it will be often said lo here is Christ or lo he is there before the last day of Judgment As before the destruction of Jerusalem Jesus Christ gathered together in some Christian Churches the Elect from the four Winds of Heaven and that by the preaching of the Apostles his Mystical Angels so likewise at the end of the World he will send his Angels to raise his Elect from the Dust and Obscurity of the Grave For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and the Dead in Christ shall rise 1 Thess 4. 16. As there were seen several Comets and terrible Signs that foretold the Destruction of Jerusalem as the Smoak of the City and Flaming Temple hid the light of the day and darkned the Sun and Stars so without doubt the end of the World will be also attended with Signs and Prodigies much more terrible St. Peter saith the Earth shall be burnt up and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat c. 2. Epistle 3. 10. As the Destruction of the Jews happened after an unexpected manner so also shall the last day come as a thief in the night As Jerusalem and the Temple were utterly destroyed as soon as the Jews had compleated the measure of their sins so this World which we inhabit must perish as soon as the end or Calling of all Nations shall be fulfilled as Jesus Christ himself says in that Prophecy we now have under Consideration Besides one may reasonably imagin the Disciples to be always prepossessed with this Opinion that the End of the World would immediately follow the destruction of Jerusalem For when it was reported among the Disciples that St. John should not die because Christ had said to one of them speaking of him If I will that he tarries till I come what is that to thee They stretch'd that till I come as far as the end of the World but they might have confined it to the Destruction of Jerusalem a time which the Apostles in reality saw and in which Jesus Christ visited the Jews in his justice Further this Tradition being spread abroad that the day of the Lord drew nigh the Thessalonians were so terrifi'd at it that St. Paul to comfort them again sent them the following assurances to the Contrary Now we beseech you Brethren that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Chrst is at hand Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except first c. 2 Thess 2. 2 3. In a word there is no reason to wonder that that Prophecy of Jesus Christ so faithfully related by his Disciples should have left this Impression in their minds For Jesus Christ on the one hand had given such marks and signs of his coming that it seemed as if the last judgment was immediately to follow it saying that he should appear as the lightning that cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West and on the other hand he had declared several times that all those things should happen to that generation that many of those who were present with him should not taste of Death until they had seen all those things Since then Jesus Christ united thus two several Events in one and the same Description but two subordinate Events as like unto one another as the Copy and the Original may be it follows thence that his Prophecy must have had two accomplishments the one very nigh and the other remote This in my opinion is the true way of unravelling all those Difficulties The Disciples confounded together two very remote Events and Jesus Christ suffered them to continue in that Opinion 'T is necessary that the Event should justifie the Prophecies but not that the Prophecies should be contrary to their Event It is necessary therefore they should be obscure before their Completion but clear and easy when once accomplish'd But however probable what I 've laid down may seem to be I should be very sorry any one should think I lay the stress of my argument upon it I make a distinction between bare Conjectures and true and certain Principles and I leave all the Explanations I have just now given to the Readers judgment to use according to his Discretion I am indifferent whether he uses my Notions or those of any other Man to solve certain difficulties which may occur therein I shall only insist upon two certain Truths which in my opinion admit of no Difficulty The first is that this Prophecy is so circumstantially related that it is absurd to imagin it composed after the event or that a man took occasion from the Destruction of Jerusalem at which none but Titus and his Army were seen to make Jesus Christ say when he foretold that Devastation that he would come in the Clouds of heaven that he would send his Angels to gather his Elect from the four winds that they would see him coming with power and great glory as the lightning that cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West that all the Tribes of the Earth should mourn at his coming and that day should come as suddenly as the fire of Sodom and Gomorrah The second Truth which seems to me altogether unquestionable is that notwithstanding that little darkness with which the Wisdom of God thought fit to overshadow this prophecy it was nevertheless in all Respects so very exactly related in all its Circumstances and so clearly fulfilled that supposing it composed before the Event we cannot but acknowledge it to proceed from a Prophetical Spirit For what can we Read in the History of the Jews but what is included in this Prophecy The beginning the continuation and ending of the Misfortunes of the Jews are all to be found in it It does not foretel a particular Captivity of that people but a general dispersion of the whole Nation and they shall be led Captives into all Nations Luk. 21. 24. Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem on another occasion at his entring into it and uttered these Compassionate Words O that thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace But now they are hid from thine eyes For the days shall come that thine Enemies shall cast a Trench about thee and compass thee round and keep the in on every side and shall â—ay thee even with the ground and thy Children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy Visitation Luke â—9 42 43 44. And can any one believe that this passage of our Saviours weeping over Jerusalem was also inserted in â—he Gospel Were all those Prophetical Parables inâ—erted too in which Jesus Christ threatned the Jews â—ith their approaching Destruction telling them â—ne while that the Lord would let his Vineyard to other
instituted in cold Blood certifies us of all these things But because an involuntary Death would argue a certain kind of weakness 't is also most certain that nothing can better evince the strength and courage of Jesus Christ than that tho' he foresaw the horrours of an infamous and painful Death yet he exposed himself to it with such a constant will and firm Resolution that by his example he shewed his Disciples how he would have them imitate and commemorate his sufferings Jesus Christ was condemned to Death by a Nation seditiously stirred up against him and by a Sanhedrin envious of his Glory but he was justified by the Conscience of Judas whose remorse for having betray'd him forced him to kill himself and by the solemn declaration of Pilate who washed his hands in the presence of the Jews to shew that he was innocent of the Blood of that just Person He was justified too by the voice of the Centurion who saw the prodigies his Death was attended withall and soon after by the mouths even of those who sought his ruin and who being prick'd to the heart cry'd out to the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do Act. 2. 37. And certainly 't is a very great glory to our Messias that the most guilty Conscience the most unjust judges the most insensible and hardened sort of Soldiers and the most barbarous Murtherers should even bare record of his Innocence Jesus Christ suffered but it was for our sakes he gave himself up to the sorrow and anguish of Death and made his life an offering for Sin And if those wounds are counted honourable which a Subject receives sighting in the presence of his King and if those which a King receives for the safety of his Subjects are esteemed yet far more glorious what Glory then did Christ deserve who suffered in the presence and by the will of his Father for the Salvation of his People and Children and who by his sufferings established such an Empire which no power can dissolve Lastly Jesus Christ suffered a punishment proper only to Slaves but we are also very certain that during the time of his sufferings he shewed himself to have a power over Nature her self since the Graves were opened at his Death the Rocks rent the Sun was darkened and the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain And it is impossible that the Disciples of the Lord should have invented so sensible and signal matters of fact against the fresh and publick knowledge which those men that lived in their days had of it without being guilty of such an Extravagance which is more than humane But here we will ask the Incredulous in our turn whether a voluntary Death an innocence publickly own'd the sorrows and anguish which a man suffered out of Charity to the World the homages which even insensible Creatures paid to him whom men scorned and condemned were not certain Characters worthy of the Messias that had been promised us Indeed if you take away the proofs which evidently shew Jesus Christ to be the Son of God you may then call his Cross a scandal to him and the World but whilst those proofs shall be left entire his Cross will serve the more to illustrate his Majesty and Grandeur and we shall not only then assert that it was a voluntary Death which he underwent and a Death that was foretold us but we shall also shew that it is as it were a looking-glass-like wherein we may see at once all the vertues of man and all the Attributes of God There we may find the patience of a man who suffered every thing from his equals and from those who ought to have been his Servants and Disciples the Charity of a man who pray'd for them that put him to Death the Constancy of a just man who bore the burden of the iniquities of mankind and the constancy of an innocent man who at once as it were wrestled with the fury of men and the Justice of God There we may see the Masterpiece of Divine Wisdom the designs of our Enemies frustrated and the designs of God triumphing over the vain opinions and projects of men the propitiation of sins made for us by the most dreadful parricide that was ever committed or conceived the Synagogue buried in his grave whom they barbarously put to Death in defence of their priviledges the Romans crowning a King with thorns who was to rule over all Nations and putting a Reed instead of a Scepter into his hands flesh and blood shewing us in the Death of Christ the true pattern of mortification Jesus Christ dying attended with almost infinite numbers of Martyrs who were willing to die in imitation of him who was Conquerour of the World only by his shame who crucifyed the flesh by the preaching of his Cross and procured Rest and Peace to the Souls of them that dyed by the Anguish of his Agony We may also see the Justice and Mercy of God clearly manifested in his Death For what other Victim could have better evinced Gods hatred for Sin What present could have been made unto men that could have better discovered Gods love to them The Incredulous therefore reproach us with the meanness of an object wherein the vertues of men and the attributes of God himself are shewn in their greatest height and perfection But let him that any ways doubts it consider the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which is as it were a key that opens all these Events to us To dye and remain under the power of Death is indeed an evident mark of weakness and misery but to dye and yet overcome Death by rising from the Grave is the mark of a supernatural power and a divine glory Thus Jesus Christ descended into the lower parts of the Earth for no other end but to ascend into Heaven as the Eye-witnesses of that great and notable Event did plainly testify But the Incredulous will not believe their report and they further pretend that they can find in history the example of a testimony very like that which was nevertheless without contradiction reputed to be a meer Imposture We read say they that after the Death of Romulus there was a certain senator who having always lived in the repute of a very honest man certified that Romulus was ascended into Heaven where he was inserted among the Gods and that this Monarch had appeared unto him c. Is not this a matter of fact not unlike that which the Disciples testify'd of Jesus Christ throughout the Universe 'T is very like it indeed only it has these following differences there you read of a single person testifying that he had seen Romulus ascended into Heaven but here you have a very great number of people who certifiy'd that they had seen Jesus Christ after his Resurrection There it is pretended that a great and triumphant Monarch during the course of his life was inserted amongst the Gods after his Death which agrees
Christ into Heaven And how can any Man reasonably imagin that it was natural and according to the regular Course of second Causes to see a Man that had been crucified and laid in a Sepulcher where a Watch was appointed to guard him rise out of that Sepulcher again appear alive to several Men that touched and handled him and afterwards ascend into Heaven in their sight Certainly that very Ascension of Jesus Christ cannot but convince the most suspicious and scrupulous Person that it was an Event purely divine and supernatural For otherwise our Incredulous Adversaries might imagin since they are everlastingly raising Doubts that the Body of Jesus Christ might have been taken down from the Cross before the Breath was gone out of it that Joseph of Arimathea who was his Disciple tho he durst not own it publickly might have dress'd his Body and recover'd him out of his Swoon by the strength of the Remedies he gave him that he might have laid another counterfeit Dead-body in his place and buried it and that afterwards Jes Christ might have privately shewed himself to his Disciples not daring to appear in publick for fear of falling a second time into the hands of the Jews and suffering a true and real Death instead of that imaginary one he had suffered before But this Fiction is absurd and incredible and that for several Reasons First Because the Evangelists relate that Christ had his Side pierced with the Lance of a Soldier which thing alone was enough to give him his Death Secondly It is very improbable to think that the Jewish Sanhedrin who had condemned him to die nay who had taken such care to set a Watch over his Sepulcher should yet suffer his Body to be taken down from the Cross before the Breath was gone out of it Lastly because it can never be supposed that a Man who hung several Hours together on a Cross should yet escape Death and shew himself not long after safe and sound to his Disciples But that which will immediately remove all these Doubts is that Jesus Christ not only rose from the Dead but also ascended into Heaven in the sight of his Disciples And this is so sensible and evident a matter of fact that they could never have been imposed upon in that respect So that it may very well be affirmed that the Argument for the Truth of the Christian Religion chiefly depends upon that Important Inquiry whether the Disciples designed to impose upon us by relating to us a false Event which they did not believe themselves Now if we can clearly prove the contrary we shall invincibly demonstrate the certain Truth of our Faith Let us therefore in order to it closely stick to the Examination of that matter of fact the most essential and the most important that ever was and endeavour to discover whether it be possible we should have been imposed upon by those Men which could not deceive themselves If we would suppose that the Disciples of Jesus Christ deceived us in their relation of a fictitious Event we must also necessarily suppose these three things 1. That their Illusion or Imposture must be a thing that was possible to be put in Execution 2. That it must be of some Use or other to them 3. That it must be such as Men and only Men make use of Now it is certain that their pretended Illusion here in question could not have any of these three Qualities 1. It could not have been possible because it must have been agreed upon by many Persons who all knew the bare Truth of the matter of fact it self 2. It would have been of no use for what could those Men propose to themselves in inventing such a Fiction 3. It could not be such as Men usually contrive because from the Beginning of the World till now we never heard of any Man that invented Lyes on purpose to have the pleasure of being hanged scourged burnt or executed upon a Scaffold 1. As to the first I 'll grant you if you will that Peter with some other Disciples might have taken away the Body of Jesus Christ out of the Sepulcher either by tricking the Watch or taking the Advantage of their sleeping or lastly by bribing them with Mony I 'll grant you too if you will they might have easily perswaded the whole Company of Disciples who were too credulous and too eager in swallowing of Novelties that Jesus Christ had appeared to them indeed and that he was risen from the Dead I 'll grant you likewise that the other Disciples might have imagined thereupon they had seen some Visions or thought they had seen him in several Places and on several Occasions but then I ask How they could have all agreed together concerning the truth of his Ascension By what Charm or Cunning could Peter and the other Apostles have made them see that which they never saw or heard a Man speak whom they really never heard By what Machine could they have caused the Clouds to descend Or by what sort of Inchantment could they have produced two Men in white Raiments telling them Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go up into Heaven Acts 1. 11. By what secret Power could they have so deeply imprinted in the Minds of the Disciples the Words which Jesus Christ spoke to them after his Resurrection the Reproaches he made them of their Infidelity his Promise of sending the Holy Ghost to them his forbidding them to depart from the City of Jerusalem and the Command he gave them to Baptise all Nations in the Name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost I say how could they have done all this if all these things were but the witty Conceits of their Imagination and Fancy Certainly tho St. Peter or some other Disciple of Jesus Christ should have formed to himself the Design and Plan of so Signal a Cheat and tho he should have set down in writing all the Articles one by one which he was obliged to make other Men believe against the plain Truth yet he could never have been so bold as to propose any such thing to those Men who were prepossessed with the Opinion that Lying was a great Sin but Truth and Sincerity on the contrary a great Vertue Nay it is even impossible it should ever come into his Head to frame so Signal an Imposture upon so sad and sorrowful an Event as the Death of Jesus Christ Neither does it appear that his Mind or his Thoughts were any ways bent upon any such Design And tho he should have been induced out of a Spirit of Revenge to invent such a Lye to discredit the Scribes and Pharisees yet it can't be supposed he should have been so very silly as to imagin that the rest of the Disciples would consent to that Imposture or be willing to maintain it
the utmost pitch of Prosperity and Glory this Jesus himself was seized and nailed on a Cross where he suffered a most infamous Death infamous in the esteem of all Nations but more particularly accursed in the Jewish Law What a mighty thunder bolt must this have been to such men who had fed their fancies with such charming hopes They were long since perswaded that the Messias would make his appearance in a very Glorious State that he would overthrow at his coming the Empire of Cesar together with all the Roman Grandeur and thereby make the Jews absolute Masters of the World All these things they impatiently expected from Jesus and yet this Jesus was dishonoured by an infamous punishment he was compelled to endure The Jews themselves not only sacrificed him but they sacrificed him even to Cesar himself and delivered him up to the Romans to put him to Death There was no power able to deliver him out of the hands of his Tormentors so that he died and his Disciples heard of his Death or rather were eye-witnesses of it In truth I cannot conceive how they should after all this have still preserved the least of their pretentions They might reasonably grieve at the loss of such pleasing hopes but nothing could redeem the loss of them They might abhor the furious passion of the chief Priests and Sanhedrin who had utterly deprived them of their dearly beloved Master but they must at length lay aside the opinion they had entertained of him And therefore nothing can be so likely as that which St. Luke makes them utter in the midst of their sorrow and astonishment But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel and besides all this to day is the third day since these things were done Luke 24. 21. But supposing they had no such Hopes or Expectation it is enough that the Disciples look't upon Jesus as the promised Messias Nay 't is all one whether it was in the sense of the Jews or in that of the Christians For if it was in the sense of the Jews they could not but imagin that Jesus would have raised up the glory of the Jews to its utmost height so far were they from conceiving he was liable to be put to Death by them But if it was in the sense of the Christians they ought surely to have believed that in case he should die he would certainly raise up himself and those that believed on him from the grave because the whole System of Christian Religion essentially depends upon this foundation Thus were the Disciples preposessed with the general opinion of the Jews they could not chuse but lose it at the sight of the Death of Jesus and were they prepossessed with the profess'd Doctrine of the Christians they could not likewise but be undeceived of their Errour when they saw that Jesus Christ rose not again from the Dead What then shall we think of certain Fishermen who were a most mean wretched sort of people as the Enemies of Christianity called them who had not the courage to accompany their Master even when they looked upon him as the true Messias but gave him over to his Executioners Sure they are by this time sensible of their mistake What care then does it appear they took to hide themselves to conceal their shame and confusion from men let us see what was the Event and we shall know the Truth We find that few weeks after the Death of Christ his Disciples publickly shewed themselves in Jerusalem and confidently affirmed that they had seen their Master who was risen again from the Dead had spoken with him handled him eat with him conversed with him for forty days and lastly that they had seen him ascend into Heaven 'T is certain this was the Testimony of the Disciples since the Faith of the Primitive Christians was founded on this Testimony Who could have thought of this unexpected turn The Disciples affirmed that Jesus was the Messias but could they still believe it when they saw him give up the Ghost Or if they did not believe it were they now grown bolder to maintain an imposture than before to follow their Master when they thought him the true Messias Could certain Fishermen dejected fearful Fishermen who ought with shame to have owned their Error could they invent such a fable preach it with so much confidence maintain it with so much boldness expose their persons to all sorts of Torments and even to Death it self in defence of such an incredible fiction Could any of them imagin that they could seduce Mankind or had any one of them imagined it could the rest have been so extravagant as to approve of his ridiculous fancy Did they think the World would believe them upon their bare Word And were they then no longer in any dreadful apprehension of the Sanhedrin that had inhumanely put their Master to death Did they believe they might safely reproach the Jews for having put the Messias to death without being themselves severely punished Were they not sensible into how many troubles and afflictions this fable would inevitably cast them And if they were could they still be so couragious as to maintain such an imposture Is it possible that no one of them should recant his opinion not one contradict himself but that all should unanimously depose notwithstanding the most rigorous punishments inflicted on them a matter of Fact which they knew to be altogether Chimerical and false Certainly this is a thing so very strange or rather which appears to me so very absurd and extravagant that I question whether our incredulous Adversaries could perswade themselves of it provided they would but reflect never so little upon it But let us continue still to distrust our selves may we not probably have made some false Supposition in what we just now affirmed we will therefore go over again the same principles we just now established And indeed the more I reflect upon them the less I conceive how we can possibly call any of them in question For can I deny that Jesus ever was in the World that he ever had any Disciples or that those Disciples thought him at first the promised Messias But why should I alone question a matter of fact which the Thalmudists nay Julian Porphirius and all other Enemies of Christianity have always acknowledged This is what I have shewn to be absurd Can I question but that if Jesus died and rose not again from the dead his Disciples were then undeceived of the opinion they probably entertained that Jesus was the Messias the Son of God If so either they understood nothing at all by these two words the Messias the Son of God or else they understood quite another thing than that he was a Meer Man who was to remain for ever under the power of Death after his Crucifixion Can I deny that the Disciples declared the Resurrection of Jesus Christ after his Crucifixion It 's self evident All
Husbandmen after having destroyed them as so maâ—y unfaithful servants another while that the King â—ho had invited them to the Marriage of his Son would â—nd his Soldiers to destroy them and burn up their City But not to go so far off one of the Marks whereâ—y they ought to have known that the Event which esus Christ had foretold drew nigh was that the â—entiles were to be called to the knowledge of the â—ue God This is expresly delivered in the places â—e have already quoted He therefore that insertâ— this Prophecy in the Gospel must have imaginâ— that in his time the Gentiles had already been â—lled to the knowledge of Jesus Christ But since â—ere were then an infinite number of Christians disersed throughout World since an infinite number â— Persons had the Writings of the Apostles in their â—ssession How was it possible either to alter or â—d thereto several Parables and Chapters nay to â—rrupt three Gospels in three Essential places If ch a thing had been done in Asia how could it afterwards have been received in Europe where there must necessarily have been an infinite number of Copies of that Gospel For of all the Books of the New Testament the Gospels were first composed And now do not the Incredulous as yet perceive that Truth overthrows more scruples than they are able to raise against it That they continually offer Violence to thelr Reason by resisting the Truth which appears so strong and invincible on all hands and that tho' their Reason is sometime perverted and blinded by their Passions so that they cannot see things in their due light yet the Objects the Nature of things and the Truth which is immutable never shift or turn a side to follow the foolish fancies of their Understanding or the perverse Inclinations of their Heart CHAP. IX Wherein we shall examine the matters contained iâ— the Book of Acts. THe matter of this Book may be reduced tâ— these three heads viz. the Ascension of Jesuâ— Christ the coming down of the Holy Gost upon thâ— Apostles and the Establishment of the Christiaâ— Churches by the successful preaching of the Apostles All these things are of such a nature as could noâ— possibly be forg'd The Ascension of Jesus Christ is related with toâ— many Circumstances to leave us any reason to believe that the Disciples themselves were deceiveâ— therein The Author expresly affirms that Jesâ— conversed the space of forty days with his Disciplâ— after his Resurrection that he promised them theâ— should be baptised with the Holy Ghost and commanded them to wait at Jerusalem for the effect of that promise that he carried them to the Mount of Olives that he was taken up in a Cloud which carried him out of their sight and that as they stedfastly looked up towards Heaven as he went up two men stood by them in white apparel and promised them that Jesus Christ would come again in like manner as they had seen him go into Heaven So that â—t is no longer a question whether the Disciples were deceived in this respect but rather whether they had a mind to deceive others by a false Relation of so Chimerical an Event For the perfect understanding of this Matter it is sufficient to observe the time in which the Disciples begun to declare it And when the day of Pentecost was fully come says St. Luke they were all with one accord in one place And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty Wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting And there apâ—eared unto them Cloven tongues like as of fire and it â—at upon each of them And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and begun to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews devout Men out of every Nation under Heaven Now when this was noised abroad the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own Language c. But Peter standing up with the eleven lift â—p his voice and said c. Then they that gladly received his Word were baptised and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand Souls c. And fear came upon every Soul and many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles Acts Chap. 2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 14 41 43. That this matter of fact was not invented appears by the bare Consideration of it because this is a thing as must have been brought to pass at Jerusalem upon a solemn feast day before men of all sorts of Nations and as I may so speak in the sight of all the Universe and which Consequently is such as could not possibly have been forg'd or invented What then can be objected to shake the Certainty of this History Can it be said that this Matter of fact was inserted in the Writings of St Luke long after the Death of that Author But then it must at the same time be confessed that the whole Book was forg'd because that is an essential and fundamental matter of fact on which the other things contained in the Book of Acts altogether depend Thus for instance the preaching of the Apostles and the success of it wholly depend upon it Whatever is contained in their Epistles absolutely relates to it And lastly every thing in the New Testament is forg'd if the coming down of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles be a meer Invention Shall I believe that St. Luke himself invented this matter of fact and that no one ever spoke of it before him If so what was it the Apostles said to those they preach'd the Gospel to What did they ground their preaching upon but only on the Mission of the Holy Ghost What other right but that had they to preach Did the Apostles themselves to deceive Mankind pretend that they had received the Holy Ghost This is the only plausible suspicion the Incredulous can entertain yet for all that it is absurd For when was it they made this Pretension It must necessarily be either after they had founded a Church at Jerusalem or some time before If it was after they had founded a Church therein how was it possible this Church should have been afterwards perswaded that the Apostles had received the Holy Ghost that they had publickly spoken all sorts of Languages and that their preaching attended with several strange prodigies had been the occasion of the forming that Church But if the Apostles pretended they had received the Holy Ghost before there was ever any Christian Church established in Jerusalem nay if it were by a false attestation of this matter of fact and many other such that they founded this Church the Apostles must of necessity have learned all the Languages in the World since the death of their Master and together with that the secret of making the lame walk and healing the sick because these are what they call the gifts of the
just going to shed the blood of Christians He went about afterwards preaching that he had seen Jesus Christ that a great light shone round about him that the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven were revealed unto him He affirmed that God had set him forth unto the World and that he became a Spectacle unto Men and Angels 1 Cor. 4. 9. If men will not credit his report let them try him by torments and see what effect they will have upon him Let them load him with Chains and cast him into Prison let them expose him to Wild beasts at Ephesus let the Elements Men and Devils be all at once set against him let them scourge him drag him along stone him let them bring him from Jerusalem to Cesarea from Cesarea to Rome increase and prolong his Afflictions Saul the Witness of the Synagogue 't is true recanted his opinion but Paul the Witness of Jesus will never recant his Having seen the strange alteration which happened to the Person of the Minister of the Synagogue let us reflect a little on that which happened to the Person of the Apostle of Jesus Christ Judas betrayed his Master and received for his reward thirty pieces of Silver But how comes it to pass he was so much disturbed after he had done it The Jews the Romans the People the Doctors the Magistrates and Judges all favoured his crime and let him go unpunished yet the remorse of his own Conscience tormented him to that degree that he could not rest any where and at length not being able to overcome his Despair he made away with himself and the Wisdom of God so ordered it that the Jews themselves preserv'd the memory of that astonishing event by buying with that mony a field which is since called Aceldama because it was the price of blood What a strange difference we find in these two Persons of Judas and Saul Judas killed himself in the midst of his Prosperity but Saul rejoyced in the midst of his afflictions Judas prevailed upon by the Synagogue could not be comforted by the same but died in despair Paul became the Disciple and Witness of Jesus and to him the Cross of Jesus was matter of the greatest joy God forbid says he Gal. 6. 14 that I should glory save in the Cross of my Saviour Christ by whom the World is crucified unto me and I unto the World Will any one believe that Judas was his own Executioner meerly out of remorse for having betray'd an Impostor to the Jews Or that St. Paul derived from the sense of his infidelity the courage he shewed in all his sufferings Certainly it may be very properly said that they were both the Martyrs of God but only with this difference that Judas was so against his will but Paul voluntarily If the constancy of the one testify'd in behalf of Jesus Christ the despair of the other was no small honour to him And the only difference is this that Paul was properly a Martyr but Judas in spite of himself a witness of the Truth of Religion CHAP. XVII Where we further answer the Objections of the Incredulous OF all the Objects which the Christian Religion offers to our understanding there is no one seems more to shock the Reason of a prejudiced and incredulous person than the Death of the Messias The Cross of Jesus Christ was according to the Expression of an Apostle a scandal to the Jew and a folly to the Greek But in our opinion there is nothing bears more visible characters of Greatness and Divinity than that does The Incredulous tell us that could we but rid our selves of all our prejudices we should be heartily ashamed to entertain such strange Ideas of God And we also tell them that could they once but free themselves of those passions which darken their understanding they would certainly admire with us the wonders of so Divine an object Who then is in the wrong in this thing That will best appear by the answers we shall make to their objections We find in the Person of Jesus Christ one who suffered himself to be seized upon and was afterwards nailed on a Cross not having any one to deliver him from the power of his Enemies This they object was a mark of his Weakness For say they had he been the King of the Jews why did he not come down from the Cross and all the World would have believed on him He died as one condemned by the grand Council of the Jews which God himself had established This was he as was found guilty He was seized with sorrowfulness even unto Death the day before his Passion and cried out bitterly when he gave up the Ghost This shews his wretched condition He was made to suffer a punishment proper only for Slaves It cannot therefore be doubted but that he died a most infamous Death And who can imagin that Weakness Guilt or at least Condemnation Wretchedness and Infamy should be the true Characters of the Son of God Thus the Incredulous argue We answer that Jesus Christ suffer'd by the determinate Council of God since the Scriptures foretold that he was to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities that he was to make his Soul an offering for sin that he was to be cut off but not for himself And St. John the Baptist seeing him coming to him at a time wherein it was very unlikely he should ever suffer called him the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World John 1. 29. Jesus Christ suffered voluntarily he foretold all his own Sufferings to his Disciples inviting them to take up their Cross and follow him He told them that he had made choice of a Company of miserable and afflicted Wretches in the World who were notwithstanding to overcome the World and by their sufferings establish the Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth He freely owned to them that he was not come to settle peace in the World but the sword that God would smite the Shepherd and that the Sheep should be scattered that they were to drink of the same cup with him and be Baptised with his Baptism that is to taste the bitter cup of his Afflictions and be Baptised with him with a Baptism of Blood He intermixed his suffering with theirs that they might the better bear them in remembrance If we should in the least doubt whether Christ foretold his sufferings we need only consider the design of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the time wherein this Ceremony was instituted For unless we should call in question the real institution of that Sacrament and so affirm that the Disciples out of an unaccountable and fantastical Extravagance pretended only that Jesus Christ had instituted that Ceremony when there was no such thing it will appear that Jesus Christ foresaw his Death that he prepared himself for it and affirmed he suffer'd it voluntarily for the Salvation of Mankind The Sacrament of the Eucharist which he
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ justified the wonderful Passages of his Death so likewise does his Ascension justify those of his Resurrection For tho' one should suspect that the Eyes of the Disciples might by chance have been suddenly dazzled and so they thought they had seen what they in reality never saw yet they had time enough to recover themselves out of this dazzling Amazement for it was forty days after Jesus Christ was risen from the Dead before his Ascension Had it been a Spirit that appeared to them and frightned them yet had they time enough to come to themselves again and know certainly that the Spirit they saw was not really their Master For they saw him and heard him They handled him they eat and drank with him Had it been thro' the obscurity of a darksome Night that they had imagined they had seen some Representation of their Master instead of a true and full sight of him they could not long continue in their Error But it was in full day that they saw the Stone rolled away from the Sepulcher 'T was in full bright day that Christ so often manifested himself to them and discoursed with them and afterwards ascended into heaven before their eyes Had the force of their Desires their Fears or Affections disturbed their Senses we should have less Reason to wonder at it tho even in that case the thing would seem altogether unaccountable it being morally impossible that the Senses of so many People should all at once be so confined to one wonderful Object and so disturbed at the same time But they had time enough to get out of their Confusion and Astonishment and their Minds were very sedate and at ease when Christ made them Eye-Witnesses of his glorious Ascension In a word had it been a private and silent Interview we might have much more Reason to doubt but Christ appeared to his Disciples with a particular Design to discourse with them He gave them several Instructions he forbad them to depart from Jerusalem until they had received the Gifts of the Holy Ghost He made them several Promises and such surprising ones that they are fit only for a God to make and a God to perform for he promised that he would be with them even unto the End of the World He instituted two Sacraments he commanded them to baptise all Nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as well as to commemorate his Death in the Passover Nor was that all He had many long and coherent Discourses with them He spoke to them and they answered him They were at first incredulous but he convinced them of the Truth of his Resurrection notwithstanding their Scruples and their Infidelity He rebuked them several times for their little Faith at least they tell us so The Evangelists relate what Christ said to Thomas and what Answer Thomas made And both their speeches were too surprising to be so soon forgotten Thomas being struck at the Wonders of his Resurrection was the first that gave Christ a Name which he was not wont to bear in the Stage of his Humiliation calling him My Lord and my God John 20. 28. The Disciples asked him Whether he would at that time restore the Kingdom unto Israel but he answer'd them that it was not for them to know the Times and Seasons which the Father only had in his power Lastly The Evangelists give us no less the History of Jesus Christ risen from the Dead than that of Jesus Christ living and conversing before his Death among the Jews and we affirm we have as much reason to believe one as the other For indeed Why do we believe there was ever any such Person as Jesus Christ We believe it certainly because it is in humane speaking morally impossible that so many Persons should unanimously tell us they had seen him that they discours'd eat and drank with him nay saw him suffer Death at Jerusalem I say they would never have told us all this supposing there were nothing at all in it But then ought not that same Reason to perswade us likewise that Jesus Christ both lived and convers'd forty days with his Disciples since so many Persons saw him discoursed eat and drank with him saw him present in the midst of their Assemblies nay touched and handled him But perhaps some will object were that certainly true Why then was there in those days so many Persons that refused to believe the Ascension of Jesus Christ Why it is no hard matter to find the reason of this 't was because if they had once acknowledged the Truth of the Ascension of Jesus Christ they were obliged to die Martyrs for that Truth and no doubt Men were as worldly-minded in those days as they are now So that methinks it appears hitherto very clearly that the Disciples of Jesus Christ were neither capable of deceiving themselves nor of being deceived by others as to the Truth of the matters of fact they testifyed It is a very difficult matter I had almost said impossible that they should have deceived themselves in the Miracles of Christ which they relate because they so exactly set down the Circumstances the Names Places and the Persons themselves nay they pretend they themselves were sent by their Master into all the Parts of Judea to work there the very same Miracles they attested But tho' they should have deceived themselves in the Miracles of Christ yet they could not possibly deceive themselves in his Resurrection For they knew well enough what a dead Body and a living Man was they could easily distinguish between them and those things are of such a nature as not to be capable of Illusion or deceit Yet tho' we should supose that the disciples had been deceived in the Resurrection of Christ yet they could not have been imposed upon in the last miraculous Event of his Ascension It could never come to pass that after having seen a Spirit they should yet converse with him forty days that that Spirit should suffer himself to be handled that he should give them Instructions make them several Promises and afterwards be caught up into Heaven in their Sight they all the while looking upon him and adoring him as he was ascending into Heaven and understanding distinctly the Discourse of the Angels which promised them that he should so come again in like manner as they had seen him go up into Heaven It would be to no purpose here to alledge with Spinosa That the Evangelists have not exactly described all the Circumstances of the Event they relate and that had they taken special care to do it it would perhaps so happen that the Circumstances which they thought sit to conceal would make us comprehend that those which they have related proceeded from Natural Caâ—ses For I desire to know what can be more expresly declared or more often repeated in the Gospel than the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus
at any rate whatever out of meer Complaisance to him Such is the Nature of Mankind such the Frame and Temper of their Hearts that they will admit of no Falsity unless covered with a specious shew of Truth So that when any thing is so evidently false that every Body must necessarily be sensible of it we have no Thoughts of attempting to make others believe it as for instance it will never come into my Head to make other Men believe that I have Wings and that I fly c. We might here repeat what has been said concerning the Resurrection of Jesus Christ either the Disciples looked upon Jesus Christ before his Death as the promised Messias or else they did not look upon him as such If they considered him as the promised Messias they then believed his Words and thought that he would truly rise again and if they did expect that he would truly rise again they consequently believed he would come himself out of his Grave and so it was not at all necessary they should steal his Body away And if they did not consider him as the promised Messias whilst he was alive it must follow from thence that they were Seducers and Impostors even before the Death of Christ Now how can any one conceive that those Seducers should not have been terrified at the Punishment inflicted on their Master or that such a terrible Example of the most rigorous Justice design'd too for them should not put an end to their frontless Impudence Above all How can it be supposed that those wicked and perfidious Disciples durst have proposed to the other Disciples who were really Sincere and True to joyn with them and so testify that they had seen Jesus Christ ascending into Heaven Truly I don't see what any Man can alledge except one of these two things either that they were all sincere and honest Men or that some of them were honest and the rest Cheats If they were all sincere and honest Men as their Manners their Discourse their Conduct and a thousand other Characters of them evidently shew then is it absolutely impossible that any such Cheat could have been carried on amongst them But if they were all a pack of cheating treacherous Impostors then it was the first time that ever a Society of cheating perfidious Rogues was erected who seemed to have had no other Design than to sanctify Mankind But what Man be his Thoughts never so confus'd and irregular be his Reason never so corrupt can yet imagin that so many mean-spirited simple and humble Men as the Disciples were should immediately become the most Lying notorious Cheats out of no other Design then to involve themselves in ruin If some of them were false and others sincere and if the latter were at all imposed upon by the former which is the most our Incredulous Adversaries can imagin yet even then I assert that such a Cheat could not have been carried on by them For supposing Peter never so smooth and Eloquent never so adroit at Dissembling and Insinuation yet how could he possibly perswade so great a number of Persons to believe against their Senses that they had seen that which they really never saw or handled that which they had never handled that Jesus Christ after having given them many Precepts and large Instructions which he left very deeply imprinted in their Minds ascended into Heaven in their sight But should I grant he might have perswaded them of the Truth of his Resurrection yet how is it possible he could perswade them of the Truth of his Ascension Had St. Peter but so much as proposed it to them whom he designed to delude it would have been for that very Reason impossible but that they should have found out his Design to cheat them But he would not sure presume to propose to them the joint Contrivance of such a fabulous Story nor would he have found tho he had been bold enough to have proposed it any that would have assisted him in so sensless a Design much less maintain'd his Extravagance and least of all exposed themselves to a thousand Torments on purpose to maintain it 2. But secondly I observed that such an Imposture would have been of no manner of use to them It is enough to have proved that it was impossible to be put in Execution to satisfie any reasonable Man how needless and useless it would be to advance it 'T is true there have been in all Ages and Countries such Men as would have been very willing for their own Advantage to make others believe improbable Stories and Fictions had the thing been but practicable but because they could not effect it without such a mutual Concert among several Persons to maintain it as is altogether impossible for that very Reason it never came into their Minds upon serious and cooler Thoughts It would no doubt be of very singular Advantage to those Princes who so earnestly desire to procure themselves an extraordinary Respect and Veneration from their Subjects and for that Reason very seldom appear in publick and hardly ever shew themselves to their Poople I say it would be of great Advantage to them if they could but once perswade their People that they were of a Divine Race and came down from Heaven but because they judge such a Design impracticable they reckon it a thing altogether useless and needless ever to undertake it Certainly we may as well affirm that the Design of making other Men believe the Ascension of Jesus Christ against the real truth of the thing and inward sense of their own Consciences would have been altogether as useless and needless because it does not in the least appear that the Disciples could propose to themselves any reasonable Design in maintaining such an incredible Story 3. Nay it was a thing not only wholly useless but as we observ'd in the third place such a one as Men dont usually Design or contrive It could not enter into any one Man's mind much less into that of so many different men at once to fancy that they could perswade other Men to credit such an impudent Lye as that must have been or to dare undertake to make others believe it to think in the least that they could succeed in so strange a Design or that others would have acted in it jointly with them to imagin that they could be able to endure the most rigorous Torments and the severest and most cruel Afflictions or that the Cheat which they unanimously had agreed on would have been both believed and approved of throughout the World nay what is more that Men should repent and become Holy and Righteous out of a Respect and Reverence they boâ—e to an Impostor and that Vertue and Piety should have been established in all the Parts of the World by the means of an extraordinary Cheat. To this we may add that considering this Design of theirs another way it is not cannot be such a one as any
themselves capable of Imparting those gifts to other Men and consequently as much as if he should advance that the Apostles wrote none of all those Epistles that were ascribed to them that they preach'd not publickly at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost nor settled any Church therein or taught Men that they should stedfastly believe in the Gospel Lastly should he say that the Apostles sincerely believed all these things but yet that none of them were true 't is as much as if he asserted that they had neither Eyes Ears nor Memory and that several thousands of People were all deprived of their Senses by the same kind of bewitching folly so that those who embraced the Doctrine which they taught must at the same time precisely and necessarily have lost their Reason and yet 't is evident that folly is the only Principle that makes us lead good lives and sanctifies the corrupt Affections of Men. It is certain that by considering the union of all these Circumstances together there arises from them such a Moral Demonstration as is worth all other Mathematical Demonstrations in the World But to be as brief as possible I say that this Demonstration after all consists in the two following propositions As thus the Disciples of Christ sincerely believed his Miracles Resurrection Ascension and the Effusion of the gifts of the Holy Ghost It follows therefore that these four Events are most certainly true The Consequence of this argument is evident because these are matters of fact that were altogether incapable of Illusion or Deceit and in which it was absolutely impossible they should have been deceived For tho the Disciples might have been decieved in one single Miracles yet how could they be deceived in several Miracles at once Tho it were possible they might have been deceived in the Miracles of Christ yet they could not be deceived in his Resurrection Tho' they might have been decieved in his Resurrection yet they could not be deceived in so many sensible Marks which Christ gave them of his Presence after he was risen from the Dead and above all in his Ascension Tho' they might have been deceived even in his Ascension yet they could not be deceived in the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost because they had a continual Experience of that last Miracle They knew whether it was true or not there had appeared to them Cloven Tongues like as of fire but still they knew yet much better whether they had really received the Gift of Tongues which were represented to them by that external Symbol the Holy Ghost having particularly chosen that Gift above all others on purpose to make it the more remarkable because of all sorts of Gifts this is certainly the most unimitable and the least capable of Error and Illusion For pray how is it possible I should perswade my self that I can speak the Persian Chinese and Arabick Tongue or that I understand all those Languages when they are spoken to me had I no such Gift of Tongues And if it be so rare a thing to see one single Man possessed with that foolish kind of Madness as to imagin such a thing it is most certainly impossible that a great number of Persons should fancy that they on a sudden spoke all sorts of Languages in the World when there was no such thing It must then necessarily be granted that tho' the Disciples of Jesus Christ might perhaps have been imposed upon in all the other matters of fact yet they could not be deluded in this For a Man cannot be ignorant whether or no he speaks those Languages which were before wholly unknown to him much less can 2 Men be so much less again 12 and much less still 70 and since every one of these Persons must necessarily know what passes within himself it is impossible they should all believe they had received the Gift of Tongues when there was no such thing The Consequence therefore of our Argument is most certain most evident and undeniable if ever any thing was so and the Principle of it will appear to be so likewise The Disciples of Christ sincerely believed his Miracles Resurrection Ascension and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost If you would be more fully convinced of this 't is but reading the New Testament over from one end to the other There you will find that Sincerity and that full Perswasion in their disinteressed Self-denial which sprung from the Knowledge they had that Christ as their only treasure was ascended into Heaven there you will see their Joyfulness in Afflictions arising purely from the Testimony they bore to the Truth their Charity and Piety wholly inconsistent with the Character of Impostors their Humility Purity Patience burning Zeal and that fervent desire they had to Kindle all those Vertues in the Souls of others these being two undeniable matters first that the Disciples of Christ shewed themselves to have the most natural sentiments of Piety and Vertue imaginable secondly that Piety and Vertue can never proceed from Imposture and Deceit There you will also find the plain Honesty of the Disciples and the Sincerity of their Perswasion in the style of their Discourse For if it be true that Languages express the Genius and Manners of the People it may be very well affirmed that the Language of Christ's Disciples fully expresses the Miracles of the Gospel by a particular Energy which distinguishes the style of those Authors not only from that of all other Men but also from that of the Law You will meet with the same Sincerity even in that great number of obscure and difficult Texts which the Evangelists relate For on one hand it is impossible that they should counterfeit or invent those Precepts or those difficult and obscure Sayings which they make Christ utter to the People and on the other it is most certain that those difficult and obscure Texts almost always include some miraculous matter of fact or at least some Allusion to those supernatural Miracles First then I say that the Evangelists invented not those obscure and difficult Sayings they make Christ utter which are truly very numerous For how should those poor Fishermen have been industrious enough to forge and invent such Things which all the Doctors as have lived these sixteen hundred years down to us were hardly able either to understand themselves or make other Men comprehend Besides it is certain that those obscure and difficult sayings either contain the History of those miraculous matters of fact we are now speaking of or else include such plain and natural Allusions to them that it is easie for any one to perceive that he that relates those Texts both supposes that those matters of fact were certainly true and publickly known to the World Thus for instance why did our Lord say that there was not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist born of a Woman 'T was not surely because of his Miracles for he did none
Neither was it because of his extraordinary Piety For Moses called the meekest of Men was without doubt in that equal to him 'T was then because of the advantage he enjoyed both in Seeing and Hearing the Messias But how comes our Saviour to add that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than him Must we understand by the Kingdom of Heaven that Kingdom of which John himself said the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Was it not rather because John saw none of all the Wonders of that Kingdom which the least of Christ's Disciples had seen Which indeed was the reason that our Saviour told them Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they hear For verily I say unto you that many Prophets and righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Matth. 13. 16 17. Now all this evidently supposes the Miracles of Christ and all the other marvellous Events which serve for a Confirmation of our holy Religion What he also said himself concerning Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is altogether strange and very surprising Nay the very name he gave to that sin implies something in itself Singular and Extraordinary For no body before him ever expressed himself after this manner Men were not ignorant that sinning against God was a very great Crime but they had no Knowledge of the sin against the Holy Ghost much less were they satisfied if there was any harm in Blaspheming against him This unusual Language necessarily proceeded from a new Revelation and from new and different objects not seen or heard of before For the Jews knew not what the Holy Ghost was if we take that word in the Sense of the Evangelists Nay there were some of them who tho converted to the Gopsel of Christ yet still were ignorant of the true meaning of that Expression In the mean while if we will but consult the Writings of the New Testament and therein the Gospels the Acts of the Holy Apostles and the Epistles of those great and extraordinary Men they will presently inform us that by the Holy Ghost must be understood in most of those places the extraordinary and miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit imparted to the Men of those days and that to Blaspheme against him is downright Blasphemy against that Divine and Glorious Principle of all things which was the cause of all the Perfections and Miracles of Christ and gave such Power unto Men. So that there is first in that Text such an obscurity as proves that the Evangelists could not have thought of inventing it had not Christ himself really utter'd these very words and secondly it undeniably supposes the miraculous matters of fact the Pharisees were wont to ascribe to the Power of Belzebub wherein indeed Chiefly consisted the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost In like manner this Text Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. 5. implies a very puzling Difficulty because it was not usual formerly for Men to express themselves after this manner It is a very difficult matter indeed to understand the true meaning of that Text but it is yet far more difficult to invent it and all the Doctors in the World might put their Heads together and yet never be able to invent the like Text. Above all it was not natural for the Jews to invent any such thing because they had no such objects amongst them as could fill up their Minds with any such Ideas When we suppose the Baptism of the Holy Spirit confer'd upon Christ's Disciples we may then easily comprehend the true meaning of that mysterious but very remarkable Expression We might also add to this Text that other which mentions the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire In like manner it pleased God in his Wisdom that they who related to us the History of Christ's Resurrection should tell us also some things which we cannot at first view easily comprehend tho they have a true and reasonable meaning on purpose to make us understand that as it was impossible those obscure and difficult sayings ascribed to him by them should come of themselves into their thoughts had not he really spoke them so consequently it can never be supposed that those Men should have forg'd the History of Christ's Resurrection or their Discourses with him after he was risen from the Dead as for instance these Words which he spake to Mary touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father John 20. 17. We could make almost an infinite number of such Remarks as these which tho' they cannot come up to an evident Demonstration yet are very proper to make us sensible of the Truth of those matters of fact we are now speaking of The Sincerity of the Disciples will further appear by the great number of Circumstances with which their Narrative is fill'd some whereof are so singular that they can't easily enter into any Man's Mind and others so unbecoming their Master or dâ—â—â—dvantageous to themselves that there is not the least Probability they could have any Desire to forge them others are so inseparably united with those Events which must necessarily have been well known that they durst not so much as think of forging them against the publick Knowledge every body must have had of them as we have already proved at large But lastly 't is not our present Design to insist purely upon probable Reasons tho' never so probable and sufficient of themselves to form a true and perfect Demonstration when joyned together I therefore proceed to that which is in itself wholly Demonstrative Now the whole Demonstration of the Truth of Christian Religion depends upon this Argument namely that the Apostles and Disciples of Christ sincerely believed his Miracles Resurrection Ascension and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost whence it follows that all those matters of fact are most certainly true We have already given an invincible proof of the Consequence of this Argument by shewing that it was impossible the Disciples should have been imposed upon in all these matters of fact that tho' they might have been deceived in the Miracles of Christ yet they could not be imposed upon in his Resurrection that tho' they should have been imposed upon in his Resurrection yet they could not be deceived in his Ascension and that tho' they should have been deceived in his Ascension yet they could not be so too in the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost which are matters of fact that they knew by inward sense and continual Experience I prove also the Principle of this Argument viz. that the Disciples of Christ sincerely believed all those matters of fact by the same Gradation I say then that the Disciples could not impose upon Men as to the Miracles of Christ not only because they asserted them at the Expence of their own
be here if thou wilt let us make here three Tabernacles What a strange piece of stupidity was this and how well does it appear how incapable such gross and ignorant Men were of entertaining the least Design of imposing upon others Besides what makes St. Matthew relate this Circumstance What Honour could accrue thereby to Peter and how could it of itself enter into his mind Vers 16. And I brought him to thy Disciples and they could not cure him In this passage appears the Evangelists sincerity For nothing else could have obliged him to relate that Circumstance or make him so freely own the defects and want of Faith in a Society he himself was a Member of Chap. XVIII 3. Verily I say unto you except ye be converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That Children should be so simple no Man ought to wonder because their want of knowledge is a pure effect of their Age but that even Men should be obliged to return from the most refined Notions of worldly policy from that sinful cunning and dexterity so often seen in them to a State of a Holy and Amiable Sincerity That they should at once become simple and prudent righteous and religiously wise is such a thing that Men are wholly unacquainted with and which discovers to us both the greatness and highest perfection of that Person who taught Men a Doctrine so sublime and elevated Vers 4. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little Child the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven How different are these Notions from the common ones of Men How different is the Kingdom of Heaven from all worldly Empire And how well does it appear that such surprising maxims as these could not possibly proceed from the mind of Man Vers 9. And if thy Eye offend thee pluck it out c. By the Eyes here are to be understood our darling Sins or whatever else is dear to us So that Christ hereby teaches us that we ought to sacrifice to the glory of God whatever we dearly prize and value most Did ever any teacher less flatter mens vanity Vers 22. I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven This is a certain number made use of for an uncertain one which signifies that we must continually forgive that Mercy has no bounds and that Charity cannot be limited Who does not see that such a concern to unite all Hearts together to banish all misunderstanding amongst Men in giving so vast a latitude to Charity and Mercy can proceed from none but him that was Master of all Hearts and the common Father of Mankind Chap. XXI 43. Therefore say I unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof This is indeed a very express prediction of the Calling of the Gentiles Vers 46. But when they thought to lay hands on him they feared the multitude because they held him for a Prophet What could be so remarkable in Jesus Christ that he should be taken for a Prophet but the efficacy of his Doctrine and the Miracles whereby he confirmed it Chap. XXIII 36 37. Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this Generation O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest c. Here the Destruction of Jerusalem is very plainly set down Chap. XXIV 28. For wheresoever the Carcass is there will the Eagles be gathered together The Body of Christ crucified was the Carcass and the Roman Standards where the Eagles which were to fall upon the City of Jerusalem where the Carcass was Vers 34. Verily I say unto you this Generation shall pass till all these things be fulfilled The same Reflexions must be made in this place as we have made above Chap. XXVI 13. Verily I say unto you wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole World there shall also this that this Woman hath done be told for a memorial of her A Prophecy that has been sufficiently fulfiled Vers 28. For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of Sins Did ever any Man act or speak after so unheard of and surprising a manner Can we find a Man who not only foretells his sufferings but also establishes before-hand some memorial of a Death he might easily have avoided And who but Christ ever took upon him to shed his Blood for the Remission of the Sins of Mankind Vers 38 39. Then saith he unto them my Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death c. And he went a little further and fell on his Face and prayed saying O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass away from me T is easie to explain what this exceeding Sorrow and Agony was yet it must be confessed that it presents us at first view with an Object very surprising and that it can't be imagined that those Men whose chief Design was to invent such things as should be most for their Masters Honour should yet give us such a Description of his Sufferings At least we find here the sincerity of the Disciples which sincerity shews us that we ought without scruple to receive the rest of their Relations Chap. XXVII 42. He saved others himself he cannot save if he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe him By this Text it appears that Christ passed for a Person that had performed several Miracles Vers 45. Now from the sixth Hour there was darkness over all the Land unto the ninth Hour How is it possible they could have made a whole City believe such a thing were it not true Vers 51 52 53. And behold the vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened c. How could St. Matthew have persuaded Men to such things as these against their own knowledge to the contrary Could the Vail of the Temple or the Rocks be rent could the Earth quake and the Graves open and yet the Jews know nothing of it To whom did the Evangelist relate all these things He wrote them before the Destruction of Jerusalem nay in the days of the Apostles themselves and consequently in a time when there were several thousands of People still living that could witness the Truth of them How then could he so much as imagin he could deceive so many Witnesses concerned in the business to whom he preached these things and whom he designed to bring over to his Party nay some of whom had already embraced the Gospel and formed a very numerous and considerable Church at Jerusalem where all these things had happened and where he attempted to perswade others to the belief of them CHAP. VII Wherein we shall further produce out of the other Gospels several Places very proper to make us truly sensible of
the Divinity of the Christian Religion St. MARK CHapt I. 14. Now after that John was put in Prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God c. All these Expressions the Gospel or good Tidings the Gospel of the Kingdom of God c. are very strange and extraordinary And because our Ears are somewhat used to them we do not reflect on them so much as we ought Certainly it must be a strange kind of mutual agreement that several Fishermen made together to go preaching about the World and call the Subject of their preaching by the name of Gospel Chap. IV. 19. And the Cares of this World and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entring in choke the word c. T is not usual for other Men thus to declare open War against their Passions or if they do they fail not presently to discover themselves and lay open their own Hypocrisy to the World Vers 41. And they said one to another what manner of Man is this that even the Winds and Sea obey him c. We too may as well say what manner of Man is this that not only the Sea and Winds but Diseases Graves Death Hell Earth Men and Devils all obey him For it is observable there was nothing within the bounds of Nature but what was sensible of his Miracles Chap. VI. 2 3. From whence has this Man these things And what wisdom is this which is given unto him that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands Is not this the Carpenter the son of Mary c. Whence rather proceeds this astonishment of theirs and what is the reason of this sort of reproach had not Christ wrought several Miracles amongst them Vers 4 5 6. But Jesus said unto them a prophet is not without honour but in his own Country c. And he could not do many mighty works there save that he laid his hand upon a few sick folk and he healed them And he marvelled because of their unbelief Every thing in this passage carries with it an Air of Truth without the least semblance of Falsity For he that would invent a story and desire other Men should believe it would never make choice of such Circumstances as these Vers 56. 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 as many as touched him were made whole It is impossible for any Man to impose upon other People in such matters of fact as these Chap. VIII 27 28. And by the way he asked his Disciples saying unto them Whom do Men say that I am And they answered some say John the Baptist but some say Elias and others one of the Prophets Here we may observe what a great Impression Christ 's Miracles had already made upon other Mens minds Chap. XIV 33. And He began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy To own that Jesus Christ was reduced to this State nay him whom they would have Men look upon as the Son of God is the effect of a strange and surprizing sincerity Vers 62. And Jesus said I am And ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven Did ever any Criminal brought before a Tribunal of Justice speak thus Chap. XVI 17 18 20. And these signs shall follow them that believe in my name they shall cast out Devils they shall speak with strange Tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the Sick and they shall recover c. And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the word with Signs c. Either all these matters of fact must have been necessarily true or St. Mark must have been strangely besides himself when he related them Let us consider What is it that he relates Or whom did he design to impose upon nay what time did he choose to effect it How could he possibly perswade the Disciples that they had done such Miracles as they were never able to do And how should they perswade themselves that Christ had given them that power to do Miracles which they never received St. LUKE Chap. I. 64. And his mouth was opened immediately and his Tongue loosed and he spake and praised God And fear came on all that dwelt round about them and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the Hill Country of Judea No man is so mad as to pretend to impose upon Men's belief in matters of fact so publick as these he would rather make choice of passages scarce heard of or at least but obscurely known Chap. II. 16. And found Mary and Joseph and the Babe lying in a Manger Great was the exactness of these Writers in giving us a simple Relation of things as they really were What can seem more contrary and irreconcilable one with another than all these Circumstances A Child sleeping in a Manger but a Child whose Nativity was declared even by Angels and celebrated by all the Host of Heaven a Child that was banished the Society of Men but elevated in dignity even above the blessed Spirits a Child that was inconsiderable and of no esteem on Earth but great in Heaven and adored by Angels that was indeed a while after his Birth worshipped by some Wise-men that brought him Presents but soon â—orced to fly into Egypt for the safety of his Life Certainly there appears nothing like a Fiction in all these Circumstances Chap. V. 19. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude they went upon the House-top and let him down through the tiling with his Couch into the midst before Jesus Do such things as these enter easily of themselves into a Man's mind who writes nothing but of his own invention Chap. VII 38. And she stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with Tears and did wipe them with the Hairs of her Head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the Ointment 'T was easie to know the Redeemer of the World by that saving alteration he was seen to make in those that followed him Chap. IX 45. But they understood not this saying and it was hid from them that they perceived it not Great indeed was the Evangelists sincerity who stuck not to own the ignorance and stupidity of the Disciples Chap. X. 19. 20. Behold I give unto you Power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and over all the Power of the Enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you Notwithstanding in this rejoyce not that the Spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your Names are written in Heaven A certain Character of true Religion indeed which sets a greater value upon
Spiritual benefits than any miraculous Gifts altho the latter are more transcendent in the Eyes of Men than the former Vers 41 42. And Jesus answered and said unto her Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is needful And Mary has chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her Did ever a deceiver or a Man whose mind was set upon this World express himself after this manner Chap. XI 27 28. And it came to pass a certain Woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked But he said yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it It was impossible for any one to flatter Christ For he having no regard to himself nor taking any pleasure in the satisfaction of other Men's inordinate desires had his whole Heart fixt upon God his Eyes his Ears were bent wholly upon his service and his sole Felicity consisted in seeing his Father feared and adored Nothing could be pleasant nothing acceptable to him but true Piety And that because God was the Center of all his Actions and the love of him was as it were the Spring that gave motion to all his desires and affections So great was his Behaviour and so sublime his Thoughts Vers 40 41. Ye fools did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also But rather give alms of such things as ye have and behold all things are clean unto you The Pharisees contended only for outward and corporeal Purity but Christ for that which is Spiritual and Internal Which think ye of the two knew best the Genius of true Religion Chap. XII But he said unto him man who made me a judge or a divider over you Christ utterly renounced all the cares and business of this World and would scarce hear them mentioned So strangely had he weaned his Thoughts from the World Vers 30 31. For all these things do the Nations of the World seek after and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things But rather seek the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you Christ designed to form a Society that should wholly consist of such Persons as were utterly to renounce the World and not busy their Thoughts about temporal concerns such as were to lose all their possessions and suffer all kinds of Punishments to be numbred among his Followers Did ever yet such a great and extraordinary design enter into any Man's Mind Chap. XIV 33. So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple A strange and terrible Declaration indeed which does not at all become a flattering Impostor Chap. XXIV 48 49 50 51 52 53 And ye are witnesses of these things And behold I send the promise of my Father but tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be endued with Power from on high And he led them out as far as to Bethany and he lift up his hands and blessed them And it came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great Joy And were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God In these words we find four several things worthy of our Reflexion 1. The Promise of the Holy Ghost 2. The Ascension of Christ 3. The Joy of the Apostles And 4. Their continual assiduity in praising God How could St. Luke have made his Brethren believe that Chrict had promised them the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that he ascended into Heaven in their sight that the Disciples were exceeding joyful and continued daily in the Temple praising and blessing God And if he could perswade none of them to believe it what could be his design in writing it How comes it to pass that they all suffered Martyrdom in defence of such an incredible Fiction St. JOHN Chap. I. 8 9. He was not that light but was sent to â—ear witness of that light That was the true light which â—ightneth every man that cometh into the World John was originally but a Fisherman who then could have infused these sublime Notions into his Mind Vers 14. And we beheld his glory the glory as of the â—nly begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth There plainly appears in this discourse the stedfast persuasion of a Man who had seen with his eyes what he testified and the fulness of an Understanding that was truly convinced of what he asserted nay the persuasion of an Author that thought no expression could be strong enough to utter what he thought and who united together several Ideas different from one another because a single Idea could not perfectly represent what he would say The word Glory was not sufficient of it self and therefore he further added a Glory full of Grace and Truth Chap. III. 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee ye must be born again What could be more extraordinary than this discourse And how strangely persuaded was he that spoke it that we must be entirely changed before we can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Vers 13. And no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven Certainly this Man spoke not like other Men whatever he says here seems either to be very extravagantly blasphemous or something above the sublimest Thoughts of Men. If then the purity of his Manners his Holiness of Life his short clear expressive Precepts that seem to savour of nothing but Piety and true Holiness together with the surprizing and wonderful effects of the Gospel force us to look upon the former part of the expression as Blasphemous we can't at the same time but believe the latter to be so too Vers 31. He that is of the Earth is earthly and speaketh of the Earth he that cometh from Heaven is above all Tho John the Baptist had not said this we might have known Christ by his own words to have been the Lord of Life come down from Heaven Chap. IV. But whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give shall never thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of Water springing up into everlasting Life These expressions are something more than humane Had Christ thought like other Men he would certainly have exprest himself so too But he thought no otherwise upon earthly things than as they serv'd to make us understand those that were Spiritual What ever he met with he made use of only for that design He seemed to live here upon Earth for no other purpose than to guide us in the way to Heaven To Fishermen he spoke of becoming Fishers of Men. To those who valued themselves upon their Birth he spoke of being born again When they spoke
to their former employment for they could not subsist without doing something to get a Livelyhood And Jesus after his Resurrection appeared sometimes to them on the Sea shore where they were a fishing What can be suspected in all this Vers 20 21 22 23. Then Peter turning about seeth the Disciple whom Jesus loved following which also leaned on his Breast at Supper and said Lord who is it that betrayeth thee Peter seeing him saith to Jesus Lord and what shall this Man do Jesus saith unto him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Follow thou me Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that Disciple should not die yet Jesus said not unto him he shall not die but if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee This is the Disciple which testifies of these things and wrote these things c. Can we imagin that the Evangelist himself invented this Report which he pretends went about concerning his Immortality And do such Thoughts come into a Man's Head However do but observe how all the particulars of this matter hang so one upon another that whosoever grants one of them must grant also the rest For the Report spread abroad that John should not die was grounded upon the Answer which Christ returned to Peter and he returned not that Answer to Peter till after his Resurrection and after having foretold Peter himself with what kind of Death he should glorifie God This connexion therefore plainly shews us what we ought to believe upon this account CHAP. VIII Wherein we shall further produce from the Acts of the Apostles several Places very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christan Religion CHap. I. 8. But ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria c. unto the uttermost part of the Earth â—et these Witnesses be strictly examined let their Patience be tryed with all kinds of severe punishments and it will then appear whether it be possible ever to force them to recant their Opinion Vers 26. And the Lot fell upon Matthias and he was numbred with the eleven Apostles In this election there appears neither Bribe Preeminence or arbitrary Partiality so different was that Society from these now established in the World Chap. II. 13 Others mocking said these Men are full of new Wine These sort of Circumstances are of excellent use to shew the Exactness and Sincerity of the Historian Vers 22. Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God among you by Miracles and Wonders and Signs as ye your selves also know How came they to know it had Christ wrought no Miracles among them And what a strange piece of Confidence must it have been in the Apostles to speak thus Vers 41. And the same Day were added unto them about three thousand Souls What but the wonderful Power of the Holy Ghost given to the Apostles could make so many Proselytes Vers 44 45. And all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all Men as every Man had need A holy Society indeed consisting of none but such as had given up all their Interest in this World and glorified God by offering up themselves and what was dearest to them as a sacrifice to him What could they hope for who absolutely renounced every thing for the sake of Christ Let a Man reason never so much upon the manner of uniting Men in a Body together 't is certain there was never a more effectual method to form a Society than Charity For it makes those things equal which humane Passions had before distinguished it subverts all competition destroys all interest banishes the designs of Pride and Ambition and all the little distinctions Vanity creates In a word it unites Men in a State wherein they all equally enjoy the same Revelation the same spiritual Worship and the same Faith Hope and Charity All which represents as it were on Earth the Joys we may partake hereafter and gives us a lively Image and Idea of Heaven And what greater Miracle than this can be brought to prove the Divinity of a Religion Vers 46. And they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from House to House did eat their Meat with gladness and singleness of Heart What Perseverance what Joy nay what Simplicity of Heart did the Apostles here shew supposing them to have been Deceivers For we must either acknowledge them to be such or else allow the Gospel they preached to be most certainly true and Divine Chap. III. 8 9. And he entred with them into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God And all the People saw him walking and praising God Is it an easy matter to make other men believe such matters of fact as these supposing they were altogether false Vers 12. And when Peter saw it he answered unto the People Ye Men of Israel why marvel ye at this Or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own Power or Holiness we had made this Man to walk Had Simon Magus performed such a Miracle he would certainly have took all the Honour of it to himself and now more confidently than ever affirm that he was the great Power of God Observe I pray here a Character of Ingenuity Humility and Sincerity which can't be sufficiently expressed Vers 16. And his name through faith in his name hath made this Man strong whom ye see and know yea the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all This multiplying expressions of the same thing may not so well please some Men and seems to be an empty flourish of words or a putting some good words finely together to signifie little a thing not agreeable to the true Eloquence Men ought to use But here it is not really so The Apostles here regarded not Politness in the least but rather were afraid they could not use expressions strong enough to let them know that it was not in their own Names but in the name of Jesus Christ that all these things were done T is no matter then whether the Ear was offended at it or not provided the Vnderstanding humbled itself in the presence of God and ascribed that extraordinary Miracle to none but Christ himself Vers 14. But ye denied the holy one and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you Observe how little he knew what it was to flatter those Men he spoke to Chap. IV. 4. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed and the number of the Men were about Five thousand How could S. Luke who wrote in a time when the Church of Jerusalem consisting of so many Proselytes flourished I say how could he have made so many believe such miraculous
such defects because it is wholly founded upon Instruction and Knowledge Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal Life John 5. 39. Chap. IV. 7 8 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness St. Paul was drawing nigh toward his latter end and the words of a dying Man are always to be regarded Whence then comes that chearful Joy the Apostle so naturally expresses in this occasion His Hopes had they been of this World must have been soon buried with him in his Grave and his Happiness too at an end Whence then derived he that great Confidence which he seems to have had Was it from the inward sense of a guilty Conscience which reproach'd him for having betray'd the Synagogue blemished his Country Men deceived Mankind testified of a Seducer and forg'd such fictitious Visions by the most signal Imposture that ever was Let any one believe it if he can First Epistle of St. Peter Chap. I. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead The Mind of those Writers was so full of the Salvation that was revealed to them that they were never weary of returning thanks to God for it Chap. II. 17 18 19 20. Honour all men Love the brotherhood Fear God Honour the King Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward c. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God c. It is a strange thing we should be desired to own that a mutual Agreement of Malice and Falshood which really is a wonderful Agreement of Piety Charity Obedience and Righteousness Paul expressed himself like Peter and Peter spoke like Paul They both acted and suffered alike nay they bore the very same Testimony being endowed with the same Patience practising the very same Virtues and discovering one and the same Wisdom in all their words Now what have we any reason to suspect in all this Second Epistle of St. Peter Chap. I. 16 17 18. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were Eye-witnesses of his Majesty For he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy Mount c. This is a Witness who spoke of what he had seen who suffered Death in defence of the Truth of his Testimony who saw it not alone for several others had seen the same thing who spoke not out of any principle of Interest or concealed what he knew through any fear or apprehension of Death and who for all that did his utmost endeavours to sanctifie Mankind and bestowed all his Time his Labour and his Life in advancing such an extraordinary work which is so little to be suspected And if so what Man is there that can reasonably mistrust him First Epistle of St. John Chap. I. 1 3. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life declare we unto you c. If you should doubt whether the Apostles did really go about testifying every where that they had seen with their Eyes both the Miracles and Resurrection of Christ 't is but learning it from their Epistles and their own words too Chap. II. 1. My little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not But what was it to him whether Men sinned or not Did ever the design of sanctifying Mankind and contributing to their Salvation at the cost of ones Blood ones Liberty ones Life enter before into any Man's Heart but theirs These and the like Reflexions are of themselves sufficient to give the Reader a relish of those Truths and incite him to make some of his own as shall more effectually instruct and convince him For my part I have made several which perhaps satisfy me better than they would any body else And no question but he will also make several of his own that will convince him far better than those of another In the mean while let us pass on to the consideration of the Substance of that Religion which Christ himself did bring into the World For after having considered the outside t is very necessary to look into the inward part of the Building SECTION IV. Wherein we shall prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by the Consideration of it's Nature and Properties Several Portraitures in which it may be considered HItherto we have insisted as it were upon the Shell and Bark of Religion we have examined the proofs taken from matters of fact being the first that offered themselves to our mind It seems therefore now Expedient we should discover as it were the Substance and Spirit of Christianity and so proceed to those other proofs drawn from the Nature of it and that by shewing the truth of it by it's Beauties and proper Excellencies But because this is too copious a Subject for us who study Brevity we shall endeavour to reduce what we have to say into as small a Compass as we can and since we cannot allow our Reflexions their due and proper Extent to give at least some Plan or Draught of the same as shall supply that defect And tho the Christian Religion may be considered under several different Faces because in this respect 't is like unto its Object which has no Bounds to confine it's Extent yet methinks we may give an Idea just and adequate enough to our present design by considering it in eleven different Draughts or Portraitures I. In the Multitude of Testimonies given in favour of it which we shall touch upon cursorily because we have already partly examined them all II. In its essential opposition to all false Religions that ever were III. In it's Effects which can only justly be referred to a Divine and Supernatural Cause IV. In the Purity of its end V. In it's Suitableness to the Heart of Man which it undertakes to reform VI. In the Relation it has to the Glory of God which it should advance VII In it's Morality VIII In it's Mysteries IX In the conformity of it's Mysteries to the light of Reason X. In that exact proportion it bears to the Jewish Religion XI And lastly in that proportion it bears to Natural Religion I hope these Portraitures will like so many
Consequence only Divine Wisdom was also pleased that Jesus Christ should be born in Obscurity and Humiliation that those mean outward Appearances being offensive to the prejudice of carnal and worldly minded Jews they might as it were by chance give occasion to the execution of those things which the Council of God had determined And this is one of the principal causes of his Poverty and Humiliation of the Meanness of his Birth and the Vnworthiness of his first Profession the choice of his Disciples c. The Justice of God acting in concert with his Wisdom obliges him to speak to all prophane Contemners of his Mysteries in an obscure Language and so as it were to conceal those Pearls from them lest like unclean Beasts they should trample them under their Feet And this may very well serve for a Reason of the denial which Christ formerly made to the Unbelievers of those Times of signalizing his Power among them and of the great care he often took to conceal his Miracles from them For this cause therefore spoke he sometimes in Parables to Strangers but he always very clearly exprest himself to his Disciples giving them to understand the meaning of those Parables and telling them that as for them they had the Priviledge of seeing all things openly Neither does his Majesty suffer him to reveal himself as familiarly to the sinful Man as he would to the innocent This we ought not to wonder at since Men themselves are wont so to deal with one another There is nothing more common than for Great Men to banish their Presence those who have incurr'd their Displeasure To think it then strange if God conceals himself from a Sinner would be to entertain a more unworthy Idea of his Majesty than that of an Earthly Monarch This was the Reason why God took such care to conceal himself even when he design'd to manifest his Glory And for this Cause he shewed himself only in Visions and Dreams or when hidden in the Cloud and Ark or covered with some other Veil On this account also he was wont to banish from his Presence all those as were defiled in their Bodies and order the Priests of the Sanctuary to purifie themselves He commanded too the People to wash their Garments when he gave them notice that within three Days he would come down to them nothing but an external and corporeal Purity being sufficient to qualify those that were to approach the Deity manifested under corporeal Symbols But Christ fulfilling in the Spirit every thing hidden in the Letter of the Law teaches us that those only shall see God who shall be found pure in Heart so that we have no reason to wonder if when Man by reason of his Guilt hides himself from God the Almighty withdraws the Influence of his Glorious Majesty from Man Lastly The Goodness and Mercy of God overshadows Revelation with some sort of Darkness to exercise our Faith and keep up our Minds in Vigour which also would grow sluggish if not stirred up by such Difficulties as are proper to Mysteries as also to humble our proud and haughty Reason which is immediately puffed up with its own Knowledge to make us submit our Understandings to him since we ought to believe any Truths tho incredible if he reveals them as also to sway our Hearts and Affections which ought readily to embrace any sorrowful and mortifying Objects that he is pleased to offer them to strip our Pride of all its Pretences and to dispose our Minds that we must necessarily acknowledge every Benefit we enjoy springs from him and that too so much the more because we thereby attain to life Eternal by such means and objects as are above our Capacity to comprehend So necessary is it that it should appear that our Sufficiency is of God and that the Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1. 16. To this Principle we owe the choice of those persons which God has made use of to preach the Gospel the nature of those seeming Paradoxes he commanded them to publish so contrary to the Light of Nature and Reason the Silence of the Holy Ghost in those things which a few Words from him would have rendred plain and easy to our Understandings But God is not content to exercise our Faith by those Obscurities we find dispersed throughout the Divine Revelations he further permits Heresies Schisms and Errours nay Superstition it self to reign among us that those who are approved may be made manifest Thus we may say he suffers all Egypt to be covered with Darkness the more eminently to discover his wonderful Protection in blessing at the same time the Land of Goshen with the Light of his Truth that is by giving us a Religion accompanied with so bright an Evidence as carnal and worldly minded Men can never comprehend because their Reason is eclipsed by Sensuality and the Corruption of their Hearts produces those thick Clouds that hide the Truth from their sight God 't is true enlightens the Minds of Men but Men wilfully blind themselves He permits it should be so to confound their Ignorance and demonstrate to us that he is the Father of Light But let us now enquire into the Principles of that Obscurity which solely springs from Men. And I. So gross are all the Prejudices of the Senses that there is no body so void of shame as to follow them openly Yet 't is certain they are very prevalent in the Hearts of most Men who stick not to say I never saw the like I could willingly believe it if I should but see it Who ever saw dead Men rise again from their graves And who ever ascended into Heaven or went down into the Pit All which Reasonings are manifestly absurd For can there be any greater Folly in a Man than to refuse to believe that which he does not see when these Objects of his Faith could have no Existence were they not invisible Did any one ever see the Time past long before he liv'd or the future long after his Death Did he ever see his own Soul the Deity c. For 't is nothing else but the Time past and the future the Objects and Interests of the Soul together with the Benefits of God which Faith offers to our Consideration II. We are accustomed by Education not to believe any thing that happens not in the ordinary course of Nature We confine our selves as it were to a Circle of Objects which we willingly admit of because they contain nothing that is repugnant to Experience or Probability So that the Custom we have of refusing to give our Assent to all other things reaching even unto matters of Religion inevitably casts us into Scepticism and Incredulity Yet should we but throughly consider those Objects which fall under common Experience they would certainly appear as surprising and incomprehensible as those of Religion If you think it strange that the Soul should outlive
inevitable Difficulties when joyned to Religion Their Ends are so different that they may justly be allowed to be opposite For 1. The main Design of Philosophy is to gratify the vain Curiosity of Men whereas Religion designs only to mortify it 2. The one endeavours to find out the Nature of things the other professes an utter Ignorance of them 3. That swells up the Heart of Man by encreasing his Knowledge This humbles it by requiring him to submit his Reason to his Faith Lastly Philosophy endeavours to comprehend all things whereas one of the most essential parts of Religion consists in hmbly acknowledging that we comprehend nothing at all of the hidden Mysteries of Nature much less of those of Religion And therefore hence it is that Philosophy seldom agrees with Religion nor Religion with Philosophy Thus Copernicus and Descartes doubtless were not well pleased with the Descriptions the Author of Genesis gives us of the Creation of the World of the Two great Luminaries of Heaven of the Miracle of Joshuah who stopt the Course of the Sun of the third Heaven which St. Paul speaks of of the New Heavens and the New Earth which sacred Authors make us expect of the Conflagration of the Heavens the Dissolution of the Elements and the putting out the Light of the Stars all which Signs are to preceed the great and wonderful Day of Judgment I say such Philosophers as these would perhaps cry out that these Objects had no relation to their Ideas of Astronomy But certainly there is no reason to wonder at it For those Holy Writers intended to speak in the Language of the People and not in that of the Philosophers They had a mind to sanctify Mankind and not to explain the Mysteries of Nature and therefore it was highly necessary they should accommodate their Expressions to the Vulgar Notions Nay the Holy Ghost was pleased they should use no other that so his Mysteries being represented under those Vulgar Ideas might be suitable to every ones Capacity at least in the manner of their Revelation since they could not be so in their own Nature Nor ought we to think this Conduct of his extraordinary or unusual For thus the Wisdom of God acted when it was to represent to the Ancient Israelites the Wonders of the Gospel Dispensation And it made use of Expressions borrowed from Customs and Practices generally received amongst Men. It says that all Nations shall go up to Mount Sion that there shall be an Altar in the midst of the Land of Egypt that in every place Incense shall be offered unto God and a pure Offering that the Tabernacle of God shall be with the Gentiles c. But if it be asked then why the Prophets foretold the Calling of the Gentiles in this familiar way 'T was because those were the Notions of the People and that it was necessary they should use only Expressions known and familiar to the Vulgar since Revelation it self would have become unintelligible without that condescending Goodness of God who is wont to accomodate himself to the Capacity of every Man without Exception For supposing that God had deferr'd his Revealing to us the Truth of the Creation of the World the Miracle of Joshua the Glory which the blessed enjoy in the other World the Judgment to come c. till all Men had been made to understand by the Principles of Philosophy that the Stars are bigger than the Moon that 't is the Earth and not the Sun which moves that the Heavens are nothing but liquid Spaces of an Infinite Extension that the Sun is so essentially bright that he cannot lose his Brightness without an immediate Annihilation of his Essence c. Heavens where should we be and what would become of us if all Men must necessarily first become Philosophers before they can learn to fear God But the Wisdom of God is so wonderful in that he not only accomodates Himself to the Notions of every Man that he may render Himself intelligible to all but also in that he has at the same time taken care we should not be deceived in urging too far the literal Sense of all those vulgar Expressions Thus for instance nothing can be more insipid than the ridiculous Jests of our Incredulous Adversaries touching those Descriptions which the Scripture gives us of Hell-fire And certainly they do but Expose themselves as often as they pretend to mock and despise Religion For he that will truly consider what Holy Writ tells us in that respect will certainly find that it puts several different Images together to represent to us by known and familiar Ideas an Object altogether unknown and set before us by all those different Images such Notions as one single Idea was wholly unable to represent Thus for that end it borroweth the Notions of the Fire and Brimstone of Sodom the sore Affliction of the Days of Noah the Judgments which God himself displayed over the Nations in the Valley of Josaphat the terrible Darkness spread over all the Land of Egypt whilst at the same time the People of Israel freely enjoy'd the the Light of God in the Land of Goshen the unquenchable Fire and the Worm of the Valley of the Children of Hinnon which dieth not c. the weeping and gnashing of Teeth of those Children sacrificed to Moloch who for that End were thrown alive into the Arms of that burning Statue Now 't would be full as reasonable to carry on the sense of some of these Ideas too far as to raise any Difficulties upon the Notions of Paradise the Bosom of Abraham the Celestial Canaan the Heavenly Jerusalem c. all which Notions are particularly designed to represent to us the Bliss that attends the Faithful And these Ideas would be absolutely false and contradictory if understood in a literal Sense because 't is certain that Paradise can never be taken for the Land of Canaan or Jerusalem for the Bosom of Abraham Hence therefore it plainly appears by the Variety of all those Images that they can never be taken in a strict and literal Sense and that the Nature of the Object represented to us after so many different ways was too great and sublime to be described unto Men by any one single Idea of this Kind And indeed according to this Notion 't is an easy matter to answer a certain Objection raised about a future Judgment which at first may seem somewhat considerable and to carry in it some intricate Difficulty Some hold that the Description which Holy Writ gives us of the Day of Judgment when it tells us that the Son of God is to be preceeded by his Holy Angels that he will place Men some on his right Hand and others on his left c. I say they affirm that this Description neither agrees with the Idea which we already have of the Nature of Spirits nor with that we should entertain of so great and signal an Event To answer this Objection we are only to