they would fall did not he infuse Light into them they would become darkness as well as we There remains therefore but one Expedient which is for God who alone is infinite to satisfie himself And here it is that humane Reason is confounded Let us nevertheless experience how far we are able to comprehend this abysse By the words above recited out of the Prophet Isaiah it appears that he that underwent the chastisement of our peace was to be man A man of sorrows saith he and acquainted with grief who must lay down his soul an offering for sin and this cannot be meant of any other Creature But had he had not express'd the same so manifestly the nature of the punishment which it behov'd him to suffer necessarily requires it For this is the wages of sin In the day thou eatest of the fruit of this Tree thou shalt dye the death that is thou shalt be under the subjection and condemnation of death both as to body and soul For as the Reward of Piety ha's respect to the whole complete man compos'd of body and soul so also ha's the retribution of sin which ha's corrupted both the one and the other And indeed he that was to break the Serpents head according to the word of God was to be the seed of the Woman If therefore the satisfaction which he was to render to God ought to be of an infinite value what person is able to render it though a man unless himself be of an infinite dignity And if such man be of an infinite dignity what remains but that he is also God since infiniteness of dignity cannot reside but in the divine Essence and Nature Certainly infiniteness of Dignity is as much incommunicable as infiniteness of Essence for it ha's its root and foundation in infiniteness of Essence and the one is as the natural reflexion or irradiation of the other So that as it is impossible to separate the light and strength of the Sun from the Sun it self or to imagine that something should possess that admirable splendor and vivificant virtue which is in the Sun and not fancy it to be the Sun it self So yea much more impossible is it to attribute a dignity beyond all limits to any whatsoever and not withall attribute to him an uncircumscrib'd and infinite essence And to this how seemingly repugnant soever to their reason do the Divine Scriptures manifestly astipulate out of which I shall for brevity's sake produce but some few irrefragable passages Thus speaks the Prophet Malachi in the 3. chap. of his Prophecy Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the may before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Words which we have shewn above and the Jews grant are intended of the Messias alone the Messias who alone was promis'd to be a Redeemer to his Church Now I beseech you to whom was the Temple of Jerusalem dedicated but to the true God and can it then be meant of any simply a Creature that it was his Temple Certainly neither the Jealousie of the Lord could endure it nor the ancient piety of the Jews have permitted it the erection of Temples and dedication of Altars being not due but to the Deity alone as testimonies of the soverain honor we owe to his supreme nature and Majesty But David apertly terms him God in the 45. Psalm and will not have us put to the necessity of gathering it by consequence Thy throne O GOD is for ever and ever The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore O God thy God hath annointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows For I challenge any man to make out to whom else these words can sute but to the Messias Whose throne is this that must abide for ever and to eternity For that the words he uses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie a duration without end they know who understand any thing in this language Now there is no appearance that the Holy Spirit would give the name of God to a simple creature on this manner together with a Kingdom of everlasting duration So likewise in the 110. Psalm where David calls the Messias his Lord ther 's no question but he would have him understood to be something more besides a meer man For David was a King and depended of no other but God so that between the Divine Power and that which is truely Regal such as that of David was there can be no other intermediate And yet he stiles him with the same appellation subjects use to their soverain Prince In the 110. Psalm The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool But least any further cavill at this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which sometimes in Scripture is given both to men and to Angels by reason of the greatness of their strength and eminence of power though it cannot be found attributed to one alone in particular either of Angels or men that are in power in the world Isaiah makes the commentary of it For unto us a child is born unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderfull Counsellor The mighty God The Father of Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prince of Peace Are these titles competent to a creature I know well that they assay to turn this passage to Hezekiah and refer all these titles to God except that of the Prince of Peace which they say is given by him to Hezekiah but it behoveth to have lost both shame and the use of common sense to believe them For in what other place of the Scripture where the Prophets mean to speak of God and some action purposed by him to be done do they accumulate so many titles Besides that to them that understand it the genius of the language contradicts them very evidently and their best Paraphrasts being overcome with the clearness of the truth refer it to the Messias But the Prophet Jeremy speaks with the greatest clearness possible in the 23. chap. of his Prophecy Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch and he shall raign as King and shall execute judgement and justice in the Earth In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his Name whereby he shall be called THE LORD OVR RIGHTEOVSNESSE 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For here the Ineffable name of God is us'd which is as much incommunicable according to the opinion of the Jews themselves as his very essence And indeed the greatest part of his other Names seem to hold forth his Properties but this denotes his eternally permanent essence This is it by which he delights to call himself and glorifies himself in it 'T is true
the true God and delivered the same to us disintricated from the confusion of so many false Deities to whom our Ancestors were devoted It gave them to know after what manner the World was at first formed and ha's preserved fresh amongst them the memory of the most remarkable matters that arrived in that primitive Age of Men of which other nations have had onely some kind of obscure and faint glimpses in fabulous stories which afford onely enough evidence to convince the books of the Pagans of vanity and to confirm the truth of what is found in the Jewish histories And that which advantages them yet more is that their Law contains such an excellent model of all piety and virtue that more wisdom ha's been revealed to them in ten words onely then can be collected out of the Books of all the Philosophers were the quintessence extracted out of them In a Word the Books of their Law and the Revelations of their Prophets are proceeded from Heaven and as it shall more amply appear they bear with them most undeniable testimonies of it But the polity of their Religion how divine soever was to be changed and its time being expired we must otherwhere seek the rules of that which we ought to follow Wherefore to shew that their Law was to be changed and that it was establisht but for a time it must be consider'd in each of its principal parts As in the Political Laws upon which their Republick was founded In their Ceremonial Ordinances in observation whereof consisted all their external divine service And in the Ten Commandments of the Two Tables which contain the General Precepts of piety towards God and virtue which ought to be practis'd amongst men As for their Political Laws they were excellent indeed for the government of that Nation and establish'd with singular Wisdom But I conceive there is no Jew so opinative as to account them proper for the government of all sorts of Nations in all Ages For every country every people and time must have its respective laws and there is necessity of altering the same according to the variety of circumstances And as Divorce was permitted in the Commonwealth of Israel in its political government for some necessity particular to that Nation so there may be some other Nations in which likewise for some political necessity it must be absolutely forbidden It would seem unreasonable in a country where the houses are built with plain ridges for the publick authority to demolish all sort of edifices of that fashion enjoin to build only with battlements and ballisters Now it is as little comprehensible how in such a Country as France is the Laws given by Moses concerning the determination of Law-suits could be practis'd It would be requisite not only to change the order of Magistrates and practise of Courts but to new mold the manners of the intire Nation And how could the divers forms of Governments of Kingdoms and Empires be conformed to the political Law of Israel as Monarchy in France Aristocracy in Venice and Democracy in Athens Must they that should become Jews in these parts of Europe renounce all soverain powers that are so well establish'd therein according to the genius of every Nation to reform them all according to the model of the Jewish policy And if the great Cham of the Tartars with all his subjects should cause themselves to be circumcised to what purpose would the Laws of Tenths for the Levites the like be in his Country Indeed all the policy of Israel was regulated either according to the nature of that people different from most others or according to the division of their Tribes wherewith other Nations had no resemblance or else according to the quality of the Country which was unlike to others in many respects But on the other side their great Legislator the most pious amongst their Kings and the divinest amongst their Prophets have expresly promis'd the Calling of the Nations to the communion of one and the same Law with the Jews so that they shall make up but one people Rejoyce O ye Nations his people saith Moses Deut. 32.43 And David in the 117. Psalm O praise the Lord all ye Nations praise him all ye people Why but for being called to his knowledge And in Psal 69.1 O sing unto the Lord a new song All the Earth sing unto the Lord vers 3. Declare his glory among the heathen and his Wonders among all people But Isaiah more expresly when he promises in the 55. chap. of his Revelations that the Messias shall be equally a Legislator of the Jews and others vers 4. Behold I have given him for a witness to the Nations to be a leader and commander of the people Behold thou shalt call a Nation that thou knewest not and the Nations which knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God And 't is for the same reason that he speaks thus to the Church of God in the foregoing Chapter Sing O barren thou that didst not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud thou that knowest not what it is to travel with child c. Enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtaines of thy Pavillions spare not lengthen thy cord and strengthen thy stakes For thou shalt spread forth on the right hand and on the left and thy posterity shall inherit the Nations and make the desolate Cities to be inhabited And the Jews themselves await the accomplishment of these promises Wherefore it follows necessarily that their Law as to the policy of the Commonwealth was to alter and that whereas before it oblig'd all those who had any interest and title in the Alliance which God had contracted with them the use thereof in this respect is now become free and not necessarily obligatory The truth is though political Laws of Republicks be nothing but the natural laws of justice and honesty which being general are applyed to particular matters according to the diversity of circumstances which are infinite and infinitely variable provided that in the government of every Nation the image of that natural justice be always resplendent in their Laws it is not important whether there be difference in things of lesser concernment And it would be too rigorous a yoak to subject all Nations to the same form of Laws without regard whether the humors of men and conditions of times permit it Now whereas the Law of Moses is composed of three parts equally the change of one necessarily infers with it the alteration of the rest And it must needs fall out here as it do's in the building of Palaces For he that should go about to change one part of a great uniform edifice it would be needful for him to change it all and ruine it all from top to bottom otherwise the disparity of its parts would render it unproportional and deformed But this is more manifest in the Ceremonial Law in
decree The Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And vers 12. Kiss the Son lest he be angry For whatever clouds they endeavor to obscure this place with it is as clear as the Noon-Sun that it cannot be applyed to David or any other besides the Messias No other can inherit so glorious a name as to be called The Son of God nor have the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession and the Heathen for his inheritance So likewise that that promise made unto David When thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish his Kingdom He shall build an house for my Name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom for ever I will be his Father and he shall be my Son is applicable to Solomon though that which follows agrees to him But if he commit iniquity c. the too great magnificence of the words and the event of things cannot allow the Kingdom of Solomon having been first of all rent in two in the time of Rehoboam and afterwards his Throne for so many Ages so shatter'd to pieces that there are not the least reliques of it to be found in the world And in another place Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given c. Of whom without question Solomon is to be understood where he introduces wisdom speaking thus By me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was made When there were no depths I was brought forth when there was no fountaines abounding with water Before the mountaines were setled before the hills was I brought forth When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth Then was I by him as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight rejoycing always before him For what a strange manner of speaking would this be if the intent were onely to express that God is wise To what purpose were it to give us notice so diligently that he was wise from the beginning if there be no other mystery in it seeing it is as impossible that he should ever be without Wisdom as his own Divine Nature What maner of expression is it of Gods being wise from all time for wisdom her self to cry out the Lord begat her Can any Poetical Fury excuse such extraordinary and uncouth fetches and especially in a Book whose style otherwise throughout though it seems writ in verse is as remote from enthusiasmes as the Heavens are from the Earth Now the Son is without question a Person distinct from the Father The Wisdom begotten from him which begets it The Branch shouted forth from him that emits it He that causes to sit from Him that sits at the right hand And reason consequently proves the same evidently For since it was requisite satisfaction should be made to that eternal and immutable Justice and it behoved him to be God that should make it to whom could he satisfie unless there be an other person likewise God in whom this Justice is considered For we have asserted and repeated many times that this Justice is a Perfection in God which consists in the hatred of evil and that God by punishing exercises the office of universall Magistrate and Judge of the World Wherfore it was necessary for the person who exercis'd this inexorable Justice to be distinct from him upon whom it was exercis'd the punisher from the sufferer For in one and the same matter and the same respect none can be Magistrate and Criminal both together Well will some say let Christian Religion stop there The Scripture and Reason hold forth these two distinct Persons But Christianity conjoines also a Third What necessity is there of multiplying thus the Persons of the Deity Indeed that which makes the Christian Doctrine seem strange in this point is that Humane Reason is not easily able to comprehend how divers persons really and distinctly subsistent can reside in one single and simple essence the union of essence being according to the judgement of Reason repugnant thereunto But if it be granted upon inducement of the Holy Scriptures and the necessary dependance of these truths so excellently coherent together that there are two distinct Persons in one single essence of God the Doctrine of a Third ought not to be scrupul'd For the Unity of the Divine Essence will be as little repugnant to the distinct subsistence of Three Persons as of Two It behoves us therefore to inquire in brief whether the Jews may finde this Third Person in their Books Now mention is so frequently made of the Spirit of God in the Books of the Prophets that it is some trouble to make choise in so great a multitude These are apparent amongst others I have not spoken in secret from the beginning saith Isaiah chap. 48. and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me Are not the Lord and his Spirit distinct And yet to whom appertains it to send Prophets but to the Lord himself If the Spirit had not been God would Isaiah have call'd himself his Prophet And that it might not seem to be the Second Person who is call'd The Spirit he elsewhere puts all three distinctly in one and the same passage And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding the Spirit of Counsel and Might c. For it is clearer then the day That the Branch growing out of the roots of Jesse is the Messias upon whom seeing the Spirit of the Lord ought to rest and that He also as we have shewn is the Lord behold here is one only Lord distinguish'd into three Persons And in another place in the same terms The Spirit of the Lord is upon me What me The Prophet No. For it follows Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to binde up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound To proclaim the acceptable yeer of the Lord. Effects which transcend both the capacity and the condition of the Prophets times And to the same effect in another place Behold my servant to wit the Messias so styled in respect of his humane nature and because as he is Mediator he is employed by his Father for Redemption of the Church whom I will uphold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him And that passage in the 1 chap. of Genesis is very remarkable though they except against it And the Earth was without form and void and the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters For what is that Spirit of the Lord A great Wind say they which agitated that confused Mass of the Elements for great things are said to be God's as the Mountains of God But in the first place what verisimilitude is there that Moses should in the beginning of his History make use of a rare phrase and which is not found but in the Books of the other Prophets and perhaps no where else in his own which is enough to evince that it was not yet extant in his time In the next place whence came this great Wind and to what end serv'd it Was it to hinder that great confus'd mass from putrifying God was well able to hinder that and there being as yet no order establisht in Nature it was not needful for God to create a wind supernaturally to prevent the putrifying of the Matter by its agitation And Then the Matter of the Chaos being to continue so little a space in that estate the putrifaction of it was not to be feared Besides the word moved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not signifie such a motion as the blast of a great winde but onely a gentle tremulous concussion in which regard it is attributed to the Eagle's shaking the wings in incubation over its brood as if Moses would have said The Spirit of God gently incubated on the World to cause it to be excluded or brought forth out of that confused matter But many others have handled this Doctrine at large and therefore I shall produce no more testimonies Certainly if regard be had to the Order which Christian Religion observes not so much in reference to these distinct persons considered in themselves for they are abysses which it looks upon as inscrutable as to the effects which are attributed to them in the work of Redemption of Mankind it will be found highly admirable For to the Father as to the first Principal Author of all things it attributes the care and administration of the Justice which takes vengance on the Sins of men So that 't is properly to his Person as Superintendant of the Common right of the Three in what relates to the unity of their Essence that satisfaction ha's been rendred And the first source of that Mercy whereby he was moved to determine to raise man from the misery into which he was fallen And the Invention if I may so speak of that Expedient in order to it by his incomprehensible Wisdom To the Son as to him who assum'd humane Nature and conjoin'd it with the Divine in the unity of his Person and who suffer'd in one of his Natures a Passion of infinite value by reason of the infinite dignity of his other it attributes the work of Redemption both in regard of the satisfaction which he made and the exercise and accomplishing of the other things belonging to his office So all things having been created as the Wise man speaks by that eternal Wisdom it could not be competent but to the same to raise them out of their ruins To the Holy Spirit as to him who being common to the Father and the Son is the Virtue by which both one and the other produces things and bring their purposes into being it attributes the Action which renders both the mercies of the Father and the Performances of the Son beneficial and efficacious to us For what would the Dilection of the Father advantage us if we do not experience it and the satisfaction of the Son if we do not embrace and receive it to the peace and joy of our consciences Which how can we do if the faculties of our Understandings and Wills which are so blind and perverted be not inlightned from above and rectify'd by a supernatural power So the Father who prevented the existence of all things by his goodness hath also prevented them by his mercy in restoring them to a happy being The Son by whom all things were at first created as by the Eternal Wisdom and Word hath re-establish'd and repair'd them And the Holy Spirit by virtue of whom both the Father and the Son accomplish'd the Decree of the Creation of the World hath also been the Virtue of both to perfect actually the restauration of the World Nor ought the Jews here to be exasperated or humane reason demur For as for the Jews since their own Scriptures teach this what can they oppose in contradiction Are they wont to control the words of the Lord or to measure the Doctrine he reveals to them by their own judgements Have they not learnt That his thoughts are not as their thoughts nor his wayes as their wayes but as distant as the Heaven is high above the Earth Have they not learn'd of their Prophet that not onely none hath directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his Counsellor hath taught him but also that there is no possibility of fadoming his understanding Yet their Ancestors who liv'd before the Hatred of Christian Religion had so blinded their Nation perceiv'd some shadows of these truths in the Scripture and have left divers footsteps of them in their Commentaries and Paraphrases speaking so frequently both of the Word and the Wisdom of God and of his spirit as of things distinct that there is but too much to convince the obstinacy of their descendants As for humane Reason it ought not much to be scandalis'd if there be in the nature of God a depth beyond comprehension there being in all other things which seem commensurate to its capacity so many difficulties which check it None ha's yet been found that could give account of that Motion in the Heavens called The Motion of Trepidation yea 't is not yet fully determin'd if we follow the Phaenomena of Astronomers whether the earth circulates about the Sun or the Sun about the Earth The formation of Meteors ha's not hitherto been clearly and certainly explicated nor is there any that pretends confidently to have discover'd their causes throughly The Flux and Reflux of the sea is to Philosophers a secret more deep then any of its abysses and there is no mention of any that ever rightly understood it Then in terrestrial things who is he that can declare to us the nature of the Loadstone what that attractive virtue is which draws Iron to it and that other of it's verticity towards the Poles of the World How numerous mysteries are there in the most easie Sciences which cannot be discover'd to the bottome and how many things seem facil against which the acies of our minds is blunted Who ever understood the reasons of the almost infinite variations which are observ'd in the mixture of the Elements in the production of all things as to colour figure quality quantity medicinal and venemous faculties All the world knows what a Circle is and Children are not ignorant of the shape a Square a Peasant is capable of comprehending that there is according to all appearance some proportion
executed in choler as ours is being carried thereunto by no other motive then for that he is Just But Justice is a Virtue exempt from all passion and turbulent agitation He hath a tender care over the Good without feeling the agitations and heats in his bowels which we do For he is not subject to our Evils Wherefore having no communion of nature with us he doth not behold or acknowledge the image of his natural condition in our calamities and fears not least the like should befall himself which is the principal and usual cause of our compassions He hath regard to them because he is Good Now Goodness is a propensity to do Good and not a perturbation excited in our affections and accompanied with regret or anguish But these frivolus objections are professedly answered in whole Treatises to which I refer the Readers to avoid detaining them with fruitless repetitions Let us therefore proceed to some other considerations which are more important to the matter in hand CHAP. VI. Of the Natural difference which is between Vice and Virtue and of the Terrors of Conscience Whether it can be deduc'd from them that there is a Providence IT is not my intention to be prolixe in deduction of the reasons which are imploy'd against the Epicureans in behalf of Providence It hath been done so often and by so many excellent personages aswell Pagans as Christians ancient and modern Poets and Orators Divines and Philosophers that to begin the same over again would be a work unprofitably undertaken And I cannot but wonder that especially in our times there should be people that yet call it into question and who have not been able to learn neither from Earth nor Heaven nor Men nor Angels nor from the mouth of God a thing that publisheth it self so loudly and clearly I shall onely make some reflections concerning the natural motions of our Hearts which may afford us some understanding thereof I would therefore willingly demand of these people whether they judge that there is any natural difference between Vice and Virtue so that Vice is naturally blamable and evil Virtue on the contrary honest and commendable in it self or whether they conceive this distinction to have been introduc'd onely to keep men in order and to discipline Commonwealths although otherwise they are things in their own nature indifferent For if they be of the Opinion that Archelaus was of from whom Epicurus Aristippus Carneades and many others learnt it that there is nothing in the naked essence of things that discriminates them and that the difference we find in them is proceeded onely from custome and as they speak from Positive Law whence comes that desire we are all possess'd with of being if not really at least seemingly honest persons in so much that the most wicked are offended when they are taken for such as they are and endeavor as much as possible they can to cloath their wickednesses with the appearances of uprightness and probity Certainly that desire could never be so universal were it not also natural and it could not be natural unless there be an essential difference between that from which we are desirous to attain honor and that for which we fear to meet with blame For why should Nature have inspir'd and principled us to prize the one more then the other or rather to love and affect the one and have a kind of abhorrence of the other if she her self had not placed more value and esteem on the one and blasted the other with some marks of her improbation and hatred And seeing there is oftentimes difficulty in the exercise of Virtue by reason of the conflict of our sensual appetites which resist the influences of that upon our minds and that on the other side it seems there are so many delights and pleasures in Vice which give it an easie victory and dominion over our appetites how comes it to pass that that which we call Virtue hath notwithstanding so much power over our minds as to oblige us to render it this advantageous testimony Indeed as there is perhaps no vice of so universal extent as that of hypocrisie so neither is there any that more clearly attests the excellence of Uprightness and Honesty For if Justice and Honesty is not able to obtain the rule of our affections which are in subjection to its enemy it appears at least that its Idea cannot be driven out of the understanding and that it enforces the Vitious to give sentence of condemnation against themselves Epicurus instructs his Sage to be careful of his reputation so far as not to suffer himself to be contemn'd because say his followers Contempt brings along with it very many inconveniences which cannot consist with Pleasure but are destructive to it so that if he owns no other motive to maintain a good esteem of himself but that then provided he be able to secure himself from contempt by any other means he will not be solicitous of having a good reputation Now he that sets no value at all upon a good repute is as careless of the actions that produce it For Renown stands in relation to the actions and habits of Virtue as the images that are emanent from the qualities of sensible things are to them and the bodies cloathed with them And the minds of men that judge of us and our actions are as the Mirrors that receive those images Therefore as if it were indifferent to Epicurus in what manner a Looking-glass did represent him and what images proceeded from his body fair or foul of a pleasant or horrid colour well proportion'd in their parts and lineaments or deform'd and extravagant he would give us to to judge that he did not trouble himself about the qualifications and structure of his Body so likewise the contempt that he should make of his reputation would sufficiently discover the little care he had of the constitution of his Soul But to be thus qualified a man must be both wicked and impudent in the highest degree which would be a wonderful quality for the perfection of a Wise man However as it is extremely sutable for an honest person to Love Virtue for it self and to indeavor to imitate him of whom the Athenians gave this Character He desires not to seem Just but to be so So that the perverse judgement that is made of him and his actions do not drive him to desert it and discourage him from continuing such so it is natural to men and principally to the most Virtuous to desire that their Virtue be acknowledged and esteemed according to its due value because as Aristotle saith this is its natural recompense But to come neerer to the matter in hand If it be indifferent of it self to be Vitious or Virtuous I demand whether it be also an indifferent thing to render honor to the Deity or not For if it be indifferent the Epicureans are in the wrong when they enjoyn it as meet to
their violence Insomuch that where there is lest one sparkle of piety and hope of pardon men would not have this opinion true That God hath no care of men and that he prepares neither Good nor Evil for them in the other world And where there is not so much as the least seed of piety although they are very desirous that Opinion were true yet they are not able to perswade themselves that it is so And hereof the Epicureans themselves supply us with an evident Instance For what else intends their Poet in these lines Vsque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saevasque secures Proculcare ludibrio sibi habere videtur What is it I beseech you that he denotes by that hidden Power Is it Nature No surely for Nature takes pleasure in the production and conservation of things not in their ruine besides that these Accidents which he mentions are not dependant on the ordinary laws of Nature Is it Fortune then No much less For wherefore should he say that she takes pleasure to shatter the grandeurs of the World disdainfully at her Feet seeing she hath no knowledge either of little or great nor whether those be the bagdes of Power or not which she tears in pieces and dashes to powder It remains therefore that it is that which we call the Providence of God which indeed sometimes takes pleasure in convincing men of their vanity and overturning the highnesses and excellencies of the Earth And this is that which extorts from Horace a disciple of the same School that handsome confession that having been formerly a contemner of the Gods the dreadful violences of thunder made him renounce that foolish wisdom wherewith he had been imbued and pronounce this memorable sentence Valet ima summis Mutare insignem attenuat Deus So great is the power of truth that even from the mouth of its adversaries it draws testimonies to its advantage CHAP. VII Of the Epicurean Opinion concerning the Immortality of the Humane Soul and the Supreme Good and what may redound from it HItherto I have touch'd but transiently upon the Questions of the Immortality of the Soul and of the Supreme Good of Man and I now come to examine what they judge of the one and wherein they place the other Which though they both require to be treated of distinctly I shall dispatch with brevity according to the universal design of this Work And forasmuch as they of former times thought that the Soul survives not the Body and the opinion of the modern Sectators is doubtful thereof some affirming others denying the same it is necessary for me to shew that if they grant that the Humane Soul is immortal they are also obliged to confess that there is a Providence I shall not scruple in the first place to alledge here for proof of the incorruptibility of our minds The consent of all Nations although I have already made use of that Argument in another matter For it seems such to me as ought in no wise to be rejected unless by contentious spirits who when they have contradicted a truth of how great evidence soever think they have atchieved an exploit of great applause For I beseech you if the soul of man be not immortal if there be no firm reasons to induce us to believe that it is so how hath such a fancy been able to become so rooted in our Minds that there is not any opinion that ha's a greater vogue in the World Not onely the Greeks and the Romanes who seem to have been better refined then other Nations have been imbued with it but the Barbarians and least civilised people have equally had this perswasion of the perpetual duration of their Minds although the quality of their estate after death was almost equally unknown to them all What therefore are those reasons that perswaded them of it and rendred that perswasion so firm and unalterable Should I say that all Nations have received it from hand to hand from their Ancesters perhaps it would stir the Epicureans spleen to mockery yet I should not affirm either an absurdity or an impertinence For all Mankind being derived from one single person and he having been indued with a more clean and particular understanding of his Being then others have had since because the race of men ha's been gradually depraved and degenerate according to the distance at which they have been removed from their originals he imparted the principles and knowledge to his descendants which are ingrasted in them and intertained from Age to Age. And although it were no more then a tradition from hand to hand which ha's been altered in divers manners by Lapse of time yet the principal part thereof which consists in the belief it self of the Immortality of the Soul hath such a foundation in Truth and in Nature that it hath been impossible even for many Ages of time which ordinarily decays all things to prevail against it or at least to deface it out of the minds of Men. Now no Relation ought to be discredited which is accompained with these evidences First that no solid and indubitable reasons can be brought against the same to convince it of falsitie as I am well assured there is none to be found against this of any reasonable probability And Secondly which is equally spread through out the whole Universe and hath been with extreme forwardness received by all Nations and Lastly which hath born up against the encounters of time and constantly maintained it self in the midst of so â—any revolutions of humane affairs so that it hath pass'd into the remotest Islands and the territories separated from us by so great seas that they have lain undiscover'd to us till within these last two hundred years Is it not a thing worthy our marveil that in such places where men had lost all knowledge of their Original and of the streights over which the people pass'd from whom they are descended and where they have in a manner forgotten humanity it self they should notwithstanding have preserv'd this belief that there is some other thing in them besides the Body of greater excellence and which subsists beyond their fate and ashes But if there be people sound in some other part of the New World which are fallen to so low a degree beneath themselves and to such a measure of brutality as not to have retain'd amongst them any shadow of this Sentiment though I much doubt whether there be any such their testimony ought not to be of any consideration not onely because they are very few in number in comparison of the rest of the World but also because that it would not be strange if they whom barbarisme ha's unman'd in all other things even so far as to have no inclination to society should likewise have extinguish'd in their Minds that impression of Nature and the tradition of their Ancestors But praised be God there are other reasons which
of it immediately after vers 6. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry land Vers 7. And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts Vers 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater then of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace Now of whom can this be understood but of the Messias who was to enter into it and effectively fill this house with glory What else could advance it so as not onely to equal but transcend the magnificence of the other And indeed Malachy who liv'd and prophesied at the same time speaks it plainly in the 3. chap. vers 1. Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he cometh saith the Lord of Hosts They will say perhaps that Haggai foresaw that Herod would enlarge and enrich it so magnificently that it should equal or surpass even that of Solomon And 't is true as Histories inform us that he advanc'd the same to a far greater splendor then rhat which the poor returned exiles had given it But seeing all the pompous state that he bestowed on it was but the effect of his vast and boundless ambition which he express'd almost every where by proud structures as amongst others in the City and Haven of Caesarea to the end his power and greatness might be admir'd and not the divine glory promoted how could it be agreeable to God to attribute to him the vanity of a man and even of such a man who was a stranger if not absolutely in profession at least in heart and affection from his Covenants and a cruel bloody usurper of the government of his people And if it was not well-pleasing to God that David should build him a Temple because his hands had been bloodied in so many wars which he had manag'd though very just and undertaken out of necessity for the deliverance of Israel and for the Glory of God himself how could he take pleasure in the vanity of this Monster who was formed and elemented of wind and blood and dirt Besides though it had been built all of Saphires and Diamonds could that glory have rendred it comparable to the least of the five mentioned particulars or would it have been worth the pains that God should promise to shake the Sea and the dry land the Heavens and the Earth for it to cause I say by his infinite power a universal change in the face of the World and to what purpose were it to mention the shaking of all Nations to bring the choice of them into that Temple if there were no more signifi'd by it then the proud magnificence of the Pile and vast greatness of the Stones And what Nation ever changed their seat to go to see it or to send offerings thither by their Ambassadors We see therefore the Temple demolish'd and all the attempts made to re-edifie it defeated by a special demonstration of the anger of God against them that endevour'd it so that there remains onely the dust of its ruines after neer sixteen hundred years without ever having been filled with the glory promised to it if the Messias be not yet come as the Jews pretend In the third place Daniel in the 9. chap. determinately foretold the time since the expiration of which are past a dozen Ages Seventy weeks saith the Angel are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy City to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks That this place ought to be understood of the Messias nothing but obstinate blindness can dissent and 't is very strange that Passion should so feel up the eyes of some of them that in hatred of our Lord they should interpret it of some other For to whom belongs it but to the Messias either to be styled the Anointed by way of excellence or to put an end to Prophecies or to bring in and manifest eternal righteousness or to make propitiation for offenses Now what is meant by those seventy weeks Septenaries of daies or weeks or months or years or ages Of weeks of days and weeks of years there is frequent mention in the Old Testament of the rest there occur no examples And surely they cannot understand it of Ages for so they would refer the coming of the Messias to too remote a distance of time and of fifty thousand years which Daniel should have foretold there would he pass'd little more then two thousand And when would they see the accomplishment of their hopes Therefore they must be septenaries of years or moneths or weeks or dayes and indeed they ought to be understood of years But observe what their subterfuge is and to what they constantly retreat to defend their opiniastry That indeed the time prefixed by the Prophets for the sending of the Messias is expired but 't is their sins which hinder them from seeing the accomplishment of those promises By reason of them God ha's delay'd the time of their visitation and deferr'd the exhibition of the Messias and consequently prolong'd the term appointed for the duration of the Law That when they shall have perform'd a sutable repentance they shall see the effect of that which God hath promis'd at which time they do not gainsay but the Law of Moses shall cease But this Evasion is vain For supposing that God defer'd the sending of his Anointed yet at least the Temple ought to have been kept undestroy'd and the Jewish Religion maintained in its integrity and not so dreadful a dispersion of that Nation to have been suffer'd and so total an abolition of all his service For where are his sacrifices and his Altars Why did not He leave some use of them at least during the expectance of the accomplishment of that promise Mal. 1.11 From the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles in every place incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure offering Let them consult their own Books God denounced that he would cause the Deluge to come upon the Earth and he executed it at the set time He promised Posterity to Abraham and gave it him contrary to all probability He foretold the Captivity of his Posterity in Aegypt and it came to pass and continued neither
in essence and perfections and that all the petty Deities of the Pagans are trifles that he is the punisher of Vice and the rewarder of Piety and Virtue by sutable penalties and recompenses both for the body and the soul that all creatures ow him honour and obedience both because they hold their being from him and in regard of his infinite majesty that their beatitude consists in their communion with him and their ruine and extream misery in their elongation from him that he is the author of all the good that is in them and therefore to him onely is praise and thanksgiving to be rendred And also that it professes to embrace the promises of the Messias in the exhibition of whom the Jews place all the hope of their felicity and glory It might seem that in these particulars and the like the Christians ought not so much to be held to have succeeded the Jews as to be Jews themselves or indeed rather the ancient Jews to have been Christians in as much as these are the foundation of Christianity laid by the Prophets and upon which to speak strictly all the faith and piety of their ancestors was built Nevertheless the Christian Law is not without greater advantages herein as having diffused these doctrines without comparison more universally then the Jewish ever did For God being not onely the God of Jews but of all people in the world equally in as much as he framed all of the same blood it is more sutable to the goodness of his nature to communicate the knowledge of his Name to all Nations to East West North and South then to hold himself as it were included within the bounds of Iudaea and it cannot be denyed but that he presents us with a more glorious example of his love to mankind by uniting them together in a Society more strait then that of humanity it self then he did sometimes by the Law of the Jews who having their God their Laws their Ceremonies and their hopes apart look't upon all other Nations as profane and entertain'd no communion with them And certainly were not the Jews blinded by their passions they would acknowledge in this not only the excellence of the Christian Religion above their own but also that the Author of it was the true Messias promised by the Prophets For there is nothing so clear in all their Scriptures as the prediction of the calling of the Gentiles at the appearing of the Messias as was shewn above and the day is not so clear as it is evident that this Promise hath been accomplisht by the preaching of the Gospel For did not the preaching of the Apostles aim at the reducing of the Gentiles from the service of Idols to the knowledge of the God of Abraham Did not they wage a mortal and irreconcileable War against false Deities Did they not overthrow their Temples and demolish their Altars with the sound of their voices Are not the very names of the Idols of the Pagans obliterated out of the memory of men in the greatest part of the world Certainly the Romans and the Greeks whom the Iews held for aliens from the true God and the Nations which both of them accounted Barbarians in Asia Europe Africa even the Savages of the Indies which were unknown to them have done homage to the God of Israel acknowledge the Jews for those that heretofore alone serv'd him venerate their Scriptures ascribe to their Law the prerogative of being the onely rule of piety and virtue reverence their Prophets as heralds of the Divine Will have cast off and abandon'd all their images What do they require further Such a universal mutation in the whole face of the Universe such a marvellous conversion of the hearts of so many Nations in all parts of the World can they judge possible to have been made without a special divine assistance Certainly either this Prophesie The Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the bottom of the Sea with waters that cover it ha's been accomplish'd in the preaching of the Gospel or it will never be accomplish'd at all Wherefore the Christian Religion hath this advantage in this respect above the Jewish that God shews himself in it more affectionate and good towards men and 't is his property to be good that men have more powerful inducements by this consideration to be good one towards another in which consists their perfection and lastly that it ha's this indubitable evidence of the manifestation of the Messias Then in reference to things in which they differ they are of many sorts And as we above distinguish'd the Law of Moses into three parts the Political the Ceremonial and the Moral we will now consider each of them distinctly by it self in brief And first for the Political it needs not much to insist upon that because it do's not so directly regard Religion and yet it must not be wholly pasâ—over in silence How exact therefore so ever it was and congruous to the Nature of that people yet it cannot be denyed but the Christian Religion which hath left to all Nations the free use of their own Laws provided that honesty and equity be resplendent in their policy wherewith all the actions of men ought to be temper'd is in this point preferable before it many degrees For seeing the substance and ground-work of Political Laws is proportionate to and do's not exceed humane reason and therefore the constitution and administration of those Laws depends on Prudence it is a very evident testimony that God greatly distrusted the prudence of the people of the Jews when he took care to prescribe to them even in the least matter and to give them as their Prophet speaks Precept after precept Precept after precept line after line line after line But having diffus'd over all Nations a spirit of prudence and wisdom by the publication of the Gospel to administer their affairs with sage and good conduct it was consentaneous that the establishing of their respective Laws should be permitted to themselves And this turns both to the great adorning of the Universe and to the singular praise of the divine Wisdom For as the Wisdom of God is more illustrous in the several motions of the Heavens of which some are slow others more rapid some tend towards the East others to the West yet from all of them at last results that excellent harmony on which the conservation of the World and the production of all things in the Universe depends then if were no variety at all in their courses And as in the Earth the different streams of Rivers of which some glide so gently that their motion is scarce preceptible others rush with violence like torrents each according to the manner of the places through which they pass some flowing towards the North others towards the South and all in the mean while come from the Sea and return thither again do much more grace and adorn the
in arms Now what is the cause of this misery but their Sins both such as are common to all men in general and particular to their own Nation For certainly God who lov'd them so tenderly and chose them out from all others to communicate his Covenants to them would not treat them so rigorously were there not some lawful cause in their extraordinary offenses And what a strange blindness and stupidity of mind is it to have so quick a resentment of evils relating to the body and not to acknowledge the cause of them What a depravity and perversity of understanding to groan under the strokes of the hand of God never to groan under the load of their own iniquity To pant incessantly after a Deliverer of the Body and never to think of the redemption of the soul They are driven out of Judaea and Heaven and Earth resound with their lamentations They are by their sins debar'd the hope of Heaven and make no matter of it They are inthralled to their corporeal enemies and murmure against God for it They themselves are sold to Satan and to Sin and do not understand the horror of this servitude They are impatient in a waiting the coming of some Person that may reassemble them from their dispersion and deliver them in reference to the body The Redeemer and Deliverer of their fouls is offer'd and preach'd to them and they reject him They flatter themselves with hope of a profound and plenteous tranquillity in all sorts of pleasures and delights of the Flesh and cheer up themselves with it They are invited to taste how good the Lord is in his compassions and they refute it Their thoughts are day and night upon gold silver silk scarlet fine linnen and jewels and their hearts leap with the fancy The Gospel tells them of riches and ornaments relating to the minde and they blaspheme it Is this the Posterity of that onely wife and intelligent people with whom God establisht his Covenants But above all the rest they do injury to the glory of that Messias who was promised to them to fancy him an earthly Prince For since themselves call his Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven what other ought they to hope for but one spiritual and heavenly which beginning to be exercis'd here below in the souls of men which are of a spiritual nature is accomplish'd above in glory unspeakable And truly 't is to this that all the Prophets lead us from the first to the last What does that promise refer to The seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head but to the consolation of man by the hope of being deliver'd from the Curse of eternal Death into which he is fallen by the deceit of the Evil One For as he sin'd principally with his soul which is the source and principle of the actions of the body and alone capable of understanding the laws of piety and obedience so it was consentaneous that the condemnation of death should be directed to the soul in case of rebellion And that other promise In thy seed shall all the families of the Earth be blessed and I will give this Land to thee and to thy Posterity after thee wherein did it profit Abraham if it aim'd no further then that Canaan which himself never possess'd and was not given to his Posterity till above 400. years after Was it either a sufficicent consolation to him in all the Crosses that he underwent or a Promise worthy of God who establisht his Covenant with him For which of us cares what will be done a hundred years after his death As for those words of Jacob untill Shiloh come they promise a Prince of peace about whom neither fire nor sword shall glitter but he shall be the author of peace between God and men It shall come to pass saith Isaiah that the Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it But what to do Come shall they say and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths Therefore 't is to be enrich'd in the knowledge of the Name of the Lord and not in Jewels or Pearls to learn to moderate and subdue their Passions and not to conquer Kingdomes Also in the 25. chap. 6. vers In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things a feast of Wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined Can they take this according to the Letter It is certain there are some so stupifi'd with the wine of ignorance that they take it so and expect to be satiated with that horrible Leviathan which is powder'd up I know not where against the manifestation of the Messias Poor people who think the Prince of the Kingdom of Heaven will come to fill their bellies But behold what follows vers 7. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the veil that is spread over all Nations What is the meaning of this but that all Nations being involv'd in ignorance as in the black veil of night he will dispell all that darkness to the end they may behold the light of his knowledge that they may rejoyce I say in the light of that Sun of Righteousness who carries healing in his wings And thus through out all the Prophets which would be too long to recite there needs no more but to read them For it will be found that he is a Prince of peace upon whom the Spirit of the Lord shall rest the Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding the Spirit of counsel and might the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. That under his reign The Wolfe shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard lye down with the Kid and the Calfe and the young Lyon and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them c. That is He will unite the most hostile Nations together in the same society of Religion and cicurate and mollifie the fiercest people by the knowledge of the true God and render the most untractable natures gentle and sweet Which the Prophet himself expounds immediately after They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street A bruised reed shall be not break and the smoaking flaw shall he not quench So far is it that he shall batter all to pieces with Canon-shot or hew all down with the sword And as for his Glory it must needs be other then terrestrial and corporeal Since he was to be despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Since I say he
cripled members after long impotence For what are the works of Magicians usually but illusions and feats of jugling rather then actions surpassing the power of Nature Others of the Jews ascribe his admirable Works to the Cabala pretending that he stole the name of God out of the Temple and that to that ineffable Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was annexed the power of doing miracles But besides that this is a shameless fable and unworthy to be taken notice of what colour is there that four Hebrew Letters should have the power of resuscitating the dead And if the Name of God ennabled him to work Wonders was it with the permission of God himself or against his consent If against his allowance surely it would be a pitiful case should a man by subtlety steal the name of God and do miracles by it in spight of him to whom it belongs That God I say should have devested himself of his infinite power to transfer it to four small Hebrew Characters by a irrevocable donation If with his permission and consent then hereby he confirm'd the calling of Jesus and ratified the open and clear declaration he made of being the Messias Which he would never have done in patronage of an imposture God also foreshew'd that the Messias should suffer and David apparently specifi'd the manner of his Death otherwise to what end did he say They pierced my hands and my Feet since in those times of his there was not among the Jews any custome of a punishment in which they pierc'd the hands and feet from whence David might borrow this phrase For as for what they cavil upon the word they pierced me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it ought to be translated as a Lion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sence of the sentence which would by that means become imperfect and in suspence refutes it For what can this signifie As a Lyon my hands and my feet there being no connexion to that which precedes Now our Lord Jesus hath suffer'd death even the death of the Cross by which on the one side the words of David have been accomplisht and on the other that ha's been really brought to pass which was figuratively represented by the Lifting up of the Serpent besides that the Curse denounced against those which hang'd upon the tree is become expiated thereby David had said in the 16. Psalm Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see Corruption To what purpose spoke he thus if he meant it of himself seeing he is dead and in his dust with his fathers And yet he spoke it not extravagantly for the Holy Spirit which guided him did not suffer these words to escape him at randome To whom then ought they rather to be referr'd then to him of whom David was so express a type that he is styled by his Name Therefore since he was to dye and yet ought not undergo putrefaction in the grave it follows that he ought to rise again from the dead and this our Scriptures teach us of Christ and is of most evident verity though the Jews pretend dissatisfaction of it For why shall we not give credit to his Disciples who were eye-witesses of it since they gain'd nothing but persecutions and capital hatreds by maintaining it Who can imagine that men who naturally love Life should spontaneously abandon themselves to death to defend the delusion of a Death from which they could expect nothing Moreover David in the 68 Psalm saith Thou hast ascended on high thou hast lead captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men I beseech you who do's he speak of Is it of God as a person distinct from the Messias It cannot be Throughout all the whole space of Ages which pass'd before Penning of this Psalm never any deliverance was wrought for the people of Israel nor extraordinary favour shewn them whose greatness or manner may correspond to this passage and the strain of the whole Hymne testifies the contrary To whom can it sute but to him in whose time was to be seen the effect of the words which follow in the same place Princes shall come out of Egypt Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God By reason of which the Kingdomes of the Earth shall sing praises unto God and Psalms unto the Lord that is to the Messias Now our Lord is ascended into Heaven after his glorious resurrection whence he hath sent those admirable gifts of the spirit which have imbued the people of the Earth with the knowledge of the Lord whereof there need no other proofs then that the Nations heretofore the most ignorant and barbarous have now so much knowledge of the Nature of God and the truths of Religion that they exceed the Jews therein as far at least as they were exceeded by the Jews before the preaching of the Gospel Daniel had foretold that after that Christ should be cut off that is after he should have suffer'd death but not for himself The People of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary and Christ confirmed this Prophecy by foretelling that of Jerusalem and the Temple there should not be left one stone upon another Now who can doubt but that the event hath ratifi'd the Prophecy Lastly it was predicted that he should destroy the Kingdom of Satan and the worship of false Gods and since his times they have been no longer in repute even the most famous oracles have lost their very being Of which there needs no other testimonies then those of Pagan Authors who inquire after the cause of their cessation and of experience after so many Ages that their memory is quite abolisht Very good will some say but of all this we have no authors besides the Evanglists and the Apostles who are therefore justly suspected and lyable to exception as speaking in their own cause And moreover who will warrant to us say they that there were Apostles heretofore or if there were that those Writings were of their composing How frequent are cheats committed in such matters Here 't is difficult to dispute for what argument and how clear soever be brought the thing it self is of greater evidence And the Jews are very unjust and unreasonable if having no other warranty to give us of their Religion but the books of their Prophets whereunto notwithstanding they require we should yield an absolute belief and plye under those magnificent names of Moses David Jeremy Isaiah and the like they demand of us other evidence of ours then the writings of our Apostles For what reason is there to ascribe more to the former then the latter Yet let us comply in this with the obstinacy of men It is demanded whether there were Apostles heretofore But he that should demand whether there was a Caesar at Rome and an Alexander in Greece might with good reason be judg'd troublesome and impertinent for indubitating a thing of so constant credit