c. 18. lib. v. c. 7. Quadratus had this gift of Prophecy and it continued in the Church to the time of Justin Martyr and of Irenaeus II. The Miracles wrought by the Apostles were according to an express promise of Christ to them that after his Ascension they should do even greater Works than he had done himself John xiv 12. that is they should do works that would be more eminent and observable in the eyes of the World though not more excellent and divine for nothing could be greater in that sense than to raise a man from the dead Which promise was fulfilled to them at the Feast of Pentecost when men from all parts of the world were made witnesses to it For they were commanded by our Saviour not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for this promise and he assured them that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days after his being taken up from them into Heaven and that they should receive power after that the Holy Ghost was come upon them and should be witnesses unto him both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth Acts i. 4 5 8. And this miraculous power was visibly bestowed not only upon the Apostles themselves but upon the (c) Monstrabatur locus ubi super centum viginti credentium animas spiritus sanctus descendisset Hieron Epitaph Paulae vid. Dr. Light exercit on Act. ii 1. p. 643. hundred and twenty mentioned Acts i. 15. I have already shewn that the Apostles were effectually qualified to be witnesses of what they delivered concerning Christ and that they could neither be deceived themselves in it nor could propose any advantage to themselves by deceiving others and that if they had designed any deceit they alledged such circumstances as made it impossible for them to have past undiscovered All which will be exceedingly confirmed by considering the miraculous Gifts which the Apostles received by the descent of the Holy Ghost according to this promise of our Saviour I shall therefore shew how the Apostles were enabled by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them to become witnesses to Christ 1. By the Miracles which they wrought themselves 2. By that power which was conveyed by them to others of working Miracles 3. By their supernatural Resolution Courage and Patience under their sufferings I. The Apostles were enabled to become witnesses to Christ by the Miracles which they wrought themselves This power of Miracles qualified them most effectually to be witnesses of the Resurrection and Ascention and other Articles of our Faith for they could neither deceive nor be deceived in these miraculous Gifts which were bestowed upon them to be an assurance to themselves and an evidence to others that it was the Cause of God in which they were engaged and his truth which they delivered They could not be deceived them selves undoubtedly in a thing of this nature they could not be ignorant whether they were real Miracles which they wrought or not they must needs know whether their own pretences were true or false and whether they could speak the Languages and do the Wonders which the world believed them to do and speak and they could not but know by what power and means they were enabled to perform all their miraculous Works And these works were of that nature and done in that manner that they could impose upon no man by them they could not make men believe that they spoke all kinds of Languages if they did not speak them nor that they cured all sorts of Diseases if they had not cured them nothing is more easy than for a man to know a Language that he understands when he hears it or than for men that were sick to know that they are recovered when they feel themselves well And the manner oâ— their performing these Miracles was the most publick and notorious in respect of the time and place and the persons on whom they were wrought Our Saviour had been crucified at the Feast of the Passover in the sight of the Jews and Proselytes who were met together from all parts of the World at that Solemnity and but fifty days after at the next solemn Festival of the Jews in the very same City where he had been Crucified in the presence of multitudes of people of all Nations and Languages which came to keep the Feast of Pentecost the Apostles declared to them in all their several Tongues that this same Jesus was by the Almighty Power of God raised from the dead and that they were impowered by him to speak all those Languages The Apostles were at the same time taken notice of to be Gallileans men of low Birth and of new Education St. John in particular was known to the High Priest himself and the rest were all known to many that heard them their Parentage and place of Abode and manner of Life might easily be enquired into for they were no strangers nor in a far Country and from all these it appeared that it was impossible that they should be capable of speaking any of these Languages but by inspiration and to speak all Languages is a thing which no man ever could hope to arrive at by study or conversation though he should make it the whole business of his Life and therefore this could least of all be suspected of men of mean Employments and who got their Livelihood by their daily labour and industry The Miracles which the Apostles wrought were likewise in the most publick places of the City and in the most publick manner upon persons who had been most remarkable and generally taken notice of for their Infirmities St. Peter by pronouncing only these words In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk cured a man of above forty years of Age who was known to have been lame from his Birth and was carried and laid daily at one of the Gates of the Temple where there was wont to be the greatest resort of people to ask an Alms of them that entred into the Temple and this man being immediately cured went with St. Peter and St. John into the Temple and all the people saw him walking and praising God and they knew that it was he which sat for Alms at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple Acts iii. 9 10. And the Rulers of the Jews enquired into the matter and upon examination when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marvelled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus and beholding the man which was healed standing with them they could say nothing against it but confessed among themselves that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it Acts iv 13 14 16. By this and other evident and publick Miracles the miraculous Power of the Apostles
the end of the world He foretold the denial of St. Peter and the manner of his Martyrdom and both were foretold to St. Peter himself and his denial but a very little while before it came to pass when St. Peter looked upon it as a thing impossible who alone could have it in his power to hinder it He prophesied of the destruction of Jerusalem which came to pass about forty years after his own Death within the compass of that Generation as he had foretold the very foundations of the Temple and City were destroyed and the ground plowed up so that one stone was not left upon another of all the magnificent Buildings of the Temple which the Disciples so much admired when our Saviour told them that this should be the Fate of that glorious Pile Matt. xxii 2. And as I have already observed upon another occasion when Julian with a design (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozom. lib. 5. c. 21. to defeat this Prophecy endeavoured to have it rebuilt both the Works and the Workmen were miraculously destroyed by a fire bursting out of the ground The Inhabitants fell by the edge of the Sword and were led away captive into all Nations Luke xxi 24. the chiefest place of security was the mountainous part of Judea which our Saviour foresaw when he advised his Disciples to flee to the Mountains Matt. xxiv 16. And Cestius Gallus compassed Jerusalem with his Army which was a warning to the Christians to depart and then by raising the Siege gave them an opportunity to escape to Pella in the Mountains of Perea exactly according to Luke xxi 20 21. And what Dion Cassius relates in the Reigns of Claudius Nero Vitellius and Titus may serve as a comment upon our Saviour's Prophecy for there were famines and pestilences fearful sights and great signs from Heaven and great Earthquakes the Sea and the Waves Roaring xxi 11 25. The Sun was darkned and the Moon did not give her light Matt. xxiv 29. Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which were coming on the Earth Luke xxi 26. and there was so terrible an eruption of Vesuvius that the Ashes were carried by the winds into Africk and into Egypt and Syria with so great smoak and darkness that it was thought the world had been at an end Our Saviour's Miracles verified the Prophecies which had been concerning the Messias for the Jews expected that the Messias should manifest himself by Miracles to the world as they concluded from the ancient Prophets and therefore St. John Baptist did no Miracles that he might not be mistaken for the Messias of whom Miracles were a principal Token to know him by His Miracles were wrought in the midst of his Enemies and extorted a confession from the Devils themselves of his Divine Power they were of that nature that it was impossible for them before whom they were wrought to be imposed upon by them and as impossible for them to be performed but by the immediate Power of God The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes was twice done and the Persons who were Witnesses to it were at one time five thousand men besides Women and Children Matt. xiv 21. and the other time four thousand men besides Women and Children Matt. xv 38. a Miracle wrought at two several times and obvious to all the sences of so many thousand Men besides Women and Children who being hungry found themselves filled and satisfied with this miraculous food in the barren Wilderness where it was impossible for them to be supplied by natural means was impossible to be mistaken The Miracles of our Saviour were so many and so publick and undeniable that St. Peter appeals to the Jews themselves declaring that Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God among them by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of them as they themselves also knew Acts ii 22. The Nobleman's Son was cured at a distance and the multitude were Witnesses to the request he made to our Saviour and to our Saviour's answer upon it and the Nobleman's Family were Witnesses that the cure was effected at that very time He cast Devils out of one known to have been a long time possess'd and then suffered them to go into the Swine to make it appear that they were indeed evil Spirits which had possess'd the Man contrary to the Doctrine of the Sadduces who believed no such thing as Spirits He cured the Leprosy and sent the cured to the Priest as the Law required that he by inspection might examine whether it were a perfect cure or no. He gave sight to one born Blind and this was upon examination attested to the Pharisees themselves Lazarus was raised to life again after he had been dead four days before so many Witnesses that the Scribes and Pharisees were not able to contradict the Truth of it but were mightily enraged against him for it and consulted to put Lazarus to death because many were induced to believe on Christ by reason of so great and manifest a Miracle Some who had been cured and others who had been raised from the Dead by our Saviour were living for many years after (b) Enseb Hist lib. iv c. 13. Hieron Catalog as Quadratus testified of his own time in his Apology to Adrian the Emperor The circumstances of these and the rest of our Saviours Miracles shewed that they were really performed and they were wrought with this intent and design to prove him to be the Christ The nature therefore and end of them shews that nothing less than a Divine Power could have effected them For God would never have suffered them to be wrought to vouch an Imposture to the World under his own Name and Authority (c) Guil. Ader me dici enarrationes de a grotis morbis in Evangelio A â—earned Physician has Written a Treatise to shew that according to the Principles and Axioms of the best Physicians all the Diseases which our Saviour cured were incurable by natural means and it is evident to every man that many of them were so But I shall insist more particularly upon the Resurrection of our Saviour this being the most wonderful and a confirmation of all his other Miracles and of the whole Gospel to us CHAP. XIV Of the Resurrection of our B. Saviour THE Resurrection of our B. Saviour was Prophesied of by David Psal xvi 8. Act. ii 27. And it was prefigured by the Type of Isaac's deliverance when he had been offered up by Abraham who both believed that God was able to raise him up even from the Dead and received him also from thence in a Figure Heb. xi 19. and it was also prefigured by the Type of Jonas his being three days and three nights in the Whale's Belly Matt. xii 40. Our Saviour was three days and three nights in the Grave that is three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or three natural days according
Vers 13. The Sun stood still or was silent and the Moon staid where the Word applied to the Moon signifies properly to stay or stand still but the Word used concerning the Sun is Metaphorical as if it had been purposely so ordered because the Moon moves but the Sun only seems to do so which is further confirmed by the following part of the same Verse where in the Citation from the Book of Jasher the same Word is used of the Sun which was before used of the Moon signifying that the Sun properly stood still For the Book of Jasher is cited in its own words but when Joshâ—a who wrote by Inspiration set down the words of the Holy Spirit he exprest the thing so that it cannot be from thence inferr'd that the Sun must be supposed to move but rather the contrary tho' immediately after in a Citation from another Book he inserts the Expression of an Author who had followed the vulgar Opinion III. Gen. i. 6. And God said let there be a Firmament in the midst of the Waters The Word translated Firmament is in the Margin rendred Expansion by which seems to be meant this Orb in which the Earth is placed and by the Waters above the Firmament or Expansion may be meant the Waters beyond the Circumference of our Orb and belonging to the Planets and by the Waters under the Firmament may be understood the Waters belonging to the Earth and contain'd within its Expansion For at first all was one confused Heap of Waters without any Distinction of Orbs the Mass of Waters being extended throughout before the several Orbs were appointed but then the Waters belonging to each Orb were caused to subside towards their several Centers till they being gathered together in their proper Channels and Receptacles the dry Land appeared I confess I once thought this had been only an Explication of my own but I have since found that it is of equal Date with the Modern Philosophy and that it has likewise been lately used by others Indeed it seems to be so easy an Exposition that I believe it would come into most Mens Minds who would consider how this Text may be explain'd according to the new Philosophy Others suppose the Firmament to signify the Region of the Air and by the Waters above the Firmament they understand the Vapours contained in the Clouds When he uttereth his Voice there is a Multitude of Waters in the Heavens and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the Earth Jer. x. 13. IV. The Sun and Moon are called Two great Lights Gen. i. 16. But this doth not imply that either of them is greater than the fixt Stars which are not spoken of till the latter end of the Verse But the Sun is the great Light that rules the day and the Moon the great Light that rules the Night the Moon being in respect of the Light which she gives us bigger than any fixt Star for She gives us more Light than they do in some sense however and with respect to us the Moon is the greater Light tho' the Stars are the greater Luminous Bodies Consider this Luminary as it concerns us and it is in that conception greater than the biggest Star Yet the Sun and the Moon are not said to be greater Lights than the fixt Stars nor as great as they are But are only called great Lights which they certainly are tho' every Star should be bigger than either of them The Stars are plainly spoken of by themselves and apart from the Sun and Moon without any comparison or relation to them And God made two great Lights the greater Light to rule the Day and the lesser Light to rule the Night He made the Stars also That is besides the two great Lights which are the Sun and Moon He made the Stars which are distinguished from these and not reckoned with them but are spoken of by way of Parenthesis The Stars being of another Division of Celestial Bodies and belonging to other Orbs are mentioned here distinctly and not with any comparison to the Sun and Moon But will any Man deny that the Sun and Moon are great Lights because the Stars are great Lights too and as big perhaps as the Sun and bigger than the Moon There are in Europe many great Cities and there are great Cities likewise in other parts of the World Doth therefore he that says there are great Cities in Europe to Rule the Neighbouring Countries and Cities in other parts of the World also say That the Cities of Europe are greater than any Cities in the rest of the World Or if any one should say God made four great Rivers to Water Paradise and Rivers in other places also would he thereby affirm that the Rivers of Paradise were larger than all the Rivers in the World besides V. 1 Sam. ii 8. We read of the Pillars of the Earth but this is spoken Metaphorically and by Pillars of the Earth may be meant the Power of the Princes of the World mentioned but just before In the like sense it is said Psal lxxv 3. The Earth and all the Inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars of it We find mention made of the Pillars of the Earth Job ix 6. which is to be understood of the Earth's unmoveable stability (x) Colamnas hoc loco pro stabilitate terrae intelligamus quam Deuâ—super semeâ— ipsamiâ—â—anbilissimâ— mole â—daviâ— St. Hierâ—â— ad Job ix 6â— as St. Jerom observes and so the other Texts may likewise be understood by the Pillars of the Heavens Job xxvi 11. we are to understand that Power which supports and upholds them VI. Job xxxvii 18. The Sky is said to be strong and as a Molten Looking-glass that is to be durable and resembling a Molten Looking-glass But however they be taken these are the Words of Elihu And Job's Friends sinned in what they charged him withal and therefore he may be supposed to make so innocent a mistake as to think the Heavens solid or at least he as well as the rest might speak the Language of those that did think so VII Job speaks strictly according to Philosophy when he saith that God hangeth the Earth upon Nothing Job xxvi 7. And we read Psal xxiv 2. That the Lord hath founded the Earth upon the Seas and established it upon the Floods and Psal Civ 5. that he hath laid the Foundations of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever All which is as exactly as any Philosopher can speak For the Foundation of a pendulous Globe can be nothing but its Center upon which all the parts lean and are supported thereby And the Waters continually flowing thro' the Bowels and Concavities of the Earth from the depths of the Sea by a constant Course and Circulation constitute an Abyss of Waters in the lowermost parts of the Earth So that with great Propriety of Speech the Terraqueous Globe is said to hang upon nothing and the
17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we the living the remaining that is the faithful which shall then be alive and remain upon the Earth St. Paul speaks of the Faithful here under a twofold denomination viz. of the Dead and the Living and speaking of the Living he uses the first Person Plural as being himself yet in the number of the Living not that he should be of that number at the Day of Judgment Thus frequent (c) Tollit animos Tullus Hostilius quasi ipse mandâ—sset spes inde nostris metus hostibus Flor. lib. 1. c. 3. Stipendiariam nobis Provinciam fecit Scipio Africanus Hispaniam lib. ii c. 17. Creticum Bellum si vera volumus noscere nos secimus lib. iii. c. 7. Examples are to be found where Historians Relating matters of Fact which happened long before their own Times use the expressions of we and our we Fought our Army Conquer'd that is the People of which I am now a Member or the Army of this People We the English Conquer'd France in the Reign of King Henry V. and if this had been Prophesy'd of it might have been said we shall Conquer c. Our Saviour speaking to the Jews says Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven when they had told him before our Fathers did eat Maâ—na in the Desart Joh. vi 31 32. And it might as well have been said to the Patriarchs you shall eat manna in the Wilderness as to the Jews of our Saviour's time you did eat it A Prophet foretelling things to come to pass after his own death might say We shall do so and so that is those of this Nation and People shall do it to which I belong and therefore reckon my self in the Number tho' I can have no share in the Action nor live to see it In the same manner St. Paul says we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Cor. xv 51. that is we who are not yet in the number of the Dead but are to â—e reckoned amongst the present and future Living As when he writes to the Ephesians among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by Nature the Children of wrath even as others Eph. ii 3. it is Paraphras'd by Dr. Hammond thus among who we of the Gentile Church of Rome from whence I write formerly lived c. It is certain St. Paul expected his own death 2 Tim. iv 6. but it is usual with him to speak in his own person by a Figure and sometimes even when he mentions himself by Name 1 Cor. iv 6. and he expresly declares that he did neither by word nor letter signifie that the Day of Christ was at hand 2 Thes ii 2. V. The Day of Judgment is describ'd with so much Solemnity and so many Particulars that it may seem impossible for them all to be dispatched in the compass not only of one but of many Days But (d) Mede Epist xx the Jews from whom our Saviour and his Apostles took the expression of the Day of Judgment understood by it a Time of many years continuance and sometimes the term even of a thousand years And by Day in the Language of the Scriptures is to be understood Season or any period and distinction of time with respect to some particular thing or occasion as these are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were Created in the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens Gen. ii 4. that is in the Time consisting of six days the day of temptation in the Wilderness was forty years Heb. iii. 8 9. Nay St. Peter uses it to express Eternal Duration to him be Glory says he both now and for ever which in the Original is both now and to the day of Eternity 2 Pet. iii. 18. Day is us'd for Judgment itself 1 Cor. iv 3. and (e) Grot. ad 1 Cor. iv 3. so the Jews understood Days to be meant Job xxiv 1. In our Language Days-man signifies Judge or Umpire Job ix 33. and Diem dicere was the Law-term amongst the Romans for the Summons to a Tryal but it doth not follow from thence that the Cause must needs have been decided upon the same Day which was appointed for the hearing it (f) Itaque cum ego diem in Siciliam inquirendi perexiguam postulâssem invenit â—ste qui sibi in Achaiam biduo breviorem diem postularet non ut is idem conficeret diligemiâ industriâ suâ quod ego meo labore vigiliis consecutus sum Etenim ille Achaicus inquisitor ne Brundisium quidem pervenit Ego Siciliam totam quinquaginta diebus sic obij ut omnium populorum privatorùmque litter as injuriasque cognoscerem Cic. in Ver. Act. i. Tully by Day in his first Oration against Verres means the space of at least Fifty Days There is no Reason then to suppose that the Last Judgment must be confined to one or more Days but it will take up as much time as the Solemnity of the Proceedings require Hunc diem Judicii ultimum diem dicimus id est novissimum Tempus Nam per quot dies hoc judicium tendatur incertum est sed scripturarum more sanctarum diem poni solere pro tempore nemo qui literas illas quamlibet negligenter legerit nescit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. xx c. 1. CHAP. XXIII Of Sacraments THO' the Jewish Law was very requisite at that time and for that People when it was in force and the wisest and best Institution that could have been yet it was indeed a yoke and such a yoke as was burthensome and not to have been born but in sure hopes and expectation of better things to come And at the approach of the Son of Righteousness these shadows vanished and the Types having attained their end and accomplishment were laid aside and in their room Christ has Instituted as few Rites as it was possible only the two Sacraments one for our Initiation and first Reception and the other for our Re-establishment and Confirmation in that Covenant which he has been pleas'd to make with us And yet even these are thought too many by some who as if they were all Soul and Spirit without Body are only for a Mental and Spiritual Worship To vindicate therefore the Institution and use of Sacraments I shall First Consider the Nature and Design of Sacraments in General Secondly I shall shew how fully the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper answer the End and Design of the Institution of Sacraments I. I will enquire into the Nature and Design of Sacraments in General Sacraments may be consider'd either 1. as outward and visible Signs of our entrance into Covenant with God or of our renewing our Covenant with him Or 2. As Pledges of God's Grace and Favour towards us Or. 3. As the Means
Marcellin b. xxiii c. 1. Heathen Historian who was then living and wrote the History of those times and has shewn himself in no respect over favourable to the Christians but was a Soldier under Julian and had no inclination to say any thing that might seem to diminish his Character The Judgments also which befell several of the greatest Persecutors of the Christian Religion were so miraculous and so terrible as to extort a confession from some of them of God's Justice in their Punishment and to force them to re-call their persecuting Edicts and change them for others in favour of Christianity (h) Euseb Hist lib. viii c. 17. ix c. 10. Lactant de Mortib Persecut c. xxxiv 49. The Edicts of Maximianus and Maximin to this purpose are to be seen in Eusebius and (i) Hieron in Hab. c. iii. the Judgment upon Julian was so sudden and so remarkable that some of the Heathen cavilled that the God of the Christians had not shewn that Mercy and forbearance which they reported of him in it And when the Power of Miracles which came down on the day of Pentecost upon the Apostles and was continued in the Church after them thus manifested it self in opposition to the pretences both of the Jews and Heathens in such a manner as must provoke them to make all the discoveries they possibly could concerning it when it thus triumphed over all the Gods of the Heathens whilst its poor and persecuted Professors were under the feet of the Heathen Emperors and lay continually exposed to their cruelties and at the peril of their Lives proffered in publick Apologies by a miraculous Power or as the Apostle speaks by the Power and Demonstration of the Spirit to prove their own Religion true and theirs salse and its cruelest Persecutors were by miraculous Judgments forced to become its Protectors this was all that could be desired towards the fulfilling the Promise of our Saviour to his Apostles that they should become his Witnesses to all Nations But III. The Gospel could not have been thus propagated unless this Power of the Holy Ghost had been still further manifest by the courage and resolution and patience of the Apostles under their sufferings Our Saviour tells them that they should receive power after that the Holy Ghost was come upon them to become witnesses unto him both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in Samaria these were the places where our Saviour himself had wrought his Miracles and where he had been hated and persecuted and at last crucified and there is reason to believe that the Apostles went not from Jerusalem and the parts adjacent (k) Euseb Hist lib. â— o. 18. till twelve years after his Ascention and when they had testified his Resurrection and Preached his Gospel to the Jews their work was not yet an end but they were to be his Witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the Earth and even thither several of them went fearing no dangers and being discouraged at no sufferings There is a natural boldness and courage in some men by which they are often carried both to do and to endure a great deal more than others but it was not so with the Apostles they were naturally very timorous and faint hearted they all forsook their Master and fled when he was first apprehended and then were very backward to believe his Resurrection and when they and the rest of the Disciples were convinced of it they did not preach is to others but after he had been seen of them forty days and discoursed with them of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God they still had mistaken notions and expectations concerning it when they therefore were come together they asked of him saying â—ord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel And when Christ was taken up from them into Heaven they stood gazing up after him not knowing what to think of it till two Angels admonished them that it was in vain for them to stand looking thus any longer and after his Ascention they staid ten days before they ventured to publish any thing of what had come to pass till on the day of Pentecost in a visible and audible manner the Holy Ghost descended upon them and quite changed their temper and of the most timorous made them the most couragious and resolute inspiring them with a Divine Vigor and presence of mind For of all their Miracles few seem to have been more wonderful than that firmness and constancy of mind which men so low and mean and abject and before so fearful as the Apostles were now shewed upon all occasions When our Saviour spoke to these his poor Disciples and commanded them to go and teach all Nations Matt. xxviii 19. it was such a command as no King nor Law-giver ever presumed to give in the height of all his Power and Greatness and when God himself sent Moses to the Children of Israel only Moses feared the success and would fain have declined the Message And how might the Disciples have replyed to our Saviour how shall we Preach to the Romans and dispute with the Graecians and discourse with the most remote and barbarous Nations who have been bred up in the knowledge only of our own Native Tongue How can we compel all Nations to forsake the worship of the Gods of their several Countries and to observe all things whatsoever we are commanded to teach them With what force of Eloquence are we fitted for such a design What hope can we have to succeed in an attempt to set up Laws in opposition to the Laws established for so many Ages in behalf of their own Gods What strength can we have to overcome such difficulties and to accomplish such an Enterprize But they made no objections our Saviour had conversed with them forty days after his Resurrection and now tells them that all Power is given unto him in Heaven and in Earth and he commands them not to depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which saith he ye have heard of me Acts i. 4. And when the Holy Ghost was come they were endued by him with a courage and resolution almost as wonderful as the Miracles they wrought to perperform the great work which lay before them they were not in the least daunted at any dangers or torments or deaths but went on courageously in their Duty by the power and assistance of the Holy Ghost by whom they were enabled to bring the world to the obedience of the Gospel of Christ They opposed themselves to all the assaults of Men and Devils Nothing could now discourage them who before were so timorous and unbelieving the coming of the Holy Ghost down upon them wrought a mighty change in them who were to work as great an alteration in all the world besides St. Peter standing with the Eleven lift up his voice he spoke with wonderful Resolution and the rest stood by to bear witness to
by the name of America or that the Torrid and Frigid Zones could be habitable No mystery in Religion can seem more incredible to any man than these things did appear even to Wise and Learned men and if they had not been found to be by Navigation they might have seem'd incredible still for ought we can tell tho now we wonder at the ignorance of former times that they should make any doubt of them and admire how they came to lye so long unknown for these things seem obvious when they are once discovered and it would be a disparagement to us if we could not make as great discoveries at home as those do who travel to the Indies And if we will but consider a little with our selves we shall find that we may be at least as much mistaken in our Philosophy about the things of another World as our Ancestors were for so many ages concerning so much of this and shall conceive it very possible that there may be a Heaven and a Hell tho we never spoke with any body that had been in either of those places and that there may be a Trinity and a Resurrection tho we were able to give no account of them For Nature it self exceeds our comprehension and therefore the Divine Essence and the Almighty Power of God must needs much more exceed it The motion of the Heavens and of the Winds and Seas the light of the Sun and Moon and Stars the conception and birth of all Creatures nay the growth of Corn and of the very Grass of the Field and all the most obvious and inconsiderable productions of Nature have so many wonderful difficulties in the explication of them that if we were not mightily inclined to flatter our selves I am afraid we should sooner turn Scepticks than be able to imagin that we can give any tolerable account of them For when all is done we know just enough of them to acknowledge and admire the infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God and to be led to a stedfast belief and assurance of what he has revealed of himself and of the World to come that the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World may be clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 How little is it that we know of this Earth where we live and which we dote so much upon For by the least calculation it is above three thousand and five hundred miles to the Center but the Art and Curiosity of Man has never reached according to Mr. Boyle's account after all his enquiries among Navigators and Miners (a) Excellency of Theology Sect. 4. above one mile or two at most downward and that not in above three or four places either into the Earth or into the Sea yet all Astronomers agree as he afterwards observes that the Earth is but a Physical point in comparison of the Starry Heaven Of how little extent then says he must our knowledge be which leaves us ignorant of so many things touching the vast bodies that are above us and penetrates so little a way even into the Earth that is beneath us that it seems confined to but a small share of the superficial part of a Physical Point And to shame the pride and vanity of Mankind the chiefest discoveries in Philosophy as he likewise observes have been the productions of Time and Chance not of any Wisdom or Sagacity Which is a remarkable acknowledgment in a person who has oblig'd the world with so many wonderful Improvements in experimental Philosophy The Circulation of the Blood has been but lately found out and was looked upon as absurd at its first discovery tho now what man can doubt of it And some of the most common effects of Nature might seem as strange as any if the frequency of them did not prevent our wonder Maimon More Nevoch pt 2. c. 18. If as Maimonides puts a case we suppose a man of never so good natural parts so brought up as to be ignorant of the manner how the several species of Animals are preserved and propagated in the world how many scruples might he raise to himself concerning their Conception and Formation Might he not object that it is impossible that the Infant should ever live and be nourished and grow in the Womb and would he not offer abundance of Demonstrations to prove that the Natural Birth of Mankind and of all other Creatures is utterly impossible Our Saviour in his discourse with Nicodemus answers his Doubts concerning the New Birth by putting him in mind that he was as little able to give an account of the Wind and that he could not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth implying that there is much less reason to doubt of things of a Spiritual nature because we are able to give no sufficient explication of them when we are thus at a loss about the most common and obvious things in the world Joh. 3.8 And S. Paul confutes all objections against the Resurrection by a like Argument alledging that as it would be intolerably absurd to deny or doubt of the growth of Corn because it cannot perfectly be explained so it is much more absurd to deny or doubt of the Resurrection for no better reason since supernatural things must be more obscure and harder to be understood by us than natural 1 Cor. 15.36 Indeed Infidelity could never be more inexcusable than in the present Age when so many discoveries have been made in Natural Philosophy which would have been thought as incredible to former Ages as any thing perhaps that can be imagined which is not a downright contradiction That Gravitating or Attractive Force by which all Bodies act one upon another at never so great a distance even through a Vacuum of prodigious extent lately demonstrated by Mr Newton the Earth together with the Planets and the Sun and Stars being placed at such distances and dispos'd of insuch order and in such a manner as to maintain a perpetual ballance and poise throughout the Universe is such a discovery as nothing less than a Demonstration could have gained it any Belief And this System of Nature being so lately discovered and so wonderful that no account can be given of it by any Hypothesis in Philosophy but it must be resolved into the sole Power and good Pleasure of Almighty God may be a caution against all Attempts of estimating the Divine Works and Dispensations by the Measures of Humane Reason The vastness of the World's extent is found to be so prodigious that it would exceed the Belief not only of the Vulgar but of the greatest Philosophers if undoubted experiments did not assure us of the Truth of it We are assured by men of the best art and skill in those things * See Mr Boyle of the high vencration Mans Intellect owes to God that every Fixt Star of the first magnitude is above an hundred
unwilling to find the Christian Religion true which puts such a check to all Licentiousness and to their beloved and long accustomed Vices Vice would be sure to make a strong defence and an eager Plea and nothing could be difficult for it to discover when it had such a number of such subtle and devoted Advocates In this Conjuncture of time the Saviour of the World appears and he appears in a mean and low Condition despised by his own People who soon became as much despised themselves by all the World besides The Prince of Peace is Born in a time of setled and Universal Peace when Men had most leisure and opportunity to examine and consider things and when by the Establishment of the Roman Empire under Augustus in its full power and extent there was an open and free Correspondence between all Nations and the Apostles and their Followers by this means might find a like admittance to preach the Gospel in all Countries but to be alike hated and persecuted in all parts of the World The Religion of Christ was not to make advantage of any Troubles and Confusions in the Empire as that of Mahomet afterwards did but to recommend it self by its own worth and efficacy to the most serious and impartial Minds and under all these disadvantages it soon made its way into the Emperor's Court where Craft and Luxury and every thing that is most contrary to the purity and simplicity of the Gospel reigned St. Paul had his Proselytes in Caesar's Houshold and his Bonds in Christ were manifest in all the Palace and in all other places at Rome Phil. i. 13. iv 22. The truth of the Gospel approved itself to the most prejudiced Judgments it stood all the Trials and Conquer'd all Opposition that Wit and Learning and Vice it self could make For by the leave of the Atheists and Deists of our own Age the Christian Religion found the subtilest and most dangerous Adversaries at its first propagation The Epicureans and the Stoicks encountred St. Paul at Athens and these last especially were inferiour to no other Sect of Philosophers either for their obstinacy in adhering to their own Opinions or for their Art and Skill in Disputation And it appears from the several Apologies made afterwards in vindication of our Religion that all was at the very first alledged against it which can with any pretence or colour be objected Thus was Christ Born in the fulness of time when all the Prophecies concerning his coming were fulfilled and when the World was in expectation of him and had such general notice of his coming in a time the most unlikely for an Imposture to pass undiscover'd and therefore the most seasonable for Truth to manifest it self since that must needs be true which neither Learning nor Prejudice nor Vice nor Interest could prove to be false The accomplishment of Prophecies and the Conversion and Martyrdom of such numbers of Men in such an Age recommends the Gospel to us with all the advantage which any Juncture of Time could give CHAP. XXII Of the last Days and of the last Day or the Day of Judgment BY the last Days in the Scriptures must be meant either the last Days of the World or the last Days of the Jewish State and Government or the Days of the Gospel Dispensation which are the last Days in respect of the Means and Opportunities of Salvation vouchsafed to Mankind I. The last Days of the World are seldom mention'd directly and in express terms but under such Resemblances as were fit to represent them in the description of other Events For it was a known thing among the Jews that their whole Dispensation being Typical whatever happened to them under their Law and Government must afterwards be fulfilled in a more eminent manner under the Oeconomy and Dispensation of the Messias and therefore the last Days of Jerusalem must be Typical of the last Days of the World For the Destruction of Jerusalem at the Conclusion of the Jewish Dispensation was only a Type of the final Destruction of the World at the consummation of all things when Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father 1 Cor. xv 24. For which Reason our Saviour makes use of such words Matt. xxiv as are applicable to both of these events and oftentimes more fitly to the last Judgment that after the Destruction of Jerusalem it might appear that the rest remains still to be accomplished at the Day of Judgment But there are likewise such Expressions used as evidently shew that the Destruction of Jerusalem is the thing immediately designed in the Prophecy This will appear if we consider several Verses of that Chapter Then let them which be in Judea flee into the Mountains ver 16. and that with the greatest hast for let him which is on the house top not come down to take any thing out of his house v. 17. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his Cloaths v. 18. But the Condition of such would be very miserable who should be unfit for flight And woe unto them that are with Child and to them that give suck in those days v. 19. But pray ye that your flight be not in the Winter neither on the Sabbath Day v. 20. There will be no flying from the general destruction of the World but the Disciples are here warned to fly from the destruction of Jerusalem and escape into the Mountains and they are commanded to pray that their flight might be hindred neither by the season of the year nor by the Sabbath on which the Jews were permitted to travel but a very little way Which supposes that the World was to last after the Tribulation there spoken of and that therefore the final destruction of this material World is not the thing there immediately meant And except those days should be shortned there should no Flesh be saved but for the Elects sake those days shall be shortned v. 22. If this Destruction should have raged long in that manner no Man of the Jews could have survived it but it was to be so abated and so soon over that the converted Jews might be preserved from it which Promise was very remarkably and wonderfully fullfilled to the Christians at the Siege of Jerusalem who made their escape into the Mountains and retir'd to Pella For wheresoever the Carcass is there will the Eagles be gathered together ver 28. which is a plain allusion to the Roman Eagles or the Standards of their Armies Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the Powers of the Heavens shall be shaken ver 29. This was in some respect litterally fulfilled at the Destruction of Jerusalem But it is usual with the Prophets by these Figures to describe the Destruction of Nations and the false Teachers are styl'd by St. Jude ver 13. wandring
Witness to the Truth of their Doctrine God himself bears Witness to it and the Jews might have said in this as they did in a very different Case What need we any further Witnesses for we our selves have heard of their own mouths in the Miraculous Gift of Tongues or seen it with our own Eyes in the many wonderful Works which were continually wrought in the most publick manner in Testimony of the Resurrection of Christ Our Blessed Saviour therefore gave as full proof of his Resurrection as if he had appear'd in the Temple or in the midst of Jerusalem to the whole People of the Jews For this had not been more effectual to the Conversion of most of them nor more sufficient to evidence the Truth of the Gospel than his Appearance to his Disciples was and if the Jews had unanimously believed it could not have contributed more to convince Men of the Truth of the Resurrection than their Unbelief has done he sent his Apostles with a Miraculous Power as convincing as his own Appearance could have been and all things considered the Jews afford us as full Evidence in behalf of the Gospel by opposing it as they could have done by their compliance with it And since we have sufficient Testimony to resolve our Faith into the Divine Veracity the certainty is the same whether the Witnesses be more or fewer because it depends upon the veracity of God which is always the same whatever the means be by which our Faith is resolved into it CHAP. XXVII Of the Forty Days in which Christ remain'd upon Earth after his Resurrection and of the manner of his Ascension OUR Blessed Saviour had certified his Disciples of his Resurrection in such a manner as to give them many infallible Proofs of it or else it is impossible for any thing to be infallibly proved and that which is chiefly to be considered in this matter is that he was seen by them not once but often not for a short time or at a hasty Interview but for forty days together and then he performed the common Actions of Humane Life he did eat and drink with them and discoursed with them of the things relating to his Kingdom To whom also he shewed himself alive after his Passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts i. 3. That which I here design is to make some Observations upon the Conversation that our Saviour had with his Disciples during the Forty days between his Resurrection and his Ascension and upon the manner of his leaving them when he ascended into Heaven 2. The Scriptures acquaint us that our Saviour was seen of his Disciples Forty Days or that he vouchsafed them his presence the greatest part of that time which he remained upon Earth after his Resurrection But in what manner all that time was spent with them we are no where told which is no wonder if we consider how much of his former Life is concealed from us In the Scriptures which are written for our Instruction and in the plainest and sincerest manner in the World to inform us of all things necessary to our Salvation we have nothing taken notice of for Ostentation nor for Ornament but many things omitted in the Life of Christ which are thought needful in Humane Authors to make up a compleat History We have no more mentioned of his Parentage than was necessary to make it evident that he was descended from David and born of a Virgin as the Prophets had foretold of him When he was born we read that the Shepherds and the Wise-Men came to Worship him that he was Circumcised that he was brought to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord and that he was carried into Aegypt to avoid Herod's Cruelty and hereby known Prophecies were fulfilled Afterwards he was brought to Nazareth upon the death of Herod and from that time we read no more of him 'till the twelfth Year of his Age when he Disputed with the Doctors in the Temple And then we are told that he went down to Nazareth and was subject to his Mother and to Joseph and in general Terms that he encreased in Wisdom and Stature and in favour with God and Man as it was before said of him that he grew and waxed strong in Spirit filled with Wisdom and the grace of God was upon him Luke ii 40 52. The next time we read any thing of him is when he was about Thirty years of Age and came to John to be Baptized Thus not only during his Infancy and Childhood there is little related of our Blessed Saviour but his riper years are passed over in Silence in all which time we may be sure that there was no Speech or Action of so Divine a Person but what well deserved the observation of all that knew him and was more worthy of mention in History than all the Renowned Adventures and Exploits or than the Wise or Witty Sayings which adorn the Lives of the Greatest among the Sons of Men. But Modesty Humility and a Contempt of the praise of Men were some of the great and useful Doctrines in which he came to instruct Mankind and he could not do this more effectually than by his own Example in leading a mean and obscure Life little known or taken notice of in the World 'till two or three years before he was to leave it by a Cruel and Infamous Death He did not chuse to spend his time in places of publick Resort and Converse and when he Disputed in the Temple yet nothing of the particulars is mentioned This obscure and unknown Person was to rebuke and comptroll the Pride and Vanity of the Popular Scribes and Pharisees And after he had appeared in the World very much of his Life was spent in privacy and retirement not many of his Discourses are delivered down to us and the greatest part of his Actions are omitted For if they had been all written and described in their several Circumstances many Volumes must have been taken up in the Narrative of them insomuch that St. John supposes that even the World itself could not have contained the Books that should have been written Joh. xxi 25. that is as we might express it in our Language he did a world of things more than these which are related of him and in the same sense of the Word St. James says that the Tongue is a world of Iniquity Jam. iii. 6. The meaning of St. John is that hardly any words could express how many other things were done by our Saviour besides those which he had set down Christ might have employed some accurate Historian to compose the Annals of his whole Life with the greatest exactness imaginable but he was pleased to be represented to the World very imperfestly by such as knew nothing of what belonged to the writing History any farther than to be able to tell the strict and necessary Truth The
him out of their sight he was not snatch'd away from them by a swift and violent motion like Elijah and carried up in a fiery Chariot which might dazle their sight that they could not discern him in his Ascent but he was lifted up and removed from them leisurely and by degrees they looked stedfastly towards Heaven as he went up by a visible and easie motion and they had a clear view of him 'till at last a Cloud received him out of their sight It is probable that all the Disciples to the Number of about an hundred and twenty mentioned Acts i. 15. were present to behold the Ascent of our Saviour (q) Apud Euseb Hist lib. 1. c. ult The Apostle St. Thaddeus declared tho' this as well as many other things is not inserted into the Scriptures that a great multitude of the Saints and Heavenly Host went up with him we read of the Appearance of two Angels upon this Occasion who acquainted the Disciples that this same Jesus whom they had thus evidently seen taken up from them into Heaven should so come in like manner as they had seen him go into Heaven And St. Paul informs us that the manner of his Coming at the last Day will be with his mighty Angels or the Angels of his Power 2 Thes i. 7. From whence we may conclude according to the Account of St. Thaddeus that the Holy Angels visibly attended him in his Ascension The Disciples were all much surprized at a thing so wonderful and stood gazing up into Heaven after him 'till they were certified not only by their own Senses but by the Message of the Angels that he was gone from them into Heaven no more to be expected from thence till the Day of Judgment We have therefore the plainest and fullest Evidence that can be desired both of the Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour He shewed himself alive to his Disciples after his Passion by many infallible Proofs he was seen of them forty days and Conversed and Discoursed with them tho' we are not told after what manner and by what Intervals of time he was pleased to vouchsafe them his Presence this being concealed from us as very many of the Particulars are of his former Life before his Crucifixion But at the end of the space of forty days whilst he was in the midst of them he ascended into Heaven in the sight of them all in such a manner that they distinctly saw and beheld him and kept their Eyes fix'd upon him in his Ascension and a Vision of Angels besides informed them that he is to return in the like manner when he shall come to Judge the World CHAP. XXVIII Why some Works of Nature are more especially ascribed to God why Means was sometimes used in the working of Miracles and why Faith was sometimes required of those upon whom or before whom Miracles were wrought I. ALL the Powers of Natural Causes proceeding from God that may justly be ascribed to him which is wrought by them for he works as truly by Second Causes as by his own direct and immediate Power in producing any Effect The Order and Frame of Nature was Originally by his Appointment and by his Care and Providence and Influence it is upheld and therefore the Scriptures ascribe the effects of Natural Agents to God as the Author of them because these can do nothing but by his Support and Influence and the continuance and preservation of Natural Causes in the production of their Effects for so many Ages in one constant Tenour is a manifest and wonderful Demonstration of the Divine Power and Wisdom But those things may be said more especially to be done by God himself whereby upon some extraordinary Occasion his Power and his Will are more particularly manifested or his Promise is fulfilled for in those things his Care and Providence is more concerned to bring them to pass and therefore God may employ a more than ordinary concourse to sustain and influence the Powers of Nature that they may not sail in such Cases to produce their Effects according to their usual and setled Course II. Miracles are more peculiarly the Works of God because they are wrought without the concurrence or subserviency of Natural Means For tho' sometimes outward Means were used in the Miraculous Curing of Diseases yet they were such as could have no effect in the Cure but rather the contrary as when the Man that was born blind recovered his Sight by washing in the Pool of Siloam at our Saviour's Command after his Eyes had been anointed with Clay made of Dust and Spittle The Ointment made of Dust and Spittle was so far from having any effect towards the Cure that it would have been much more likely to have put out the eyes of a Man that had seen and the washing afterwards could only remove that which was so far from being a Remedy that it must have been an obstruction to the best sight As many Miraculous Cures were wrought by our Saviour without any more than a word speaking and sometimes even without so much as that to shew that he had no need of Means so when any Means were used they were such as apparently could not tend to the Cure and were not used as Remedies but as Circumstances in the working his Miracles to raise the Attention of the Beholders to imprint what was done the deeper upon their Memories and to give the greater Credibility to the History of his Miracles For all matter of Fact is to be proved or disproved by Circumstances and the more Circumstances concurr in any Action the less liable it is to Mistake or Imposture Our Saviour therefore was pleas'd that his Miracles should always be accompanied with remarkable Circumstances which were sometimes of one kind and sometimes of another the better to work upon the variety of Mens Tempers and Dispositions but whatever outward Means was at any time used by him it could have the Nature only of a Circumstance and was no more proper and effectual to produce the Miracle than any other might have been Some he touched some he only spoke to and others he sent to the High-Priest that he might be a Witness of the Cure Now the touch the speaking or the sending could have no effect as outward Means but only as they were attended with an inward and Divine efficacy But all these were considerable Circumstances to excite the Observation of those who were present at these Cures and to preserve the Remembrance of them to Posterity III. Tho' our Saviour had the most absolute and unconfined Power of working Miracles at all times and before all Persons whensoever he pleased yet we may observe that he sometimes refused to exercise it For tho' he could always do his Marvellous Works yet it was not fit that they should be always done but then only when they might be useful and serviceable to the Ends for which they were wrought and to his Design of coming
who was not as singular in other things and in his Notions of Religion but he has firmly believed the Divine Authority of the Scriptures It concerns all who have any Doubts about these things to weigh the Objections with the Answers that have been given to them by divers Authors and withal to observe the importance of the Objections and how far they affect the main Cause and still to remember that it is at every Man 's own Peril if he make a rash and partial Judgment If our Faith could be of no Benefit or Advantage to us nor Infidelity any Prejudice we might take the same Liberty to give Credit or no Credit to what we read in the Bible that we use in the Reading all other Books and to receive or reject it as we think fit or to believe only just so much as lies even with our own Understandings and Notions of Things and at the worst this would be but Folly in us But it is madness to reject our own Happiness and make our selves miserable because we do not perceive the Reasons of all the Means and Methods which God has been pleased to use to make us happy or are not able to understand every Word of that Book which contains the Terms of our Salvation This is as if a Son should chuse to live miserably rather than to enjoy a large Estate left him by his Father because he doth not perceive the design and full meaning of every particular in his Will he searches out for all Ways and Arts for cavilling at it and is fond of any pretence to cast it aside as Counterfeit being resolved never to believe it to be his Father's For his Father was a wise Man and if it were his such and such Clauses would not be in it since there is no reason that he can see why they should be inserted several things mentioned in it he believes are mis-timed the Bounds of the Lands are not described by fit Names besides it is interlined and he never will accept of such an Estate conveyed to him by such a Will but chuses rather to be miserable all the Days of his Life This would be such peevishness and perversness as is not to be met withal where our Temporal Interest is concerned But too many are too forward to reject the Tenders and despise the Terms of an everlasting Inheritance in Heaven tho' at the same time they become obnoxious to all the Curses threatned to Unbelievers because the Old and New Testament contain some things which may afford matter of Exception and Cavil to captious Men. God has sent his Prophets to call and admonish us and his Son to reconcile us to himself by his Death and to offer us Eternal Peace and Happiness and he has given us all the Evidence of it that the nature of the things would admit The Jews have asserted the Authority of the Old Testament from the times of Moses and the Prophets and the Christians asserted the Truth of the Gospel when it was impossible for them not to know whether it were true or not without any prospect of Advantage by it in this World but with a certain expectation of all manner of Torments and Deaths and the greatest part of the Known World was converted to the Belief of it and became Christians when in this World Christians were of all Men the most miserable and were supported only by the stedfast hope and expectation of that Happiness which is promised to us in the Scriptures after this Life And all things considered we have as sufficient Grounds for the Authority of the Scriptures as we have not only that any other Book was composed by the Author whose Name it bears but as we have to believe any thing else in the World Now what do these Men How do they receive so great a Blessing Why they overlook all the Evidence that can be brought to prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and search up and down for doubtful and obscure Passages to disprove it by not considering in the mean time that nothing can overthrow their Authority but that which can invalidate the Evidence by which it is establish'd It would be the highest Folly and Ingratitude thus to despise God's Mercy and Care over us if there were no danger in it but it being a thing of infinite Danger it is no less than Madness For what milder Term can be found to express the desperate Folly of them who reject a Book which sets before us the means of Salvation but at the same time forewarns us upon pain of the severest effects of God's Displeasure not to neglect them It is madness I say if we rightly consider it to reject such a Book and at once both to affront the Mercy and despise the Threatnings of the infinitely Merciful and the infinitely Great and Powerful God It is a good Caution to the Atheist to forbear his Blasphemies and Contempt of the Divine Majesty for fear it should prove true that there is a God at last and then it will be a dismal thing after all his profane Talking and Arguing to be called before that God whom he has so often denied And it is as good Advice to those who make it their business to find Fault with the Scriptures to consider seriously whether they are sure that these are not God's Word after all that can be said against them and if they be not absolutely certain of this the Name and Title which they bear and which Men as wise and as Judicious as themselves thought to belong to them should methinks keep Men within some bounds of Modesty and Discretion For if they be indeed the Word of God and nothing is capable of being made more evident than how dearly must they pay for a little cavilling Wit and Subtilty The best and most Divine things may be despised and affronted by a bold and Scurrilous Wit but can Men think it a safe or a prudent thing to ridicule and Scoff at those Books which for ought they know may be of Divine Revelation when all the Reason of which they fansie themselves so great Masters can never be able to confute the Arguments brought in Vindication of them Can they value the contemptible Reputation of a little Satyr and Drollery at that mighty Rate as to run the hazard of being damned for it If Men have any real Doubts or Scruples they must needs grant that it is too serious a thing to jest and trifle withal when no less than the Terms of our everlasting Happiness or everlasting Misery is the thing in Controversy And what Wit there may be in it I cannot tell but I am sure it is no sign of a very Wise Man to speak contemptibly of a Book by which he can never prove but that he must be judged at the last Day As a Mad-Man says Solomon who casteth Fire-brands Arrows and Death so is the Man that deceiveth his Neighbour and saith Am not I