he had of those who were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the word Luke i. 2. And he was the Companion and Disciple of St. Paul who was such an enemy to Christianity before his Conversion that nothing less than a miraculous Power could have made that sudden change in him he probably must have seen our Saviour before his Passion and then saw him again at his Conversion and heard him speaking to him from Heaven So that St. Paul as well as the other twelve Apostles had seen and heard our Saviour and they were all convinced by their own senses of what they delivered to others and besides these he was seen after his Resurrection by many others both Men and Women and at one time was seen by above five hundred together 1 Cor. xv 6. Of all the writers of the Books of the New Testament there are but two who were not Eye-witnesses to what they relate and these two had their Relations from the Apostles and others who were eye-witnesses III. The Apostles were Men of integrity and without any Artifice or Design truly declared what they knew 1. They had no worldly Interest to advance by their Testimony but suffered by it and had a certain prospect of suffering 2. There are peculiar marks of sincerity in all their writings I. They had no worldly interest to serve by their Testimony but suffered by it and had a certain prospect of sufferings They could propose no advantage to themselves of Gain or Honours or Pleasures but on the contrary underwent a voluntrary Poverty and Infamy and Torments which was all that they met with in this world for their Pains and all that they could expect to meet with They forsook all which they had St. Matthew a gainful Employment and St. Paul who wrote the most of any of the Penmen of the New Testament lost the favour of the Chief Priests and the preferments which a person of his Learning and Zeal might promise himself from them St. Luke a Physician by his profession left an employment both of Honour and Advantage and the rest lost all they had and can any Man lose more All of them left an honest and secure livelihood and exposed themselves to the hatred and contempt of all their nearest Friends and Relations whose love and esteem both by nature and education they must be enclined most to desire and they became obnoxious to all the affronts and outrage and torments which a furious zeal could inflict upon them All which was no new or unexpected thing to them they saw what their Master had suffered and could hope to fare no better than he had done They were often forewarned by Christ long before hand what must befal them they were told that they must take up their Cross and follow him and could be his Disciples upon no easier terms He had set forth the reception which they must expect to meet with in the world just in the same manuer as they found it under the most frightful appearance that words could represent And this they soon found as punctually true as all the rest that he had foretold to them but though they found it so and sometimes were dismissed with a severe charge to desist from Preaching the Gospel and at other times escaped and had an opportunity given them to avoid any further danger by Preaching it they ever perservered in it with the greatest zeal and constancy despising all dangers and all sorts of torments and deaths and glorying still and rejoicing that they suffered in so good a Cause and at last they sealed their Doctrine with their Blood St. Paul was in great reputation with the Chief Priests and Scribes and Pharisees before his conversion and was employed by them in persecuting the Church and as often as he appeared before them they had nothing to accuse him of but his profession of a Religion which obliges all Men to the strictest justice and holiness If the Apostles had not been the best they must have been the worst of Men for imposing upon the world under the pretence of a Divine Mission and Authority and yet this they must do with no other design but to promote virtue and holiness which no ill Man could design to his own certain loss and destruction in this world and the next and the less Men believe of the next world the more fond they are to make sure of this Ambition and a desire of Fame and a Name after Death rarely happens to Men of obscure Birth and mean Education and it was naturally impossible that it should now befal so many of them without any ground or reason to expect it when in all humane consideration they had a certain prospect of nothing but infamy after death as well as of disgrace and want and torment during their lives And no Man could resolve upon attesting any thing on such terms unless he had been absolutely certain of the Truth of it much less could so many set upon such a design together for as they could have no arguments to perswade one another to enter upon such an Attempt so if they had once conspir'd in it they would soon have deserted and discovered each other when they lay under all the disadvantages and difficulties imaginable and had nothing to support and unite them but the truth and reality of what they delivered And it is further observable that in the first Ages of the Church and the nearer Christians were to the Apostles the more zealous they were to live according to the Gospel of Christ and to die in defence of it for they had then greater opportunities of informing themselves of the Imposture if there had been any and had therefore the greater means of being certified that there was none And Men of great parts and Accomplishments such as Sergius Paulus Governour of Cyprus Dionysius the Areopagite Justin Martyr Tertullian and others who were inquisitive Men and able to make a true judgment of things upon a full examination of all particulars became early Converts to the Christian Religion II. There are peculiar marks of sincerity in all the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists They were not ambitious of being known to the world by their writings but wrote only as they were (a) Euseb Eccle. hist lib. iii. 23. by necessity drawn to it for the further propagation of the Gospel And upon all occasions they declare their own frailties and faults and many times such as could never have been known but from themselves St. Matthew had spent the former part of his Life in no very creditable employment but among Publicans and Sinners as he says himself for he leaves recorded to all Posterity the censure of his own Life saying that he sat at the receit of custom Matt. ix 9 10. and stiling himself Matthew the Publican Mat. x. 3. Eusebius observes that none of the other Evangelists have mentioned a thing so reproachful of him as his having been a Publican but St.
recourse to the History of the Bible since it is acknowledged by all learned Men to be so much the ancientest Book which can give us an Account of Religion in the World For unless we will reject all History and believe nothing related of Ancient Times we must take our Accounts from such Books as treat of them And till by the Method proposed I have proved the Bible to be of Divine Authority I shall alledge it only as an Historical Relation of Things past in which respect it would be unreasonable to deny it that credit which is allowed to other Books of that nature And this is all that is now desired in order to the clearing of what I am at present upon which is to shew That nothing requisite to a true Revelation is wanting to the Scriptures and therefore that they have been sufficiently promulged and made known to the World In the Beginning of the World God was pleased to create but one Man and one Woman and to People the Earth from them which must exceedingly tend both to the preservation of Order and Obedience amongst Men and to the retaining of the Knowledge of God and of his Ways and Dealings with the first Parents of Mankind But if Multitudes had been created and the Earth had been peopled at once the natural effect of this had been Ambition and Strife Confusion and Ignorance For as the Inhabitants of the World multiplied so did all Sin and Wickedness encrease though all descended from the same Parents and these Parents lived to see many Generations of their Off-spring and to instruct and admonish them which if any thing could have done it must have kept up a sense of God and Religion amongst Men. Adam himself performed the Office of a Father a Priest and a King to his Children and the Office and Authority of these three descended upon the Heads of Families in the several Generations and Successions of Kingdoms amongst his Posterity For that the same Person was both King and Priest in the earlier Ages of the World we learn from the best Antiquities of other Nations and it was so likewise amongst the Jews till God had appointed an Order and Succession of the Priesthood in one Tribe and therefore Esau is stiled a profane Person for selling his Birth-right Omnesque primogenitos Noe donec sacerdotio fungeretur Aaron fuisse Pontifices Hebraei tradunt Hieronym Quaestion seu Tradit Hebraic in Genes because the Priesthood went along with it Heb. xii 16. By all the Accounts we have of the World before the Flood we are assured that God was pleased at first to afford frequent Communications of himself to Mankind and even to the Wicked as to Cain whose Punishment it afterwards was to be hid from the face of the Lord and driven out from his presence Gen. iv 14 16. And when the Wickedness of Men had provoked God to drown the World he revealed this to Noah and respited the execution of this Judgment an Hundred Years and Noah in the mean time both by his Preaching and by preparing an Ark warned them of it and exhorted them to Repentance by preparing of an ark to the saving of his house he condemned the world Heb. xi 7. and he was a preacher of righteousness to the old world 2 Pet. ii 5. He made it his business for above an Hundred Years together to forewarn the wicked World of their approaching Ruine which he did by all the Ways and Means that a Wise and Great Man could contrive proper for that End Noah lived after the Flood Three hundred and fifty Years Gen. ix 28. and it was between One and Two hundred Years before the Division of Tongues and the Dispersion of the Sons of Noah And when all the Inhabitants of the Earth were of one Language and lived not far asunder Noah himself living amongst them the Judgment of God upon the wicked World in overwhelming them with the Flood his Mercies to Noah and his Family in their preservation when all the rest of the World perished and the Commandments which God gave to Noah at his coming out of the Ark with his Promises and Threatnings respectively to the performance or trangression of them must be well known and the sin in building the Tower of Babel for which the Universal Language was confounded and the Race of Mankind dispersed could proceed from nothing but the heigth of Presumption and Perverseness After the Confusion of Languages and the Dispersion of Mankind they could not on the sudden remove to very distant and remote Places by reason of the unpassable Woods and Desarts and Marshes which after so vast an Inundation must be every where to be met with to obstruct their passage in those hot and fruitful Countreys when they had lain uninhabited for so many Years This we may the better understand from the slow progress which was made in the Discoveries of the West-Indies For the Spaniards in those places where they found neither Guide nor Path did not enter the Country ten Miles (f) See Sir W. Rauleigh l. 1. c. 8. §. 3. in ten Years And in those Ages they could not but be ill provided either by their own Skill or by convenient Tools and Instruments with fit means to clear the Countrey which they were to pass and they were likewise unprovided of Vessels to transport any great numbers of Men with their Families and Herds of Cattle which were for many Ages their only Riches and absolutely necessary for their Sustenance for Navigation had never had so slow an Improvement in the World if it had so soon been in that Perfection as to enable them for such Transportation And as for these Reasons the Dispersion of Noah's Posterity over the Earth must be gradual and many Generations must pass before the remoter Parts of it could be inhabited so the several Plantations must be supposed to hold Correspondence with those to whom they were nearest allyed and from whom they went out they must be supposed to own some sort of Dependance upon them and pay them such Acknowledgments as Colonies have ever done to their Mother-Cities It is natural to suppose that they first spread themselves into the neighbouring Countries and as Sir Walter Rauleigh has observed the first Plantations were generally by the Banks of Rivers whereby they might hold Intelligence one with another which they could not do by Land that being overspread with Woods and altogether unfit for travelling And the great affinity which is observable between the Eastern Languages proves that there was a continual Correspondence and Commerce maintained between the several Nations after the Dispersion All which considering the great Age that Men lived in those times must without a very gross Neglect and Contempt of God preserve a true Notion of Religion in the several Parts of the World For Noah himself lived Three hundred and Fifty Years after the Flood his Sons were not soon dispersed their Dispersion was gradual and
from them In Africa besides the Christians living in Aegypt and in the Kingdom of Congo and Angola the Islands upon the Western Coasts are inhabited by Christians and the vast Kingdom of Habassia or Abassinia supposed to be as big as Germany France Spain and Italy taken together according to Mr. Brerewood's computation is possess'd by Christians And till less than Two hundred Years ago Nubia a Countrey of a great extent lying between the Aequator and the Northern Tropick continued as it 's believed from the Apostles times in the Christian Religion In Asia he says most part of the Empire of Russia the Countries of Circassia and Mengrelia Georgia and Mount Libanus are inhabited only by Christians besides the dispersion of them into other Parts under the denomination of Nestorians Jacobites Maronites and Armenians the last of which are a People exceedingly addicted to Traffick (m) Brerewood's Enquir c. 24. and have great Privileges granted them by the Turks and other Mahometans they are found in multitudes in most Cities of great Trade and are more dispersed than any other Nation but the Jews and the Jacobites are reported to be dispersed into Forty Kingdoms In the Promontory extending it self into the Indian Sea are the Christians of Saint Thomas so called because first converted by him who is believed to lie buried at Maliapour and they have continued in the Christian Religion from his time It must be confess'd that in Mengrelia and other Countries the Doctrines of Religion are much corrupted and their Practice very different from the Profession of Christians but however they retain the Gospel among them and it is every Man 's own fault if he make not a good use of those Means of Salvation which God in his Providence has afforded him Of late the New Testament in the Malayan Tongue and Grotius his excellent Book of the Truth of the Christian Religion in Arabick have been translated and printed at the Charge of the Honourable Mr. Boyle and the first disperst over all the East-Indies where the Malayan Language is used and the latter into all the Countries where Arabick is spoken He also contributed to the Impression of the New Testament which was made by the Turkish Company in the Language of the Turks In America it is notorious that the Christians are sufficiently numerous and have sufficient opportunities to instruct the Natives if they were but as careful to improve them to so good an end rather than in pursuit of their own Gain The summ of all is this Before the Flood Revelations were so frequent and the Lives of Men so long that no Man could be ignorant of the Creation and of the Providence of God in the Government of the World and the Duties required towards him And in the first Ages after the Flood God's Will reveal'd to Noah and the Precept given to him at his coming out of the Ark must be well known to all the surviving World and as soon as the Remembrance of them began to decay and Men to fall into Idolatry Abraham and the other Patriarchs were sent into divers Countries to proclaim God's Commandments and to testifie against the Impiety of Idolaters where-ever they came For to publish the Reveal'd Will of God and make it generally known in the World God was pleas'd to chuse to himself a peculiar People and to send them first out of Mesopotamia into Canaan and upon occasion back again into Mesopotamia and then several times into Aegypt and from thence after they had dwelt there some Hundreds of Years into Canaan again at what time he appointed them Laws admirably fitted and contriv'd for the receiving of Strangers and Proselytes After many signal Victories and after other Captivities they were carry'd away captive to Babylon and were still deliver'd and restor'd by a Wonderful and Miraculous Providence and had vast numbers of Proselytes in all Parts of the known World and many Footsteps and Remainders of the True Religion are found in the remotest Parts of the Earth And when by the just Judgment of God upon the Jews for their Sin in rejecting the Messias they were rejected by him from being his People they were dispers'd throughout the World for a Testimony to all Nations that Moses and the Prophets deliver'd no other thing than what God had reveal'd to them since they continue to maintain and assert those very Books which plainly foretell all that Ruine and Destruction that has befallen them for their Infidelity and Disobedience They are a standing Evidence in all Parts of the World of the Truth of the Christian Religion bearing that Curse which their Fore-fathers so many Ages ago imprecated upon themselves and their Posterity when they caus'd Christ to be crucify'd And the Gospel has by its own Power and Evidence manifested it self to all People dispers'd over the Face of the whole Earth To which might be added That the Mahometans owning so much of the Religion reveal'd both in the Old and New Testament afford some kind of Testimony to the Truth of it in those vast Dominions of which they are possess'd All the most remarkable Dispensations of Providence in the several Changes in the World have had a particular Influence in the Propagation of the True Religion Cyrus Alexander the Great divers of the Roman Emperors and of latter Times Tamerlain and several other Princes were great Favourers of it and the worst of Men and the most unlikely Accidents have contributed towards the Promotion of it If it be Objected That notwithstanding all which has been said great Part of the World are Vnbelievers Let it be consider'd 1. That there is no Nation but has great Opportunities of being converted and it is evident from what has been produc'd concerning the Chinese and the Americans themselves that the Christian Religion had been preach'd among them tho' the Knowledge of it was lost through their own Fault before the late Discoveries of those Parts of the World And as Christ came into the World in the fulness of time so in the fulness of time that is at the most fitting season he reveal'd himself to the several Nations of it God who is infinitely gracious to all and knows the Hearts and Dispositions of all Men might defer the restoring his Gospel to the Chinese for Instance till that very time when he saw them best prepar'd for it And it is remarkable That the Discovery of the Indies happen'd about the time of the Reformation that those poor People might have the Purity as well as the Truth of Religion if Christians had been as little wanting to them in their Charity as God has been in the Disposals of his Providence He stays till they have filled up the measure of their iniquities before he punishes a People and for the same Reasons of Mercy and Goodness he waits for the most proper seasons to impart his Revealed Will to them and to have it preach'd to them before would be only to encrease their
the Law and that so many should die rather than depart from it Upon the Revolt of the Ten Tribes Jeroboam would certainly have discover'd it if he had but suspected any such thing as an Imposture or could but have hoped to make the People believe that the Laws of Moses were not of Divine Institution but of Humane Invention and Contrivance but he supposed the Truth of its Divine Original whilst he tempted the People to the transgression of it Behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Aegypt 1 King xii 28. he supposes them brought out of the land of Aegypt and brought out by a Divine Power and endeavours to persuade them that the two Calves which he had set up in Dan and Bethel were the Gods who delivered them and by whose Authority the Law was given them and that therefore either of those Places was as proper to sacrifice in as Jerusalem which however absurd it were yet he did not think so absurd as to endeavour to make them believe that their Law it self was no better than an Imposture he had some hopes to succeed in this Project and the Event shews he understood the Temper and Principles of the People he had to deal with but the other was too gross for him to attempt The true Prophets of Israel were ever as zealous for the Law of Moses as the Prophets of Judah and the False Pophets of either Kingdom never durst deny its Authority these False prophets affronted and contradicted the Prophets of the Lord but they ever owned the Law and pretended to speak in the Name of that God who had deliver'd it to Moses And this Division of the Ten Tribes made it impossible afterwards for either the Kingdom of Israel or of Judah to make any Alterations in the Books of Moses because there was so great emulation and enmities betwixt the two Kingdoms that they could never have agreed to insert the same Corruptions and if either of them had attempted such a thing it would soon have been discovered by the other and therefore the agreement of the Samaritan with the Hebrew Pentateuch is a plain argument that they are but different Copies of the same Book and that it is undoubtedly genuine The Children of Israel notwithstanding their great proneness to Idolatry never cast off the Law of Moses as they would certainly have done being so often brought into bondage by their neighbour-Nations if they had not been well assured of the Authority of that Law which they transgress'd but they were reduced to the Obedience of the Law by the Oppressions of Iolatrous Nations they hoped for Deliverance upon their Repentance according to the Promises made in it and could by no Temptations or Torments be persuaded or forced to renounce it But the long Captivity in Babylon wrought a perfect cure in the Jews as to their inclination to idolatry which could never have been unless by their own experience in seeing the Prophecies fulfilled and by other Arguments they had been sully convinced of the Truth of their own Religion beyond all others If it had been of their own invention the People would have made their Law in every respect more favourable to themselves they would not have cloyed it with burthen some Ceremonies to distinguish themselves from the neighbour-Nations whose Idolatries they were so long prone to and which these Câ—remonies were designed to restrain them from They who were for a long time so fond of the Idolatries of the Heathen would never have invented Laws so uneasie to themselves and so contrary and odious to other Nations they would never have framed them themselves and then have pretended a Divine Revelation for those Laws which they were so little pleased with They would never have exposed themselves to the whole World thro' all Ages as a stubborn and rebellious People notwithstanding so many and so convincing Miracles so long wrought amongst them The Miracles which I have mention'd were most of them Judgments upon the Israelites for their Disobedience and they would never have set down these Miracles but would rather have lest them out though they were true as disgraceful to their Nation For thus Josephus has omitted some things to avoid the Scandal which he was a ware would have been given to the Heathen by a full and punctual Relation of the whole History of the Jews as it is described in the Books of Moses And they could be as little ignorant as Josephus what would prove disgraceful to them and what would make for their Honour and Renown and when the design of these supposed Forgeries and Falsifications must have been to advance the Glory of the People of Israel they would never have made such as these No if they had made any Alterations it would have been to strike out those numerous Passages which are so reproachful to their Nation and to have inserted others which might raise the Fame and Glory of Themselves and of their Ancestors and to have changed those Ceremonies that were so burthensome and so singular for those which would have been more easie to themselves and might have recommended them to the good opinion and esteem of the neighbour Nations But when so refractary a People became so zealous for such a Law so uneasie at first and so distastful to them it is an undeniable argument that they had the greatest Assurance of its Divine Original and that they would neither falsifie it themselves nor sufter others to falsifie it The People of Israel must be supposed to be unanimous to a Man in the making these Laws if they were of their own making for if any one had dissented he could not fail of Arguments to draw others after him In making Laws the Interests and Conveniencies of the Law-makers are always the Motives for the enacting them and besides the Publick Honour and Welfare of the Nation which too often are less considered the particular Interest of every single Man would have made him concerned to put a stop to such Laws No People can be supposed to consent to the making Laws by which they are forbidden to sow their Land every Seventh Year and are commanded to leave their Habitations and go up to the capital City from every part of their Country thrice in a Year no People could agree to enact such Laws of their own contrivance because none could subsist in the observation of them without a Miracle How can we conceive it possible for any People to subsist by such Laws if they had been of their own making or that any Nation should agree in the enacting such Laws as must provoke all their neighbour Nations to make War against them nay by which they actually declared an irreconcileable War against seven Nations at once For one Nation to distinguish themselves by their Laws and Constitutions from all other People to lay the very Foundations of their Government in the disgrace and infamy of all their neighbour
it is true because it is for the benefit of Mankind that it should be so and upon that account it carries the visible Characters of Divine Wisdom and Goodness in it for it is certain that the Religion which God has established in the World must be of this nature that none but wicked men can dislike it and that all sober and good men must be well satisfied with it and mightily enclined to believe it nay even the worst men must be forced to confess that they owe their own safety and protection to the Doctrines of it And that such is the nature of the Christian Religion will be evident if we consider that I. It teacheth an universal Righteousness both towards God and Man II. It layeth down the only true Principles of Holiness III. It proposeth the most effectual Motives IV. It affords the greatest helps and assistances to an Holy Life V. It expresseth the greatest compassion and condescension to our infirmities VI. The propagation of the Gospel has had mighty effects towards the Reformation and Happiness of Mankind VII The highest mysteries of the Christian Religion are not merely speculative but have a necessary relation to Practice and were revealed for the advancement of Piety and Virtue amongst men I. The Christian Religion teacheth an Universal Righteousness both towards God and Man It teacheth us the nature of God that he is a Spirit and therefore ought to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and gives us an account of the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Creation of the World and in the various dispensations of his Providence in the preservation and Government of it and especially in the wonderful work of our Redemption God is represented in the Scriptures as slow to anger and great in Power and who will not at all acquit the wicked Nahum i. 3. and we are required to love and serve him with all our Abilities both of Body and Mind Deut. vi 5. Matt. xxii 37. The Duties of men towards one another are no less strictly enjoyned than our duty towards God himself For the Scriptures oblige all men to the Conscientious performance of their several Duties in their respective capacities and relations They teach Wives and Children and Subjects and Servants Obedience not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake and they teach Princes and Husbands and Fathers and Masters a proportionable care and kindness and affection they check and restrain the rich and powerful from violence and oppression and command them to relieve those that are in want and to protect all that are in distress and to root up the very seeds and principles of Vice in us they regulate our desires and give Laws to our words and looks and thoughts they command an universal Love and Charity towards all Mankind to hurt no body so much as in a Thought but to do all the good which is in our power they oblige men to do as they would be done unto in all cases to consider others as men of the same nature with themselves and to love and respect them accordingly upon all occasions I may add what Grotius has not omitted that more favour and equity is extended to one half of humane kind by the Christian Religion than ever had been by any other for among Infidels Women are esteemed but as slaves to the Lusts of men who may have as many Wives as they please and change them as often as they think fit II. The Scriptures propound to us the only true Principles of Holiness For they teach us to perform all Duties both towards God and Man upon Principles of Love and Charity which are the only Principles that can make men happy in the performance of their respective duties and that can cause them to persevere in it What men do upon Principles of Love they do with delight and what men delight in they will be sure to do but fear hath torment and men will use all Arts to get rid of their fears and of that sense of Duty which proceeds only from an apprehension of Punishments and therefore is perpetually grievous and burthensom to them Rewards themselves may become ineffectual by proposals of contrary Rewards for smaller advantages which are present and in hand may be more prevalent than never so much greater which are future and looked upon only at a distance But a sense of Love and Gratitude and Charity can never fail of its effect because this brings its reward with it and makes our duty a delight He who loves God will certainly obey him and he that does not love him never can truly obey him as he ought but will be ever repining at his Duty and will be for seeking all pretences to excuse himself from it He who doth not love his Neighbour will be for taking all opportunities of pursuing his own advantage against him but he who loves him as himself will never do him any injury He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. xiii 8. The Love of God and of our Neighbour comprehends the whole duty of man which is a Doctrine no where to be met withal but in the Holy Scriptures all the Wisdom of Philosophers could never discover this Doctrine which sets before us the only infallible principles of obedience And it must be a most gracious and wise Law which makes Love the Principle and Foundation of our whole duty both towards God and Man III. The Christian Religion proposeth the most effectual motives of Obedience and Holiness of Life The moral Reasons and Arguments for a vertuous Life are so great and evident that those who live otherwise are generally convinced that they ought not to do it but because the Arguments from Reason are to faint and lifeless to oppose to sense and passion therefore the Christian Religion is purposely fitted to every faculty and presents us with greater objects of fear and love and desire than any thing in the world can do And as God will be served by us upon no other Principle but that of love so the chiefest Motive to our Obedience express'd throughout the Scriptures is the Divine Love They represent to us all the methods which God has been pleased to use as necessary to reclaim the world by his mercies and his judgments by sending his Prophets at sundry times and in divers manners and at last by sending his own Son He saw the fondness that men have for this World and for the pleasures and sins of it how subject they are to Temptations and how prone to comply with them and therefore he has been pleased to pursue
have done p. 237. CHAP. XIII Of the Fall of the Angels and of our first Parents THE Fall of Angels how caused p. 243. The Fall of Man The effects of it Visible however the Thing may be disputed p. 244. No Preexistence of Souls ib. Eve beguiled by the Serpent p. 246. The Sin of Eating the forbidden Fruit p. 249. Many Circumstances omitted in the Scripture concerning the State of our First Parents in Paradise and relating to their Fall ib. Why a Commandment was given them concerning a thing of an indifferent Nature p. 250. The Curse upon the Serpent p. 254. The Curse of the Ground p. 255. The Punishment of our First Parents p. 256. The Fall not Allegorical p. 374. The effects of it upon all Posterity p. 376. CHAP. XIV Of the Eternity of Hell Torments THE Eternity of Hell Torments consistent with the Justice of God because 1 Rewards and Punishments are a like Proposed to our choice p. 383. 2 The Rewards are Eternal as well as the Punishments p. 384. 3 It was necessary that the Sanction of the Divine Laws should be by eternal Rewards and Punishments p. 387. 4 It is necessary that eternal Punishments should be inflicted upon the Wicked according to this Sanction p. 388. Objections obviated p. 359. The Eternity of Hell Torments consistent with the Mercy of God p. 362. CHAP. XV. Of the Jewish Law OF the Judicial Laws p. 369. Of the Ceremonial Laws p. 371. They were given to prevent Idolatry p. 341. To signify and represent inward Purity and Holiness p. 344. This shewn of Circumcision p. 345. Of Purifications p. 346. Of Abstinences p. 346. Of Sacrifices and Oblations ib. The Jewish Worship was Typical of Christ and his Gospel p. 347. This proved of Sacrifices p. 348. Purifications p. 350. Incense ib. During this Ceremonial Dispensation there was a sufficient Revelation of the Internal and Spiritual part of Religion p. 352. The Love of God and of their Neighbour ib. A Future State p. 353. the Resurrection p. 354. CHAP. XVI Of the Cessation of the Jewish Law THE Types of the Law fulfilled in the Messias p. 332. The strange Evasions and absurd Opinions of the Jews ib. It was foretold by the Prophets that the Law was to cease upon the coming of the Messiah p. 335. It was afterwards to become impracticable p. 323. How it is to be understood that the Mosaical Law was to endure for ever p. 324. CHAP. XVII Of the Sinful Examples recorded in the Scriptures SEveral Places of the Scriptures relating Evil Actions contain only matter of Fact p. 327. The Rules of Good and Evil by which we are to judge of Actions are plainly delivered in the Scriptures p. ib. The Relation of the bad Actions of Good Men may be of use 1. To shew the Sincerity of the Pen-Men of the Scriptures 2. To discover the Frailty of Humane Nature and the necessity of imploring the Divine Grace 3. To shew that God can bring Good out of Evil p. 328. 4. For the Glory of God's Grace and for a Warning to future Ages p. 329. CHAP. XVIII Of the Imprecations in the Psalms and other Books of the Old Testament MAny of these Expressions are used in reference to the Nations on whom God had Commanded the Israelites to execute his Judgments p. 331. David being a King was a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that did Evil. p. 332. It is Lawful to Pray that Malefactors may be punished ib. The Jews might appeal to God as their Political Legislator and Governour p. 333. Those which seem Imprecations are oftentimes Predictions and Denunciations of Judgment p. 334. Divers Places are to be understood of Judas or of others like him p. 336. This supposition is implyed in Imprecations if they will persist in their Sins if they will not repent ib. What Charity was required under the Law and what was meant by the Word Neighbour p. 337. CHAP. XIX Of the Texts of the Old Testament cited in the New THe Apostles cited in the Scriptures of the Old Testament according to the Exposition of them then acknowledged by the Jews p. 340. A remarkable Passage from F. Simon to this purpose p. 342. The Epistle to the Hebrews much admired by a learned Jew for the sublime Sense therein given to the Texts of the Old Testament ib. CHAP. XX. Of the Incarnation and Death of the Son of God I THe necessity of the Incarnation of the Son of God considered p. 344. 2. Tho' it should be supposed that God could have pardoned the Sins of Men upon other Terms yet the Incarnation and Death of the Son of God is so far from implying any thing unworthy of him that no other way of our Reconciliation with him as far as we are able to apprehend could so much have become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness p. 345. 1. There is nothing in this whole Dispensation unworthy of God p. 346. which is proved by shewing 1 The unreasonableness of this Supposition that the Union of the Divine and Human Nature in Christ should cause the God head to suffer with the Manhood p. 347. 2 The Humiliation of the Son of God in affirming our Nature may be accounted for without supposing that the Godhead suffered p. 350. 3 The Satisfaction of Christ by Dying for our Sins may be explained without supposing it p. 351. 2. No other way as far as we can apprehend could have been so proper and expedient as the Incarnation of the Son of God to procure the Salvation of Mankind p. 357. 1 The Doctrin and Preaching of the Son of God was of more Power and Authority than the Preaching or Doctrin of a Man or Angel could have been p. 358. 2 His Example is of greater Perfection and Holiness p. 360. 3 His Mediation and Intercession is of greater efficacy p. 362. 4 The Incarnation and Death of the Son of God is the most effectual means to excite in us Faith Hope and Charity and to dispose and engage us to all Vertue and Piety p. 364. CHAP. XXI Of the Fulness of Time or the Time appointed by God for the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour GOd had before-hand used all other means to shew the necessity of sending his Son at last p. 371. The Reception of the Gospel had been much more difficult if it had not been foretold in so many several Ages by the Prophets p. 374. The Time of Christ's coming might depend upon the Duration of the World p. 376. The World was then prepared for his coming p. 378. The particular Temper and Disposition of that Age in which our Saviour was born made it the most seasonable p. 380. CHAP. XXII Of the last Days and of the last Day or the Day of Judgment THE last Days of the World seldom mentioned in express Terms in Scripture but under the Resemblances of other Events p. 384. The Destruction of Jerusalem Typical of the Day of Judgment p. 385. This appears from Matt. 25. ib. The
numerous than the Sufferers for any other p. 531. Zeal for Falshood no prejudice to Truth p. 532. The preference for the Christian Religion before all others p. 534. The proper Notion of Martyrdom p. 535. CHAP. XXXII That Differences in Matters of Religion are no prejudice to the Truth and Authority of it Differences in matters of Religion must be unless God should miraculously and irresistibly interpose to prevent them p. 539. It is not necessary that God should thus interpose p. 544. nor expedient p. 546. These Differences how great and how many soever they may be are no prejudice to the Truth and Certainty of Religion p. 549. All Parties are agreed in the Truth of Religion in general and of the Christian Religion in particular p. 551. It is not Religion about which Men dispute but there is nothing besides in which Men have not disagreed p. 555. Prophecies are hereby fullfilled p. 557. CHAP. XXXIII Though all Objections could not be Answer'd yet this would be no just Cause to reject the Authority of the Scriptures A True Revelation may contain great Difficulties and if the Arguments in proof of the Scriptures remain in their full Force notwithstanding any Objections and no positive and direct Proof be brought that they are insufficient the Objections must proceed from some Mistake and ought to be rejected as insignificant p. 559. This is shewn in Particulars p. 561. The way of Reasoning which is made use of to disprove the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures considered in cases of another nature p. 563. Difficulties can never alter the nature of things p. 566. CHAP. XXXIV The Conclusion containing an Exhortation to a serious Consideration of these things both from the Example of the wisest and most learned Men and from the infinite Importance of the things themselves AS wise and learned Men as any that ever lived in the World have suffered Persecutions and Martyrdom for the Christian Religion p. 568. The Causes of Unbelief among Christians Immorality a Spirit of Contradiction and singularity of Opinion p. 569. It is at every Man 's own Peril if he make a rash and partial Judgment p. 570. This is too serious a Subject to jest and trifle withall p. 574. THE REASONABLENESS AND CERTAINTY OF THE Christian Religion BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of Humane Reason HAving in the former Book proved the Divine Authority of the Scriptures I proceed in this to clear such points as are commonly thought most liable to exception in the Christian Religion and to propose some considerations which may serve to remove such prejudices and obviate such cavils as are usually raised against the Holy Scriptures But before men venture upon making Objections against the Scriptures they would do well first to consider the compass and strength of their own Parts and Faculties and to observe in how many things they daily find themselves deceived how many men there are who understand much more than themselves and how much folly and ignorance there is in the wisest men Those commonly that raise objections against the Scriptures are as confident in the management of them as if they understood all things besides and therefore conclude that must needs be false which they do not understand not considering how very reasonable it is to suppose that God should command and reveal many things the Natures and Reasons of which we may not be able to comprehend This must be granted by every man who believes God to be infinitely wise but doth not think himself to be so and acknowledgeth God's soveraignty over him For as he is infinitely wise he may reveal things above our capacities and as he is the supream Lord and Governor of the world he may command us what in his infinite wisdom he shall see fitting tho we may not perceive the Reason and Design of it And yet this is the utmost that upon a due examination many of the objections against the Authority of the Scriptures amount to that there are several things in them of which some men think no clear account can be given and others which seem to them unworthy of God Now what is the meaning of this way of objecting and where lies the force of such Arguments but in this that it is not to be conceived that God would reveal or command any thing with which they are not satisfied or which they cannot perfectly understand This is all the strength of this sort of objections There is all the Reason in the world to believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God if they did not contain things which these men in their great wisdom think should not be there if they were his word which is to make their own understanding the measure and Criterion of Divine Revelation And some have turned Scepticks for as good Reasons and others have been Atheists upon the same Principles finding as much fault with the System of the World and the Order and contrivance of the parts of it as the Deist doth with the Scriptures they have renounced all belief of a God upon the same grounds upon which he disbelieves the Christian Religion To convince men therefore of the Narrowness and Weakness of Humane Reason I shallshew I. That in some things each side of a Contradiction seems to be â—demonstrable II. That very man believes and experiences several things which in the Theory and speculative Notion of them would seem as incredible as any thing in the Scriptures can be supposed to be III. That those who reject the Mysteries of Religion must believe things much more incredible I. In some things each side of a Contradiction seems to us demonstrable Several instances might be given of this I shall instance only in the divisibility of Matter Nothing seems more evident than that divisibility is essential to Matter and that therefore all Matter is divisible so that the least part of Matter is as divisible as the biggest because the least particle of Matter is Matter that is it is of the same Nature and Essence with the whole and all Matter differs only in Bulk or Figure or Place or Rest or Motion It being then of the Nature of Matter to be divisible it must ever be divisible tho it be never so often divided since it can never be so divided as to lose it own Nature or cease to be Matter On the other side it is demonstrable that Matter cannot be infinitely divisible because whatever is divisible is divisible into parts and no parts can be infinite because no Number can be so For all Number is necessarily in it self capable of being counted or numbred tho no Finite Being may be able to number it a Numberless Number is a contradiction it is a Number which is no Number therefore all Number must be even or odd and must be capable of Addition and Substraction which is contrary to the Nature of Infinite For what is less or greater has certain bounds or limits and therefore cannot be
might not suffer a Book written by his own Appointment and Authority to be encumbred thro' length of Time and the frailty and negligence of Men with insuperable Difficulties if it be supposed still to retain the visible Marks and Characters of a Divine Original in all the Evidence necessary to prove it from Matter of Fact and in the Doctrines delivered by it For as long as these two things are secured all the rest tho' it be of never so great Use and Excellency yet cannot be necessary in order to the ends of a Divine Revelation And therefore a Book of Divine Revelation might be permitted by God for the Sins and by the Fault and Ignorance of Men to become perplext with abundance of divers Readings and even with Contradictions in the Chronological and less material Points of it For so long as it cannot be proved Defective as to the ends and purposes of a Divine Revelation either for want of evidence to make it appear to be such or thro' defect of the Matter and Doctrine contained in it all other Difficulties will never prove it not to be of Divine Authority because so long as there is no Defect but what might be in any Book tho' we suppose it to be of Divine Authority CHAP. IX Of the Creation of the World and the Preservation of it BY Creation in the Book of Genesis is understood not only the Production of the World out of Nothing but the Formation and Disposal of the several Parts of the Universe But there has an Opinion of late years prevailed very injurious to Religion and repugnant to Reason and the Judgment of former Ages That God only created Matter and gave it Motion to be performed under certain Laws by which all the Phaenomena of Nature both in the Creation and Preservation of Things are brought about without any farther immediate Divine Power or Concourse than what is just necessary to continue this Matter and Motion in Being that is God created Matter and put it into Motion and then Matter and Motion do all the rest in a settled Course and by established Laws without any need of the Divine Aid or Direction This Notion indeed can never be reconciled to the Scriptures but then it is as little befriended by Reason and Natural Religion In proof of which I shall consider I. The Creation of the World II. The Preservation of it and shall shew that neither of them could be performed in this way I. As to the Creation we may consider both the Time and the Manner of it And by the Time of the Creation we may understand either the Time when the Creation of the World began or the Time which was taken up in the Creation of it But this latter sense will come under what is to be said of the Manner of the Creation 1. The Time of the Creation of the World as that signifies the Beginning of Time or of the Worlds Duration must be wholly Arbitrary and absolutely at God's Sovereign Pleasure and Disposal For there could be nothing in eternal Duration to fix the Creation of the World more to one Time than another or to determin why it should begin sooner or later And since it is impossible that the world should be eternal it is evident that the Time of the Creation whenever it was can be no good Objection because tho' the World had been created never so long before there must necessarily have been as much a Pretence for such an Objection For there must have been some Period of Time when the World had existed no longer than it has done now and no beginning of the World can be supposed so long ago but still it might with the same Reason be ask'd why it was not created sooner 2. In considering the Manner of the Worlds Creation I shall prove 1. That there is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at the first made by Mechanical Laws tho' it were preserv'd according to such Laws 2. That there are sufficient Reasons to be given for its Creation in that Manner which we find related in the Book of Genesis 1. There is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at first made by Mechanichal Laws tho' it were preserved according to such Laws whereas I shall afterwards prove that it is not preserved according to them There is no Reason that the World should be first framed according to the Laws of Motion which are established for its Preservation and Government in its fixt and settled State The Origin of the Universe was by the immediate hand of God before the Appointment of the several Laws which afterwards were to take place and we may as well endeavour to reduce the working of Miracles to the standing Laws of Nature as the Creation of the World For certainly of all Miracles the Creation of the World must be the greatest not only as it signifies the Production of Matter and Motion out of Nothing but as it was the putting things into such Order as to make them capable of the Laws of Motion ordained for them It is not yet agreed nor is it ever like to be what these Laws of Motion are which the Philosophers so much talk of and there being such a mutual Connexion and Combination of Bodies and such a Dependance of every Body upon so many others in every Motion it is impossible to know how any two Bodies would act upon each other if they were separate from all Bodies besides or were out of that State which they now are in It is reasonable therefore to imagine that the several Parts of the World must be ranged and settled before these Laws could take place and to reduce the Creation of the World to the Laws of Motion which now prevail in it is to suppose a Creation antecedent to that by which the World was made This is as if an Indian should attempt to give an Account of the making of a Watch by the several Motions which he sees performed in it after it is made and should imagine that the Materials moving in such a manner at last arrived to the exact frame of a Watch. 2. There are sufficient Reasons to be given for the Creation of the World in that manner which we find related in the Book of Genesis It is great Presumption in Men to be too curious and inquisitive about the Reasons of God's Actions for whatever he delivers of himself we ought entirely to believe both the Thing it self and the manner and Circumstances of it Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth declare if thou hast Vnderstanding Job xxxviii 4. But this must be said to the Glory of God and to the Shame of all such as Censure and Cavil at his Word that even by Men such Reasons may be given of his Actions as all his Adversaries shall not be able to gain-say God hath ordered all things in Measure and Number and Weight Wisd xi 20. And as to
suffer the wicked to go unpunish'd in contempt of those Laws which he had appointed and under that dispensation which was establish'd upon Temporal Rewards and Punishments They were not allow'd to indulge their anger and desire of Revenge yet they might pray that God would avenge himself of his Enemies and rescue his Laws from that contempt which they must lie under from wicked Men if they did not feel those punishments which the Laws of God threatned them withall But under the Gospel the Case is different for now we are not to expect that Temporal Rewards and Punishments should constantly follow upon the performance or transgression of our Duty but both of them may be commonly reserved to a future State A Christian may not pray for Judgments upon his Enemies because God has not so peremptorily declared by the Gospel that he will inflict his Punishments in this Life as he had done by the Law and we have our Saviour's Command and Example to pray for their Repentance that they be not punished in the next But a Christian may right himself in due course of Law and in order to that may Petition the Judge without any breach of Charity and this was all that the Jews did when they pray'd God to execute his own Laws by inflicting such Punishments as he had threatned to inflict upon the Transgressors of them in this Life they invoked and appealed to God as their Political Judge and Sovereign and pray'd Judgment against Offenders V. Those which seem Imprecations are oftentimes Predictions or Denunciations of Judgments to come upon Sinners as we may learn from Acts 1.20 And it can be no uncharitableness to foretell or denounce God's Judgments against Sinners but rather an effect of Charity towards them for their Repentance and Amendment Most of those places of Scripture may as properly be rendred by way of prediction in the Future Tense and when they cannot they may be look'd upon as denunciations of God's Wrath. For Prophets were sometimes employ'd to execute the Divine Judgments as we see in Elijah 2 Kings i. 9 10. and as they sometimes executed God's Judgments so they at other times denounced them and this had nothing of uncharitableness in it but is fully agreeable with the Gospel it self For thus we read that Ananias and Sapphira were punished with present death by St. Peter Acts v. But if St. Peter had denounced Death without inflicting it immediately upon them this had been less And St. Paul prays that the Lord would reward Alexander the Copper-Smith according to his works who had done him much evil 2 Tim. iv 14. which was no uncharitable imprecation but a leaving him to God's Judgment and a denunciation of punishment to befall him without Repentance it was an Authoritative Act and in consequence of that excommunication which the Apostle had inflicted upon him 1 Tim. 1.20 And when God had inspired and empower'd Men to denounce Judgments this was no more against Charity than the inflicting of them would have been or than Excommunication it self is If Magistrates are empower'd in the King's Name to give Sentence and to inflict Punishments certainly Men may be so empower'd and authoriz'd by God himself and may act or speak accordingly without breach of Charity VI. The Expressions Ps lxix and cix are to be understood concerning Judas as we find them applied Acts 1. and all other Expressions of the same nature may be understood either of him or of some others like him whom the Psalmist by inspiration might know to be hardned in Sin past Repentance and therefore might pray that God would rather cut them off than suffer them to do more mischief in this World and increase the number of their Iniquities here and of their Miseries in the World to come VII Lastly This Supposition is tacitly emply'd in Imprecations if they will persist in their Sins if they will not repent and the Penmen of the Holy Scriptures might in some Cases know by Revelation that Judgments were the only means to reclaim those Men against whom they pray'd and then it was the greatest Charity to pray that God would be pleased to make use of that Remedy which alone was lest for their Amendment aâ— Psal lxxxiii 15 16. So persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy storm Fill their faces with shame that they may seeâ— thy Name O Lord. There is nothing therefore inconsistent with the Doctrine of Charity and the Love of ouâ— Neighbour in those places of Scripture which have been liable to the mistakes of unwary Men. For either they are Prayers to God to enable the Isâ—aelites to do what he had appointed as in the destruction of the Canaanites whom God was pleased for wise and great Reasons to punish by the Sword of the Children of Israel rather than by Pestilence or any other Judgment Or they are Prayers to God to assist them in the doing what both Justice and Charity will allow to be done either by Persons in Authority as King David or even by private Men as in the prosecution of Offenders and bringing them to condign punishment and this may be without any degree of Malice or the least breach of Charity since Punishment it self may be not only an act of Justice but of Charity likewise towards divers Men. Or these Expressions may be Appeals to God as the Political Governour and Legislator of the Jews Or they are Predictions or Denunciations of God's wrath against Sinners And they may be directed against impenitent obstinate Men hardned in their Wickedness Or lastly they may be only Prayers to God â—hat he would inflict such Punishments upon Mon as may bring them to Repentance And tho' the Jews in latter Ages perverted some passages of their Law to serve their own Pride and Revenge yet as it is evident by many instances never any Law but that of Christ oblig'd Men to more Humanity towards Strangers or more Charity towards Enemies They were certainly to Covert no Man's House or Wife and therefore the word Neighbour is not to be limited to signifie only an Israelite or a Proselyte but is to be understood of any Man whatsoever Exod. xx 17. Thou shalt love him the Stranger as thy self Lev. xix 34. The Aegyptians are stiled the Neighbours of the Israelites Exod. xi 2. And Ps xv 2 3. where acts of common Justice towards Neighbours are spoken of by Neighbour must necessarily be understood any person for to all Men Justice is due Not only Justice but Charity was enjoyn'd towards Enemies If thine Enemy be hungry give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward thee Prov. xxv 21 22. which words so fully express our Duty of Christian Charity that St. Paul could find none fitter to describe it by Rom. xii 20. and Exod. xxiii 4 5. If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or his Ass going
and Love being the only principle of Obedience which can be acceptable to God this must be the most proper and sitting dispensation which is most apt to excite in us the Love of God The Power and Majesty of God had been manifested before in the Creation and Preservation and Government of the World and in many signal Judgments upon Sinners the Divine Mercy and Goodness was likewise visible in the daily Blessings bestowed upon Mankind but the exceeding Riches of his Grace was made known in his kindness towards us thro' Christ Jesus Ephes ii 7. And as this must cause us to love God so â—t must make us if any thing can do it to have love one for another God Incarnate is the Head and Vital Principle the common Bond of Life and Union between Christians and we are oblig'd to mutual Love not only because we are all of the same Nature but because the Son of God has been pleas'd to dignifie that Nature in assuming it This ought to make us value our own Nature and to have a due esteem and affection for it in whomsoever it be How can we despise and one who is a Partaker of that Nature of which the Son of God has vouchsafed to partake in its meanest Condition or hate any whom he loved so well as to die for him This makes all Men worthy of our respect and love not of our contempt or hatred they are of that Nature which Christ as Man is of and they are his Purchase and we must love what is his and what he has so dearly paid for iâ—â— we love Christ himself Beloved says St. John if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 Joh. iv 11. And this is St. Paul's Argument to the Corinthians to excite them to Charity towards their poor Brethren For ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that tho' he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye thro' his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. viii 9. The Incarnation of the Son of God must likewise cause us to have the greatest hatred and detestation of Sin as being that which is most displeasing to God and that which occasioned the death of his only Son to atone for it And it is evident that all who neglect so great Salvation must expect the heaviest Punishment for so heinous a Contempt and Provocation if we will be gained by any methods of Love Christ has done all that is possible to effect it But if we will not be moved by all the kindness and compassions of Love it self we can hope for no further favour if the Son of God came to die for us and we will not regard it so as to be made the better by it nothing more can be look'd for but Wrath and fiery Indignation So that the manifestation of the Son of God in the Flesh was the most proper and fitting means to work upon the Love and Fear and Hope and all the Passions of Mankind and to produce all those Graces in us which the Gospel requires It is the best fitted both to the Nature and Design of the Gospel and to the Nature of Man and therefore if any other Means had been possible yet none that we can conceive could have been so effectual to procure the Salvation of Men. CHAP. XXI Of the Fulness of Time or the Time appointed by God for the Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour SInce we have so great Evidence to satisfie us that Christ did come into the World and die for us it would be the greatest ingratitude and folly as well as Impiety to reject him tho' we should not be able to give any exact account concerning the Reasons for the time of his coming It is not for us to know the Times or the Seasons which the Father hath put in his own power Acts i. 7. These things are in God's disposal and unless we can be contented to leave the manner and circumstances of our Salvation to his Wisdom we only shew how little we deserve his Mercies and how unwilling we are to believe them and to accept of them But tho' it be a mere Cavil to dispute the coming of Christ upon a bare Circumstance and Nicety concerning the Reasons for the particular time of his Incarnation yet it will be easie to give such an account of the time appointed for the Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour as may serve to silence all Objections against it and to desire to know any further of it is an useless and unwarrantable Curiosity for all must acknowledge that God may have the best and wisest Reasons for his Dispensations which yet we may not be able to comprehend and which it doth not concern us to know The Scripture teacheth us that Christ was born in the Fulness of Time when all things were fulfilled and accomplished in order to it and the World was in a due readiness and preparation for his coming 1. God had beforehand us'd all other means to shew the necessity of sending his Son at last for he was not to be sent but upon necessity and it was fit they to whom he was sent should be sensible of that necessity that they might the better know how to value the infinite mercy of God towards them in sending his only Son to be born and to die for them In the beginning of the World and at the Repeopling it after the Flood Revelations were so frequent and the Will and Commands of God so well known and his promise to send his Son so clearly understood that there could be no necessity that Christ should be Born then since their Faith in him and their Obedience to God's Commandments was as effectual to the Salvation of them that lived so long before his coming as it is to us that live so many Ages after it The Lives of Men in the beginning of the World were so long and the generations-deceased were so few before the Flood that nothing but wilfull ignorance and negligence could be the cause of so much wickedness And after the Flood the Race of Mankind being reduc'd to so few Persons the Example and Instructions of Noah and Abraham and the other Patriarchs might have been sufficient to keep Men within the measures of their Duty and to preserve a belief and expectation of the promis'd Messiah For they were saved by their Faith in Christ to come as we must be saved by Faith in him already come so many Ages past and therefore to suppose it necessary that he should be Born in those Ages we must suppose it necessary that he should be Born in every Age of the World which I think no Man will imagine But when the rest of the World was generally fallen away to Idolatry God chose to himself one Person from whom by a course of Miracles he raised a mighty Nation who by their Journeyings and Captivities and by all the dispensations of his Providence towards them were appointed
of them must cease and the Reason why they should be bestowed ceasing these miraculous Gifts must of consequence cease with it And thus it was likewise under the Law It is observable that we read of no miraculous Power bestowed upon any Man before Moses The Creation of the World was dilivered down with undeniable Certainty and the miraculous Judgments of God in Drowning the Old World in the Confusion of Tongues and in the Punishment inflicted upon Sodom and Gomorrah were sufficient to keep up a Sense of the True Religion But when a new Institution of Religion was to be introduced by Moses miraculous Gifts were necessary to give Authority to it and to oppose those false and lying Wonders which were in use among the Magicians in Egypt and other Places In the former Ages Predictions were very frequent and they were delivered by the Patriarchs who were Men of unquestionable Credit and Authority and could have no need of Miracles to confirm the Truth of their Prophecies which were so usual in those Times and when the Lives of Men were so long divers Prophecies of the same Persons had been verified by the Event But Moses had a New Law to deliver and both He and the Prophets had a a stubborn People to deal with to whom the Message they were charged withal was commonly very unwelcome so that till this Institution was fully settled Miracles became necessary But when the Old Testament had been sufficiently authorized and established by Prophecies and Miracles and when by the Captivities and Dispersions of the Jews the Divine Mission of their Prophets became known among so many other Nations when the Jews were reduced from Idolatry which they never practised after their Return from their Captivity in Babylon and when they had made numerous Conversions amongst the Heathens then these miraculous Gifts were no longer continued as they had been before in the Jewish Church insomuch that it became a (a) Lightf Glean out of Exod. §. vi Harm of the Evang Luke i. 18. Joh. ii 18. Maxim among them that after the Death of Zechariah and Malachi and the rest of the Prophets who returned from Babylon the Spirit of God departed from Israel and ascended and for above Four hundred Years together the Gifts both of Prophecy and Miracles had been with-held from them before the Manifestation of Christ For though there were gross Errours and dangerous Corruptions among the Pharisees and Sadducees and other Sects of the Jews yet since the Truth and Certainty of that Revelation from whence these Errours might have been confuted had been so throughly confirmed all their Corruptions and Errors were not a sufficient cause for the continuance of miraculous Gifts and the Pharisees and other Sects who were most fond and zealous of their several Tenets and Traditions yet never durst pretend to a Power of Miracles or Prophecy but endeavoured to support themselves upon the Authority of Moses and the Prophets What they sometimes spake of (b) id Fall of Jerus §. IX Harm of the N. T. §. LXXIII the Bath Col or Voice from Heaven deserves but little Credit and amounts but to a Confession that the Spirit of Prophecy had failed under the Second Temple as the Jews themselves expressly acknowledge it to have done (c) More Nevock Part. 2. c. 36 41. Maimonides declares that the Bath Col did not denominate Men Prophets and therefore it is not reckoned by him among the Degrees of Prophecy I have already Proved at large Book 1. that the Evidence of those Miracles which were wrought in the Primitive Times affords as much certainty to our Faith as if we our selves had seen them wrought And our Saviour plainly says notwithstanding his Works which bore Witness of him that it was not to be expected that his own Words should be rather believed than the VVritings of Moses For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me But if ye believe not his VVritings how shall ye believe my VVords Joh. v. 46 47. And when once the Gospel had been attested by Miracles as the Law had been and rendred as certain to all succeeding Ages as a constant Power of Miracles could have made it there could be no Reason why such a Power should be any longer bestowed Miracles were wrought in Evidence of the Truth of Revelations made to Mankind in the Old and New Testament not to decide any Controversies arising amongst those by whom the Scriptures are received For to whom the Scriptures are the Rule by which all Disputes ought to be determined and therefore the Gifts of Miracles were sometimes manifested among (d) Ad Orthodox inter Justin Martyr Oper. Respons v. Hereticks for the Conviction of Infidels which is the true end and design of Miracles and not to be any Note of Distinction between the Orthodox and Hereticks The learned (e) In Irenae Dissert 11. §. 28. c. Mr. Dodwell by an historical Account of Miracles from the Times of the Apostles through the Ages next succeeding has shewn that they were always adapted to the Necessities of the Church being more or less frequent as the State of the Church required till they at last wholly ceased when there was no longer any need of them For the only end and use of miraculous Gifts is the Confirmation and Establishment of Religion and therefore when this is once fully confirmed and established they can be no longer needful But it seems rather necessary that they should afterwards cease than that they should be continued I mean as to any constant Power of working Miracles residing in the Church For tho' there may possibly be some extraordinary Cases in which it may please God to manifest a miraculous Power yet there is no Reason to conclude that a constant Power of working Miracles should be continued to the Church but rather that those Gifts should cease when Religion has been confirmed by a perpetual Course of Miracles for some Hundreds of Years together Because I. Miracles when they became common would lose the design and end and the very Nature of Miracles For the Nature of Miracles consists in this that they are an extraordinary VVork of God not that they are more difficult than the ordinary works of Nature All things are alike easy to God and Miracles are as easy as any thing in the constant course of Nature can be the only difference is that Miracles are his wonderful Work they are more apt to raise our Wonder and Admiration and to put us in mind of a Divine Presence For we wonder at strange and unusual things and suppose a more than ordinary Reason for them But if Miracles had continued in all Ages this Effect of Miracles would have ceased and they would no longer have been Miracles but a kind of different Course of Nature For according to the best and most accurate Philosophy nothing in the settled Course of Nature can be performed without an