wisdom disposing of them Tully tells us of a speech of Aristotle to this purpose If we could suppose persons to have lived in some caverns of the earth and to have enjoyed every thing there of pleasure and riches or whatever it is which we think makes mens lives happy and had never been abroad upon the surface of the earth but had only had some obscure report of an Infinite power and Being and that afterwards these persons should by an opening of the caverns wherein they were come abroad into these parts of the world and should suddenly behold the earth Sea and the Heavens and observe the vastness of the clouds and violence of winds and behold the bigness beauty and influence of the Sun and how the day depended upon his presence and upon his withdrawing should view the face of the heavens again as it were the second course of nature the order and ornament of the Stars the varieties of the light of the moon their rising and setting and their fixed and immoveable courses they could not hold from believing there was a Deity and that these were the effects of his power So vastly different are the free and natural emanations of our souls from that which we force and strain out of our selves by distorting and wringing those free principles of reason which God hath given us When a few sorry experiments and some arbitrarious Hypotheses must make us form other conceptions of things then the Majesty order and beauty of them do naturally suggest to us We see when once we can but abstract our minds from those prejudices which continual conversation with the world brings upon us by that speech of Aristotle how readily our minds will frame an excellent commentary upon those words of the royal Psalmist The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament shews his bandy-work To which purpose likewise those words of the excellent Orator himself in another place are very observeable Quid est enim verius quam neminem esse oportere tam stultè arrogantem ut in se mentem rationem putet inesse in coelo mundóque non putet aut ea quae vix summâ ingenii ratione comprehendat nulla ratione moveri putat quem verb astrorum ordines quem dierum noctiumque vicissitudines quem mensium temperatio quemque ea quae gignuntur nobis ad fruexdum non gratume esse cogant hunc hominem omninò numerare qui decet What monstrous arrogancy would it be in any man to think there is a mind and reason in himself and that there is none in the world Or to think those things are moved without reason and understanding which all that he hath is scarce able to comprehend Neither can he deserve the name of a man from whom the observation of the courses of the stars the succession and order of seasons and the innumerable benefits which he enjoyes in the world does not extort gratitude towards that Being which ordered all these things What a low opinion then had those more resined and generous spirits who went only upon principles of pure and undistorted reason of those mean and ignoble souls which were inclined to Atheism especially then when Religion was so abused that it was true of the wisest of them what one said of Erasmus Magis habuit quid fugeret quam quid sequeretur they knew what to avoid but not what they should embrace And vet when they saw so much into the folly and superstition of Heathen worship they saw the greatest reason still to adhere to the belief of a Deity as may be clearly seen especially in the second of those excellent Dialogues of Tully de natura Deorum Where this particular argument to prove a Deity from the admirable contrivance of the works of nature is managed with a great deal of â—loguence and reason and by particular enumeration of most considerable parts of the Universe So unbecoming a late Philosopher was that reason of his why he waved the argument from the consideration of the world to inferr a Deity because the ends of God are unsearchable as flowing from his Infinite wisdom For what though God may conceal some things from men which he intends and are of no concernment for man to know must therefore of necessity those ends of his be unsearchable in his works of Creation which referr so immediately to the advantage of lfe and tend so much to the veneration of the Deity Nay the peculiar use and serviceableness of many parts of the Universe especially of Animals and chiefly of man is so evident that this hath been the main argument which hath induced some otherwise Atheistical enough to acknowledge and adore a Deity And although the Epicureans be lamentably puzzled to give any tolerable account of many other appearances in nature yet they nowhere discover so much weakness and ignorance as when they come to discourse De usu partium about the contrivance of the parts of mans body Whose opinion is thus briefly delivered by Lucretius Nil ideo quoniam natum'st in corpore ut uti Possemus sed quodnatum'st id procreat usum i. e. that no-parts of mans body were designed for that use which they are imployed for but the parts by chance fell into that form they are in and men by degrees brought them to their present use and serviceableness An opinion at first view so strangely unreasonable that we cannot think Epicurus should have ever embraced it had it not unavoidably followed upon his Hypothesis of all things in the Universe resulting only from a fortuitous concourse of Atoms According to which he supposed in man a different configuration of parts would happen from the various agitation and concretion of those little particles which at first run together in the fashion of a man and because that man had in him a more florid and vivacious spirit made up of the most subtile and moveable Atoms thence motion came into the several parts suitable to the different conformation of them And because those Atoms of which the soul is composed are capable of sensation thence it comes to pass that it sees in the eye hears in the ear and smells in the nostrills This is the most which is made of the opinion of Epicurus by the late sedulous vindicator of him which yet himself calls intoleranda opinio and it will appear to be so not only as contradicting what God himself hath delivered concerning man but what reason its self will easily suggest from the consideration of the several parts of mans body It must be confessed there were some Philosophers elder then Epicurus who were much inclined to this opinion as Democritus Empedocles Anaxagoras and others yet we find those who more narrowly searched into the natures of living creatures were thereby brought to acknowledg a divine providence which with a great deal of wisdom did order the several parts of animals and adapted them to their peculiar
after the flood Of the Chronology of the LXX Of the time between the flood and Abraham and the advantages of it Of the pretence of such Nations who called themselves Aborigines A discourse concerning the first plantation of Greece the common opinion propounded and rejected The Hellens not the first inhabitants of Greece but the Pelasgi The large spread of them over the parts of Greece Of their language different from the Greeks Whence these Pelasgi came that Phaleg was the Pelasgus of Greece and the leader of that Colony proved from Epiphanius the language of the Pelasgi in Greece Oriental thence an account given of the many Hebrew words in the Greek language and the remainders of the Eastern languages in the Islands of Greece both which not from the Phaenicians as Bochartus thinks but from the old Pelasgi Of the ground of the affinity between the Jews and Lacedaemonians Of the peopling of Amercia THE next thing we proceed to give a rational account of in the history of the fiâ—â—t ages of the world contained in Scripture is the peopling of the world from Adam Which is of great consequence for us to understand not only for the satisfaction of our curiosity as to the true Origine of Nations but also in order to our believing the truth of the Scriptures and the universal effects of the fall of man Neither of which can be sufficiently cleared without this For as it is hard to conceive how the effects of mans fall should extend to all mankinde unless all mankind were propagated from Adam so it is unconceivable how the account of things given in Scripture should be true if there were persons existent in the world long before Adam was Since the Scripture doth so plainly affirm that God hath made of one blood all Nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth Some Greek copyes read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leaving out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the vulgar Latin follows the Arabick version to explain both reads it ex homine or as De Dieu renders it ex Adamo uno there being but the difference of one letter in the Eastern languages between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one denoting blood and the other man But if we take it as our more ordinary copyes read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet thereby it is plain that the meaning is not that all mankind was made of the same uniform matter as the author of the Prae-Adamites weakly imagined for by that reason not only mankind but the whole world might be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same blood since all things in the world were at first formed out of the same matter but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken there in the sense in which it occurs in the best Greek authors for the stock out of which men come So Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thence those who are near relations are called in Sophocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thence the name of Consanguinity for nearness of relation and Virgil useth sanguis in the same sense Trojano à sanguine duci So that the Apostles meaning is that however men now are so dispersed in their habitations and differ so much in language and customs from each other yet they all were originally of the same stock and did derive their succession from that first man whom God created Neither can it be conceived on what account Adam in the Scripture is called the first man and that he was made a living soul and of the earth earthy unless it were to denote that he was absolutely the first of his kind and so was to be the standard and measure of all that follows And when our Saviour would reduce all things to the beginning he instanceth in those words which were pronounced after Eve was formed But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female for this cause shall a man leave Father and Mother and cleave unto his Wife Now nothing can be more plain and easie then from hence to argue thus those of whom those words were spoken were the first male and female which were made in the beginning of the Creation but it is evident these words were spoken of Adam and Eve And Adam said this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh therefore shall a man leave his Father and his Mother and shall cleave unto his Wife If the Scriptures then of the New Testament be true it is most plain and evident that all mankind is descended from Adam and no less conspicuous is it from the history of the Creation as delivered by Moses For how necessary had it been for Moses when he was giving an account of the Origine of things to have discovered by whom the world was first planted if there had been any such plantation before Adam but to say that all the design of Moses was only to give an account of the Origine and history of the Iewish Nation and that Adam was only the first of that stock is manifestly ridiculous it being so clear that not only from Adam and Noah but from Sem Abraham and Isaac came other Nations besides that of Iews And by the same reason that it is said that Moses only speaks of the Origine of the Iewish Nation in the history of Adam it may as well be said that Moses speaks only of the making of Canaan and that part of the heavens which was over it when he describes the Creation of the world in the six dayes work For why may not the earth in the second ver of Genesis be as well understood of the Land of Iudea and the light and production of animals and vegetables refer only to that as to understand it so in reference to the flood and in many other passages relating to those eldest times But the Author of that Hypothesis answers That the first Chapter of Genesis may relate to the true Origine of the world and the first peopling of it but in the second Moses begins to give an account of the first man and woman of the Iewish Nation Very probable but if this be not a putting asunder those which God hath joyned together nothing is For doth not Moses plainly at first give an account of the formation of things in the first six dayes and of his rest on the seventh but how could he be said to have rested then from the works of Creation if after this followed the formation of Adam and Eve in the second Chapter Besides if the forming of man mentioned Gen. 2. 7. be distinct from that mentioned Gen. 1. 27. then by all parity of reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Generations of Heaven and earth mentioned Gen. 2. 4. must be distinct from the Creation of the heaven and earth mentioned Gen. 1. 1. And so if there were another Creation of heaven and earth belonging to
Deus coelum terram Terra porro fuit otiosum quid confusumque inordinatum Sed Origenes asseverat ita sibi ab Hebraeis esse persuasum quod in aliquantum sit à vera proprietate derivata interpretatio Fuisse enim in exemplari Terra autem stupida quadam erat admiratione Omnia tamen haec in unum aiunt concurrere ut generata sit â—a quae subjecta est universo corpori sylva sermonesque ipsos sic interpretantur Where we finde by the Testimony of Chalcidius an universal consent as to the production of the universal corporeal matter by God for that is all which is understood by his term of generata est But this same author afterwards tells us that by Heavens and Earth in the first verse of Genesis we are not to understand the visible Heavens and earth For saith he the Heavens which are called the firmament were created after and on the third day when the waters were separated the dry Land appeared which was called earth Qui tumultuario contenti sunt intellectu coelum hoc quod videmus terram qua subvehimur dici putant porro qui altius indagant negant hoc coelum ab initio factum sed secundo die And therefore by the heavens he understands incorpoream naturam and by earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the primigenial matter And this saith he appears by the following words The earth was invisible and without form i. e. this corporeal matter before it was brought into order by the power and wisdom of God remained a rude and indigested lump and that which is so might well be called invisible and without form And therefore it is called inanis and nihil because of its capacity of receiving all forms and having none of its own Symmachus calls it otiosa indigesta the former because of its inability to produce any thing of its self the latter because it wanted a divine power to bring it into due order That stupidity and admiration which Origen attributes to it he conceives to relate to the Majesty of God who was the orderer and contriver of it siquidem opificis auctoris sui majestate capta stuperet Thus we see that according to Moses the first matter of the world was produced by God which is largely manifested by Origen against the Marcionists a fragment of which is extant in his Philocalia and by Tertullian against Hermogenes and others who from the opinion of the praeexistence of matter are called Materiarii Having thus cleared the sense of Moses it is far more difficult to find out the true opinions of the ancient Philosophers concerning the production or eternity of corporeal matter there having been so great dissensions not only about the thing its self but about the opinions of some about it For it is plain by Plutarchs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as the discourses of the later Platonists how eager some have been to interpret Plato's Timaeus in favour of the eternity at least of matter if not of the world But although Plato doth assert therein a praeexistence of rude matter before the formation of the world yet I see no reason why he should be otherwise understood then in the same sense that we believe a Chaos to have gone before the bringing the world into the order it is now in And in that sense may those places in Plutarch be interpreted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so likewise those following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the meaning may be no more then that Plato conceived that all the productions of the kinds of things which are in the the world was out of a Praeexistent Hyle the one spiritual and intelligible out of which he supposed souls to be formed the other sensible and corporeal out of which other Beings which were more gross and material were produced So Chalcidius tells us that both Pythagoras and Plato looked upon constitutionem sylvae to be opus providentiae which I suppose relates not only to the bringing of matter into form but to the production of matter its self But after this he takes a great deal of pains to search out the true meaning of Plato concerning the Origine of Hyle and mentions the great dissâ—nsions among the Platonists about it and the obscurity of the Timaeus in it To him therefore I refer the Reader Who likewise brings in Numenius largely discoursing concerning the opinion of Pythagoras about it who condemns all those as not understanding Pythagoras who attribute to him the production of the indeterminate Hyle These are his words Numenius ex Pythagorae magisterio Stoicorum hoc de initiis dogma refellens Pythagorae dogmate cui concinere dicit dogma Platonicum ait Pythagoram Deum quidem singularitatis nominasse Col. nomine appellasse sylvam vero duitatis Quam duitatem indeterminatam quidem minime genitam limitatam vero generatam esse dicere Hoc est antequam exornaretur quidem formamque ordinem nancisceretur sine ortu generatione exornatam vero at que illustratam à Digestore Deo esse generatam Atque it a quia generationis sit fortuna posterior inornatum illud minime generatum aequaevum Deo à quo est ordinatum intelligi debeat Sed nonnullos Pythagoreos vim sententiaenon recte assccutos putasse dici etiam illam indeterminatam immensam duitatem ab una singularitate institutam recedente à natura sua singularitate in duitatis habitum migrante But however these Pythagoreans might be deceived who thought the Unity its self became the Duity yet it is evident by Numenius that he looked on the undetermined and confused matter to have been coaeval with God himself and not produced by him And if Numenius be as much to be credited in this as when he calls Plato Moses Atticus then the Creation of Universal matter can be no part of Pythagoras his Philosophick Cabala But whatever were the opinions of Plato and Pythagoras concerning the first origine of matter we are certain that the Stoicks generally asserted the improduction of matter and make that to be as necessary a passive principle for the Being of the world as God is the active and efficient cause So Diogenes Laertius reports of the Stoical principles concerning the Origine of the Universe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They make two principles of the Universe one active and the other passive the passive an essence without quality called Hyle or confused matter the active the reason which acts in the other which is God These two principles Seneca calls causa materia â—sse vero debet saith he aliquid unde fiat deinde à quo fiat hoc causa est illud materia Although Seneca seems to make a query of it elsewhere quantum Deus possit materiam ipse sibi formet an datâ utatur But Zeno is express in Stobaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first essence of
Diodorus relates set 30 Stars under the Planets these they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others they had as Princes over these which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former were as the privy Counsellors and these the Princes over them by whom in their courses they supposed the course of the year to be regulated We see then what a near affinity there was between Astrology and the Divinity of the Stars which makes Ptolomy call them Atheists who condemned Astrology because thereby they destroyed the main of their Religion which was the worshipping the Stars for Gods But it seems by Strabo that one of the Sects of the Chaldaeans did so hold to Astronomy still that they wholly rejected Genethlialogy which caused a great division among the Orchoëni and the Borsippeni two Sects among them so called from the places of their habitations And if we reckon the Zabii among the Chaldeans as Maimonides seems to do we have a further evidence of the Planetary Deities so much in request among the Chaldeans for the description he gives of them is to this purpose that they had no other gods but the Stars to whom they made statues and images to the Sun golden to the Moon silver and so to the rest of the Planets of the mettals dedicated to them Those images derived an influence from the Stars to which they were erected which had thence a faculty of foretelling future things which is an exact description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Talismans so much in request among the heathens such as the Palladium of Troy is supposed by learned men to have been These Talismans are by the Iews called Davids bucklers and are much of the same nature with the antient Teraphiâ— both being accurately made according to the positions of the heavens only the one were to foretell future things the other for the driving away some calamity Concerning these Zabii Maimonides tells us that the understanding their rites would give a great deal of light to several passages of Scripture which now lye in obscurity but little is supposed to be yet further known of them then what Scaliger hath said that they were the more Eastern Chaldeans which he fetcheth from the signification of the word several of their books are extant saith Scaliger among the Arabians but none of them are yet discovered to the European world Salmasius thinks these Zabii were the Chaldeans inhabiting Mesopotamia to which it is very consonant which Maimonides saith that Abraham had his education among them Said Batricides cited by Mr. Selden attributes the original of their religion to the time of Nahor and to Zaradchath the Persian as the Author of it who is conceived to be the same with Zoroaster who in all probability is the same with the Zertoost of the Persecs a Sect of the antient Persians living now among the Banyans in the Indyes These give a more full and exact account concerning the original birth education and Enthusiasmes or Revelations of their Zertoost then any we meet with in any Greek historians three books they tell us of which Zertoost received by Revelation or rather one book consisting of three several tracts whereof the first was concerning judicial Astrology which they call Astoodeger the second concerning Physick or the knowledge of natural things the third was called Zertoost from the bringer of it containing their religious rites the first was committed to the Iesopps or Magies the second to Physicians the third to the Darooes or Church-men wherein are contained the several precepts of their Law we have likewise the rites and customs of these Persees in their worship of fire with many other particular rites of theirs published sometime since by one Mr. Lord who was a long time resident among them at Surrat by which we may not only understand much of the religion of the antient Persians but if I mistake not somewhat of the Zabii too My reasons are because the antient Zaradcha or Zoroaster is by Said Batricides made the Author of the Zabii as we have seen already who was undoubtedly the founder of the Persian worship or rather a promoter of it among the Persians For Ammianus Marcellinus tells us that he was instructed in the rites of the Chaldeans which he added to the Persian rites besides their agreement in the chief point of Idolatry the worship of the Sun and consequently the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Symbol of the Sun the eternal fire is evident which as far as we can learn was the great and most early Idolatry of the Eastern Countries and further we finde God in Leviticus 26. 30. threatning to destroy their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Images of the Sun some render it but most probably by that word is meant the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hearths where they kept their perpetual fire for those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used both for the Sun and Fire Now hence it appears that this Idolatry was in use among the Nations about Palaestine else there had been no need of so severe a threatning against it and therefore most probably the rites of the Zabii which must help us to explain the reasons of some particular positive precepts in the Levitical Law relating to Idolatry are the same with the rites of the Chaldeans and Persians who all agreed in this worship of the Sun and Fire which may be yet more probable from what Maimonides saith of them that Gens Zabaea erat gens quae implevit totum orbem it could not be then any obscure Nation but such as had the largest spread in the Eastern Countries which could be no other then the antient Chaldeans from whom the Persians derived their worship It may not seen altogether improbable that Balaam the famous Southsayer was one of these Zabii especially if according to Salmasius his judgement they inhabited Mesopotamia for Balaams Country seems to be there for it is said Numb 22. 5. that he dwelt in Pethor by the river i. e. saith the Chalâ—ee Paraphrast in Peor of Syria by Euphrates which in Scripture is called the river Esay 8. 7. But from this great obscurity as to the history of so ancient and so large a people as these Zabii are supposed to be we have a further evidence to our purpose of the defectiveness and insufficiency of the Eastern histories as to the giving any full account of themselves and their own original We are toâ—d indeed by some that Nabonasser did burn and destroy all the antient records of the Chaldeans which they had diligently preserved amongst them before on purpose to raise the greater reputation to himself and blot out the memory of his usurpation by burning the records of all their own antient Kings Which is a conceit I suppose hath no other ground then that the famous Aera so much celebrated by Astronomers and others did bear the name
pimple any the most trivial thing with a word speaking or the touch of the hand Upon this Arnobius challengeth the most famous of all the Heathen Magicians Zoroastres Armenius Pamphilus Apollonius Damigero Dardanus Velus Iulianus and Baebulus or any other renowned Magician to give power to any one to make the dumb to speak the deaf to hear the blind to see or bring life into a dead body Or if this be too hard with all their Magical rites and incantations but to do that quod à rusticis Christianis jussienibus factitatum est nudis which ordinary Christians do by their meer words So great a difference was there between the highest that could be done by Magick and the least that was done by the Name and Power of Christ. Where miracles are truly Divine God makes it evident to all impartial judgements that the things do exceed all created power For which purpose we are to observe that though impostures and delusions may go far the power of Magicians further when God permits them yet when God works miracles to confirm a Divine Testimony he makes it evident that his power doth infinitely exceed them all This is most conspicuous in the case of Moses and our blessed Saviour First Moses he began to do some miracles in the presence of Pharaoh and the Aegyptians turning his rod into a Serpent but we do not finde Pharaoh at all amazed at it but sends presently for the Magicians to do the same who did it whether really or only in appearance is not material to our purpose but Aarons rod swallowed up theirs The next time the waters are turned into blood by Moses the Magicians they do so too After this Moses brings up Frogs upon the Land so do the Magicians So that here now is a plain and open contest in the presence of Pharaoh and his people between Moses and the Magicians and they try for victory over each other so that if Moses do no more then they they would look upon him but as a Magician but if Moses do that which by the acknowledgement of these Magicians themselves could be only by Divine Power then it is demonstrably evident that his power was as far above the power of Magick as God is above the Devil Accordingly we finde it in the very next miracle in turning the dust into Ciniphes which we render lice the Magicians are non-plust and give out saying in plain terms This is the finger of God And what greater acknowledgement can there be of Divine Power then the confession of those who seemed to contest with it and to imitate it as much as possible After this we finde not the Magicians offering to contest with Moses and in the plague of boyles we particularly read that they could not stand before Moses Thus we see in the case of Moses how evident it was that there was a power above all power of Magick which did appear in Moses And so likewise in the case of our blessed Saviour for although Simon Magus Apollonius or others might do some small things or make some great shew and noise by what they did yet none of them ever came near the doing things of the same kind which our Saviour did curing the born blind restoring the dead to life after four dayes and so as to live a considerable time after or in the manner he did them with a word a touch with that frequency and openness before his greatest enemies as well as followers and in such an uncontrouled manner that neither Iews or Heathens ever questioned the truth of them And after all these when he was laid in the grave after his crucifixion exactly according to his own prediction he rose again the third day appeared frequently among his Disciples for forty dayes together After which in their presence he ascended up to heaven and soon after made good his promise to them by sending his holy Spirit upon them by which they spake with tongues wrought miracles went up and down Preaching the Gospel of Christ with great boldness chearfulness and constancy and after undergoing a great deal of hardship in it they sealed the truth of all they spake with their blood laying down their lives to give witness to it Thus abundantly to the satisfaction of the minds of all good men hath God given the highest rational evidence of the truth of the doctrine which he hath revealed to the world And thus I have finished the second part of my task which concerned the rational evidence of the truth of Divine Revelation from the persons who were imployed to deliver Gods mind to the world And therein have I hope made it evident that both Moses and the Prophets our Saviour and his Apostles did come with sufficient rational evidence to convince the world that they were persons immediately sent from God BOOK III. CHAP. I. Of the Being of God The Principles of all Religion lie in the Being of God and immortality of the soul from them the necessity of a particular Divine revelation rationally deduced the method laid down for proving the Divine authority of the Scriptures Why Moses doth not prove the Being of God but suppose it The notion of a Deity very consonant to reason Of the nature of Idea's and particularly of the Idea of God How we can form an Idea of an infinite Being How far such an Idea argues existence The great unreasonableness of Atheism demonstrated Of the Hypotheses of the Aristotelian and Epicurean Atheists The Atheists pretences examined and refuted Of the nature of the arguments whereby we prove there is a God Of universal consent and the evidence of that to prove a Deity and immortality of souls Of necessity of existence implyed in the notion of God and how far that proves the Being of God The order of the world and usefulness of the parts of it and especially of mans body an argument of a Deity Some higher principle proved to be in the world then matter and motion The nature of the soul and possibility of its subsisting after death Strange appearances in nature not solvable by the power of imagination HAving in the precedent book largely given a rational account of the grounds of our faith as to the persons whom God imployes to reveal his mind to the world if we can now make it appear that those sacred records which we embrace as Divinely inspired contain in them nothing unworthy of so great a name or unbecoming persons sent from God to deliver there will be nothing wanting to justifie our Religion in point of reason to be true and of revelation to be Divine For the Scriptures themselves coming to us in the name of God we are bound to believe them to be such as they pretend to be unless we have ground to question the general foundations of all religion as uncertain or this particular way of religion as not suitable to those general foundations The foundations of all
the Indians were in darkness while the Bacchae enjoyed light which circumstances considered will make every one that hath judgement say as Bochartus doth ex mirabili illâ— concentu vel coecis apparebit priscos fabularum architectos e scriptoribus sacris multa â—sse mutuatos From this wonderful agreement of Heathen Mythology with the Scriptures it cannot but appear that one is a corruption of the other That the memory of Iâ—shua and Sampson was preserved under Hercules Tyrius is made likewise very probable from several circumstances of the stories Others have deduced the many rites of Heathen worship from those used in the Tabernacle among the Iews Several others might be insisted on as the Parallel between Og and Typho and between the old Silenus and Balaam both noted for their skill in divination both taken by the water Num. 22. 5. both noted for riding on an ass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Lucian of the old Silenus and that which makes it yet more probable is that of Pausanias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some learned men have been much puzled to find out the truth of and this conjecture which I here propound may pass at least for a probable account of it but I shall no longer insist on these things having I suppose done what is sufficient to our purpose which is to make it appear what footsteps there are of the truth of Scripture-history amidst all the corruptions of Heathen Mythology CHAP. VI. Of the Excellency of the Scriptures Concerning matters of pure divine revelation in Scripture the terms of Salvation only contained therein The ground of the disesteem of the Scriptures is tacite unbelief The Excellency of the Scriptures manifested as to the matters which God hath revealed therein The excellency of the discoveryes of Gods nature which are in Scripture Of the goodness and love of God in Christ. The suitableness of those discoveries of God to our natural notions of a Deity The necessity of Gods making known himself to us in order to the regulating our conceptions of him The Scriptures give the fullest account of the state of mens souls and the corruptions which are in them The only way of pleasing God discovered in Scriptures The Scriptures contain matters of greatest mysteriousness and mest universal satisfaction to mens minds The excellency of the manner wherein things are revealed in Scriptures in regard of clearness authority purity uniformity and perswasiveness The excellency of the Scriptures as a rule of life The nature of the duties of Religion and the reasonableness of them The greatness of the encouragements to Religion contained in the Scriptures The great excellency of the Scriptures as containing in them the Coveâ—ant of Grace in order to mans Salvation HAving thus largely proved the Truth of all those passages of sacred Scripture which concern the history of the first ages of the world by all those arguments which a subject of that nature is capable of the only thing leâ—t in order to our full proving the Divinity of the Scriptures is the consideration of â—hose matters contained in it which are in an especâ—al maâ—neâ— said to be of Divine Revelation For those historical pâ—ssages though we believe them as contained in the Scripture to have been Divinely inspired as well as others yet they are such things as supposing no Divine Revelatiâ—n might have been known sufficiently to the world had not men bâ—en wanting to themselves as to the care and means of preserving them but those matters which I now come to discourse of are of a more sublime and transcendent nature such as it had been impâ—ssible for the minds of men to reach had they not been immediately discovered by God himself And those are the terms and conditions on which the soul of man may upon good grounds expect an eternal happiness which we assert the book of Scriptures to be the only authentick and infallible records of Men might by the improvements of reason and the sagacity of their minds discover much not only of the lapsed condition of their souls and the necessity of a purgation of them in order to their felicity but might in the general know what things are pleasing and acceptable to the Divine nature from those differences of good and evil which are unalterably fixed in the things themselves but which way to obtain any certainty of the remission of sins to recover the Grace and Favour of God to enjoy perfect tranquillity and peace of conscience to be able to please God in things agreeable to his will and by these to be assured of eternal bliss had been impossible for men to have ever found had not God himself been graciously pleased to reveal them to us Men might still have bewildred themselvs in following the ignes fatui of their own imaginations and hunting up and down the world for a path which leads to heaven but could have found none unless God himself taking pitty of the wandrings of men had been pleased to hang out a light from heaven to direct them in their way thither and by this Pharos of Divine Revelation to direct them so to stear their course as to escape splitting themselves on the rocks of open impieties or being swallowed up in the quicksands of terrene delights Neither doth he shew them only what shâ—lves and rocks they must escape but what particular course they must steâ—re what star they must have in their eye what compass they must observe what winds and gales they must expect and pray for if they would at last arrive at eternal bliss Eternal bliss What more could a God of infinite goodness promise or the soul of man ever wish â—or A Reward to such who are so â—ar from deserving that they are still provâ—king Glory to such who are more apt to be ashamed of their duties then of their offences but that it should not only be a glorious reward but eternal too is that which though it infinitely transcend the deserts of the receivers yet it highly discovers the infinite goodness of the Giver But when we not only know that there is so rich a mine of inestimable treasures but if the owner of it undertakes to shew us the way to it and gives us certain and infallible directions how to come to the full pâ—ssession of it how much are we in love with misery and do we court our own ruine if we neglect to hearken to his directions and observe his commands This is that we are now undertaking to make good concerning the Scriptures that these alone contain those sacred discoveries by which the souls of men may come at last to enjoy a compleat and eternal happiness One would think there could be nothing more needless in the world then to bid men regard their own welfare and to seek to be happy yet whoever casts his eye into the world will find no counsel so little hearkned to as this nor any thing which is more generally looked on
condition of our souls 3. The Scripture discovers to us the only way of pleasing God and enjoying his favour That clearly reveals the way which man might have sought for to all eternity without particular revelation whereby sins may be pardond and whatever we do may be acceptable unto God It shews us that the ground of our acceptance with God is through Christ whom he hath made a propitiation for the sins of the world and who alone is the true and living way whereby we may draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience Through Christ we understand the terms on which God will shew favour and grace to the world and by him we have ground of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 access with freedome and boldness unto God On his account we may hope not only for grace so subdue our sins resist temptations conquer the devil and the world but having fought this good fight and finished our course by patient continuance in well doing we may justly look for glory honour and immortality and that crown of righteousness which is laid up for those who wait in faith holiness and humility for the appearance of Christ from heaven Now what things can there be of greater moment and importance for men to know or God to reveal then the nature of God and our selves the state and condition of our souls the only way to avoid eternal misery and enjoy everlasting Bliss The Scriptures discover not only matters of importance but of the greatest depth and mysteriousness There are many wonderful things in the Law of God things we may admire but are never able to comprehend Such are the eternal purposes and decrees of God the doctrine of the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God and the manner of the operation of the Spirit of God on the souls of men which are all things of great weight and moment for us to understand and believe that they are and yet may be unsearchable to our reason as to the particular manner of them What certain ground our faith stands on as to these things hath been already shewed and therefore I forbear insisting on them The Scripture comprehends matters of the most universal satisfaction to the minds of men though many things do much exceed our apprehensions yet others are most suâ—table to the dictates of our nature As Origen bid Celsus see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether it was not the agreeableness of the principles of faith with the common notions of humane nature that which prevailed most upon all candid and ingenuous auditors of them And therefore as Socrates said of Heraclitus his books What he understood was excellent and therefore he supposed that which he did not understand was so too so ought we to say of the Scriptures if those things which are within our capacity be so suitable to our natures and reasons those cannot contradict our reason which yet are above them There are many things which the minds of men were sufficiently assured that they were yet were to seek for satisfaction concerning them which they could never have had without Divine revelation As the nature of true happiness wherein it lay and how to be obtained which the Philosophers were so puzled with the Scripture gives us full satisfaction concerning it True contentment under the troubles of life which the Scripture only acquaints us with the true grounds of and all the prescriptions of Heathen Moralists fall as much short of as the directions of an Empirick doth of a wise and skilful Physitian Avoiding the fears of death which can alone be through a grounded expectation of a future state of happiness which death leads men to which cannot be had but through the right understanding of the Word of God Thus we see the excellency of the matters themselves contained in this revelation of the mind of God to the world As the matters themselves are of an excellent nature so is the manner wherein they are revealed in the Scriptures and that 1. In a clear and perspicuous manner not but there may be still some passages which are hard to be understood as being either prophetical or consisting of ambiguous phrases or containing matters above our comprehension but all those things which concern the terms of mans salvation are delivered with the greatest evidence and perspicuiry Who cannot understand what these things mean What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God that without faith it is impossible to please God that without holiness none shall see the Lord that unless we be born again we can never enter into the Kingdom of heaven these and such like things are so plain and clear that it is nothing but mens shutting their eyes against the light can keep them from understanding them God intended these things as directions to men and is not he able to speak intelligibly when he please he that made the tongue shall he not speak so as to be understood without an infallible interpreter especially when it is his design to make known to men the terms of their eternal happiness Will God judge men at the great day for not believing those things which they could not understand Strange that ever men should judge the Scriptures obscure in matters necessary when the Scripture accounts it so great a judgement for men not to understand them If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not least the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them Sure Lots door was visible enough if it were a judgement for the men of Sodom not to see it and the Scriptures then are plain and intelligible enough if it be so great a judgement not to understand them 2. In a powerful and authoritative manner as the things contained in Scripture do not so much beg acceptance as command it in that the expressions wherein our duty is concerned are such as awe mens consciences and pierce to their hearts and to their secret thoughts All things are open and naked before this Word of God every secret of the mind and thought of the heart lyes open to its stroke and force it is quick and powerful sharper then a two-edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The word is a Telescope to discover the great Luminaries of the world the truths of highest concernment to the souls of men and it is such a Microscope as discovers to us the smallest Atome of our thoughts and discerns the most secret intent of the heart And as far as this light reacheth it comes with power and authority as it comes armed with the Majesty