the Ammonites were descended from Lot and therefore it must be through their great Sin and Negligence if they did not retain a true Notion of Religion They had Possession given them of the Land they dwelt in by God himself by whom the former Inhabitants a wicked and formidable Race of Giants were destroyed before them as the Canaanites afterwards were before the Children of Israel Deut. ii 9 19. Our Saviour was descended from Ruth the Moabitess And the Ammonites are distinguished from the Heathen Ezek. xxv 7. But as Abraham has the peculiar Character given him of the Friend of God and the Father of the Faithful so his Power and Influence was very great He is said (i) Justin l. 36. 〈◊〉 2. Nic. Damas apud Joseph Antiqu. l. 1. c. 8. both by Justin and Nicolaus Damascenus to have been King of Damascus and the latter further adds that in his own time the Name of Abraham was famous in that City and that a Village was nominated from him being called Abraham's House or Palace He was a mighty Prince among the children of Heth and was respected as such by them Gen. xxiii 6 10. The Saracens and other Arabians were descended from Abraham and Circumcision which was practised by so many Nations being a Seal of the Covenant and a Rite of Initiation must be supposed to have some Notion of the Covenant it self communicated together with it For there is no probability that Circumcision used as a Religious and Mysterious Rite could have any other Original among Heathen Nations than from Abraham and the only Reason brought to prove that it had another beginning amongst them is because it was used upon a Natural Cause and varied in the Time of Administration but the Time might happen to be changed by some unknown Accident and it was always I think used upon a Religious account whatever Natural Causes might be likewise assigned and such the Jews themselves were (k) Philo Moimonid wont to assign as well as that of their Religion and it is possible that in some places the Religious cause of its Observation might be forgot and the Natural only retained Besides the other Sons of Abraham which were many Isaac and Ishmael must have been very instrumental in propagating the true Religion and we can suppose none educated under Abraham or belonging to him but they must have been well qualified for that purpose and must more or less retain the Impressions they had received from him this being the Character which God himself gives of Abraham I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen. xviii 19. The Jews make particular mention of the care which both Abraham and Sarah took in instructing Proselytes and Maimonides de Idololatr l. 1. writes that Abraham left a Book behind him upon that Subject Ishmael was the Son of an Aegyptian Mother Gen. xvi 1. and his Wife was an Aegyptian his Sons were Twelve in number and of great Power being styled Princes and their Dominions were of a large extent Gen. xxv 16 18. Isaac was to marry none of the Daughters of Canaan but one of his own Kindred and a Messenger is sent into Mesopotamia to bring Rebekah from thence God directing and prospering him in his Jurney Which Alliance and Affinity renewed with the Chaldoeans could not fail of a good effect for the preservation and advancement of Religion in those Countreys But a Famine being again in the Land Isaac removes to Abimelech King of the Philistines unto Gerar and by him the Beauty of Rebekah was admired as Sarah's had been by Pharaoh in Aegypt and here by Abimelech but tho' he had said she was his Sister as Abraham said likewise of Sarah meaning in that latitude of the word usual in those Countries whereby Women were call'd the Sisters of all to whom they were nearly related yet the Providence of God so order'd it that no Attempts should be made to her Dishonour but the King of the Philistines had a great regard and reverence for Isaac and his Wife the Blessing of God was visible in all his Undertakings he became much mightier than the Philistines and therefore they envied him which occasion'd his remove to Beersheba whither Abimelech with his Friends and Attendance came to enter into a strict League and Covenant with him professing that they saw certainly that the Lord that is Jehovah the True God was with him and declaring him to be the blessed of the Lord Gen. xxvi 11 14 16 26. And for the same reason the Philistines had formerly desired to make a Covenant with Abraham saying God is in thee with all that thou dost c. Gen. xxi 22. Esau at the Age of Forty Years marry'd two Wives of the Daughters of the Hittites Gen. xxvi 34. which tho' it grieved Isaac and Rebekah who would have had him marry with their own Kindred yet must give the Hittites further Opportunities of acquainting themselves with the Religion and Worship of the Hebrews but he marries besides a Daughter of Ishmael Abraham's Son Gen. xxviii 9. which confirmed and strengthned the Alliance between true Believers Esau was the Father of the Edomites and of a numerous Off-spring of Dukes or Princes Gen. xxxvi 9. And according to the Custom and Design of the Book of Genesis the Generations descended from Esau had not been so particularly set down unless they had retained the Knowledge and Worship of the True God The Edomites as well as the Moabites and Ammonites were put into possession of their Countrey by the same Divine Power by which the Israelites became possest of the Land of Canaan and the Children of Israel were not to meddle with them Deut. ii 5. Jacob is sent to Padan-Aram to take to Wife one of the Daughters of Laban and with him he abode twenty Years Gen. xxxi 38. and all which he took in hand prospered so that there was the visible Power and Blessing of God in it as Laban confessed Gen. xxx 27. Isaac was not to leave the Land of Canaan but was forbid to remove into Aegypt when there was a Famine in the Land Gen. xxvi 2. and he was not upon any account to return into Chaldaea or to go out of Canaan Gen. xxiv 6 8. but Jacob went out of it when there were enough of Abraham's House besides to keep up a sense of the true Religion among the Canaanites Afterwards God manifested himself to the Aegyptians by a various and wonderful Providence for the Children of Israel dwelt in Aegypt Four hundred and fifty Years till at last by Signs and Wonders and dreadful Judgments by Judgments upon their First-born and upon their Gods Num. xxxiii 4. they were brought out from thence and the nations heard the fame of it and all the earth was filled with the glory of the Lord Num. xiv 15 21. Thus Chaldaea and Aegypt the most famous and flourishing Countreys in those Ages
a Family either by sale of Lands for every fiftieth year was a year of Redemption and every man returned to his own Possession and every man to his own Family Lev. xxv io Or by defect of Heirs Male for if there were Daughters they were to inherit and if there were no Daughter it was to Pass to the nearest Kinsman Numb xxvii and the Daughters who were Heiresses were obliged to marry to one of the Family of the Tribe of their Fathers Numb xxxvi 8. But if a man died without Children his Brother or his next Kinsman was to raise up Seed unto the deceased and the First born was to succeed in the name of him that died without issue Deut. xxv 5 6. Ruth iii. 12. So that he had a Natural and a Legal Father the names of both which must be enroll'd in their Registers to intitle him and his Heirs to their Inheritance All which was appointed with a peculiar regard to the Messias that the Prophecies concerning his Tribe and Family might be known to be fulfilled at his Birth The Genealogies of the Jews therefore were of two kinds one of their Natural and the other of their Legal Descent and Parentage and we have both these Genealogies of our Saviour set down the one by St. Matthew and the other by St. Luke which must be exactly the same with the Registers of the Genealogies then extant which both in their publiâ—k (h) Lighâ—f on Mart. i. 1. Records and in their private Books were kept with great care and exactness their expectation of the Meâ—â—â—as obliging them to it and the constitution of their Government necessarily requiring it for all the Title and Claim they could have to their Inheritances entirely bepended upon it and they were so careful herein that their Genealogies were preserved to the destruction of Jerusalem and if the Genealogies in St. Matthew and St. Luke had been different from those in the publick Registers this had for ever silenced and extinguished all pretences to our Saviour's being the Messias but they being exactly the same did prove that the Prophecies concerning the Messias were fulfilled in him For the Virgin Mary being the only Child of her Father it was lawful for her to be espoused to none out of her own Family and therefore the Pedigree of Joseph as was customary in such cases is set down this shewing her Lineage and Family as certainly as her own Pedigree could have done for the poorest amongst the Jews observed the Law of Inheritances as strictly as the rich and even in exile it was observed as well as when they were in possession of their Inheritances Tob. vi 10 11. Isaiah had prophesied that the Messias should be born of a Virgin and (i) See Bp. Peaâ—so◠〈◊〉 the Crâ—â—â— so his Prophecies had been constantly understood And that a Virgin should bear a Son can seem to no man incredible who will but consider that the God of Nature cannot be confined to the Laws of his own Institution and that to make Man of the Dust of the Earth or by other means than by natural Generation as the first Man and Woman must certainly be made whatever Hypothesis be admitted is as unaccountable and as wonderful as this can be But to make this Conception of the Blessed Virgin the more easily believed the Birth of Isaac when his Mother Sarah was old and had been barren and other Births of the like nature were both Types of Christ's Birth and an evidence of the power of God above the course of Nature particularly St. John Baptist being born of a Mother who was both old and barren was in this as well as in other things the fore-runner of Christ But this Virgin was to be espoused to Joseph a just and good man both that he might be a security and protection to her and might be assisting to her in her care and tenderness for the Blessed Infant and likewise that he who was most concerned to make the discovery if it had been otherwise might testify to the world that an Angel from Heaven had satisfied him that she was with Child of the H. Ghost Jealousy the wise man says is the rage of a man therefore be will not spare in the day of vengeance he will not regard any ransom nither will he be content though thou givest him many gifts Prov. vi 34 35. And the Jewish Law in this case was as severe as any could well be For a Virgin betrothed who had been thus found guilty was to be stoned to Death Deut. xxii 23. And though Joseph not being willing to make her a publick example was minded to put her away privately yet this shews that if it had proved as he at first suspected he was not a man that would have been insensible of the Injury and it is a good evidence that there was nothing to be objected when there was nothing that jealousy could object and no Testimony could possibly have satisfied those who will not be satisfied though Joseph himself testified that the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Dream saying Joseph thou Son of David fear not to take unto thee Mary thy Wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost And his carrying the Infant into Egypt at another appearance of an Angel and all his Behaviour shews that as he was the most competent person to deliver this Message of the Angel to the world so he was the most zealous and forward asserter of this Article of our Faith And besides his first suspicions his other prejudices and discouragements must be so great that nothing but a clear and undoubted Revelation could possibly remove them he could expect nothing but trouble and danger to himself he could not hope to be reputed the Father of the Messias since the Prophets had fortold that he was to be born of a Virgin and nothing could be more contrary to the expectation the Jews had of him than that he should be a Carpenter's Son this was thought by them a sufficient reason to reject both his Doctrine and his Miracles And Joseph had no cause to flatter himself that it would be otherwise Simeon prophesied of Christ that he was set for a sign which should be spoken against and Herod presently seeks to take away his Life by a terrible Massacre yet Joseph was so well satisfied of the Angels Revelation to him and was so well assured of the certainty of it that he willingly exposed himself to all the inconveniencies and dangers which he could not but see must be the necessary consequence of it and which he soon saw come so thick and violently upon him A Sword was to pierce through the Virgins own Soul also but all the hazards and the sorrows which were foretold them and which accordingly they underwent may abundantly convince us that they could have no design or prospect of any advantage but of declaring the Truth and of that Salvation
the Pentateuch for Antiquity And the Antiquity of these Books is one considerable Circumstance whereby we may be convinc'd that they are of Divine Revelation For if God would not suffer the World to continue long in a state of Ignorance and Wickedness without a Revelation we may conclude that he would not suffer the Memory of it to be lost and therefore a Book of this Nature which is so much the ancientest in the World being constantly received as a Divine Revelation carries great Evidence with it that it is Authentick For the first Revelation as hath been proved is to be the Criterion of all that follow and God would not suffer the ancientest Book of Religion in the World to pass all along under the Notion and Title of a Revelation without causing some Discovery to be made of the Imposture if there were any in it much less would he preserve it by a particular and signal Providence for so many Ages It is a great Argument for the Truth of the Scriptures that they have stood the Test and received the Approbation of so many Ages and still retain their Authority though so many ill Men in all Ages have made it their endeavour to disprove them but it is still a further Evidence in behalf of them that God has been pleased to shew so remarkable a Providence in their preservation The Account we have of Divine Revelation in the Writings of Moses is from the Creation of the World for he relates the Intercourse which from the Beginning past between God and Man and this might be delivered down either by Writing or by Tradition till Moses's time For Methuselah living with Adam and Shem with Methuselah Isaac with Shem and Amram the Father of Moses living with the Patriarchs the Sons of Jacob the History of the Creation and of the Manifestations which God had been pleas'd to make of himself to their Fore-fathers could not be unknown to that Age Such a Posterity could not but be zealous to preserve the Memory of so great Honours and Blessings and their living in Goshen separate from the Aegyptians did much contribute to the Preservation of their Antiquities for there they liv'd in Expectation of a Deliverance and of seeing the Prophecies fulfill'd that were made to their Fore-fathers concerning it The famous Prediction made to Abraham Gen. xv 13. could not be forgotten in so few Generations for the coming out of Aegypt was as it was there foretold it should be in the Fourth Generation reckoning from Isaac the first of the promised Seed to Moses exclusively Exod. vi 16. Moses seems to referr to some things that happened near the Beginning of the World as well known in his own time as Gen. iv 22. where he says the sister of Tubal Cain was Naamah For no probable account can be given why Naamah should be mention'd but because her Name was then well known among the Israelites for some reason which it doth not concern us to be acquainted with but which served to confirm to them the rest of the Relation Some have delivered that Naamah by her Beauty enticed the Sons of God or the Posterity of Seth to commit Idolatry Gen. vi 2. And so Gen. xi 29. we read that Haran was the Father of Ischa as well as of Milcah and Gen. xxxvi 24. this was that Anah that found the Mules or the Hot-Baths or that fell upon the Emims or Giants mention'd Deut. ii 10 11. however the word be understood in the wilderness as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father These and such like Particulars must have been preserved and commonly known among the Israelites and were therefore inserted to serve as Epocha's and notes of Remembrance for the better understanding the rest of the History The Story and manner of Life of Nimrod was conveyed in a Proverb Wherefore it is said Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. x. 9. And the Remembrance of Abraham's offering up his Son was retained both by the Name of the Place and by a Proverbial Saying And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh as it is said to this day In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen Gen. xxii 14. And there is no doubt to be made but that there were other the like Remembrances of the most remarkable Transactions Josephus has proved that Authors of all Nations agree that in ancient Times Men lived to the Age of about a Thousand Years and some are known to have lived to a very great Age in latter Times But however it had been more serviceable to Moses's purpose if he had had any other design but Truth that Men should not have been so long lived For when he had so much scope for his Invention if it had been an Invention of his own he would never have fix'd the Creation of the World at the distance of so few Generations from the time in which he wrote but would rather have made the Generations of Men more and their Lives shorter that so he might the better have concealed his Fictions in obscure and uncertain Relations which must be supposed to be delivered through so many hands down to that Age. The distance of Time from the Flood to Moses was more than it is from the Conqust to the present Age but half of this time Noah himself was living and therefore allowing for the greater length of Mens Lives in those Ages than in ours the time when Moses wrote cannot be computed at so great a distance from the Flood as we are at from the Reformation But is it possible to make any Man of tolerable Sense amongst us believe that Henry VIII was the first King of England that he lived above Seven hundred Years ago that there was a Deluge since his time which swept all the Inhabitants away of this Island and of the whole World besides but some seven or eight Persons and that all whom we now see were born of them And yet this as ridiculous as it seems is not more absurd than Moses's Account of the Creation and the Flood must have been to those of his own Time if it were false For it is very reasonable to think as Josephus informs us that Writing was in use before the Flood And it is not improbable as some have conjectured that the History of the Creation and the rest of the Book of Genesis was for the substance of it delivered down to Moses's time in Verse which was the most easie to be remembred and the most ancient of all sorts of Writing and was at first chiefly used for Matters of History and consisted of plain Narration without much of Art or Ornament We read of Instrumental Musick Gen. iv 21. before the Flood and Vocal Musick being so much more natural than Instrumental it is likely that Poetry was of as great Antiquity both in their Hymns and Praises of God and as a help to their Memories which are the two Ends to which Moses
these Five Books of Moses must be Genuine and of Divine Authority being written by him who had so many ways given Evidence of his Divine Commission CHAP. V. Of the Predictions or Prophecies Contain'd in the Books of Moses IT was foretold by God himself upon the Fall of our First Parents That the seed of the woman should bruise the serpem's head Gen. iii. 15. Maimonides is observ'd to take particular Notice That it was the Seed of the Woman and not of the Man and the Jews in their Targum's are observ'd to apply this Text to the Messias which was fulfill'd in our Saviour Christ who was born of a Woman that was a Virgin and had no Man to his Father And therefore this Prediction express'd thus precisely concerning the Seed of the Woman could be fulfill'd in no other Person and no other Person ever gain'd such Victories over the Enemy of Mankind who had so long tyranniz'd over the Sons of Men. God reveal'd the precise Time of the Flood to Noah who thereupon built an Ark and foretold the Destruction of the World to that wicked Generation and was a Preacher of Righteousness and Repentance to them Gen. vi 3. After the Flood Noah by a Prophetick Spirit foretold the Fate and Condition of the Posterity of his three Sons Gen. ix 25. That Canaan should be Servant to Shem which was accomplished when the Children of Israel the Posterity of Shem subdued the Canaanites and possessed their Land about Eight hundred Years after this Prophecy That Japhet should dwell in the Tents of Shem which was fulfilled in the Greeks and Romans descended from Japhet when they conquer'd Asia That Canaan should likewise be the Servant of Japhet as well as of Shem. Upon which Mr. Mede observes (n) Mede Book 1. Disc 28. that the Posterity Cham never subdued the Children either of Japhet or of Shem though Shem hath subdued Japhet and Japhet hath conquer'd Shem which made (o) Liv. l. 27. Hannibal descended from Canaan cry out with amazement of Soul Agnosco fatum Carthaginis God promiseth Abraham a Son in his old Age by Sarah his Wife who was likewise of a great Age and declares that his Posterity by this Son should be exceeding numerous that they should inherit the Land of Canaan after they had been afflicted in a strange Land Four hundred Years Gen. XV. 13. and that then they should come out of that Land with great substance but that God would judge the Nation that had oppressed them or that he would procure their Deliverance by signal Judgments upon their Oppressors and that in the fourth generation they should be brought back again to the Land of Promise ver 16. which agrees exactly with the Deliverance of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt computing the Years from the time that the Promise was made to Abraham Exod. xii 40. Gal. iii. 17. and reckoning the Four Generations to be betwixt Isaac the Son promised to Abraham and Moses in whom the Prediction was fulfilled This Promise made to Abraham and his Seed was renewed several times and repeated again to Him and to Isaac and Jacob Gen. xxvi 3. xxviii 14. and was all along depended upon by the Israelites God foretold of Abraham That all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him Gen. xviii 18. which was fulfilled in that God made Abraham ' Posterity his Messengers to communicate his Will to the rest of Mankind and more especially in that Blessing which all Nations received in the Birth of Christ This is a remarkable Prophecy concerning the greatest of Blessings and is often repeated The Prophecy of Isaac concerning Esau and Jacob Gen. xxvii 40. first That the Posterity of Esau should serve Jacob's Posterity was fulfilled in David's Victories over the Edomites 2 Sam. viii 14. 1 King xi 15. 1 Chron. xviii 13. and by Amaziah 2 King xiv 7. and then that part of it That the Edomites should break the yoke from off their neck was accomplish'd 2 King viii 20. 2 Chron. xxi 8. Joseph's own Dream and his Interpretation of the Dream of Pharaoh when none of the Magicians or Wise-men of Aegypt were able to interpret it had remarkable and publick Circumstances that could neither be mistaken nor forgotten in the accomplishment Jacob describes the Borders of their several Possessions in the Land of Canaan though it were so many years after divided among the Tribes by Lot Gen. xlix 13. He foretold the different state and condition of the rest of his Sons and particularly prophesied That the scepter should not depart from Judah until Shiloh came And upon the fulfilling of this and other Prophecies in the Pentateuch not only the Jews but the Samaritans who received no other Prophecies as they did these expected the Messias at the time in which our Saviour appeared in the world and believed on him because they saw the Prophecies fulfilled in Him Joh. iv 25 29 39 42. Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel saying God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my bones from hence Gen. l. 25. which they did accordingly Exod. xiii 19. Jacob had desired to be buried in the Land of Canaan insomuch that he caused Joseph to swear to him that he would bury him there and not in Aegypt and Joseph and his Brethren went into Canaan to bury their Father because that was the Land where Abraham and Isaac had been buried and the Land which their Posterity was afterwards to Possess but Joseph as a further token of Assurance to the Israelites that they should inherit that Land would not have his own Corps carried thither at his death but ordered his Bones to be kept and carried up by their Posterity at their leaving Aegypt and in the mean time they were a perpetual Monument and Representation to them of the Promise made to their Fore-fathers and a Ground and Motive for their Trust and Confidence in God for the Accomplishment of it The Remembrance of Balaam's Prophecy was preserved in the East and the Wisemen upon the appearance of the Star knowing it to be fulfilled came to Jerusalem to enquire where they might find the King of the Jews then newly born Num. xxiv 15. Mat. ii 2. He prophesied likewise of Agag by Name saying of Israel And his king shall be higher than Agag and his kingdom shall be exalted Num. xxiv 7. thereby foretelling the Destruction of Agag by Saul who being the first King that ever Israel had overcame Agag King of the Amalekites 1 Sam. xv 8. The same Balaam foretold the Conquests of Alexander in these words And ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict Ashur Num. xxiv 24. By the Coasts of Chittim are to be understood the Coasts of Greece from whence Alexander's Army was transported into Asia for Alexander came out of the Land of Chettim or Chittim 1 Mac. i. 1. and Perseus was King of the Citims or Macedonians chap. viii 5. These
the Truth of what he said They stood now undaunted by to testify that their Master was again alive who had forsaken him as soon as he was apprehended and he that before so shamefully denied him thrice being startled and affrighted at the Question of the High Priest's Maid now speaks aloud in a vast concourse of people with so much stedfastness that this alone was a sufficient evidence of the truth of what he delivered They were not in the least concerned at the mockery and abuses that were put upon them the Spirit had descended on them and raised them above such mean and foolish apprehensions they were now full of the Holy Ghost and no worldly thoughts could move them they acted with the force and vigor of the Wind and Fire in which the Holy Ghost came upon them and with as much unconcernedness as if they had had no difficulties to encounter the world they very well knew and found was against them but they had the assurance of his help who had overcome the world They were pressed on every side with want and disgrace and all manner of hardships some mocked and reviled them others tormented them the rage the tumults the conspiracies of whole Cities and Countries broke loose upon them all the malice and contrivance of Men and Devils was joined against them and yet with what freedom doth St. Peter speak Ye men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves also know him being delivered by the determinate Counsel and fore knowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up whereof we all are witnesses Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear Acts ii 22 23 24 32 33. And in the third Chapter The God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our Fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go But ye denied the Holy one and the just and desired a murtherer to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of Life whom God hath raised from the dead whereof we are witnesses Acts iii. 13 14 15. And before the Council O ye Rulers of the People and Elders of Israel if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole be it known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified whom God raised from the dead even by him doth this man stand here before you whole This is the stone which was set at nought by you Builders which is become the head of the corner neither is there Salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts iv 8 c. And again The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins and we are his witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him Act. v. 30 c. With what freedom and authority doth he now speak how unlike is he now to the man he was before when he thrice denyed his Master whilst alive And what could make such an alteration in him after his Masters death but a supernatural Power What could cause him thus frequently and earnestly to make an open confession of him in the midst of the people and before their Council if he had not known him to be risen from the dead and had not done all his Miracles by vertue of that Power which was bestowed upon him and the rest of the Apostles after Christ's Ascension And the same constancy and greatness of mind appeared in St. Stephen and the rest of the Disciples which yet was accompanied with equal humility and meekness Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more then unto God judge ye for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Acts iv 19 20. You may do your pleasure but we must do our duty Nothing of fury and violence nor of wildness and extravagancy but a constant composedness and gravity and a rational sober zeal appeared in all their behaviour They told a plain truth and then wrought Miracles to confirm it and afterwards suffered any torments rather than they would renounce it or defist from Preaching it Though they could cure all Diseases and dispossess Devils and raise men from the dead or take away their Lives with a word speaking as in the case of Ananias and Saphira yet they were not exempted from sufferings because we must then have wanted one great argument for the confirmation of our Faith And the Gospel was to be founded upon principles of Love and Goodness not of Fear and Astonishment and there is something in the sufferings of good men which is apt mightily to work upon the affections and upon any seeds of good nature in us and therefore when by their Miracles they had raised the admiration of the Beholders and convinced them of the Power by which they were wrought their patience under sufferings not only confirmed them in the truth of Religion but laid the foundations of a Religious Life in gaining upon the inclinations and affections and in calming the spirits and preparing them by so great examples of patience to endure all the calamities incident to men Who is there that is not more affected with the meek and humble courage and invincible patience of the Apostles than with all the great Acts of the mighty conquerours and destroyers of Mankind A few poor unarmed defenceless men stand before armed Multitudes and speak with as much Authority as if all the Power of the world were in their hands and indeed all power was in their hands in as much as he assisted and inspired them who is above all They speak to Multitudes with as much freedom as to one man and to all Nations with as much ease as to one people And the same Holy Spirit who descended upon the rest of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost descended upon St. Paul at his conversion and gave that great Apostle so much confidence and resolution so much patience and zeal under his sufferings which were so severe and terrible that we can scarce read them with so little horror as he underwent them Thus did the Holy Ghost fit and prepare the Apostles to be witnesses to Christ by inspiring them with all that courage and
they had been never so vicious and profligate before The Christians are represented as an innocent devout and charitable sort of men by Pliny Lucian and Julian the Apostate himself Plin. Epist ad Trajan lib. 10. Epist 97. Lucian de Morte Peregrini Julian Epist 44. by those who had most narrowly enquired into their Doctrines and Practices and were worst affected to them And by these means the Christians became as so many Lights in the world to guide and direct others in the ways of Vertue for by their example and doctrine they soon reformed even the Heathen world to a great degree Morality was taught by the Philosophers in much greater perfection than ever it had been before and they became so much ashamed of the grossness of their Idolatrous worship that they sought out all arts to refine and excuse it And those vices which made up so great a part of their Idolatrous Mysteries appeared too abominable to pass any longer for Religion The Oracles soon ceased and the seducing Spirits confessed that they were hindred from giving out their Answers by the Power of Christ and all that Julian the Apostate could do was ineffectual to bring the Heathen Oracles into reputation again These are things before insisted upon and so notorious in History that they cannot be denied to be solely owing to the Power and Influence of the Christian Religion I shall mention but one instance more and that is the barbarous cruelty of the Heathen Religions which the Gospel has delivered the world from For they were wont to offer up innocent Men and Children in sacrifice to their false Gods and that frequently and in some places daily and in times of great danger and upon extraordinary occasions they sacrificed so great numbers of men at once that it would be incredible if we had not the Authority of the best Historians for the truth of it And this custom of sacrificing men to their Gods prevailed not only here in Britain and in other Countrys which were accounted barbarous but all over Greece and in Rome it self It may well seem strange to us now that such a practice should so generally prevail in the world yet nothing is more certain from all History than that it did prevail and that men were with difficulty brought off from it For when Mankind was thus cruelly tyrannized over by bloody Daemons nothing but the omnipotent mercy of God could rescue them And for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John iii. 8. which he soon did Beasts and Idols were no longer worshipped and men were no longer made Sacrifices when once Christianity began to appear in its full power and efficacy in the world The plain and humble Doctrine of him that was laid in a Manger and died upon a Cross was in a short time more effectual to reform Mankind than all the Precepts of Philosophers and the Wisdom and Power of Lawgivers had ever been Those Enemies to their own Souls who are so fond of little cavils against the Gospel as if they were resolved not to be saved by it yet owe the happiness of this present Life in great measure to its influence they would not have been so safe in their Bodies and Estates nay perhaps they might have been sacrificed to some cruel Daemon long before this if that Religion which they resolve to despise but will not be at the pains to understand had not been believed by wiser and better men Of so great advantage has the Gospel been to those who will not be reclaimed and converted by it it has destroyed the works of the Devil and has dispossest him of that Tyranny which he held over mankind it has made the unconverted world less vicious and has banished all the profess'd Patrons and Deities of wickedness from amongst men it has made Idolatry less practised and reduced it to narrower bounds confining it to the remoter parts of the Earth and every where upon the first approach of the Gospel the evil Spirits are disarmed of their power and flee away before it as we learn from the History of Lapland and other Countries So general a Blessing is the Gospel of Christ that even unbelievers are the better for it in this world tho they exclude themselves from the benefit of it in the next And the Christian is the only Religion against which the common objection concerning the prejudices of Education in favour of it cannot be urged for as it first prevailed in the world by conquering all the prejudices of Education so it still maintains it self against all the opposition that corrupt nature and a vicious Education can make to it Indeed it may seem a needless thing to have been thus large in the proof the excelleney of the practical Doctrine contained in the Scriptures when God knows this is the greatest exception that most men have against them and if the precepts were not so strict and holy but they might be allowed to live in their sins half the evidence we have for the Authority of the Scriptures would satisfy them VII The highest Mysteries of the Christian Religion are not merely speculative but have a necessary relation to practice for the advancement of Piety and Vertue amongst men As there is nothing in the practical Duties taught and enjoyned by the Scriptures but what is most excellent and worthy of God and which has raised and improved the Nature of man beyond what could have been attained to without it so the speculative Doctrines have as evident Characters of the Wisdom and Goodness of God They all tend to the advancement of our Nature to make us better more wise and more happy and are not designed to gratify a vain and useless curiosity but to excite in us the Love of God and a care and concernment for our own happiness They set before us the Original and Creation of all things the innocence in which man was first created and God's love and compassion to him after his Fall how the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are concerned in our Redemption that the Father sent his Son that the Son was born that he lived a despised and persecuted Life and at last underwent for us a most shameful and grievous death that he rose again and ascended into Heaven and there continually interceeds for us and that he sent the Holy Ghost the Comforter who supports and assists us under all temptations and dangers in our way thither and will if we be not wanting to our selves safely conduct us to Heaven there to reign with Christ in Eternal Bliss and Glory both of Body and Soul but if we will be disobedient and obstinate to our own ruine we must be eternally tormented with the Devil and his Angels The Apostles who without Learning or Philosophy taught the most sublime and useful Truths more plainly than the wisest Philosophers ever had done must derive their knowledge from
and it being foretold half a year before the Birth of Augustus that a King of the Romans would be born that year the Senate made a Decree (i) Sueton. August c. 94. Nequis illo anno genitus educareter (k) Plutarch in Lycurg Plutarch himself says that he could find nothing unjust or dishonest in the Laws of Lycurgus tho Theft community of Wives and the murthering of such Infants as they saw weak and sickly and therefore thought they would prove unfit to serve the common-wealth were a part of those Laws Revenge was esteemed not only lawful but honourable and a desire of popular Fame and Vain Glory were reckoned among the Virtues of the Heathens and were the greatest motive and encitement they had to any other Vertue (l) Plut. in Aristide Plutarch tells us of Aristides so famed for Justice that tho he were strictly just in private affairs yet in things of publick concernment he made no scruple to act according as the present condition of the Common-wealth seemed to require For it was his Maxim that in such cases Justice must give way to expediency and he gives an instance how Aristides advised the Athenians to act contrary to their most solemn contract and oath imprecating upon himself the punishment of the perjury to avert it from the Common-wealth Tully in the Third Book of his Offices where he treats of the strictest Rules of Justice and proposes so many admirable Examples of it yet resolves the notion of Justice only into a principle of Honour upon which he concludes that no man should do a dishonest Action though he could conceal it both from God and Men and determines that an Oath is but an Appeal to a man 's own Mind or Conscience Cum vero jurato dicenda sententia sit meminerit Deum se adhibere testem id est ut arbitror mentem suam qua nihil homini dedit ipse Deus divinius The Indians themselves whatever may be thought to the contrary have naturally as good Sense and Parts as other people which (m) Jos Acost Hist lib. iv c. 1. Acosta sets himself to prove in divers instances but they had less communication with those who retained revealed Religion and by their own vices and the subtilty of the Devil the Notions which they had received from it were lost or perverted The Egyptians who were so famous for their Learning are a great instance how poor a thing humane Reason is without the Assistance of Divine Revelation for all their profound Learning did but lead them to the grossest Idolatry whilst they conceived God to be only an Anima Mandi and therefore to be worshipped in the several parts and species of the Universe The Stoicks in effect held the same Error and taught (n) Tull. Acad. Qu. lib. i. that there is nothing incorporeal But when the excellency of the Christian Morals began to be so generally observed and taken notice of the last Refuge of Philosophy was in the Moral Doctrines of the Stoicks For almost all the latter Philosophers were of this Sect which they refined and improved as well as they were able that they might have something to oppose to the Morality taught and practised too by the Christians (o) Theophil ad Autolych lib. iii. But the Ancient Stoicks had been the Patrons and Advocates of the worst vices and had filled the Libraries with their obscene Books II. The Stoicks first sprang from the Cynicks that impudent and beastly Sect of Philosophers and they refined themselves but by degrees Zeno who had as great Honour done him by the Athenians as ever any Philosopher had under the Notion of his Vertue taught that men ought to have their Wives in common and would have been put to death by the Laws of most Nations for sins against Nature (p) Diog. Laert. in Zenon Chrysipp Chrysippus taught the worst of Incest as that of Fathers with their Daughters and of Sons with their Mothers and besides his opinion for eating humane Flesh and the like his Books were filled with such obscene Discourses as no modest man could read Athenodorus a Stoick being Library-keeper at Pergamus cut all such ill Passages out of the Books of the Stoicks but he was discovered and those Passages were inserted again But these Philosophers might do as they pleased for they pretended to be exempt from sin and the stoical Philosophy in the Original fundamental Doctrines of it is nothing as Tully observed but a vain pomp and boast of words which at first raise admiration but when throughly considered are ridiculous as that men must live without love or hatred or anger or any other passion that all sins are equal and that it is the same Crime whether a man murther his Father or kill a Cock (*) Tulâ— pro Muraena as Tully says if there be no occasion for it And it is no wonder that Plutarch and others wrote purposely to expose the stoical Philosophy upon its old and genuine principles but the latter Stoicks being very sensible of the many defective and indesensible parts of their philosophy endeavoured to mollify what seemed too harsh and absurd that they might bring their own as near the Christian Doctrine as they could Quinctilian will not allow that Seneca was any great Philosopher but says that his main talent lay in declaiming against vice (q) Quint. lâ—st lib. x. c. 18. in Philosophia parum diligens egregius tamen vitiorum insectator suit It was rather the Art and Design of Seneca who knew wherein the strength and defects of his Philosophy lay to endeavour to give it all the advantage he could and to recommend it to the world by exposing the Follies and Vices of men rather than by instructing them in the Notions of his own Sect. But (r) Seu de Tranqu Animi c. 15. this notwithstanding was one of his Rules nonnunquam usque ad ebrietatem veniendum and when he had expos'd the cruelties the filthiness and the absurdities of the Religions in use amongst the Heathens in a Book written upon that subject yet says he (Å¿) Aug. Civit. Dei lib. vi c. x. quae omnia sapiens servabit tanquam legibus jussa non tanquam Diis grata And Tully likewise in divers places when he has reasoned against the absurdities of their Religion resolves the obligation to observe it into the Duty which men are bound to pay the Laws of the Government under which they live their Philosophy it seems taught them that we must obey Men rather than God But they held no more than (t) Xenophen Memorab lib. 1. Socrates had taught and practised before them Epictetus himself who has set off the Heathen Morality to the best advantage cannot be excused from as great errors and defects He teaches also that men should follow the Religion of their Country whatever it be Enchirid. cap. xxxviii He allows too great indulgence to lust cap. xlvii And
question were not only dubious but certainly spurious the remaining Books which were never doubted of are sufficient for all the necessary ends and purposes of a Revelation and therefore this ought to be no objection against the Authority of the Scriptures that the Authority of some Books has been formerly matter of controversy I shall enter upon no discourse concerning the Apocryphal Books the authority whereof has been so often and so effectually disâ—roved by Protestants that the most learned Papists have now little to say for them but â—re forced only to fly to the authority of their Church which is in effect to beg the thing in question or to beg something as hard to be granted viz. the infallibility of the Church of Rome But I shall here engage in no controversy of that nature Both Protestants and Papists are generally speaking agreed that the Books of Moses and the Prophets in the Old Testament and the Writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles in the New are of Divine Authority and if this be so the Christian Religion must be true whether there be or be not others of the same nature and of equal authority These Books in the main have already been proved to be genuine and without any material corruption or alteration I shall now only propose such general considerations as may be sufficient to obviate objections The agreement between the Jews and Samaritans in the Pentateuch is a clear evidence for its Authority And tho there were many and great Idolatries committed in the Kingdom of Judah yet by the good providence of God there never was such a total Apostacy in the people nor so long a succession of Idolatrous Kings as that the Books either of the Law or the Prophets can be supposed to have been supprest or altered For three years under Rehoboam they walked in the way of David and Solomon 2 Chron. 11.17.12.1 and tho afterwards he forsook the Law of the Lord and all Israel with him his Reign was in all but seventeen years Abijam was a wicked King but he reigned no longer than three years 1 Kings xv 2. Asa the third from Solomon and Jehoshaphat his Son were great Reformers and Asa reigned one and forty years and Jehoshaphat five and twenty years 2 Chron. xvi 13. xx 31. The two next Kings in succession did evil in the sight of the Lord but their Reigns were short Jehoram reigned eight years and Ahaziah but one 2 Chron. xxi 20. xxii 2. During the interval of six years under the usurpation of Athaliah the people could not be greatly corrupted for she was hateful to them as Jehoram her husband had been before her and they readily joyned with Jehoiada in slaying her and in restoring the worship of God 2 Chron. xxii Joash the son of Ahaziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada 2 Chron. xxiv 2. We are sure that he reigned well three and twenty years 2 Kings xii 6. and probably much longer for Jehoiada lived to a very great age 2 Chron. xxiv 15. Amaziah his son has the same character and with the same abatement that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart 2 Chron. xxv 2. or yet not like David his Father he did according to all things as Joash his Father did 2 Kings xiv 3. Vzziah son to Amaziah reigned well and sought God in the days of Zachariah 2 Chron. xxvi 5. and after he was seized with the Leprosie for invading the Priests office the administration of affairs was in the hands of his Son Jotham vers 21. who imitated the good part of his fathers Reign Chap. xxvii 2. Ahaz was wicked and an Idolater but he reigned only sixteen years Chap. xxviii 1. and his son Hezekiah wrought a great Reformation who reigned twenty nine years Chap. xxix 1. Manasses was much given to Idolatry in the former part of his Reign but after his captivity in Babylon he was very zealous against it Chap. xxxiii 15 16. Amon imitated the ill part of his Father's Reign but his own continued no longer than two years Chap. xxxiii 21. The next was Josiah in whose time the Book of the Law was found in the Temple which must be the Book of Moses's own hand-writing for it is evident that a Book of the Law could be no such rare thing at that time in Jerusalem as to be taken so much notice of unless it had been that Book which was laid up in the side of the Ark and was to be transcribed by every King It seems that Book of the Law had been purposely hid to preserve it from the attempts of Idolaters who it was feared might have a design to destroy it for if it had only lain by neglected the finding of it could have been no such surprizing thing because the place in the Temple was well known where it was wont to be kept in the side of the Ark and where they might have sought for it but it was probably at that time supposed to have been utterly lost and its being found in the Ruines of the Temple which was built for the observation of it and where it ought to have been kept with the greatest care as a most inestimable treasure the veneration which Josiah had for so sacred a Writing and the happy and unexpected recovery of it when it had been disregarded and almost lost through the iniquity of his Predecessors these considerations could not but exceedingly move a mind so tender and affectionately pious as that Kings when he received the Law under Moses's own hand sent him as he believed by God himself and delivered to him as it were anew from Heaven Not long after his time was the Captivity in Babylon till which there were always Prophets frequent Reformations and never any succession of Idolatrous Kings which continued for a long time together very few Kings were Idolatrous throughout their whole Reigns and those that were reigned but a short time * Book 1. Part 2. c. 6. 9. It has been proved that the Pentateuch and the Books of the Prophets written before the Captivity were preserved amongst the Jews till their return and it is acknowledg'd by those who are of another opinion that Ezra who composed the Canon did it by a Prophetick spirit or had the assistance of Prophets in the doing it * Joseph Câ—nt Apion lib. 1. Josephus says that their Books after the time of Artaxerxes are not of equal authority with those before his time for want of a certain succession of Prophets And since the Jews admitted no writings as inspired into the Canon after Malachi's Prophecy this shews their sincerity and exactness in examining the truth and authority of such Writings as they admitted into their Canon of Scripture The Pharisees made the commandment of God of no effect by their Traditions but never durst presume to impose them under the notion and
negligentia presertim tot jam seculis intercedentibus veritatem fuisse corruptam quam ut Propheta erraverit Sicut in hoc ipso nostro opusculo futurum credimus ut describentium incuria quae non incuriose a nobis sunt digesta vitientur Sulpic. Sever Hist Sacr. lib. 1. c. 70. common in all Greek and Latin Authors and to prevent this inconveniency Mr Greaves acquaints us that the Emp erour Vlug Beg Nephew to Tamerlane the Great †Greaves Pyramidogr in his Astronomical Tables the most accurate of any in the East has exprest the numbers of the principal Epocha's first in Words at length and again in Figures and then a third time in particular Tables whose example this excellent Author alledgeth for his own exactness in describing the dimensions of the Pyramids after the same manner supposing it very improbable if any one of these Accounts should happen to be altered that two of them should not agree and that those two which agree shall not express the true number 5. In some places the Alterations which cause the differences in the Chronology of the Septuagint from that of the Hebrew Text are so uniform that they could not be made but by design of some Transcribers or of the Translators themselves For instance in the Lives of the five first Patriarchs and of Enoch the * Vid. Ludovic Capell Chron. Sacr. seventh they add an hundred years before their having children and deduct the same number of years from the time they lived after wards which is conjectured to have been done because they supposed that by years there are to be understood Lunar years or months and so they altered the Chronological account of their Lives For if those be the years meant by the Hebrew account they must have been Fathers of children at 5 6 7 or 8 years of Age. Another conjecture is that it might be supposed that as Mens lives were longer then so the Age at which they were capable of Marriage must not be the same that it is now but must bear proportion to the length of their Lives and therefore they altered the Chronology to make the Patriarchs fathers of children at such an Age as might answer to the Age at which men are capable of having children in these latter times The mention of Cainan the son of Arphaxad both in the Version of the Septuagint and in the Gospel of St Luke tho it be not in in the Hebrew is a matter of greater Difficulty But Bishop * Prolegom ix s 64. c. Walton notwithstanding saw sufficient Reason to conclude however with such caution and candor as became so great a Judgment that the Septuagint followed the Hebrew Copies of those times and the Answers to the Arguments brought to prove the contrary have since been considerably enforced by the Learned †Castigat ad Script Georg. Horn. c. 4. Isaac Vossius There is reason to believe that the Hebrew and the Samaritan Account were the same * Siquidem in Hebraeis Samaritanorum libris ita scriptum reperi Et vixit Mathusala c. Hieron Quaest in Gen. vid. Capell Chron. Sacr. in St Jerom's time and that the difference between them has happened since 6. The Son often reigning with the Father his Reign is sometimes put down as commencing from his Partnership with his Father in the Kingdom and in other places from his Reigning alone after his Fathers decease Thus the difficulties are explained concerning the beginning of the Reigns of Jehoram King of Israel Son of Ahab and Jehoram King of Judah Son of Jehosaphat 2 Kings i. 17. iii. 1. For it is said expressly that Jehosaphat being then King of Judah Jehoram the Son Jehosaphat King of Judah began to Reign 2 Kings viii 16. It is likewise manifest that Jehoash the Son of Jehoahaz King of Israel must reign with his Father 3 years 2 Kings xiii 1 10. This is also applyed in the explication of other Questions by St * Hieron ad vital Jerom. The Reign of Azariah is computed from his taking the Government upon himself at sixteen years of Age in the 27th year of Jeroboam King of Israel for then he is said to begin to reign 2 Kings xv i. whereas his Father Amaziah lived but to the 15th year of Jeroboam's Reign 2. King xiv 17. In the Kingdom of Israel there was a long Interregnum between Jeraboam the second and Zachariah 2 Kings xiv 23. xv 8. Some assign a threefold computation of the years of Nebuchadnezzar's reign the first from his laying Siege to Jerusalem the second from his taking it and the beginning of the captivity the third from his entire Monarchy after the conquest of Egypt Others assign two beginings of Nebuchadnezzar's Reign the one from his coming with his Army into Syria during the Life of his Father the other from his Father's death 7. The Terms of Time in Computation are sometimes taken inclusively and at other times exclusively Matt. xvii 1. we read After six days Jesus taketh Peter James and John his Brother and bringeth them up into an high Mountain apart and in like manner Mark ix 2. But this is said Luke ix 28. to come to pass about an eight days after which is very consistent with what the other Evangelists write For St Matthew and St Mark speak exclusively reckoning the six days between the time of our Saviours discourse which they there relate and his Transfiguration but St Luke includes the day in which he had that discourse with his Disciples and the day of his Transfiguration and reckons them with the six intermediate days The Rabbins * Lightf Harm of the N. T. S. ix also observe that the very first day of a year may stand in computation for that year and by this way of reckoning mistakes of years current for years compleat or years compleat for years current in the successions of so many Kings and the Transactions of affairs for so long a time may amount to a considerable number of years For this reason †Thucyd lib. v. c. 20. Thucydides says he computes the years of the Peloponnesian War not by the Magistrates yearly chosen during that time but by so many Summers and Winters These and several other ways by which Disputes in Chronology may be occasioned are a sufficient Argument to us that they do not imply that there were originally Chronological Mistakes in the Books themselves And if they might so many ways arise without any error in the Original Writings if the same difficulties occur upon so very nice and intricate a subject in all Books in the World and it could be by no means necessary that Books of Divine Authority should be either at first so penned as to be liable to no wrong Interpretations or be ever after preserved by Miracle from all corruption it is great rashness to deny the Divine Authority of the Scriptures upon the account of any difficulties in Chronology CHAP.
World than it would have been if all men had been forcibly kept from doing wickedly To restrain the Passions and over rule all the Vices of Men and set bounds to them to bring Good out of Evil and by unexpected Ways and Methods to lead Men to Repentance and to appoint and bring to pass the whole Dispensation of the Gospel by which the Treasures and Mysteries of the Divine Wisdom are revealed and such things are discovered as even the Angels themselves desire to look into 1 Pet. i. 12. this magnifies the Wisdom of God much more than the State of Men uncapable of Sin could have done There is much more Wisdom shewn in governing Free Agents than in governing by Fate and Necessity and more Wisdom in making the worst Actions as instrumental and serviceable to the purposes of Holiness and Goodness as the best could have been than in not suffering them to be and more in Redeeming Man than in keeping him by Force in such a Condition as to stand in no need of Redemption All the Divine Attributes are much more magnified by the Incarnation of the Son of God for the Redemption of Man than they could have been if he had never fall'n The Love of God is manifested in a more wonderful manner by sending His own Son to die for us His Justice in requiring Satisfaction and His Wisdom and Truth and Faithfulness in recovering Man from his miserable Condition and perfecting the Design of his Creation in despight of his Disobedience It is the Mercy of God to save them that are saved but his Justice is executed only upon the wicked and why should we think it reasonable that God should debar himself the exercise of one of his Attributes rather than punish such Men as thro' their own Obstinacy will perish Justice is as much a Perfection of God as Mercy is and tho' it may seem terrible to us yet it is as reasonable in it self that wicked Men should perish as that the righteous should be saved And God acts upon Principles of infinite Reason and Wisdom without any mixture of Passion Therefore I demand Is it reasonable or not that the wicked should suffer And if it be why should not God act according to his own Attributes and the true Reasons of things rather than by our weak and fond Passions Since there is infinite Wisdom and Justice and Mercy in God's Proceedings it cannot be conceived why the Ruine which many Men will bring upon themselves should either alter or hinder the Divine Counsels and Decrees II. A freedom of Choice conduceth more to the Happiness of the Blessed than a Necessity of not sinning could have done The Happiness of Heaven consists in the Love and Enjoyment of God but Love is never so great nor so sensible an Happiness as when there has been some Tryal and Experience in the proof of it And it must advance the Happiness both of Angels and Men in Heaven that upon Choice and Tryal they have preferr'd God before all things and upon that find themselves confirm'd and Established in the perpetual and unalterable Love and Enjoyment of him This very Consideration that they might once have fall'n from his Love inspires them with the highest Ardors of Love when they rejoyce in the infinite Rewards of so easy and short a Tryal and the Reflection upon the Dangers escaped heightens even the Joys of Heaven it self to them and makes an Addition to every degree of Bliss The Remembrance of their past Sins and Temptations and the Sense of their own Unworthiness arising from that Remembrance will continually excite in the blessed fresh Acts of Love and Adoration of God who has raised them above all Sin and Temptation and fixt them in an everlasting State of Bliss and Glory The Tryal that the Righteous underwent here makes up some part of their Happiness in Heaven and in what degree soever their Happiness can be supposed to be yet it is in some measure encreased and as it were endeared to them by reflecting upon their former State of Tryal which they were subject to Temptation and Sin The Love and Praises and Adorations of the Father for sending his Son and accepting his Ransem of the Son as our blessed Saviour and Redeemer and of the Holy Ghost as our Guide and Conductor to Heaven must suppose that we needed a Ransom and a Redeemer and the Grace and Influence of the Holy Ghost that is we must have been capable of Sin and Misery or else we had wanted these Motives to the Love of God which the Dispensation of the Gospel affords and which will make up the Happiness of Heaven to us Creatures cannot comprehend the Divine Essence but they know and love God according as he manifests himself to them and therefore that Dispensation which doth most manifest the Love and Wisdom and Goodness of God doth most conduce to the Glory of God and the Happiness of Men. The Blessed shall see God face to face they shall enjoy his Presence and partake of his Glory and in this their Happiness will consist but the Love of God is not only the necessary consequence of this Beafitick Vision but it is antecedently necessary to qualify us for it and the more any Soul is inflamed with the Divine Love the fuller and more perfect Vision of God we must suppose it to enjoy But Goodness is the Object of our Love and not Goodness in the Idea so much as Goodness extended to us And as God's Goodness is more manifested in sending his Son to atone for our Sins than it could have been by exempting us from all possibility of Sinning so our Love to him must be more strongly excited whereby the Soul is dilated as it were and made more receptive of the Communications of the Divine Essence in the Beatifick Vision As Faith is made perfect by Works proceeding from Love in this Life and without Charity is nothing worth so in the other World where Faith shall be swallowed up in Vision Love must be that Power or Quality in the Soul whereby we become capable of receiving the Divine Communications and the more extentive and boundless this is the more happy we shall be and therefore whatever is most conducing to advance the Love of God in us is the best means of our Salvation and future Happiness The Motives which the Christian Religion affords us to the Praise and Love of God will accompany us for ever to augment and improve the Happiness even of Heaven it self where Charity never fails and it is not conceivable how the Divine Love could have been so fully manifested and set forth to us so gloriously if Man had never fall'n but by representing to him the Danger of his Fall and the gracious Design of God towards him supposing he had fall'n To have escaped Hell and to find our selves in the unchangeable Possession of Salvation by the free Mercy and Goodness of God and by the Death of his own
in so few Generations of Men supposing it had ever been known to Adam's Posterity If it were never known but the Relation of it were always conveyed down in Metaphor and Allegory then this Allegory must pass for Historical Truth in those Ages and the Reason why it was delivered to them in Allegory must be because that manner of delivering it was most suitable to that Age and most credible and every way most proper and if it were most fitting that it should be thought to have happened so this is a good Argument that it did really happen so since there is nothing hinders but it might so have happened and it was most probable at least to the first Ages of the World that it did so come to pass or else it would not have been requisite to relate it in this manner 3. The Fall of our First Parents brought a Curse upon their Posterity And here it must be acknowledg'd that God may bestow his infinite Grace and Mercies upon what Terms he pleaseth and therefore he might ordain that the Happiness or Unhappiness of their Posterity should depend upon the Obedience or Disobedience of our First Parents 1. God might ordain that the Condition of their Posterity in this World should depend upon it so that they should have been immortal upon their Obedience and should become mortal upon their Disobedience that they should be made subject to Cares and Labours to Diseases and Dangers by reason of the Fall of our First Parents from which otherwise they should have been exempt This is esteem'd just in all Governments amongst Men that Children should be reduced to Poverty and Disgrace by the Fault of their Parents from whom Riches and Honour were to have descended upon them And this way of Proceeding is just both in Humane Laws and in the Dispensations of Providence because God and our Country have an antecedent Right and Interest in us superior to any Man 's private Title or Welfare and this they may justly make use of to restrain Men from those Crimes out of Love and Concern for their Posterity from which no consideration of themselves could have with held them The Experience of the World has found this to be the most effectual Remedy with many Men and therefore the wisest and justest Governments have made use of it and the most wise and just God might think fit to deal in this manner with our First Parents by representing to them that the Happiness or Misery of their Posterity depended upon their Good or ill Behaviour in this one Instance of their Duty We daily see that Children commonly inherit the Diseases of their Parents and an extravagant and vicious Father leaves his Son Heir to nothing but the Name and Shadow perhaps of a Great Family with an infirm and sickly Constitution and little or nothing to support and relieve it Now if these Miseries and Calamities had been entail'd upon all the Race of Mankind from Adam the thing would have been the same in the Nature and Justice of it for Numbers cannot alter the Nature of Things as it is now when they descend upon some only from their immediate Parents And therefore it must be much rather just that the Fall of our First Parents should make their whole Race only liable to such Calamities but not involve All necessarily in them 2. The Communications of God's Grace and the Favours and Blessings of his more immediate Presence might depend upon the Behaviour of the First Parents of Mankind He might send them out of Paradise and might withdraw his free and usual Communications of himself from them and their Posterity upon this Forfeiture by their Disobedience 3. The Proneness which we cannot but observe in our selves to Sin might proceed from hence We daily see and feel the corruption of our Nature by whatsoever means we became subject to it So that it is in vain to object that it would be unjust that all Mankind should be involv'd in Adam's Sin For the Condition which we are in is matter of Fact of which no man doth or can doubt The Question is only how we come into this Condition and since we are born in it and it is our Natural and Hereditary evil the Justice and Goodness of God is cleared and vindicated by assigning a Cause for it from the Imputations of such as must acknowledge the same corruption of Nature but will allow no Cause or Reason for it except the arbitrary Will and Pleasure of the Creator The Children of vicious Parents are generally most enclin'd to Vice and if Men may partake of the evil Dispositions and Inclinations of their more immediate Parents why might not the Corruption of the Humane Nature in our First Parents descend upon all their Posterity 4. The Happiness of Men in the next Life might depend upon the Obedience of our First Parents For when God proposed to bestow upon Men Rewards of Glory and Happiness which far surpass any Pretences of Desert or Claim of Right that they in a State of Righteousness and Innocency could have been able to make since the Promises were so great and the Happiness so far exceeding any thing to which Men could pretend a Right we must be very unreasonable unless we will confess that God might bestow his own Gifts upon his own Terms He might therefore debar Men from Heaven upon the Transgression oâ— our First Parents because the Promise of Heaven was â—n act of his free Bounty For no Man can pretend that an Innocent Creature which preserves its Integrity must for that Reason be advanced to the unspeakable Joys of Heaven No Creature can be profitable to his Maker and an unprofitable Servant can merit no such Reward And what God was not obliged to bestow tho' Men continued in the State of Innocency he might with all the Justice and Reason in the World refuse when Men became divested of their Innocency and thereby forfeited all pretences to that Happiness which was promised upon condition that our First Parents had continued in their Primitive and Original State of Righteousness 5. God might ordain that all Men should become liable to Eternal Misery by the Fall of our First Parents and that those who would not accept of Means appointed of Salvation by Faith in Christ to rescue them from it should perish eternally We no sooner read of the Fall of Man but Christ is forthwith promised even before the Curse was denounced upon Adam and Eve for their Offence the Seed of the Woman is immediately promised to bruise the Sepents Head and afterwards the Judgment is denounced first upon Eve and then upon Adam for their Transgression and the Seed of the Womans bruising the Serpent's Head is to be understood of Victory over our Spiritual Enemies and that Conquest which should be obtained over Death and Hell by Christ For the Temporal Punishment which was to befall Adam and Eve and their Posterity is afterwards added and therefore this Promise
that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all Flesh come Ps lxv 2. And all Flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob Isa xlix 26. All Flesh shall come to worship before me saith the Lord Isa lxvi 23. And all Flesh shall see the Salvation of God Luke iii. 6. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh Acts ii 17. Joel ii 28. By the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified Galat. ii 16. And we say in our own Language any Body thinks or any Body understands tho' we all know it is the Soul and not the Body which thinks and understands It is very usual in other Books and very agreeable to the stile of Scripture and to the common speech and sense of Men for those Actions of a Person to be attributed to one of the united Natures which could be perform'd only in the other And the Union between the Godhead and the Manhood being like that which is between the Soul and the Body the Son of God is said to have Suffered and the Son of Man to have come down from Heaven not that the Godhead Suffered or that the Humane Nature of Christ was in Heaven before his Incarnation but according to the usual stile of Scripture the Union between the Divine and Humane Natures entitles the Person consisting of them both under the denomination of either Nature to that which was done in the other tho' as the Humane Nature did not partake of the perfections of the Divine so neither did the Divine Nature partake of the sufferings of the Humane But both Natures being personally united the person is sometimes denoted by one and sometimes by the other Nature All the Objections against the Incarnation of the Son of God proceed upon the like mistake with theirs who are apt to imagine that it is unworthy of God to be every where and in all places to behold and be present at the worst of Actions as if the Sun's brightness would not be the more resplendent and glorious if it could penetrate into the obscurest corners and recesses of the Earth or as if his Rays could be sullied and defiled by the foulness of any Object which they shine upon And if it be no diminution to God's Infinite Glory and Majesty to be Omnipresent it can be none to be more nearly and even Personally united to some part of the Creation and therefore it cannot be unworthy of God to be so united to the Humane Nature to manifest his love and favour and extend his goodness to Mankind As God is every where present so he is in a more especial manner present in some places than in others by the acts of his Power or of his Grace and Favour and he has vouchsafed a more especial presence to some Persons than to others and thus he was present with his Prophets who were sent to prepare for and foretell Christ's coming But he was personally united to the Humane Nature of Christ And this is the highest Honour and Advancement to our Nature for God thus to assume it but it can be no diminution to the Divine Majesty because God continues as he was from all Eternity without any alteration only by his personal Presence and Union with our Humane Nature he causes all the performances and sufferings of it to be meritorious for the Salvation of Mankind The Son of God did not so come down from Heaven as to be no longer there but to forsake his Father's Kingdom He still continued in Heaven in the same Bliss and Glory that he enjoy'd with his Father from all Eternity tho' he so manifested himself to the World as to come and abide in it by assuming our Humane Nature Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Joh. iii. 13. No Man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven He who fills Heaven and Earth with his presence was still in Heaven as much as ever with respect to his Godhead tho' he made a more peculiar residence than he had before done on Earth by dwelling in our Nature here The Son of God who is at all times every where present is yet in a peculiar manner present where ever he is pleas'd to manifest himself by peculiar acts of his goodness and power as he was pleas'd to do in a most stupendous manner in that Flesh which he took upon him of the Blessed Virgin And it cannot be thought inconsistent with the Majesty of God to actuate the Humane Nature and to be joyned in the most strict and vital union with it supposing God only to act upon it and not to be acted upon by it nor to suffer the miseries and feel the pains which the Humane Nature endures which would be Blasphemy to assert of the Divine Nature of Christ but to be in Heaven still in his sull Power and Majesty But some Man will say how is this Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ made or wherein doth it consist To whom we may reply as our Saviour sometimes did to the Scribes and Pharisees by asking another Question and enquiring how the Body and Soul in Man are united or how God is present in all places and how in him we live and move and have our Being And if no Man can tell how these things are tho' no Man can deny the truth and reality of them then it is not to be expected that we should be able to tell how the union between the Divine and the Humane Nature in Christ is made or in what it consists We must acknowledge it a Mystery which it is above any Man's capacity to explain but that there is such an union we learn from the Scriptures and thither we appeal for the truth of it And the putting such Questions argues either a great mind to cavil or great inconsideration and shortness of thought For what Man is there pretending to Reason and Argument of so little observation as not to take notice that of all the things which we daily see and perceive to be in the World the nature and manner of existence of very few or rather of none of them is fully understood by us It is sufficient for us to know that great Reasons may be given for this dispensation of the Son of God Incarnate and that no Material Objection can be framed against it Secondly No other way as far as we can apprehend could have been so proper and expedient as the Incarnation of the Son of God to procure the Salvation of Mankind and therefore none could so well become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness The proof of this must depend upon the Reasons for Christ's coming into the World and they are all comprehended in this one thing the abolishing or taking away of Sin And ye know that he was manifested to take away our Sins and in him is no Sin 1 Joh. iii. 5. We are
to consider then that the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh did more powerfully and effectually take away Sin than any other way or means of Salvation could have done I. The Doctrine and Preaching of the Son of God had more Power and Authority with it than the Preaching and Doctrine of a Man or Angel could have had God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Hebr. i. 1 2. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience receiv'd a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him Heb. ii 1 2 3. This being the last Message which God had resolv'd to send to Mankind a Person of the greatest Dignity and Authority was to bring it But last of all he sent unto them his Son saying they will reverence my Son Matt. xxi 37. It is the last expedient and the very utmost that could be done to reduce Sinners to Obedience and if this will have no effect upon them they must be lest without all excuse This is the heaviest aggravation of Sin and that which renders Men utterly inexcusable he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not He came unto his own and his own received him not Joh. i. 10 11. If the only begotten Son of God had not come and manifested himself in so wonderful a manner to the World something of a Plea might have been pretended but to reject the Son of God was an evident despight done to the Father and even hating of the Father who had sent him as our Saviour declares Joh. xv 22 23 24. And the Blaspheming of the Holy Ghost in those who vilified the Miracles of Christ and ascribed them to Beelzebub was therefore without forgiveness because it was a rejecting of Christ not as the Son of Man but as God blessed for-ever and a despising and vilifying that which is the last means that can be used to reclaim the World and that means whereby he manifested himself to be the Son of God To reject Christ was to reject the whole Trinity which was jointly concern'd in this wonderful dispensation The Dignity of Christ's Person adds all the force and efficacy to his Doctrine that is possible and therefore it was requisite that the Son of God should become incarnate God had before spoken from Heaven but that was too terrible and full of Majesty to be born by Mortals and they that heard the voice entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more for they could not endure that which was Commanded and so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. xii 19 20 21. But now God was pleas'd to converse with Man in a more familiar and humble manner and our Blessed Saviour came to live amongst Men with all the gentleness and meekness of the Humane Nature and all the Authority of the Divine For in him dwelleth all the Fullness of the Godhead Bodily Colos ii 9. The Godhead dwelt here in him under our Humane Nature laying aside that awful Majesty which no Man can approach unto II. We have a greater Example of all perfection and Holiness set before us by the Son of God Incarnate than we could otherwise have had It has been the general complaint made of other Teachers and Lawgivers that they seldom observe their own Rules or live themselves according to what they require of others But our Saviour has given us an Example if it be possible even beyond his own Doctrine For tho' he be no rigorous Lawgiver but a most indulgent and gracious Master to us yet he was pleas'd to excuse himself from no Duty or Instance of Obedience but fulfilled both the Moral and the Ceremonial Law there is nothing so mean nor so difficult and painful but he perform'd it to set us an absolute Pattern of Obedience to the Whole Duty of Man in all that ever God requir'd of Mankind It became him to fulfill all Righteousness this was the end and intention of his coming into the World and he fulfilled it in the most absolute and perfect manner in all particulars And to give such an Example is of unspeakable use and benefit for Men are more easily led by Example than by Precept and it is commonly observ'd that it is Example for the most part which governs the World Men will follow the Vices of those whose Vertues they never imitate and the Faults of Wise and Great Men have too sure and too fatal an effect upon such as their Excellencies never reach It was necessary that an Example of absolute perfection should be given to the World and this Example must be given by one of the same nature with our selves or else it might have been an Example for Angels and Spirits but not for Men and therefore such an Example the Son of God Incarnate only could give because it was impossible for any created Being under all the Infirmities and Temptations incident to Humane Nature to live up to such a Divine Height and Excellency of all perfection as our Saviour did and to leave such an Example to the World He came not to teach us the wisdom of this World how to get Riches and Honours in this Mankind was well enough instructed before and it could not but be unworthy of the Son of God to be Born into the World with a design to enjoy the pleasures and the profits and the honours of it this was beneath the Majesty of Heaven and the Insinite Perfection and Essential Bliss and Happiness of the Divine Nature But to manifest himself to shew the mean and worthless Vanity of those things of which Men are so fond to give an Example of Contentment in a low Condition of Victory under Temptations and of Patience and Meekness under the severest Afflictions and Torments to discover to Men the way to Happiness in the worst Circumstances of this World to teach those who enjoy this World's goods not to be proud of them nor despise others and those who want them to be contented and happy without them to lead Men in the way to happiness thro' all Conditions thro' all the Miseries and Calamities which must befall many of us in this Mortal State this is a Glorious and Godlike Design it is such as none but the Son of God could perform and such as we may in reason believe he would undertake and for which he might vouchsafe to live a Humane Life upon Earth III. The
Mediation and Intercession of Christ for us is of greater power and efficacy than any could have been if the Son of God had not become Man to die for our sakes There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. ii 5. he was to be Man as well as God that coming with Divine Power and Authority and yet with the Affability and Accessibleness of a Man he might in all respects be fully qualified to perform the Office of a Mediator between God and Man If he had not been God he could not have come with absolute Authority to offer us Terms of Reconciliation and unless he had been Men he could not have treated with Men in so familiar and condescending a way upon these terms And the Right and Authority of Christ's Mediation and Intercession in behalf of Sinners is founded upon his merits and satisfaction for the Sins of Men and this supposes him to be both God and Man Man that he might Suffer and Die for us and God that his Divine Nature might give an infinite value to his Death and Sufferings and render them satisfactory for the Sins of the World Tho' it should be supposed which can never be proved that God in his Mercy might have pardoned Sinners without the satisfaction of Christ yet if in mercy he might have forgiven he might in justice have punish'd them unless satisfaction had been made and nothing could have made satisfaction to his Justice but the Sufferings of his Son The Obedience and Sufferings of no Created Being could have been of that value as to make satisfaction for the Sins of Mankind and therefore no Creature could have Redeemed Man or have become Mediator for him upon the terms of his own merits in Man's behalf so as to plead the price of Redemption laid down for him God may grant the Requests of Angels and Men out of his free Mercy and Bounty but there can be no necessary force and efficacy in Intercessions where there is no precedent merit and satisfaction on the part of the Intercessor But Christ pleads his merits on our account and mediates our Cause with his Father upon the terms of strict Justice and by vertue of the Ransom of his own Blood and is so powerful an Intercessor for us that not only the Mercy and Goodness but even the Justice of God cannot deny his Intercession It was the free grace of God to send his Son to Suffer in our stead but since he was pleas'd to admit of this Commutation of the Punishment which we had deserv'd and to tranferr it upon his own Son his Death was a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World which the death of no Creature could have been and therefore no Created Being could have become our Mediator by vertue of his own Merit and have satisfy'd the utmost Justice of God much less could any Creature have merited the assistance of Grace and the Rewards of Glory for us IV. The Incarnation of the Son of God is the most effectual means to excite in us Faith and Hope and Charity and unfeigned Love of God and of our Neighbour the love of Vertue and the hatred of Sin and to dispose and engage us to all Vertue and Piety The Son of God assuming our Nature gives us the greatest assurance of his compassion for our Infirmities and his desire of our Happiness God is infinitely merciful in his own Divine Nature but he never could give such an instance of his mercy and love towards ours as by taking it upon himself God is essential Truth and Holiness and yet willing more abundantly to shew to the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel he confirm'd it with an Oath and in like manner in the present Case God being willing to give us all the grounds for Faith and Confidence in him that can be imagined took our Nature upon him that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to deceive we might have a strong Consolation both from the goodness of the Divine Nature and from the tenderness and compassions of our own For we have not an High-Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities and therefore are exhorted in this confidence to come boldly unto the Throne of Grace Heb. iv 15 16. vi 17 18. We are assured that he has the greatest concern for that Nature which he has taken into a personal Union with himself and continually presents before his Father in Heaven for us And we are likewise assured of the Father's love towards us For now we know that he loves us seeing he has not withheld his Son his only Son from us but sent him into the World to die for our Salvation He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us Rom. viii 32 33 34. And as the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh is peculiarly adapted and design'd to raise our Faith and Hope and Trust and Confidence and Dependance upon God so it is above all the most prevailing motive to engage our Love The infinite Love of Christ in dying for us must needs require and even extort from us all possible returns of Love and Praise and Adoration (y) Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 7. St. Chrysostome gives this as one Reason why the Son of God was Incarnate to become the Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind because if it had been possible for a Creature to undertake and effect our Redemption Men would never have thought they could have had esteem enough for him or have made due expressions of their gratitude unless they had Deified him and committed Idolatry in Worshipping him and paying him all Divine Honours and to prevent this in Moses who was but a Temporal Deliverer and but a Type of Christ his Sepulchre was conceal'd from the Israelites So dear is the memory of great and generous Benefactors wont to be that Men are apt to think they never can be sufficiently grateful to them unless they even adore and worship them which was one chief occasion of Idolatry among the Heathens therefore the Redemption of the whole World was a thing that could belong only to the Son of God to whom all Love and Reverence all Worship and Adoration is due And this being the great Aim and Design of the Christian Religion to bring us to obey God upon Principles of Love the Foundation of it is laid in the Love of God towards us Nothing can be conceiv'd which could have so powerfully prevail'd upon Men to love God as the Incarnation of his Son
bring to our remembrance the Body and Blood of Christ offer'd upon the Cross for us to make us Partakers of them and to be Pledges of all the Benefits which we receive thereby And as the Eucharist was appointed by Christ in the room of the Paschal Supper so Bread and Wine were in use among all Nations in their Religious Worship and nothing can more fitly express our Communion with God and with one another than to be entertained together at God's Table So that since there must be Sacraments or External Rites and Ordinances they could neither be fewer nor more suitable to the simplicity of the Gospel and to the Wants of Christians than the Sacraments of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper are CHAP. XXIV Of the Blessed TRINITY I Am not here to prove the Doctrine of the Trinity from the Scriptures but to suppose this to be the Doctrine which the Scriptures teach and to shew that no reasonable Objection can be brought against the Christian Religion upon that Account And indeed this was supposed to be the Doctrine of the Scriptures and objected against by (k) Lucian Philopatr Heathens long before the Council of Nice Which is a strong proof for the Truth and Antiquity of this Doctrine when it was so well known even to the Heathens that they upbraided the Christians with it in the second Century and in all probability from the very beginning for we find it then mentioned as a known and common Reproach Supposing then this to be the Doctrine of the Scriptures that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one God I will shew I. That there is no Contradiction in this Mystery of our Religion II. That other things are and must be believed by us which we as little understand III. That the Belief of this Doctrine doth mightily tend to the advancement of Vertue and Holiness and hath a great influence upon the Lives and Conversations of Men. 1. There is no Contradiction in this Doctrine We are ignorant of the Essences of Created Beings which are known to us only by their Causes and Effects and by their Operations and Qualities and our Reason and Senses and Passions being continually conversant about these our Notions are formed upon the Ideas which we frame to our selves concerning the Creatures and this makes us the less capable of understanding the Divine Essence besides the infinite Disproportion between the Nature of God and Humane Faculties When we say that God is an Infinite and Incomprehensible Being we speak the general sense of Mankind and no Man cavils at it but because the Scriptures represent this Incomprehensible Being to us under the Notion of Father Son and Holy Ghost that is Matter of Cavil and Dispute Whereas God being essentially Holy and True we must believe him to be what he declares himself to be in the Scriptures and he being Incomprehensible we may not be able to comprehend it If God be infallibly True why do we not believe what he delivers concerning himself And if he be Incomprehensible what Reason can be given why the Divine Essence may not subsist in Father Son and Holy Ghost These are styled Three Persons because we find distinct Personal Acts and Properties attributed to them in the Scriptures and we may suppose Three Persons in the Unity of the Divine Nature without any appearance of contradiction This will be evident if we consider 1. The Distinction of the Three Persons in the Deity 2. The Unity of the Divine Nature 3. The Difference between the Divine Persons and Humane Persons 1. The Distinction of the Three Persons in the Deity The Divine Nature is in Three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost in the Father Originally without either Generation or Procession in the Son as communicated to him by the Father not in any such way as Sons amongst Men have their Nature derived to them from their Fathers but yet in some such manner as is best exprest to our Apprehensions by styling him the Son of God tho' the manner of his Generation is altogether incomprehensible to us The Holy Ghost has the Divine Nature communicated to him from the Father and the Son not in the same way whereby the Son has it communicated to him from the Father but in some other different incomprehensible manner whereby he is not begotten but proceeds both from the Father and the Son The Divine Nature is communicated by the Father to the Son by Eternal Generation and by the Father and the Son to the Holy Ghost by Eternal Procession We have nothing further revealed to us of the Generation of the Son but that he is begotten or received the Divine Nature from the Father in some such way as for want of a fitter Word we can best understand by the Term of Generation and the Scripture teacheth us no more of the Procession of the Holy Ghost but that he is not begotten of the Father as the Son is but proceeds from the Father and the Son some other way and not by Generation But as he that would Discourse to a Man born Blind concerning Light must use many very improper expressions to make himself tho' never so imperfectly understood so it is here we have no words that are proper but these are sufficient to teach us all which we are capable of knowing at least all that is necessary for us to know of the Godhead 2. The Unity of the Divine Nature To say that Three Gods are one God or that Three Persons are One Person is a manifest Contradiction but to say that Three Persons are not One Person but One God is so far from a Contradiction that it is a Wonder how it should be mistaken for One by any who understand what a Contradiction means The Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are not Three Gods but One God For neither of these Three Persons is God distinct and separate from the rest but they all are but One God One Lord Jehovah not Three distinct and separate Lords and so not Three Eternals nor Three Incomprehensibles nor Three Uncreated nor Three Almighties distinct and separate from each other but all the Three Persons together are One Eternal Incomprehensible Uncreated Almighty Lord God It is Matter of Dispute what is the Principle of Individuation in Men or what it is which causes one Man to be a different Individual Person from another and it is still more difficult to find out the Principle of Individuation in Beings which are purely Spiritual and have nothing of Material Accidents to distinguish them But whatever the Principle of Individuation in Men may be it is certain that the Consequence of it is that two Men may exist separately both as to Time and Place and that one may know more or less than the other they may live at a distance the one from the other and can never at once sill the same Numerical Place nor
is their Knowledge the same there is nothing in their common Nature to determine them that they should be born or die together or that there should be any mutual communication of the Thoughts and Operations of their Minds much less that their Life and Death and Operations should be all the very same So that this Principle of Individuation whatever be assigned to be it cannot belong to the Divine Nature which is Omnipresent Eternal and Omniscient the Existence Knowledge and Local presence of Men are Personal not Essential but Omnipresence Eternity and Omniscience are Essential Attributes of God and not Personal or do not belong to each Person as they are distinguished from one another but as they are united in the same Essence for they are predicated of the Father as God of the Son as God and of the Holy Ghost as God and not of each severally as Father as Son and as Holy Ghost Every of these Essential Attributes therefore cannot be numbred with the Persons in the Deity but can be but One as the Essence itself of the Deity is and tho' the Father be Eternal the Son Eternal and the Holy Ghost Eternal yet they are not Three Eternals or Three Individual Beings of Eternal Existence as Three Humane Persons are Three Men of a Finite Existence It is a Contradiction that there should be Three separate Infinite Persons for their being separate must suppose them to be Finite or to have a limited and confined Subsistence and therefore Three Infinite Persons can be but One God or One Being which has all the perfections of Personal Distinction without the imperfection of the Division of Persons 3. From hence appears the Difference between the Divine Persons and Humane Persons The Persons of Men are distinct Men as well as distinct Persons but this is no ground for us to affirm that the Persons in the Divine Nature are distinct Gods because the Divine Nature is acknowledged to be Infinite and Incomprehensible and when we speak of Three Persons in it we do not mean such Three Persons as Three several Men are But we read of the Person of the Father Hebr. i. 3. and of Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One 1 Joh. v. 7. and when we speak of Three Intelligent Beings we can have no Conception of them but under the Notion of Persons We learn from the Scriptures that there are Three Persons in the Deity which bear that Relation to each other which is best express'd by the Terms of Father Son and Holy Spirit but the Terms of Father Son and Spirit are not therefore so to be understood as they are in Humane Relations and the word Person is not to be understood as it is of Humane Persons and therefore whereas we use the word Person the Greeks call them Subsistencies but acknowledge that they mean the same thing under that difference of words And yet this is all the foundation of any pretence of contradiction in the Notion of the Blessed Trinity that Men will needs understand the Terms of Person and of Father Son and Spirit when they are applied to God as they do when we speak of Men and from thence they conclude that Three Persons in the Divine Nature must be Three Gods as Three Persons amongst Men are Three Men and that the Father must be Superiour and Elder than the Son as it is in Humane Generations But this is all Mistake Adam is stiled the Son of God in a sense of the word peculiar to himself Luke iii. 38. God is in one sense the Father of all Mankind and in another sense he is the Father of the Regenerate only and when in either sense we call him our Father we take not the Word Father in the same sense that we take it in when we apply it to Men and when we say he is the Father of his only begotten Son this is another sense of the word Father very different from all the former The Relation between the Father and Son is not the same in the Nature of God that it is amongst Men nor are the Divine Persons such as the Persons of Men are but these are the fittest and the most proper and significant Terms to express the Nature of God to us that Humane Language and Humane Understandings are capable of We must acknowledge that there is a vast disproportion and impropriety in these expressions and that they give us but a very imperfect conception of the Divine Nature but it is the most perfect that we are able to have of it or that it is necessary for us to have of it in this Mortal state and if we will but allow for the incompetency of our own Faculties to have Words and Notions adequate to the Divine Nature and will remember that God is God and that we are but Men there will appear to be no contradiction in the Notion of the Trinity The Divine Nature is such that it has Three distinct Principles of Operation and Subsistency which are so described and represented in the Scriptures by Personal Acts and Properties that we know them to be as really distinct as Humane Persons are which yet being but One God cannot in this respect be like Humane Persons And whoever will oppose this Doctrine of the Holy Trinity must prove that the Three Persons of the Trinity cannot be as really distinct as the Persons of Three Men are tho' they are not such Persons as the Persons of Men. And to prove this he must understand the Nature of God as well as he understands the Nature of Man for otherwise he can never be able to prove that Three Divine Persons may not be One God tho' Three Humane Persons cannot be One Man That they are distinct Persons is revealed and that these Three distinct Persons are but one God is revealed but wherein the Distinction and the Unity of these Three Persons consists is not revealed nor is it possible for us to understand it at least without a Revelation The Distinction of the Persons of Men is founded in a separate and divided Subsistence but this cannot be the foundation of the Distinction of the Divine Persons because Separation and Division cannot belong to an Infinite Nature There is then not Repugnancy in saying that there are Three Subsistencies or Three distinct Principles of Personal Acts and Properties in one undivided Infinite Nature or that the Persons in the Trinity act as distinctly and personally as Persons do amongst Men but are united in one Infinite Nature which is uncapable of existing in separate Subsistencies tho' not of acting and subsisting in Three distinct Persons or as distinctly from each other as the Persons among Men do act and subsist The Summ is that in the most perfect Unity of the Divine Nature do subsist the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost between whom is a real Distinction which tho' not the same yet is
thus for it is ever supposed and agreed in all Cases that no Man is bound to any thing impossible and that God requires nothing of any Man either in Faith or Practice beyond his Power and Capacity Whosoever will be Saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly But this supposes that he has already attained or is able to attain to the Knowledge which is necessary to Faith for no Man can hold that Faith the general Knowledge whereof he cannot attain We must with an implicit Faith believe all that God says to be true tho' it be never so much above our Understanding but no Man is bound to believe explicitly any more than he can understand so far as is necessary to such a Belief He is able to understand so much of it as to know in general what he is required to believe tho' he can have no such compleat and comprehensive Notion of it as to give a particular and full Account of the Nature and Manner of Existence of that which is to be believed by him And let the Articles of Faith supposed necessary to Salvation according to Natural Religion be never so few and plain yet there will still be some Men who are uncapable of understanding them in any way or measure and then there will lie the same Objections against those Articles of Natural Religion which are upon this Account urged against their Faith in the Trinity it self which so far as it is required to be known and believed is not above the Capacity of the Generality of Mankind and no more is required to be believed explicitely of any than they are capable of knowing in such a Degree as is necessary in order to such a Belief whatever Articles of Faith be assigned in Natural or Revealed Religion they will be above the Capacity of many Adult Persons and of all Infants to apprehend them who therefore according to all Religions may be Saved without the actual Knowledge of those Articles which are never so necessary to others And what may be objected against all Religions Natural as well as Revealed ought in Reason to be objected against none for there can be no force in it III. This Doctrine exceedingly tends to the advancement of Vertue and Holiness and has a great influence upon the Lives and Conversations of Men. That God the Father should send his Son his only Begotten and only beloved Son to be Born and to Die for us is an endearing and amazing Act of the Divine Goodness The Death not of a meer Man but of the Son of God Blessed for ever in our stead must needs heighten our Love of God and our Faith and Dependance on him our Hatred of Sin and our Assurance of Pardon upon Repentance This I have proved at large in Discoursing of the Incarnation and Death of the Son of God for us and therefore shall not insist upon it here In like manner whatever the Holy Ghost hath done and is continually doing for us must needs be of more weight with us and give us quite another Notion and Apprehension of his Goodness and our own Duty than we could have had if we believed him to be a Creature For unless we believe him to be God we cannot have that devout Love and Faith and Dependance upon him which we ought we cannot have that Esteem and Reverence for his Communion and Presence which is required of us nor that sense of the heinousness of Sin whereby we resist and grieve and do despight to him That Argument of St. Paul what know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and many other to the like purpose would be lost but on supposition that the Holy Ghost is God We can never have that Sense which it behoves us to have of our Sins committed in opposition to the Gifts and Influences of his Grace without an acknowledgment of his Godhead So that our Faith and Hope and Fear and Love is more excited and enlarged and all the Powers and Faculties of our Souls are more disposed to the obedience of the Gospel thro' the belief of this Doctrine of the Trinity than they could be without it And therefore as there is nothing absurd or impossible to be believed in this Doctrine so it was very reasonable and expedient that it should be revealed CHAP. XXV Of the RESURRECTION of the Dead THE Resurrection of our Saviour from the Dead was that which the Apostles chiefly insisted upon in all their Discourses For if once they could convince Men that Christ was Risen from the Dead they could not fail of perswading them into a Belief of all that they Taught besides There was no other Part of their Doctrine which could seem more strange and incredible than this and when that which they could with so much Difficulty be brought to believe and which could not come to pass but by the Almighty Power of God himself was evidently and undeniably proved to them this must give that Credit and Authority to all their other Doctrine that it could be no longer withstood or gain-said This therefore is the Point which the Apostles most of all urged knowing that if they could gain this all the rest would follow of Course and that every Man must of necessity be Converted to the belief of the whole Gospel of Christ who was once convinced of his Resurrection And St. Paul in his Defence before King Agrippa puts the Question Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead Acts xxvi 8. which implies that it is a very unreasonable thing to think that God cannot Raise the Dead and that therefore there was all the Reasons in the World to believe that he had raised Christ For there was so great Evidence of his Resurrection and so many Men daily Witnessed it at the peril of their Lives that if their Adversaries would but allow the thing to be possible there could be no Doubt remaining but that Christ was indeed raised from the Dead The Apostle Argues that it is a very absurd thing to say that God cannot raise the Dead What Reason could any Man give why God cannot do it Or how durst any Man so limit and confine the Infinite Power of God by his own Notions and Conceptions of things as to say that the Resurrection of the Dead cannot be effected by him This is unreasonable and absurd in the highest Degree and therefore it is manifest that Christ is Risen and that there is to be a General Resurrection of the Dead since there is no other Objection that can lie against it but the Impossibility of the thing it self For our Resurrection is asserted in the Scriptures as a necessary Consequence of Christ's Resurrection 1 Cor. xv 20. and his Resurrection was so well attested that the greatest Enemies to Christianity
into the World to manifest himself by working them And that this was the Reason why our Saviour did sometimes require Faith as a Qualification in them who came to be healed and at other times refused to work his Miracles before Unbelievers will be evident if we consider that 1. Christ had given undeniable proof of his Miraculous Power in many Instances before he required Faith as a Condition in such as came to him to see his Miracles and to receive the benefit of them When the Jews demanded a Sign of our Saviour Joh. ii 18. he had wrought before them the greatest of all his Miracles in St. (r) Comment in Matt. xxi 15. Jerom's Judgment by casting the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple But they were so unreasonable as upon this very account to ask for another Miracle what Sign shewest thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things Whereupon our Saviour signifies to them that he would rise again from the Dead and this was no refusal but only a short delay of his working other Miracles for at that very Passover when he was in Jerusalem in the Feast-day many believed in his Name when they saw the Miracles which he did And then the first time we find Faith required as a Disposition or Preparation in Men to have Miracles wrought for their Cure or their Conviction is Matt. xiii 58. Mark vi 5. besides the rejecting of the Scribes and Pharisees Matt. xii 38. And before the time to which these Texts have Relation Christ had Cured all manner of Diseases and cast out many Devils and his Fame was spread abroad throughout all the Region round about Galilee and even throughout all Syria Matt. iv 23 24. Mark i. 28. He had Cured the Centurion's Servant at a distance and had restored to Life the Daughter of Jairus a Ruler of the Synagogue Where it may be observed that he commended the Faith of the Centurion tho' the Cure was wrought upon his Servant that he Exhorted the Father not to be afraid but to believe when his Fear or Faith could have no influence upon his dead Daughter He had cast out a Legion of Devils at once and permitted them to enter into the Herd of Swine to convince even the Sadducees if any thing could convince them that they were Evil Spirits which he had cast out Mat. viii 13. Mark v. 9 22. And when our Saviour's Miraculous Power had thus manifested it self upon all sorts of Persons upon the Absent upon the Dead and upon others who could neither hope for nor desire relief of him and this in the sight of many who were still Unbelievers and of some who charged him with casting out Devils by Beelzebub Matt. xii 24. Luke xi 15. it was highly reasonable that he should afterwards require a Belief of what he had already done and was again able to do before he would extend his Healing Power towards Men and that he should work no new Miracles for the Conviction of such as disregarded and disbelieved all that he had done before It doth not appear that Christ ever required Faith of any before his working of a Miracle who had not already seen him work Miracles unless it were of his own Country-men and of some who came to be healed His Country-Men by their Astonishment at his Doctrin and his mighty Works seem to shew that they had no Experience of them before but that they were unknown at least to the generality of them any otherwise than by Report but there was a peculiar Case as I shall presently prove Those who came to him with no cavilling design but with a desire and expectation of help from him cannot be supposed to doubt of his Power to do that for them which they had seen him do for others but many applied themselves to him upon the common Report and Fame of his miraculous Works and it was requisite that these should believe what they had heard so well attested if they would receive that Benefit which they besought of him But as to others it cannot be proved that Christ did ever in order to his working a Miracle require Faith of them who had never seen him work any Miracle before though if he had done it there might have been sufficient Reason for it But all besides in whom the want of Faith is at any time alleged as the Cause why they had no Miracle wrought upon their Account in order to their Conviction had in all probability seen Miracles wrought by him before which they would not believe and that was Reason enough why no more should be wrought for them to be despised as the former had been Or however our Saviour's Miracles were so publickly and frequently wrought that they might have seen them either before or afterwards though they were not done purposely for them when they required it Those of whom Christ at any time required Faith before he would work Miracles were either such as had some malicious and captious Prejudice against him or such as came to be cured of their Diseases and Infirmities 1. As for the Captious and Malicious there was great Reason why they should be rejected and no Miracles should be wrought for them We read that he did not many mighty works in his own Country because of their Unbelief Matth. xiii 58. But though he did not many mighty Works there yet he did some which indeed were not many in comparison of what he did in other Places And there was a particular Reason why he did no more there because it was his own Country and they upbraided him with his mean Birth and Education whereupon Jesus seeing them offended in him said unto them A Prophet is not without Honour save in his own Country and in his own House and so as it immediately follows he did not many mighty Works there because of their Unbelief He had done many wonderful Works in the adjacent Countries and his Fame was spread throughout all Galilee but he who knew the Hearts of all Men (x) Non quod etiam illis incredulis facere non potuerit virtutes multas sed ne multas faciens virtutes eives incredulos condemnaret Hiet. ad loc saw how unsuccessful all his Works would be upon his own unhappy Country-Men who had been so little moved with what they had heard of him and with what many of them probably had seen him do in other Places that they only derided and vilified him And he who had so tender a Compassion for all Mankind and with great Affection wept over Jerusalem could not but have such a Concern for his own Country as to refrain the working of those Miracles which he had otherwise designed foreseeing that they would only serve to aggravate their Guilt and encrease their Damnation till by his Resurrection he should give an undeniable Evidence of his Divine Power and then should send his Disciples among them after his Ascension to whom they would have greater
regard as to Strangers against whom they had not that unjust and foolish Prejudice For we never read that the Apostles did any where forbear to work Miracles because of Unbelief but in all Places and among all Persons they shewed forth the wonderful Works of God But when the Works of Christ which were so wonderful and so well known in all Parts of Galilee had so ill effect upon those of his own Country St. Mark says That he could there do no mighty Work save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them and he marvelled because of their Unbelief Mark vi 5 6. He wrought such Miracles as his infinite Goodness meerly drew from him and then wondred at the Obstinacy of their Unbelief which hindred him from working any more For there are some things which God himself cannot do not for want of Power but because it would imply an Imperfection in him a Defect of Power and a Contradiction to his Divine Nature to do them God cannot lye he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. ii 13. Tit. i. 2. He can act nothing unbecoming his own Wisdom and Goodness he cannot do Miracles when he sees they will be to no good purpose but will be abused to a very ill one Yet to shew his Compassion and to manifest that his Power was not restrained in it self but that their Unbelief had restrained it from them he laid his Hands upon the Sick and healed them but did no more for he can do nothing improper and unfit to be done The requiring of more Miracles when sufficient had been wrought already was a Tempting and Provoking of God it was impiously to bid Defiance to his Power and to Challenge him to do whatever they durst demand of him Our Saviour therefore rebukes the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees for Seeking after a Sign Matth. xii 39. xvi 2. But the first time he had wrought a Miracle just before in the Cure of the Man whose Hand was withered and of the blind and dumb Man who was possest with a Devil and when they still required farther Signs and being unmoved with what had been already done they had now charged him with casting out Devils by Belzebub our Lord had great Reason to refuse to work any more Miracles before such obstinate and ungrateful Men which he saw were so far lost upon them that that served only to render them altogether unpardonable in Blaspheming the Holy Ghost and therefore he tells them That there was no other Sign left for them who had not yet incurred that Sin which was never to be forgiven but the Resurrection of the Son of Man This was a Sign which might convince the most Incredulous and which denied to none but was reserved as the last means And several things which were done and said by Christ in private were not to be divulged till after his Resurrection because before they might fall under Suspicion but that and the Miracles wrought by vertue of it would sufficiently prove whatsoever his Disciples should say of him When they again demanded a Sign he had a little before healed great Multitudes and had fed several Thousands by Miracle in the Wilderness and therefore he again refers this wicked and adulterous Generation of Men to the Sign of the Prophet Jonas We have as little Reason to imagine that our Saviour should work Miracles to gratifie the Curiosity of Herod Luke xxiii 8. who hoped to have seen some Miracle done by him or that he should expose his Divine Power to Herod's Contempt and Mockery when he had so lately wrought a Miracle in curing the Ear of Malchus who was so far from believing in him that he was one of them who came to apprehend him It was an Act of Mercy to Cure this Man but to work Miracles only to give Men an occasion to vilifie that Power by which they were done could be neither worthy of God nor any Charity to Men but it would have been unsuitable to the Character and Authority of Christ to debase himself to a compliance with them who used him with such Scorn and Derision and only reviled and tempted him Herod was disappointed in his hope and expectation of seeing a Miracle and was not denied it for want of Faith For he believed that Christ had wrought Miracles and supposed that John the Baptist whom he had Beheaded was risen from the dead and that therefore mighty Works did shew forth themselves in him Matth. xiv 2. But perceiving him not to be John the Baptist he set him at naught 2. In the case of those who came to desire his help for the Cure of themselves and others though they had not seen any Miracle wrought by him before yet it was reasonable that Christ should work no Miracle for them if they wanted Faith in what he had already wrought and did not believe him able to perform what they would seem to expect and desire him to do When he had given so many Demonstrations of a Divine Power he might justly expect an Acknowledgment and Belief of it in all that came to him and would receive any Benefit from it He might surely bestow his Favours and Benefits upon his own Terms and no Terms could be more reasonable than that those who came to ask them should really believe that he was able to bestow them and should apply themselves to him with an expectation to receive what they asked of him Otherwise to come to him for Cure was no better than to Tempt to Mock and Deride him it was to ask what they did not believe he could bestow but they resolv'd only to try what he could do supposing that if they received no good yet however there could be no hurt in the Experiment Now can any Man think that the Miracles which Christ wrought were to be bestowed upon no better Considerations than these Or that those were in any measure worthy to be Cured who came with so indifferent an Opinion of him and with so little expectation of Relief Christ wanted no opportunities of shewing his Power he had shewn it in many and wonderful Instances and would do it again as often as he saw occasion upon fit and proper Objects But if they so little regarded what he had already done as not to believe that he had done it and could again perform the same they but ill deserved what they came for the Divine Power and Goodness was not thus to be debased and exposed as to be employed in the Cure of Men who asked what they did not believe he could perform but only thought it would cost them nothing to make the Tryal and for that Reason made Application to him Our Saviour therefore says to the Father who came to him in behalf of his Deaf and Dumb Son If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth and upon that humble and passionate Declaration Lord I believe help thou my