Woe and Infamy He was despis'd and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him He was despis'd and we esteem'd him not As these Marks of a true Miracle agree to the Works of our Saviour so do they to those of the Apostles and Primitive Believers For these were only resemblances of what their Lord had done before repetitions of his miraculous Acts and therefore bear the same Marks and Signatures Phlegon free'd by the Emperor Adrian mentions the Miracles of St. Peter according Contra Celsum to Origen who liv'd near Phlegon's time and had read his Books then commonly extant and therefore his Testimony must be as valid as if we had the Originals Porphyry as ingenious vid. Cyrill lib. 10. against Julian and as severe an Enemy as ever appear'd against our Religion owns several Miracles to be perform'd by the first Christians in defence of their Worship God therefore bore witness to their Doctrin by thus wonderfully displaying of himself their Doctrin therefore is true For when Miracles are once brought to second a Doctrin these silence all my scruples I yield I am convinc'd for God cannot exercise his own Power or delegate it to any other to give sanction to a Lye or honour an Impostor But these Marks cannot agree with any Miracles which were wrought in competition with our Saviour's As for the Cures pretended to be perform'd by the Emperors Vespasian and Adrian as they are related by a Cap. 7. in Vespasian Suetonius b Histor l. 4. c. 81. Tacitus and c 12. p. Edit Salmasil Spartianus those who reflect what different Artisiees were about that time especially us'd to gain an esteem of Divinity to the Emperors will not much wonder that such reports should be spread of them or that Persons should counterfeit and imitate those Diseases describ'd to give themselves out to be reliev'd by them So that they fail against the first and principal Mark of a true Miracle because it is not evident that they were at all perform'd For there seems to be no necessity for the Hypothesis of Grotius That Vespasian was endued from above with a Power of working Miracles because he was to be God's Minister of Vengeance against the Jews The next who appear'd after these but who made a much greater Figure than they was that famous Impostor Apollonius Tyaneus but his Transactions want the greatest part of the Notes of a true Miracle For first They are feign'd to be done in private and therefore what reason have we to believe that they were done at all Secondly The Person who gives an account of him Philostratus liv'd above an hundred Years after him 3ly All his Miracles are only false Transcripts of our Saviour's with all submission to a late famous Author â—p Parker of the Law of Nature p. 296. who has asserted the contrary Thus because Jesus Christ was the Son of God Apollonius is fancy'd to be so too Because Angels proclaim'd our Saviour's Birth a parallel Miracle is advanc'd in favour of Apollonius Because our Saviour was forsaken by his Disciples Apollonius is deserted by his Scholars Because our Saviour was accus'd before Pilate Apollonius is impeach'd before Domitian Because our Saviour converst with his Disciples after his Resurrection Apollonius also appears after his Death to a certain Young man and gives him an account of a future State about which he was extremely curious Because our Saviour ascended into Heaven there was also a Voice heard inviting Apollonius into Bliss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philost lib. 8. cap. 12. Thus all other workers of Miracles who ever have made any opposition to our Saviour cannot produce these Marks of a true and just Miracle and therefore their Doctrins are not of God nor are they to be look'd upon as Prophets So that I shall proceed to shew Lastly That tho' Christianity was at first establish'd by Miracles yet that there is no reason why we should expect a continued succession of them to the present Times For it is unreasonable to expect that God should work a Miracle where the End may be accomplish'd without one This would be to make Miracles too vulgar and despicable For a thing often seen how excellent soever it is yet ceasing thereby to be new it ceases also to be admir'd For 't is not the worth or excellence of an Object which draws the eyes and wonder of Men after it For can any thing be imagin'd more august and beautiful than the Sun in its full light and glory and yet how many more Spectators and Wonderers does the same Sun find under the veil of an Eclipse Miracles continued in the Christian Church till the Christian Religion had receiv'd its settlement from them in a great measure and should God call Persons to convert Infidels he might perhaps employ this extraordinary Method again Tho' since Christianity is fully establish'd 't is more likely that he might accomplish this grand Design by the invisible workings of his Grace upon the Hearts of the Unconverted by inclining and moving them within and by some extraordinary Providences without And this may give us reason to suspect some of St. Xavier's and the Indian Missionary's vid. Xaverii Epist lib. 3. Epist 4. c. Miracles As to the present Objections of the Obj. Deists which they propose in this form That if God had reason to work Miracles in former times there is also reason why he should form them at present since the same Spirit of Unbelief prevails and flourishes now as much as it did when Miracles were wrought And therefore God is oblig'd to work Miracles in favour of those who question Religion now as he did in behalf of them who liv'd in the times of Jesus Christ and his Apostles To this it may be reply'd That the Resp Proofs which we have of the ancient Miracles are convincing to us as well as to them before whom they were visibly wrought nay there is this to be said in favour of the ancient Miracles That they have undergone the Test of Time and have been discuss'd in most Ages thro' which they have past and yet no flaw is found in them which cannot be said of modern Miracles if they could be had And therefore on this account they carry a greater ground of Credibility But we may remark farther That those who may justly demand new Miracles ought to have made good use of those means which God had before display'd to manifest his Truth They ought without Biass or Passion to have examin'd the Revelation of the New Testament They ought to be adorn'd with all those Virtues which they themselves own to be perfective of their Natures and just Qualifications of a pure and generous Deist They ought to be truly humble and submissive to whatsoever bears the resemblance of Divine Revelation and if they have not these Excellencies which the Light
would make a sober Heathen blush First because the Christian Religion is only a Law for our Actions which can invite and perswade alone but cannot force an Observance And the ill Actions of Christians ought no more to be imputed to Christianity it self than the Disorders of any Persons who live under Civil or Municipal Laws ought to be charg'd upon those Laws Secondly Tho' these Persons Lives are an open contradiction to Christianity yet it does not follow but that they may be convinc'd of the Truth of it in their Minds and Understandings For we may easily see that Men are not always determin'd by the dictates of their Reason but frequently by the biass and relish of their Senses and Passions Nor can we conclude that because Persons live as if Christianity was an Imposture that therefore they are fully perswaded that it is so Farther we find that they have often Remorses and sad Reflections on their Actions which can only rise in Minds satisfy'd of the Truth of that against which they practise For only the fear of being call'd to Account hereafter can make us sorrowful and amaz'd for having done amiss here under temporal Impunity Thirdly Morality Philosophy and the noblest Institutions which ever were lie under the same blemish with Christianity For the Lives of their Professors have seldom answer'd their refin'd Rules And it is scarce possible that they should do so till Man is subtiliz'd into a pure Spirit and rescued from those Passions and Inclinations which at present checquer and discolour our Natures As to the Zeal of these Persons it is false and counterfeited if their Actions are not conformed to their great Pretensions Thirdly 'T is no just Objection against Christianity That several Professors of it embrace it not out of Reason or Conviction but out of a supine Credulity and walk blindly on in the Christian Religion only because it is the Worship of their Country For the Christian Religion does not demand any such credulous Temper of Mind from its Professors All that it requires is an Understanding free from Prejudice and which is ready to pay attention to Reason Our Saviour at the Establishment of this Religion did not desire to be believ'd on his own Testimony If I bear witness of my self says he my witness is not true He appeals to his Miracles as the most glorious Credentials of his Celestial Mission for the Works which the Father had given him to finish the same Works that he did bore witness of him that the Father had sent him These Miracles he proposes to the Examination of the Spectators and if they could discover any Imposture in them that they were perform'd by the power of Nature or of Magick as was * Celsus apud Origen p 340. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz Christum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. ab Aegypto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards urg'd then he refus'd to be believ'd He does not fix the guilt of Unbelief purely in the Jews rejecting his Religion but in refusing to pay an Assent to it after that it was made suitable to Reason prov'd out of the Prophecies of the Old Testament supported by Miracles greater than every thing but their Infidelity If I had not done among them Works which none other man did they had not had sin but now have they both seen and hated me and my Father As our Saviour so his Apostles addrest to the Reasons of their Followers in order to excite their Faiths Thus St. Paul Prove all things hold fast that which is good And that Apostle which our Saviour lov'd after a most passionate manner advises the Church Not to believe every Spirit but to try the Spirits whether they are of God So that the Christian Faith does not consist in an implicit Credulity and blind Assent but in a well-founded and rational Belief arising from just Information and exact Reasoning on Things The saving Principles of Religion indeed are few and lie in a small Compass though not within so little Bounds as the Author of The Reasonableness of Christianity and * Hobbes de Civ Relig p. 386. c. par 6. c. Dico autem alium Arti culum Fidei praeter hunc JESUM HSSH CHRISTUM hommi Christiano ut necessarium ad salutem requiri nullum c. Mr. Hobbes contend for And tho' every one ought to give the true Reasons for his Belief yet the Saving Truths of Religion in many illiterate Persons if attended with a Moral Life Humility of Spirit and Fervency of Devotion may be as acceptable to God as in the most eminent Critick in Theological Matters who can give the nicest Resolution for every thing relating to them Yet notwithstanding this every one is oblig'd as far as lies in his power to examin and try the Articles of his Religion and to be a Christian not by Education Custom or Example but by Reason and Conviction So far is Religion that is the Reform'd Religion such as was taught by our Saviour and his Apostles from encouraging a supine Credulity or blind Belief Nor is the Sceptick's Fourth Objection valid That Christianity has been propagated by God only in a small part of the World and even where it has been promulg'd it is found but an indifferent Expedient to work any such extraordinary Effects on Men's Minds as might be expected from a Religion which God himself came down from Heaven to preach and to seal with his Blood As to the first part That Christianity is only known to a small part of the World it may be reply'd First That tho' God has been graciously pleas'd to promise that he will by his good Providence so order things that the sound of the Gospel shall be heard in the uttermost parts of the Earth yet has he not limited the Time when it shall thus be universally promulg'd Secondly That it is the fault in some measure of Christians themselves why their Religion is not diffus'd among the unconverted Nations because Voyages to these barbarous Climes are only undertaken upon Motives of Interest or Prospects of Commerce without any design to promote the Truths of Religion Thirdly The Christian Religion has been communicated to almost all the Civiliz'd World Most of the Territories of the four famous Empires have had the Gospel preach'd amongst them besides other Parts more lately discover'd While good Morals and Humanity while Humility Chastity Honour and Probity flourish'd so long the Christian Religion continued but when these were deâ—ac'd by Violence Ambition Pride Lust and Ill-nature it was time for Religion to take her flight up to Heaven or to some more hospitable Regions upon Earth For how could she subsist when her foundation Morality was remov'd Fourthly As to those places where the Christian Religion has not been heard of God will deal with them as a God of Mercy He who lives up to the Light of his own Reason up to a true Sence of the Dignity of his own Nature
of Nature and their own magnify'd Deism it self prove so extremely necessary how can they expect that God should make fresh discoveries to them by new Miracles But granting that God should condescend so far as to work Miracles in their favour there is the greatest reason to believe that they would find collusions and pretences to continue still in their Unbelief since they have invented ways to evade those of our Saviour granting that the Matters of Fact were true And it is very remarkable That tho' nothing could be more bright and convincing than the Miracles of our Saviour yet the Jews still found out reasons to break the Force and avoid the Evidence of them And are the Scepticks and Deists of our Age less furnisht with Sophistry or better prepar'd to entertain Religion Does not the same disposition of Heart so contrary to the Christian Religion Do not the same Pride Prejudices and Negligence prevail amongst them which did amongst the Jews Is God therefore oblig'd to humour their unreasonable Desires or run the hazard of having his wondrous Works expos'd to their Censures Criticisms and captious Enquiries At this rate God would be engag'd to work a Miracle as often as any Man should arrive at Impiety high enough to doubt of his Religion and to receive prophane Sentiments into his Breast At this rate why ought not Sin and Unbelief to abound that Grace might much more abound But farther Is not the System of Deism so contriv'd as quite to preclude the working of a Miracle For if God is Material as Mr. Hobbs pretends and so not distinct v. Leviath de Regno Tenebrarum from the World or if God and Nature are the same as Spinosa the great Apostle of Deism asserts there can be vid. Tractatum Theologico-Politicum p. 100 Passim as also in his Opera Posthuma and Blunt's Anima Mundi no such thing as a Miracle Tho' an Event may be strange and uncommon yet it must be natural still since God and Nature being the same what is wrought by the former is also wrought by the latter Why therefore do they demand such Proofs which they themselves vouch cannot be given But to close all We have not only Moses and the Prophets but a greater than Moses the Holy JESVS and his Apostles if we hear not them neither will we be perswaded if the greatest Miracle should be wrought and even one should rise from the Dead The Miracles therefore of Religion are wisely adapted to convince us of the truth of it and we our selves may be highly serviceable to perswade Unbelievers of the force of Religion if we will suffer it to work one great and comprehensive Miracle on us that is to reform our Lives by composing the unruly motions of our Souls by cooling the irregular warmth of our Affections and by charming all our Passions into so sedate a Peace as to be submissive to the Rules of the Christian Religion which is greater than to speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels Then shall we bring Honour to our holy Religion and be duly prepar'd to expect the last and finishing Miracle of it that is that our Corruptible may put on Incorruption and our Mortal Immortality A DISCOURSE Shewing That the Moral Law of Moses is the same with that of CHRIST against the Racovian Catechism and others LUK. Chap. X. ver 25 26. A certain Lawyer stood up and tempted him saying Master what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life He said unto him What is written in the Law How readest thou THE peculiar method by which our Saviour deliver'd his Doctrin the tendency of it to a greater measure of Piety than was commonly taught by the most extraordinary Doctors of those times the ratifying of his Divine Commission by a train of unquestionable Miracles which were not only suited for the conviction but also at the same time adapted to the use and service of Mankind and all these grac'd with the most unblameable Conversation that ever was had rais'd the Love of the greatest part of his Auditors the Envy of some the Wonder and Curiosity of all Of this number whether mov'd by Envy or Curiosity alone but most likely principally by the former a Lawyer one who was throughly vers'd in the most refin'd Niceties of the Jewish Law came to try what his Judgment was about the Law or Rule of Life designing probably to discover whether he would advance any thing contrary either to the Law or the receiv'd Traditions that so he might make him obnoxious to the Penalty of that Law whose Sanctions he should dishonour by his Innovations The Enquiry which he proposes to him is one of the greatest importance and in whose Resolution the most momentous Interest is concern'd namely What was necessary to be observ'd for the attaining that External Life which Christ promis'd in a clearer manner than had been display'd by the Law and the Prophets The Enquirer no doubt was expecting a system of new Precepts the addition of a Table unknown to Moses at least that the old ones should be extended to fresh Duties and new Obligations And no question but that he was highly surpriz'd when our Saviour informs him That the Law of Moses and the Prophets was a true and adequate standard of Duty and the living up to it the sole way to Salvation That tho' the Law of Ordinances and Ceremonies oblig'd none but the Jews yet that the Moral Law as it was the Reason so it should be the standing Religion of all Mankind That what was indispensably requir'd to Salvation before the coming of the Messias should as to the Substance of it be so after nor any other Duty superinduc'd For the Law as arising from the nature and relations of Things and Persons and as marking out the boundaries of Good and Evil Right and Wrong which are always in the main the same was uncapable of Change Addition or new Interpretation was still to be read and practic'd agreeably to its genuine and original Sence And that the Saviour of the World during the term of his abode in it had no other Authority but to walk suitable to its Commands and to reconcile for the Affronts which had been put upon its Divine Author by Mankind's disobedience of it A certain Lawyer stood up and tempted him saying Master What shall I do to inherit Eternal Life He said unto him What is written in the Law How readest thou From the Words taken in relation to the purport of the Lawyer 's Question a preparation to which Answer is made in those our Saviour's other Questions What is written in the Law and How readest thou but fully compleated in that Injunction of our Saviour's upon the reading of the Law in the words after the Text Do this and live From the Words thus taken I conclude That as our Saviour did not invalidate any Commands of the Law so on the other hand That nothing was made a Duty
raise the Body from the same Grave in which it was at first repos'd unless it was the same Body which was there at first repos'd Tho' the Body shall be glorify'd and spiritualiz'd yet it shall be the same For if the Bodies of our first Parents could pass from Immortality to Mortality and yet continue the same obnoxious to Punishment in this for Sins committed in that why may not the Reverse of this be true and Men from Mortal become Immortal from Corruptible become Incorruptible and yet abide the same I shall close this Essay with making a short Reflection on a Passage in a late Treatise written on this Subject by the Learned Dr. Hody to whose Merit I pay an extraordinary Deference tho' I cannot in all things in this Point pay an Assent to his way of Reasoning He seems without sufficient Motive to endeavour to overthrow the Arguments of the Fathers by which they prove the Identity of the Rising Body The Fathers reason in short That since there is a relative combination between Soul and Body since the Merit or Demerit of any Action is shar'd between them that therefore they shall both appear the same to receive Rewards or Punishments for their good or ill Actions This method of Discourse seems just and true notwithstanding that the Learned Doctor says that Dr. Hody concerning the Resurrection of the same Body p. 210 The Arm that stabs sins no more than the Sword and 't is the Soul only that is the Murderer This is a fine abstracted Cartesian way of talking but would scarce be accepted in any Court of Justice if a Murderer should plead it to his Judge to exempt his Body from satisfying the Law And this Notion seems to tend to confirm that which some Enthusiasts not long since advanc'd that So long as we keep the Soul pure we may do what we please with the Body To strengthen this the Doctor Ibid. says That the Body is not capable of any Rewards or Punishments Why then from this Argument should the same Body rise But certainly tho' the Body can resent no Pleasure or Pain without the Soul yet they in conjunction receive several Impressions of both which the Soul could not perceive alone therefore to make both perfectly happy or miserable both must be rais'd and both the same The Doctor 's last Argument is That if all the bulk of the same Matter should rise we should be Monsters of Men at the Resurrection But the Effluvia to answer this Objection which make up this vast Mass flow from the Carneous Parts and from the Blood which are not particularly concern'd in Human Actions the former of which Plato so much admir'd by the Doctor calls only * Wool or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Timaeo Down to wrap the Body easily and softly round the latter the Forrage and Pasturage of the Flesh But from the Vessels Parts and Organs peculiarly serviceable to Life Motion Sense Imagination Understanding and Will the Effluvia are inconsiderable nor would they much surpass their due Dimensions if all the Matter which ever belong'd to them were rais'd AN ESSAY Against SCEPTICISM In Matters of Religion IN order to endeavour to give some Check to the prevailing Humour of Scepticism which is become so extreamly Modish that no Person can be that self-admir'd thing a Wit without it I shall First as is most natural propose a short view of some of those pretended Reasons which the Scepticks and Deists and others of the same Order usually give for their Scepticism and Doubts about the Truths of Religion To every one of which I shall return a transient Reply Secondly I shall take a short survey of the true Reasons and Motives which make Men Scepticks First The pretended Reasons are such as these First They believe Religion to be false because many who make great shews of being Christians are only such out of Interest and in all likelyhood would change the Christian Profession for another which would be more serviceable for their Designs Secondly They have an ill Opinion of Religion because many who are zealous for its Truths are yet negligent of the Morals of it and live after such a manner as would make a sober Heathen blush Thirdly They despise Religion because several Professors of it embrace it not out of Reason or Conviction but out of a supine Credulity and walk blindly on in the Christian Religion only because it is the Worship of their Country Fourthly They entertain a low Idea of Christianity because tho' said to be reveal'd for the good of all Mankind yet God has only propagated it in a small part of the World and even where it has been promulg'd it is found but an indifferent Expedient to work any such extraordinary Effects on Mens Minds as might be expected from a Religion which God Himself came down from Heaven to preach and to seal with his Blood Fifthly That the Divisions amongst single Christians and the Wars and Discords between Christian Princes and Commonwealths often heightned by Religious Controversies and inflam'd by the violent Harangues of Ecclesiastick Persons are great Prejudices against the Christian Religion and give a Moral Deist great Advantage over a Zealot for Christianity These have been and still are some of the leading Forces in the Van of Scepticism There are indeed many particular Objections laid against peculiar parts of Christianity which cannot fall within the compass of this short ESSAY But to return a cursory Reply to each one of these Objections First 'T is no just Reflection upon the Religion That many who make great shews of being Christians are only such out of Interest and in all probability would change the Christian Profession for another which would be more serviceable for their designs Tho' some may be Christians at present out of Interest yet if we enquire into the first Institution of our Religion we shall find that it was its intrinsick Worth which first recommended it to the World when there was no outward Motive or Interest to make it taking For did the Apostles and first Disciples of our Saviour turn Christians upon any temporal Prospect Or what Advantage could those who succeeded them for the two first Centuries propose What could they gain by this new Profession but Disgrace Imprisonment and Death And can any one be a Platonick lover of Shame and Pain and court Misery for its own sake alone Now these purer Times nighest to the origin of our Religion are those which our Adversaries ought to have enquir'd into and level'd their Objections against otherwise their Arguments only wound the present Professors of Religion many of which we own to live below the dignity of it but fall far short of doing any injury to Religion it self Secondly The Sceptick ought not to have an ill Opinion of Religion because many who are zealous for its Truths are yet negligent of the Morals of it and live after such a manner as
and is a kind of a pure Evangelick Deist if I may so call him may have our Saviour's Merits which he never heard of so far imputed to him as to free him from a state of Misery And how and by what Means God may make him happy is an Enquiry over-curious and concerning which our present Condition will not allow us to be satisfy'd A future State is in some proportion to us what America was to our Fore-fathers And I with all possible submission think that the Hypothesis of an †Dr. Scotâ—'s Christ Life Part 2. Ch. 4. Sâ—ct 1. p. 2â—5 admirable Person of our Church is too bold where he seems more than to intimate that God may extend the Tryal and Probation of these Heathens beyond this Life and discover in the other Life the Light of the Gospel to so many of them at least as have made any tolerable Improvements under the Light of Nature and if they make good use of it reward them accordingly That God will act not only justly on their own accounts but also in some degree mercifully on our Saviour's by these Nations seems an evident Truth But how or by what way is more than even this thoughtful Person ever knew As to the second part of the Objection That even where Christianity has been promulg'd it is found but an indifferent Expedient to work any extraordinary Effect on Men's Minds it may be answer'd That it is purely Satyr and Invective and is plainly void of Truth For tho' it must be with confusion own'd that many Christians are guilty of Vices which would make an ingenuous Heathen blush yet the Establishment of Christianity has given a total defeat to many National and Publick Crimes Amongst many Civiliz'd Nations as is plain from their own Poets and Historians Parents might expose their Children and Masters murder their Slaves with Impunity and without any dread of being call'd in question Those unnatural Sins condemn'd by the Apostle in the first Chap. to the Romans were parts of their Religious Worship a fit Service for such Gods Men were condemn'd to massacre one another in their Amphitheatres were engag'd against Beasts or with Men as cruel Altars were stain'd with human Blood a greater Villany than any it was design'd to expiate A Hero never dy'd but that he had pompous Trains of Slaves to attend him to their fancy'd Elysium But now all these barbarous Practices were as much banish'd by Christianity as the Idolatrous Rites of the Zabii by the * v. Maâ—monâ—des Mor. Nev. p. 3. c. 29. And Dr. Speâ—cer de Leg. Heb. p. 177. cap. 9. â— 1. c. Jewish Ceremonies a sufficient Indication that Christianity has been highly profitable to the World Fifthly The Divisions among single Christians and the Wars and Discords between Christian Princes and Commonwealths often heighten'd by Religious Controversies and inflam'd by the violent Harangues of Ecclesiastick Persons and the Cause of Religion being defended by the Dint of Calumny as a late †◠Tâ—â— Amyntor â— 52. Author phrases it are no just Prejudices against Christianity nor do they give a Moral Deist an advantage over a Zealot for it We cannot deny but Christianity ill understood has been the innocent Author of publick Divisions and private Discords the most beautiful Parent of ill-resembling Children The Gospel has arm'd Nations to their own ruin and the Pulpit has given the signal for very unnatural Wars Notwithstanding this Religion it self ought not to be blam'd For first The Founder of this Religion predicted that such a dismal Event should attend his Institution Think not that I am come to send Peace on Earth I came not to send Peace but a Sword Secondly It was not the design of Christianity to cherish Factions and Discords amongst its Followers Nothing could be a greater encourager of Candor Good-nature Peace and Mutual Forbearance than this Religion justly practic'd and all the Calamities incident to human Life are in a great measure the Products of Irreligion and Scepticism For if every Person liv'd up to the height of his Religion all Wars and Contests would quickly cease all Passions be compos'd and the Seat of the ancient Paradise would not neâ—d to be farther enquir'd into when all the World was One. These Objections which I have endeavour'd transiently to answer are some of the pretended Reasons for Scepticism and Doubts about Religion I shall proceed Secondly To take a short Survey of the true Reasons and Motives which make Men Scepticks And the first is Pride For the Truths of Religion as they are design'd for the Salvation of all Men so are they in some sort adapted to the Apprehensions of all But there are several of such sublime and exalted Thoughts that they can relish nothing but what is plac'd out of the vulgar method of Thinking Thus the Emperor Julian tho' adorn'd with Temperance Gravity Chastity and Sobriety as appears from his own * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. v. Jullani Misoâ—â—g p. â— 0 â—dit Spanhem Writings nor do his Adversaries Cyril or Nazianzen deny it yet the nicety and sublimity of his admir'd Philosophy made him too proud to debase his Understanding as he fancy'd to the Lowliness of the Christian Faith Out of this Principle a late †Toâ—and ' Christianity not Mysterious Writer has excluded all Mysteries out of Religion and nothing now must be believ'd but what can be comprehended The second true Cause of Scepticism is Prejudice or a rash Judgment made upon Religion For not only the Jews and Gentiles but some who have been initiated into Christianity frame false Idea's of it They are too much prejudic'd to believe that God will punish Crimes of finite duration with infinite Pain They fancy that there is reason to hope that he may release his Threats and some way mitigate the Penalty that it is a servile and mercenary Motive to engage us to Obedience by addressing to our Fears by proposing Prospects of eternal Misery But these Objections rising from Prejudice would be easily remov'd if the Sceptick would consider that God does not punish Men for Sins which they could not avoid not for single Acts but inveterate Habits and final Obstinacy That Repentance if sincere takes off the greatest Guilt That he gives us Grace to shun Sin and Grace to repent of it That Hope and Fear are the fittest Passions by which a reasonable Creature may be acted upon That every Sin is against infinite Majesty an Act too of our own Choice That God would be wanting in promoting the Observance of his Laws if he did not make the greatest Punishment due to the Violation of them That he promises eternal Happiness to Obedience as well as threatens everlasting Misery upon Disobedience The third true Cause of Scepticism is a Disposition of Heart contrary to Religion For a Soul stain'd with Vice can never comply with the Truths of Religion The Will and Affections must first be purify'd before the Understanding can be enlightned Hence our Saviour endeavours to plant the Innocence even of Children in the Minds of his Followers before he proposes the great Mysteries of Religion Happy are they who have preserv'd their Innocence unstain'd and whose Soul has never lost its native Candour The first proposals of Religion will strike upon such Minds as these with the most vigorous Light and will convince them as soon as addrest to them But to Spirits sunk into a state of Sin Religion appears upon a disadvantage and like an Object striking upon a disorder'd Organ forms an irregular Impression Let the Wings of the Soul once be disengag'd from the weight of Sin as the Pythagoreans as well as Scripture neatly stile it and it will fly up to Truth and Goodness as to its proper Center The fourth Cause of Scepticism is the prevailing Humour of turning every thing into Ridicule Nor are sacred Things themselves exempted which takes off that Veneration which is due to them and makes them look first contemptible and afterwards false The fifth true Cause of Scepticism and the last which I shall mention is want of Consideration or Attention For if Men either think not at all or not regularly or employ their Thoughts in other curious Speculations they will of necessity continue Scepticks But the fault is in themselves not in Religion they can no more complain of Obscurity in that than those who have wilfully clos'd their own Eyes of want of Light in the Heavenly Luminaries Let the Sceptick take away these true Causes of Scepticism and the pretended ones will vanish of their own accord But while these remain they are like to continue Scepticks till the Punishments of a future State shal not only make them understand but even feel that Religion is True FINIS
wrought this Propitiation Not any of these separately nor all of them united how far soever conducing to apply this Propitiation were the thing it self Christ did not propitiate for Sin by barely laying down his Life to confirm or bear witness to that Doctrin in which Remission of Sin was contain'd For this makes the Death of Christ rather a Consequent or an Effect of this Remission than the efficient Cause on Producer of it For the Existence or the Being of any thing is the Cause as well as the Measure of the Testimony and not the Testimony the Cause of the Existence Therefore if Christ's Death was only a Testimony to that in which Remission of Sins is included it has no share in it A Testimony in proportion to the Character and Worth of the Testator may give Light to those who are ignorant or Conviction to those who doubt of any Matter but can contribute nothing of reality to the thing it self But it is plain from Scripture that Christ's Death did really effectively and antecedently work to the Remission of Sins And that we have Redemption in his Blood the forgiveness of Sins That the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin and that without shedding of Blood there is no Remission Therefore this shedding of Blood must be something more than a bare Testimony to the Doctrin in which Redemption Forgiveness Cleansing from Sin and Remission are imply'd must be the very Conveyer of these Blessings to us without which we had been still in our Sins and under an indispensible obligation to Punishment for them For at this rate the Blood of the Martyrs might purify us from Guilt as well as that of our Saviour seeing that that too was spilt as a Testimony to the same Doctrin Nay their Blood was on this account a more full and extensive Testimony to Christianity even than his because when our Saviour died tho' the Morals of the Christian religion were brought to their perfection yet there was something farther to be added as Objects of Faith and Belief which were not yet accomplish'd as our Saviour's Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension into Heaven Now to these our Saviour's Death could bear no Testimony as being results from it and transacted after it but the Death of the Martyrs still ratify'd and settl'd this fundamental Truth of Christ's being risen again which by being establish'd it self confirm'd all the rest Now Socinus himself freely owns that the Resurrection of our Saviour is a necessary Article of our Belief and an essential Principle of our Religion Nay this is almost the only one of the Socianian Creed which regards our Saviour And Socinus applies Remission of Sins to this rather than to our Saviour's Death because that the Hopes of that glorious State of which our Saviour took possession upon his Resurrection have the strongest Influences to reform our Lives which Reformation is immediately attended with the Remission of Sins So that the force of the Argument will be this That if all that our Saviour did towards Remission of Sin was only giving Testimony by his Death to that Doctrin in which Remission was preached then the Primitive Martyrs who bore witness to this Doctrin by laying down their Lives for it when it was advanc'd to a fuller extent did more abundantly at least equally co-operate to this Forgiveness But since this Remission is never attributed to any Testimony of theirs it follows That our Saviour made his Propitiation by some other act than this of Testifying Moreover as the reason why our Saviour was put to Death was not his preaching Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins but his declaring himself the Son of God so that which he attested by his Death was rather his own Divinity than the Truth of what he had before taught But granting that it might be one of the less principal Designs of our Saviour's Death to give Sanction to his Doctrin by his Blood yet this could not perform it so sutably and so completely as his Miracles did which were fully adapted to this purpose and to which he addresses as to the exact standard by which his Doctrin might be examin'd 'T is true that to die for a Man 's own Sentiments is a bold and a gallant appeal and a sufficient warrant that he himself believes what he says but this is not security enough for me to assent to his Tenents because he may be mistaken in the Truth of that which he himself is very conscientiously perswaded of For as Falshood may be maintain'd with equal warmth and zeal as Truth so may it be suffer'd for with resembling Patience But when Miracles are once brought to second a Doctrin these silence any farther doubts I yield I am convinc'd for these are either contrary to the Laws of Nature or above them and so are immediately acted by God himself who will neither exercise his own Power nor delegate it to any other to ratify a Lie or grace an Impostor So that since our Saviour's Miracles were more proper more clear and visible Tests of his Doctrin than his Death if his Propitiation or what he did towards the abolishing of Sin consisted only in bearing witness to his Doctrin it might rather be deriv'd from these than from his Blood which is a Paradox which hitherto has never been advanc'd To proceed This Propitiation cannot consist in Christ's meerly gaining or purchasing by his Death a Right or Title to forgive Sin For our Saviour did not purchase any such Right by his Death because he was invested with it long before he suffer'd and when a Person is once legally possest of any Right he needs no subsequent act to appropriate it more closely to him But that our Saviour had such a Right before his Crucifixion is plain as from several other places of Scripture so from that instance of his Healing the sick of the Palsy where he Prefaces his miraculous Cure with that comfortable Declaration of Son thy sins are forgiven thee And lest it might be urg'd That this was only a removing of his temporal Punishment it is very apparent that our Saviour distinguishes between these two Acts by subjoyning the other Command of Son take up thy bed and walk which had been utterly needless if the former words had implied a Cure of his Disease Nor can it be shewn That Propitiation for Sin can coincide with a Right of forgiving Sin for the former pre-supposes an offended Party which must be satisfy'd an offending one which is of it self unable to attone its Anger and lastly a Mediator or Sequester to finish the Reconcilement So that three Terms are necessary to make up an entire Propitiation but a Donation and a gratuitous Remission is nothing else is only between two where there are no insuperable Hindrances or Lets why the Donor should not suffer his Bounty to stream freely out towards the Indigent without any third Person to interpose for him or to bear his Punishment Farther
after a way which cannot be apply'd to Melchizedec that is by entering into Heaven and offering himself a Sacrifice devoted for our Sins and by the Virtue of this Sacrifice presenting himself before God as our high Priest he still pleads in our behalf Melchizedec did Sacrifice and that not only with Bread and Wine as * Mariana on Gen 14. and Maldonatuâ— some suppose but also with bloody Victims suitable to the practice of that Age. But Christ only made one Sacrifice that of himself by which he put a period to all Sacrifices except the offering up our Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable which is our reasonable service alluding perhaps to what the Jews said of Adam that He was before sin all over a Sacrifice To this Parallel between the two Priesthoods it ought to be refer'd That the Christians like Melchizedec who was both King and Priest are styl'd a Royal Priesthood And the Author to the Revelations tells us that Christ has made us Kings and Priests an holy Priesthood to offer a spiritual Sacrifice Several of the Fathers deny that Abraham Isaac and Jacob and others of the Patriarchs ever kept any Sabbath and there is an ancient Maxim of the Jews that All the days of the Messiah shall be one Sabbath to shew the Piety of that happy Age that should consecrate every Day to the Almighty But to finish this Comparison Melchizedec was Priest of the most high God for the Name Jehovah was not yet known He banish'd all superstitious Worship from his Kingdom and instituted a pure Religion agreeable to the Laws of Nature The Religion of Jesus Christ in like manner triumph'd over Idolatry and wheresoever it appear'd gave a total stroke to Polytheism So groundless was that Calumny of the Jews which makes Jesus descended not from Abraham the true worshipper of God but from the idolatrous Thera whose Practice they make him to transcribe Thus just is the Parallel between the two Priesthoods AN ESSAY Upon the General Resurrection TO make my Thoughts more regular on this noble tho' common Subject I shall offer to prove First That there shall be a Resurrection of the Body Secondly That it shall be of the Body only Thirdly That it shall be of the same Body from which the Soul was separated First then There shall be a Resurrection of the Body Where I shall prove First That such a Resurrection has not any thing in it which carries the appearance of an Impossibility Secondly That it is in it self very probable and suitable to the Rules of true Reason And Thirdly That upon the prospects of the divine Promises and Predictions it is certain and beyond all question firm First The Resurrection of the Body has not any thing in it which carries the appearance of an Impossibility For if the Resurrection is impossible it is because that either the Power which is to perform this miraculous Act has not force enough to accomplish it or because the Subject about which it is employ'd is not capable to be rais'd after this wonderful manner But neither of these are true for tho' neither Man nor Angel could raise a dead Body yet it is within the compass of the Divine Power For First The Deity knows where the Particles and Atoms of the Bodies of the Dead are repos'd in what secret Cells they are lodg'd and what Changes they have run through since their separation from the Soul Secondly He can assemble these scatter'd Parts and unite them in their former harmony and beauty Thirdly He can command the Soul back to its ancient abode call it from Bliss or Woe to resume its former Partner so that these dry Bones shall live and become the same Man they were before their Dissolution And First the Deity knows where the Particles and Atoms of the Bodies of the Dead are repos'd in what secret Cells they are lodg'd and what Changes they have run through since their separation from the Soul For God understands all the invisible Passages of Nature and every small part of a Body and can trace it thro' all its turns and shapes whatsoever outward Frame it may assume He knows where the remains of the first righteous Sacrificer the first Example of Mortality which all Mortals must transcribe are dispos'd of as well as those of the last Man who shall be obnoxious to the Curse and shall be the last of those who shall return to Dust For whatsoever visible Figure our mortal Body may be invested with to Him it is undisguis'd and confesses it self The sinest Glasses can only help us to the sight of the Surface and external Contexture of some Bodies while several others may be of so nice and accurate a Frame as no more to be discover'd by them than by the Eye without their assistance But nothing can be so minute as to lie hid from the Understanding of God no more than any thing can be so glorious as to surpass it As in his Book all our Members were written which in continuance were fashion'd when as yet there was none of them so every Atom which belongs to us is known to Him who made us Tho' in the Prophet's Language we go down to the bottoms of the Mountains and the Earth with her Bars is about us or tho' we are cast into the deep in the midst of the Seas and the Floods compass us about and his Billows and Waves pass over us even this Darkness hides us not from Him but every Particle lies open to his view As God knows where the Atoms of the Bodies of the Dead are repos'd so Secondly He can assemble these scatter'd Parts and unite them in their former harmony and beauty He who could make Man out of the Dust and employ'd such a Profusion of Wisdom and Goodness on the liveless Clay as to advance it into the Image of God can surely restore the dissolv'd Fabrick and in the noble Expression of Scripture make our Bones flourish like an Herb. He can summon and re-call Man's divided Atoms from the Earth and from the Waves and reconcile their long estrang'd Parts to their ancient familiarity where they shall fall into their primitive Order and Situation after the separation in some for thousands of Years Tho' some among several Nations either out of a wild and salvage Barbarity or out of the most pressing necessity of which we have a mournful Instance in the Siege of Samaria 2 King 6. v. 26. in Scripture seem if it is possible to disappoint a Resurrection of other Mens Bodies by making them the Nourishment of their own yet God who knows where all those Particles abide which ever did belong to any Man's Body can call them from their secret Repositories to compleat the Body made imperfect by this unnatural Cruelty in order to be enliven'd by the Soul Thirdly God can command the Soul back to its ancient abode call it from Bliss or Woe to resume its former Partner so that