Son to dye in our Room that the works of the Devil should be destroy'd in us and that we as was but meet for us to do should endeavour after Holiness of Life The Son of God therefore that He might be our Propitiation and that We might not be altogether unfit to whom so great Favours should be shewn cometh into the World to establish and promote Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness among Men. It pitied him to see those whom he had Created in such an Eminent Rank of Beings to wander in Darkness unable by all their Reasonings to find out those things that nearliest concern'd them and recommending upon uncertain grounds those that in some faint measures they did discern He hereupon reduceth them into right Paths giving them a true sight of their wretched Estate prescribing an Exact Rule to live by and settling it on a strong and sure Foundation Not only as agreeable to Mans Reason which though somtimes right is often dim and erroneous but as suteable to the Goodness of God which is absolutely perfect as being the Dictate of his Wisdom which cannot be deceived The resolution of his Will which is most Holy the Injunction of his Authority which is most unquestionable and the only way to a true and lasting Happiness Whence it is easie to discern that in infinite Love he gives his Laws unto us And the same Love from which these Laws proceeded did in an eminent manner confirm them and testifie their being Divine When he gave them he ascended into a Mount and therein there was indeed some agreeableness betwixt the giving of the Law by Moses and by Him. But this Mount did not burn with Fire nor had it Blackness and Darkness and Tempest as the other had to keep the People at a distance from him Neither were his Miracles of the severer kind as those of Old for the most part were He by an Almighty Power restored several to Life but none ever suffered Death by him He gave Health to more than a few for from him the Blind received their sight the Lame walked the Lepers were cleansed but he never hurt the Bodies of any that it might well be said He went about doing good But such a sweet-natured Establishment of his Laws we the less may wonder at as being no more than what might well be expected when such infinite and unspeakable Love had brought him into the World to give Laws A very great Inducement sure for us to love those Laws which were bottom'd on such a tender Affection to Mankind Theoph. It is pity that any should be willing to overthrow this so great Love in him who is our Lawgiver by saying that it cannot consist with the Divine Justice to punish an Innocent Person in the place of the Guilty That by an Act of Dominion God laid Affliction upon our Lord but no Punishment That therefore Christ was not a Propitiation for our Sins and consequently that there is no such Love as we talk of at the bottom of these Laws Eubul It is sad Theophilus that any should oppose a Truth so evident and advantageous For is it possible that any thing should be more plainly spoken in Holy Writ than that Christ suffered for our Sins the Just for the Vnjust That he came to give his Life a Ransom for many That he is the Propitiation for our Sins and that in due time he Died for the Vngodly And can any thing be more manifest than that our Lords dying in our stead was from his own Will and was the act of one who had a Power to do what he did and of one who could not sink under the Punishment and also an act which is conducive to the best Ends in the World the illustrating of the infinite Justice of God in punishing Sin of his infinite Mercy in saving Sinners and of his unspeakable Wisdom in doing it in such a way which the Contrivances of Men and Angels could never have reached unto And since God's Dominion is so much pleaded in this matter for the avoiding the Name of Punishment and making it to be only Affliction we may pertinently ask Why by his Dominion he might not Punish an Innocent Person offering himself in the place of the Offenders as well as throw Afflictions upon him as great and acute as Punishment itself could be And what difference is there to the Persons Sense who thus suffereth betwixt Afflictions and Punishments Surely These Men are very ill Asserters of the Divine Justice who while they deny that God may punish the Innocent instead of the Guilty though from such admirable Motives but now mentioned dare at the same time make him to have laid the Torments of the Cross upon his beloved Son without respect to any offence or fault in the least Which how unworthy a thought of God is it And how little are they Friends to the Sacred Laws who thus deprive them of their great Ornament the wonderful Love in which they were founded Theoph. But leaving these Men how Rational soever they would be thought cum ratione sua insanire if you have any thing more to say of this our Law-giver pray Eubulus do it Eubul This I think I may say truly That the Old Mosaick Law and the Blessings accruing to the Jews thereby were very much upon the Account of and in order unto our Lawgivers Coming into the World. And whosoever throughly instructed in Christianity will look into the Jewish State and the Laws and Customs of it will without much difficulty find that they were for the most part Types and Representations of him who was to come And they did betoken either the Excellency of his Person or the Purity and Holiness of his Laws or the Way how he would be a Ransom for us or the blessed Liberty we should have under his Government somthing or other relating unto him was signified by them as might easily be shewed from their Priesthood Sacrifices Washings Jubiles from the Land to which they were brought from the Person that brought them from the Cities of Refuge and such like VVhich things do shew forth the Greatness of our Lawgiver though while on Earth He for most Gracious Ends was in appearance mean. For what Man ever before Him was so Honour'd as to have the State and Government of a great Nation for so long a time to be formed as a Prophecy of Him And though Greatness as such is rather fitted to strike a Reverence than to allure Affections yet it may allure them when Majesty and Love are equally mingled and when our Lawgiver is Primarily not more so by his Greatness than by his Tenderness towards Men. The Apostle therefore to magnifie the Gospel and the Laws thereof speaks of them as given and declared by the Son of God God saith he who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto our Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his SON whom
Understanding when we read them fulfilled in our Lords being conceived of the Holy and born of a Virgin Mother And truly the Prediction Micah 5.2 Of his being born at Bethleem may move us with a more than ordinary delight when we consider how strangely God's Providence was engaged for the fulfilling it All that Taxing which was laid upon the Jewish Nation by Augustus and which required every one to repair to his own City to be Taxed may appear in a special manner to be order'd by God for the bringing Mary unto Bethleem to be delivered of her Son. It was a great way that Joseph and Mary were to go From N zareth in Galile to the City of David in Judea And it might seem ill to have hapned unto Mary at a time when her Condition rather required Rest than was fit for so great a Journey and this too as is not improbable in the depth of Winter But God somtimes is accomplishing his own Will and great things for us when Affairs appear to be cross and unhappy Yea and can order the Councils of Princes at a great distance from them to carry on these Designs which He in his Providence hath laid but which never entred their Hearts to imagine And so it is here We see no means how Mary should have been at Bethleem delivered of her Son there had not the Taxation at that very Time been enjoyn'd Which may shew that She and Joseph had no Thoughts of fulfilling a Prophecy by their journey thither But hence it was that the Son of David was born in the City of David and Divine Wisdom had ordered that of this Man it should be said He was Born there If we look to those Prophecies which were of our Lord's Suffering and Death they are such as may give us a great deal of satisfaction in a Crucified Saviour That of Esai is very express in Chap. 53. He is despised and rejected of Men a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief He hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows He was wounded for our Transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities How exactly is his Picture as it were drawn by this Prophet and how pleased may we be with the Likeness though it represents him in Grief and Sorrows So likewise in Daniel Chap. 9.26 After sixty two Weeks shall the Messias be cut off but not for himself Which things are also a good and just Interpretation of our Lord's Behaviour under his Sufferings For should he not have suffered in our stead but died only as our Example and as a Testimony of the Truth of his Doctrine as Socinus and his Followers would have it some things I speak it reverently would not have born a good Colour nor at all have been reconcileable to that Perfection which we must own to be in our Lord. I will instance in one and that is his Sweat in the Garden Consider this without the thoughts of his dying for our Sins and say whether it betrays not too great a fear of Death whether there may not seem to have been greater Instances of undaunted Courage from some Heathen Heroes and from some who have born the Name of Christians than from Christ himself That He should be so much concern'd at a single Death when he knew he died for an Example to others of not fearing Death upon a good occasion what from these Mens Opinions can we think of it But then when we consider that He was wounded for our Transgressions that he struggled with the Wrath of God which was due to all Men and was never to have end that he trod the Wine-press alone and none was with him The uncommonness of his Sweat which was as great drops of Blood may shew forth the greatness of the Burthen that was laid upon him and may make us to wonder at the Power that could at all bear up under such Pressures but by no means to accuse him of Timorousness because his Garments are thus died with Blood. So great and reverend is that Action or Passion rather of our Lord with respect to his Suffering in our stead which otherwise will require a good Invention to make it appear not mean. Add to this that Expression of his My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Had he died only for an Example unto us and a Confirmation of the Truth of what he declared why should he thus have cried out Should we ourselves be called to die for our Holy Religion I cannot say that we might lawfully thus cry unto God We ought rather to submit unto his Will with hopes that he had not forsaken us Somthing else then must be the cause of these his words viz. The pouring out of the full Vials of Gods Wrath upon Him as upon one that bare the Iniquities of us all And this will render his words highly apposite unto and expressive of his Passion which otherwise might seem beyond it So that though we are to conceive of our Lord's Death as an Example unto us for he is said to suffer for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps yet as in his Life there are some things above an Example so in his Death likewise there are which are placed beyond our Imitation We may imitate his Meekness and Patience and Love to Mankind but the height of his Sufferings for the Sins of the World we cannot And some Expressions betokening the Greatness of his Passion whether from his Words or Bloody Sweat must stand alone as highly agreeable to the State of his Agony but not so fit for any besides Himself Thus amiable are these Prophecies to the Considerate Reader not only in so exactly foretelling his Sufferings and Death and thereby vindicating the Honour of our Religion against the Jews who upbraid us with those his Sufferings and Death but also in shewing forth a true Beauty in the now-mention'd Deportment of our Saviour which an horrid Opinion of some who call themselves Christians doth tend to make very unbecoming Nor may the Prophecies of the manner of his Death be less satisfactory unto us to wit They pierced my Hands and my Feet Psal 22.17 And Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced For how rightly are these fulfilled in his suffering the Roman Crucifixion the Jews having no sort of Punishment in which the Undergoers were thus pierced And this Death being inflicted by the Roman Power directs us to the Satisfaction of another Prophecy viz. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come But the Power of Life and Death which is the most proper Signification of Scepter being wholly taken from the Jews and exercised in Judea by the Romans may shew that the Messias was come before according to that Prophecy And very remarkable it is that though Jerusalem before our Lord's Birth was Conquered by Pompey the Great yet throughout the Life of Hircanus the High Priest the Reign of Herod the Great and Archelaus
how low is That in Comparison of This I am he that prepare Eternal Mansions for you in the Heavens That reserve for you an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not away A Crown which withereth not And hence our Lord is called the Prince of Life Acts 3.10 Not only because he was dead and is alive and for ever will live but also because he was Author of Eternal Life and made it the Reward of Obedience to his Laws And when our Lord shall purchase our poor Obedience at so excessive a Value as the giving of Heaven and the Glory thereof when he might justly command more Rigorous Services without any Rewards further than merely our having of Life and being preserved while we do them what a mighty motive is it for Obedience to these Laws and for our Love to them also Mean is the being Blessed in the City and in the Field in respect of the Happiness that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard and that hath not ent'red into the Heart of Man to conceive To have Life Eternal and all Joys attending it so that with Improved Souls and Spiritual Bodies we cannot wish them to be greater nor fear them to be less Joys must sutably following a Vertuous Life and so refin'd and sacred that they are worthy of an Immortality for the being possess'd how much doth it surpass a Life's being long in an Earthly Canaan and those more common and sensible Blessings that were given to it Though yet these Earthly Rewards are not wholly excluded by the Heavenly neither but when they shall be expedient for us we shall have them Eternal Blessings under the Gospel do assure us of Temporal so far forth as they shall be for our Good as Temporal under the Mosaick Law did presignifie Eternal ones that should follow For he that spared not his own Son but gave him for us all How shall be not in Him freely give us all things And herein upon much better ground are we placed than Those were who made Virtue to be its own Reward and would have Men even in the midst of Torments though there were no hope of an Alleviation to think that they had a sufficiency of Happiness from it alone This was high and magnificent Talk indeed and if secure from ever being put into Practice it might have rested in Speculation only Virtue would not have been discredited thereby But small Comfort it carried with it when Pains and Troubles were actually to be undergone And a Man on the Rack might almost be thought not un-wise if for the obtaining of ease he would let go such an Happiness For more commended surely is the observance of the Laws of Christ which includeth in it all sorts of Virtue Our Obedience is indeed to be maintain'd if occasion there were even to the loss of all Earthly Enjoyments but then it often in this World hath Plenty and Honour as its Attendants and Reward Or if it so shall be that God in his Wisdom shall suffer it on every Hand to be encompass'd with Afflictions it yet hath somthing to sustain it besides the meer reflecting upon itself to wit the assurance that however its condition at the present be strait and difficult it will not always be so God can and it may be he will give Relaxation and Ease here but if this he shall not do there shall certainly after Death be Joys sufficient when these short Troubles shall be abundantly made up by an Happiness which never shall have an end And this may afford a firm support to Virtue and Administer a Cheerfulness even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death Who is it then that can refuse Obedience to the Laws of our Lord when he thus brings Life and Immortality to Light and promiseth them as Rewards to our Obedience And if the Excellency of the Laws themselves will not prevail upon the Man for his Love how can he stand out against the Happiness that attendeth them Those Christians that endeavour to put far from them this Happiness by esteeming the Obedience to be Low and Mercenary which hath respect to a Reward I very much pity as being such who through sad error deny to themselves the greatest comfort of their Life but very much blame them also in that as much as in them lies they devest the Holy Laws of their Inestimable Ornament and would take from us the Joy that is set before us which was the great support to our Lord in his enduring the Cross and despising the Shame and so may justly be an Encouragement to Vs in the doing of his Will Especially since by reason of our Weakness and Imperfection we have little reason to let go what may so strongly excite us unto and so sweetly confirm us in our Duty But Theophilus for the further securing of Obedience to these Laws there are Eternal Punishments after Death threatned to the Disobedient It is better saith our Lord to enter into Life Maimed than having two Hands to go into Hell into the Fire that never shall be quenched Where their Worm dieth not and where their Fire is not quenched There being a Worm to Gnaw the Man declareth that there is Torment and there being a worm not failing nor dying declareth the perpetuity of the Torment there being a Fire to burn denoteth pain and there being a Fire not quenchable for so the Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie denoteth an Everlasting Duration of that pain In like manner are we to understand those Words of St. Matthew Chap. 25.46 They shall go into Everlasting Punishment i. e. They shall go into that which shall never cease nor have end The Law of Old did indeed in its strictest constitution affix a Curse to wit Death upon every one that continued not in all things Written therein to do them But yet that Rigour was so far Mitigated that when less Punishments were allowed for some Sins Lustings though still forbidden might seem to have no Penalty at all imposed or else were thought to be wip'd off in Course by the Daily Sacrifices Hereupon it was that the Jews if they could abstain from outward Miscarriages were little concerned for inward Rectitude a freedom from Punishment rendring the Law of no weight with them But it is not so in the Laws of our Lord. They cannot be esteem'd to lose their efficacy for want of Punishment annexed Whosoever shall break one of these least Commands and shall teach Men so shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. He shall have no place in it shall be despised and rejected by God in the Day of Judgment Even the Looking upon a Woman to lust after her and the being Angry with a Brother without a Cause are esteemed by our Lawgiver in the same rank with Adultery and Murder and shall be obnoxious to the same kind of Punishment with them Which is well signified by the words in St. Matth.
continually in yours without any ceasing or decay for the great Veneration and Love which you express to these Laws Theoph. Truly Eubulus it is impossible there should be any true Happiness without them Should not the Understanding be recovered from that Blindness and Errour which are in it should not the Will be reduced from its Pravity and Perverseness Should not the Affections be delivered from their Tumultuousness and Evil Excesses even Heaven would not be a place of Joy and Bliss For how unagreeable would Glorious Mansions be and an incorruptible Body were the Soul imperfect and vicious in all its Faculties unacquainted with Holiness secretly grudging at God's Will and openly disobeying it What would the Salvation be should Saint with Saint carry it ill-naturedly and enjoy their Immortality only for the Perpetuating of their Dissentions And if to them whose Natures are not fashioned by these Laws Heaven would not afford an Happiness we may be sure Earth will not Which makes me Eubulus to pity those Men as Enemies to their own Welfare who esteem Liberty and Greatness to be then alone truly perfect when they are attended with a Licentiousness doing whatever liketh them without any respect had to the Laws of God or Man. Whereas God himself who is infinite in Majesty and most absolute in Power acteth according to the Eternal Laws of Righteousness and Goodness And it is the perfection of his Greatness and Liberty so to do Eubul What you have said I cannot gainsay but do much approve And though I confess I could never think as some have done that the Scriptures bare saying that they are the Word of God is a sufficient Testimony that they are so yet from the inward Excellence of these Laws and those admirable Motives which are added to them for the securing of our Obedience there is methinks a substantial Proof of their Divinity and Truth Can it be thought that the Devil could ever prompt any Man to make Laws so righteous and good as these are Or that he would promote their Observance with such mighty Rewards such severe Threatnings and such sacred Considerations If so then surely our Saviour's Argument of Satans being divided against himself and his Kingdoms not being able thereby to stand might be altogether as valid in the present case as then it was when the Jews said that Devils were cast out by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Neither have we more reason to imagine That any Man out of his own falseness and deceit did make these Laws since they are so directly destructive of all falseness and deceit and may justly be supposed to be everlastingly so in that they are recommended to the World with Considerations so powerful and savoury From their own Purity therefore and Goodness they may well be own'd to be the same Divine Precepts which in reality they are Theoph. And let me add That no Man ever deserv'd to be so much honour'd among Men as He hath done who hath given these Laws and beyond all example hath encouraged their practice I cannot but think somtimes how highly the grave Lucretius hath extoll'd and is himself highly extoll'd by some for so doing his Epicurus who endeavour'd to Arm Men against all Fears by the beating down of all Religion and the excluding the Gods from the knowledge of every thing on Earth as being neither pleas'd with good Actions nor offended with evil ones And He so far well doth shew that all other Inventions however very much conducive to the Welfare of Men are yet nothing to be compared to That which will quiet tumultuous Passions and render the Mind well informed and steady Compare saith he with This the great things which others have found out Ceres and Bacchus are much honour'd She as having first taught the way of sowing Corn He as having first instructed Men in planting of Vines But yet without these things Mens Lives may be sustain'd and as report goes some Nations even now do live without them At bene non poterat sine puro pectore vivi but without a Breast well purged a Man can have no happy Life And then he goes on with the Praises of his Philosopher as being worthy a Place among the Gods. But if He had so much Honour who profanely taught Men not to fear what shall our Lord have who with sacred Religion directs Men in the pleasant and right Paths to Happiness Who gives them Laws which will render them easie to themselves and acceptable unto others Who in any Troubles that may befal them affords them the only Methods of Comfort by telling them that God is a Father unto Men in every thing taking care of them and ordering even Afflictions for the good of those who are pious Who makes known everlasting Joys after Death which are prepared for those that live holy Lives and renders the way thereunto not difficult by the help which he continually vouchsafes from above And all this in such a wonderful manner by having loved us even unto Death with a Love much stronger than Death itself Eubul Our Lord doth indeed in these things deserve Honour above all Men and we may often on his account sing that Anthem which at his Birth the Angels sung Glory be to God on high on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. And I will further say That They who faithfully give up their Names unto him have the Precedency not only of all Those who among the Heathens pretended to the study of Wisdom but also of God's own People the Jews yea in a sort even of David himself who was so dear to him and whom in our Discourse we have had occasion so often to mention For though I cannot but yield that this King had a fair insight into the Kingdom of the Messias and the things belonging unto it there being in his Psalms so many undoubted Descriptions thereof yet it will not be an Untruth to affirm That the meanest Christian among us hath unless it be his own fault more clear Revelations of Christ of Life and Immortality and of the Assistances of the Holy Spirit than David had or any of the Prophets The words of our Lord tending to what I now say are very remarkable Verily I say unto you Among them that are born of Women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist Notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he Matth. 11.11 i. e. However a very great Prophet John was one that above all the rest had the Honour to see our Lord in the Flesh a thing which many Prophets and Kings had desired to see and had not seen it yet the least Disciple or Christian when Christ shall be set at the Right-Hand of God and shall raise up an Heavenly Kingdom upon Earth shall he greater than John. i. e. From the being Baptized with the Holy Ghost and having a larger knowledge of the Divine Will manifested being made acquainted with higher and
Law properly so called but in the Psalms And I doubt not but as the Psalms are called in a larger Sense Gods Law so our Psalmists in these words O how I love thy Law meaneth all that God by Divine Inspiration hath caused to be written as well as the Law taken in the strictest signification Theoph. Give me leave to tell you that I look not upon you to have done your task throughly unless you deal with the other Parts of Holy Scripture as you have done with that which is properly Preceptive Eubul There is the less need of this because if That be excellent and amiable in relation to us the rest of the Bible as being in order unto and promotive of the Precepts there for so in reality it is must be Excellent and Amiable likewise whether it be Historical or Prophetick Adhortative or Devotional and to one or other of these all except what we have already discours'd of or at least the most of what the Sacred Writings include is reducible Theoph. If you would be a little particular herein you would seem to me not to exceed the Bounds of your Discourse Good Eubulus begin with the Historical part of the Bible which for the great things it containeth and the Faithful account which it giveth doth when ever I read it afford me very great satisfaction Eubul That the accounts of things are Faithful and Written with a design of Truth the Holy Writers not sparing themselves but putting down their own faults as several of them in several places do is a very great Evidence Such an Integrity cannot but be Loved where from Historians having less respect to their own Reputation than to the verity of things a Man may be as well satisfied in his knowledge of the most Ancient Times as he is in those which he Lives in and sees with his Eyes Yea such History may much the more engage his Love when it gives him not merely the knowledge of the first Times but such a knowledge as to a good Man puts a Relish into All Times and will make the years pass more gratefully to the End of the World. Look we Theophilus upon the account of the Creation of the World which we may be certain was Written by Gods Immediate Appointment and Inspiration for the exciting a due Fear and Love of Him i. e. an Obedience to his Laws and what Delight may we not conceive therefrom While the Wise Men of the World have in vain sought how this goodly Fabrick of the Heaven and Earth came to be such as it is some of them affirming it to be from all Eternity the same which we now see it others determining it to be from a lucky hit of Matter casually coming together into this Beauteous Form We amidst their Errors can pity them and the more enjoy the Truth from the Ignorance and Darkness which these Searchers have been in But as the knowledge of a Truth which they could not reach unto may upon that score be prized by us so we may intermingle the greatest Love with our Esteem of it because it gives us such a firm support throughout our Lives God who Created the World did it not more to manifest his Power than to express his Goodness unto Men whom he made to enjoy it and to be served by all things in it And how Cold and Vnaffecting are the Other Opinions in respect of this Truth Were the World such as it now is from all Eternity altogether without a Deity or with no Relation unto one which is the opinion of some Atheistical Men it could not give us the pleasure of thinking that it was the effect of Divine Power and Love to us Nay were it Eternal by a necessary Efflux from the Goodness of a Deity which could not refrain from the thus exerting itself as the Platonists hold where would be the Favour For that which cannot possibly be otherwise layeth no Obligation upon us And should the World have risen merely by Chance as the Epicureans would have it there would this way also have been the Total absence of Kindness For what hath Chance to do with Kindness whose perfection it is to have the Understanding and Will along with it But now in the History of the Worlds Beginning we can behold the Love and Beneficence of the Great Creator and with Pleasure can Contemplate Him who makes his Goodness to be seen in every thing though Himself be Invisible So great a Priviledge is it to have the World founded in the Divine Power Wisdom and Love that one who knows those things and is a Virtuous Person would not for a World that the World should be without them The Light would be a less pleasant thing to behold should it not have been from Him who is the Fountain of Light. And what pleasure would the Heavenly Bodies whether those which we term fixed or those which as Cicero speaks are Vocabulo nonâ—e errantia Planets not in reality but word only afford by their Motion and Influence were it not from the Creators Order that they thus Move from his Care of us that they thus shed their Influence Could we not say also concerning these Earthly Things That Manifold are thy Works O Lord in Wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches And even concerning ourselves likewise that Man was first formed by God who breathed into him the Breath of Life that ever since we have been fearfully and wonderfully made and that in his Book are all our Members Written both We and They should lose all our Excellence For an Excellence wholly destitute of Wisdom wholly destitute of Love would be an empty thing yea a meer Contradiction Theoph. It must needs be yielded that such History is Worthy to be Loved on the Considerations you now mention'd and one Consideration more may be added viz. That though there be in some antient Authors some things not altogether unlike to this History they in probability having either seen Moses's Writings and so out of design mingled Fictions with them for the making an Opinion of their own or else heard an imperfect Relation of them and so given us only some faint resemblances of Truth though the best they could yet none of them all do give that satisfaction to a Religious Reader which Moses doth He having been throughly instructed by the Creator himself for what he hath Written and having given Confirmation also of its Truth by the Wonders which he wrought Eubul It is not difficult to conceive why though even by Natural Reason it may be inferred that the World owed its Form and Fashion to a Divine Power there yet is such a defective account of the Origen of the Universe from the Philosophers of Old. For they however otherwise of good Knowledge and great Industry relying altogether on the Experience of the Works of Nature in which they saw that somthing was requisite for the production of another thing could not
from the Creation of the World which in the greatest Goodness was effected from the Continuance of God's Favour when Man had fallen and from the manifold Loving Kindnesses which he had shewed to his People in general and to Good Men in particular And therefore this good King could burst forth in earnest Exhortations to others O Love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the Faithful For your third Duty viz. Gratitude which you would have to be shewed to a Lawgiver are all those Injunctions and Incitements of Praising God which are scattered almost every where in the Holy Scriptures And no other Design had those Sacrifices which were unbloody than that Men should with Thankfulness acknowledge God as Supream 'T is said Levit. 7.12 If he offer it for a Thanksgiving as much as to say Thankfulness is to be offered unto God. And what more prevailing Motive could there be for the Obeying this Precept than that whatever was possessed was of God's Bounty It was He that gave unto the Israelites all that they look'd upon as their Wealth and Property And therefore they were to honour the Lord with their Substance and with the First-Fruits of their Increase That is They were in Gratitude to render back somthing of what he had bestowed upon them Not that he needs any thing of that which Men can return unto him but that their Thankfulness may be expressed in what manner they are able to do it And this their Gratitude might be the greater in that God secured his Gifts unto them by his Laws allotting to every Tribe its proper Portion and distributing that Portion amongst the Heads of particular Families That Discords at first might not hinder their Possessions and that Avarice and Ambition might not afterwards break into them For what was thus divided by Lot the Disposal of which was wholly from God was not to be alienated to other Tribes nor to other Families of the same Tribe The Property of the Land remained firm only the Use and Incomes of it might be sold for a season which yet might at any time be redeemed and if it were not redeemed it necessarily reverted to the ancient Owners at the Year of Jubile And hereupon Industry was encouraged and Peace established and they sate under their in a most proper sense Own Vines and Fig-trees none making them afraid Nay God had not only bestowed upon the Seed of Jacob all that they enjoyed but even They themselves were also wholly from Him. In Kindnesses from Men the Man is supposed to have a Being before And that we are Men and have an understanding Soul is not properly the Gift of any Man to us But God hath as I may so speak given us Ourselves as well as other things and so our Gratitude to Him is to be so much higher than to others by how much Life and Being are better than Possessions Yea by how much what we enjoy are more his Gifts unto us than they can be the Gifts of any others For the Propriety of them is for ever his and his Providence will never part with the Guidance and Direction of them And therefore though others should give them us it is his Bounty through their Hands How then might Those in the Judaick State love the Laws which have immediate Relation to God as a Lawgiver How full of Reason are they Is there not the greatest Beauty in them Which could it be discern'd by our outward Eyes who is it could see and not love them And surely what appears truly beautiful to the Eye of the Soul i. e. to clear and deliberate Thoughts will call no less for love but much more Intellectual Beauty being much to be preferr'd before that which is Sensible And if I may once more Paraphrase this Expression of the Psalmist O how I love thy Law Methinks it implyeth thus much Nothing in the World is there that shall hinder me from loving it I prefer it before all other things however esteemed they be by Men. Were it left to my choice whether I would have any of these Laws repealed or whether I would fear love and be grateful unto God or not though no Punishments should be inflicted if I did not do it there should not be one Law the less for my Duty towards my God and Lawgiver Nor should any thing how pleasant or advantageous soever it be buy off my Observance of his Laws So dear is their Practice and so delightful their Speculation to me Theoph. I see and acknowledge the Excellence of these Laws and do really think them worthy the high Character which this Royal Person gave and the great Love which he expressed to them But Eubulus of those Laws which in their Observance had relation to God immediately Some were such as might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather E. G. The shedding so much Blood of Men in Circumcision of Beasts in Sacrifice Others though not Cruel might yet seem to proceed and are by many thought so to do from the Will of God as Supream without any discernible Reason for their being enjoyn'd and consequently without any Love to his Creatures For what Love can be seen there where no Reason can be assigned why such and such things are commanded or forbidden And who is it then that can love such Laws Of this sort were those that forbad the wearing of Linnen and Woollen in the same Garment The Ploughing with an Ox and an Ass together And the use of such and such Creatures for Food and others not unlike unto these And then further The Laws that require Fear are such as are enforced upon the account that God is Terrible And where so great Terribleness is at the bottom of these Laws how could they be so much loved For as the Apostle saith Perfect Love casteth out Fear And where Laws do require so much Fear the Love to them must needs be the less Pray Eubulus tell me Are these to be excepted from our Psalmist's Love Or if not how can it be truly said he loved them Eubul For the satisfying of you in these things and first for your first Objection to wit That of those Laws which in their Observance had relation unto God immediately some might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather as the shedding so much Blood of Men in Circumcision and of Beasts in Sacrifice it will not I suppose be unmeet that these things be considered 1. That the Law which hath so much love here expressed to it is as I before hinted to be understood of the Moral Law chiefly For this hath a real and intrinsick Goodness in it It is just and good that God as he is our God and Lawgiver should be feared loved and have Gratitude shew'd to him 2. As to those other Laws of Circumcision and Sacrifices though in themselves considered they are not Morally good yet considered with relation to all the good
he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom he made the Heavens Heb. 1.1 2. As much as to say He hath spoken to us in a more Eminent manner than ever yet he hath done unto any And Chap. 2. he gives Precedency to his Laws before the Law given on Mount Sinai upon the Account that THAT was spoken by Angels THESE by the Lord. And by how much the greater the Person is that speaks supposing the things he speaks are in themselves Good as we shall shew that His absolutely are by so much the more should the things spoken have our Observance and Esteem This is my beloved Son hear ye Him said the Voice out of the Cloud at the Transfiguration when our Lawgiver did far exceed Moses in the Brightness of his Face and had Moses himself with Elias Attendants upon him He it is that hath the note of Excellence by S. John Chap. 1.18 viz. Who is in the Bosom of his Father i. e. Who as nearest unto him knows his mind most of any Above All he is to be heard He alone is the Man in whom saith God I am well pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom I fully rest having made known my Will unto him so as that a further notice of it is not to be expected for to my full satisfaction it is by him declared unto Mankind Such considerations of our Lawgiver may well excite our esteem of his Laws and we have great reason to Love them for the Givers Sake Since never any Laws were so much Honour'd from Love and Greatness as these were Theoph. The things which you have said are of no mean Concern and I wish that they were entertain'd abroad with such a Sense as they ought to be Good Eubulus proceed to the consideration of the Laws themselves Eubul I will and surely they well deserve our Love in these four respects 1. In that all those Troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away and that in so excellent a manner 2. In that only such Laws are enjoyned as have in them an intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely good and such as are discernable by every one 3. In that those Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given 4. In that from these Laws we have a fair way for a pardon of all Sins 1. In that all those Troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away and that in so excellent a manner The Eighth Day doth not now shew us the Blood of our Children nor give us an occasion to pity them from the pains they endured by a Knife or sharp Stone And how great these Pains were and what the Soreness may be collected from the Story of the Shechemites whom Simeon and Levi were able to slay Two Men a whole City Those Numerous Washings which upon the Touching of Unclean Things and those Unclean Things so many were to be performed are now at an end There is now no being polluted for many Days or until the Evening separated from the Company of others neither need we for every Sin of Ignorance go with a Goat unto the Temple for Sacrifice Which how many must they have been since too apt we are unawares to fall into Sin Yea a Period is put to all those Sacrifices which were continually offered up These things had indeed good Reasons as hath been said for their being enjoyn'd to the Jews But it must be confessed that as to their Number and Nature they were tedious and burdensom There was somthing in the whole Oeconomy itself that in the Apostles word Heb. 8.7 was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from blame And though it serv'd well for a time yet Men in after-Ages when their Understandings were adult and their Reason improved were capable of better things than such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul termeth them weak and beggerly Elements Now had God done them or the more uneasie part of them away by his Will only without any visible Effects of his Wisdom in their being abolished it would have been a great Favour unto us But that they All should cease by being improved into greater Excellencies That Circumcision as it mark'd the Jews for Gods People should be at an end by all the Kingdoms of the World becoming the Kingdoms of the Lord That as it imported Purity and Chastness it should be raised into the Spiritual Circumcision of the Heart and the daily cutting off as it were all impure and corrupt Affections That as it was a sign of the Promised Seed it should end in His Wonderfully being Born who is the Everlasting Perfection of it That so many Allusions and Sprinklings should terminate in the inward Cleanness of the Soul and Conscience so as that there should be no further need of such things to denote it That extraordinary Sacrifices should be finished by the Lamb of God's offering up himself once for all appeasing by his pretious Blood his Fathers Wrath satisfying his Justice and purging away our Sins That ordinary Sacrifices should be no more through our Bodies and Souls being presented daily unto God a Living Sacrifice an holy acceptable and rational Service That all those Ceremonies Theophilus should in so admirable a manner be cancell'd is an high Demonstration of Gods Wisdom and the greatest Expression of his Love to us And therefore his Laws so excellently freed from such Troublesom Rites may very much engage our Love. Theoph. What you say as it may much engage our Love to the Christian Law so methinks it affords a good Answer to the Jews who urge that their Laws are in Holy Writ styled Everlasting and Ordinances for ever and so cannot be thought to cease so long as the World stands And it also may correct their way of speaking when they say our Lord hath vilified and destroyed those their Laws Eubul Pray go on and shew how in both Theoph. Some Things being said to be Everlasting and for ever denoteth only their Duration so long till their Nature cannot extend them to a further length Thus Isai 34.10 The Fire is said to burn for ever which shall not be quenched before it hath consumed all the Matter in which it burneth So likewise Deut. 15.17 A Servant is said to be a Servant for ever i. e. So long as till the Year of Jubile should free him Before that time he must not think to leave his Master And not impertinent to what we are now speaking was their way of dividing the World into Two Ages The one before the Messias the other after The former they called one for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Seculum The later added to it was for ever and ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Secula Seculorum Now the Law as given by Moses was Everlasting as the word Everlasting may import a Duration so long as the Nature thereof would well allow of so long as till the great Jubile should be
them If we look upon the Apostle's Words from which the former Opinion is taken to wit All things are yours there are these things indeed which much make for the Honour as well as the Benefit of Pious Men. All things are theirs so as that with a Christian Liberty they may use them without esteeming any of them unclean All things are theirs after such a manner as that if they should absolutely stand in need of them God would order them by his Almighty Power for their Service Lastly all things are so theirs that in probability God would not suffer his Sun to shine nor his Rain to fall on the Evil were there not Good Men in the World to value his Providence and Love. But then this is the whole that those Words will bear To say that God hath given the Saints the Right of Possession and authorized them to Ingross all the World to themselves is notoriously false For as the Oeconomy of the World now stands God doth dispose of the possession of things in those ways which all Civil Nations do give consent unto or the particular Laws of Nations allow of whether they be Inheritances by Descent or the Gift of others to us or Purchased by our Money or Acquired by our Labour Where any of these are there is a Right as being God's Gifts to us by those Methods and the depriving us of them by Fraud or Force would be down-right Injustice Add to this that the Right of Possession in these ways is discernable and certain while the founding it in Grace and Holiness gives no sure Light unto us at all For how shall we know who are the Good We see Impiety can wear as good a Face somtimes as the truest Virtue and Mens Hypocrisie may cheat not only others by a specious shew but even themselves too There is nothing I may say more in the dark than true Goodness we cannot be infallible in pronouncing it in another because his Heart and Thoughts in which it peculiarly resides cannot be seen by us And our own Hearts are so deceitful that they oftentimes no less lie hid to ourselves than they do to others And therefore if Grace and Holiness which they will have to be the Ground of Dominion and Possession is so uncertain That Right which from those is so much talk'd of must needs be as uncertain But suppose that such and such should be known undoubtedly to be Religious and Gratious Persons I would ask Have they all the same Right to enjoy every thing or have they not If they have there will this absurdity follow viz. That every one cannot at the same time use what every one hath a Right unto and Quarrels may arise who shall have the Precedence in them If they have not all the same Right how comes equal Grace in many to give an unequal Title A narrower to one than to another Or if it shall evidently prove as it evidently will that Human Laws or Customs and not Grace do make a Distinction of Property why should some others whom those Laws or Customs have by no means condemned be denied the benefit of Property from them Further yet God may possibly bestow these outward good things upon a wicked Man as Encouragements to a better course of Life Somtimes he may throw them upon him as a Scourge and somtimes he may think good to reward with the Blessings of the Earth some good Actions in him when yet his Crimes will not suffer him to have hereafter a place in Heaven And in which of all these cases have not wicked Men a Right to their Estates from God as well as from Men Will any good Man think that he hath any Title to those outward Possessions which God hath conferr'd to draw Men unto Virtue Or will he arrogate to himself as Blessings what God hath made Curses to others Or lastly shall the good things which God hath given as Rewards for some commendable Actions be thought much of envied and claimed when it may be they are all the Recompences which ever shall be given And what wicked Man is there to whom his Estate may not belong in one of these ways And surely to deprive him of it upon the account of Grace in ourselves or Corrupt Nature in him would be Impiety and Presumption towards God and Injustice and Dishonesty towards Man. So unreasonable and contrary to the Law of Righteousness is this first Opinion And is it Theophilus any otherwise with the second I do not know any Laws in the New Testament that are more express and direct than those against the Resisting of Sovereign Princes Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers for there is no Power but of God Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Rom. 13. And were it that upon the account of Religion we might resist why should the Holy Ghost so peremptorily forbid Resistence under an Emperour who he certainly knew would be a grievous Persecutor of the Gospel But if we look at the first progress of Christianity into the World the case will be evident The Gospel was not forcibly to enter the Territories of any Prince but by its own Excellence accompanied with cogent Arguments and humble Persuasions was to have admittance For indeed it was against the Nature of that which consisteth chiefly in Love to thrust itself upon the World by Acts of Hostility and Violence And if so can we reasonably think that when it is admitted it is to maintain itself by the Sword against those through whose Favour and Kindness it was first received This would be to make it by continuance to put on quite a different Nature from what it primarily had And were it to be such Princes could the less be blamed if they should be scrupulous in giving within their Dominions a place to that which at last might not allow a place to themselves there But surely Christ's Kingdom in its proper Nature is as little of this World as ever it was and so his Servants are as little to fight now as they were when He was upon the Earth It is a very remarkable place in St. Peter 2 Epist 2.10 11. where it is said That God will chiefly reserve those unto the Day of Judgment who are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities And that the holy Angels which are greater in Power and Might bring not railing Accusations against them which must needs be understood of evil Princes For what occasion may there seem for railing Accusations against those Princes that are Pious and Good Now if the blessed Angels with respect to God's Ordinance in them will speak with a kind of Heavenly Modesty and Deference concerning them is it lawful for us think we not only to let loose our Tongues in a bitter and inveighing manner but to lift up our Hands in Treasons and Rebellions against them And if those shall be reserved
5.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall be liable to the Judgment viz. The Court of the Twenty Three Elders where the Punishment was Capital though in a more mild manner than in the Council viz. of the Sanhedrim or in the Vally of Hinnom denoted there by the Expression of Hell-fire And therefore the least Punishment hereafter being such as answers to Death here importeth no less than Death Eternal though a lesser degree thereof than what shall be inflicted upon greater Sins Theoph. But can this Motive be said any way to prevail for our Love to these Laws It may excite indeed a Dread but not likely our Love. Eubul Yet Theophilus let things be seriously considered and even from This Motive how dreadful soever it may at first view appear there will be reason to love these Laws For the Constituting such Punishments is no more than what is meet to be done Where the Laws are in themselves so every way good and where there are Eternal Rewards promised to the Observance of them you will say when they are disobey'd that it is but fit there should be Penalties inflicted and these Penalties such as shall be answerable to the Offences committed Now the greatness of the Offences is to be gathered from the exceeding Riches of Gods Bounty viz. Everlasting Rewards held out unto Men on Terms so excellent and to Rational Natures so truly agreeable If These shall be despised and cast behind their backs the Sin is of a very great height and what Punishment will so rightly sute it as the contrary to that Eternal Happiness which they have rejected viz. Eternal Misery The measure of Gods Justice is to these Men not greater than the abundant Goodness was which they so ungratefully refused They shall not be thrown deeper in Hell than by the Will of God they might have been raised in Heaven Nor shall they continue longer in Punishments than they should have done in Joys Now these things in Speculation must be acknowledged to carry in them a dueness of proportion and to be therefore bountiful as indeed every thing in God and in his Actings is even his Justice no less than his Mercy Only we are weak and sinful and so cannot over quickly discern it But to impartial Consideration it will at length shew itself so to be But that which comes more near us and may more move our Love is this viz. That the Intent of threatning these Punishments is primarily not that they should be born but that they should be escaped Self-preservation is a thing so natural unto Men that the fears of losing their Welfare and Being shall have a more quick touch upon them than any thing else God therefore hath added this Motive of Fear that it may be a spur to quicken us when by the Corruption of Nature other Arguments are rendred less prevalent These Punishments shall indeed be undergone by refractory Sinners For they have as much as in them lies gone about to dissolve utterly the Community which is made up between God the Legislator and Men his People by infringing the Authority of the Divine Laws and the Dignity of Him who is to see that they be observed But it is only by such as These that these Punishments shall be undergone To others they are chiefly a Motive to Obedience and are further only as a reserve when all other means have proved ineffectual The case in respect of Punishments is much different betwixt our Lawgiver and Lawgivers on Earth Some of These are more forward to punish than to reward because Punishments do oftentimes increase their Treasuries and Rewards diminish them But our Lord is no way profited by the punishment of any neither in the rewarding them is his Abundance extenuated Much delight he takes in the Life of Men but he hath given us the greatest Assurances that he hath no pleasure in the death of Sinners His threatning therefore to punish them is that they may not be punished And truly though we may dread the Effects of God's Justice yet when he thereby shall awaken our Hearts that we may be the more secured unto Happiness as it may very much excite our Obedience so may it also our Love to God's Law even upon the account of threatning Eternal Punishments Theoph. I see out of the Eater there may be Meat and out of the Strong Sweetness What to common view is at the greatest distance from Love is hearer than what I could think an Engagement thereof to the Divine Law. Eubul Another Motive for the securing of Obedience to the Laws of Christ is their having stronger Assistances afforded for the Performance of them than under the Old Law there were The Holy Spirit will always joyn with our sincere Endeavours and will help our Infirmities And hereupon the Gospel and all the Laws of Jesus Christ are in Holy Writ called Spirit by reason of the Grace of God's Spirit preventing and enabling us in the doing of them and are therein put in opposition to the Mosaick Law which is term'd the Letter Thus is it 2 Cor. 3.6 God hath fitted us to be Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit i. e. not of the Old Law but of the Evangelical for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life i. e. The Spirit with its Assistances in this Law enables us to perform it and in so doing to obtain Life Hence it is that the Apostle as some very Learned Persons interpret him reckons more to the Constitution of a Christian than of other Men joyning Spirit to Soul and Body and giving that the precedence of the other two I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 2 Thess 5.23 Not that This is a Substance distinct from the Soul and Body but a Principle we may call it which is wrought within us by the Blessed Spirit and is well expressed by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Paul the New Creation and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Peter the Divine Nature whereby we are enabled to act those things which meerly by our Natural Powers we cannot reach unto And what is it that we cannot do if our Lord through the Blessed Spirit will lend us an Hand in the doing it I can do saith St. Paul all things through Christ that strengtheneth me and so may every good Christian say as well as he Which is a very great Encouragement to love these Laws in that they bring their Helps as well as their Rewards along with them Theoph. What you say Eubulus might be a great Encouragement to love these Laws were these Assistances such as you speak them to be But alas our Work seems to be little the less for them We must labour fight and strive and when we have done all which we are able we can see much of the Weakness of Men but little of the Strength of God and nothing
think and somtimes they may think right that in relation to the Commands of Masters and Governors they could do better than what they are enjoyn'd to do And yet notwithstanding they will yield Obedience as judging it but reasonable That not always what is best but what best pleaseth those who are in Power is to be done But better they cannot do than that which the Laws of our Lord require His Will never stands in Opposition to what is in itself really best because he is pleased with nothing but that which is holy just and good Which sure may create a very great Satisfaction in us whilst we submit to his Laws and may render those his Laws of very high account with us But yet for all this his Laws and Himself too are much disesteem'd and the mean regard which they generally find hath made me with sorrow to think upon those Words of Arrian's Epictetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Men saith he have built Altars and Temples to Triptolemus who shew'd them the way of Agriculture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But to Him who finds out and gives Light to the Truth of Things directing Men not merely to preserve Life but to Live well and as Men ought to do Who of you all Dedicates a Temple to his Honour or so much as thanks God upon his Account All this cannot I confess be said with relation to our Lawgiver Temples are built unto him and Praises are offered unto God who sent him into the World. But are they not with a great many as an outward shew rather than the Expressions of inward Devotion and unfeigned Thankfulness While they obey not the Laws of Him whom they thus celebrate and to use our Lord 's own words do draw near unto him with their Lips when their Heart is far from him Most Men are willing to have our Lord their Priest to Attone for their Sins and for Novelty and Entertainment they can be content to have him their Prophet too But as a King and Lawgiver they care not for him and are backward to submit to his Scepter and Laws Yet surely his Scepter is a Righteous Scepter and his Commands not grievous but such as are fitted to Human Nature and its Interests in this World that the Man may seem unwilling to be Happy either here or hereafter who refuseth Obedience unto them It was a true word of the People concerning our Lord That never Man spake as he spake His Words were with Authority bringing a Convincingness along with them And shall Men now be deaf to them Frequently did our Saviour use that Exhortation shall I call it or Command or both He that hath Ears to hear let him hear As much as to say Of so great importance are the things I declare unto you that if ever a more than ordinary Attention was requisite now it is Well it were if it could not be said of Multitudes That there is a Price put into their Hands and they have no Heart to it Theoph. Let me add Eubulus that the great expectation which was of this our Lawgiver and his Laws may prevail much for Mens Obedience to them Towards Him the Faces of the Jews even from Moses's time and upwards were bent The coming of Shiloh was earnestly waited for And He after so many Propbecies made of him had the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Him that Cometh or the Coming King as is very frequently to be seen in the Evangelists And when the Ages past were so intent upon his Coming when there were so many Types and Predictions of him which under his Government betokened the greatest Happiness unto Men shall Men now He is come esteem meanly of Him and his Laws And this when to those who will impartially weigh and consider things He is not a jot less worthy than all the Expectations of a great People for many more than a thousand Years and those many Figures and Prophecies of him imported him to be Yea when He is excellent beyond the Conceptions of Men Angels themselves desiring with Reverence to look into these things When also All Men are no less concern'd in Him now than the Jews formerly were How ill will it look after all this if Men shall slight his Person and refuse Obedience to his Laws which if a Man observe he shall not only live in them but live happily to all Eternity Eubul Your Persuasive for Reverence and Honour to the Person of our Lawgiver and for Submission and Obedience to his Laws is very strong Yet methinks I would not more urge for an Observance of than for an hearty Love unto those his Laws Though truly where there is a faithful Observance there will be a true Love of them also Their Righteousness and Goodness will presently manifest themselves to those who are Conscionably Obedient And as our Lord saith Wisdom is justified of her Children so these Laws which may in reality be termed Wisdom as proceeding from Him who is Wisdom itself will justifie their own Excellencies to the Thoughts of those who observe them and by Them will be vindicated against all Gainsayers and Disobedient Ones I will end all with this Prayer That God by shedding abroad his Love into our Hearts would encrease our Love daily more and more to his Laws That we may cheerfully obey Him in this World and be everlasting rewarded by Him in the next DISCOURSE the Sixth The Contents NOt a few think themselves secure in their actings if they can shew that some good Men in Holy Writ or some well accounted of since have done the like Examples of Good Men to be imitated no further than they have the Laws of Christ for their Rule and Warrant They can of themselves lay no Obligation upon us The Holy Men we read of in Scripture were not sent into the World to be a Rule to all Others in the Things they acted The Vncertainty of Examples very great Their Insufficiency None of the Actions of our Blessed Lord from his Example merely and without a Law did lay any Obligation upon us to Imitate them The Laws of Christ reach to all Moral Actions No Examples of Goodness beyond what is included in those Laws Inferences concerning the Examples in Holy Writ In those things where the Law of God is Silent Prudence is to be our Guide Examples though of themselves they lay no Obligation upon us are yet of use Those which bear the Image of the Laws of Christ are given us for Incentives and Encouragements of our Obedience When Divine Laws are question'd as to their Sense Examples upon occasion may be Interpretations of them By Examples we may be instructed to do our Duties in a decent and becoming way Decency added unto Sincerity may make its reward the greater Examples are Registred in Holy Scripture for the Honour of those whose they were Our Condition the more sure than it would have been if we
or very heedless if our Fear of God our Trust in him and other such like Graces be not stirred up and exercised within us It is impossible a good Man should be taken with any History so much as with this Since by being Conversant in it he doth not only as it were Live in those Times with those Persons who were dear unto God but doth likewise before hand become their Friend and Intimate with whom he hopes to Live for ever in that City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God. Theoph. I would not that the pleasure though great it be which you have excited in me from the History of the Old Testament should make me forget that of the New. Dear Eubulus let not that pass without some Remarks from you also Eubul There cannot be in the whole World what may more deservedly engage our Love than That And what we have hitherto been speaking though it be very taking is yet much the more so because a great deal of it hath a more Spiritual meaning and is in Order to the History of our Redemption The Genealogies in the Old Law were of Civil use to the Jews in more respects than one But they may chiefly seem by the Providence of God to be so exactly Registred and Preserved that the Race of the Messias when he should come should not be unknown and confused And yet who can declare his Generation So surpassing all others is it how Glorious soever The Chief Matter of the Gospel Story is the Redemption of the world by the Son of God's suffering in our stead undergoing his Fathers wrath that we might be partakers of his Love. And how delightful may such History be to us From the depth of Bondage and Misery to be asserted into the liberty of the Sons of God and made capable upon most excellent Terms of everlasting Happiness how may it affect us Our Redemption in itself is a thing Divinely Great But the Method of accomplishing it Who can sufficiently admire Though the Son of God who was to work this mighty Favour for us from all Eternity was and to all Eternity will be God the Blessed as far in his Godhead from being punishable for sinful Men as Men in their sins are from being acceptable to a Just and Holy God yet there is a way found out for him to undergo Pain and Punishment in our stead God the Father hath prepared for him a Body and by his own uniting it with the Divine Nature he can both Suffer and Dye And in his being capacitated thus to do Christ is by way of Eminence the Wisdom of God as exceeding the deepest Conceptions of Men or Angels Neither may his History in other Circumstances of his Coming into Continuance in and Leaving of the World less prevail upon us for an H ol Admiration and Delight Highly wonderful was his Conception within the Womb of a Pure Virgin by the Power of the Highest overshadowing her And his Birth from the multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God from the Star's being Created on purpose for the leading the wise Men from afar to worship him Shew forth an Holy Lamp and Splendor order'd by Wisdom from above as a Peculiar to Him alone of all that ever were born into the World. One thing more is very apposite to the History of his Birth That it was in a Time of Peace over all the World. The Temple of Janus at Rome was shut And no noise of War disturb'd the Nations This was the Hand of God that He who was styled the Prince of Peace should then be born when Peace was upon Earth Especially since the Laws he was to give were not to make their way by Force and Arms but were calmly to be weigh'd and for their Reasonableness and Excellence to find entertainment in the World. Theoph. But there were some Circumstances in his Birth which were as remarkable for their Meanness as these you have mention'd were for their Greatness Such were his Mothers being of Low Degree Her bringing forth her Son in a Stable And the First Message of his Birth being made known to Shepherds All of which may seem unworthy of his Person as they are much of a different piece from what you but now spake Eubul Yet in them all Theophilus there is no less Wisdom and Love seen than in those things which were Splendid and Glorious What if the Blessed Virgin was not great in the World She yet was of a very Creditable Stock of no meaner an one than that of David She yet was of Spotless Innocence and of Great Piety which are in his Eyes who seeth not as men see of the greatest Price and far beyond outward Grandeur Such Humble ones God will exalt while the mighty shall be put down from their Seat. And this was the Matter of the Blessed Virgins Praising of God and rejoycing in him and will be the Praise and Joy of the Meek and Lowly for ever His Birth was indeed at first made known unto Shepherds and they were directed to the place where the young Child was But had the Angels in Heaven and the Great ones on Earth been his only Attendants the meaner sort of Men might have been discourag'd as thinking that the Benefit of a Saviour was only or chiefly there where State and Greatness made way for it But now Meaner Persons so they be Harmless and Industrious as these Shepherds from their Calling and their keeping Watch with their Flocks by night appear to have been are shew'd to be no less dear unto God than those of higher Rank And Lastly his being Born in a Stable and laid in a Manger doth manifest also that He was truly Man Which would not have been so throughly discerned had all things been of the more splendid sort For where there is nothing but Grandeur and State Men seem to themselves to be and are permitted by God to be called more than Men I have said ye are Gods. But the being of Human Race is never question'd where the Condition and Circumstances are Low. The things then that are meanest in our Saviour's Birth afford us as much cause of Rejoycing as those that are highest Let a Jew call our Saviour Mean we will not account it our Reproach because he thereby acknowledgeth Him to be a Man which we shall always esteem our Honour We hereby are so pleased with the low Condition of his Mother the poor place of his Birth and the inferior Attendents about him that we praise his Name for them as being great assurances of our Interest in him If in his Life we read his Infant-Obedience to the Law in being Circumcised of his sitting in the Temple with the Doctors Hearing and asking them Questions If his Baptism and Solemn Vnction after it to his Office by the Holy Ghost's descent upon him like a Dove and the Voice from Heaven If his Temptation in the Wilderness and his Conquest over the Devil therein What
hereby rectifies and sets all strait again He can in This behold as at a distance the Irregularities of others and solace himself that he is out of the reach of bad Example And though a true reflecting on the Covetousness Pride Ambition and such like Evils which prevail so much abroad and on the Troubles which they betray those unto whose Vices they are and somtimes those whose Vices they are not doth raise some concernedness and grief within him yet he perceives a satisfaction not altogether unlike unto his who seeing others toss'd on troubled Waves is himself safe at Land Or who discerning whole Armies engaged in Fight is secure himself from the Danger And not only so but by such Meditation he dresses and adorns his Soul for an Holy Converse with God and secretly enjoys the Communion of Blessed Spirits in things so resined and Heavenly that no Earthly pleasure is to be compared with them Theoph. I wish this seemed not to have been the Pleasure and Priviledge of the Ages past chiefly and for the most part little to appertain unto Us who have so far degenerated from the Saints of Old that we find much tediousness in that which they placed their greatest delight and spent most of their time in When some of Them have laid down their Lives amidst Torments for their Religion we think much to spend some serious Thoughts about the things which relate to our Eternal Welfare yea we look upon it as a Task and Trouble to meditate even upon the infinite Love of God to us and can hardly do it though but for a few Minutes without Weariness and Distraction Eubul Our Lawgiver may justly take it ill from us that when we can with earnestness fix our Thoughts the greatest part of our Lives upon poor Earthly Things which perish in the using we should be backward to Contemplate his Laws which alone bring a durable Peace unto us and would requite us abundantly if even all our time should be employ'd in them Theoph. Happy it would be if Men could be prevail'd upon to Love their own Happiness and to place their Thoughts thereon A thing this is which one would think should not need many persuasions to move them to do it But they mistake Trifles for Happiness and leave the Fountain of Waters to trust in broken Cisterns Eubul To such Men as These are I would urge only this one thing Let them betake themselves to frequent and serious Considerations and if upon due search into the Holy Scriptures and an humble and constant repairing unto God by Prayer that he would open their Eyes for the discerning the wondrous things of his Law they shall repent of their Pains as being either lost or not well requited let them then forsake the Divine Laws and seek elsewhere for Peace and Rest But if after such Search and such Prayers any should forsake these Laws might not our Lord say unto them as Pharaoh said unto Hadad 1 Kings 11.22 What hast thou lacked with me that thou seekest to return into thine own Country What is it that you have wanted with me Could greater Love be shew'd you More Holy and Righteous Laws be given you Or more desireable Rewards be held forth unto you That you should leave me and return to the World where you will find nothing but Dissatisfaction We may with Truth say unto Men That there are the greatest Excellences in the Laws of our Lord and an Happiness yeilded by them which no where else can be found But whoever shall with Reverence and Singleness of Heart look into them may say of them as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon 1 Kings 10.6.7 8. It was a true Report that we heard of the great Wisdom and Goodness that were in these Laws We believed not until we came and our Eyes had seen it and behold the half was not told us The Wisdom and the Excellency of them exceedeth the Fame which we heard Happy O Lord are thy Children Happy are thy Servants that stand continually before thee and hear thy Wisdom And thus Theophilus according to your desire we have closed the Seventh Evening Theoph. I wish that all my Days might be spent as much to my advantage as these Seven have been Eubul I doubt not but they will to so much the more by how much Practice is better than Discourse DISCOURSE the Eighth Concerning the Deformity of Disobedience to the Divine Laws Quis est tam dissimilis homini qui non moveatur offensione Turpitudinis Cic. de Fin. l. 5. The Contents DIsobedience is a Pollution It brings Disorder into a Man. It tends to make the Almighty to minister to his Creatures in the vilest Offices How God cannot be made to serve How he may He is pleas'd in Holy Writ to speak after the manner of Men that so He may condescend to our Vnderstandings and excite our Affections How He is made to serve in His Holy Name How in His Works The Creation sensible of this Slavery and God very much displeas'd with it Disobedience of an Extensive Nature It affects a kind of Eternity It 's highly Disingenuous God necessitates none to Disobedience Why He will not force Men into Obedience Why he generally cuts them not off THEOPHILVS I Had thought Eubulus when last I bid you Good-Night to have left to your choice the Matter of this Evenings Talk. But reflecting on the Excellency of the Divine Laws and the great Happiness that Men have in them my Thoughts at length run on to the Consideration of Disobedience thereunto Sure said I if these Holy Laws are in themselves so amiable and do make him who observeth them to be with the King's Daughter all Glorious within the disobeying of them is in itself Odious and renders the Man inwardly very Deform'd I pray you therefore Eubulus let this Vngrateful Thing be the Subject of one Discourse It may not be devoid of Profit to us since the Foulness of This if throughly discerned will possibly no less one way secure our Obedience than the Beauty of the Divine Precepts will another way allure it EVBVLVS INdeed Theophilus Sin Iniquity or Wickedness or whatever Name besides evil Actions have all of which are nothing else but Disobedience or Transgression of the Law are Character'd in Holy Scriptures by Pollution and Filthiness And as a Signification of such Defilement were those Numerous Washings under the Old Law. And those Sacrifices which had the Sins of the People confessed over them were by reason of those Sins so polluted that they were commanded to be burnt out of the Camp and they who burnt them there were by them in such manner defiled that they could not return into the Camp till they had wash'd their Cloaths and bath'd their Flesh in Water Levit. 16.28 And answerable hereunto did the Prophets afterwards speak Wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my Sin Psal 51.2 They were defiled with their own Works Psal 106.39 Though
doth vindicate his own Soveraignty and Power which they as much as in them lieth have brought under and trampled upon And this he so doth as that they themselves may look upon it to be God's just Hand and that others also may acknowledge it his doing But then Communities of Men which by their publick Sins make the Almighty to serve are always when those Sins are ripe punished in this World for they cannot with any reason be thought punishable in the next because all Bonds of Civil Society are utterly broken and evacuated by the Death of the Whole Yea and those Private Men who have contributed their share to the Sins of a Nation as such are also oftentimes in some respect punished in this World even after Death by Publick Calamities reaching their Children or other Relations in whom themselves are in a manner still here continued Which to one who rightly considers it sheweth forth God's Righteous Judgments upon them But because it is not always safe to pronounce That the untimely Deaths or unexpected Miseries of some particular Persons are an immediate Stroke of God upon them for their Disobedience for our Christian Charity will not permit this when we know no signal Crimes by them And the great Afflictions of some who are not greater Sinners than other Men and of some whom we have reason to esteem as good Men may caution us in this point not to be over-forward to Judge And because also we see a great many wicked Men to live and become old to be in no Troubles as other Men to die in peace and leave the rest of their Substance for their Babes Therefore we may affirm it as a Truth Viz. That God seeth it fit generally not to cut off those Men nor yet to force them into Obedience who by their Disobedience do thus make him to serve He seeth it fit generally not to cut them off that they may have space for Repentance Thus did he to the Church of Thyatira I gave her saith he space to Repent of her Fornication And for this end may he spare these dealing with them as the Lord did with the Barren Fig-Tree hoping that though they be not fruitful this year they will grow better the next And this the rather because from the thoughts of this Goodness of God unto them they may the more effectually be prevail'd upon to repent Despisest thou saith the Apostle the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God in this his Forbearance and Long-suffering leadeth thee to Repentance A Sorrow for former Sins and an Acknowledgment of God's Soveraignty for the future in Mens giving themselves up to his Service may arise from other Considerations but from none more directly or more forcibly than from that of his sparing them and suffering them to live that they may Repent and Turn unto him Neither may it be a small Motive for his not generally Cutting them off that in case they do not Repent there may from their Freedom from Punishment in this Life be afforded unto us a strong Proof that there will be Another Life after This in which those Sins which are here spared and Unrepented of shall most surely be punished God is a Righteous God and he hath told us plainly by his Prophet Nahum Chap. 1.3 That he will not acquit the Wicked And it is not Unobservable that These Words are put thus to wit The Lord is slow to Anger and great in Power and will not acquit the Wicked As much as to say Though he forbear long yet it is not as if he could not punish yea if they shall go on in their Disobedience and not Repent them of their Misdeeds they most certainly shall have the Reward of their Doings Now in that These Wicked Men who to the utmost of their Power make God to Serve do often live and dye without Punishments they must necessarily be punished after Death or else God will contrary to his Word acquit the Wicked But the Judge of the Earth will do Right though all Men shall be Lyars yet God cannot but be True And therefore he will not Cut them off that he may make them a strong Argument that there will be a Day of Punishments when this World is at an End with them And Lastly Theophilus we may not amiss think he will suffer them to Live that if They Repent not here they themselves may hereafter in the Other World confess that they are justly punished Though Gods sparing their Lives in so much Mercy when they had deserved to be struck Dead or sent Living into Hell were little minded by them on Earth it yet shall at the Great Tribunal have this effect upon them viz. To make them acknowledge that their Damnation is Just because They had so much favour shew'd them and they shut their Eyes upon it And surely as Gods Gracious Designs of Mens Turning unto him and being happy do take off whatever can be Objected against his not presently destroying the Disobedient So the Reputation of his Justice which will by this means be Exalted even among Those that in Hell shall suffer it may abundantly Vindicate Gods Government of the World from being slack and remiss though he do not immediately Condemn unto Death those who make him to Serve by their Sins Theoph. You have throughly satisfied me why God doth not presently Cut those off who are Rebellious But since all Power is his and with a Word He can do it why doth he not Force them into Obedience that his Sovereignty may be acknowledg'd by all and not opposed so much as in appearance by any Eubul One Reason may be Because he would have their Obedience to be their Virtue and such as shall become Rational Creatures to give He as Elihu saith Teacheth Them more than the Beasts of the Earth and maketh Them Wiser than the Fowles of Heaven that they may know what Good and what Evil is and may be sensible of the Favours that are shew'd unto them He hath given them a Will to choose or refuse what things are before them And hath planted Affections in their Souls by which Love and Gratitude may be Exercised Now when they shall endeavour to Understand what is truly Good and also what Gods Loving-kindness to them is when they shall choose that which is best and shall willingly serve Him whom they know to be the Lord of the World and their Lord Loving him for his Goodness and striving to express Thankfulness to him so far as they are able when I say they shall do this they will be Virtuous and shew themselves such as their Nature and Make require they should be But how unagreeable would it be for these Men to be forced contrary to their Mind and Will Wherein would they be Commendable should they do that which they could not help And how unsutable to Love and Gratitude is Violence and Constraint It is Love that is
Theoph. You rightly say what the word Law imports as spoken by our Psalmist God's Will being written at that time no further than as it made up the Jewish Oeconomy As it hath been manifested since it hath relation to Men in a far wider sense wheresoever planted upon the Face of the Earth Yea even those Laws of Moses which are retained in the Evangelical Dispensation cease to bind as they were given by Moses and are Obligatory now from another Lawgiver Jesus Christ But yet still they are to be acknowledged God's Laws and we may even now use these words O how I love thy Law Therefore Eubulus I desire you will shew me these things 1. What the Inducements were to this so great Love in David and other holy Men of old to the Divine Laws 2. What the Inducements are which we Christians have to love them Eubul I see Theophilus the greater share of Discourse must lie upon me but you will have it so and to my power I will obey you As to the Inducements which David and other holy Men of old had to love the Divine Laws they seem to me to arise partly from its pleasing God to give those Laws and partly from the Excellency of the Laws themselves In relation to the former I must confess that the Nature of Men seemeth necessarily to require that Laws should be given unto them For it would have been highly irrational on Mens part not to acknowledge Him as their Lord who gave them a Being and it would be a very great Dishonour unto God should we think that They whom he had made a little lower than the Angels should be left unregarded and lawless But yet when Men had fallen from their Obedience and had in great measure sullied that Law which was imprest on their Natures it was certainly a very great Favour that God in stead of throwing upon them deserved Punishments should chuse a Numerous People to be his Peculiar and should himself repair that Law thus obliterated within by writing it in Tables that it might be discern'd by the Eye Consider Theophilus the Greatness of Him who gives this Law how he needs not the Services of any Creature and also the Ingratitude of Man how he disobeyed the most righteous Law in Paradise where all the Love and Observance which possibly he could shew would not have been too much Consider this I say and the Law if it carry but any favour along with it may certainly for the sake of Him who gave it be justly esteemed and loved Neither is the Time wherein it pleased God to give these Laws unworthy of our Notice So much was the Welfare of Mankind esteemed to depend upon the Writing of Laws that many Nations in after Ages contended for the Dignity of being the first Authors thereof And Greece especially among the Priviledges which she boasts to have held forth to the rest of the World reckons this as one of the the chief But the Honour of having the first Written Laws belongs to the Hebrews alone in comparison of whom as Josephus against Apion proveth the Grecian Legislators were but of yesterday and this Honour is much heightned by God's owning the immediate Relation of a King unto them while he wrote these Laws Now the Benefit of Laws and the Glory of having These given so early and by such an Hand being well understood and rightly valued by our Psalmist who himself was a Ruler and a King might well engage his Love to them Theoph. I acknowledge the Inducement from God's thus giving the Law to be a very fair one Pray Eubulus go on to the other you mentioned viz. The Excellency of the Laws themselves Eubulus Take it in that pious King 's own words Psal 19. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul The Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Statuts of the Lord are righteous rejoycing the Heart The Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes The Fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than Honey and the Honey-Comb Moreover by them is thy Servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward Theoph. This is a very high Character indeed of those Laws if there be as I doubt not but there is Truth in the whole Eubul There is Truth in every tittle And this will appear if we shall look upon the Laws which require Duties to Him who is the Lawgiver or to Those from one to another or to Themselves whom these Laws are given unto Pray tell me Theophilus what would you in Right Reason and according to a perfect Harmony of Things have the Duties towards a Prince and Lawgiver to be Theoph. I would desire they should be Fear Love and Gratitude and these shewn upon Grounds every way good There being nothing more comely than that Subjects should be with-held from offending by Fear moved to all Obedience by Love and excited to Acknowledgments of Benefits and Protection by Gratitude More than These I mention not because to These all others I suppose may be reduced and are in effect no other than Expressions of them Eubul All these you shall find to be according to your Wish Your first Duty of Fear is in Deut. 6.13 as also in sundry places more Thou shalt Fear the Lord thy God and serve Him and swear by his Name Their Fear is to be such as not to scare them from him but they are to approach unto him and to do him Service And for the deciding of Controversies and establishing of Truth they are to use his Name solemnly in an Oath And a right good Ground there is for such a Fear from the Power and Justice of God such as can and will inflict Punishments on them when they wilfully transgress and this to the utmost of their Deserts The Destruction of the Old World for its Impiety The Overwhelming of the Egyptians in the Red Sea The Earths opening her Mouth and swallowing up Corah Dathan and Abiram and numerous other Instances of the like Nature were hereof Testimonies sufficient So that this Law of Fearing God as a Prince and Lawgiver manifests itself to be built on a sure and lasting Foundation Your second Duty of Love is commanded Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength It is not to be a faint and an unconstant Love but one that is strong and will not fail For the Loving of God with all the Heart and Soul and Strength doth not only import the greatest vigour of Love but the greatest duration of it also It must not be towards him Now and anon quite off him but the greatest Length it must have as well as the greatest Heighth And the strong Inducements to this Duty were well known