nomine ut nocens ille spiritus excedat ex homine nullo id pacto fieri potest at vero iidem Daemones adjurati per nomen Dei veri protinus fugiunt Lact. l. 4. c. 27. p. 441. 28 That they could stop the mouth of Priests and Oracles Si constituatur in medio is quem constat incursum Daemonis perpeti Delphici Apollinis vates eodem modo Dei nomen horrebunt tam celeriter excedet de vate suo Apollo quam ex homine spiritus ille Daemoniacus adjurato fugatoque Deo suo Vates in perpetuum conticescet Lact. 4. c. 27. vide supra Prol. 3d. 29 The name of Jesus pronounced by Jews and Heathens would performe the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. ad Celsum l. 1. p. 7. D. N. nomini subjecta sunt omnia propter hoc Judaei usque nunc hac ipsa advocatione Daemonas fugant Iren. l. 2. c. 5. Vide quae Judaei virtute nominis hujus praestabant Raymund pug fid p. 289. 290. Voisin in eundem 30 Many Proselytes were won unto the Christian Faith by the consideration of it Nec haec quidem levis causa est quod immundi Daemonum spiritus accepta licentia multorum se corporibus immergunt quibus postea ejectis omnes qui resanati fuerint adhaereant religioni cujus potentiam senserunt Lact. l. 5. c. 22. 533. Haec denique testimonia Deorum vestrorum Christianos facere consueverunt Tert. Ap. c. 23. sec 6. 31 Inchanters used it for that end Illi ipsi qui seducunt per ligaturas per incantationes per machinamenta inimici miscent percantationibus suis nomen Christi August tr 7. in Joh. 32 And this was often the punishment of their Apostacy or those irregularities which brought the Censures of the Church upon them In Judaeos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive Apostatas inquit Grotius utpote exsortes divini foederis Diaboli divina concessione dominium exercebant sic in Iudaeos incircumcisos Angelo cuidam jus fuisse concessum tradunt Hebraei ad Exod. 4. ex Hebraeis Origenes Sic Christiani deficientes à fidei regula mancipia Diaboli fiebant Cyprian Quam multi quotidie poenitentiam non agentes nec delicti sui conscientiam confitentes immundis spiritibus adimplentur Tert. de spect c. 26. vid. Cor. 4.21.5.5 2. Cor. 13.10 1. Tim. 1.20 CHAP. VII SECT II. The Contents THe Truth of Christian Faith evinced from those Predictions which concern the ruine of the Iewish Temple discipline and Nation the Authors time and manner the Greatness and Duration Concomitants and Attendants of it as the Scripture mentions them and the wonderful completion of them all A confirmation of this Argument from the attempt of the Apostate Julian to rebuild the Temple and the miraculous frustration of it § 1. OF the destruction of the Temple and downfal of the Jewish Oeconomy the Predictions of our Lord are extant Matth. 24. Mark 13. Luke 21. where we have punctually foretold 1. Matt. 24.9 14. Mark 13.10 13. Mark 13.6 Matt. 14.5.11 Mark 13.22 14. Matt. 24.12 The fore-runners of the ruine viz. The preaching of the Gospel throughout all the world And 2ly the multitude of false Prophets and false Christs which should endeavour by many lying Wonders to deceive both Jew and Christian 3ly The Apostacy of many from the Christian Faith whose love when Persecutions did grow hot would cool and vanish 2ly The Concomitants or the immediate Attendants of it Luke 21.25 26. Matt. 24.29 Matt. 14.30 Matt. 24.29 Matt. 16.1 Mark 8.11 viz. Great earthquakes in divers places famines pestilences and dreadful apparitions or occurrences signs in the sun and moon and stars the sea and the earth roaring mens hearts failing them for fear signs in the heavens of the Son of man or his appearance in the clouds with power and great glory which sign from Heaven both Pharisees and Sadduces expected and desired of our Lord as being what their Doctors had concluded from the Words of Daniel chap. 7.13 I saw in the night visions and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven thus R. Alexander tells us that R. Joshuah B. Levi did compare these places The Son of man cometh with the clouds of heaven Dan. 7.13 and he cometh poor and riding upon an ass Zach. 9.9 and he resolves the seeming Contradiction thus Gem. Sanhed cys 33. If the Iews deserved that the Messias should come Gloriously he should come in the clouds of Heaven if not he should come poor and riding upon an Ass 3ly The Authors of it viz. The Roman army Marc. 13 14. Matt. 24.28 called the abomination of desolation which should besiege Jerusalem Matt. 24.15 Luc. 21.20 Matt. 24.15 For what is thus delivered Matt. 24.15 when you shall see the abomination of desolation c. then let them that are in Judea flee unto the Mountains is Luc. 21.20 when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with Armies then let them that are in Judea c. 2ly T is the abomination of desolation spoken of by the Prophet Daniel who speaks of the destruction of the Temple when the Messias should be slaine chap. 9. 26. and after 62. Weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiq. l. 10. c. 12. and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary which we know after the death of the Messiah the Romans and they only did And hence Josephus tells us that Daniel prophesyed of it 4ly The time when and that both Negatively not till the Gospel should be spread over the then known world and positively before the Generation that then liv'd should be extinct Marc. 13.30 Luc. 21.32 This Generation shall not passe away till all these things be fulfil'd 5ly The Greatness of the ruine 1. Of the Temple Mat. 24.2 Luc. 19.44 Matt. 24.21 of which there was not to be left one stone upon another which should not be cast down And 2ly Of the People to whom God threatneth such afflictions as never happened heretofore nor the like should ever happen hereafter 6ly The continuance of the desolation of Jerusalem and of the Judgments threatned to the Jewish Nation Marc. 3.19 Luc. 21.24 They shall be led away captive into all Nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down untill the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled 7ly Gods providence towards the true and persevering Christians of that time Matt. 24.13 Marc. 13.13 Luc. 21.28 to give Salvation to them and redemption from the cruel persecuting Jews and so preserve them that not one hair of their heads should perish In fine the very manner of the seige is most particularly describ'd Luc. 19.43 Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side Now the completion of all these so many and so remarkable and so improbable particulars has
been so full and pregnant that nothing could be more For to resume these heads 1. Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Romans written about the 2d Year of Nero vid. Lightfoot Harm N. T. P. 121.136 Cha. 1. 8 1. Col. 6. 22. tells them their Faith was celebrated throughout all the world In his Epistle to the Colossians about the 6th of Nero he assures them that the Christian Faith was preached to every creature under Heaven and proclaimed to the whole world The truth of which assertions will be sufficiently made Good from Proleg the 6th 2ly Of the multitude of false Christs we have already spoken Of false Prophets we are informed by 2 Eusebius who from Josephus tells us of one Theudas who by his Magicall collusions prevail'd upon a multitude of Jews to follow him to the river Jordan which that pretended Prophet promised to divide before them and of an 3 Aegyptian in the days of Nero who being also a Magician pretended Prophet deceaved 30000 who partly were dispersed and partly slaine by Felix Governour of Judea 4 Josephus speaking of the conflagration of the Temple and of the multitude that perished in it 6000. ascribes their ruine to a lying Prophet who drew them thither with promises of signs and wonders that should there be wrought for their deliverance and then adds that there were many such deceivers who still endeavoured to delude the people with promises of help from heaven Nay the Apostle tells us Tit. 1.10 11 14. that they especially were the vain bablers and deceivers and the perverters of the truth that by their Fables and their zeal for their Traditions and empty Ceremonies they did pervert Men from the Faith and hinder the progress of the Gospel Thirdly Their false and lying Wonders made them deserve the Title of Magicians And indeed the Miracles recorded by their Rabbins Lightf Horae Hebr. in Mat. p. 266 267. the Stories which their * Talmud gives us of their Skill this way their frequent 5 Exorcisms by Invocation of the God of Jacob their Amulets and * Ligatures and confident 6 Assertions Lightf ibid Voisin observ in Raymund p. 557 558. That God gave power to his Law his Name and Attributes when thus applyed by them to heal diseases and work signs and wonders Lastly Those many 7 Instances Iosephus gives us of Men pretending to such Works all these sufficiently evince how much they were addicted unto false and lying Wonders Fourthly the Apostacy of many from the Christian Faith especially of the Jews is manifest from the Epistles of St Paul complaining that they apostatized unto the Law of Moses Gal. 3.4 2 Tlm. 1.15 and that all Asia had shaken off the Gospel and from the descriptions which St Peter and St Iude give of them That they denyed the Lord that bought them They went out from us 1 Joh. 2.19 saith St Iohn Fifthly The sign of the Son of man coming in the Heavens being some visible appearance in the Heavens of his coming to destroy Ierusalem and to revenge his death and all the Persecutions of his Prophets and Apostles on them that 8 Comet which appeared like a flaming sword and for the space of a whole year did point down upon the city may refer unto it But that which best comports with the Expression of our Saviour who tells us his appearance should be in the clouds with power and great glory Matt. 24.29 30. or with an Host and Splendor and also agrees with the Opinion of the Jews That this his coming with the clouds of Heaven was coming with the host of heaven as 9 R. Saadias hath it is that 10 appearance in the clouds of Chariots and of Armed Men incompassing the City and attended with the noise of War And whereas it is said immediately after the tribulation of those days the Sun shall be darkned Matt. 24.29 and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken let it be noted That these Words intend not to declare unto us what should happen after the desolation of Ierusalem as will appear 1. From the Words ensuing Matt. 24.33 When you shall see these things come to pass know that it is nigh even at the door Secondly From the incouragement that follows to the Christian Mark 13.29 When these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh If this Redemption do not import the Christians freedom from this present vengeance and from those fiery Persecutions which were raised against them chiefly by the malice of the Jews it will be hard to know what it can signifie since all the Judgements which befel the Heathen World did not redeem the Christians from their Persecutions but were the causes of them they being still ascribed by them unto the 11 anger of their gods against the Christians And thirdly Because the Prophet Ioel who foretels the very same events Joel 2.31 That God would shew wonders in the heavens and on the earth that the sun should be turned into darkness and the moon into blood assures us this was to happen before the great and terrible day of the Lord that is before the plenary Execution of Gods vengeance on the Jews 1 Thess 2.16 when wrath should come upon them to the uttermost Now hence it follows That these Expressions must concern the Jewish Nation and signifie by a 12 Prophetick Scheme and sutably unto the manner of the 13 Eastern Nations those great and dreadful Judgements God had resolv'd to bring upon the Jewish Nation which would Eclipse their Sun and Moon convert their glorious and shining Days into the days of darkness and create as great a Terror to them as if these Prodigious Things had hapned in the course of Nature The 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fearful Occurrences or Apparitions mentioned by St Luke Luke 21.11 may haply respect the flying open of the Temple doors the Light that shone about the Temple and the Altar before the multitude the Conflagration the Voices of an unseen multitude crying out Let us depart and quit this place Joseph de bel Jud. l. 7. c. 12. and especially of one Jesus denouncing Wo continually unto the City Temple and the People of Ierusalem and many other Signs which did declare their desolation and by the wiser Jews were thought to signifie it Lastly how dreadfully the 15 Famine raged among them how great and numerous the Earth-quakes were which happened about those Times Iosephus 16 Grotius and other Authors will inform us Sixthly That the Authors of this Desolation were the Roman Armies led on by Vespasian and his Son Titus that the destruction of the City and the Temple hapned within the space of 42 Years after our Lords Predictions and so within the compass of that Generation it will be needless to evince by Testimony these
eyes saw the Power of God so efficacious to heal the sick were struck with fear and extasie and forced to cry out We have seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strange and unheard of Miracles Mark 2.12 Luke 19.37 John 3.2 such as we never saw before and such as onely God could do whence they so freely owned Gods power in them and gave him the glory The Multitude cry out with much astonishment He hath done all things well Mark 7.37 he maketh both the deaf to hear and dumb to speak When they beheld his Power over evil Spirits they were amazed saying Luke 4.36 37. What a word is this for with authority he commandeth the unclean spirits and they come forth Upon all these accounts Mark 1.28 John 2.23 his fame was spread throughout the Regions round about and many who had seen his Miracles believed on him concluding from the wonders he performed that God had visited his people Luc. 7.16 Mat. 21.11 Joh. 3.1 that a Great Prophet was risen up among them and that this Prophet was one sent from God and one assisted by his power that he was the Son of David the true Messiah Joh. 4.29.6.14 the Shilo that was for to come And generally they expressed their confidence and full conviction of his power to work the greatest Miracles The Leaper saith unto him if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane Mat. 8.2 v. 8. The Centurion speak but the word only and my Servant shall be healed The Ruler of the Synogogue come and laye thy hands one my Daughter Mat. 9.18 21. and she shall live The Diseased woman if I may but touch his Garment I shall be whole The people of Gennesereth as soon as he was entred into their coasts run through the Regions round about Mat. 14.35 36. Mark 6.56 and carry out in Beds those that were sick to all places where he was And whithersoever he entred into Villages or Cities or Countries they laid the sick in the Streets and besought that they might touch if it were but the border of his Garment and upon all occasions the multitude are flocking after him 8ly His Apostles did avouch with greatest confidence that what they thus ascribed to their Master were things notorious to the Jew and what their consciences bore witness to by these sayings they converted those that heard them Thus in that Sermon of Saint Peters which added to the Church 3000 souls Jesus of Nazareth is said to be a man demonstrated to be the Christ by signes and wonders Act. 2.22 and powerful operations done in the midst of those to whom he spake for which he presently appeals unto their consciences in these words This you also know In another Sermon preached to Cornelius and his Friends he speaks thus You know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing done throughout all Iudea viz. how Iesus of Nazareth Act. 10.36 37. whom God annointed with the Holy Ghost and with power went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the Devil for God was with him Now all these things had they not been beyond the possibilitie of just exception are such as could not be delivered in those ages and by those persons by whom pretended to be done and presently obtain upon the Faith of thousands at a bare relation and engage so many of that very Nation besides a world of Gentile Converts to seal the truth of things so hard to be believed and harder to be done with their hearts dearest blood and rather suffer all that malice could invent than disbelieve them Impossible it is that men pretending that the miraculous operations of Jesus were so many that should they all be written the world would scarce be able to contain the Records Job 21.15 That he went about among them doing Good and healing all that were possessed of the Devil and all that were afflicted with any manner of Disease That he did this often in the presence of the greatest multitudes as well of Pharisees and Doctors of the Law as of the ruder sort and commonly upon their persons That by these actions he astonished and amazed his adversaries and forced them notwithstanding all that prejudice they had against him to own him for a Prophet and one sent from God and made them throng and strive to touch him and upon all occasions bring the diseased for cure to him and that even Gentiles did confess the thing I say impossible it is that men declaring that these things were acted and experimented in the places where those persons lived who embraced this Doctrine and for whom those Gospels were indited which contained these things should by such Gross untruths prevaile upon these persons to embrace that story which told these Barefaced lyes for a divine unerring History fit to be sealed with their Blood In a word let it be considered whether any person can imagine this to be the likely'st way to gain a reputation in the World Or whether any reasonable man can think it fit to suffer death in attestation of such things which all his neighbours must know to be untruths or whether he were like to gain belief by doing so And 2ly whether a story of like nature pretended by 12 Quakers to be done in England by one James Nailer or the like were likely to prevaile upon one single person not to say the Nation or the whole world of Christians to desert that Faith they own at present and embrace another which condemns and vilifies it and casts reproach upon the Nation Moreover these Disciples tel us that Christ whilst he continued upon Earth gave them commission to heal all manner of diseases Mat. 10.1.8 and to cast out Devils to raise the Dead and triumph over all the power of the enemy assuring them that neither serpent nor any other thing should hurt them Luc. 10.19 Luc. 9.6 Luc. 10.17 18. Marc. 6.13 And they accordingly did preach the Gospel healing every where casting out many Devils and making Satan fall as quick as lightening from the Heavens rejoycing that evil spirits were made subject to them anointing many with oyle and healing them And that this Power was more abundantly confer'd upon Them and upon their Converts when their Lord had left this world hath been sufficiently shewed in the foregoing chapter and may more fully be evinced by these considerations 1. That they have left on record in the Books they published and committed to their new converts as the Rule of Faith and which were owned by many thousands as Divine Christs Promise that his power should miraculously assist his Church that his Spirit should be confer'd upon as many as the Lord should call and this by virtue of a promise which he stood obliged to fulfil by powring his Spirit on all flesh to make their Sons and Daughters prophesie their young men to see visions and their old men to dream Dreams They gave it out that
confirmed by the Histories of both the Indies supposed by the Laws of Moses and by the Gospel Story the 1 Jewish 2 Christian and the 3 Heathen Exorcists these Spirits being subject not only to the name of Jesus but to the invocation of the God of Abraham and of Jsaac and of Jacob though used by those who did not 4 own their faith but notwithstanding did attest upon their own experience the virtue of those names as well as 5 Jews and Christians § 4. 2ly IF there have ever been any displays or actings of Gods power if any Miracles vouchsafed in confirmation of the faith of Jew or Christian Turk or Heathen all which have more or less pretended to them Acts 2.5 the Jew with so much evidence as to gain Proselytes from every nation under heaven the Christian with so great conviction as to prevail upon the world against the powers of Interest Custome and Education and all the opposition which the Wit and Power of the world could make to entertain the Faith delivered by them If the red sea was divided which both the sacred and 6 profane writers do attest If our Saviour and his Apostles the first Christian converts Vid. Raymund Pug. fid part 2. c. 8. s 6. did any of those miracles which in their writings are recorded of them of which we give a large account in our Discourse upon that Subject I say if any of these things were done we must acknowledge some superior Power did engage in the assistance of those persons and was concerned to have the world believe what they delivered By which assistance if the superior Power did intend the Happiness and Welfare of Mankind he makes provisions for it and by so doing shews a Providence but if he designe mans Ruine and Destruction he must then be an evil and seducing power which sure could not be were there no higher Power to challenge and reward our Service and to revenge our Disobedience § 5. 3ly IF any signal Judgments were inflicted by the immediate hand of God upon Rebellious sinners of which the Annals of all ages and books made up of such collections yeeld us large accounts If any visible declarations of Gods wrath and of approaching Judgments have been made unto the world by Signes Prodigies by Dreams and Apparitions by Prophesies or by a voice from Heaven of which not only Histories Ecclesiastical and heathen do inform us but suspected 7 Atheists do confess and prove the same If there hath ever been a deluge over the world which since the Caverns of the earth containe the waters of it can never be effected by the course of nature or Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire from heaven both which the 8 Heathen records have at large delivered to us preserving the traditions of the 9 Ark the 10 Dove sent out of it and of the 11 Mountains where it rested and frequently attesting that the fruits and apples of the land of 12 Sodom being toucht do vanish into smoak and ashes If Lots wife looking back became a pillar of salt and that so lasting that 13 Josephus and a In Gen. 19.26 Brochardus testify it was extant in their days and the Jerusalem Targum doth conclude it shall be so unto the Resurrection so notable that 14 Heathens used to conjure by invocation of that God who turned Lots wife into the Pillar If the 15 destruction of Jerusalem was prefaced with prodigious tokens of approaching Vengeance and God hath still appear'd in plagues and Judgments against 16 those who have attempted to rebuild the temple there If any waters of probation have had the virtue to discover and chastise the sinner whilst they cleared the innocent as Heathen writers affirme of 17 Olachas and other rivers which were wont to put off their natures and become fire to the Guilty person of the 18 Crateres Palicorum the 19 Sardinian fountains which did strike the thief or perjured person blind or dead of the 20 Indian Brachmans probatory waters and many others of that kind and as the Jews say with much better ground of those of Jealousy which being used according to the prescription of their law to try the chastity of any woman of whom her husband should be Jealous Numb 5 27.28 did cause the Guilty thigh to rot and had no like effect upon the innocent I say with better Ground for had they failed upon tryal the Jews could not have owned that law for sacred which left them such a standing lye Lastly If king 21 Agrippa suffered by the immediate hand of God Act. 12 23. because he gave not God the Glory of what the people did ascribe unto him as is attested by Josephus agreably to what St. Luke delivers we have from all these instances the clearest evidence of Gods vindictive Justice on the transgressors of his law and of our own concernments to obey it § 6. 4ly IF any acts of mercy or preservation by the power of God have been vouchsafed to any of Gods servants If Daniel was preserved in the Lyons den and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego from the devouring flames which must be a relation of the greatest credit if we consider that it speaks of matters done in so vast a company as were then met together to adore the Image which was erected by the king of Babylon and in the Greatest Court the world then knew and in defiance of the decrees and statutes of so Great a monarch and yet so done as to prevail upon him to own and reverence the God of those poor Captives and to establish a * Dan. 2 47.3.29 decree in honour of him which must be left on record in the Annals of that Empire in which all * Ezra 4.15.19 matters of any moment were digested to witness to the truth of what was seen and done and that it also speaks of matters done by men whose actions and Religion did blast the reputation of their Heathen Deities did baffle and confound their Sorcerers Magicians Astrologers and Men whose Religion did still 22 thrive under oppression and bring in dayly Proselyts Agen if any answer hath been made unto the prayers of Christian Jew or Heathen of which they all do boast so much and give such frequent instances If God according to his promise did still command his blessing on the sixth years crop Levit 25.21 and make it double unto that of other yeares and had it not been so this promise must have been a vain presumptious boast sufficient to discredit the whole law of Moses If fire of course came down from heaven in the days of Moses and extraordinarily at the petition of Elijah to consume the Jewish sacrifices as the 23 Apostate Julian doth acknowledge If 24 Heathen Records do pretend the same whose stories examples of this kind seem too exact and frequent to be deemed cheats If Gods miraculous assistance and answer to the 25 prayers of Theodosius did
Baptist who obtained so great a reputation from the Iews must have been guilty of the same endeavour to delude them Secondly not Christs Apostles as is argued from their simplicity Sincerity Interest The things they did or were obliged to pretend Thirdly Not their immediate Successors for the same and many other reasons The assurance which we have of what these Arguments suppose Coroll That what they have delivered to the World must be related bona fide and with a full conviction of its Truth BUt Fourthly Sect. I. Proleg 4. we premise That Christ and his Apostles with their immediate Successors did not endeavour to impose upon mankind nor did they Preach unto them cunningly devised Fables And 1. 'T is both incredible our Saviour would and inconceivable he should endeavor to delude the World and yet obtain so many and such stiff Assertors of his Doctrine 'T is 1. Incredible he would as having no Temptation thereunto For had he liv'd a soft and pleasing Life had he been chief among the Rich and Honorable had he not come into the World poor and lowly Zach. 9.9 had he not been despised and set at naught Isa 53.2 whil'st he continued in it had he not found Reproach and Infamy ver 12. had he not been numbered with transgressors in his death and suffered from those Persons whom he came to save I say had he not done all this he had not answered the Predictions of the Law and Prophets which yet he was obliged to do and declared in the end of his Life that he had done it He said immediatly before his Expiration on the Cross 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are finished and accomplished which were spoken of me Joh. 19.30 and his Disciples in their Preaching to the Jews insisted upon this as the chief Evidence of his Messiahship That he fulfilled all things that were spoken of him in the Law and in the Prophets Acts 3.18 10.43 Luke 24.44 But he well knew before he entered upon this Office what the Conditions were which those Predictions did require that the Messias was not only to perform those Mighty Things which being misunderstood by the Jews made them expect his coming in Worldly Pomp and Grandure but that he also was to come in poverty and abjectness so contrary to their Expectations that this would cause them to despise and to reject him and in the end provoke them to put him to a cruel Death It was necessary therefore that as in one respect he should perform the greatest Wonders so in the other Isa 53.3 he should be a Man of sorrows rejected and despised of his Brethren and one who made his grave with the wicked ver 9. Had he not dyed an ignominious and accursed Death Joh. 3.14 Matt. 16.21 he must have suffered under the reproach of a false lying Prophet and what could tempt him to seal so great and vile a Falshood with the loss of Life and Credit Had not this Death concluded in a most glorious Resurrection Matt. 26.31 attended with the Gifts and Consolations Joh. 7.39 Act. 1.5 8. Mark 16.7 and mighty Workings of the Holy Ghost He had been manifestly false to his Promise and Predictions and the just matter of his Disciples scorn and hatred as having made them leave their present Welfare and their Worldly Comforts to be exposed to Shame and Beggery and having promised what they must immediatly perceive to be a Lye he could not hope that they should afterwards continue to assert his Cause nor had he performed what the Prophets and the Psalmist foretold of the Messiah Psal 16.8 9. whose soul must not be left in hell nor his body see corruption and in whose days the Spirit was to be poured upon all flesh Joel 2.28 Had not the Jewish Temple been thrown down Matt. 24. Mark 13.10 and so their Laws and Worship which was confined to it cancell'd had not the City which was full of People become an heap of Stones had not his Doctrine spread it self throughout the Heathen World Zeph. 2.15 had it not famished all their Deities and made their Names to perish from the Earth he had not done the Work of the Messiah And this he could not hope should ere be done without the aids of Heaven nor that God should be engaged to assert and not confound lying Blasphemies He could not cast out Devils by Beelzebub or heal Diseases by any Magical Collusions which only was objected against his Miracles by the Jew and Gentile but his Disciples on whom this Power was conferr'd must be Instructed by him in those Arts and having thus discovered himself to them as a most dangerous Impostor and one that laid Designs to work the ruine of their Nation and Religion and his own Apotheosis and to engage the World in a new kind of Idolatry and all this under pretence of the greatest Innocence Sincerity and purity of Life and kindness to Mens Souls and Bodies I say being discovered to his Disciples to be such an one what hopes could he conceive they should desert their former Faith and quit it for so vile a Forgery which must expose them and their Nation to the worst of Evils Matt. 17.6 20.21 What Expectations could he have what reason to conceive that Men so timorous so worldly Luke 9.46 24.37 so forward to contend who should be greatest as they themselves do of themselves confess should by Humility and Self-denyal Disgrace and Poverty by Confidence and Perseverance continue to assert what could not any way conduce unto their Interest yea what it was the Interest of humane Nature to detect and oppose In fine he could not thus deceive but his Fore-runner who gave so large a Testimony unto his Mission and who proclaimed him the Son John 1.34.36 the Lamb of God the true Messias and the Saviour of the World must do so too and were this so How came the Jews to have so great a Kindness and Respect for the Confederate of an Impostor to own him for a Prophet Mar. 6.20 Matt. 24.5 Luk. 20.6 a just and upright Man to receive his Baptism and be so much affected with his Sayings as Josephus witnesseth How came they to retain the same Opinion of him after his Death and to ascirbe the ruine which befel the Author of it unto the Murther of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iosep Antiq. l. 18. c. 7. John the Baptist so great assurance have we that our Lord and Saviour was no design'd Impostor which thing we have acknowledged confirm'd to us by b Ipse est Deus quem doctissimus Philosophorum quamvis Christianorum acerrimus inimicus etiam per eorum Oracula quos Deos putat Deum magnum Porphyrius confitetur August de C.D. l. 19. C. 22. Denique tanquam mirabile aliquid atque incredibile prolaturus praeter opinionem inquit profecto videtur esse
just occasion to cry out on the Impostor The Testimony of St John concerning him the voice from Heaven the Holy Ghosts descent in likeness of a Dove Gods Declaration to him by these Tokens that he was the Lamb of God must be Delusions too What Zacharias and his Virgin Mother did pretend to see and hear what Simeon Elizabeth and Hannah Prophesied must be the issue of distempered Brains however they were Men and Women of unblameable Lives and Reputations Both they who tasted of the Water which he presumed was turned into Wine and those Five thousand Persons which were fed with five Loaves and with two little Fishes must have their Eyes and Appetites and Palates all deceived Christ having as it is here supposed no Design to put a Cheat upon them All Christs Predictions must be false and all the Spirit of Prophesie to which the Primitive Christian did so much pretend must be the Illusion of the Fansie Imagination must produce that Star which led the Wise Men to our Saviour and form those Voices which both he and his Disciples and the whole Multitude did seem to hear It must produce those frequent Apparitions of Angels and that Transfiguration which his Apostles seemed to see It must rebuke the winds and make the Sea obey him and must enable him to walk upon it It must form a conceit in him that he was the Son of God and Saviour of the world one sent into it from his Fathers bosome to take upon him flesh and suffer for the sins of men and all these great and strong delusions must consist with an exemplary life and an excellent wisdome so visible both in his Doctrine and discourses as he that runs may read it and lastly with a Glorious resurrection and the abundant Graces of is Spirit Again it must prevaile upon himself and his Disciples and the whole body of Believers dispersed through the then known world not only to believe that they did dayly cast out Divels cure diseases raise the dead that they did prophesy and speak with tongues but also on the eyes and eares of his and their Spectators and their Hearers and make them flock with their diseased to the places where they were and press to touch their Garments and come within the compass of their shadow or beg they would but speak the word that so their dead might live and their diseased might be whole Imagination must prevaile on those who were before possessed to believe that afterwards they were not and so upon the very devil to lie dormant in them it must prevail on those that were sick of what disease soever to conceive that they were well and think their sores and issues did not run upon the Lame to think they walked upon the Deaf to think they hear'd upon the dead to think themselves alive and lastly upon those with whom they did converse that is on their professed enemies throughout the world me learned and inquisitive and most concerned to find out the truth not only to believe the same but own the Christian faith upon the strength of those delusions In a word this phansie must give eyes unto the Blind and feet unto the Lame and eares unto the Deaf and life unto the Dead through divers centuries together or it must have deluded the whole world with those pretentions for divers Generations no man intending in the least to put a cheat upon them Or lastly it must prevail upon mankind to credit and to venture both their present and future even their eternal welfare to confirme what both their eyes and eares and other senses told them was but the vain delusions of some brain-sick Persons and what is now recorded thus that Many when they sew the miracles that Jesus did believed should be written thus that many when they saw the Great Delusions Christ and his Disciples suffer'd believed on him Now to conceive so strong and spreading a delusion should seaze upon so many millions throughout all climates of the world and this alone in the first ages of the Church never before or after that it should be peculiar to the Christian never should agree to the Apostate or the Heathen is a phansy so prodigious that nothing can be more If we can once imagine that the eyes and eares and apprehensions of so many millions should throughout diverse centuries be so continually and universally deceived what reason have we to believe either our senses or our undestanding or to expect that others should do so Why do we not continually suspect the like in all we seem to see or hear or understand and so set up for Scepticks and seekers in all things whatsoever In a word it was never heard since the foundation of the world that men of a deluded phancy did pretend to matters of so high a nature and yet deliver precepts of so confess'd an excellency that no Philosophy could match no Laws or Rules of Living how ever framed by long experience hard study and the greatest strength of humane reason could compare therewith And hence it is that never any of their malicious Adversaries however they pretended things as frivolous and as absurd as this did ever charge them with such Gross delusions or once imagine that they could prevail upon such feeble Grounds and therefore it would be folly to proceed to Confutation of what no Atheist Heathen Turk or Jew did ere object against them CHAP. IV. The Contents THat we may safely take an estimate of Christian doctrine from what we find recorded of it in the books of Scripture Proleg 6th those writings not being corrupted nor yet containing any thing repugnant to the Christian Faith Corol. concluding that those Scriptures which we dayly read must be the works of those Apostles and Evangelists whose names they bear But 6ly we premise §. 1. that we may safely take an estimate of Christian doctrine from what we find recorded of it in the books of Holy Writ For it is incongruous to conceive that Records which pretended to derive from the Apostles and Evangelists whilst both they and many of their Converts lived and did receive the Gospel from their mouthes and which exhorted all with so much passion to retain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Faith delivered to the Saints and which denounced such dreadful curses and Anathemas upon those who preached another doctrine and charg'd them to shun the man who did not own their platforme and not bid him God speed I say it is incredible that records of this nature should undermine that Faith which those Apostles had so largely planted and should present the Churches they converted with such a standing contradiction to that doctrine they had so lately taught and yet obtain and be received as the sacred Oracles and only Records of the Christian faith still more incredible it is that such a writing should be indited by those very men and yet they pass for the Embassadors of the King of Heaven and
in the Church for divers Centuries The confirmation of this second Argument The result of these Particulars FOURTHLY Arg. 4 Those Miracles which Christ and his Apostles wrought in confirmation of the Christian Faith are a most signal Demonstration of its truth and certainty as will appear if we consider 1. The Design on which our Saviour came into the World For it was requisite that he who came to baffle and pull down the Devils Kingdom should shew his Power over those evil Spirits which upheld it Needful it was that he who taught the World to slight and to detest those Heathen Deities which had so long obtained in the World and had confirmed it in their service by seeming Miracles vid. Not. in cap. 9. num 5 6 7 8. Predictions gifts of Healing and the like should by more powerful works convince the World he was more worthy of their Adoration And it was also requisite that he who gave it out that he came down from God to manifest the will of heaven to the world should by unquestionable signs of Gods assistance prove the truth of his Commission from him And lastly It was requisite that he who came to null that Law of Moses which was established or by the Jews conceived to be established by many Miracles should give a greater proof of his Commission from the God of Heaven then were the Miracles of Moses Secondly This will be farther evident if we consider that the Jews expected great and many Miracles from their Messiah They tell us Midrash Coheleth in Eccles 1.11 that the Miracles of Moses should not be remembred by reason of those greater Miracles which their Messiah should perform That the signs of the Messiah should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substance vid. Raymund Pugfid p. 610. whereas the signs of the departure out of Aegypt compared with them should be only accidents And this their Expectation was grounded upon these Predictions of their Prophets that their Messiah should make the blinde to see the deaf to hear Isaiah 35.6 the dumb to speak the lame to walk Thirdly The Jews and Heathens did in effect confess that sutably to these Predictions of the Prophets and to the expectation of the Jews they did work Miracles For to ascribe them to 1 Shem Hamporash or to the Arts of 2 Magick as Jews and Heathens did is to confess that they were done by Christ since nothing but the evidence of Fact could tempt his most malitious Enemies to use such slight Evasions and to confess as did the Pharisees and the Chief Priests that Christ did Miracles so many and so powerful that if he had been let alone Joh. 11.48 all men would have believed on him The wiser Heathens as 3 Celsus 4 Porphyry 5 Hierocles and 6 Julian confess'd the thing 7 Pilate who lived upon the place where his Disciples tell us that all his Miracles were done and who passed Sentence on him gave such a large account to Tiberius both of the Wonders of his Life and Death and Resurrection as made the Emperor 8 propose him to the Senate as one fit to be admitted among the Roman Gods And this account the Christians frequently appealed to and sent the Romans to their own Archives to be convinced of its truth Others conclude that he did his Wonders by that Art of Magick which he had learn'd from the 9 Aegyptians vid. Annot in cap. 9.1 and think it is sufficient to oppose against him an 10 Apollonius or an Apuleius as Men of equal Fame for working Wonders which had the truth of what the Christian Records do affirm concerning them been questionable they could have had no reason and no temptation to have done it being sufficient for their purpose to have questioned or disproved what was delivered by those Records But fourthly His Apostles do affirm his Miracles were very many and done in many places They tell us that he compassed all a Matt. 4.24 18.16 9.35 Galilee and all the cities and villages of Iudea preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing all diseases and all sicknesses among the people He b Mat. 12.15 15.30 19.2 healed many that were sick of divers maladies All the diseased throughout Syria Great multitudes yea all that could be c Luke 4.40 brought unto him He d Mark 1.34 cast out many devils and e Matt. 8.16 healed all that were possessed of the devil And then they adde that there were many other f John 20.30 signs which Iesus did which were not written by them From which compendious Repetition of them we may well infer his Miracles were more than they were able to recount particularly or more than they thought needful so to do Fifthly The same Apostles tell us they were mighty deeds for he rebuked the winds and g quell'd the ragings of the sea and h Matt. 8.26 14.25 walked upon it He i Mark 6.42 satisfied 5000 with two loaves and with five little fishes he gave sight unto the blinde and life unto the dead he cast out devils and knew the secrets of the heart He wrought his Miracles by inconsiderable means Matt. 8.3 16. Mark 8.7 13. Joh. 4.50 for he cast out the evil spirits and healed diseases with a word or by such means as were as insufficient by any natural Virtue to produce the Cure He raised the dead only by touching of the Bier on which they lay Luke 7.14 15 16. 18.54 John 11.43 45. or taking of them by the hand His word made Lazarus come forth though bound with Grave-cloathes and his Word made the Fig-tree wither Lastly The Wonders of his Death were as remarkable as were the Actions of his Life For then the Heavens were over-spread with darkness Matt. 27.49 52. the Temple vail was rent the Earth trembled the Rocks rent the Graves opened many dead Bodies did arise and shew themselves to many living in the holy City which when the People saw some of them being forced by remorse of Conscience Luke 23.47 smote upon their breasts and said of Christ Truly this was the Son of God this was a just and upright man and so notorious were these things that Heathens have recorded them But sixthly His Apostles tell us That he performed these things in publick and in the presence of the Pharisees Luke 5.17 6.17 18.19 Matt. 14.35 36. and Doctors of the Law of every Town of Galilee Judea and Jerusalem and from the Sea-coast of Tyre and Sidon which came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases That he did nothing privately but in the Synagogues Temples John 18.20 21. where his Accusers were still present And seventhly they affirm That these his Miracles had most remarkable Effects upon the Hearers and Spectators even the most perverse and spiteful of them Both Pharisees and Lawyers throughout Judea Jerusalem Luke 5.17 26. and Galilee when their
State and their denial of all future punishments and from their false conceptions of the rise and fatality of Sin That these opinions are destructive to the service of a Deity and the concernments of Religion That they received opinions which destroyed morality This proved from their mistakes and errors 1. Touching the duties and concerns of love charity to their neighbour And secondly touching the laws of Chastity Justice and of truth Heathen Philosophy proved ineffectual not only to reforme the world but the Professors of it The wickedness of their lives The accounts and reasons of it Theresult of all in confirmation of the Christian Faith § 1. BUT that which is the Crown of all and indeed potissima demonstratio a most convincing evidence of the Assistance of the holy Spirit towards the propagation of the Gospel is the excellency of the Christian precepts and the subservience they bear not only to our future but to our present welfare § 2. IT were endless to insist upon the incredible Power of Christianity when cordially embraced to sheath the Sword beat it into plow-shares to still contentions and bind the hand to its good behaviour to prevent all waies of being cruel to our neighbours life or prejudicial to his estate and Fortunes or injurious to his name or honour by taking up or venting a reproach against him or by discovering those Errors and infirmities which Charity doth bind us to conceal It were infinite to recount those liberal provisions it hath made for Love and Charity pity and compassion and whatsoever may indear my Brother to me and draw forth all my powers to assist him It gives the truly generous and publick Spirit it commands every man to seek his Brothers weal and shew him all that kindness which he could expect or beg when under like necessity It bids us burn when others are afflicted and weep with those that weep That is it bids us be as forward to relieve them under all their pressures and afflictions as if their afflictions were our own Now what can further be required to our present happiness than the security of what a present we enjoy from any hand of violence and the assurance of our Brothers help towards the enjoyment of the thing we want Nor is it less conducive to the publick good Christianity gives such a relish of sublimer Bliss as disintangleth the more noble Soul from all the trivial concernes of earth It tells us that the freindship of this world is enmity to God that he who beares affection to these earthly things is but pretender to the love of heaven It inspires into us that contentmēt which allayes the hell torment of an inordinate still gaping appetite It transformes the man into humility and meekness and so prevents the tumult disturbance of the haughty Spirit It enforceth peace upon us by the strongest motives and threatneth an eternal flame to the Incendiary It moulds the Soul into a simple honest and sincere deportment and interdicts those flattering Addresses which belye the thoughts and Conscience of the Speaker and more then this it cannot do in order to our publick welfare since that can never suffer but from unjust and treacherous factious and turbulent proud worldly or rapacious Spirits § 3. CHRISTIANITY is a Religion highly perfective of humane nature and such as best comports with the concernments of our Souls and most advanceth its most noble faculties It gives the best discoveries of the Divine existence and of Providence and of that obedience and homage which we owe unto a Deity and of those attributes which are the only grounds and most prevailing motives to it viz. The Truth and Freedome the Justice Power Goodness the Wisdome Unity and Omnipresence of a Deity all which must be entirely owned as the foundations of reall Piety It presents us with such admirable discoveries of Wisdome Justice Goodness Mercy and Compassion in the contrivance and procurement of Pardon and Salvation to us by the death of Christ as Judaisme could never boast It holds forth the clearest light to guide our darke and purblind Reason into the paths of vertue and to secure us from the splitting rocks of Vice It gives the best and largest Comment upon those duties of the moral Law which are so imperfectly and so obscurely hinted by the light of nature and so much questioned and disputed by the Gentile World as wee shall see hereafter It discovers to us those impediments which would retard and clog us in the performance of our duty that so we may avoid them It makes the evil thought as guilty as the evil action and calls as much for purity of heart and freedome from every vile affection as from those actions that doe issue from them It setleth the floating soul on the firm Basis of divine veracity and for the Heathens faint surmises and the Jews darker shaddowes of good things to come it gives the Christians lively hopes and full assurances of Faith It tenders the holy Spirit as an earnest of our future bliss and assures us if we doe the will of heaven we shall know what is so In fine the knowledge of a future endless bliss and misery is the result of Gospel revelation which upon all these grounds doth best provide for the information of our understanding in what it is concern'd to know in order to our future happiness to wit the being of a God and our engagement to adore and serve him what will procure his Favour and will provoke his Indignation and what concernes we have sincerely to avoide the one and to pursue the other § 4. NEXT it presents the Will with the most soveraigne motives and engagements unto duty and bindes that on us with most powerful cords of Love and the amazing mercies of our God and Saviour The obligations of repeated vows and Covenants especially of those of Baptisme and the Sacred Eucharist the convictions of our conscience the laws and Sanctions of that Majesty who strikes an awe upon it and the example of our Saviours which doth at once prescribe to our obedience and provoke us to it It pains forth sin to us in its own dress attended with the dangers of present and a dreadful expectation of eternal miseries and those enhanced by all the aggravations which love and mercy conscience and duty the light of reason and religion the experience of our selves and others can afford it It presents Goodness to us in its fairest and most tempting aspects assures us that the ways of God are Good honourable safe and easie and full of comfort and present satisfaction to the Soul It courts the affections with the most admirable delights that heaven can tender it surrounds us with the pleasures of a virtuous life the joys of charity the comforts of an upright conscience the smiles of heaven and its concernment for the good man's welfare here and happiness hereafter such happiness as far exceeds what we are able