to Reason those who put in practice such wise Rules of Morality who were so regular in their behaviour so averse to all the excesses that disorder Reason who formed to themselves such rational Ideas of the Deity in comparison to others those men I say could not be wholly destitute of the light of Nature Now supposing them to have but the least glimmering of that light 't will be hard to conceivâ— that they should wholly renounce their Estates and Fortune and couragiously suffer Death in defence of any cause whatsoever unless they had very powerful Reasons to believe it were good This consideration will be further strengthn'd by two very important Reflexions And first we speak not here of such only who being born Christians blindly followed the prejudices of Birth and Education but also of a great number of persons who renounced Paganism to embrace Christianity and laying aside the favourable prejudices of Education and Birth which in them were quite contrary to the Christian Religion were yet willing to die for it as soon as 't was known and embraced Secondly The truth of Christian Religion is altogether founded upon mattters of fact For if Jesus Christ wrought Miracles and rose again from the Dead than is the Christian Faith True But if Jesus Christ wrought no miracles nor rose from the Dead then is the Christian Faith false And surely 't would have been folly or madness in those men to forsake so flourishing a Communion as Paganism to take upon them the name of Christians a name so vile and contemptible in those days to suffer voluntarily the loss of their Estates and undergo a most terrible Death only to defend a Religion grounded upon such matters of fact as they had no reason to believe to be true Those indeed that are born and live peacably in a Communion may blindly believe the Doctrines of it but he that is never so little acquainted with the constitution of man's heart can scarce imagin men to be so sensless as to renounce the prejudices of Birth and Education to offer violence to their dearest and most tender Inclinations and embrace a Faith pursued with fire and sword and persecuted by all the powers of the World unless they had first duely examined the nature of it and knew well upon what grounds they thus embraced it If it be objected that some of these men were of the meanest sort of people whose example cannot be alledged as a precedent for Wise and learned men We 'll grant it But then it must also be confess'd that the Vulgar usually embrace that Religion which is attended with Power and Prosperity Pomp and Authority and hate even Truth it self when once destitute of all these outward helps How is it possible then that against all outward appearance they should have acted so contrarily to themselves in this Occasion But supposing the commmon sort of Christians to have lost their Reason can we say the same of the Doctors of the Primitive Church as Clement Polycarp Justin Iraeneus c 'T is certain on one hÄnd these men were men of very good sense as their Writings those Monuments they have left us evidently demonstrate And on the other 't is very well known they lived in a time so very near to that of the Apostles that it is absolutely impossible they should have been deceived in this respect For Polycarp conversed a long while with St. John Iraeneus saw Polycarp and Justin was a more ancient Father than Iraeneus Had those Doctors only told us that Jesus Christ and his Apostles wrought several Miracles we might perhaps have suspended our belief upon their bare word But since they suffered Death in defence of the truth of certain matters of fact which they must necessarily have fully been informed of since I see that Clemens and Polycarp Disciples and Contemporaries with the Apostles chearfully came to the stake to maintain a Religion essentially founded upon those matters of fact such as were the gift of divers Languages conferred upon the Apostles the power of working Miracles and imparting those very gifts themselves to others Since I say these Christian Doctors suffered Martyrdom for the confirmation of matters of fact which the Christian Religion is essentially united to I confess I begin to be convinced Nevertheless let us search more narrowly into this matter and see whether we shall yet have any Reason to entertain any further scruples CHAP. III. In which we further prove the Truth of Religion by several undeniable matters of fact WHo told us Clemens and Polycarp suffered Martyrdom And supposing they did who will assure us they were not deluded by the Apostles Nay who can tell whether there ever were any such men I suppose I shall not be obliged to prove with a great many arguments there were such men as Clemens and Polycarp who suffered Martyrdom Eusebius who wrote their history could not wholly have invented it unless he had corrupted all the Writings of the Fathers that lived before him for they all speak of it Iraeneus Justin Clemens Alexandrinus c. mention it as a known matter of fact The first of them glories in several places of his works that he had seen Polycarp in his youth and it appears they all suffered Martyrdom
the utmost pitch of Prosperity and Glory this Jesus himself was seized and nailed on a Cross where he suffered a most infamous Death infamous in the esteem of all Nations but more particularly accursed in the Jewish Law What a mighty thunder bolt must this have been to such men who had fed their fancies with such charming hopes They were long since perswaded that the Messias would make his appearance in a very Glorious State that he would overthrow at his coming the Empire of Cesar together with all the Roman Grandeur and thereby make the Jews absolute Masters of the World All these things they impatiently expected from Jesus and yet this Jesus was dishonoured by an infamous punishment he was compelled to endure The Jews themselves not only sacrificed him but they sacrificed him even to Cesar himself and delivered him up to the Romans to put him to Death There was no power able to deliver him out of the hands of his Tormentors so that he died and his Disciples heard of his Death or rather were eye-witnesses of it In truth I cannot conceive how they should after all this have still preserved the least of their pretentions They might reasonably grieve at the loss of such pleasing hopes but nothing could redeem the loss of them They might abhor the furious passion of the chief Priests and Sanhedrin who had utterly deprived them of their dearly beloved Master but they must at length lay aside the opinion they had entertained of him And therefore nothing can be so likely as that which St. Luke makes them utter in the midst of their sorrow and astonishment But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel and besides all this to day is the third day since these things were done Luke 24. 21. But supposing they had no such Hopes or Expectation it is enough that the Disciples look't upon Jesus as the promised Messias Nay 't is all one whether it was in the sense of the Jews or in that of the Christians For if it was in the sense of the Jews they could not but imagin that Jesus would have raised up the glory of the Jews to its utmost height so far were they from conceiving he was liable to be put to Death by them But if it was in the sense of the Christians they ought surely to have believed that in case he should die he would certainly raise up himself and those that believed on him from the grave because the whole System of Christian Religion essentially depends upon this foundation Thus were the Disciples preposessed with the general opinion of the Jews they could not chuse but lose it at the sight of the Death of Jesus and were they prepossessed with the profess'd Doctrine of the Christians they could not likewise but be undeceived of their Errour when they saw that Jesus Christ rose not again from the Dead What then shall we think of certain Fishermen who were a most mean wretched sort of people as the Enemies of Christianity called them who had not the courage to accompany their Master even when they looked upon him as the true Messias but gave him over to his Executioners Sure they are by this time sensible of their mistake What care then does it appear they took to hide themselves to conceal their shame and confusion from men let us see what was the Event and we shall know the Truth We find that few weeks after the Death of Christ his Disciples publickly shewed themselves in Jerusalem and confidently affirmed that they had seen their Master who was risen again from the Dead had spoken with him handled him eat with him conversed with him for forty days and lastly that they had seen him ascend into Heaven 'T is certain this was the Testimony of the Disciples since the Faith of the Primitive Christians was founded on this Testimony Who could have thought of this unexpected turn The Disciples affirmed that Jesus was the Messias but could they still believe it when they saw him give up the Ghost Or if they did not believe it were they now grown bolder to maintain an imposture than before to follow their Master when they thought him the true Messias Could certain Fishermen dejected fearful Fishermen who ought with shame to have owned their Error could they invent such a fable preach it with so much confidence maintain it with so much boldness expose their persons to all sorts of Torments and even to Death it self in defence of such an incredible fiction Could any of them imagin that they could seduce Mankind or had any one of them imagined it could the rest have been so extravagant as to approve of his ridiculous fancy Did they think the World would believe them upon their bare Word And were they then no longer in any dreadful apprehension of the Sanhedrin that had inhumanely put their Master to death Did they believe they might safely reproach the Jews for having put the Messias to death without being themselves severely punished Were they not sensible into how many troubles and afflictions this fable would inevitably cast them And if they were could they still be so couragious as to maintain such an imposture Is it possible that no one of them should recant his opinion not one contradict himself but that all should unanimously depose notwithstanding the most rigorous punishments inflicted on them a matter of Fact which they knew to be altogether Chimerical and false Certainly this is a thing so very strange or rather which appears to me so very absurd and extravagant that I question whether our incredulous Adversaries could perswade themselves of it provided they would but reflect never so little upon it But let us continue still to distrust our selves may we not probably have made some false Supposition in what we just now affirmed we will therefore go over again the same principles we just now established And indeed the more I reflect upon them the less I conceive how we can possibly call any of them in question For can I deny that Jesus ever was in the World that he ever had any Disciples or that those Disciples thought him at first the promised Messias But why should I alone question a matter of fact which the Thalmudists nay Julian Porphirius and all other Enemies of Christianity have always acknowledged This is what I have shewn to be absurd Can I question but that if Jesus died and rose not again from the dead his Disciples were then undeceived of the opinion they probably entertained that Jesus was the Messias the Son of God If so either they understood nothing at all by these two words the Messias the Son of God or else they understood quite another thing than that he was a Meer Man who was to remain for ever under the power of Death after his Crucifixion Can I deny that the Disciples declared the Resurrection of Jesus Christ after his Crucifixion It 's self evident All
different Countries who speak different Languages do all understand my speech there can certainly be no illusion in that The Validity of a Testimony is no longer incertain when we are sure of two things First that the witness is not himself deceived and Secondly that he does not intend to deceive Others Now this might easily be verified concerning the Disciples of Jesus For first the matters of fact upon which their depositions were founded are so evident and notorious that none can ever be deceived in relation to them Thus how is it possible that the eyes should think they saw what they did not really see that the ears should agree to witness nothing but what was agreeable to the Testimony of the eyes that the hand should touch that which both the eyes and the ears perceived not once only but several times not the eyes the ears and the hands of one single man but of several men together that they should unanimously profess themselves to be endowed with an extraordinary power and that too of working miracles unless they themselves knew the certainty of it but tho we should suppose a man so Whimsical as to impose upon himself after that prodigious rate yet sure we could not without extravagance imagin that the Apostles had utterly lost their senses by the same kind of madness that this madness begun exactly after the Death of Jesus Christ that the spreading of the Gospel over the face of the Universe was a wonderful contrivance of the same that it was joyned to that Morality which is so excellent so sublime and yet so just and pious in it self that the very Enemies of our Religion always reverenc'd it And Lastly that all manner of vertues deriv'd their original from such pretended madness which works a change upon the World sanctifies mankind and exactly fulfills all those Oracles which foretold the calling of the Gentiles But if it appears that those men did not impose upon themselves much less ought they to be suspected of having had the will to deceive others because their Simplicity and mean Education allowed them not to frame any such design and besides the confusion they were in to see themselves frustrated of their hopes by the unexpected Death of their Master would wholly have diverted them from it Their temporal concerns too could not admit of it and their shame to shew themselves to the World after what had happened was of it self sufficient to hinder them from it Moreover their Conscience would have check'd them for their superstitious fondness of the vain shadow of a Messias And it is impossible they could ever have agreed together so as to contrive that strange and notorious imposture But supposing they undertook it the Torments inflicted on them would have made them repent such a rash design and the confession of one single person amongst them would have sufficiently discovered them all Lastly their Shame and Poverty the Gaols and the Chains the Stripes the Fire and the Sword that were used against them to make them recant sufficiently warrant us that they never intended to deceive the World And if one single person so disposed is to be looked upon as an unheard of prodigy how much more unlikely is it that a whole Society could have conceived such an extravagant design If the Testimony of the Disciples be false we cannot chuse but look upon them as Mad men or rather as Rascals nay perhaps as both And yet their preaching sufficiently shews the glory of their Innocence and Wisdom to confound both these Calumnies Let any man but read over the Books of those admirable Writers and there he will to his satisfaction find that Honesty Sincerity and Self denial is inseparably interwoven with the most pure and most judicious Morality that ever was But this Reflexion puts me in mind that I must now hasten to the consideration of the Books of the New Testament not to see whether they be human or divine for that will be considered in its own proper place but whether they be forged or not For if once we shew that they are not forg'd we need only read them over to know the Testimony the Disciples bore of Jesus Christ himself And because that Truth will serve for a confirmation of what we have already said we shall begin the following Section with the Consideration of it SECTION II. Wherein we shall prove the Divinity of the Christian Religion by examining the Books of the New-Testament CHAP. I. Wherein we shall prove that those Books can never be supposititious WHen I examin the Books of the New Testament all the doubts I strive to raise concerning them amount only to these three I. Whether those Books were not composed by some Impostor who probably might have ascribed them to the Apostles II. Whether those Books supposing they were composed by the Apostles were not afterwards corrupted by the Christians III. Whether the Apostles the pretended Authors of those Books did not themselves fill them up with many fictions for their Masters honour and the advantage of their Religion It is but just we should examine whether these three suspicions are well grounded or no. And First it is certain that in taking away the evidence of the Books of the New Testament we overthrow that of all other Books and call in question the account of all things past For who will warrant me that Cicero's Orations are his own if I can't reasonably assure my self that the Epistles of St. Paul were written by St. Paul himself But hold Perhaps it was easier or more advantageous to counterfeit the Books of the New Testament than those of Humane Learning This is what we must a little enquire into And I. the facility there is in Counterfeiting the the works of an Author wholly depends upon the several Circumstances of time place and persons upon the subject matter of that Book the temper of mens minds their different notions and their various interests which must be carried on in it Now to counterfeit Books of Humane Learning seems infinitely more easy in all these respects than to counterfeit those of the New Testament I. Because they who counterfeit a Book of Humane Learning may take as much time as they please for it but here we know not what time can be imagined the Books of the New Testament were forged in If we look back from age to age we find the Christians had those Books continually before their eyes and that they were quoted by the most ancient Fathers who looked upon them as Sacred and Divine II. It is easy to counterfeit Books of Humane Learning because there are generally but few people that interess themselves at all in them at least but very indifferently but it would have been a very difficult matter to counterfeit those Books which compelled men to suffer Martyrdom as the Books of the New Testament did If a man that lends out his money seeks the best security he can for it what
the sight of several Jews who were purposely come thither to comfort the Sisters of the Deceased Person He tarried four days that it might not be said he was not really dead He permitted Lazarus to converse with his acquaintance after his Resurrection which gave occasion to the Jews blinded with madness to conspire together to send him to the grave again whom the grave had just sent them for their Conversion IV. But is it possible that such great and such unparalelled miracles as these should make so little impression upon peoples minds This Age is indeed a wicked and prejudiced age But yet what a noise would the Resurrection of a dead man make now How many would make it their business to be fully satisfied of the truth of such a matter of fact How few would doubt it after having known the certain truth of it To this I answer that the greatest part of those who heard this Miracle did not in the least believe it Some ascribed it to the power of Beelzebub others to some other cause some knew not what to think of it and therefore refused to enquire into it others verily believ'd that Jesus Christ and Lazarus had agreed together thus to seduce the people and this very likely was the opinion of those who sought after Lazarus to put him to death Others tho' very few took occasion from thence to glorify God But lest any man should wonder at the little impression this miracle made upon the prejudiced and superstitious minds of men 't will be sufficient to make these two following Reflections First That there have been several Jews who freely acknowledged the Miracles of Jesus Christ tho' they persisted in their incredulity chusing rather superstitiously to ascribe them to a certain I know not what pronunciation of the word Jehovah than to refer them totheir true cause which shews that the evidence of Miracles is not always of it self sufficient to overcome the hardness of some mens minds when prepossess'd with prejudice Secondly That superstition it self has been sometimes carried on to that degree as to extinguish utterly all the lights of Reason and even to call in question those very objects that are present to the senses rather than be obliged to renounce its prejudices But it is not necessary to insist much upon this last reflection It sufficiently appears from thence that there are such people in the World whose minds being prepossessed will either call in question any palpable truths or else ascribe matters of fact truly miraculous to some fantastical and extravagant causes But there are none that are willing to die in order to maintain that they were spectators of those things which they had really never seen especially when they profess to believe that imposture is a crime worthy of Death and when they might be so easily found out by so great a number of witnesses it would argue meer folly for any to pretend to impose upon men in this respect The Jewish Doctors had credit and authority enough over the people partly to stifle the knowledge they might have of those matters of fact or if that fail'd at least to give such reasons of them as would certainly flatter the immoderate desire the Jews had to see not a sorrowful and contemptible but a glorious and triumphing Messias But the Disciples were too weak to endure the severity of those Torments inflicted on them had they been meer Impostors and were not surely so sensless as ever to think they might easily perswade men to believe such matters of fact as the Resurrection of Lazarus For to endeavour to conceal a matter of fact of that Nature one had need only of prejudice and a wicked inclination but to have a design to make other men believe it when it was really false one must be possess'd with an unaccountable and unheard of madness V. But you will say let the opinion the Jews had of the Miracles of Jesus Christ be what it will still is it possible they could have no better preserved the memory of them and that Josephus for example who carefully relates the least sort of Events and forgets not to mention certain Seducers that had appeared in the World from time to time before him should not in the least speak of the Miracles of of Jesus Christ It is supposed by some that that notable testimony which he bears of him was a pious fraud of his or a meer Invention of the succeeding ages We shall not enquire into the truth of that at present We are willing to take things in the worst sense and we have three several replies to make this objection concerning the silence of Josephus in this respect The first is that those who probably inserted in the Writings of that Author that notable place which has given occasion to the Criticism of the Learned might for a continuation of their design have blotted out every thing that Josephus really tells us on this account and which perhaps tho' less advantagious to our cause is yet sufficient to shew that Jesus Christ was held as one that wrought many Miracles The second that Josephus being a Pharisee might probably have concealed the wonders of the life of our Saviour out of the hatred he bore to our Religion And the last is that as this man had endeavoured to insinuate himself into Vespasian's favour by foretelling him that he should be Emperour and had ascribed to him several prophecies of the Old Testament which promised that a King should come from the East it is highly probabable that this Author being a Courtier would not out of complaisance to Vespasian and his Children mention the least thing of a man who had pretended he was the Messias and to whom other people ascribed those famous prophecies whereby he had endeavoured to ingratiate himself in that Emperours Esteem And certainly it is very unlikely to suppose that a man who had carefully related the least Circumstance of the life of Herod the Great should have forgot the Murther of the Children of Bethlehem if at the time he discovered the cause of that Murther he had not been affraid to discover also the dread Herod had upon him at the birth of the Messias and the Opinion then currant among the Jews that the Messias was to be born in Bethlehem 'T is however certain that this Author could not have concealed any such events as these but only out of Ignorance or Policy He could not have done it out of ignorance and the Incredulous themselves will not presume to think that Josephus was altogether ignorant that Jesus Christ had been put to death at Jerusalem that he was accused there of seducing the people that he had several Disciples to attend him whose number in his time increased yet daily nay that there had been a very numerous Church at Jerusalem composed of persons of that perswasion And certainly there must have been Christians in all Judea since there dwelt a very
instituted in cold Blood certifies us of all these things But because an involuntary Death would argue a certain kind of weakness 't is also most certain that nothing can better evince the strength and courage of Jesus Christ than that tho' he foresaw the horrours of an infamous and painful Death yet he exposed himself to it with such a constant will and firm Resolution that by his example he shewed his Disciples how he would have them imitate and commemorate his sufferings Jesus Christ was condemned to Death by a Nation seditiously stirred up against him and by a Sanhedrin envious of his Glory but he was justified by the Conscience of Judas whose remorse for having betray'd him forced him to kill himself and by the solemn declaration of Pilate who washed his hands in the presence of the Jews to shew that he was innocent of the Blood of that just Person He was justified too by the voice of the Centurion who saw the prodigies his Death was attended withall and soon after by the mouths even of those who sought his ruin and who being prick'd to the heart cry'd out to the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do Act. 2. 37. And certainly 't is a very great glory to our Messias that the most guilty Conscience the most unjust judges the most insensible and hardened sort of Soldiers and the most barbarous Murtherers should even bare record of his Innocence Jesus Christ suffered but it was for our sakes he gave himself up to the sorrow and anguish of Death and made his life an offering for Sin And if those wounds are counted honourable which a Subject receives sighting in the presence of his King and if those which a King receives for the safety of his Subjects are esteemed yet far more glorious what Glory then did Christ deserve who suffered in the presence and by the will of his Father for the Salvation of his People and Children and who by his sufferings established such an Empire which no power can dissolve Lastly Jesus Christ suffered a punishment proper only to Slaves but we are also very certain that during the time of his sufferings he shewed himself to have a power over Nature her self since the Graves were opened at his Death the Rocks rent the Sun was darkened and the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain And it is impossible that the Disciples of the Lord should have invented so sensible and signal matters of fact against the fresh and publick knowledge which those men that lived in their days had of it without being guilty of such an Extravagance which is more than humane But here we will ask the Incredulous in our turn whether a voluntary Death an innocence publickly own'd the sorrows and anguish which a man suffered out of Charity to the World the homages which even insensible Creatures paid to him whom men scorned and condemned were not certain Characters worthy of the Messias that had been promised us Indeed if you take away the proofs which evidently shew Jesus Christ to be the Son of God you may then call his Cross a scandal to him and the World but whilst those proofs shall be left entire his Cross will serve the more to illustrate his Majesty and Grandeur and we shall not only then assert that it was a voluntary Death which he underwent and a Death that was foretold us but we shall also shew that it is as it were a looking-glass-like wherein we may see at once all the vertues of man and all the Attributes of God There we may find the patience of a man who suffered every thing from his equals and from those who ought to have been his Servants and Disciples the Charity of a man who pray'd for them that put him to Death the Constancy of a just man who bore the burden of the iniquities of mankind and the constancy of an innocent man who at once as it were wrestled with the fury of men and the Justice of God There we may see the Masterpiece of Divine Wisdom the designs of our Enemies frustrated and the designs of God triumphing over the vain opinions and projects of men the propitiation of sins made for us by the most dreadful parricide that was ever committed or conceived the Synagogue buried in his grave whom they barbarously put to Death in defence of their priviledges the Romans crowning a King with thorns who was to rule over all Nations and putting a Reed instead of a Scepter into his hands flesh and blood shewing us in the Death of Christ the true pattern of mortification Jesus Christ dying attended with almost infinite numbers of Martyrs who were willing to die in imitation of him who was Conquerour of the World only by his shame who crucifyed the flesh by the preaching of his Cross and procured Rest and Peace to the Souls of them that dyed by the Anguish of his Agony We may also see the Justice and Mercy of God clearly manifested in his Death For what other Victim could have better evinced Gods hatred for Sin What present could have been made unto men that could have better discovered Gods love to them The Incredulous therefore reproach us with the meanness of an object wherein the vertues of men and the attributes of God himself are shewn in their greatest height and perfection But let him that any ways doubts it consider the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which is as it were a key that opens all these Events to us To dye and remain under the power of Death is indeed an evident mark of weakness and misery but to dye and yet overcome Death by rising from the Grave is the mark of a supernatural power and a divine glory Thus Jesus Christ descended into the lower parts of the Earth for no other end but to ascend into Heaven as the Eye-witnesses of that great and notable Event did plainly testify But the Incredulous will not believe their report and they further pretend that they can find in history the example of a testimony very like that which was nevertheless without contradiction reputed to be a meer Imposture We read say they that after the Death of Romulus there was a certain senator who having always lived in the repute of a very honest man certified that Romulus was ascended into Heaven where he was inserted among the Gods and that this Monarch had appeared unto him c. Is not this a matter of fact not unlike that which the Disciples testify'd of Jesus Christ throughout the Universe 'T is very like it indeed only it has these following differences there you read of a single person testifying that he had seen Romulus ascended into Heaven but here you have a very great number of people who certifiy'd that they had seen Jesus Christ after his Resurrection There it is pretended that a great and triumphant Monarch during the course of his life was inserted amongst the Gods after his Death which agrees
them Since the Disciples of Jesus Christ were originally Jews they must needs have been possest with these five following prejudices I. They were fully perswaded that the Kingdom of the Messias was to be attended with temporal Prosperity II. They imagined that the Messias would restore the Kingdom of Israel to its former Glory and once more raise up the house of David out of that disgrace and almost oblivion it had lain under to its ancient Power and Majesty III. They believed their Law to be of an eternal duration Now by their Law I do not here understand the Moral Law only but the Ceremonial one too or rather the whole body of it in general containing both the Moral and Ceremonial Law IV. They esteemed their Sacrifices to be the most sacred and most inviolable Duty of their Religion and they were far from imagining that those Sacrifices enjoyned by their Law should on a sudden cease as soon as one Man was put to Death V. And lastly they could not consider the Gentiles but as an unclean and abominable sort of people in comparison to themselves For besides the sin of Idolatry which the Jews accounted so capital a crime as to deserve that God should for ever cast them off who were guilty of it the Heathens were variously polluted and defiled according to the notions the Jews had of their Law since they used none of those Ceremonies that were absolutely necessary to their external Sanctification by avoiding all uncleanness and legal Impurities As to the first prejudice it can never be doubted but that the Jews expected a temporal Prosperity from their Messias For besides that the Prophets seem'd to have disposed them thereto by so many excellent and noble Prophecies utter'd concerning him who knows but that they might look upon Herod the great tho born an Idumean as the true Messias who was to come being surprised at the noise of his Victories the pomp of his Triumphs and that constant Prosperity that continually followed his Reign Nay it seems very probable that Herod himself had a design to be taken for the true Messias and therefore caused the Temple of Jerusalem to be demolished on purpose to re build it after a more glorious and magnificent manner since it was the received opinion of the Jews of those days that the Messias was to have been the glory of that House according to all the Predictions of the Prophets But whether there be or no any grounds for that conjecture 't is true at least that his surprising victories and prosperity had made so great an impression upon the minds of the Jews that a very considerable number of them imagined that Herod was the Messias whom the Prophets had promised and who was to raise their Nation to the height of Happiness and Prosperity For this opinion gave rise to the Sect of the Herodians that is mentioned in the Gospel And we ought not to wonder at it since the corrupt heart of man delights in nothing so much as worldly grandeur and temporal prosperity Therein consist the pleasures of great as well as mean Persons and he that shall but consult the History of Mankind will find that from the beginning of the World those Societies which were distinguished from others by the splendor of honours or enjoyment of temporal prosperity still prevailed over all the rest The Second received opinion of the Jews was that their Messias was to restore the Kingdom of Israel to its former glory For on one hand their Prophets had taught them that the House of David should reign and endure as long as the Sun and Moon And on the other they were sensible that the House of David was partly extinguished and partly fallen into disgrace and humiliation They expected therefore from the Messias that he would restore it again And altho' the people had for a long time been governed by several Kings not descended from the Tribe of Judah yet they still fed themselves up with that imaginary hope But above all the Jews were firmly perswaded of the perpetual Duration of their Law that is that people should continually come up from all parts of the World to worship in Mount Sion and offer up variety of sacrifices in the Holy Land 'T was this Law they had heard so often mention'd in their infancy which their Parents their Elders and their Teachers had so often entertained them with in their common discourse They heard every body speak of Jerusalem with a great deal of respect and 't was reputed a great oath among them to swear by the City of the great King They considered the Levites as so many Sacred Persons and the Priests as the Visible Ministers of an invisible God that was pleased to dwell among them They sent yearly to Jerusalem the tenth of their goods and brought an infinite variety of victims to be there offered up to God They thought they could neither be acceptable in the sight of God nor man unless they practised all the Customs their law prescribed them touching their purity and external sanctification They had seen the greatest severities inflicted upon the infringers of that Law and the four sorts of punishments ordained by the Law against the Violaters of it viz. that they should be strangled or cut off by the Sword or Burnt or stoned to Death according to the enormity of their crime were continually before their eyes and almost daily executed upon those that were guilty in breach of the Law so that they could not but look upon the prescriptions of the Law as sacred and inviolable duties they were obliged to perform Now 't is obvious to every one how great an impression these punishments must necessarily make upon the minds of the meaner sort of people They were filled with the thoughts of their Festivals and Solemnities which were so very proper to fix and stay their minds by that great number both of Ceremonies and Circumstances they were attended with Thrice every year they were enjoyned to go up to Jerusalem during such certain sacred times which they were obliged to observe with a particular devotion and it was forbidden them to discourse any thing else during the Passover but of the sorrowful Captivity which the antient Israelites endur'd in Egypt Exod. 13. 8. Neither were they permitted to eat any thing for seven days together but unleavened Bread in token of that Bread of affliction which their Forefathers had eaten They were commanded to kill as many Lambs as there were Families dwelling in Jerusalem in token of the antient passage of the destroying Angel over the Houses of Israel The Feast of Pentecost was to be commemorated with no less solemnity at which time they were obliged to offer up to God the first fruits of the earth It was a part of their Duty to observe yearly a solemn and general Fast the tenth day of September as also to rest from all manner of Labour the first and last day of the Feast
of their Graves and appeared unto many in the City of Jerusalem It will be sufficient for us to consider only those Prodigies which drew the eyes of the whole World and could not but universally cause a publick Consternation and make a fearful Impression on the Minds of Men. Now I affirm it cannot naturally enter I shall not say into the Mind of a sincere honest Man but even into that of an Impostor to imagine he could ever be capable of making others believe things so notoriously known as those we now have under Consideration must have been had they been false 'T is not many Years ago since a certain Man was Executed at Paris for calling himself the Holy Ghost who had a few Disciples and some Followers but his Sect was soon buried together with him in his Grave Now let us suppose if you will that his Disciples had preach'd after his Death and composed a new Gospel filled only with the Doctrine and Precepts of that Man who was thought by them to be no less than a divine Person I ask then whatsoever Extravagance you may suppose them to have been guilty of whether you can conceive it could have entred into their Minds to perswade the People of Paris that the very Day on which that Man who called himself the Holy Ghost died the Church of Nostre Dame was either thrown down or demolished that its Altars and Statues were broken down that there happened an Eclipse of the Sun the greatest that ever was known accompanied with such a mighty Earthquake that even the Rocks were rent and that all these Wonders wrought so great an Impression upon the Mind of a certain Captain that guarded the Body of the executed Person that he believed in him Doubtless these whimsical Men could not have taken a more effectual way not only to hinder others from believing their Report but even to undeceive all those who might till then have been led away by that pernicious Sect than to insert in the Gospel they were to compose of the Doctrine of their Master such Circumstances as would have contradicted the publick Knowledge and fresh Remembrance every body had of things so lately done and to advance such matters of fact as would immediately have been proved to be false by the publick Testimony every body could give of them Now all this may be very well applied to the Disciples of Jesus Christ For supposing those Disciples were very great Impostors we cannot reasonably ascribe to them any other Design than that of deceiving Men by making them receive Falshood for Truth And it is sufficient if they had that Design and were not wholly void of Reason to make us think they could not have had â—â—e Boldness to invent such Circumstances as these and afterwards publish them to the World But after all was there not a very numerous Church 〈◊〉 in Jerusalem when that Gospel was composed And did not that Church consist of many thousands of People who dwelt at Jerusalem and knew perfectly well whatever had happened at the Death of Jesus Christ Certainly no Man can doub◠〈◊〉 it unless he has a mind voluntarily to 〈◊〉 himself Those very Christians then of Jerusalem saw all those things which happened at the Death of Christ for they were the Men that had been converted by the preaching of St. Peter and the other Apostles and who being prick'd to the Heart cried out Men and brethren what shall we do Acts 2. 37. They had seen then that the Sun was not eclipsed that the Rocks rent not that there happened no Earthquake no surprising and supernatural Prodigy at the Death of Christ And if they saw none of these things they could not but look upon the Report of the Evangelists as a scandalous Lye and notorious Falshood design'd to seduce them from their rational Belief and perswade them out of their Senses But it is farther observable that not one only but three Evangelists have written these things who as appears evidently did not compose their Gospels together but separately and at different times and yet all agree in their Relation of that notable Circumstance of the Death of Christ And no doubt but they all agreed also in the Relation of it when they preached the Gospel by word of Mouth Who then can reasonably believe that when the Disciples preach'd the Gospel in Jerusalem in order to establish a Christian Church there their Design was to perswade the Jews that they must not believe their own Eyes and that what they had seen was not that thing which they had seen Who can imagine that those very Jews themselves who were present and assisted at the Death of Jesus Christ should suffer themselves insensibly to be perswaded that that fabulous Recital was a very true Narration and believe that really to have happened which they certainly knew never came to pass Who can even suppose that the Apostles could fancy themselves able to make the Jews look upon a crucified Man as the Object of their Adoration and Worship by proposing to their Belief the most impudent and apparent Lyes that ever were invented since the Beginning of the World But it will concern us carefully to consider the rending of the Vail of the Temple for that Circumstance is so very singular that it is sufficient of it self to stop the Mouths of our incredulous Adversaries who tho' they should so inconsiderately and wilfully delude themselves as to suppose that the Day whereon Jesus Christ died there happened by chance or rather according to the ordinary Course of second Causes a real Eclipse which had indeed seemed supernatural to the ignorant Vulgar but had nothing supernatural in it self yet what can they say to the Vail of the Temple 's being rent in twain from the Top to the Bottom Could there be any natural Cause why it should be rent precisely and exactly at the time when Jesus Christ suffered Death or could any exterior Darkness produce such an Effect Perhaps some will object that the Primitive Christians were simple and ignorant People and that nothing could be easier than to delude and impose upon them I grant it But then what great Learning was required to know precisely whether all those so sensible and so notable Prodigies had really fell out upon the Day of Christ's Death We have already shewn that among the several Circumstances of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ there were several which the Disciples durst not have invented or forged had they not been really true We must add in the second place that there were a great number of other Circumstances which the Disciples could not have forged had they design'd it To say nothing of the great number of Lame People whom our Saviour caused to walk of the Sick of the Palsy to whom he restored the Use of their Limbs of the Deaf whom he caused to hear and of many others diversly affected with various Diseases whom he wonderfully healed to the
Peter alone and then after to the Twelve One while he went out to find them as they were a fishing upon the Sea and bless their Toil with a considerable Draught of Fishes Another while he was in the midst of them when they had met together to pray to God Some time he sat at Table and eat and drank with them At another time he gave them several Instructions and reminded them of those things he had taught them before his Death At one time he manifested himself to above 500 Disciples at another he convicted an unbelieving Disciple by making him feel his Hands and his Feet saying Reach hither thy finger behold my hands c. and be not faithless but believing John 20. 27. One while he appeared to two Disciples as they were a going to Emmaus discoursed with them and expounded the Scriptures to them by the way At another time he assembled his Disciples together and commanded them to teach all Nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost It may not be amiss to reflect a little upon that vast Multidude of Disciples who testify'd they had seen Jesus Christ after his Resurrection St. Paul some where in his Epistles affirms that Jesus Christ appeared to above five hundred Brethren at once and adds that the greatest part of them were yet alive but some were fallen asleep Now 't is most certain that St. Paul would not durst not could not speak after that manner had there not been a great number of Disciples still living who testify'd that they had seen Jesus Christ after his Resurrection I would fain know whether it be possible for so great a number of persons unanimously to contrive such an intolerable Imposture as that must needs have been were there nothing of Truth in what they advanc'd Truly it seems to me to be a thing not possible for a man to imagine much less to put in Execution A Man must do Violence to himself barely in supposing that so many Disciples should falsly affirm that they had seen Jesus Christ after his Resurrection For one must thence suppose that that great number of Persons were not really Men and that whatever they had been during the rest of their Lives they had put off their Humanity immediately after the Death of Jesus Christ They were indeed Men till that time and their Behaviour pretty well evinces that their Sentiments were such as self-love and self-preservation generally inspire us withal for they expected and were in hopes of something They followed none other but Christ because they expected from him what generally all the Jews expected from their Messias according to the Ideas they had form'd themselves of him They were afraid of Death They dreaded the Fury of the Sanhedrin They flattered themselves with the Hopes of seeing themselves restored to their former Glory They begg'd of Jesus Christ to deliver them out of approaching Dangers if at any time they were in hazard of their Lives or exposed to any Tempest But since the Death of Jesus Christ they seem'd to have put off their Humanity Their Minds and Hearts were not disposed like those of other Men. They neither hoped for or expected any thing For indeed what should they hope or expect from the Profession they made of being Disciples of Jesus Christ if they knew that he was not risen at all according to his promise What could they hope for if he who had promised them Eternal Life and affirmed himself to be the Resurrection and the Life was to be for ever subject to the Power of Death Before while they trusted in Jesus Christ they were afraid Now when they trusted no more in him their Fear vanished Since they could not expect any thing from another Life they were resolved not to be any way concern'd for this but to mind only a Future State What is the meaning of this preposterous Change Formerly they thought they should do God great service in suffering for Christs sake whom they supposed to have been their Messias and yet they were then faint-hearted and fearfull but now that they were assured they did God no manner of service by adhering to the Gospel but rather blemish their own Reputation by maintaining a Cheat they became on a sudden constant and couragious undaunted in the greatest Dangers and invincible in the midst of the most violent Trials Who can comprehend all this Certainly if we have but the least Common Sense we cannot but perceive that a Cheat in so evident and sensible a matter of fact as that must have been could not be unanimously carried on by so many thousands of People For supposing one Man was diposed to Lye who knows but another would be as inclinable to tell the Truth especially since there was nothing to be got by Lying but Prisons Torments and Death itself whereas telling the Truth would have gained them Credit Friends and Estates by pleasing those in whose Power it was to dispose of Riches and Offices of State And had any one of them imagined that some of the rest would certainly contradict him or themselves he would have been for that very Reason incapable of agreeing with them to carry on that Cheat Now it is naturally impossible but that this Thought must have offered it self to the Mind of every one of them and consequently such a mutual Compact or Agreement was absolutely impossible unless it so happen'd that that whole Multitude had suddenly been bewitch'd and infatuated by the same kind of Folly and that too at one and the same time as soon as Jesus Christ had given up the Ghost However they must have been void of all Self-Love and that natural Affection Men usually bear to themselves nay they must have been altogether insensible of the cruel Stripes they underwent and the Persecutions wherewith they were almost overwhelmed and that Insensibility and Extravagance must not only have been an ordinary one or of a short continuance but of the longest Duration and strongest Force that ever was known CHAP. IV. The third Center of Truth A particular Consideration of the Ascension of Jesus Christ THE Ascension of Jesus Christ is a third Center of Truth which we ought to have continually before our eyes in order to consider the Arguments it contains for the Truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Saviour This Ascension was preceded by several Apparitions of Jesus Christ and followed by an extraordinary Effusion of the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost sufficiently manifested to all the Inhabitants of the City of Jerusalem so that it seems to want no Illustration It rather proves it self and that too by its own proper Characters For it is a thing unheard of that several Persons should agree to testify after that manner so signal an Imposture as that must have been had not the Ascension of Jesus Christ been a real Event But let us throughly consider all the Circumstances of it As
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ justified the wonderful Passages of his Death so likewise does his Ascension justify those of his Resurrection For tho' one should suspect that the Eyes of the Disciples might by chance have been suddenly dazzled and so they thought they had seen what they in reality never saw yet they had time enough to recover themselves out of this dazzling Amazement for it was forty days after Jesus Christ was risen from the Dead before his Ascension Had it been a Spirit that appeared to them and frightned them yet had they time enough to come to themselves again and know certainly that the Spirit they saw was not really their Master For they saw him and heard him They handled him they eat and drank with him Had it been thro' the obscurity of a darksome Night that they had imagined they had seen some Representation of their Master instead of a true and full sight of him they could not long continue in their Error But it was in full day that they saw the Stone rolled away from the Sepulcher 'T was in full bright day that Christ so often manifested himself to them and discoursed with them and afterwards ascended into heaven before their eyes Had the force of their Desires their Fears or Affections disturbed their Senses we should have less Reason to wonder at it tho even in that case the thing would seem altogether unaccountable it being morally impossible that the Senses of so many People should all at once be so confined to one wonderful Object and so disturbed at the same time But they had time enough to get out of their Confusion and Astonishment and their Minds were very sedate and at ease when Christ made them Eye-Witnesses of his glorious Ascension In a word had it been a private and silent Interview we might have much more Reason to doubt but Christ appeared to his Disciples with a particular Design to discourse with them He gave them several Instructions he forbad them to depart from Jerusalem until they had received the Gifts of the Holy Ghost He made them several Promises and such surprising ones that they are fit only for a God to make and a God to perform for he promised that he would be with them even unto the End of the World He instituted two Sacraments he commanded them to baptise all Nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as well as to commemorate his Death in the Passover Nor was that all He had many long and coherent Discourses with them He spoke to them and they answered him They were at first incredulous but he convinced them of the Truth of his Resurrection notwithstanding their Scruples and their Infidelity He rebuked them several times for their little Faith at least they tell us so The Evangelists relate what Christ said to Thomas and what Answer Thomas made And both their speeches were too surprising to be so soon forgotten Thomas being struck at the Wonders of his Resurrection was the first that gave Christ a Name which he was not wont to bear in the Stage of his Humiliation calling him My Lord and my God John 20. 28. The Disciples asked him Whether he would at that time restore the Kingdom unto Israel but he answer'd them that it was not for them to know the Times and Seasons which the Father only had in his power Lastly The Evangelists give us no less the History of Jesus Christ risen from the Dead than that of Jesus Christ living and conversing before his Death among the Jews and we affirm we have as much reason to believe one as the other For indeed Why do we believe there was ever any such Person as Jesus Christ We believe it certainly because it is in humane speaking morally impossible that so many Persons should unanimously tell us they had seen him that they discours'd eat and drank with him nay saw him suffer Death at Jerusalem I say they would never have told us all this supposing there were nothing at all in it But then ought not that same Reason to perswade us likewise that Jesus Christ both lived and convers'd forty days with his Disciples since so many Persons saw him discoursed eat and drank with him saw him present in the midst of their Assemblies nay touched and handled him But perhaps some will object were that certainly true Why then was there in those days so many Persons that refused to believe the Ascension of Jesus Christ Why it is no hard matter to find the reason of this 't was because if they had once acknowledged the Truth of the Ascension of Jesus Christ they were obliged to die Martyrs for that Truth and no doubt Men were as worldly-minded in those days as they are now So that methinks it appears hitherto very clearly that the Disciples of Jesus Christ were neither capable of deceiving themselves nor of being deceived by others as to the Truth of the matters of fact they testifyed It is a very difficult matter I had almost said impossible that they should have deceived themselves in the Miracles of Christ which they relate because they so exactly set down the Circumstances the Names Places and the Persons themselves nay they pretend they themselves were sent by their Master into all the Parts of Judea to work there the very same Miracles they attested But tho' they should have deceived themselves in the Miracles of Christ yet they could not possibly deceive themselves in his Resurrection For they knew well enough what a dead Body and a living Man was they could easily distinguish between them and those things are of such a nature as not to be capable of Illusion or deceit Yet tho' we should supose that the disciples had been deceived in the Resurrection of Christ yet they could not have been imposed upon in the last miraculous Event of his Ascension It could never come to pass that after having seen a Spirit they should yet converse with him forty days that that Spirit should suffer himself to be handled that he should give them Instructions make them several Promises and afterwards be caught up into Heaven in their Sight they all the while looking upon him and adoring him as he was ascending into Heaven and understanding distinctly the Discourse of the Angels which promised them that he should so come again in like manner as they had seen him go up into Heaven It would be to no purpose here to alledge with Spinosa That the Evangelists have not exactly described all the Circumstances of the Event they relate and that had they taken special care to do it it would perhaps so happen that the Circumstances which they thought sit to conceal would make us comprehend that those which they have related proceeded from Natural Caâ—ses For I desire to know what can be more expresly declared or more often repeated in the Gospel than the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus
represents the Disciples continually fasting and praying could not devise that matter of fact supposing it to be false He would be very extravagant that should believe that the Apostles led an ill course of Life and plunged themselves in all sorts of lewd Debaucheries Their Words their Actions convince us of the contrary Yet it may be said that they were Villains indeed if what they preached was false But if they were downright plain honest Men as their speech necessarily evinces to us then was their preaching also necessarily true Vers 12. Then the Deputy when he saw what was done believed being astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord. 'T would argue but little Judgment in any one that designs to impose a Fiction upon Men's belief to pitch upon Circumstances as are contrary to publick knowledge The Conversion of a Deputy was certainly an Event very remarkable Chap. XV. 39. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus This Historian is very exact in relating the least occurrences He is sincere too since he scruples not to relate the Contentions which arose among the Apostles themselves Chap. XX. 12. And they brought the young Man alive and were not a little comforted Can any thing be more surprising or convincing than the Resurrection of the Dead Chap. XXIV 25. And as he reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled and answered go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee Great indeed was the Divine efficacy of his words which made a Judge tremble sitting on his Tribunal of Justice and before the Chains of his Prisoner Chap. XXVIII 30 31. And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired House and received all that came unto him preaching the Kingdom of God c. Here endeth the History of the Acts of the holy Apostles written by St. Luke 'T is manifest he compiled it before the Destruction of Jerusalem because he mentions nothing of that Event Neither do the Gospels or Epistles of the Apostles speak of it But they often speak of the sudden coming of the Lord or of the Judgments he had resolved to execute upon the Jewish Nation CAHP. IX Wherein we shall yet farther produce from the Epistles of St. Paul St. Peter and St John several Texts very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christian Religion Epistle to the Romans CHap. I. 1 2 3 4. Paul the Servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God c. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the Flesh and declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead Men generally insert all their Titles in the Epistles they write but St. Paul inserts the whole Gospel in his And what was the reason of it Because his Mind and Heart were so full of it that he could not speak of any thing else Jesus Christ was his Alpha and his Omega his Beginning and his End Vers 7. To all that â—e in Rome beloved of God called to be saints Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Did ever Man before him write in this stile He directs his Discourse to those only that were called to be Saints He does not vainly complement them after the usual way of the World but wishes them the Peace and Grace of God Certainly he would not have wrote thus had he been an Impostor or an Enemy to his Country Men who endeavoured to render them odious throughout the World by accusing them of an imaginary Crime Vers 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth c. How strongly perswaded must that Man be of what he says who expresses himself after so pathetical a manner And how well does the fulness of his mind appear by all these manifold and multiplied expressions Chap. VIII 37 38 39. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels c. An immoveable Constancy indeed and a Divine confidence which he so naturally set down and which could not possibly arise from the Soul of an Impostor Chap. XI 28 29. As concerning the Gospel they are Enemies for your sake but as touching the Election they are beloved for the Father's sake For the Gifts and calling of God c. Why did St. Paul here speak so movingly and tenderly of the Jews And why did he earnestly endeavour to soften and mitigate the Minds of the Gentiles towards them Whence comes that inclination both of his Heart and Affections to favour those implacable Enemies who sought nothing but his Destruction and Ruin Certainly a Man that had forsaken his own Nation out of spight or a desire of revenge could not be of such a Temper Chap. XII 2. And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind c. We have here a Man who having been wholly changed having acquired new Knowledge new Habits and new Affections speaks of nothing but of being transformed renewed and becoming a New Creature c. A Man who having been enlightned in his way to Damascus speaks of nothing but of illumination of a Light that shone from Heaven of a Kingdom of Light A Man in fine who having had mercy shewn him in the midst of the fury of his persecutions speaks of nothing but Pardon and Grace T is an easy matter to collect his History from his very expressions Vers 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in Honour preferring one another not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Rejoycing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer distributing to the necessity of Saints given to hospitality Bless them which persecute you bless and curse not rejoyce with them that do rejoyce c. Can we suppose these to be the words or thoughts of an Impostor Chap. XIII 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Religion as it were Cements the good and welfare of a State and Piety seems inseparable from the publick good of a Society because God by whose appointment Kings reign is the prime Author of Religion Vers 12 14 The night is far spent the day is at hand c. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof This Author's words continually follow and express his thoughts He considered the Gospel as a Light that dissipated all the erroneous Darkness and Ignorance of his Mind he considered
such defects because it is wholly founded upon Instruction and Knowledge Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal Life John 5. 39. Chap. IV. 7 8 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness St. Paul was drawing nigh toward his latter end and the words of a dying Man are always to be regarded Whence then comes that chearful Joy the Apostle so naturally expresses in this occasion His Hopes had they been of this World must have been soon buried with him in his Grave and his Happiness too at an end Whence then derived he that great Confidence which he seems to have had Was it from the inward sense of a guilty Conscience which reproach'd him for having betray'd the Synagogue blemished his Country Men deceived Mankind testified of a Seducer and forg'd such fictitious Visions by the most signal Imposture that ever was Let any one believe it if he can First Epistle of St. Peter Chap. I. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead The Mind of those Writers was so full of the Salvation that was revealed to them that they were never weary of returning thanks to God for it Chap. II. 17 18 19 20. Honour all men Love the brotherhood Fear God Honour the King Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward c. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God c. It is a strange thing we should be desired to own that a mutual Agreement of Malice and Falshood which really is a wonderful Agreement of Piety Charity Obedience and Righteousness Paul expressed himself like Peter and Peter spoke like Paul They both acted and suffered alike nay they bore the very same Testimony being endowed with the same Patience practising the very same Virtues and discovering one and the same Wisdom in all their words Now what have we any reason to suspect in all this Second Epistle of St. Peter Chap. I. 16 17 18. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were Eye-witnesses of his Majesty For he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy Mount c. This is a Witness who spoke of what he had seen who suffered Death in defence of the Truth of his Testimony who saw it not alone for several others had seen the same thing who spoke not out of any principle of Interest or concealed what he knew through any fear or apprehension of Death and who for all that did his utmost endeavours to sanctifie Mankind and bestowed all his Time his Labour and his Life in advancing such an extraordinary work which is so little to be suspected And if so what Man is there that can reasonably mistrust him First Epistle of St. John Chap. I. 1 3. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life declare we unto you c. If you should doubt whether the Apostles did really go about testifying every where that they had seen with their Eyes both the Miracles and Resurrection of Christ 't is but learning it from their Epistles and their own words too Chap. II. 1. My little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not But what was it to him whether Men sinned or not Did ever the design of sanctifying Mankind and contributing to their Salvation at the cost of ones Blood ones Liberty ones Life enter before into any Man's Heart but theirs These and the like Reflexions are of themselves sufficient to give the Reader a relish of those Truths and incite him to make some of his own as shall more effectually instruct and convince him For my part I have made several which perhaps satisfy me better than they would any body else And no question but he will also make several of his own that will convince him far better than those of another In the mean while let us pass on to the consideration of the Substance of that Religion which Christ himself did bring into the World For after having considered the outside t is very necessary to look into the inward part of the Building SECTION IV. Wherein we shall prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by the Consideration of it's Nature and Properties Several Portraitures in which it may be considered HItherto we have insisted as it were upon the Shell and Bark of Religion we have examined the proofs taken from matters of fact being the first that offered themselves to our mind It seems therefore now Expedient we should discover as it were the Substance and Spirit of Christianity and so proceed to those other proofs drawn from the Nature of it and that by shewing the truth of it by it's Beauties and proper Excellencies But because this is too copious a Subject for us who study Brevity we shall endeavour to reduce what we have to say into as small a Compass as we can and since we cannot allow our Reflexions their due and proper Extent to give at least some Plan or Draught of the same as shall supply that defect And tho the Christian Religion may be considered under several different Faces because in this respect 't is like unto its Object which has no Bounds to confine it's Extent yet methinks we may give an Idea just and adequate enough to our present design by considering it in eleven different Draughts or Portraitures I. In the Multitude of Testimonies given in favour of it which we shall touch upon cursorily because we have already partly examined them all II. In its essential opposition to all false Religions that ever were III. In it's Effects which can only justly be referred to a Divine and Supernatural Cause IV. In the Purity of its end V. In it's Suitableness to the Heart of Man which it undertakes to reform VI. In the Relation it has to the Glory of God which it should advance VII In it's Morality VIII In it's Mysteries IX In the conformity of it's Mysteries to the light of Reason X. In that exact proportion it bears to the Jewish Religion XI And lastly in that proportion it bears to Natural Religion I hope these Portraitures will like so many
been several famous Emperors who were not able to conceal from the World their favourable Opinions of the Christian Religion that some of them had for Inscriptions in their publick Edifices several Maxims of the Gospel that others would have consecrated Churches for the Use of the Christians and lastly that others professed themselves Admirers of the Morality of Christ. But what shall we say of the Jews and Gentiles who not being able to deny Christ's Miracles were forced to refer them some to a Magick Power and others to a certain I know not what mysterious Pronunciation of the word Jehovah So strange a thing it is that ev'n the very Enemies of our Religion should thus testify of it and yet scarce perceive it The seventh Testimony is that of several strange Events which the Wisdom of God so ordered that they firmly establish the Truth of Christianity Of these there are several very remarkable but it shall suffice at present to mention Three only which among the rest deserve a particular Consideration the First is the Destruction of the four Monarchies which had sorely afflicted and harass'd God's People at the end of which the Kingdom of Heaven was immediately to be established the Second the entire Destruction of the Jewish Government and the signal Devastation of the holy Land an Effect of the divine Wrath pour'd out upon that Nation the Third and last the Settlement of the Christian Church or the Calling of the Gentiles attended with so many Circumstances as plainly shew that nothing but the hand of God could perfect so great a Work The Eighth is that Testimony given of Christ by the Revelation of Moses And the Ninth that which is given of him by Natural Religion But of these two Testimonies we shall not speak at present for as much as we design to end this Work with a particular Consideration of them In the mean time 't is plain the Christian Religion must be true because it was confirmed by the Testimony of so many authentick Persons which can't be suspected of Deceit And it would be extravagantly ridiculous to imagine that the Prophets should have so clear an insight into Futurity meerly to countenance and authorize a Fiction that John the Baptist having been at first taken by the Jews for the Messias should renounce the Honour which that Title would have conferred upon him only out of Love and Complaisance to an Impostor that the Apostles and the rest of the Disciples should so readily sacrifice their Estates Reputation Repose and Life it self to a Person they knew to be a false Christ that the Heavens should countenance a Flam and a Lye by working such signal and sensible Miracles that the Heart of Man should have found every thing that can supply it's Wants and Necessities in a meer Cheat that ev'n the Enemies of our Religion should countenance and approve of our false Prejudices that all Events should so exactly coincide with an erroneous Imposture and that the Revelation of Moses and Natural Religion should thus testify so palpable a Fiction To this we may add the Necessity and Importance of the Christian Religion since the Wisdom of God leads us to it by so many different ways as also the admirable Perfection and Transcendency of it since in a manner Heaven and Earth the Time past and present Events ordinary and natural as well as those supernatural and miraculous since the Prophets and Apostles who were altogether unknown to one another have agreed unanimously to reveal it and propose it to us as an Object for it's transcendent excellency worthy of our greatest Admiration II Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is opposed to all other Religions ALL these Truths will more evidently appear if we consider the Christian Religion in it's Opposition to all other Religions The Excellency of the Christian Religion consists in that it has Advantages which other Religions have not and yet none of their Faults I say no other Religion has Advantages equal to those of the Christian Religion for no other can boast of it's having been confirmed by ancient Prophecies Ev'n Mahomet thought it better to oblige Men to call the Scripture in question than do derive any Arguments from it which might serve to confirm his Mission as appears by his not boasting that he had been preceeded by any Forerunner who made his paths streight There are indeed several Religions which perhaps may have had their Martyrs But what sort of Martyrs superstitious Men who blindly exposed themselves to Death without knowing what they did like those Barbarians who prostrated themselves by thousands before their Idol that their Colossus might crush them in pieces with it's Wheels as it passed along But no Religion besides the Christian was ever confirmed by the Blood of an infinite number of sensible understanding Martyrs who voluntarily suffered Death in Defence of what they had seen who from vitious and profligate Persons became Saints upon the Confidence they had in their Master and who at length being dispersed in all places of the World by their Death gain'd Proselytes and making their Blood the Seed of the Church chearfully suffered Martyrdom having certain Assurance of being crowned after their Death A certain Assurance which they derived from what they themselves had formerly seen We find other Religions which pretend to be confirmed and authorized by several Signs and extraordinary Events from Heaven The Romans used to attribute to their Religion all the Advantages they got over other Nations And the Mahumetans pretend that the great Successes God was pleased to give their Prophet were so many certain and undeniable Marks of the Truth of their Religion But to pretend that temporal Prosperity is a certain Character of a true Religion or Adversity that of a false one is to suppose as we have already said else where that the most profligate Wretches provided they are happy in this World are the greatest Favourites of God But certainly 't is not Prosperity or Adversity simply considered but Prosperity or Adversity as foretold by God or his Prophets that is a certain Character of true Religion And when we affirm that several extraordinary Events bear witness to the Truth of Christianity we mean only those Events which had been foretold by the Prophets as for instance the calling of the Gentiles the Destruction of Jerusalem and the establishment of the Christian Church Finally there may be several Religions that may deceive but none but the Christian Religion that can truly satisfy Mankind There are some Religions grounded upon fabulous Miracles and confirmed by Witnesses easily convinc'd of Imposture but none but the Christian Religion is firmly and solidly establish t upon true Miracles and valid Testimonies It appears then that no Religion in the World has such extraordinary qualifications as the Christian Religion of which it must also be affirmed that it is free from all such Defects as are incident to other Religions We need no deep
tho perhaps he is ignorant of any true and real one he frames at least an imaginary one to himself and would feign out-live his Days in spite of Death by immortalizing himself in the remembrance of Men. Who then can reconcile Man to Himself How come such lofty Sentiments to be joyned with so much Wretchedness and Misery Or why should a Being so mean and humble have such great and elevated Notions If we consult the Christian Religion we shall soon be satisfied in this Point For the first Rudiments of it will solve all the seeming Riddles It will teach us that Man consists of two Parts Body and Soul whose qualities and parts are very different The Body makes him a Member of the Material World from whence he derives his Wretchedness and Misery In his Soul he bears the Image of God which is the Foundation of his real Goodness If the Mind be subject to Matter we see only his Imperfections and find nothing but a Sensitive Man in him but if the Body be wholly subject to the Soul then only the Greatness and Glory of the Soul appears and we find a Spiritual Man in him Whatever therefore may be said concerning the Greatness of Man becomes an incredible Paradox if applied to his outward and carnal part And whatever may be said concerning his Imperfection and Unworthiness will be utterly false if applied to him as a Being glorious and purely Spiritual But in our present State the Soul and Body are in a continual War Sometimes the Excellence and Greatness of Man's Nature and sometimes the Weakness and Vnworthiness of it appears according as the Flesh or Spirit are predominant and this serves for a certain Rule to judge of Mans Perfection or Imperfection that every thing is great and noble in him that brings the Flesh in subjection to the Spirit and every thing seems vile and contemptible that basely brings the Spirit in subjection to the Flesh For what sort of Greatness can we find in the latter and wherein consists the Excellence of his outward qualifications by which alone he endeavours to procure the Esteem of other Men Not in the Antiquity of his Original for that brings him but the nearer to his primitive Nothing or to the Clay out of which he was first formed He betrays his weak Judgment in esteeming so much the Original of his Body and not regarding that of his Soul As for the Goods of Fortune they swell his Heart with Pride and therefore he values himself more for what he enjoys than for what he really is Suppose him a Conquerour or if you please Lord of the Vniverse But alas that can be of no great continuance His Reason indeed exalts him far above all other Creatures but even that Reason is a Slave to his Scnses his Passions deject rather than elevate him Ambition is a Weakness which makes him unable to rule his Desires Pride an Imperfection which so possesses his Mind that he cannot pass by the least Affront to his Reputation Avarice a base fear of future want a limited Consideration of Self-love that forgets it self to think better upon what is least valuable in its condition The Punctilios of Honour a vain Imperfection that makes an Idol of it self That Valour which affronts Death nothing but a Mans strangely forgetting himself and being insensible of the Dangers that surround him And Lastly all the Passions but so many Deviations from the End we ought to pursue so many Disorders and Irregularities of the Soul as appears fully by what we have said elsewhere concerning the End for which Man was orginally designed And tho' these be all Moral Truths they are not the less certain Experience confirms them and â—he free confession of the Incredulous who are glad of any Opportunity of making us observe all these signs and characters of our Wretchedness and Misery thinking thereby to persuade us that so miserable a Creature was not designed for such a glorious End as we imagin But let them only consider how truly great Man is when he submits the Lusts of the Flesh to the Rule of the Spirit and they 'll be asham'd of their false Opinions They 'll find him indeed a Being that had a Beginning but yet one that glories in God as the Author of it They 'll find him an Atom that raises it's self above all other Creatures by running back to it's first Author and paying him Homage for it's Unworthiness A Worm that has the Honour of referring it's self to the Glory of God to which also all other Beings are referr'd but without knowing it They 'll find him a Being that is indeed Mortal carries it's Hopes beyond Death A Being that is finite yet it's Desires and Intentions are unlimited A small quantity of Earth will cover his Body yet nothing but Immensity will satisfy his Soul He possesses all things for he calls himself the Son of him that created all things He is not to be rank'd among those Creatures which grow proud by promotion or cannot be humble without debasing themselves He is great but not proud because he knows his Natural Vileness and he is humble but not base because he is sensible of his true Greatness and Worth He has made such a Covenant with his God as the Destruction of the Body is not able to dissolve Tho' he conqers not Kingdoms nor razes Cities yet he is able to overcome those Passions which have produced the like effects He sacrifices to God those very Passions to which Men heretofore sacrificed all their Possessions He esteems not a Crown and the highest Dignities are of no Value in his Thoughts He quits a Throne to equal himself to Shepherds and tho' but a Shepherd he thinks himself as great as the most powerful Monarch What the World admires is but a Dream to him Tho he enjoys the greatest Titles yet has he the same humble Thoughts of himself Should the World afflict him on every side it cannot lessen his Opinion of himself He raises himself above what he sees to humble himself in the sight of God who is invisible He possesses Eternity tho he exists in Time He is a Child of God tho he lives amongst Men He is sensible of his Exaltation above all other Beings but he is truly Great in his own Humility Thus the Christian Religion not only shews us Man's Excellence but is also the Cause of it by making the meanest part of our Nature subservient to the nobler He therefore that utterly renounces all Religion loses the perfection of his Nature and the less he believes the more he debases himself below other Creatures 'T is therefore the Christian Religion alone that shews us the Cure as well as the Disease that produces our hidden Virtues and unmasks our Vices that discovers to us our Misery and frees us from it that puts an end to all the Wretchedness of our Nature by making us truly sensible of it that makes us great by making
the publick Good to concur with the Advancement of the Private and the private with that of the publick For instance what will follow from the practice of Charity which enjoyns us to love God with all our Heart and with all our Mind and our Neighbour as our Selves The Result of it will be that every Man's Interest shall be the same that there shall reign no Hatred or Animosities no Jealousy or Competition amongst them that every Man will thank God for the Blessings that others have received at his hands that Charity will make every thing our own that we shall be happy in other Men's Advantages as a Son in the Prosperity of his Father and a Father in that of his Son that a publick Society will make but one Family more closely united since Charity can make those things equal that humane Passions had before distinguish'd and much the happier since the Happiness of one single Person shall be enjoy'd by all and the Happiness of all by each single Person 'T is easy to foresee what Objections our Incredulous Adversaries will make They will say that Christian Morality is undoubtedly a very fine Idea of true Perfection but very unprofitable since it is so far raised above our ordinary Strength and Capacity The Answer to this Objection depends upon those Reflections we shall continue to make upon the Characters of this Morality VIII We therefore assert that altho by reason of the continual Warfare betwixt the Flesh and the Spirit we cannot observe this Christian Morality in its full Perfection and consequently cannot be sensible of the advantages which accrue to us from it in their utmost extent it is enough if by observing it according to our present condition it procures us a thousand advantageous Effects which clearly demonstrate that it is not a meer Idea And this is such an undeniable Truth as is daily confirmed by Experience so true it is that the strict observance of this Divine Morality tends to our Profit and Welfare that Parents themselves wish it to their Children Husbands to their Wives and Wives to their Husbands Servants to their Masters and Masters to their Servants Princes to their Subjects and Subjects to their Princes Creditors to their Debtors and Debtors to their Creditors as the Principle of Fidelity Love Vnion Virtue and even of Joy and Satisfaction Self-love indeed looks upon it as a meer Idea especially when it commands it to shake off its evil Inclinations and thinks it self not able to observe it strictly but still it thinks it very just reasonable and perfect when there is occasion to reform other men's Imperfections and Vices and it is well pleased to see if it be not extreamly degenerated into the worst Irregularities that that Bridle sufficiently curbs at least in other Men their Concupiscence and unruly Passions whose End is only to confound ruin and violate all things IX But that which wholly secures Christian Morality from the Reproach it might be charged with in this respect is that it is it self either endowed with such Strength as must necessarily exalt the Souls of Men or contains such Objects which together with the efficacy of that Spirit which continually attends them outweigh the most sensible Objects and that passionate Inclination we all have for the World Philosophers indeed may be very justly charged with this Reproach namely that their Morality is meer Speculation because their excellent Maxims have no Motives powerful enough to support them They tell us 't is true that we must overcome our Selves and renounce our evil Desires but if once they are asked the reason of it they are much perplexed how to solve the Query It cannot be denied but that their Morality is very Excellent but the Motives that induce Men to observe it are weak and a little Renown acquired in practising that Virtue they so strictly recommend as also the Title of Wisemen and that abundance of Vanity always concomitant with it are very weak Inducements to constrain the Heart of Man to deprive it self of its darling beloved Passions But it is not so with the Morality of Christ which is wonderfully supported by the Motives it lays before us Every thing is coherent in it and all the Parts proportionable It requires our Observance of many hard and mortifying Duties It curbs the Affections of the Heart and mortifies the Flesh But since that cannot be done without great Difficulty and more than ordinary Endeavours it promises us a magnificent and glorious Reward The Greatness of the Promise is supported by many terrible Threatnings and both these Objects are confirmed by such Favours as are very proper to gain our Affections The Blessings are a sure Token of the Truth of the Promises and the Truth of these makes us believe that of the Threatnings I grant the Promises of a blessed Life and Immortality which we find in the Gospel are very great and glorious but still not greater than that which Jesus made to Two of his Disciples when he called them unto him saying Come after me and I will make you Fishers of Men. There was less probability that a few poor ignorant Fishermen should have been able to catch in their Nets the Doctrin Authority Wit and Eloquence of Men than that we should see God after Death The Truth of his Promises cannot subsist without that of his Threatnings and 't is evident when he promises that the pure in Heart shall see him he threatens also to exclude those that are not so from the beatific Vision Let not Men therefore slatter themselves let them shake off their Unbelief of the severe Punishments that attend the wicked after this Life Their Reason will tell them that God can do no less than banish those his Presence who have persisted in a wilful design of offending him by their Sins and that such a Banishment is attended with the greatest of all Miseries and that is eternal Death The Stings of Conscience convince us of this and the Promises of God inform us of it His Justice points it out to us His Law teaches it and the Gospel confirms it The very Nature of things will not suffer us to doubt it since God cannot direct Man to the true end of his Creation without revealing himself to him and he cannot reveal himself to him without making his Will known to him according as he pleases nor can he make his Will known to him without giving him a Law nor give him a Law without annexing to it such Motives as must be either Promises or Threatnings deeply engraven'd in the Conscience if they accompany the Law of Nature but deliver'd in writing if they follow the written Law nor can he make such Promises or Threatnings unto Men without being punctual in the accomplishment of them And can we have any greater Certainty than that which is so visibly founded upon the Veracity of God and the Nature of things themselves There is nothing therefore capable to free Man from
this Necessity and it is to no purpose to alledge his Meanness and Wretchedness for that Circumstance rather aggravates the Crime than excuses it it being impudent beyond all pardon for a Traytour to plead Innocence because he is a Peasant and not a Lord. It will be also in vain to lay the Fault upon the evil Temperament of Body and Mind For if either submits to those Reasons which you have for committing no indecent action before a Sovereign and if that and all its Passions are calm when you fall into any Danger or expect Sentence of Death there is the same Reason that the Presence the Will and Judgments of God should have the same effect upon it Nor will Ignorance be any Excuse It would indeed justifie you if it were not only a bare pretence as it does Brutes Children and Ideots But what Man knows not his Duty 'T is also in vain to rely on the Mercy of God for that extends not to impenitent Sinners and the Almighty saves only those that desire and endeavour to be saved Lastly 'T is meer folly to assert that eternal Punishments are disproportionable to the weakness of our Nature For is not God himself eternal whom you have offended And is not your Soul also eternal that has Sinned against him Self-love however blinded thinks not life eternal a thing disagreeable and imagins nothing in it disproportionable to our Condition But 't is shock'd at the Thoughts of everlasting Pains and therefore willing to believe them improbable Dreams and Whimsies But why it does so is hard to be imagin'd unless we suppose its design to be at any rate to impose upon it self In the mean while since you can neither destroy the Eternity of God or the Soul which Reason it self forces you to acknowledge you must either suppose that the Soul is to dwell eternally with God or that it must be eternally banished from his Presence that is that it must live or die eternally For to live with God is to enjoy the greatest Perfection of Happiness and to be banished his Presence is certainly the greatest Misery that can be thought of As soon as we know the Existence of God that the Soul has no Parts and that 't is incapable of any Dissolution that its Nature altogether distinct from that of Matter cannot be buried under the Ruins of the Body it is then very hard for us to oppose the Doctrin which the Gospel teaches us concerning the State of the Soul after Death Nay we are so far from impugning of it that there is even a Necessity incumbent upon us readily to embrace the same For if the Souls of the Wicked together with those of the Good are equally to be banished the Presence of God then Reason Nature and all our other Knowledge impose upon us in giving us Hope of a future Reward And if the Souls both of the Wicked and the Good are to enjoy alike the Presence of Almighty God then too those very Principles delude us in making us dread his pretended Judgments and so Gods Justice and Veracity together with all our other Knowledge are at an end To avoid therefore falling into such an impious Assertion we must own that the Souls of the Good are to dwell for ever with God but that contrariwise those of the Wicked are to be banished his Presence and in owning this we affirmthe only thing in the World that is most agreeable to all our Knowledge and most visibly flows from the nature of things themselves The Blessings of God excellently answer his liberal Promises and the formidable Severity of his Punishments All the Creatures of this visible World conspire together to do us good And besides all the temporal Blessings daily conferr'd upon us besides the whole Earths being replenished with the Knowledge of the true God the Hearts of Men are sanctified their Souls comforted the Gospel preached throughout the whole World the Son of God died for our Offences and was raised for our Justification our crucified Saviour came out of the Grave to bring us Peace from God and seal the Truth of his Gospel by his frequent Apparitions after his Death there was a visible and frequent Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon Men a multitude of Martyrs sent from God to reclaim the World by their Examples and Conversation from Vice and Idolatrous Superstition all these things I say are such Blessings as are wonderfully suitable to the Promises and Threatnings of God and fully convince us that the Christian Morality has as many Objects to exalt and comfort Men's Souls as it has to excite and terrify their Minds to the performance of their Duty X. But to prove that this Morality is not a meer Idea of Perfection God in is Wisdom was pleased not only to have it set down in the Book of the New Testament but also to have it lively Painted first in the Life of Christ and afterwards in the daily practice of the Primitive Christians These Men are not such Teachers as might deservedly be accused of speaking well but doing ill as it was objected formerly to Seneca who composed very excellent Discourses concerning Poverty and the contempt of the Goods of Fortune when he himself was richer than the wealthiest Citizen of Rome These on the contrary confirm'd by their practice what they taught And by extirpating their evil Desires form'd such a Society as is conformable to that we have had above but a faint Prospect of when we laid down the Idea of Man's Duty They utterly renounced those Passions which put a Distinction betwixt them and other Men. They forgot their Quality and Condition the better to use one another like Brethren The same Interests were common to them all They sold their Possessions to ease the Wants and Necessities of those that suffered Adversity They rejoyced for having been thought worthy to suffer for the Name of God Every thing conduced to their Happiness even Afflictions themselves They prayed for those that despitefully us'd them and as Charity and not Selflove was the Rule of their Affections so all the Motions of their Heart tended to one as to the same Center to the Glory of God and the good of their Neighbours which gave the Scripture occasion to say that they were but one Heart and one Soul I confess that State could not always continue in the Church but the Wisdom of God permitted it should last for some time to give us a lively Image and Idea of Heaven here on Earth and so to confirm by the excellence of such an Example a Morality already supported by so many great and powerful Motives VIII Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is consider'd in its Mysteries THe Mysteries God has revealed unto us in his Word are like the cloudy Pillar which led the Children of Israel through the Wilderness For like that they are clear on one side but dark and obscure on the other If we contemplate