by God appointed the Heir of all things Fourthly by his Resurrection thus He but our New Undertaker to render these things the more plausible has given us a new set or Division of the reasons why Christ is called the Son of God The title of the Son of God says he is in Scripture founded upon these Five things Two that are taken from his two-fold birth the one out of the Womb of the Virgin by the Operation of the Holy Ghost the other out of the Womb of the Earth by his Resurrection which makes him undoubtedly the Natural Son of God his only begotten Son Thoughts on Sherlock's vindication of the Trinity p. 4 5. his own or his proper Son Three other which are drawn from his Offices the First Because he is that Prophet whom his Father has sanctified and sent into the World with an extraordinary Commission Secondly Because he is the great High-Priest immediately called to that Office by God himself the Third Because He is the King whom God has exalted to a Supreme Power both in Heaven and in Earth Now these Reasons thus multiplied tho' we should allow them all True yet they come not up to the matter in hand It 's true Christ really is the Son of God by reason of his Conception by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin but supposing with the Socinians that the Holy Ghost is not a Person but only the influence of Almighty God there is not enough in that Birth so miraculous as it is to give our Saviour the title of the Son of God distinctly and exclusively of all others Dr. Heylin tho' far enough from denying the eternal Deity of Christ yet seems very willing to rest in this Reason that He is called the only begotten Son of God purely upon it or because He 's the beloved Son in whom He is well pleased or his loved Son or the Son of his Love and approves of Maldonat's opinion that the beloved Son and the only begotten Son are terms Reciprocal but the mistake is apparent for tho' Isaac be called the only begotten Son of Abraham it does not argue that He was the sole engrosser of his love the contrary is apparent from Abraham's carriage in the case of Ishmael when he took the necessity of turning Him and his Mother out of doors so grievously Gen. 21.11 and when upon God's promising him a Son by Sarah who should be heir of his blessings the tender Father yet beg'd that Ishmael might also live in his sight Gen. 17.18 i. e. be partaker of God's Favours and extraordinary Blessings too Besides that Isaac is called Abraham's only begotten Son in contradistinction to Ishmael Isaac was the only begotten Son with respect to God's Promise and as being the only Son of the free Woman and properly enough yet we see by course of Nature Abraham had more Sons than Isaac therefore Isaac was not Abraham's only begotten Son in a sence so eminent as our Lord is called the Only begotten of the Father Heylin on the Creed p. 168. the Father having no other Son begotten by himself but Christ But tho' sometimes Men do love an Only Child at an extraordinary rate yet it 's not â—lways nor necessarily so for Love beâ—ng sometimes guided by Reason and Obeâ—ience being the only rational ground of â—aternal Affection several Children may â—e as obedient as One and therefore several may as rationally be loved as One in an exâ—raordinary manner But farther Neither is our Saviour's Conception by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin so very great a Miracle as to set our Saviour on that account so far above every Creature for as Doctor Pearson well observes Pearson on the Creed p. 107. Adam the first Man was made immediately by the hand of God no humane faculty concurring at all and Adam is therefore called the Son of God by the Evangelist now there cannot be a Power so much greater requir'd to give a Man a being in the Womb of a Virgin than to frame him at first out of a Piece of Earth as to make so great a distance necessary as is between the First and the Second Adam for Jesus Christ our Second Adam must be the Son of God in so peculiar a manner as must make him infinitely Superiour to any other Creature he being design'd to exercise such a Power as no other Creature could possibly be capable of We allow then our Lord's Birth and Conception to have been one ground of his being the Son of God but not the first it 's no where called so in Scripture nor is it sufficient to fix him in that supereminent station wherein our Faith is fix'd upon him The second reason of his Filiation is yet much more Deficient viz. his Resurrection or raising from the Womb of the Earth for we find none called the Son of God in Scripture on that Reason that our Saviour was rais'd from the dead we know if we look upon him as rais'd from the Dead by his own Power as indeed He Joh. 2.19 John 10.17 18. and He only was as himself asserts that affords us a great difference between Him and all other Persons but utterly destroys the Socinian ground of his being called the Son of God But for such troublesom passages as these I find a remarkable saying of Smalcius which shews us the whole mystery of their avoiding the force of plain Scripture and it 's this speaking of Christ's being called God he proceeds When we find it declared in Scripture not only once or twice but very often and very plainly that God was made Man considering that this is a Proposition absurd wholly contrary to right Reason and full of Blasphemy against God we believe it must be a great deal better to find out some mode of speaking according to which one may say this concerning God than to interpret things simply and according to the Letter that is to say the Socinians have resolved not to regulate their Opinions by the Scripture but to reduce the Scripture to their Opinions this however is plain dealing and a sufficient warning to read their Discourses with the greater Caution and Intention of mind But if the Socinians make use of this Art by their own Confessions in matters of the clearest nature and so often repeated we cannot doubt but they 'l rather pitch on some unknown Figure to elude those Texts which imply our Saviour's raising himself from the Dead than own his Vnity with his Father in the same Essence or Nature whereby both the assertion that Christ rais'd himself and that He was rais'd by his Father from the dead are so easily reconcil'd But allowing them their own fancy if our Saviour was not rais'd from the Dead by any Power of his Own but only by that of his Father and yet was called the Son of God on account of his Resurrection then all those who shall rise from the
as well as Man all the difficulty vanishes at once his Person was more august his Power and Authority greater his Will uncontroulable his Holiness and Dignity incomparable Moses was but the Servant he the Lord and therefore without any Impeachment to the Fidelity and Honour of Moses he might reverse every Institution of his as he pleas'd since he as God was able of himself without any circumstantial Delay to give the World a more compleat and perfect Rule whereby humane Happiness and God's Glory the great ends of all divine Institutions might be more directly promoted the great work he undertook was proper to the Deity it self but superiour to any humbler Being this requiring so much the Satisfaction of God's Anger rais'd against a stupid sinful World cannot be suppos'd more easily brought about for the weight of God's Anger against Sin being insupportable to meer Flesh and Blood Help must of necessity be laid upon One mighty to save or else Mankind who had so long subsisted upon the lively Hope of a glorious Deliverance must have perish'd without Remedy at last and finally the Justification of our Faith Pardoning of our Sins and the bestowing upon us Everlasting Life are things compatible only with God yet really and properly ascribed to our Saviour therefore He must be God therefore He that was incarnate or made Flesh for our Salvation must be God But now if we observe the Nature of this great Work for which God was manifested in the Flesh we shall find it was wholly the effect of Immense Love and Pity to Mankind and of extraordinary Interest and Power with the great Father of all things therefore an Undertaking more peculiarly proper to God the Son than to any other Person in the Trinity Man's Redemption was an Effect of the Father's Love the Deity it self is Love the Design of saving such Sinners as should make use of Means to be offer'd in due time to that purpose was an Effect of Love the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost were all consenting in the Design from the Father as the beginning of Order must the first motions of Eternal Love and Goodness and Will take its Original not as if there were any Interstice of time between the Actions of Eternal Minds for Time can have no place or consideration in Eternity but we must speak of such things suitably to Humane Apprehensions by which kind of Expressions tho' our Idea's of God's Acts cannot be adequate or proportionable yet they may be true and safe so we speak of God the Father as propounding of God the Son as declaring his readiness to execute what 's propounded of God the Holy Ghost as consenting so to influence the Objects of Love and Mercy that neither the Proposal nor its Prosecution should be frustrated all these though the distinct Acts of Three distinct Substances are yet all one uninterrupted Act and Determination of one Infinite and Eternal God for where Infinity or Eternity or any other Attributes peculiar only to God are given to Three distinct Substances yet those Substances which are infinite howsoever really distinct must of necessity be inseparable therefore they must of necessity be One for be the Substances never so much distinct and never so perfect in themselves yet Vnity must follow upon Inseparability But according to our common way of speaking God the Father designing the greatest Goodness to Men could shew that Love and Pity to them by no other effectual Means than by giving them his onely Son the very relative Term of Father and Son implies the greatest Nearness and Love in the World and the kinder and more loving a Father is to his Son the greater of necessity must that Favour and Love be which can be content to part with a Relation so dear for the Advantage or Satisfaction of another hence God accepted it as an Effort of compleat Love and Obedience in Abraham that he had not with-held his Son his onely Son from him but was ready without any murmuring to sacrifice him at his Creator's Command and if our blessed Redeemer was the Son of God the Son of his Love the Son in whom he was well pleased the Apostle urges it home and excellently He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all Rom. 8.32 how shall he not with him give us all things the Gift of his Son was the greatest Effort of Tenderness that was possible therefore when Men had receiv'd that Gift from the Father's hand there could be no reason of doubting whether they should receive any thing else that was fit for God to bestow or for Man to receive Indeed when the Father had determined to express the greatest Love and Pity to his Creatures there did remain nothing else to be done but to send his Son into the World upon that Occasion for he was still to move so as not to impeach his Justice Justice could not be free and universal without Satisfaction in every respect Man was so soon as fallen a continual Criminal therefore Man was the Object of that irresistable Justice the acquitting him from the stroke of Justice was the effect of the greatest Love yet Justice not being perverted must be and was satisfied on that particular account therefore it must be and was satisfied by the grant of God the Son to put himself into a passible state and to suffer a Punishment equivalent to that due to Sinners and this could be effectually performed by none other but the only Son of God for The Redemption of trespassing Mankind from the stroke of Justice according to the Father's Intention required the most absolute Obedience the greatest Interest and the most extraordinary Compassion and Tenderness towards Mankind Now these things were all most naturally to be expected from the Son for Identity or Sameness of Will in God the Father is Command and Determination in God the Son is Submission and Obedience in God the Holy Ghost is Concurrence and Assistance Now if we consider the Severity of the Condition on which Man was to be redeem'd from sinking under Wrath to the utmost and without which it was impossible Man should be redeem'd at all if we reflect upon the weight of God's Displeasure due to Sin the infinite Power of the Being displeas'd the extream Provocations whereby it 's continually exasperated these Considerations must convince us that it required the greatest Obedience possible in the Undertaker such an Obedience as could be startled by no Difficulty diverted by no Temptation nor conquered by any Extremity it could engage with Of such an Obedience Isaac was a considerable Type who though so dear to his Father so vigorous and strong as he might have been able enough to have secured himself from the violent Zeal of his Aged Father though Nature must have had some Reluctance against Death against Death by the hand of his own Father by his hand from whom he had deserv'd all Kindness and Love by his
For those rites continued will move the world to belive that the Messias is not yet come that the Faith so long profest in him as if he were come is vain that He who once pretended to that name only impos'd upon the world and was no better than a cheat and that therefore the Jewish Religion is and ought to be still in its full force Now this will appear very absurd and unreasonable to any one who has seriously weighed all those arguments brought to prove that Jesus Christ was the Son of the living God and therefore could be no Impostor and therefore must be that Messias he declar'd himself to be which being true it will follow that our Saviours coming must of necessity put an end to so much of the Jewish Law as was not co-incident with that of Nature and consequently not perpetually obliging That many of the Jews themselves ever look'd upon their Law as of a mutable nature in it self is proved sufficiently by Raymundus Martini in his Pugio fidei against the Jews and that it could never be more properly actually chang'd than by the Messias appears in him who proves from Jewish writers themselves that the Messias the King shall be greater than Moses nay greater than the ministring Angels and therefore the fittest for such a work and as he shews their own gloss in the Midrasch Koheleth upon that of Solomon Eccles 11.8 Pugionis fidei p. 3. dist 3. c. 20 tells us That every Law of all people whatsoever every Law that a man can learn in this world is all but vanity in comparison of the Law of the Messias Things of a less perfect and lasting nature must then vanish when that appears which is more perfect and eternal Whatsoever therefore crosses that end for which God sent his Son into the world and retains mysteries now altogether insignificant as being fully accomplished that cannot be pleasing to God and consequently the present Religion of the Jews cannot be the true Religion There are indeed some mysterious truths in which all Religions agree viz. The existence of a God his spirituality invisibility incomprehensibility c. they all agree That his Providence governs all things in the world however trifling and inconsiderable they may appear in the eyes of the world that He hears sees knows understands every thing tho' they know not how according to the objection of Atheists to reconcile such things to his want of eyes ears soul or any other parts which are all inconsistent with a spiritual being All agree together in granting the present state of Man very wretched and deplorable in looking upon him yet as capable of happiness provided a sutable mean for its procurement could be found out and in expectation of some proper help for that purpose These things being agreeable to the general sence of mankind and being the original reasons of mens putting themselves into a religious course must still be approved by every one and every one of these that Religion setled in the world by our Saviour and his Apostles does advance yet more plainly and confirm more strongly to the world And whatsoever mysterious truths it farther propounds they are all so far intelligible by every one as may serve sufficiently to confirm those first principles whatsoever is farther to be seen in them is what moves mankind to lay aside all brutish malicious and unmanly humour as the meditation upon that extraordinary love of God to mankind of God the Father in sending his only Son into the world to dy for it of God the Son in leaving the bosom of his blessed Father and in our nature and for our sake suffering that bitter and scandalous death upon the Cross of God the Holy Ghost in pursuing us continually with his influences and assistances and so working in us to will and to do according to God's good pleasure this meditation naturally runs into that Apostolical conclusion Joh. 4.11 if God thus loved us then ought we also to love one another If we contemplate our own monstrous demerits our aversion to every thing that is good our inclination to every thing that is evil and so offensive to God our ingratitude for mercies receiv'd our unfruitfulness under the means of grace and Salvation presented to us our natural enmity to God and goodness And if withal we seriously consider that all those forementioned favours are conferr'd on us in a state of obstinate enmity the inference is easie as our Lord has laid it down Matth. 5.44 That we should love our enemies bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us If again we think on that wonderful mercy of God whereby for the merits of the blessed Jesus he 's pleased to forgive us our sins those natural bars between us and heaven the consequence we must of course draw from thence is that of the Apostle That we should be kind Eph. 4.32 tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us Thus we see what excellent influence these very truths the nature and reasons of which are above the reach of our groveling minds may have upon us If we proceed and reflect upon the purity and holiness of that God with whom we have to do that he 's a Being who cannot endure sin who punishes it for its odious nature even in his dearest children all those mysteries reveal'd to us in the Gospel are so far by any fair consequence from perverting our minds that they give us all the motives imaginable 1 Pet. 1.15 that as he who has called us is holy so should we be holy in all manner of conversation A man may be a good heathen and yet a filthy Sodomite a through-pac'd Jew and yet be blind hard-hearted carnal but a man cannot be a true Christian but he 'l endeavour to avoid all appearance of evil Jude 2â— and to keep himself unspotted from the world he 'l live in a continual abhorrence of whatsoever may prejudice his soul or pollute his body and knowing that he is not his own James â—â— but that he 's bought with a price he 'l follow that advice he 'l endeavour to glorifie God in his body and in his spirit which are gods 1 Cor. 6. â—â— and to go no farther than what I had instanced in before a man that meditates on that account the Apostles and Evangelists have given us of the appearance of the Son of God in the flesh and on the ends and designs of such his appearance he 'l never spend his time idly about types and shadows when he is invited to embrace the substance he 'l study to conform himself to the Doctrine of the Gospel to be so far as belongs to a meer man a perfect imitator of all those excellent virtues so apparent in our Saviour during his converse with the world he 'l carefully avoid all
Dead before that great day must be called the Sons of God in the same sence as our Saviour is and consequently our Savour cannot on account of such Resurrection be so the Son of God as to be his only begotten Son exclusively of all others tho' that title be so exclusive in it's own nature As for the three Reasons of his being called the Son of God derived from his Offices it 's true in the first place that God has sanctifyed our Saviour and sent him into the World but so he sanctified Jeremy and so he sanctified John the Baptist and the last in particular he sent into the World with an extraordinary Commission i. e. to Preach the glad tidings of Salvation and to prepare the way of the Lord against his publick appearance which Employs were both wholly extraordinary but as for that descent of the Holy Ghost upon him whereby say they he was anointed to his Office without measure there was no particularity eminently distinguishing Him in that from his own Apostles upon whom the Spirit descended in a visible manner at the feast of Pentecost and fitted them so for the same Office of Preaching and every way promoting the Salvation of Mankind Indeed we no where find the Apostles called the Sons of God on account of their being baptised with the Holy Ghost and with fire but we see our Saviour is declared the Son of God in whom he is well pleased on that occasion but he was own'd by the same title at his Transfiguration too when there was no effusion of the Holy Ghost therefore there was some peculiarly eminent reason for giving our Lord this Title which could not be applied on any account to any other Person If we reflect on the second ground of Christ's being called the Son of God which is because He is our Great High-Priest and so constituted by God himself our Author's proof of it is very strange viz. from that passage of the Psalmist Thou art my Son Heb. 5.5 this day have I begotten thee quoted by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews for tho' those Words are there repeated as well as in the first Chapter of that Epistle yet it 's not in a different Sence or to a new purpose but the Apostle there speaking of our Saviour's Priesthood and the greatness and excellency of that Office undertaken by him tells us no Man takes this Honour to himself but He that is called of God as was Aaron Now the Apostle shews that our Saviour had such a Call as well as Aaron for his Father who said to him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee shewed his Propriety in his Son and his Love to him by those words so that it could not be strange that his Father should lay so great an Honour upon him But then his title to the Priesthood it self is founded on that Thou art a Priest for ever ver 6. after the order of Melchisedec so then the Son-ship of Christ is antecedent to his Priestly Office and He was made a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec because He was the Son of God and not called the Son of God because He was our High-Priest As for the last reason why our Saviour is called the Son of God viz. Because he is exalted to the Supreme Power over all things and so is our King Hab. 1.5 which he proves again from the same words as quoted in the same Epistle to the Hebrews There yet again the same truth occurs that Christ was the Son of God before He entred upon his Kingly Office for by Him God made the worlds and our Saviour never had a being but that at the same time he was the Son of God but if God by Him made the Worlds ver 2. as the Apostle says and he could not be our King before the Worlds were made We who are a part of these Worlds being those Creatures over whom he was to be King then he was the Son of God before he was our King and therefore could not be his Son on that account Besides if we should allow all these things the whole grant would be useless for Christ is called as before we observed the only begotten Son of God in an eminent and distinguishing manner above all others but if upon account of his Offices Prophetical Priestly or Regal Christ be called the Son of God then all those who exercise the same Functions in the world may upon the same reason lay claim to the same title for of some of them we know the Psalmist says They are Gods and they are all the children of the most high but if they can all justly lay claim to the same Title then there 's nothing peculiar to our Saviour included in that being the Son the only begotten Son of God which yet the very Title it self imports All these Reasons then not being sufficient to give our Saviour the Title of the only begotten Son of God in a manner so super-eminent to all other Creatures and their Originals particularly to Angels who are of a Spiritual Nature and are called the Sons of God There must remain some other ground for our Saviour's being so called and that is his eternal generation of the Father which puts him into such a Relation to his Father as no other creature can possibly pretend to We have prov'd that the whole of his Five Precedent Reasons do not fill up the Idea or make good the full meaning of those terms wherein Christ is called the only Begotten Son of God his Beloved Son or his own Son for if I am Born of my Mother but not Begotten in his own Image by my reputed Father tho' my reputed Father were able after Death to raise me to Life again tho' he were able to confer upon me all the Authority in the Universe yet all this will be so far from giving Me justly the Title of my Father's only-begotten Son tho' perhaps he never had any other that by all these Reasons together I should be a putative Son but really no more related to my supposed Father than our Saviour was to Joseph the Husband of the blessed Virgin when before her Espousals he was begotten in her by the Power of the Holy Ghost Nay should we admit of the very unphilosophical Hypothesis of Ruarus Quid in eo absurdi si spiritum Dei venas in virginis uterum descendentes emulsisse atque ex sanguine coagulato Embryonem formasse dicam non aliter atque id fit spiritu in masculo semine latente Ruarus ad Mersennum Epistola Centur. 1. Num. 56. p. 262. the most modest of the Socinian tribe all would be too little to make good this glorious Idea of the only begotten Son of God But his eternal Generation answers all and makes our Saviour as properly the Only Begotten Son of his Heavenly Father as I or any other Lawful Son is the only begotten of his
merciful and faithful High-priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the Sins of the People or to atone for them i. e. to reconcile God to People that had sinned for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted There remains nothing more on this Subject to be done but to draw a practical Inference or two from our Apostolical doctrine that God was manifest in the flesh or that He who really and eternally was God took upon him humane Nature for the Salvation of Mankind From hence we should learn a just Admiration of that transcendent Love and infinite Compassion extended to us by God the Father in sending by God the Son in being sent to and condescending to come among us Words are too weak to express the mighty debt of Gratitude we are engaged in to Heaven on that account only Actions may in some measure express our Acknowledgments let us not conceit our selves exempt from the Condition of the rest of Mankind We lost our original Innocence we were precluded from Paradise from tasting the Tree of Life by Cherubims and a flaming Sword whan could we then hope for We were created happy we forfeited it too too easily what could we afterwards pretend to But God however provok'd by the eternal Intercession of his Son had reserv'd Mercy for us therefore he allow'd Mankind a time and space of Repentance Repentance was the sole possible Condition of Eternal Happiness Repentance invalid yet and unfruitful in it self had it not been render'd acceptable by the Blood of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World the Truth of what I do assert in this particular appears from the Song of the four Beasts and the twenty four Elders when they adored this Lamb of God and prais'd him in the name of the Saints Thou wast slain Rev. 5.9 and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation those so redeemed from all parts include all Persons dying in the true Faith of God from the beginning of the World some of whom we find mentioned and prais'd for our Example in the Eleventh to the Hebrews and therefore when St. John afterwards gives us an account of those who received the Seal of God on their Foreheads he first reckons up 144000 of the Tribes of Israel a certain for an uncertain Number but after them he tells us he saw a great multitude 7.9 14. which no man could number of all nations and kindred and people and tongues who stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and with Palms in their hands of whom and what they were when the Apostle enquired of one of the Elders he received this Answer these are they which came out of great Tribulation and have wash'd their Robes and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb now this numberless Number of happy Souls mark'd by Heaven for its own represents all those walking and dying in the Fear of God through all Ages for Tribulation was the Characteristic of a pious Man before God was manifest in the Flesh as well as afterwards but they had all their Robes wash'd in the Blood of the same Lamb therefore that Blood was effectual for Man's Salvation and render'd all their Religious Performances of which Repentance was a chief acceptable in the sight of God before such time as it was actually and openly shed upon the Cross That Mankind might be apprehensive of their Duties and be as certain in their Repentance as they had been in their Miscarriages God who had given them all the Providential Encouragements possible to serve him faithfully and willingly was pleased to send his Messengers from time to time to call them to Repentance so Enoch by the transcendent Holiness of his Life which doubtless was accompanied with as edifying Instructions preach'd Repentance to a World even so early grown old in Sin so Noah for an Hundred Years together preach'd Repentance to a perishing Generation after the Renewal of the World again from that Stock purposely preserv'd in the Ark Prophets and Holy Men were frequently inspired by Heaven and sent through the World on the Reforming that too rarely successful Errand nor were they so wholly confin'd to Israel the Lot of God's own Inheritance but that they sometimes deliver'd Messages to the adjacent Gentiles so Obadiah to Edom Jonah and Nahum to Nineveh c. this was certainly an Effect of wonderful Compassion that a God so justly offended at Humane Crimes should have any respect to them or use so many Methods of bringing them to a Sense of their own Errors and that Misery attending them but what measure did those Messengers meet with the same with those Servants in the Parable whom their Lord sent to the Husbandmen to receive of the fruits of his Vineyard some were beaten some wounded some murder'd all slighted and disregarded Yet to evidence his Love further God when he observed how unsuccessful his Ambassadours had been He sent his Son the Conclusion was rational they will reverence my Son but the Event was contrary even that Son by foolish Husbandmen was cast out of his own Vineyard and cruelly murder'd And was not that senseless Barbarism too much was it not too much to affront Mercy so notoriously would we thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise that we are ill would it become those now who call themselves Christians to trample under foot the blood of the Gospel-Covenant to crucifie to themselves afresh the Lord of Life and to put him once more to an open shame Did he come down from Heaven to Earth from Glory to Misery to save us and shall we be so much Fools as having a Prize put into our Hands not to have Hearts to make use of it shall we refuse to be saved by him nay shall we not Love him shall we not Admire him shall we not Adore him shall we not obey him in all things shall we not be ready to suffer all that Hell and wicked Men can invent to our prejudice rather than forsake his Truth or dishonour his Gospel Reason would teach us these things for they who have received the greatest Favours ought to repay them with the greatest Gratitude but alas we generally discourse to senseless Walls or try our Charms on deaf Adders for who hath believed our Report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed The Leopard may sooner change his Spots or the Negro his Skin than those who are inured to Wickedness be persuaded to relinquish it by the most cogent Arguments in the world but how base and ridiculous does it look that Holy Men of old could live upon God's Promises of redeeming them that in confidence of his Veracity in a full and strong Faith in his Goodness they could account themselves but Pilgrims and Strangers here on Earth and by religious Lives and