Subjection is in truth past all rational denial Whence comes that inherent distinction of good and evil every man is born with and which nothing humane can either alter or abrogate but with reference to Gods authority over him What is that we call Conscience in every man but Gods vicegerent here below and the Vicar-general of his supreme Rule over the World Epicurus perceiving that if he once admitted any such thing as that we call the Law of Nature or an inherent distinction of good and evil in Men Providence from thence would necessarily be implied positively denyes it saying there is no such thing as the Law of Nature nor any thing of that kind and maintains this Hypothesis that there is nothing in the naked Essence of things that discriminates them but that all difference of things comes from Custom and Positive Law First I must needs say that Epicurus by this Doctrine renders himself unworthy of all debate and discourse because he denies common experience and what every man may know to be true from his own breast without farther information And there needs no other demonstration then an appeal to all impartial Reason in the Case Aristotle sayes and upon good grounds that no dispute ought to be admitted against experience because if I once bring that into question I disclaim all ground of certainty And therefore amongst all wise men things of common experience are still excluded and set aside from all debate and dispute How great stress soever the Epicureans lay upon this Principle and they lay very great upon it both from the Reason of things in themselves considered and from common experience 't is proved to be equally false and pernitious The Law of Nature I call the dictates of right Reason shewing good or evil to be in some things by their agreement or disagreement with the rational Nature and so consequently to be commanded and forbidden by the Author of Nature God himself The truth of this definition will appear very evident for first a Natural Law must needs be seated in the Rational faculty as being the superior part of man Nothing can truly or properly be said to be a Rule or a Law to a Rational Being arising from it self but the genuine dictates of Reason Secondly whatsoever my Reason tells me is in it self good by its agreement to that judgment my Reason makes of what is so I must needs think that agreeable to the Nature of God and must needs think my self under obligation to it from God Under obligation to it I must be because of mine own judgment about it and that Judgment must needs oblige me as a Law given to me from God because 't was he made me with a faculty so judging and is in truth himself the author of this Judgment by creating the faculty that necessarily makes it Whatever Judgment God makes a man with must needs be a Law from God given to him and he can never depart from it without offending him that was the Author of it and placed it within him as a Rule of his Being Whatever judgment God made me with concerning my self and all other things is his Judgment And what is Gods Judgment is a Law to me and I can never oppose it without sin being in mine own existence made with a necessary subjection unto him Now I say that by the Judgment of the Rational faculty and the dictates of right Reason Mankind necessarily make such a distinction of things that is they determine some actions and some things to be in themselves intrinsically good and others intrinsically evil from the Nature of the things themselves as they stand related to the Rational Judgment abstracted from all collateral considerations whatever And there is no reason to be given of that more then of the faculty of Reason it self that Man is created by God with a faculty so judging He that denies the being of this natural Law must obliterate the judgment of Reason by which every man becomes a necessary and unrepealable Law to himself in his opinion of things 'T is effect to deny a man to be Rational to make all things alike to him as to the good or evil of them because the faculty we call Reason exists in every man with such an innate distinction No man using his Reason can think falshood and truth equally good in themselves Justice and injustice Mercy and Cruelty are distinguished by the fundamental constitution of our beings and can never be equal competitors to a Rational approbation A man may well say that the determinations that men make upon the plainest demonstrations depend not upon the intrinsick certainty of the Rational faculty as to say their determinations about good and evil do not so For the one lie every jot as connate to the Judgment of the Rational faculty as the other A corrupt vicious man has the Judgment of all unblassed Reason against him as much as a false conclusion in Mathematicks And a Virtuous man for him as much as the most evident demonstrable Truth No man of untainted intellectuals can equally esteem a Religious Socrates and a profane Caligula and a sensual Sardanapalus and a virtuous Cato Many things appear to us in themselves intrinsically good and so oblige us from the dictates of Reason and those primary statutes of Nature and no positive Law can alter or supersede the Obligation That Children should obey their Parents and not Parents the Children has no indifferency in it nor can the Obligation be removed or inverted by any Custom or positive Law that the Deity should be venerated is a Statute of Nature Epicurus himself confesseth we are to venerate the Deity for its excellency But upon what ground I would know If upon the ground of our natural light and an Obligation arising from the innate dictates of Reason he must then admit the Laws of Nature and by so doing 't is certain he destroys his own Doctrine and will be forced to acknowledge a Providence If barely upon positive Law he falls under this horrible absurdity to make it at the pleasure of Men for so are all things that depend meerly upon positive Law whether the Deity shall be so venerated or no. If the being of a Deity and the excellency of such a being be established by natural light I am sure the Veneration of him is so too and if it be not so established but made to be indifferent to believe whether there be such being or no Men may then by their own pleasure make and unmake their Gods as they do their Pictures and Statues When we are told we must venerate the Deity for its excellency we are told that which is true but as Epicurus did circumstantiate this Doctrine 't was not like to produce much Religion for at the same time he denies the being of all natural Laws and makes all things in themselves indifferent and also denies all Providence and any future Estate after this lâ—fe by which all
rewards and punishments are excluded so that the Epicurean Religion is in the very foundation of it wholly Precarious and depends upon the pleasure of men or else destructive to it self and its own Principles The Deity is to be venerated for its excellency sayes the Epicureans that is if Men please to make Laws it shall be so for otherwise 't is in it self indifferent If they say 't is not indifferent but that we are obliged so to do by a natural determination of Reason that 's an acknowledging of the Law of Nature and therein an admission of Providence To say the Deity must be venerated and at the same time to say that all actions and things are in themselves indifferent is plainly to say there are no stated rules for this veneration farther than positive Laws make them and that a man may practise any thing the very worst of things supposing positive Laws not to forbid them and yet be a Religious venerator of the Deity the admission of which is lothsome to all Mankind To say that a Man must venerate the Deity and yet to annex no reward to the doing of it nor any punishment to the not doing of it here nor hereafter is to prepare men to be Religious by telling them before hand if they be so it shall be no whit the better for them and if they be not so it shall not be one jot the worse This notion of Epicurus which yet is the whole of his Divinity so circumstantiated seems to me so weak an attempt toward any thing of Religion that I rather think of him as Cicero does That he was a man perfectly without any Religion and had no belief of a Deity at all For so says he of him in the end of his first Book De Nat. Deor Verius est igitur illud nimirum quod familiaris omnium nostrum Posidonius disseruit In libro quinto De natura Deorum Nullos esse Deos Epicuro videri quaeque is de Diis immortalibus dixerit invidiae detestandae gratia dixisse Two things of which the whole world in all ages have had experience do evidently discover the falshood of this position that all things are in themselves alike to mankind till custome and positive Law make a difference First VVe find men passing a judgment upon themselves in the Closet of their own breasts accusing and excusing themselves about matters no way connizable and no way determined by any positive Law but meerly guided herein by the unavoidable evidence that their own Reason gives in concerning the good or evil of things In all times and ages this Truth hath been established For as Cicero says truely Time wears out errours of opinion but confirmes all Natural truths Every mans own reason carryes an innate condemnation in it to some things as evil and an approbation of others as good and this no way founded in Customes or Laws of times or places but in the very faculty of Reason it self and is neither Created nor can be Abrogated by any thing humane For as Philo say well Lex mentiri nescia est recta ratio quae Lex non ab hoc aut ab illo mortali mortalis non in Chartis aut Columnis exanimis exanima sed corrumpi nescia quippe ab immortali natura insculpta in immortali intellectu If there were no Laws but positive and what had their rise among men were men under no obligation to the natural Light of their own beings How can we conceive rational creatures to make a Conscience to themselves about things no way determined by any such positive Laws What mens Laws reach not no man can be reasonably thought to be concern'd in Conscience about if there be no Superiour Law of God because where there is no Law there can be no offence and so no foundation of Guilt Nor is it conceivable that custome can be the foundation of such Conscience in men and of that different Judgment they make to themselves of things from whence that Conscience ariseth because the principle upon which men go in these natural determinations are generally the same and agreed to by all And 't is highly unreasonable to suppose the whole World should every where agree in a custome of judging things to be otherwise then indeed they be and subject themselves in their own breasts to such an eroneous Judgment and that the constant determination of the publick reason of the world that some things are in themselves good and others are in themselves evil was at first founded in a mistake and that that mistake became customary and universal This is a thing that carries the utmost of improbability in it and is in effect to say mankind is not reasonable and to put the Fool upon the whole World Besides the determinations of our Reason about the good or evil of things are at the present justified to us to be pure and abstracted from all byas either from custome or from positive Laws from the nature of the things themselves and the most genuine judgment of Reason it self in its judging of them And he that will say that we are no way certain but that our best judgment about good and evil may be for ought we know grounded upon custome so mistaken may as well say that all other judgment is so too And so in effect say we are no way sure but that all the reason of the world 's nothing else but a great customary mistake Secondly There are natural Laws by which things are in themselves differenced proved to be previous to all positive Laws Because all positive Laws appear plainly to have their rise from those primary Laws of Nature and to suppose them The common principles of Natures Laws have been the common principles of all positive Laws every where How different soever positive Laws have been amongst themselves in other things yet the Grand Maxims of Nature founded upon that innate distinction of good and evil men are born withall have been universally admitted by all Legislators General effects we say must have general causes And that general consent we find in all positive Laws to such natural Maxims does evidently declare such Maximes to be the Universal sentiments of mankind and those original Laws annexed to the beings of men in their first frame and constitution by which things in themselves are primarily discriminated antecedently to all positive Laws and from whence all positive Laws have their subsequent rise Should this Epicurean doctrine be admitted That all things are originally and in their own nature alike till differenced by positive Law or Custome three things would evidently result from it The first ruinous to all policy The second to all Religion And the third destructive to both First No Man that thought all things originally indifferent and the whole world and all the actions of it as to good or evil to be Rasa tabula could ever be obliged farther then force or his own interest prevailed
to men of one perswasion Whenever men in order to the founding of any Science lay down positions and Principles upon which they proceed if such Principles be beyond the first and common rudiments of every mans Reason though in themselves never so true yet they ought to be subject to debate and admitted questionable in all Reasonings about that very Science Not to admit some universal Maxims is the way to make Mankind certain of nothing and to admit any particular mens Opinions as indisputable Principles is the way to inslave the World to every party The Scriptures are the first Principles of Christians but not of Men. The first of Christian Religion but not of all Science And therefore we ought to begin their Proof against all Antiscriptural opposition from the common Notions of every mans Religion and Reason and from thence induce an assent to their Divine and Sacred Authority which we shall find God has made sufficiently evident to a rational and impartial inquiry Secondly The Testimony given by the Holy Ghost in the Minds and Consciences of Men to the Truth of the Scriptures though it be the most convincing Evidence that can be given to them and that way God is pleased to reserve to himself of giving men an unquestionable satisfaction about that and all other Divine things yet 't is not to be urged in proof of the Scriptures against its professed Adversaries And that upon two accounts First Because the blessed Spirit it self is not a common demonstrable Principle amongst Mankind and so cannot be made use of against those that know no such Testimony nor admit the being of any such Principle Nothing but what a man does assent to can with any good Reason be urged upon him to prove what he does not assent to To go about to prove the Scriptures by any Evidence arising from the Holy Ghost must needs be visibly absurd because there is no other way to prove that there is any such thing in Being as the Holy Ghost but by the Scriptures themselves So that what I am about to prove must first be admitted before I can make good the existence of that Medium I take to prove it by Secondly Whatever Evidence the Holy Ghost gives to any man to assure him of the Truth of any proposition that Evidence as such can never go beyond his own Breast nor can I ever prove any thing by it as it is a Divine and infallible Evidence because such Evidence is no way Communicable to another but in an ordinary way Nothing is visible to another in such cases but the Reasons I can produce The Divine illumination I have within my self to convince me that such Reasons are Cogent and prevailing can never be so demonstrated as to convince another that has no such illumination The illuminations of the Holy Ghost in the Minds of Men are no other way to be conceived of then that he is pleased to propose the right Grounds and Reasons upon which things are to be believed and to convince and satisfie the understanding that they are so and to bring men to acquiesce in Conclusions by assertaining them of the Truth of the Premises 'T were Heterodox and false and one of the worst sorts of Enthusiasme to say That Divine illumination were not always accompanied with rational Evidence And that any thing were the product of the Holy Ghost in the Minds of Men for which no Reason could be given 't were most unsuitable to a reasonable being and most contrary to the manner of Gods dealing with Men all the intercourse between God and Man being maintained by the truest exercise of our rational faculties and no otherwise Whoever rests assured from a Divine Testimony of the Truth of the Scriptures as coming from God may deal with an Antiscripturist by those Grounds and Reasons upon which such Testimony is built But will vainly and to no purpose urge that satisfaction he receives of the validity of such Grounds and Reasons from such a Testimony when that Testimony can be no further made Evident then by such Reasons and Arguments as he is able to produce for it of the sufficiency of which every other Mans Reason in an ordinary way must necessarily be the Judge To this present undertaking there ought also to be this praeliminary Consideration that as there are divers Things of divers Natures true so there are various ways of rendring the Truth of them Evident and Mediums of proof proper and peculiar to each This is visible in Aethicks in Physicks in Mathematicks and in all other Sciences When we discourse of the Bible divers things will come in question the Truth of which by various Mediums of proof must be established First in the general whether it be reasonable to believe that there should be any such Supernatural Law as this sent from Heaven or no! This is to be cleared from the exercise of our own Reason and the common principles of such natural Religion as every man is born with Secondly whether this Book as 't is now proposed to us be in the Matter of it such as is likely to come from God and to be that Law by which the Supreme Maker of all things would Rule and Judge the World This must also be cleared from that Natural Divinity that lodges in every Man 's own Breast and those primary Notions of God and Religion which all unprejudiced Reason assents to and which are antecedently supposed to all discourses of Revelation and whatever is Supernatural Thirdly whether this Book was written by those Persons whose Names it bears and in those Times wherein it avows it self to be written Whether such Miracles were wrought such Praedictions fulfilled All things of that Nature being matters of fact must be proved to us by credible Testimonies and by such means as can ascertain us about a matter of fact and a thing long since past He that demands to be satisfied about a matter of fact long since past and yet denies to acquiesce in Historical Evidence is so absurd as at the same time to propose a Doubt and resolves against all way of Answer Fourthly whether this Book as now we have it be the same it was when it was first written and have not been since corrupted or changed The proof of this depends upon what may be rationally urged to make it credible That this Book should still be secured by a Divine care and to render the ways and means Historically Evident by which such a Divine care in all Times and Ages hath been exerted And so in all other things that may be in doubt about the Bible there are proper inducements to our belief as will appear hereafter and such as the Nature of such a subject requires And he that will not acquiesce in a belief of things upon the Evidence they are capable of though perhaps not so full and convincing as some other things will afford declares himself to be obstinately willful and absurd Nothing
and did so greedily embrace whatever they thought came from above The truth is there is in every man not besotted with sensuality and brutishly degenerated an earnest thirst after the knowledg of God and Supernatural things And there is as clear a Conviction upon every Reasonable man that without some further discovery from God himself then what this World and our own contemplations thereupon will afford us no satisfying account of those things can be attained Thirdly Man is a Creature designed by his own Faculties for a Converse with the Diety and by Natural Obligation Tends to an Intercourse with God To serve him acceptably and to pay the Homage due from us in such away as we may be fully ascertained is pleasing to him and will be rewarded by him is absolutely necessary to all humane welfare That is The greatest concern we have in this world is to be fully instructed about Divine Worship And this seems no way attainable without some Revelation That God is and that he is to be Served my Reason will tell me But What he is and after what Manner he Exists the knowledge whereof is indispensibly necessary in all our Approches to him as that without which we shall be sure to Debase his Excellency and to represent to our selves some vain Idea's and Fantasmes of our own imagination I must be taught from above And for the manner how he is to be served and what will be acceptable to him therein I must look upward and expect a full and compleat direction from thence Mankind seem una voce to have concenter'd in this as a thing most sit yea necessary that God should from Heaven reveal to us the way of his own Worship and Teach us the Methods of our Converse with Him Where can we find a Religion in any Nation not founded upon some Pretences to Revelation and established upon this Admission 'T were indeed a most irrational thing and a great Indignity offered to the Supreme Majesty to make Men their own Judges in that case and to suppose it left to the Arbitrary Determinations of Humane Discretion How God should be worshipped The consideration of the Wisdome and Sovereignty of God and our own Dependance upon him is singly sufficient to evince this Truth that we ought to be under a Law and a Stated Rule for the Manner of our Serving of him Without which we can never intitle the best of our Services to Obedience or upon any good Grounds be secured of Acceptance Not ought we to judge that any Worship ever found favour with God that had not the stamp of his own Command and was not by himself some way or other Appointed Though 't is fit to believe that God was well pleased with the Moral goodness of the Heathen world and any real conformity there was amongst them to that Natural Diâ—inity that is originally annexed to every mans Being and greatly displeased with the contrary and rewarded and punished them upon their Good and Ill behaviour in those things yet t is not to be doubted but that the whole of their own contrived Worship with all the Rites and Ceremonies of it was a thing to God most Odious and Detestable And of this we are well assured not only from the Reason of the thing considered in it self but from a very Authentick Determination that tells us The whole of that Worship was a Service performed to Devils Nor could any the best Intentions that any men ever yet had since the world began sufficiently excuse for Will-worship and Idolatry There are but two ways by which any worship can be aâ—pointed by God Either by a Law Natural given to us in our first Constitution or by some Revealed Laws since The Foundation of all Worship must be either in Nature or Institution The Point then to be proved will be this That God has not by any Natural Laws given to Mankind a sufficient direction about his Worship and that Intercourse between Himself and the World that respecting either his own Honour or mans Happiness is necessary to be maintained and all mankind naturally tend to But has left us to expect it in a Supernatural way That God by a Law Natural binds us to acknowledg his Being and has given us sufficient notices of it in General and binds us to acknowledg that there is an Honour and Worship due to his Being and has given us some General Innate directions about the performance of it I grant And has also obliged us to Live according to the Dictates of our Rational Nature which shews to us Good and Evil by that very Nature which becomes Obligatory to it self In these things our own Reason is our Law and according to that Law men without Revelation are Rewarded and Punished And so I doubt not but all the Heathen Nations were But the Laws of Nature the dictates of the best Reason are not intrusted with such a plenary direction about Worship as 't is necessary for us to have and we all tend to Nor can any man be a sufficient Law to himself in those things And that may be thus made to appear All Worship must either be confined to Words Thoughts and Bodily Gestures and simply Terminated there or else it must be extended to some further expressions of Service by an Appropriation of some other Mediums unto it First No part of the World have ever yet thought it a thing Reasonable that God should be no otherwise served then by Thoughts Gestures and Words Both the Principles and Practices of all Nations have in all times declared the contrary Nor has any Worship in any Place been established or such a constitution framed as that we call Religion without some other expressions of service and some other External Mediums appropriated to it And this seems to have arisen from two things First Men have never supposed their Words or their Thoughts or their Gestures to be alone a sufficient expression of that Homage they are naturally sensible they owe to the Greatness and Bounty of God for their own Beings and the Donation of this world which he has visibly bestowed upon Man in making the Whole in a subserviency to Him and giving him the plenary and quiet possession of it But they still thought themselves bound to a further expression of Gratitude and Subjection Secondly Mankind in every Age have applied to God under a sense of Sin and of Guilt contracted by it and upon that account have still adjudged it as necessary to make some further Offering to God for their sins and by some other Mediums then bare Thoughts and naked Expressions to apply to Him about them No man ever yet imagined such a service a sufficient Compensation for Sin but have still attempted a further Satisfaction to the Justice above and by some other ways have indeavoured to appease Divine Anger Now the Reason of the world does not issue it self into any positive Certainty about such things as it does about things
to him as his rational being calls for and he himself is capable of And to arrive at this there is no possibility without Revelation Natural Divinity if duely pursued points men directly to Supernatural from a sense of its own deficiency And our Natural light shews us the necessity of Revelation from its own imperfect discoveries and by directing us to many Daties in general which without Revelation we know not well how to perform My natural light tells me of a Sapreme and Perfect Being that made me but gives me no distinct or satisfying information about him My natural light enjoyns me to Worship him but cannot sufficienly direct me in the way of it My Natural light tells me I am upon Ill terms with God and bids me is my nearest concern indeavour a Reconciliation with him and assures me of the possiâ—ilit of it from the general notion I have of his Goodness but can give me no sure and certain Directions for the obtaining of it In short My natural light tells me Man is a Creature made for Supernatural enjoyments for Rewards and Punishments from God Superiour to this World but discovers not unto me sufficient and infallible means which in this case is of absolute necessity to my welfare for the obtaining the one or avoiding the other but bids me look upward and expect to be further taught from above So that to say there is no Revelation at all That God has left Mankind wholly to the conduct of Nature is plainly to say God has left Man under that unhappiness which no Creature is under besides himself that is not fully informed about those things he is most concerned to know nor sufficiently enabled to obtain the great End of his Being 'T is to say God has made a reasonable Creature with a direct tendency towards himself and the highest Supernatural good with great Hopes and sears of Rewards and Punishments from him and with inherent Obligations in his own Nature relating to both and vet hath left him with great uncertainty and obscurity to contemplate about these things and has given him no sufficient or to his own Reason satisfying directions about them then which no conception more vile and impious and in it self more contrary to all true notion of God can at any time infest the minds of men If it be acknowledged there is any where extant a Revelation from God to the World let it be produced Let the best â—ival to the Bible upon that account or all its Competitors together be brought foâ—th and let but the dictates of right and impartial Reason of Reason as much it self as we are able to conceive it as abstracted from all prejudice all Byass of Custom Education or any câ—llateral interest as we can suppose it be the Judge and we shall soon pat an end to the Contest Let men be but true to that Divinity they are born with and to the gennine issues of their own Reason which must be the Judge in this case and the Bible must needs be Predominant and prevail against all Competition And that will be thus made to appear There are somethings which by the Judgement of right Reason must necesiarily be appurtenant to a Revelation from God and such a Divine Law as we are in pursuit of and without which it cannot reasonably be supposed Now we find those things peculiarly to belong to the Bille and that they are no way applicable to any other Writings or Pretences to Revelation whatsoever And this being so as by the following particulars 't will undeniably appear to be where any Revelation in the general is admitted the Bible cannot with any colour of Reason be rejected And in truth its Divine Authority will against all opposition be established First There must be reasonably supposed in any Divine Laws God shall reveal to the world such a Legislative Authority expressed in Commanding in Promising in Threatning and throughout the whole of them as is by the judgement of our own Reason suitable to the Sovereignty of God and our natural subjection to him that is we must needs suppose God to give Laws in a way like himself In this respect the Bible is singular No Book under under Heaven contains such an assumption of Supremacy over the world nor speaks to us in such a manner with that Majesty and uncontrollable Authority in Gods own Name as this doth Requires indispensible obedience from from all Mankind to whatever it enjoyns as the Will and Pleasure of the Great God upon the highest Penalty That of Eternal destruction to Soul and Body How far any man could have gone in this respect in personating the Supreme Majesty of God and abusing the world with a Counterfeit of his Divine Authority needs not to be considered in this case though 't is certain the Bible has out gone all the possible contrivance of Men in such a way and none but God himself could have spoke to the world in words so becoming his own greatness and so suitable to those conceptions right Reason will give us of him because though many Books and Writings have made a claim to Revelation besides the Bible yet in fact no Book nor Writing has so much as attempted to Command the world in so Majestick a way nor indeed in any way becoming the Greatness and Sovereignty of God The Bible has a peculiarity in this respect above all other Writings that have been extant since the world began We find not an instance where any have so far usurped the Throne of God as with such an absolute superintendency to dictate to the world All pretended Revelations have in this visibly discovered their own nakedness and betrayed their own mean descent Not one of them having been clothed with such a Divine Majestick Authority as becomes a product of Infinite Wisdom and Power and most of them no way suitable to the common Prudence of men The Ancient Heathen pretences to Revelation were for the most part the meanest and most trifling part of those Ages wherein they were extant And that Alchoran which in later times Mabomet has father'd upon Revelation is a Systeme of Laws so prodigiously unsuitable to the Majesty of God that 't is much of it no way reconcileable to common Discretion or any way worthy an Edition from Wise or or Good men Secondly My Reason will tell me that a Revelation from God to the World must needs be supposed to give us an Account of all things necessary for us to know and to carry in it a Compleatness and Sufficiency of Instruction and Direction for all the great Ends of Mankind relating to this life and a future 'T is not imaginable that God should make a Revelation to the world and not make it proportionate and sufficient to all the Ends of Revelation The great End of Revelation is to supply the Desiciencies of Nature for if Nature were in it self perfect and without defect there needed then no Revelation and to
bring us to the best way of Living we are capable of in this World both in respect of God of our selves and all others The Doctrines and Precepts of this Holy Book are so justified to us from the Light of our own Reason and do so directly tend to the perfection of our Nature and so guide us to what we our selves judge to be best that 't were extream unreasonable to judge it an Effect of the vilest and worst sort of Imposture Never any Doctrine taught men to live so dutifully to God so comfortably to themselves and so usefully one to another so tuneably in all Holiness and Righteousness as this of the Bible does The Doctrines of this Book are most transparent Beams of Divine Perfection They are a Rule given according to what is eternally existing in the Holy Nature of God so far as we are capable of a conformity to it And that in the judgement of right Reason is the Highest and Noblest account of all good Living For we cannot do better than in our Measure to correspond to Divine Perfection No Law can with greater Reason and less Arbitrariness nor more indispensably oblige us than that which appears to be grounded upon the Eternal and Unchangeable Nature of God And such are the Laws of the Gospel The great Design of which is to assimilate men so far as their Faculties will bear it to the excellent Nature of God and that rational Idea of it we are all born withal What crooked and imperfect Lines have men drawn in their best Documents both Moral and Divine compared with this compleat and excellent Rule of Holy Living What Pure and Spiritual Worship is here How suitable to the Holy Nature of God! What undefiled Religion without the least mixture of Idolatry or Superstition What Superlative Piety and Vertue without any one spot of Vice Yea forbidding Evil in the very Thoughts What punctual and perpetual Truth and Honesty is here required upon no other grounds but pleasing God doing good to Others and hopes of a Reward hereafter There 's not the least taint upon any one Duty the Scripture requires from us by proposing any base mean or sordid Ends. No vain Glory No esteem from Men No corrupt Advantages are made the ultimate End of our Obedience The best way of living and upon the noblest account is here proposed to us An exact Scripture-Life has as much of Heaven as can well descend upon Earth Makes the World as quiet an Habitation as it can be and Man-kind as happy in themselves and as easie one to another in all Converse and Society as they themselves can wish to be Where is there a Man not degenerated below his own Reason but approves the Scripture-Precepts as Excellent and justifies Him in his own Breast that conforms most to them No well-disciplin'd Heathen can refuse so to do What Charity is here required Still we are bid to hope the best To look upon all Men with a kind eye and to interpret them into the best sense they are capable of What commands Not to offend weak Ones What mutual Forgivenesses What provocations to Love What strict injunctions to do good to all men upon all occasions With what patience and meekness are we taught to behave our selves Indeed 't is such a Doctrine as makes a Man perfect throughly furnished to every good Work Brings men to the best way of Living the noblesâ— Principles of Suffering and the comfortablest way of Dying Now How can we better-judge of a Law that pretends to come from God and to be of Divine Mission than by its Nature the great Tendency of it and the influence it has upon Humane Life And when we find so holy and excellent a Design as appears throughout this whole Book for the honouring of God and compleating the Happiness of Men and in a way so corresponding to the judgement of right Reason and that Divinity we are Born with What can we otherwise judge but that such a Book must needs be from God Such pure and untainted Streams of Prety and Vertue must needs slow from the Fountain of all Perfection 'T is not possible to imagine that the Devil or any Ill Men should be ever either able or willing to compose a Book of such a Nature that should reduce the World to such a posture as This does To make men the best Subjects to God the best Friends to themselves and the most useful Citizens one to another Nothing less than an Infinite Wisdom could have contrived so great a Happiness for the World And nothing less than Infinite Goodness it self can be reasonably thought to be the Dispenser of it 'T is extreamly absurd to think that That Doctrine which in the judgment of the best Reason is the most Pure and Excellent and most useful to the World of any we find in it should be the product of the Devil or the worst sort of Impostors and that â—t must be if it be not from God for there 's no middle way 'T is to suppose that such should out-do Divine-Goodness in that wherein my Reason bids me expect the highest expression of it And in truth That the World should stand more indebted to such Benefactors for the best things than to God himself Fourthly We find in this Book a full and most comprehensive account of the Revolution of this whole World in all its changeable Vicissitudes and of God's visible Providence in the disposal of all Humane Affairs Indeed We find this Book a compleat Map of the Whole Affair of the World and God's Government of it There evidently appears an exact Conformity between the course of the World and what we are here told of it Nothing comes at any time to pass contradictive of but according to what is here revealed to us And this we shall sind if we consider the course of things either in a Natural way a Moral way or a Spiritual way First In a Natural way The natural course of the World has continued to this time according to what Moses at first as from the Mouth of God declared about it That there should be Seed-time and Harvest cold and heat Summer and Winter and that Day and Night should not cease but succeed each other Secondly In a Moral way The Scripture has given us a Summary yet satisfactory and full account of what-ever we have seen acted amongst Man-kind to this day and told us in general of all those Principles Designs and Practices by which the Wheel of this World has been turn'd about by the restless minds of Men in all Ages So that we see nothing under the Sun of which we are not some way inform'd in this Book Thirdly In a Spiritually way Here we have an exact account of all that Divine Intercourse which has been or at any time is between God and Men The manner of it set down and the general method of God's proceedings in his convincing enlightning sanctifying satisfying and comforting the
particular Answer ought to be given to it As God in making the World has left us undeniable Evidence that he himself is the Author of it but yet has left us without an Answer to many questions men may ask about it and made it very suitable to our reason to think we should be so left and to suppose a sinite capacity not fully able to comprehend the product of Infinite Wisdom and Power so in his Rule over the World we have undeniably Evidence that he does Rule but in the manner of his doing it we see many passages that far out-go our comprehension If any man say that in Gods first make of the World we acquiesce singly in his Sovereignty nor need we go farther therein then the bare act of his Will but in his Rule of the World 't is not so there we expect the visible effects of his Justice suitable to those natural Laws he has given to us and that capacity of judging between just and unjust by which we ascend upward and come to be ascertained that there is a supreme and perfect Justice in God I answer 't is true that Gods Will was the great Reason at first of the make of the world but yet we must look upon his Will as the Effect of his wisdom and it cannot be otherwise God could not will to make any thing that would not be Wisely made when it was made nor can we suppose he should And yet 't were as reasonable to deny Gods make of the World because I cannot see the visible Effects of his Wisdom in every part of it as to deny his Rule of the World because in every passage of it his Justice is not visible to me All the Philosophers heretofore agreed to this as a general Truth that Nature produced nothing in vain And yet never any nor all of them could give a distinct account of the Reason and Use of every particular If there be sufficient ground to assure me that God made the World in the general 't is absurd to question the Wisdom or the Reason of any Particular So if there be Evidence sufficient to establish Gods general Providence over the whole his Justice in Particulars is thereby necessarily implied The being of Providence in general is not only proved upon such rational grounds as every unprejudiced man must needs acquiesce in but in many things we are experimentally convinced of the Being of it from the Effects of it He that denies the existence of Providence can admit but of two ways by which any thing can be supposed to come to pass either from the Moral determinations of Men and their Actings thereupon or else from some purely Natural Cause Now 't is evident that many things have and do come to pass in a visible judicial way which have not their rise from any humane Judgment nor can with any good Reason be derived from any natural operation and can be ascribed to nothing else but Gods supreme Judgment Virtue and Religion have been often rewarded and wickedness brought to a due punishment before Mens Eyes in this World by ways unthought of and undesigned by any and out of the reach of all humane Authority and in such a manner as no man impartially judging can possibly imagine to come to pass by a meerly casual conjunction of natural Causes but must needs acknowledge an effect of Divine Justice therein And of this we are informed by the Records of all Ages and no one Age passeth without some experience of it This objection how great soever it may seem to be will be sufficiently removed in every candid opinion if two things be made appear First That there is good ground upon which to establish the belief of a providence in general which hath been proved already And Secondly that a satisfactory account may be given how the present course of the world and this providence may very well consist together And this latter may be done by the consideration of two things First our own great Incapacity to judge of the whole of providence or of very many parts of it And secondly the rational supposition of a Future State The first ought to make us cautious not to impeach providence hastily nor to deny it when we cannot fully comprehend it The second ought fully and finally to satisfy us in all such cases where we see Gods providence and his justice are not in this world reconcileable For the first How reasonable is it to conceive that the ways and methods of God in his providence should not be fully grasped by our comprehension when he is so much above us in those excellent attributes by which they are contrived and brought about The Rule of the world and the harmony of providence in conducting all things to a common end is an effect of the same infinity by which the world was at first produced 'T is unreasonable for us when God Rules to expect an exact and perfect Knowledg of all his proceedings No humane abilities can create a competent Judg of the whole or of very many particular parts of Gods providential Rule over the World and that for these three Reasons First God knows the Aims Ends and Intentions of all Men in what they do he sees the inside as well as the outside of the whole World and proceeds according to the compleatness and intire Circumstances of every Action This we are no way capable of and so in many passages of his Providence no fit Judges of his proceedings 'T is a great piece of folly to judg of Conclusions when we are uncertain of the Premises and to call in question Gods determinations when we know not the grounds of them Secondly God has designs to accomplish and bring about in this World of which we are totally ignorant and 't is very unwise to find fault with what God does and be angry that we cannot comprehend it when we know nothing of those Ends 't is designed to 'T was weakly done of Cato and a great defection from his discretion to fall foul upon Providence because he could not find out a Reason why Caesar had the conquest of Pompey when he must needs be ignorant of that future Monarchy and all the Consequences of it God designed to set up in Rome upon the foundation of his Successes We see often by a subsequent course of Providence great Reason for that of which we could give no account at first The future Events of good Mens sufferings often reveal to us a sufficient Reason for it and reconcile mens opinions to the Wisdom and Justice of Providence The impunity of ill Men in the worst Actions becomes sometimes very intelligible to us even in this World by the after disposal of things This we have excellently discoursed of in Plutarchs incomparable Treatise De sera Numinis vindicta Had the famous Constantine suffered what was due to the eminent sins of his Youth what a loss had the World had of the Virtues of
in themselves Morally Good and Morally Evil. No mans Reason determines about the positive Use of any such Outward Mediums of Worship nor can assure me of Gods distinguishing Acceptance in any of them And to be upon certain grounds of Acceptance with God is the chief thing in all our VVorship Nor is any man by Nature a clear and certain Law to himself about such things Nor is it possible he should Because there is no Intrinsically Religious Good as to matter of Worship in any parts of the world but all such goodness results purely from Institution God has not sanctified any part of the Creation to his Service in such a way by any unalterable obligation arising from the Rational Nature No such External Mediums of Worship are founded in Reason but all in Institution 'T is true the Light of Nature will direct me to that behaviour of my self in the performance of all Worship which I think most Decent and Reverent But for any External Mediums of Worship the Light of Nature will give me no certain Direction at all If any parts of the World be to be made use of in Worship as by the judgment of God himself and the practice of the whole world it has been declared Necessary that some should be we must then both for the Choice and the Use of such parts of the World be wholly guided and steered by Revelation And the truth is every mans own Reason is Impregnated with Obligations to a further Degree of Worship and Divine Homage then Reason it self is able to be a Safe and a Certain guide to us in and directs us to many Duties which we want Revelation to teach us how to performe Which has in all Ages made the world so inquisitive after it and shews us how Rationally we tend Upward in this matter and how greatly our own Natures prepare us to expect and receive Instructions from Above Secondly Should this be admitted that Divine Worship might be confined simply to Thoughts Gestures and Words yet would not our natural light inable us to acquit our selves as we ought in this matter nor well to perform such a service as that without supernatural help There be two great ends of all worship which though inseparable in their attainment are yet distinct in their application and if not attained the whole of mens attempts that way will prove altogether useless and fruitless First in a right manner to give to God the Honour due from us to him And Secondly to provide sufficiently for our own welfare by an acceptance with him For the First how can we Honour God with the Honour due to him unless we have a right Knowledge of him and such a discovery of his Being as may fully inform and ascertain our minds about him which we never can have nor to this day the World never had without Revelation 'T is impossible to Honour God as we ought unless according to our measure we know him as in truth he is and 't is equally impossible to know what God is unless it be told us by himself 'T is not simply sufficient to Capacitate me for a due address to the Deity to know in the general that there is a Supreme Wisdom and Justice and Power above me that some way or other exists which is all my Reason will tell me but I must have some direct and distinct Knowledge of that Being wherein all those Attributes do exist Upon which as the Object of my Worship my mind may terminate and without which I shall be sure to form an Idol to my self in the room of that Being and then apply those Attributes to It. To which fatal mistake and Idolatrous delusion the World having by Nature no certain account what God was not after what manner the Deity did exist in all Ages has been too apparently subject Secondly how can we sufficiently provide for our own welfare unless we can be safely assured of the forgiveness of sin and the total removal of natural guilt And how is it possible to be so assured unless we knew the Terms of Gods forgiveness and the Means of our Reconciliation to him Of which we have no certain satisfying account given us by any dictates of Nature nor can they ever be found out until they be told us from above Men must needs make strange Prayers and have very wild and uncertain Meditations about God and their own Conditions that were benighted with Ignorance in such things Prayer and whatever else is it self a part of Natural worship would be very lamely performed without some Revelation to guide it The Pagan devotion was a medley of strange Sentiments founded in horrible Ignorance of God and of their own Condition and the way of mans Restoration Had Plato or Aristotle or the wisest amongst them but left us a Liturgy of their own Composition it would with great effect have convinced us what necessity there is of some Revelation to guide even the best understandings in all Divine addresses Two things about Worship the practice of the Heathen World has taught us beyond all reasonable denial First that Mankind have generally acknowledged it necessary that some Supernatural direction should be given for the manage of that intercourse that ought to be between God and Man and have subscribed to the shortness and defficiency of Humane Wisdom about it And Secondly that there is no one certain compleat Systeme of Worship that by the light of Nature Men do uniformly agree in The one results from their constant recourse to Supernatural enquiries and the many Enthusiastick pretensions thereupon The other from their great and eminent disagreement amongst themselves for the Pagan world who were only under the conduct of Naturallight and had in truth no Revelation at all but were still abused with the counterfeit of it fell by that guidance into endless diversity in practice and into a numberless variety of opinions about the right way of serving and approching the Deity and were universally engaged in multiplied Mediums and Methods of worship no way prescribed by any Natural Law connate with Mens beings or any general uniform issues of right Reason nor indeed were they under any direction at all either for their Choise or their Use further then what their own fancies or best guesses or some Enthusiastick Imposters could suggest to them which plainly declares there is not an ability in Nature sufficiently to guide Men in Divine worship so far as their own devotions do naturally Steer them And we that indeed have Revelation are instructed by that Revelation it self sufficiently to know the necessity there is of Revelation For we find that God by his revealed Laws does not only revive in general the whole of Natures Laws about worship and instruct us in the true Extent thereof which he does and much inlightens our natural Knowledge therein which we find was greatly defective even about Natural Duty and gives us a compleat view of our Natural Obligations
Vice had his inclination to evil as well as to that which is good been Created with him his reason would never have approved the one and condemned the other because both natural and upon equal terms in our Constitution To condemn any one part of our original constitution by another had been in it self not only unnatural and unreasonable but it had been directly to reproch our maker and our selves which nothing Created can be supposed to be so Created as naturally to do Nature as 't was first framed could never be so divided against it self A man could never have had any Conscience of evil nor any remorse for it nor could any guilt have been contracted by it had it been as now it is part of himself and at first Created with him 'T is not possible a man should judge in himself that to be evil and repent of it as such which he acted in prosecution of his first make There can be no fault in acting suitably to our original frame and composure nor any punishment due for so doing in the judgment of a rational Being because 't is impossible to do better All Conscience of evil and sin must necessarily arise from an inward conviction that we are not what we ought to be which we must needs be if we be as we were first made VVhenever my Reason tells me I do that which I ought not to do the same reason will tell me I am degenerated and do not what I was first made to do Besides 't is utterly impossible that a man should be originally Made with Opposite Inclinations and an irreconcilable conflict within himself one part condemning another by a Being that is Unity it self in all goodness and one and the same by an infinite Identity in all Perfection We can never with any common sense father Division upon Unity or that which is Imperfect and Evil upon that which is Perfectly Good or primarily derive such a Composition as Man now is from what we know God must needs be Nor can we imagine That inherent Shame we now find in the nature of Mankind relating to much of themselves could be of the Same Date with their first Constitution or that Man should be at the first so created as to be naturally ashamed of any part of Himself or anything relative to his own Being 'T was an Apostacy from what he once was must needs make him turn aside and hide himself from his own eyes 'T was Evil and Guilt must needs be the first Authors of Shame So far we may go in the Negative What we now are is not what we first were But how came the Change Has any ill Genius Since taken up its abode in Humane Nature And imposing upon it Acted it to all this Evil we See Is the world under the Tyranny of any Evil Spirit Or is man-kind degenerated by any Necessary Decay in the course of Nature Or was mans own Will the great root of Evill Came it from a Created Freedom Have men Wilfully defaced themselves If they have When was it done What was the first occasion of doing it Was it done all at once and has it ever since come by Descent and been intailed by a certain Propagation upon the world Or has its entrance been Gradual Were some only the first Authors of it Or has every man in every Age had his share in the Conspiracy In short If we suppose which we ought that Man was Not at first created with an Actual principle of Evil in his breast Whence could it primarily Arise And whence should we come to call it Sin and in the true judgment of Reason Determine against it It must be grounded upon a mans Relation and Duty to God All conscience of Evil and Sin which we have in our own Nature is still with a reference to God to his Nature and to his Will and our Subjection to him If such a thing then as Evil and Sin for they are Conjoyned by the Rational Nature must needs arise from mans Relative Subjection to God it must be by Opposing and Disobeying his Will revealed by some Law And that Law must be either Natural or Supernatural If Natural and Created with him it must needs be the Dictates of his Reason And 't is marvellous hard to conceive how Man while he was intire and untainted in the compleat furniture of his first make should without some very violent Impressions or some very strange concurrence of Accidents go astray from the guide of his own Reason and transgress such a Law as was the chief Ruling part of himself Nor are we able to give to our selves the least satissying account of it If a Law Supernatural What that Law was or How or When or by Whom Transgressed we can never discover Nor so much as make one probable Guess towards it No man will ever find an Answer to these and many other endless Enquiries that searches by the Candle-light of Nature Nor is there any one Way-mark set up to direct us No one thing has so point-blank silenced the whole world in all Ages as this has done How miserably involved in their own Confused notions were the Philosophers about this matter Never arriving at the least glimps of truth in the case Sometimes deriving Evil from the perverseness and malignity of Matter sometimes from I know not what fancyed principle of Discord Nor could they issue their Doubts at last into any better Resolve then that there were Two Supreme Beings one infinitely Good and the other infinitely Evil equally the Cause of both the principles of Good and Evil. And so were fain to Canton the Deity and to put both the Principles upon even termes which directly overthrows the dictates of all right Reason to make room for a Solution of this Problem And should we admit such a Cunning contrivance of Nonsense as two contrary Supremes it would but still further Involve us If a man were so made as he is How came it to pass that both the Deities Agreed in the doing of it and are yet perfectly Opposite and Contrary each to other Did one make the Good part and the other the Ill part Or did the Good Deity make man alone and the other Debauch him and Un-make him after 'T will not be easy in a due manner to Share him Between them And if that we naturally call Evil came originally as well as that we call Good from a Being Eternal and equally Supreme Why should the Judgment of right Reason in man be so much for the One and directly against the Other If it be so the Pedigree of the One is no whit meaner nor baser then the Other Nor is it a thing in it self possible to annex that we mean by Evil or Imperfection from whence it naturally results to what is Eternal because Eternity necessarily includes Perfection and cannot be reasonably supposed without it In such a dismal Wilderness of Ignorance and Error has Mankind wandered about
perfect Attributes the terms of our pardon must come from God 'T is not in man to find out how God shall forgive him or to to Chalk out the Tracks of Divine Justice and Mercy toward himself nor will his guilt be removed nor his thoughts be at rest till he know Gods mind about it Nothing can assure us of Reconciliation with God but what is from Heaven appointed as the means of it No natural knowledg can give us any certain direction about it nor is it reasonable to believe it should If Humane Nature had no absolute security in it self of its first state how can we expect it should restore it self when once degenerated What did not remain perfect when it was so is much more unlikely to recover again out of Imperfection to be so Every man may know he is degenerated from what he ought to be and so may reasonably collect from what he once was but no man can reason himself into a ceâ—taâ—n way of Recovery The whole world have subscribed to their own Apostacy but could never agree upon any certain remedy How miserably have Mankind tired themselves and to how little purpose in finding out what would appease Divine Anger and compensate for their disobedience No man ever yet worsâ— ipped any God but he made some Offering to him in hopes that might indemnisie him and be taken in Lieu of his own punishment Men have at a Venture offered up all parts of the world in Sacrifice have tried all experiments victimis lavacris and by all other means their best guesses could suggest to them to obliterate their own Guilt and to procure D vâ—â—e favour but never were upon any suâ—er gâ—ound then their own vain fancies for acceptance Agaâ—hias tells us in his second Book of the Peâ—sian war that the Persians were wont to solemnize a great Holy-day once a year which they called The death of Vices in which as an eminent piece of Devotion they slew multitudes of Serpents all other sorts of wild Beasts and thereby thought they should Execute all their Corruptions safely bury their sins The Philosophers abounded with remedies foâ— this Epidemical Disease Some thought to cure the evil of the world in a Moral way some in a way Mathematical and some by Religious Ceremonies But alas The right way of doing it has lain hid from Ages and Generations till God himself made it known and revealed it from Heaven VVhat a trifle is the Blood of a Sheep or an Oxe to satisfie for an Offence against an Infinite Justice At how easie and cheap a rate might men Sin and God be satisfied And what a publick tolleration of evil were it if the Blood of Bulls and Goats might take away sin and the lives of unreasonable Creatures Commute for the sins of Men The consideration of all these things does directly Steer us upward and point us to a dependance upon Revelation to give us a clear distinct and satisfying Knowledge of God of our selves and of this whole World How man came to Rebel and Sin first to enter By what ways and means Indemnity may be obtained And upon what terms we may be again reconciled to God and accepted This precious discourse the design of which is to render it a reasonable supposal that there should be in the general some Divine Revelation some Laws Supernatural promulged to the world and that Mankind should not be wholly left to the conduct of Nature can be no way ungrateful to those who are already possessed with a due esteem of the Scriptures and do assent to their verity because 't is to re-inforce one of the greatâ—st supports to all Scripture-belief Nor will it seem impertinent to those who are any way ingenious in their doubts and enquiries about this matter because 't is naturally necessarily the first step that is to be taken in order to their satisfaction But may be very well offensive to such who shall design to themselves a disbelief of the Scriptures and make it their Province to weaken their Authority and render all proofs brought for them insufficient because it goes far towards an evident and apparent determination of the whole cause against them Does indeed petere jugulum of their chiefest pretences and virtuâ—lly breaks the very Back-bone of all Antiscriptural opposition for if there be such a thing as a Revelation mâ—de to the World as that which the goodness of God and the wants of men seem necessarily to call for If God have given to Mankind a Law supernatural Where is this Divine Law to be found 'T is but reasonable to suppose it somewhere or other upon Record This Book we call the Bible must needs be it and will certainly carry it against all Pretenders the natural dictates o right Reason being Judge What Book or Writing is there extant under Heaven that can with any tollerable colour counter plead the Bible upon this account A man must be horribly Hood-winkt in his inteâ—lectuals that does not evidently see 't is impar coâ—gressus between the Bible and all other Pretenders From what paâ—ts of the world will you fetch such a Supernatural Lâ—w by which we may suppose God to Govern Mankind one either fit for him to Give or for us to Receive according to that Natural Knowledge we have of him and of our selves and that Rational Judgment to which all Supernatural pretences ought to be subjected Where wâ—ll you find a Systeme of Divinity that makes known to us in a way suitable to our natural conceptions of him the most of God and of his Nature we are able to comprehend delivers us from all the intanglements of Humane Nature by ways and Methods so pâ—opoâ—tioned thereunto and discoveâ—s to us ceâ—taâ—n tracks to the highest happiness here and hereafter we are capable to enjoy Shall we go to the Laws of Lycurgus and Solon because they pretended to Revelation Can any man be so stupid Those Laws were chiefly Municipal and made no pretence to what we enquire after Shall we imagine the Books of the Sybills because they were thought to be filled with many Divine secrets contained such Revelation The greatest part if not the whole of them is long since perished out of the world which is proof sufficient they were none of those standing Laws by which God designed to Rule and Judge Mankind Some excellent Greek Verses there are indeed extant at this day which go under their Names but they are upon good grounds by the most learned supposed to be none of theirs And iâ— they were the Christian Religion and the Truths contained in the Bible are so clearly described and the Pagan Religion so directly and strongly confuted therein that the Scriptures can scarce have a greater Testimony given to their Divinity Shall we go to the inspired Entâ—usiasticâ—l Poâ—ts for this Revelation What a ridiculous foppery would that seem to one that has once conversed with the Bible And what a wild extravagant Religion should we
furnish mankind with all those necessary Requisites to their own present and future happiness they stand in need of and which they cannot otherwise obtain Adaquate therefore to our Natural Defects ought our expectancy to be in this matter When a Book proposeth it self to us as a Law Supernatural and containg Gods mind Revealed and make known to the World 't is a most reasonable way of Trial to examine whether This Book contain all those things I may justly expect from such a Revelation and be rationally accommodated to All those wants I expect a Revelation should supply and for which a Revelation from God my own Reason tells me must needs be Designed Now the Bible stands Single in this respect likewise No one Book nor all the Books that now do or at any time have pretended to Revelation can answer all the Ends of a Revelation besides it self or endure such a rational Test but are visibly Defective and Insufficient for those ends they must needs pretend to be Designed What Book besides the Bible ever gave us so full a discovery of God as our own rational Nature looks after tends to and capacitate's us to receive What Book besides This ever gave to mankind a clear and distinct account of the First Existence of things and the Origine of the Vniverse What Book besides This ever gave the least tolerable account of the Origine of Evil the first Rise and Inlet with the after Progress of it the Punishment inflicted for it and the certain Means to Remove and Obliterate it Never any Book so answered that great End of Revelation as to make a full discovery to us of the whole business of mans Apostacy and of his Recovery In short What Book but the Bible gives us an account of Gods proceedings with Men from the first Foundations of the Earth and has plainly and punctually told us what he will do to the end of the world and for ever has to the utmost discovered and supplied all our natural Defects made known to us all that was necessary and fit for us to know pointed us to the furthest bounds of our duty to God and one towards another and revealed to us plain and direct ways and means to attain the highest happiness here and the most excellent Rewards hereafter our Beings are capable of No other Book can so much as make a pretence to it nor with the least colour be produced upon this account in competition with the Bible Did the world afford any Other Book with an equal Pretence that more fully answered all those Ends to which we may rationally expect a Divine Revelation should be Designed I grant we had good Reason to preferr it before the Bible and receive it as such But if This Book alone and no other be found to answer all the Rational ends of a Revelation and to exceed all the Attainments of Mankind both Moral and Divine and whatever has made Pretence to Revelation besides There can be then no Reason at all to doubt but that This Book ought to have the Precedence of all others And really and truly is what it self claims to be Thirdly All Revelation must needs be supposed to be corresponding to and perfective of the true and genuine Issues of our Natural Light There must be nothing in it relating to God to our selves or to any part of the world that any way contradicts the Law Natural For that being the Primary Law God gave to the world and which is originally annexed to our Beings and inseperable from our selves 'T were absurd to conceive and indeed upon many accounts impossible to be that God should ever Repeal either the Whole or any Part of it but still proceed to Rectify and Compleat it and Superstruct all future Revelation upon it Two things upon this account we may reasonably expect from any pretence to Revelation First So farr as it relates simply to things Natural it ought to be justified to us by the dictates of right Reason and to be a Re-inforcement of the Law truly Natural Secondly Whatever it proposeth to our Belief as Supernatural ought to be no way unsuitable to a Rational reception as such For though I may well suppose God to reveale things to me that were Above and Beyond me and which my Reason could not Discover and cannot refuse so to do without a Negative upon the great End of Revelation yet I cannot reasonably suppose him to reveal any thing to me that is in it self directly Contradictory to my Reason to believe when 't is so discovered or uncapable of a rational assent to its verity when in such a way proposed Because the design of all Revelation must needs be in a Reasonable though Supernatural way to Instruct and Inform mankind The Bible upon this account will be found to justify it self against all exception and to prevail against all competition First Not a Syllable in it Destructive to the Rational nature some things indeed above the full reach and comprehension of it but no way Destructive to it And those such and in such a way proposed to our belief as ought to Enhance and no way to Lessen our value and esteem of it Because 't is a thing proper and suitable to the Majesty and Greatness of God and that which we ought to expect from him to bring such things about and to make such Sublime discoveries of himself to us as may provoke us to Reverence and Adore as well as to Believe When God discourseth to us of his own Infinite Being and tells us how the Deity it self does Exist 'T is a most rational thing to suppose from the nature of the Subject he should tell us many things that we cannot now Grasp in our minds nor fully Comprehend Indeed whenever God reveals himself to the world every mans Reason will tell him 't is a thing fit to be That many things should be Received and Believed barely upon the Credit of Gods Authority and justified to us from their Author when they exceed the bounds of our Comprehension What respect and Reverence do we otherwise pay to the Great God more then we should do to the Meanest humane Pretender to whom we cannot deny an Assent to whatever he can Demonstrate either to Sense or to Reason And 't is no way Contradictious to Reason to bell us any thing is that is in it self possible to be and no way Unsuitable to God to bring about when we are told God is the Author of it but highly agreeable to it Things Naturally and Humanely Impossible are as Easy and as Proper for God to do and as fuitable to our Reason to conceive he that first made all things should do as the ordinary actions of men are for them to do Nothing is a Barr to my reasonable Belief about God and his Operations but either what is against that notion I have of his Excellent Nature or what to my reason implies a perfect Contradiction in its Existence
and so is utterly Impossible to be The one my reason tells me God because of his Infinite Perfection never will nor can do And the other it assures me cannot be done The Bible tells us of no one thing in the highest Supernatural Discoveries it makes to us but what is in it self very Possible to be Nor of any thing but what seems to our reason very agreeable to the Nature of God that it Should be and very fit for us to believe when we are told of God so that it is Secondly Never any Book made such a discovery to us of what is truely Natural and so farr Revived and Restored to the truth of themselves as this has done the Natural Laws of our own Beings All impartial Reason being Judge No Humane Wisdome ever did or ever could have given Mankind such a prospect of their Natural Duties toward God and toward Themselves as the Ten Commandements have done or composed such a Systeme of Law Natural or made such an exact Compendium of it None but God that made man at first and knew his Original could have so farr Discovered him to himself and retriv'd to his knowledg so much of his Primitive State and discovered to him What by the judgment of his own Breast he still Ought to be The whole of the Scripture-Religion both as it relates to God and his worship and our performance of Relative duties to each other carries in it the Highest Perfection attainable by our Natural Light And wherein it exceeds it is the most Suitable to it and the most justified by it of any Religion the world has been ever yet possessed of What pure and admirable discoveries of Gods Excellent Nature does it afford us without the least Savour of what is Earthly and from Below So corresponding to a Rational Idea of him that nothing can be more Religion and Worship without the least taint of Idolatry or Superstition Rules of Holy living without the least mixture of Impurity Such Directions for our Behaviour towards God and Man as every mans own Breast Subscribes to as Just Holy and Good Indeed 't is a Religion that so perfects Nature and whatever it reveals that is above nature 't is so graffed upon the Stock of our Natural knowledg and in such a suitable way Super-added to it and so Incorporates with it as is admitable to conceive and could be the effect of nothing but an Infinite Wisdome even of God himself who perfectly knew what was in Man and what would be Best for him and most Agreeable to him What just cause is there to Reject and Disclaim all other Religions upon this single account 'T is impossible That should be a Law Divine and Supernatural that proves any way Destructive to what is truely Natural What Unworthy Vnreasonable and Unnatural conceptions of God and his Being does the Heathen Religion stand justly charged withall How contrary was it to the true dictates of Nature and the natural shame inherent in every mans being to use such horrible Obscene and Lascivious Ceremonies as they did in the worship of some of their Gods How unnatural and Inhumane was it to Murther each other and shed the blood of Mankind as they did in their Sacrifices How may Vices that Nature condemns grew up under the shadow of their Religion and no way reproved yea some allowed and justified by it The Bible spares not one Goes to the utmost extent of all natural Evil and all natural Good The Alchoran also falls slat before the Bible upon this account 'T is so far from perfecting our natural light or corresponding with it that in some things it directly overthrows it And is every where stuft with such absurd ridiculous and incredible sopperies as do inevitably expose it to the just scorn and contempt of all unprejudiced Reason Fourthly We must needs suppose that a Revelation from God a Law Supernatural to which an universal obedience is required should have such a Conveyance to us as is suitable to its Author and that great concern mankind have in it that is 'T were a most irrational admission that God should reveal himself to the world and not do it in such a way as should carry in it Evidence sufficient to every rational enquiry We ought to believe that when God requires our obedience to Laws as Divine he should afford us means sufficient to know that they are so such as may satisfie all reasonable doubts and shame all wilfull Opposition 'T were to impeach the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God to think otherwise Without this neither Gods end nor mans end can be attained Not Gods end for he can never with Justice proceed to reward or punish men by a Law revea'ed unless they have notice sufficient that it is so Not mans end for 't is impossible to be any way advantaged by a Revelation as such unless I be first assured that it is such How general soever pretences to Revelation have been and mens belief of those pretences yet no pretence to Revelation but the Bible alone has in any Age been accompanied with such a rational justification as we ought to expect a Divine Revelation should be to ascertain us that it is so And of this the fact is sufficiently evident All pretensions that way have been either recommended to the world upon the credit of mens bare words or else have obtained a reception by means visibly capable of delusion and imposture What reasonable assurance had the Heathen world of a Divinity in their Oracles which yet made the most probable pretension of any thing amongst them to it 'T is acknowledged by all that lived in those times That the responses of those Oracles were given by persons visible and seen when they did it In some of them by young Virgins which they supposed them to receive in a strange Obscene way not fit to be mentioned and in others of them by a man whom they called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that spake under the Oracle out of the Caverns of the Earth by the Vapours of which they supposed him Inspired and to become an Enthusiast That those Oracles for the most part uttered things doubtful and un-intelligible is evident and sometimes contrary to Truth as we may see plainly set down in Thucidides and other Authors of their own and which never came to pass one Instance of which was singly sufficient to confute their Divinity No Almanack maker writes with less certainty of the Weather then they generally pronounced about future events And the best excuse their greatest Adorers made then for them was That those Daemons that inspired the predictions did not themselves know things future otherwise then by their inspection of the Stars and so could collect from thence but uncertain conjectures Plutarch after all the pains he has taken to give the world a right account of the first rise of those Oracles and the cause of their after ceasing and spent much time in discoursing
whether the Daemons that first caused them were not Mortal and Perishable Or whether they removed not their Places and changed their abode and many things of that Nature At last concludes with this excellent Philosophy That the true Cause of those Oracles was that the Earth in some places was enduâ—d with certain Prophetick Virtues which came by Exhalations to be mingled with and insinuated into Souls fitted to receive those inspirations and so cause in them Enthusiasms and predictions of future things And at last that Virtue in the Subterranean Caverns is spent and evaporates and so the Oracular Spirit ceaseth What ground had the Heathen for all that Religion they took from their Poets but their own Words that they were Inspired What other Evidence had the Romans at first for their Religion but that Numa Pompilius told them hâ— conversed with a Goddess and received it from Her What have the Turks to this day to assure them that Mahomet was a Prophet 〈◊〉 and conversed with God and the Anâ—◠〈…〉 besides his own bare â—ord He 〈…〉 claimed working of mâ—â—acles anâ— aâ—â—â—â— hâ—mself sent from Heâ—â—â—â— to conveâ—â—◠〈…〉 with his Sword A Reâ—â—â—â—tion from 〈…〉 to be accompanied and â—â—nnot 〈…〉 to be otherwâ—â—eâ— with such plan and 〈◊〉 evidence as is â—â—ed to all reasonable satisfaction though 〈◊〉 pâ—evail nâ—t to a universal câ—â—viction such as will abundantly jusâ—â—fie it 〈◊〉 to the strictest â—crutiny or all wise and good men however it be judged or by perverse and corrupt men The Biâ—le is not only sâ—â—h for the matter out as that we make appeal to the most genuine issues of every â—â—ns Reason whether the Justice Helmess and Gâ—oâ—â—s of God be not very transparent in it but in its gradual Conveyance to the World at â—â—veâ—â—al times and in dâ—stant Ages and places has been visibly accompanied with open and apparent Evidences of Gods Infinite and Almighty power such and in such a manner visible as no one thing in the world besides it self can make a pretence to And such as the fact of them its worst Enemies not a Celsus nor a Julian did ever assume impudence enough to deny And indeed is eminently and singularly justified to us as in particulars shall be shewed hereafter by a concurrence of all those Evidences from whence a rational satisfaction about a Law Supernatural and Divine ought finally to result Fifthly A Revelation from God my Reason will tell me must be without any visible defect 'T is unreasonable to father that upon God which we our selves upon good grounds are able to charge with failing and Imperfection Whatever claims from Him and speaks to us in his Name must have nothing in it unlike him or unworthy of him A pretence to Revelation must be above any just and reasonable Exception or it naturally becomes its own Executioner If in the judgment of right Reâ—son it be found guilty of Corruption in Doctrine or of any falshood in matter of fact t is but equal to reject it as a Spurious and fictitious Delusion And therefore 't was rightly said of St. Austin to St. Jerome Si mendacium aliquod in Scripturis vel levissimum admittatur Scripturâ—â— Authoritatem omnem moâ— labefactari ac convelli If we admit the least falshhod in any part of the Bible we ruine the Authority of the whole All the Counterfeits of Revelation have upon this account visibly betrayed themselves and revealed to us their own original No one but the Bible can the world produce that will not some way or other disclose its own shame and that falls not under some nay many just and reasonable exceptions 'T is this Book alone in which there is not a flaw to be found 'T is only this Divine Law that is Perfect The Bible consists of three parts the Doctrinal the Historical and the Prophetical Let the most accute Anti scripturist living produce any one Doctrine out of the Bible that to the judgment of right Reason seems corrupt and unsound Let him shew any one Prophesie relating to things past not duly fulfilled Let him upon good and sufficient Historical Authority palpably disprove any one matter of fact in the History of the Bible and wee I yield him the cause And if this be not to be done as in fact it never has been and we are well assured never can be If a Book containing so much variety of History far beyond any other Book extant for so many thousands of years It a Book pronouncing with that positive certainty about such a multitude of future events in so many several Ages and relating to so many several persons and places containing in the Doctrinal part of it Directions and Rules for the whoâ—â— business of â—ens Duty â—o God and toward each other Iâ— this Book have not a â—â—â—un to be sound in it If it be proof against all exception If there be nothing but Truth in it in all these respects what more invinâ—â—ble Evidence can there be given to its Divinity Who but God himself could have indited in hâ—a â—ock 〈◊〉 who but a man wilfull and absurd can withstand such a Conviction 'T is the Bâ—â—le and 't is that Book alone upon every Page of which that Image and Superscriptiâ—n of God is engâ—aven Truâ— it self 'T is a â—oâ—◠〈◊〉 in its â—niverâ—â—â— Triumph over all 〈◊〉 Where is 〈◊〉 a Book to be â—ound 〈◊〉 of any considerable subject much 〈…〉 a â—auâ—â—â—â— this â—â—â—t câ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 â—â—â—â—tonâ—â— Judgment of Mankind 〈…〉 worst enemy to find 〈…〉 pâ—oâ—ucts are brought forth in 〈…〉 failing and Impeâ—â—ect Nâ—â—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 the wisest or mâ—n 〈…〉 bound Of this we are experimeâ—â—â—â—ly â—â—â—â—ed by all History Philosophy and all 〈…〉 This Holy 〈…〉 legitimate Off spring of God and thâ—t which only contains his mind Authoritaâ—â—vely revealed and made known to the world so it has singly appurtenant to it all those requisites necessary to a Divine Revelation And without which no such thing can rationally be supposed These things being so He that rejects the Bible will find he is unâ—voidably obâ—â—â—ed either to deny that there is any Revelation aâ— all and consequently to give some good answer to what has been urged for the reasonable supposal of it and some tolleâ—â—â—â—â— account hâ—w Mankind when we consider Gods goodness and our own necessities can be suppoâ—â—d to be left without it or else to proâ—â—â—ce somewhat that with more Justâ—â—â— and better Evidence can put in a claim to it is Mâ—â—â—l more becoming the greatness and goâ—dness of God and more suitable and use â—l to men The first I dare say will be found a task utterly impracticable if unprejudiced reason may be Judg and with what success the latter iâ— like 〈◊〉 pâ—â—ceed and how visibly absurd 't will renâ—eâ— its undertaker will soon be determined by every sober mind when it plaâ—nly appâ—â—â—s by what has been said that so many things which my Reason tells me must all necessarily accompany a Divine Revelation and without which it
has and in its own Antiquity answering that antiquity we may justly expect to accompany Gods First Revelations the Bible I say upon this account has a singular evidence given in to its Credibility and its antiquity does strongly affirm its Divine Authority Secondly The Antiquity of the Bible does point us to its Divinity because 't is not reasonable to believe that the First Writen account the world had of Religion should be a Cheat that the First eminent Record of Religion should be a Lye and not only a Lye but the Worst of Lies and the most Pernicious and Destructive falshood for so it must needs be to impose a Law upon the world in Gods name without his Authority that ever was published amongst mankind 'T is not in the judgment of right Reason consisting with the Wisdom and Goodness of God to suffer the world to be Originally Cheated in point of Religion to suffer a publick open Counterfeit of his Name and Authority to the highest degree First to possess the world and take the Precedence of all truth to permit the Devil to publish a Systeme of Lies and erect a Monument of Falshood Before there was any written Record of Truth We must needs suppose Gods care of Men and the concern's of his own honour to engage him to the contrary and that God should First establish his own Truth to which mankind might still have a recourse and by which as a Standard all Delusions and False Pretensions might be Tried 'T were as one says well very absurd to think God should permit the Devil to set up a Chappel before he had built a Church If the Bible were originally composed by Impostors and be not a Divine Book 't will then undeniably follow that the most Primitive and Ancient account we have of Religion is connterfeit And that in the Earliest notices we have of God of the worlds Original Mans fall and the way of his Recovery for we have none so early as what the Bible gives us of any of these and of some of them no other the world is Deceived and Abused and that God suffer'd the Devil in the first place and before any thing was publiquely extant from him to contradict it in his name and with pretence of his Authority to abuse and deceive Mankind with a false and delusive account of all those things they are most concern'd to know and upon the right Knowledge of which their present and future happyness does unavoidably depend This very one consideration will prevail much upon every impartial judgment Who can believe the first Religion should be the worst when True Religion must needs be as old as the World And the Earliest notions of God the falsest when we must needs think it reasonable that God should reveal himself to the World from the beginning Or that the first book we sind writ should contain the Highest imposture in point of Religion and more dishonour God and abuse the World then any or all the Books written since 'T is a thing beyond all compass of credit That God should suffer false informations to be given in his own Name of himself and his own Revelations from the first beginning of the World for about 4043 years for about so long a time it was from that first intercourse between God and Man the Scripture gives us Historically an account of till the last Revelation of St. John And that this account should begin with the first book that the world had and be gradually carried on into such a complete Systeme as now we see it is in a Written way by several hands in several Ages for a thousand and six hundred years together for about so long a time it was from Moses his first Writing to St. Johns Closing the Bible Nor is it supposable that the vilest falshood for such is the Bible if it be not from God a Religion whereby if it be false God would be more dishonoured and men more deluded then by any that ever was yet extant should have this to say in its justisication That 't is of all others the most Ancient and has been longest lasting amongst Mankind The consideration therefore of this Book in the Time of its conveyance the Antiquity of it in respect of the matter it contains and the Antiquity of it self as a Book written long before all others and of so early a Date in the World does with great Evidence point us to its Divine Original and very strongly tends to perswade us that God himself was the Author of it Secondly The way and manner of this Books conveyance to us The Method of Gods thus Recording his pleasure has been such that we shall find we have all those reasonable inducements and in some respects more to credit it upon which we receive any Humane Authors and acquiesce in them as true And all such farther Evidence as we can well expect to insure us of the truth of a Book that pretends to come from God and be Divint And this will appear to be so if we consider first the Instruments God imploied in the writing of it and such humane Circumstances as attended their doing it And Secondly The Divine witness God himself has in the most eminent way given to this Book in its conveyance to ascertain us of the truth of it and of the sincerity of those that wrote it First If we consider the Pen-men of this Book those Amanuenses God made use of for the writing of it and such Circumstances as attended their doing it How unlikely a thing is it that they either did or could abuse the world in this matter if we reflect upon these several things First the unblemished Credit and Reputation of these Writers Secondly the several Qualifications and Qualities of them Thirdly their Interests as moral and reasonable men Fourthly their Number and that great distance of Time in which many of them wrote one from another For the first Nothing we know does more credit Ancient Authors then the good Report of those Ages wherein they lived transferred to posterity Not one of those Holy Pen-men God imploied in writing the Bible was that ever we find upon any good grounds tainted in Reputation or convicted of any sort of Impostor in their own or future ages but were men of acknowledged Integrity and Sanctity in those times wherein they lived and very many of them gave the highest Testimony to their integrity in becoming Martyrs in justification of what themselves writ For the Second the various Qualities and Conditions of these Writers seems much to secure us against so vile a design as this book must needs be composed with if it be not from God Some of them were Kings and men of the greatest quality before they writ and not very likely to be guilty of so much baseness and meanness to carry on such a work and also men of deepest Learning and Knowledge Others of them many of the Prophets and most of the
of And if so these two things will follow upon it First That he that rejects the Bible obliges himself to believe no other books without apparent disingenuity Secondly He that does credit the Authors of this book with the same credit wherewith he credits other Authors and supposes they were men of common honesty that would not knowingly write an untruth cannot then refuse to receive it as a book Divine and Infallible upon as good termes of credibility as he believes any the best humane Author in its Kind to be True because they themselves tell us that it is so which were it otherwise without most impudent falshood they could not do that God himself inspired them to write it That 't was no product of their own but that every part of it is the genuine Dictate of the Holy Ghost But in the second place in the manner of this books conveyance we shall find a further and more unquestionable ground of satisfaction and a Divine witness given by God himself to the Truth of these Writings to assure us beyond all reasonable doubt they were written by men that did not deceive us but such as were Intrusted by himself for that purpose And that is the miracles that were wrought and which visibly accompanied their first publication In the discoursing of which after a due sort these three things will naturally fall under consideration First the Nature of a Miracle in general what propâ—rly it is Secondly What evidence we have for the Fact of those Miracles we say the Scriptures are justified by Thirdly Whether Miracles simply in themselves are always an unquestionable proof of that Doctrine they are wrought to confirm and an infallible justification of the integrity of the persons that work them The two first are of an eaâ—y dispatch the difficulty rests in the Latter For the first A Miracle is pâ—operly that which can have no second cause for its Author such a thing as no created Power in the judgment of reason can effect Raising men Dead curing â—iseases by speaking a Word being able in a moment to speak all Languages are things that exceed the bounds of all Natural Ability and such things as can be only related to God as effects of his supâ—eme and unlimited Power And suâ—h is a Miracle Secondly For the Fact of those Miracles we claim in defence of the Bible we are much eased of the labour of proof from a General Concession And 't is of great remark That the Warmest Adversaries the Scriptures have met with have never denied the Fact of those Miracles pleaded in their behalf but indeavoured to invalidate their testimony some other way Neither the Miracles of Moses which we find often mentioned in Heathen Story nor of Christ are denied by any in point of Fact but both fathered upon Egyptian Magick Those of Moses by the Heathens heretofore as we find in Pliny and Apuleius Pliny says There is a very great Magick depends upon Moses and the Cabala Though he might have remembred that never any Law so positively forbad Magick as did that which Moses delivered and those of our Saviour by the Jews and the Heathens since The Jewâ— affirmed that all that our Saviour did was done by a Magical skill he first learnt in Egypt and brought with him from thence And Julian the Heathen says that Peter and Paul were the most expeâ—t men in Magick that ever lived and that â—hrist himself wrote a Boâ—k of that Profession and Dedicated it to them two Our Saviours Miracles in point of Fact are not only acknowledged by the Jews but expresly both by Celsus and Julian two of the most Learned Malicious and Industrious Adversaries that ever opposed the Christian-profession And this we may see in Origin's second book against Celsus of whose wâ—â—kâ— there is nothing left but what is there â—â—peated and Cyâ—ill's sixth book against Juâ—ian And â—n truth the Miracles of Christ and the Apostles and those that succeeded them in the Christian-church were in Fact so many so eminent so visible lasted so long for in the Church for three hundred years in some measure they lasted and the Relation of them has descended down to us by such a Constant Uninterrupted Written and Unwâ—itten Tradition that no man has yet assumed Impudence enough publickly to Gainsay them For the Third Whether miraclâ—s simply in themselves are always an unquestâ—onable proof of that Doctrine they are bâ—â—ugâ—t to Confirme and an infallible justâ—ficâ—tion of the Persons that work them I answer In the general they are not If the Doctrâ—ne be no way Destructive to those Natural noâ—â—ons of God we are born with If it be not evidently to our Reason Dishonoraâ—le to H m tendâ—ng to seduce us from him and oppâ—siâ—e to that Natural Duty we owe him They are But if otherwise if they come in direct Competition with the Law of Nature They are not No Miracles whatever can or ought to oblige me to what my Judgment Dissents from as sinful And that upon these two grounds First The Law of Nature as 't is Previous to all Laws so 't is an unrepealeable Law because t is so perfectly the Result of my Reasonable self that should God contradict it he would cease to deal with me as a Rational Being which is not upon any account to be thought Secondly 'T is not against Reason to suppose a possibility that God may in some cases exert a supernatuâ—â—l power by ill instruments for Trial as well as Eâ—tablishment God has no where told us that he will not so do nor do our own faculties Recoile against it and adjudge it unreasonable that God should exercise the world with such a Trial if he afford means sufficient to Oppose and Resist it Such who deny this Latter and say that a Supernatural power in a way miraculous was never exerted but to confirm and establish a Divine Truth that 't is an Impeachment of Divine Justice and most unreasonable to think the contrary That although many things may be bâ—ought to pass by the Dâ—vil and Ill men that are in their own nature Wondrous miranda and miraâ—itia and utterly beyond the compaâ—s of our Reason to conceive How by any natural power they should be effected yet they are not Miracula they are still eitheâ— natural effects proceeding from â—atuâ—al causes though secret and occult or else delusions some way or other upon us From the opinion of such I dissent and that upon these four Grounds First That which they say does no way answer that end for which they themselves intend it Secondly 'T is against plain Texts of Scripture Thirdly 't is against great evidence of History And fouthly Because the admission of the contrary is no way Destructive to those natural nâ—tions we have of Gods aâ—trâ—butes and his providential Rule over the world Fi st What they say does not answer that end for which they themselves intend it For if God suffer the Devil to exert a natural power in
sorts of Christians under the Gospel St. Jerom calls it a Book full of Idle dreams The Papists themselves though they have admitted many other Books that we reckon Apochryphal into their Canon yet have still rejected this and Bellarmine himself in his Book de Script Eccles speaks with great contempt of this whole Book And calls the Author of it whoever he were a writer of Romances Secondly There are many very good and sufficient Reasons to induce us to believe the contrary First There is no where in any part of the Bible the least mention not by Esdras himself though he gives us a large and particular account of what he himself did of any such thing And 't is not conceiveable but so eminent a thing as God inspiring one man to write over again so great a part of the Bible which so many had been inspired to write before would have been some where or other Recorded nor is it credible but that so great a Judgment upon the Jews as the total loss of their Law would have been distinctly mentioned when the Holy Ghost is so very particular in giving us an account of all the lossâ—s the Jews underweâ—â— at that time of all the ruines made by the Babylonians at Jerusalem and of all the spoils they carryed into Babylon from thence Secondly 'T is not to be doubted but that there were multitudes of Copies in the hands of the Religious Jews especially the Priests of whom there were many hundreds who had a constant use of it And that the People also dâ—d generally possess themselves of it after that eminent danger it had undergone and the Recovery of â—â—â—n the Eighteenth year of Jâ—siah And 't is not to be supposed that all the Copiâ—s could be destroyed Those that probably were in the hands of Jeremiah Gedalich and many others who stayed behind and accepted their liberty to continue still in Judea and those in the hands of Daniel Ezekiel and those that were carryed away with them in the first Captivity to Babylon long before the City and Temple were burnt and all those which were probably kept by many of those that were carried into Babylon after especially if we consider that we no where find that the Babylonians made it any part of their business in particular to destroy and extirpate their Law And when Antiochus did afterward with all his might indeavour it by Reason of the many Copies that were extant in good mens hands he was no way able to effect it Thirdly It appears the Jews had the Scriptures with them during the time of their Captivity in Babylon both from Daniels Prophecie who Prophesied there and also from other Historical Evidence First From his Prophecie for we find him in the 9 Chapter of his Prophecie quoting several times particularly the Writings of Moses And in the beginning of that Chapter he sayes He understood by Books the number of years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the Prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem And those Books could be no other but the Prophecie of Jeremiah it self with other parts of the Scripture and the Records of the Kings of Babylon wherein were to be found the times that the Jews were brought thither which Daniel compared together and so found out the End of Jâ—remies seventy years and of the Captivity the difficulty in the doing of which arose from hence that there had been four distinct Captivities and four several Kings of Judah carryed into Babylon at four several times first Manasses then Jehojakim and with him amongst others Daniel himself Thirdly Jeconias and with him Ezekiel and Mordecai and lastly Zedekias when the City and Temple were destroyed And 't was not a thing very easie to know from which of these Captivities to reckon the seventy â—aâ—s Ezekiel seems to begin it eleven years before the City was destroyed when Jeâ—â—onias was carryed away thither for he sayes In the five and twentieth year of our being in Captivity in the bâ—ginning of the year in the tenth day of the month in the fourteenth year after that the City was smitten And the Prophet Jeremie in comforting those that were carryed away with Jecenias used these words Thus saith the Lord after seventy years be accomplished in Babel I will visit you and cause you to return to this place by which he seems to begin the seventy years from thence but in other places is very express that the seventy years were to be accounted from the destruction of the City and Temple And so it appears the Captivity mentioned by Ezekiel was not that by which the seventy â—ears were to be reckoned Nor was the Prophecie uttered by Jeremie to comfort those that were captivated with Jeconias to commence when uttered nor till the destruction of the City and the last Captivity of Zedekiah All which Daniel considered and by comparing these Prophecies together found the exact time from whence the seventy years were to be accounted Secondly From Historical Evidence for Josephus sayes the Reason why Cyrus set on foot the rebuilding of the Temple and restoring of the Jews to their Countrey was his reading the Prophecie of Isaiah which was written â—10 years before his time wherein the Prophet foretells in Gods name that Cyrus should be raised up for that very purpose upon reading of which during the Captivity he save Cyrus was ravished with admiration of God and surprized with an ardent zeal to bring about what was so long before written And t is highly probâ—ble that God made use of the sight of that Prophecie to engage Cyrus to what he did for otherwise 't was a thing in it self most absurdly impolitick and against all ordinary Rules of discretion to restore such a people and rebuild such a place that had been so famous and so terrible to all the Nations round about Especially when as Josephus sayes there went out of Babilon at their return of those two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin there captivated Four Milions six hundred twenty and eight thousand Persons that were above twelve years old besids four thousand and seventy Levites and of their Wives and Children together forty thousand seven hundred forty and two besides also some hundreds of the Tribe of Levi that were Porters Singers and other sacred Servitors Fourthly 'T is not Imaginable that Zerubbabel Joshuah Haggai and so many others of them would have so laboured as they did to return out of Babylon toâ—e-build their Temple and restore their Ancient Worship if the Law of God the great Rule and Foundatioâ— of it had been wholly lâ—st and extinguished Nay it appears evidently in the Book of â—zra that those Jews that firstâ—etâ—â—â—ed into Judaea before Esdras came out of Babylon brought the Law out of Babylon with them for in the sixth of Esdras 't is there said They set the Prâ—ests in their divisions and the Levites in their coâ—ses and setled the Worship oâ—the Temple
Old Testament to be the very same and no other then those we now receive Nor were these Apocryphal Books ever otherwise reckoned either in the Jewish or Christian Church than as humane and fallible Writings till the late Assembly at Trent were pleased to declare them otherwise These things must needs seem sufficient to any reasonable man to clear up that doubt on the one hand Whether we have not less in our Bibles than we indeed ought to have Because that besides what the Roman Church hath of late done to Canonize these Apochryphal Writings no other addition to the Bible has been at any time attempted that merits the least consideration I proceed to the doubt on the other hand And that is How we may be reasonably secured that our Bibles contains in them no more then they should That is upon what ground we receive some Books in the New Testament The Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of St. James the second Epistle of St. Peter the Epistle of Jude the 2 and 3 Epistles of John and the Apocalyps Of all which there has formerly been some doubt made In the solution of which I shall endeavour these two things First To shew what were most probably the first and original grounds of such Doubts And secondly To shew that those doubts then ought to be of no prevalency with us now And that there is at this time no good reason to make the least doubt of any part of the New Testament as we are now in possession of it All the Doubts that have arisen about any parts of the New Testament were most probably these two wayes occasioned First 'T is obvious that the New Testament was writ in several parts at several times and not all composed together The Whole became not publick but by many steps and degrees Had several former and latter Editions That is some parts that were first writ were copyed out by those that had the Originals and con-joyn'd and so dispers'd And other parts still added as they were written and became publick Now 't is easie to conceive that some parts that were after added to such Bibles as first came out might be at first questioned and doubted of by such who had the former Editions and were not fully informed about the after Addition of other parts And so it has fallen out in the publication of most Systemes of Humane Laws that have come out gradually and by parts and not in a full and intire Body at once Secondly 'T is very probable that many Christians that lived in those first Times by reason of their distance from those places where some parts of the New Testament first became publick might be for a considerable time it may be till after the deaths of their Authors without any notice of them And upon that account some doubts about such parts might arise because they â—ad come to their knowledge no sooner especially if any such parts seemed to â—avour or countenance any particular Sect or Opinion as the Epistle to the Hebrews did that of the Novations and the Apoâ—alyps that of the Chiliasts And this is most likely to be the true reason why some of the Epistles and we know 't was about the Epistles that the doubts chiefly were were at any time questioned especially such as were more remotely and uncertainly directed to the scattered Jews as that of St. James that to the Hebrews and that of St. Peter which were no way likely to be so soon or so commonly known to the generality of Christians Nor could they be so easie to come by as those Epistles sent to Rome Corinth and Ephesus and those great and publick Cities from whence the fame of them would soon spread and Copies were upon much easier terms to be had because 't was certainly known where the Originals were Secondly There is no good Reason from any Question that was made heretofore to raise any Doubts now about any Parts of the New-Testament And that for these three Reasons First Because these Books in question were most generally received at first and doubted of only by some and those such who had least information about them And this is very evident Because we find them frequently quoted as Canonical Scripture by many of the most ancient Christian-Writers in those Ages next the Apostles Tertullian except the second Epistle of St. Peter hath in his Works quoted as Canonical Scripture every Book of the New-Testament we now receive And St. Ierome speaking in his Epistle ad Dardanâ—m of the Epistle to the Hebâ—ews and some other of those Books about which we now discourse sayes We receive them not from the Custom of this Time but from the Authority of the most Primitive Writers Secondly They contain nothing in them but what does plainly harmonize with the rest of the Bible and is generally witnessed unto by other Books about which no question hath been at any time made And of this there can be no doubt unless it be concerning the Revelation which yet contains a most Admirable though Mysterious Agreement with the Books of Moses the Prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel and divers other parts of the Bible And to this Book besides that the suitableness of Events thereunto and the notorious fulfilling of many Prophetical passages in it has put its Divine Authority out of all question we have as great a Testimony from Antiquity as can in such a case well be expected Justin Martyr who lived very near the Apostle John himself in his Dialogue with Tryphon cites it as the Writing of St. Iohn and without the least question ascribes it to him Irenaeus who lived some small time after Justin and was the Scholar of Polycarp who was the Scholar of St. Iohn sayes positively 'T was written by St. Iohn the Apostle And that he was well assured thereof from some most probably Polycarp that had seen the Apostle Iohn himself and personally conversed with him Lib. 4. cap. 37. and Lib. 5. And â—ertullian in his 4th Book against Marcion sayes Though Marcion did reject the Apocalyps as none of St. John 's yet sayes he the succession of Bishops tracod to the beginning will establish Him as the certain and undoubted Author of it Thirdly God has in a providential way determined this matter For those that at first questioned those Books when the heat of primitive Persecutions were somewhat abated the Church had free intercourse and communication together and came to be better informed received them All doubts about them are now vanished Luthur and some with him in Germany who were the last that revived any doubts of that kind upon second and more deliberate thoughts recanted their Error All Christians are now at an Agreement about them the Supreamest Establishment that can be of Canonical-Authority even the Roman Church themselves receive the Apocalyps into their Canon although many passages in it seem very particularly directed against them Indeed the heavenly lustre of these Books is