the Emperour that having strictly inquired into the lives of the Christians he found nothing else but that they assembled together in remote places early in the morning and there said their prayers to heaven and bound themselves under a Solemn Oath not to commit Murder Adultery Injustice or any other crime They would also produce an answer from Trajan to Pliny wherein that Emperour gave positive orders that for the future there should be no particular enquiries made after the Christians but those only should be punished who should discover themselves And that we may not think that these letters are forged we may consider that 't is Tertulian that mentions them in his Discourse to the Senate and the Roman Emperour whom he could not impose upon without endangering his own life and prejudicing his Religion CHAP. II. Wherein we shall examin the Martyrdom of the Primitive Christians BUt Perhaps we may sooner suspect the credulity of the Primitive Christians than their innocence We are sure their Constancy proceeded from their hope and their hope from their perswasion But who knows the ground of that Perswasion Are there not Mahumetans so strongly perswaded of the Divinity of the Alcoran as to die in defence of that Errour The multitude then of Martyrs shews an infinite number of persons to be strongly perswaded of the truth of Christian Religion but proves not that perswasion to be well grounded We mâ—st therefore go a little further And here we may easily suppose without fear of being mistaken that the Primitive Christians had some sort of Common sense Those who made it their profession to ridicule the plurality of Gods and the many superstitions of the Heathens which were really contrary to Reason those who put in practice such wise Rules of Morality who were so regular in their behaviour so averse to all the excesses that disorder Reason who formed to themselves such rational Ideas of the Deity in comparison to others those men I say could not be wholly destitute of the light of Nature Now supposing them to have but the least glimmering of that light 't will be hard to conceivâ— that they should wholly renounce their Estates and Fortune and couragiously suffer Death in defence of any cause whatsoever unless they had very powerful Reasons to believe it were good This consideration will be further strengthn'd by two very important Reflexions And first we speak not here of such only who being born Christians blindly followed the prejudices of Birth and Education but also of a great number of persons who renounced Paganism to embrace Christianity and laying aside the favourable prejudices of Education and Birth which in them were quite contrary to the Christian Religion were yet willing to die for it as soon as 't was known and embraced Secondly The truth of Christian Religion is altogether founded upon mattters of fact For if Jesus Christ wrought Miracles and rose again from the Dead than is the Christian Faith True But if Jesus Christ wrought no miracles nor rose from the Dead then is the Christian Faith false And surely 't would have been folly or madness in those men to forsake so flourishing a Communion as Paganism to take upon them the name of Christians a name so vile and contemptible in those days to suffer voluntarily the loss of their Estates and undergo a most terrible Death only to defend a Religion grounded upon such matters of fact as they had no reason to believe to be true Those indeed that are born and live peacably in a Communion may blindly believe the Doctrines of it but he that is never so little acquainted with the constitution of man's heart can scarce imagin men to be so sensless as to renounce the prejudices of Birth and Education to offer violence to their dearest and most tender Inclinations and embrace a Faith pursued with fire and sword and persecuted by all the powers of the World unless they had first duely examined the nature of it and knew well upon what grounds they thus embraced it If it be objected that some of these men were of the meanest sort of people whose example cannot be alledged as a precedent for Wise and learned men We 'll grant it But then it must also be confess'd that the Vulgar usually embrace that Religion which is attended with Power and Prosperity Pomp and Authority and hate even Truth it self when once destitute of all these outward helps How is it possible then that against all outward appearance they should have acted so contrarily to themselves in this Occasion But supposing the commmon sort of Christians to have lost their Reason can we say the same of the Doctors of the Primitive Church as Clement Polycarp Justin Iraeneus c 'T is certain on one hÄnd these men were men of very good sense as their Writings those Monuments they have left us evidently demonstrate And on the other 't is very well known they lived in a time so very near to that of the Apostles that it is absolutely impossible they should have been deceived in this respect For Polycarp conversed a long while with St. John Iraeneus saw Polycarp and Justin was a more ancient Father than Iraeneus Had those Doctors only told us that Jesus Christ and his Apostles wrought several Miracles we might perhaps have suspended our belief upon their bare word But since they suffered Death in defence of the truth of certain matters of fact which they must necessarily have fully been informed of since I see that Clemens and Polycarp Disciples and Contemporaries with the Apostles chearfully came to the stake to maintain a Religion essentially founded upon those matters of fact such as were the gift of divers Languages conferred upon the Apostles the power of working Miracles and imparting those very gifts themselves to others Since I say these Christian Doctors suffered Martyrdom for the confirmation of matters of fact which the Christian Religion is essentially united to I confess I begin to be convinced Nevertheless let us search more narrowly into this matter and see whether we shall yet have any Reason to entertain any further scruples CHAP. III. In which we further prove the Truth of Religion by several undeniable matters of fact WHo told us Clemens and Polycarp suffered Martyrdom And supposing they did who will assure us they were not deluded by the Apostles Nay who can tell whether there ever were any such men I suppose I shall not be obliged to prove with a great many arguments there were such men as Clemens and Polycarp who suffered Martyrdom Eusebius who wrote their history could not wholly have invented it unless he had corrupted all the Writings of the Fathers that lived before him for they all speak of it Iraeneus Justin Clemens Alexandrinus c. mention it as a known matter of fact The first of them glories in several places of his works that he had seen Polycarp in his youth and it appears they all suffered Martyrdom
to look upon that word as Divine which those Tongues have preached we cannot but look upon those Writings as Divine in which that Word it self is contained I hope that whosoever shall seriously reflect on the Connexion of all these principles will fully be perswaded that their Union is not to be dissolved If there was such a Book as the New Testament in the days of Clemens Polycarp and of the Primitive Fathers as without dispute there was that Book could never have been forg'd If the Book of the New Testament could not have been forg'd it is impossible but that certain publick matters of fact which are inserted in that Book as being publickly known by all the Christians are true And if those matters of fact are true it can never be denied but that the Apostles received the Holy Ghost If the Apostles did receive the Holy Ghost certainly their Writings must be looked upon as Divine I have made choice of these principles only among several others which I have established but lest any one should imagin that they subsist meerly by their Connexion I desire the Reader to remember that I have proved each of them apart by themselves after several different ways It is very true therefore that the New Testament as well as our Religion is divine for these two Truths are properly one and the same The Christian Religion can't be Divine if the Word or the Scripture which is the ruleof the Faith of its Professors be Humane and the Scripture can never be Divine unless the Christian Religion be of an heavenly Original and proceeded from God But it is fit that we should examin the Difficulties that are opposed against this grand principle CHAP. XIV Wherein we shall examin those Difficulties which may probably be raised against the foregoing Truths TRuth is an Enemy to all shifts and tricks let us therefore briefly consider what doubts we may possibly entertain in the foregoing Truths Let us give full scope to our imagination to frame what suspicions we can as to the persons of Jesus Christ and his Apostles their Miracles the Resurrection of our Lord and the extraordinary and miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost which were imparted to mankind by the hands of the Apostles themselves And I. to begin with the Person of Jesus Christ there are some who believe that Jesus Christ was an Essene and that he borrowed from that Sect the purity of his Morals and the soundness of his Doctrine And indeed it appears from the Description which Philo and Josephus gave us of that Sect that the Essenes lived among themselves in a perfect union that they possessed all things in Common that they looked upon one another as so many brethren and that they had very rational and sound Ideas of God and Religion All this pretty well agrees with the Nature of Chistianity Besides it does not appear that Jesus Christ ever opposed their Doctrine when he pronounced so many woes against the Scribes and Pharisees And if it be true that Jesus Christ borrowed his Doctrine from that Sect we should have less Reason to be surprised at his extraordinary Morality and Holiness of life But 't is easy to refute this notion if we consider that there was no such Sect as that of the Essenes in Galilee which was the native Country of Jesus Christ that the Essenes avoided all correspondence with other men as looking upon them as impure and prophane and for that reason dwelt not in any great Cities Whereas Jesus Christ travers'd Towns and Villages taught multitudes Preached in the Synagogues c. Besides the Essenes abhorr'd Matrimony whereas Jesus Christ made choice of such Disciples as were Married and lastly that he had several Fishermen to attend him but none of them were Essenes But II. May we not think that Jesus Christ ow'd his knowledge to his Education But how could that be For as much as he was bred up in the shop of a Carpenter as his Enemies themselves confess in their reproaches of him III. Some will object that 't was out of spite to the Scribes and Pharisees and other Rulers of the Jews that he first exclaimed so much against them and after invented on purpose to thwart them a Religion quite opposite to theirs But what had the Son of Mary to do with all those Teachers since he neither was Priest nor Levite nor pretended to any such dignities What should make him come in competition with them Besides it is not sufficient to assert that Jesus Christ seemed very much exasperated against their Doctrine and Behaviour it must also be considered whether he had not a great deal of reason to be so IV. 'T is objected that perhaps he was ambitious of being thought a Prophet or it may be not rightly understanding certain Oracles which seemed to determine at that time the coming of the Messias he really thought himself to be that Messias But nothing of this is true For Jesus Christ could not have thought himself to be the Messias out of meer simplicity and ignorance nor have endeavoured to make the World believe it out of malice or deceit We have no reason to believe the former if we consider his Morality and Doctrine and his holiness of life gives us no occasion to imagin the latter The incredulous will soon be reduced to an evident absurdity if they assert that Jesus Christ was the most ignorant or most wicked of men the most ignorant if he thought himself to be the Messias without being really so or the most wicked if he endeavoured to make other men believe it when he believed it not himself because one must be wilfully blind not to perceive that the Christian Religion proceeds both from a very clear principle and a good foundation too V. But may we not say the same of Mahomet The incredulous compare them often together They pretend that Jesus Christ and Mahomet might have been animated both with the same Spirit But of all the shifts of the Incredulous this is certainly their weakest and 't is a plain demonstration that they have no manner of Idea of the things they speak of when they insist upon this comparison For we can here produce several essential differences betwixt Jesus Christ and Mahomet Mahomet never pretended to Establish his Religion by working miracles although several have been imputed to him Whereas Jesus Christ desired no belief but upon the testimony of his extraordinary Miracles being willing thereby to convince the eyes and senses of his Disciples by sensible matters of fact and such miracles as he gave them also power to work themselves when he sent them forth to preach abroad his Resurrection and Miracles at the same time he threatned them with Death and eternal Damnation in case they should endeavour to deceive any body with fictions or even disguise the Truth it self Mahomet left no such prophecies behind him as have been accomplished whereas we have several of Jesus Christ which have
in imitation of those Primitive Christians That the Apostles deceived Polycarp and Clemens and the rest of their Disciples is a thing much less to be suspected because they themselves stuck not to boast of their being able to work miracles heal all kind of diseases speak all sorts of languages and impart to others those gifts they called the gifts of the Holy Ghost And it is impossible that Clemens Polycarp c. should have suffered themselves to be deceived in this respect especially to â—uch a degree as to suffer Death for the testimony of a Religion founded on so many impostures But whence appears it that the Apostles boasted of a power to work miracles and impart the gifts of the Holy Ghost It appears not only from their own Epistles which can't be forged as we shall prove by and by but also from the writings of the Doctors of the Primitive Church and in fine 't is manifest of it self For as we can't deny that there was such a man as Alexander the Great without overthrowing the common Opinion that he subverted the Empire of Darius and the Macedonians subdued all Asia under his conduct because one matter of fact depends upon the other so we cannot acknowledge the Divinity of the Christian Religion without believing the Miracles of Jesus Christ his Resurrection his pouring out the Holy Ghost on the Apostles and the miraculous Gifts imparted to those that believed For take away these matters of fact and what would become of the Christian Religion Wherein would the Divinity of it consist Wherein would lie the Strength Promises and Essentials of it Since therefore Clemens and Polycarp suffered Martyrdom for the truth of Christian Religion it follows also that they died in defence of the truth of those matters of fact we just now mentioned So that those matters of fact being very palpable and it being very easy for Clemens and Polycarp who lived and conversed with the Apostles to know certainly whether they really had the pretended gifts of divers tongues of healing all sorts of diseases and of communicating these extraordinary gifts to others so as to render them frequent in the Church I do not see how its possible to call the truth of them in question The soul of man however fruitfull in imaginations can hardly raise here a doubt of a moment's continuance For should I fancy they may have given me a false Relation of the Martyrdom of Clemens of Polycarp and the successors of the Apostles this thought soon vanishes when I consider the number quality and unanimous consent of the Witnesses of this matter of fact For can we think that the Sucessours of Clemens and Polycarp would have suffered a real Martyrdom in imitation of one that was but imaginary Would they so couragiously have imitated a fictitious Martyrdom of their own invention And should I imagin Clemens and Polycarp were imposed on by the Apostles I am soon convinced of the contrary since those matters of fact which we have now before us are matters of Experience so evident in themselves that we cannot be mistaken in them Lastly should I doubt whether the Apostles endeavoured to perswade men of the truth of them I am made to understand that there can be no Christianity without these matters of fact and that the Apostles could never have established the Christian Religion unless they had first perswaded men of the truth of them This will be farther seen by what we shall offer in the following chapters In the mean while may we not know what the profess'd Enemies of Christianity said of them For it seems unjust to hearken to that only which the Christians alledge in defence of their own cause This is no hard matter We find Porphirius Celsus and Julian surnamed the Apostate maintaining that Jesus Christ did no miracles at all but by a magick power and that it was a fantom which appeared to the Disciples instead of Jesus Christ risen again from the dead Whereupon I think it necessary to make some few Reflections It is very remarkable that those who were far more exasperated against the Christians than the Incredulous of these imes are and who living in a time nearest to that â—f the Apostles might have easily known the truth â—r falshood of those matters of fact I say 't is remarkable that those men durst not in the least call â—ny of them in question but were forced to have â—ecourse to Ghosts and a Magick power to avoid â—eing perplexed with them 'T is also worth our while to observe that Celsus himself who ever before questioned Magicians was at length forced to aâ—cribe the miracles of Jesus Christ to a Magick power â—s Origen himself upbraids him in some part of his works Thus it immediately appears that the Primitive Christians were men of very good sense and very honest and sincere principles too that part of them lived in a time so very near that of the Apostles in whose days all those things came to pass that they must necessarily have known the truth of them that in the mean time they suffered Death to seal the truth of a Religion founded upon all those matters of fact and lastly that their Enemies themselves durst not presume entirely to call any of them in question But I will not yield my self conquered for all that but rather raise my self a little higher and stop for a while at the latter end of the first Century which is the time wherein St. John the last of the Apostles was yet living and wherein Clemens and Polycarp whom we just now mentioned flourish'd and this shall be our fixed point in the following Chapters CHAP. IV. Where we yet further prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by several undeniable matters of fact 'T Is an hundred years since there were no Christians at all in the World and now there are some in all parts of it at Rome and at Antioch at Alexandria at Corinth at Ephesus in Spain and among the Gauls c. I confess I am some what surprised to see this progress yet not so much as to be convinced of the truth of Christian Religion because Mahomet's Religion was established in a lesser time We must then go yet farther and consider that the Christian Faith was not only destitute of the assistance of Policy and Authority but received notwithstanding the continual oppositions of both 'T is observable that other Religions as that of the Heathens and Turks were established in the World by some singular and extraordinary prosperity and by the policy of persons raised to dignities and grandeur but Christianity in a small time became Master of mens hearts and understanding tho it was attended with nothing but shame and Misery tho all the powers of the World strove to stifle it in its very birth and for that purpose invented such tortures and punishments as no other interest could have made men devise We might indeed question the sufferings of the Christians
that by shewing that the New Testament was composed before the destruction of Jerusalem I shew also that it is as ancient as the Apostles themselves which affords us one determination very advantagious to our Cause So that this objection being very favourable to instead of proving any thing against us nothing hinders but that we pass on to the consideration of the second suspicion we were willing to entertain concerning the Books of the New Testament CHAP. II. Proving that the Books of the New Testament were never corrupted 'T Is certain that from the Apostles time to ours the New Testament was ever look'd upon as sacred and not to be corrupted without impiety and Irreligion But whether it were Reason or Prejudice that made it so esteemed by the Christians I shall now examin It is enough that the esteem men have of it seems as ancient as the Book it self It s being considered as the foundation of all our hopes and the original of heavenly Revelation its being read and order'd to be read in Publick and Private from the Age of Clemens Polycarp Justin and Iraeneus to ours I say all this shews that it could not have been corrupted in its Essentials But this Truth very well deserves a more strict consideration I say then how is it possible that all the World should have unanimously conspired to corrupt this Book For tho' one single Doctor of the Church should have attempted it yet the rest would certainly have opposed it Tho' all the Christian Doctors dispersed up and down the World should have agreeed to it yet the people would never have consented to 't Tho' the Doctors and the People together should have been inclinable to it yet sure their Adversaries would not have failed to reproach them with it The Jews and Heathens whose only aim was to cry down their Religion would never have concealed it Julian Porphirius and all other particular Enemies of the Christians would have drawn some advantage from it In a word tho' the silence of their Adversaries had favoured so strange an Enterprise yet the different parties and various Heresies which soon after sprung up among the Christians were an invincible obstacle to it 'T is well known that immediately after the Death of the Apostles the Church was strangely disturbed by several various Controversies For not to speak here of the Gnosticks that abominable Sect which deserves not the honourable name of Christians certainly the Opinion of the Millenarians which Papias seems to have been the Author of founded upon the Apostolical Tradition fifteen years after the death of St. John the Controversy which soon after happened concerning the Christian Passover together with the Disputes of the Orthodox against the Origenists concerning the Resurrection and several other Articles of the Christian Doctrin I say these Disputes might easily have divided the Christians in the first Century of the Church Next to them succeeded the famous Disputes of the Orthodox with the Arrians and with what heat and animosities they were carried on is sufficiently known to all the World But however fatal all those Controversies were to the Church yet they produced that good effect by the direction of Providence which orders every thing to some good end that they preserv'd the Revelation of the New Testament pure and entire and at present strengthen our belief against all suspicions we might probably entertain in this respect For tho the Millenarians the Origenists and the Arians should have attempted to corrupt the Scripture yet how were it possible that the Orthodox which were so exasperated against them should have suffered it to be done or that if the Orthodoxes had had any such design their Adversaries which were so incens'd should have agreed with them in the same Intention Should I further grant this mutual agreement possible doubtless the almost infinite number of Copies of Editions and Translations made at first of the New Testament rendered the execution of that design impossible For tho' a man had corrupted one single Copy among all those Copies or translated those Books false yet how could he corrupt all the other Copies of them which are dispersed in the World or how could he alter so many other Translations which have been made of them in different times and in different places But supposing this were feasible if the Writings of the Apostles were ever corrupted it must have been either in their Essentials or in things of little Importance I mean by their Essentials those miraculous matters of fact related in the New Testament as well as all those others which if true demonstrate the Truth of the Christian Religion Now if those Writings were not corrupted in their Essentials it necessarily follows that they contain several true matters of fact sufficient to prove the Truth of Christianity But if they were altered in their Essentials there must have been added to them the Miracles of Jesus Christ his Resurrection Ascension into Heaven the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost the power the Apostles had of speaking strange Languages and of imparting miraculous gifts to others Now I affirm that all those matters of fact could not have been added to the New Testament unless the whole Book was forg'd because the subject matter of the New Testament consists of nothing else but of those matters of fact or if you will of such things as evidently relate to them and which would certainly be false if those matters of fact were false But let us joyn Experience to Reason and consider that if the Christians had corrupted the writings of the Apostles the Books of the New Testament would now be quite different from what they were in the former ages and that having been continually altered from that time untill now nothing could be more apparent than such an alteration Yet 't is easy to perceive the contrary and it evidently appears by an almost infinite number of places of the New Testament quoted in the Books of the Fathers that there never was a Book that suffered less alteration by the revolution of years than that did There are but two things in my opinion that may be answered to this Argument the first is that in corrupting the Books of the New Testament those places quoted in the Works of the Fathers might also have been altered But this thought can never enter into any reasonable mans mind for he must then suppose that there was a person in a manner Immortal who might have had time enough to alter so many Books composed from Age to Age and a man too so much Master of other Mens hearts and understandings as to have been able to corrupt a Book the most universally read and most carefully preserved that ever was and to alter also with it all the Books of the ancient Fathers without any body ever perceiving it or making the least opposition against it The second thing that may be answered is that this
been clearly explained by their event Neither the Books of the Old or New Testament bear the least record of Mahomet whereas the Prophets had foretold the coming of Jesus Christ as of a Messias that was to unite the Jews and Gentiles and to carry the Covenant of God unto the ends of the World Mahomet established himself in the World by force and violence but Jesus Christ only by patience and sufferings The former was environ'd with Soldiers the latter was attended with Martyrs The one put men to Death but the other received Death for our sakes Mahomet's ambition who established such a flourishing Empire was presently seen in the success he had in his undertaking But Jesus Christ was far from self Interest or Ambition since he withdrew himself when they would have made him King and declared his Kingdom was not of this World Instead of encouraging the carnal prejudices of his Disciples he took care to undeceive them and to foretell all the Evils they were to expect And tho' any should presume openly to dispute all these matters of fact still they appear by the end and success of the Gospel the design of which was to sanctify the heart and calm the disorderly passions of the Soul Mahomet invented such a Religion which agreed only with corrupted Reason and the loose inordinate desires of the heart He made the scandal of the Cross to give place to the magnificence and grandeur of the World he took away the most spiritual and difficult matters of Morality to fill the minds of his Disciples with carnal and sensual Ideas But not so did our Saviour act who proposed his Cross to the minds of men as an astonishing Paradox and a continual cause of Mortification and Repentance Mahomet Established his Religion by the help of Ignorance and Darkness by suppressing such Books as might have enlightened mens Understandings and by requiring a blind submission from them Jesus Christ on the contrary would not have them believe his Doctrine but as they found it conformable to that of the Prophets Search the Scriptures says he for in them ye think ye have eternal life John 5. 39. Mahomet established himself in the World by dissembling and disguising his thoughts He promised in the beginning a toleration of all Religions carried it fair to the Christians but afterwasds did his utmost endeavours to extirpate them utterly But Jesus Christ declared at first his intention and design which was to save mankind and overthrow Superstition it self Nor he nor his Disciples used any Policy or Circumvention in this respect Mahomet died but never rose nor pretended to rise again from the dead thereby to shew he was approved of God Jesus Christ died but it was believed he rose again from the dead upon the testimony of those who had seen him after his Resurrection and testified of the Truth of this matter of fact to all the World at the expence of their lives and effusion of their blood Mahomet's Religion was invented maintained and supported by Policy but that of Jesus Christ was at first offensive to all the Princes upon earth and was established in the World notwithstanding all their endeavours to the contrary Mahomets's Religion appear'd at first view to be as it were the Triumph of Humane Industry and Covetousness but the Religion of Jesus Christ shew'd that of integrity and justice in their full perfection and Natural Religion in that proper purity and simplicity that was restored to it by Charity Mahomet laid the foundation of a particular Monarchy and established such Laws as humanly speaking are serviceable only in those places wherein he has settled his Dominion but Jesus Christ has given us new Principles of union and intelligence very usefull to the good of publick society in general and very fit to cement the union of all men together by making the spirit of Charity reign in the World The coming of Mahomet did not sanctify mankind but that of Jesus Christ was attended with an innumerable Company of persons who all renounced the World meerly by the Faith they had in him 'T was not Mahomet but Jesus Christ who exactly fulfilled the Oracles concerning the calling of the Gentiles because Mahomet derived all his knowledge of the true God from Jesus Christ as we have already shewed Lastly Temporal Prosperity was the true Character of the Religion of Mahomet and it might be very well affirmed that Mahomet was a Man of God if it were true that all those who enjoy the greatest Prosperity in the World that is all Tyrants wicked and unjust men are the favorites of God But the Character of the Religion of Jesus Christ is patience self-denial innocence and a simplicity of manners and certainly he was approved of God if God approves of vertuous patient humble and charitable men It concerns now the Incredulous to answer all these differences if they would have us allow of this Comparison for otherwise we shall ever reject it as being very ridiculous and extravagant CHAP. XV. Where we further examin the objections of the Incredulous THe Incredulous are apt to raise as many suspicions against the miracles of Jesus Christ as against his person because of all those proofs which establish his Religion there are none that can move the senses so much as that taken from true Miracles I. Then they object that Jesus the Son of Mary might have healed two or three people either by chance or by vertue of Second causes and that that good success might have got him afterwards the name of a Prophet through the ignorance of the people who are wont to ascribe to supernatural Causes every thing that is unknown to them We answer that we have here a very great number of miracles all of different kinds evident and sensible miracles in their Nature unimitable and above all Imposture Such are the Resurrection of the dead healing the Blind the Lame and the sick of the Palsy c. II. They pretend that he might perhaps have suborned Witnesses to testify some fabulous miracles But how could this be Since Jesus Christ had neither money to give nor dignities to promise and as for cunning Politick niceties Riches and Credit they were only amongst the Scribes and Pharisees and Doctors of the Law his implacable Enemies who took all opportunities to prejudice him because he publickly censured their hypocrisy upon all occasions III. They object that Jesus Christ was so prudent as to work his miracles only before three of his chosen Disciples viz. Peter James and John Now say they who knows but that those three Disciples to flatter the ambition of their Master might have attested certain Miracles as true which were not really so To remove this suspicion we need only reflect upon the many miracles Jesus Christ wrought in the presence of his other Disciples He raised from the dead the Son of the Widdow of Naim as he was a carrying to be interr'd He raised Lazarus from the grave in
been several famous Emperors who were not able to conceal from the World their favourable Opinions of the Christian Religion that some of them had for Inscriptions in their publick Edifices several Maxims of the Gospel that others would have consecrated Churches for the Use of the Christians and lastly that others professed themselves Admirers of the Morality of Christ. But what shall we say of the Jews and Gentiles who not being able to deny Christ's Miracles were forced to refer them some to a Magick Power and others to a certain I know not what mysterious Pronunciation of the word Jehovah So strange a thing it is that ev'n the very Enemies of our Religion should thus testify of it and yet scarce perceive it The seventh Testimony is that of several strange Events which the Wisdom of God so ordered that they firmly establish the Truth of Christianity Of these there are several very remarkable but it shall suffice at present to mention Three only which among the rest deserve a particular Consideration the First is the Destruction of the four Monarchies which had sorely afflicted and harass'd God's People at the end of which the Kingdom of Heaven was immediately to be established the Second the entire Destruction of the Jewish Government and the signal Devastation of the holy Land an Effect of the divine Wrath pour'd out upon that Nation the Third and last the Settlement of the Christian Church or the Calling of the Gentiles attended with so many Circumstances as plainly shew that nothing but the hand of God could perfect so great a Work The Eighth is that Testimony given of Christ by the Revelation of Moses And the Ninth that which is given of him by Natural Religion But of these two Testimonies we shall not speak at present for as much as we design to end this Work with a particular Consideration of them In the mean time 't is plain the Christian Religion must be true because it was confirmed by the Testimony of so many authentick Persons which can't be suspected of Deceit And it would be extravagantly ridiculous to imagine that the Prophets should have so clear an insight into Futurity meerly to countenance and authorize a Fiction that John the Baptist having been at first taken by the Jews for the Messias should renounce the Honour which that Title would have conferred upon him only out of Love and Complaisance to an Impostor that the Apostles and the rest of the Disciples should so readily sacrifice their Estates Reputation Repose and Life it self to a Person they knew to be a false Christ that the Heavens should countenance a Flam and a Lye by working such signal and sensible Miracles that the Heart of Man should have found every thing that can supply it's Wants and Necessities in a meer Cheat that ev'n the Enemies of our Religion should countenance and approve of our false Prejudices that all Events should so exactly coincide with an erroneous Imposture and that the Revelation of Moses and Natural Religion should thus testify so palpable a Fiction To this we may add the Necessity and Importance of the Christian Religion since the Wisdom of God leads us to it by so many different ways as also the admirable Perfection and Transcendency of it since in a manner Heaven and Earth the Time past and present Events ordinary and natural as well as those supernatural and miraculous since the Prophets and Apostles who were altogether unknown to one another have agreed unanimously to reveal it and propose it to us as an Object for it's transcendent excellency worthy of our greatest Admiration II Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is opposed to all other Religions ALL these Truths will more evidently appear if we consider the Christian Religion in it's Opposition to all other Religions The Excellency of the Christian Religion consists in that it has Advantages which other Religions have not and yet none of their Faults I say no other Religion has Advantages equal to those of the Christian Religion for no other can boast of it's having been confirmed by ancient Prophecies Ev'n Mahomet thought it better to oblige Men to call the Scripture in question than do derive any Arguments from it which might serve to confirm his Mission as appears by his not boasting that he had been preceeded by any Forerunner who made his paths streight There are indeed several Religions which perhaps may have had their Martyrs But what sort of Martyrs superstitious Men who blindly exposed themselves to Death without knowing what they did like those Barbarians who prostrated themselves by thousands before their Idol that their Colossus might crush them in pieces with it's Wheels as it passed along But no Religion besides the Christian was ever confirmed by the Blood of an infinite number of sensible understanding Martyrs who voluntarily suffered Death in Defence of what they had seen who from vitious and profligate Persons became Saints upon the Confidence they had in their Master and who at length being dispersed in all places of the World by their Death gain'd Proselytes and making their Blood the Seed of the Church chearfully suffered Martyrdom having certain Assurance of being crowned after their Death A certain Assurance which they derived from what they themselves had formerly seen We find other Religions which pretend to be confirmed and authorized by several Signs and extraordinary Events from Heaven The Romans used to attribute to their Religion all the Advantages they got over other Nations And the Mahumetans pretend that the great Successes God was pleased to give their Prophet were so many certain and undeniable Marks of the Truth of their Religion But to pretend that temporal Prosperity is a certain Character of a true Religion or Adversity that of a false one is to suppose as we have already said else where that the most profligate Wretches provided they are happy in this World are the greatest Favourites of God But certainly 't is not Prosperity or Adversity simply considered but Prosperity or Adversity as foretold by God or his Prophets that is a certain Character of true Religion And when we affirm that several extraordinary Events bear witness to the Truth of Christianity we mean only those Events which had been foretold by the Prophets as for instance the calling of the Gentiles the Destruction of Jerusalem and the establishment of the Christian Church Finally there may be several Religions that may deceive but none but the Christian Religion that can truly satisfy Mankind There are some Religions grounded upon fabulous Miracles and confirmed by Witnesses easily convinc'd of Imposture but none but the Christian Religion is firmly and solidly establish t upon true Miracles and valid Testimonies It appears then that no Religion in the World has such extraordinary qualifications as the Christian Religion of which it must also be affirmed that it is free from all such Defects as are incident to other Religions We need no deep
Consequence only Divine Wisdom was also pleased that Jesus Christ should be born in Obscurity and Humiliation that those mean outward Appearances being offensive to the prejudice of carnal and worldly minded Jews they might as it were by chance give occasion to the execution of those things which the Council of God had determined And this is one of the principal causes of his Poverty and Humiliation of the Meanness of his Birth and the Vnworthiness of his first Profession the choice of his Disciples c. The Justice of God acting in concert with his Wisdom obliges him to speak to all prophane Contemners of his Mysteries in an obscure Language and so as it were to conceal those Pearls from them lest like unclean Beasts they should trample them under their Feet And this may very well serve for a Reason of the denial which Christ formerly made to the Unbelievers of those Times of signalizing his Power among them and of the great care he often took to conceal his Miracles from them For this cause therefore spoke he sometimes in Parables to Strangers but he always very clearly exprest himself to his Disciples giving them to understand the meaning of those Parables and telling them that as for them they had the Priviledge of seeing all things openly Neither does his Majesty suffer him to reveal himself as familiarly to the sinful Man as he would to the innocent This we ought not to wonder at since Men themselves are wont so to deal with one another There is nothing more common than for Great Men to banish their Presence those who have incurr'd their Displeasure To think it then strange if God conceals himself from a Sinner would be to entertain a more unworthy Idea of his Majesty than that of an Earthly Monarch This was the Reason why God took such care to conceal himself even when he design'd to manifest his Glory And for this Cause he shewed himself only in Visions and Dreams or when hidden in the Cloud and Ark or covered with some other Veil On this account also he was wont to banish from his Presence all those as were defiled in their Bodies and order the Priests of the Sanctuary to purifie themselves He commanded too the People to wash their Garments when he gave them notice that within three Days he would come down to them nothing but an external and corporeal Purity being sufficient to qualify those that were to approach the Deity manifested under corporeal Symbols But Christ fulfilling in the Spirit every thing hidden in the Letter of the Law teaches us that those only shall see God who shall be found pure in Heart so that we have no reason to wonder if when Man by reason of his Guilt hides himself from God the Almighty withdraws the Influence of his Glorious Majesty from Man Lastly The Goodness and Mercy of God overshadows Revelation with some sort of Darkness to exercise our Faith and keep up our Minds in Vigour which also would grow sluggish if not stirred up by such Difficulties as are proper to Mysteries as also to humble our proud and haughty Reason which is immediately puffed up with its own Knowledge to make us submit our Understandings to him since we ought to believe any Truths tho incredible if he reveals them as also to sway our Hearts and Affections which ought readily to embrace any sorrowful and mortifying Objects that he is pleased to offer them to strip our Pride of all its Pretences and to dispose our Minds that we must necessarily acknowledge every Benefit we enjoy springs from him and that too so much the more because we thereby attain to life Eternal by such means and objects as are above our Capacity to comprehend So necessary is it that it should appear that our Sufficiency is of God and that the Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1. 16. To this Principle we owe the choice of those persons which God has made use of to preach the Gospel the nature of those seeming Paradoxes he commanded them to publish so contrary to the Light of Nature and Reason the Silence of the Holy Ghost in those things which a few Words from him would have rendred plain and easy to our Understandings But God is not content to exercise our Faith by those Obscurities we find dispersed throughout the Divine Revelations he further permits Heresies Schisms and Errours nay Superstition it self to reign among us that those who are approved may be made manifest Thus we may say he suffers all Egypt to be covered with Darkness the more eminently to discover his wonderful Protection in blessing at the same time the Land of Goshen with the Light of his Truth that is by giving us a Religion accompanied with so bright an Evidence as carnal and worldly minded Men can never comprehend because their Reason is eclipsed by Sensuality and the Corruption of their Hearts produces those thick Clouds that hide the Truth from their sight God 't is true enlightens the Minds of Men but Men wilfully blind themselves He permits it should be so to confound their Ignorance and demonstrate to us that he is the Father of Light But let us now enquire into the Principles of that Obscurity which solely springs from Men. And I. So gross are all the Prejudices of the Senses that there is no body so void of shame as to follow them openly Yet 't is certain they are very prevalent in the Hearts of most Men who stick not to say I never saw the like I could willingly believe it if I should but see it Who ever saw dead Men rise again from their graves And who ever ascended into Heaven or went down into the Pit All which Reasonings are manifestly absurd For can there be any greater Folly in a Man than to refuse to believe that which he does not see when these Objects of his Faith could have no Existence were they not invisible Did any one ever see the Time past long before he liv'd or the future long after his Death Did he ever see his own Soul the Deity c. For 't is nothing else but the Time past and the future the Objects and Interests of the Soul together with the Benefits of God which Faith offers to our Consideration II. We are accustomed by Education not to believe any thing that happens not in the ordinary course of Nature We confine our selves as it were to a Circle of Objects which we willingly admit of because they contain nothing that is repugnant to Experience or Probability So that the Custom we have of refusing to give our Assent to all other things reaching even unto matters of Religion inevitably casts us into Scepticism and Incredulity Yet should we but throughly consider those Objects which fall under common Experience they would certainly appear as surprising and incomprehensible as those of Religion If you think it strange that the Soul should outlive
account Perhaps we should not think it at all hard to conceive if the Holy Ghost had been pleased to reveal its Nature a little more clearly to us But such is the wonderful Conduct of God who is resolved to humble us and not to satisfy our vain Curiosity nor indulge the Pride of our Understanding which is too greedy of Knowledge 4 thly Because we are not wholly destitute of Images there being several capable to illustrate that Object tho never so incomprehensible in it self Thus for instance the same Soul is an Vnderstanding as it perceives a Will as it has a desire and a Memory as it recalls the things past to the Mind all which three Faculties are comprehended in one and the same Understanding In like manner also the same Light is in the Heavens a Sun in the Air Brightness and in the Cloud a false Sun 5 thly To all this we may yet further add that the greatest Difficulties of this Mystery proceed from those Speculations in which School Divinity has involved it to the great Scandal of our Faith and eternal Confusion of our Reason For who can endure the Liberty those Metaphysical Divines have taken in pretending to form and decide ridiculous rash and impious Questions concerning that greatest Mystery of our Religion Can we think any reasonable Man could read all their impertinent Questions without Indignation As whether several Divine Persons could take but one and the same Person Whether the Word could have taken upon him in an Hypostatical Union the Form of an Angel of a Beast of a Woman of an insensible Being of an Accident of an Act of Sin of a Devil so that if these Propositions were true God is a Sin a c. Whether the Word has taken the Soul in an Hypostatical Union rather than the Body or the Body rather than the Soul Whether if Man had not Sinned the Word would not have taken our Flesh upon him Whether Humane Nature was first united to the Essence or the Person Whether the Humane Nature was united to the Divine by several Unions Whether a Divine Person may take upon it self the Form of a created Person Whether Humanity was united to the Person of Christ by way of Accident or of Substance Whether the Humane and the Divine Nature are a part of Christ and whether Christ be two several things Whether Christ be of a create or uncreate Unity How it came to pass he did not take upon him the very individual Nature of Adam Whether this Proposition Christ is Man was true during those three Days he remained in the Grave Lastly Whether Christ should have died of old Age had he not been crucified in his Youth c. These are the only Difficulties that occur in the Christian Religion As for the rest 't is so essentially so visibly and so necessarily agreeable to Reason that we cannot but wonder that our Incredulous Adversaries have not yet perceived it This we have already sufficiently proved in several places of this Work and we cannot well insist further upon it without repeating again what has been already said It is sufficient therefore to observe that Christ is as it were the Reason of Nature Society and Religion He is the Light enlightening every thing without which we should fall into infinite Troubles and Perplexities Christ is the Center of all Events which seemingly relate to his coming he is the Center of Truths which are the more clearly revealed the nearer we approach him the Center of all the Mosaical Ceremonies which are meer Extravagance in themselves if they relate not to him the Center of all Virtues which have no sufficient Force or Motives able to induce us to practise them but by the consideration of Life and Immortality revealed to us in Christ the Center and Foundation of the inviolable Rule of Conscience which would be nothing else but Errour and Illusion if the Christian Faith were a Fable The Center of all those Characters of Wisdom visibly diplay'd in all the Works of God since nothing but the Christian Religion can lead Man to the true End of his Creation none but that can justify the Wisdom of God the Center of all the Hopes of Man for what is there that he could hope for if Christianity were a Lye The Center of all the Evidence and Certainty that is in our Knowledge for what is there that we could be certain of if our Soul were only a Disposition of Atoms and had no such Spirituality and Immortality as that imputed to it by the Christian Religion There need have been only a different Configuration of Parts to form first Notions quite contrary to those we now have Let any one therefore closely consider the Matter and it will appear to him that if we deny Christ who teaches to know our own selves in revealing to us Life and Immortality no Salvation can be expected either for Reason or Conscience X Portraiture of the Christian Religion Or the Proportion it bears to the Jewish Religion THere is nothing truer than that the Jewish Religion is great noble and divine and we cannot reflect on the Greatness of its Miracles the Sublimity of its Morality the Purity of its Doctrin the Holiness of its Precepts and the Completion of its Prophecies without immediately acknowledging it to be stampt with Divine Characters But yet we shall find it altogether defective if we separate it from Christianity since its Essence consists in its relation to that We cannot conceive without it how God can be the God of one Nation and yet not be that too of other Nations also that the Deity should be contained in a material Ark and being the Father of Spirits should so carefully seek after an external and corporeal Purity that unwilling to satisfy his Justice he should require Sacrifices of Men or if willing to be appeased by Offerings and Oblations he should demand such mean ones of them which were unworthy the Majesty of his God-head that God who made Heaven and Earth should dwell in a Temple made with Hands or that he who created all things visible and invisible should take pleasure in an external Pomp that he who made the Smelling which he wants not himself should delight in the smell of Incense or that his Voice properly so called should be heard to which Thunder it self scarce bears the Resemblance of an Echo I say we can never conceive any of these things without the help of Christian Religion For who can reconcile the Wisdom seen in the Religion of Moses with the Imperfections discoverable in it How could that Lawgiver prove so contrary to himself And how could so many Characters of Divinity be attended with so many seemingly superstitious Customs and trivial Ceremonies Consult but the Christian Religion and you 'll then no longer wonder at it there you will find both the Reason and Wisdom of every thing that surpris'd you in the Old Covenant All the Customs contained in the
A VINDICATION OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion Against the Objections of all Modern Opposers PART II. Written in French by James Abbadie D. D. Render'd into English By HENRY LUSSAN M. A. of New College in Oxford LONDON Printed for J. Wyat at the Rose and R. Wilkin at the Kings-Head in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCVIII The CONTENTS SECTION I. Containing some Arguments for the Christian Religion drawn from the Testimony of those who were the first Publishers of it THE Design of this Work Page 1 Chap. I. Where we shall enquire whence the Christians had their Original and what their Profession is by looking back into the first Ages wherein they appeared p. 3 Chap. II. Where we shall examin the Martyrdom of the Primitive Christians p. 7 Chap. III. In which we further prove the Truth of Religion by several undeniable matters of Fact p. 10 Chap. IV. Where we yet further prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by several undeniable matters of Fact p. 14 Chap. V. Which demonstrates that all the matters of Fact contained in the Books of the New Testament can never be forg'd p. 17 SECTION II. Wherein we shall prove the Divinity of the Christian Religion by examining the Books of the New Testament CHAP. I. Where we shall prove that those Books can never be Supposititious p. 33 Chap. II. Proving that the Books of the New Testament were never Corrupted p. 39 Chap. III. That the Apostles did not write what was False p. 44 Chap. IV. That the Disciples of Jesus Christ could not impose upon Men in the matter of their Writing or Preaching p. 49 Chap. V. Where we shall more particularly examin whether the Apostles had the Power or the Will to deceive Mankind p. 53 Chap. VI. Where we shall examin the matters contained in the Gospels and see whether they are capable of Illusion or Imposture p. 58 Chap. VII Of the Holyness of Life of Jesus Christ p. 63 Chap. VIII Of the Prophecies of Jesus Christ p. 71 Chap. IX Wherein we shall examin the matters contained in the Book of Acts. p. 82 Chap. X. Wherein we shall take into Consideration what success the Preaching of the Apostles had p. 86 Chap. XI Wherein we shall examin the matters contained in the Epistles of the Apostles p. 88 Chap. XII Wherein we further examin the Epistles of St. Paul p. 102 Chap. XIII That we ought to look upon the New Testament as a Divine Book p. 107 Chap. XIV Wherein we shall examin those Difficulties which may probably be raised against the foregoing Truths p. 113 Chap. XV. Where we further examin the objections of the Incredulous p. 119 Chap. XVI Where we further examin those Difficulties which may be raised against our Principles p. 126 Chap. XVII Where we further answer the objections of the Incredulous p. 133 SECTION III. Wherein we shall endeavour to carry even to a Demonstration the Proofs drawn from the External Evidence of matters of Fact contained in the New Testament and the inward sense we have of them CHAP. I. Of the natural Temper Dispositions and Inclinations of the Disciples and what sort of prejudices they were possessed with when Jesus Christ Manifested himself to them p. 143 Chap. II. The first Center of Truth a particular Consideration of the Miracles of Jesus Christ p. 162 Chap. III. The second Center of Truth a particular Consideration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ p. 184 Chap. IV. The third Center of Truth a particular Consideration of the Ascension of Jesus Christ p. 200 Chap. V. The fourth Center of Truth A particular Consideration of the Effusion of the gifts of the holy Ghost upon the Disciples p. 213 Chap. VI. Wherein we shall joyn all the Miraculous matters of Fact together and form thereby a full and perfect Demonstration of them p. 220 Some reflections on the Gospel according to St. Matthew p. 242 Chap. VII Wherein we shall further Produce out of the other Gospels several places very proper to make us truly sensible of the Truth of the Christian Religion p. 258 Chap. VIII Wherein we shall further produce from the Acts of the Apostles several places very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christian Religion p. 274 Chap. IX Wherein we shall yet farther produce from the Epistles of St. Paul St. Peter and St. John several Texts very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christian Religion p. 282 SECTION IV. Wherein we shall prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by the consideration of its Nature and Properties SEveral Portraitures in which it may be considered Page 300 I Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the multitude of Testimonies given in favour of it p. 301 II Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is opposed to all other Religions p. 307 III Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its effects p. 320 IV Portraiture of the Christian Religion as considered in the Purity of its end p. 325 V Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its suitableness to the necessities of mankind p. 329 VI Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the relation it bears to the Glory of God p. 341 VII Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its Morality p. 344 VIII Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its Mysteries p. 360 IX Portraiture of the Christian Religion or the conformity of its Mysteries to the Lights of Reason p. 399 X Portraiture of the Christian Religion or the proportion it bears to the Jewish Religion p. 420 XI Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the proportion it bears to Natural Religion p. 432 A TREATISE OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion PART II. Wherein the Christian Religion is proved by its own proper Characters SECTION I. Containing some Arguments for the Christian Religion drawn from the Testimony of those who were the first Publishers of it The Design of this Work IN the first Part of this Work we took our rise from this Proposition There is a God and from thence we proved that Jesus Christ the Son of Mary is the Messias who was to come We shall now take a contrary course and begin with this Proposition There are at present Christians in the World and from thence prove that There is a God who has been pleased to manifest himself by the means of Religion There we have had but a faint prospect of Jesus Christ by the Light of Nature and Revelation of Moses Here we shall as it were draw the Curtain and discover Jesus Christ with that brightness of Truth and fulness of Light as will wonderfully illustrate both the Religion of Moses and the Revelation of Nature and in an excellent manner confirm the truth of the Existence of God In order to which we shall do these three things I. We shall consider the
then must that person do or rather what must an infinite number of persons do who utterly renounce all things for the sake of the Gospel III. There has been found some who have counterfeited Books of Humane Learning but none ever known that were willing to die in defence of their forgery Now none here can be suspected to have forged the Books of the New Testament but only those who suffered Death in defence of the Christian Religion and consequently to confirm the Truth of these matters of fact on which Chistianity it self is founded IV. A man may very well counterfeit a Book of Humane Learning but not always nor in all circumstances and 't would be very ridiculous in a man to forge Letters that must have been written not long ago to whole Societies or Epistles that must have been deposited in the hands of an infinite number of persons and in very many different places Now this must needs be affirmed of all the Epistles of the Apostles which make up a very considerable part of the New Testament And how could the Church of Rome have possibly been made to believe that St. Paul wrote an Epistle to her or the Church of Corinth that she had received two Epistles from him and so of the rest unless it had been so V. This argument is so much the more considerable since he that grants one point in this matter unavoidably grants the whole and if you should agree with me that perhaps one single Epistle among all those of the New Testament was not forg'd you must grant the same thing of them all or at least it will be to no purpose for the Incredulous to to cavil thereupon For what if I should grant the four Gospels to be forg'd does not the Book of the Acts of the Apostles contain nay does it not necessarily suppose the same essential matters of fact related to us in the Gospels should I grant the same of the Book of Acts are not the Epistles of St. Paul sufficient to inform us that Jesus Christ wrought several miracles rose again from the Dead and ascended into heaven and that the Holy Ghost descended upon the Disciples on the day of Pentecost and that 's as much as I desire In a word should I grant all the Epistles of St. Paul to be the works of another man I need but receive those of St. Peter or those of St. John to prove the same thing There being never an Epistle in all the New Testament but what mentions or implies those essential matters of fact without which there can be no such thing as Christianity in the World Let us now see whether we can perswade our selves that all the Books of the New Testament without excepting one fragment or single Epistle amongst them are forg'd and whether we can entertain such a suspicion which no Heretick no Impious or Incredulous Person ever entertained But how is it possible all the Epistles of the Apostles should be forg'd since they must have been committed to an infinite number of Persons as they were really in the begining of Christianity and since Tertullian tells us that in his time they carefully preserved in several Churches the Originals of those Epistles which the Apostles had wrote to them Again in what time and on what occasion could this Forgery have been made Was it during the lives of the Apostles No For could the World consider those Books as Sacred and Divine which the Apostles themselves forg'd Was it then immediately after the Death of the Apostles Do we owe it to Clemens Polycarp and the other Doctors of that Age By no means for those Disciples of the Apostles separated themselves as soon as those great Lights of the World were extinguished Polycarp went to Rome to decide a controversy with a Bishop of Rome occasioned in the Church about the time wherein they were to celebrate the Feast of the Christian Resurrection or Passover Those two great men differed much in that point but yet they both greed unanimously to receive the Writings of the Apostles and to look upon them as the true standard of their Faith and Manners Moreover what Probability is there that so great a number of Churches could have been induced to receive so many false Epistles so soon after the Death of the Apostles and when there was so many Persons yet living who had conversed with them In truth this is so extravagant a Notion that we hold our selves not at all obliged to refute it But it may be objected that the Primitive Christians question'd the Authority of some Epistles such as the Epistle to the Hebrews whose Author was never certainly known the second Epistle of St. Peter that of St. Jude c. I grant it but then I presume that this consideration makes for us since it cannot be conceived that the Ancient Primitive Christians should dispute so long about some Epistles in particular had the rest altogether been as liable to suspicion But may we not reasonably imagin that during those strange disorders which followed the destruction of Jerusalem some Christians either perfect cheats or but partly perswaded of that Faith might have composed the Books of the New Testament and so after having inserted in them whatever stories they pleased ascribed them to the Apostles to gain the greater veneration and respect for their fictions No certainly because the devastation of Jerusalem hinder'd not but that there might be very numerous Churches at Rome at Antioch at Thessalonica Philippi c. whom it would have been impossible to have perswaded that the Apostles had wrote them some Epistles which must have been already deposited in their hands And besides that it appears plainly that the Books of the New Testament were composed before the destruction of Jerusalem because Jerusalem and the Church established at Jerusalem is often mention'd therein without the least hint that Jerusalem was then utterly destroyed Besides how could it come into any mans mind to forge such Books after the destruction of Jerusalem whose design was only to humble the pride of the Jews to induce them no longer to hate the Heathens as being strangers and to perswade them that tho God as yet suffered the carnal worship of their Law they ought not to expect to be justified by that This I say was the end of the New Testament and especially the Epistles of St. Paul who seems earnestly to desire to unite the minds of the two Nations And Heaven having sufficiently declared it self against the Jews by the destruction of their City the confusion of their Tribes and Families and that general dispersion which made them Tributaries to all other Nations there was no need of any further reasons to prove that the Jews were not the only Nation called to the Knowledge of the true God 'T was enough that this proof was evidently written by the hand of God in the just punishment of that people In the mean while 't is necessary to observe
some marks of his weakness in the Garden of Gethsemane where the fear of Death made him sweat great drops of Blood and where he cried out several times O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me They also pretend that this exclamation of Jesus Christ when nailed on the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me was an expression of his despair I know not here what to admire most either the impudence of these proud Enemies of our Religion or the force of Truth which still becomes stronger the more they endeavour to shake it For as for the first If the Enemies of the Christians wont believe the report of the Evangelists how came they to know that Jesus Christ uttered these words which give them occasion to think he wanted constancy But if they will believe the report of the Evangelists why should they refuse to believe so many miraculous matters of fact which the Evangelists left to us in writing after having been eye-witnesses of the same It is certain that we may find in our principles wherewith to explain those places they bring against us The words which Jesus Christ spoke to his blessed Mother give us only to understand how very jealous he was of the duties of his Calling He spoke to her as a Mediatour between God and Man as the person in whom she ought necessarily to believe in order to her Salvation and who doubts but in that quality he had some Authority over her As for the sorrowfulness he expressed in his Agony it might proceed from a double cause the one natural and the other supernatural He might very well fear Death as Man and the pains inflicted on his Humane Nature might force him to utter some innocent complaints But that was not all that made his torments grievous He was loaded with the Sins of Mankind and subject to the curse of the Law He looked upon God as his Father but God offered himself to him as an angry Judge The more he loved his Father the more sensible he was of the Grief he sustained in being remov'd from him The measure of his sufferings consisted in the measure of his vertue and what he says here to his Father is rather the Language of his Love than that of his Despair But if the Incredulous should say they are not obliged to subscribe to my explanations because it is incertain whether they have any other ground than my bare imagination I am willing they should entertain this scruple and cherish it till by establishing my principles I have an opportunity of answering yet more fully all those difficulties But in the mean time I hold that nothing can more demonstrate the sincerity of the Evangelists than those places just now mentioned and I affirm that the sincerity of the Evangelists being well demonstrated does invincibly prove the Truth of the Christian Religion For certainly either those who composed the Gospels had a design to deceive Mankind in behalf of Jesus Christ and his Religion or they had no such design at all If they had any such design they would have taken special care not to set down those Circumstances of the death of their Master which might give the World an occasion to suspect he wanted Courage or thought himself forsaken of God But if in writing the matters of fact contained in the Gospel they had no manner of design to deceive Mankind we must then of necessity look upon them as being very sincere Authors who would not deceive us unless they themselves had first of all been deceived So that all the question is whether the matters of fact they tell us of are such as are shewn only by Illusion And we need here only consider whether all the Disciples could have fancied they saw an infinite number of very singular and sensible Miracles such as sick men healed Dead raised to Life c. and have believed that they themselves work'd miracles when all the while there was no such thing 'T is to no purpose here to alledge that the Evangelists affected an ingenuous simplicity to avoid the suspicion of dishonesty For had that been their design they would have taken special care not to furnish impious men with places and passages on which they might raise imaginary triumphs Nor is there any reason to believe that the Evangelists related those words because their simplicity was so great that they had not judgment to discern whether they were for or against their cause For what probability is there that men who had wit enough to deceive other people should have so little in this occasion Must a man needs be wise and learned when he chuses to represent his Master constant and undaunted rather than sorrowful unto Death And yet 't is not one single Evangelist that relates the history of his passion after this manner they all agree in this respect And how could this be so but that they only proposed to themselves to speak the plain truth and they spoke it without considering the impression it would make on Mankind without examining whether the Incredulous would take occasion from thence to slander the Christian Religion In the mean while if what has been said here is not sufficient I am willing more particularly to examin the matters contained in the Gospels CHAP. VI. Where we shall examine the matters contained in the Gospels and see whether they are capable of Illusion or Imposture THose Books contain an infinite number of extraordinary divine and admirable things but the principal of them are reducible to these four heads I. The Birth Genealogy and Education of Jesus Christ with all the Circumstances of them which we shall not speak of at present least we should be too tedious having already mention'd them in our first part of this work II. The Exercise of his Office confirmed by an infinite number of miracles from his Baptism to his Ascension III. The holiness of his life and conversation seen clearly in several occasions and shining throughout the various Actions of his life IV. His Doctrin and his Prophecies From these four different heads spring forth such beams of Truth as wonderfully illustrate this whole matter Let us therefore examine them in their order and keep still to our usual method which is to raise as we go along as many difficulties as we can and urge them on with all their force to stop if it be possible the complaints of the Incredulous against us We may very well consider in the miracles of Jesus Christ their number variety and greatness the noise they made in the World and the manner in which they were received And first the Evangelists make appear the number variety and greatness of them in telling us that he changed Water into Wine in Cana that he restored sight to the Blind hearing to the Deaf and health to the Sick that he cleansed the Leprous healed the sick of the Palsy cured one of a withered Hand
Holy Ghost But perhaps 't is a question whether there was ever any Christian Church founded at Jerusalem If so then must the Ancient Doctors of the Church who lived in different times and in different places have conspired together to deceive us in this respect and the Jews and Heathens and all other profess'd Enemies of our Religion as well Ancient as Modern who never contested the truth of this matter of fact must utterly have lost their Reason In a word supposing the Book of Acts composed long after the destruction of Jerusalem that is when there could be no longer any flourishing Church in that City yet there is no point gained For it is true still that the Apostles set down the matter of fact we speak of and that their Epistles are filled with such things as visibly relate to it I shall not here further add that the Book of Acts mentions nothing of the Death of the Apostles which manifestly shews that it was composed during their lives and consequently in a time wherein the Church of Jerusalem flourish'd nor that it mentions nothing of the last destruction of Jerusalem no not so much as any of the signs or presages of it which induces us to believe that that Book was composed some time before that great Event it being very probable that the Author who composed it meerly for the Glory of the Apostles and of the Christian Religion as the Incredulous undoubtedly imagin would never have failed to have inserted in it the History of all those dreadful Misfortunes which fell upon the Jews and which the Christians look upon as the effect of their rejecting the Messias But since my design is not to leave the Reader the least shadow of a doubt I promise to prove by and by that the Apostles both received and imparted many miraculous gifts In the mean while till the Method I have prescribed to my self gives me leave to enter upon that subject I think it fit to make some few Reflexions concerning the success of the Apostles's preaching which is that essential head to which all other matters contained in the Book of Acts relate CHAP. X. Wherein we shall take into Consideration what success the Preaching of the Apostles had THis matter of fact is related with very remarkable Circumstannces As I. That those men who first preached the Gospel were Fishermen that is gross and ignorant people of no appearance or authority in the world II. That those men went about preaching that they had seen Jesus Christ risen from the Dead and ascending into Heaven and that they had long before been Eye-Witnesses to his Miracles III. That they offended by their preaching all the Powers of the World and exposed their persons to an infinite number of Dangers and Misfortunes IV. That they suffered them with Patience or rather with Joy V. That the success of their preaching was so swift and sudden as is almost inconceivable In all this St. Luke has told us nothing but what our own Reason would tell us We may conclude that they were men of no extraordinary birth or credit in the World that first preached the Gospel since no body has ever said any thing to the contrary 'T is manifest that those men ought to have testified that they had seen Jesus Christ work many miracles seen him risen from the Dead and ascending into Heaven because they would never have converted so many Nations as they did had they only said they knew all those things by hear say and besides that the Epistles of the Apostles inform us that that was the subject of their preaching There is no doubt but all the Powers of the World persecuted these men for as much as Policy is an Enemy to all new Sects and the People themselves are always Jealous of their Religion It cannot be doubted neither but that the Apostles very couragiously suffered the effects of that persecution because had they recanted or drawn back for fear of punishments their design would have miscarried in its very beginning Lastly who can deny but that the success of their preaching was very swift and sudden in as much as in a short time there were several Churches established in all parts of the known World This is a matter of fact which was never contested And therefore Reason as well as St. Luke tells us all these things The Book of Acts informs us of the Truth of them and the Nature of things will not suffer us to doubt but that they were so which utterly destroys the suspicion we might entertain that they were all forg'd or invented In the mean time I cannot consider all these matters of fact nor unite them together and observe the proportion they have one with another without presently believing the Truth of that Religion which they so plainly Prove and Establish CHAP. XI Wherein we shall examin the matters contained in the Epistles of the Apostles THo' the Ancients had not unanimously received the Epistles of St. Paul tho' Clemens Polycarp and Barnabas had made no mention of the second Epistle of St. Peter yet it would be sufficient to observe that they were written to some Churches that is to whole Societies who for a long while preserved the Originals of them to assure us that they were not forg'd 'T is then our concern to see whether we can find therein any Characters of the Divinity of our Religion We cannot Read St. Paul's Epistles without observing therein I. The Piety and Charity of that Apostle II. His Impartiality and Contempt of the advantages of the World III. His Courage in enduring afflictions which instead of disheartning rather overjoy'd him IV. A continual repetition of the Testimony which the Apostles bore of the Truth of the Resurrection of the Lord. V. Such things which manifestly denote that St. Paul had received the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost and that those that then believed very frequently received them The Piety of that Apostle so variously discovers it self in his Writings that we cannot think it dissembled without offering Violence to our Understanding For tho' a man should constrain himself upon some occasions yet is it possible he should after the very same manner during a great part of his life in all his Actions in all his Words in his manner of telling of things which oftener discovers the bottom of the heart than the things he speaks of I know very well Hypocrisy covers it self with the external shew of Vertue but really there is yet something which I can't express a simple and natural air in true vertue which is not to be met with in Hypocrisy or rather Hypocrisy is neither so subtle nor clear sighted but that it discovers it self on one side or other nay often it lets drop a wordwhich unmasques it to the eye of the World However I am willing the Epistles of St. Paul should be strictly examin'd to see whether any thing but what is very natural and sincere can be found
Character of the New Testament is infinitely more excellent than that of the Writings of all the Fathers who lived successively from the Apostles down to us wherein any one may easily observe a strange affectation a particular vanity of shewing their parts and learning and sometimes much heat and passion because they were far from the perfection in Christianity which the Apostles had IV. That the best sorts of godly Books written amongst the Christians from the Apostles's time down to us I mean those Books that most establish the peace and tranquility of publick Society and chiefly tend to the Glory of God were written in imitation of the holy Scriptures from which they had their materials to compose them with This is what in my opinion is very sure and certain And as certain it is that if the Apostles were not divinely inspired they must necessarily be Impostors nay such abominable men as desired only to dishonour their Nation and to sacrifice to a vain flattering Idea of Glory the lives and fortunes of an infinite number of persons whom they encouraged to suffer Martyrdom Let us now see whether we can perswade our selves that the most excellent Books that were ever known I mean those Books that are most proper to inspire us with piety with the love of God and our Neighbour that are the source of the best matters that ever were written and the original of the Piety and Vertue of all those persons who were converted by them were only the invention of the most wicked men that ever were Certainly since all Christians in all Ages considered this Book as Divine and as the rule of their Faith whereby they distinguish'd it from all other Books it follows thence that all the Christians were either deceived in the Essentials of it and that their Faith was false or else that Book must in reality be of a Divine Authority For such an Universal Tradition so constant and so necessarily affixed to the end and design of Religion can never impose upon us It has been the Wisdom of Providence as we have already observed to take care that this Book should be left to us as entire as when it came out of the Apostles hands and the Primitive Christians who all assure us that it is of a Divine Authority tell us only but what right Reason obliged them to acknowledge and us as well as them For the Word preached and the Word written by the Apostles differ not essentially from one another so that if the former be Divine the latter must necessarily be so too And who doubts but that Word must be looked upon as Divine which God himself authorised by so many Miracles Perhaps some will reply that it would be of a very dangerous Consequence to reason often after this manner and that altho' a false Prophet should work prodigious Miracles yet we ought not to follow him upon a bare supposition that God never assists an Impostor with his infinite Power But this I own and affirm also that we ought strictly to examin both his Doctrine and Miracles to find out by that comparison the true Original of both And therefore we have this advantage that we not only find here such miracles as excel all the power of Hell such as for example the raising a man from the Dead but that this Doctrine also visibly bears all the Characters of one that proceeded from Heaven Those miracles on the one hand so great and numerous that the people cried out surely this is the finger of God take away all suspicion of the falsity and pernicious consequences of the Doctrine they confirm because the arm of the Lord is not usually employed in favour of an Imposture And on the other hand that Doctrine which is so holy and so perfectly tends to the union and wellfare of Mankind which is so worthy of the love of God to man sufficiently warrants us that the Miracles whereby it is confirmed proceed not in the least from the power of Darkness as the Enemies of Christianity seem to believe Hell never concerns it self either to unite or sanctify mankind All the Apostles expresly declare that the word which they preached proceeded not from themselves but God But I certifie you Brethren says St. Paul in his Epist to the Galatians Chap. 1. v. 11. that the Gospel which was preached of me was not after man for I neither received of man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Thus when the Apostles were assembled together at Jerusalem in the first Council that ever was held and wrote to some Chnrches concerning several questions that were then in Agitation they made use of this manner of speaking For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Act. 15. 28. It appears then that the Apostles spoke by the Order and Revelation of God which was given several ways viz. sometimes by Vision as when St. Peter saw a certain vessel descending from Heaven as it had been a great sheet knit by the four Corners wherein were all kinds of unclean Beasts and he was commanded saying Peter kill and eat Act. 10. 13. on purpose to signify that he ought to preach â—he Gospel to the Gentiles who were no longer an unclean Nation in the sight of God sometimes by Dreams as when a certain Macedonian appeared unto St. Paul commanding him to go into Macedonia and preach the Gospel there sometimes by Exâ—asy as it is probable that St. Paul was caught up into the third Heaven but yet much oftener by the inward dictates of the Holy Ghost formed as it were â—n their Souls as when the Spirit said unto Peter concerning the men which Cornelius sent to enquire for him Go thou with them doubting nothing for I â—ave sent them Act. 10. 20. 'T is true one might very well suspect these Reveâ—ations if one single man boasted of having had â—hem imparted to him but here we have several God did not reveal himself to them after one single manner but after divers They asserted not only â—hat God had revealed some things to them in order â—o induce Mankind to believe it but they wrought many Miracles spoke divers Languages imâ—arted â—hose Gifts to others thereby converted the World â—nd exactly fulfilled the Oracles of God That â—pirit which filled them and was necessarily to fill â—hem because the time of the Calling of the Gentiles â—as come was outwardly produced by such effects â—s undoubtedly will confound the Incredulous if they â—eflect upon them Certainly if it be true as it is that God poured down his Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost 't was only that they might preach unto men by their Ministry unless it be pretended that the Tongues of the Apostles which were exalted after a supernatural manner so far as to speak all sorts of Languages were to confine themselves to that particular employ and not to reveal unto men the will of God But if we ought
one another and so to become Subjects of the same Heavenly King they renounced then all their differences and quarrels the dear expectation they had of their Messias stifling in their hearts all Passions and Resentments But when John the Baptist had as it were led them by the Hand to Jesus Christ himself they were strangely surprised to find in him nothing of what they expected They found in him Poverty where they thought to have found Riches Shame and Afflictions where they thought to have met nothing but great Splendor and Temporal Glory For this Reason therefore they rejected him with Horrour and Abomination all their thoughts being on a sudden changed into indignation and anger against him in whom before they had fixed all their imaginary hopes But tho' the generality of his Nation cast him off there were yet a certain number of persons who were willing to follow him and that number daily increased in proportion as Jesus Christ's sufferings and afflictions increased There were at first but twelve whom he called to his Service Then sent he seventy others abroad who were succeeded by a great may others after his Death And their number further increasing with the fury of the Sanhedrin there were at length many seen who testify'd in behalf of that crucified man But how come those Disciples to follow a Messias so contrary to their first Ideas and receiv'd opinions How is it possible they should not have been discouraged at his Cross unless Jesus Christ had promised them to do signs and wonders How could they have been with him night and day for three Years and an half without inquiring into that important matter of fact or knowing whether he were really able to do Miracles or not Or how is it possible when they found their mistake that Jesus Christ was but an ordinary sort of a man uncapable of working any signs or wonders they should not have forsaken him as a Whymsical Impostor How could their minds be so suddenly changed as to look on Humiliation and Meanness Misery and Afflictions as upon the true and real Character of the Messias they I say whose minds Education had filled only with carnal Ideas of the flourishing Kingdom of the Messias But above all how could they be present at the Crucifixion of their Master without being reduced to the last greatest Consternation and Confusion So that the second Consequence which may very well be drawn from these principles already established is that the Disciples having always imagined with their Fathers and Mothers their Brothers and Sisters their Teachers and Elders and in general with their whole Nation that their Messias should have restored the Kingdom of Israel and having understood those words in a literal sense it is impossible but that they should be extreamly offended to see him wearing a Crown of Thorns upon his Head when he was nailed on the Cross and a Reed instead of a Scepter in his Hand Nay more than this 't is morally impossible but that this object must have rooted out of their Hearts all thoughts of Pride and Ambition and all pretensions to Greatness and Temporal Prosperity which their Blindness had caused them to conceive upon this mans account unless there had happened since his Death such supernatural and extraordinary things as were able to revive in their Heart such great hopes as these Thirdly We shall conclude from the Principles we have already established that the Disciples as well as all other Jews being as it were ty'd to their Religion by what they had Seen and Heard by their Inclination and Vnderstanding by their Interest and Piety by their Customs and Education and by the Advantage wherewith they might well flatter themselves of being distinguished from all other Nations of the World and being further as it were wedded to it by that great number of Ceremonies and Customs the Justice and Holiness of which they could no way doubt of since they had been so exactly prescribed them by the Law of God himself it cannot be supposed but that they imagined their Law to be of an eternal Duration and that being extreamly averse to every new sort of Worship which was contrary to that of Moses they could not have so suddenly altered their opinion nor could there have happened so strange a revolution in the Hearts and Minds of so many persons united and as it were link'd by so many respects to the Law of Moses that in so small a period of time the Souls of all those Jews should have been so entirely changed as that they should begin to look upon the Jewish Religion as upon a Dispensation granted with a proviso and which was to come to an end and for the future be considered only as a thing altogether useless and out of Date I confess that this principle was not first of all approved of in the World without great contest and difficulty and that there were for a while certain Judaising Christians who taught others that the Law of Moses was still in force and that it was necessary to Salvation to joyn the Doctrine of Jesus Christ with the Ceremonies of the Law But then it is well known they were only either some of Christ's Enemies who started these questions out of a particular design to make a division in the Christian Church or some Jews turned Christians as yet very weak and not fully strengthened in their belief whose scrupulous Zeal and blind Superstition caused all those Controvesies But however 't is evident that the true Disciples of Jesus Christ and especially the Apostles were not long in an errour as to this point They affirmed that men were justify'd only by the Faith of Jesus Christ without the works of the Law And 't is manifest that in the first Council held at Jerusalem the Disciples of our Lord abolished the Customs and Rites of the Ceremonial Law But at last it is of no great moment whether the Ceremonial Law or Religion of Moses was abolished ten years sooner or later Still it is certain that it was sometimes abolished or rather to speak more exactly and truly it was fulfilled by the Gospel and so the observation of it ceased Now I demand how it is possible that those men who were so devoted and bigotted to that Law who made it the object of their thoughts and most common discourse should so great a number of them and in so short a time with one common consent renounce that Law which Piety made so venerable and Honour and Interest so valuable in their Esteem Whereas so many ages elapsed before the coming of Jesus Christ into the World could not wear out of their minds that profound esteem and respect they had for that Law For tho' they had often broke it in several respects yet it may be said in their behalf they almost always look'd upon it as inviolable And can we suppose that so many ages as have passed since the Death of Jesus Christ could not remove
that perswasion so deeply rooted in their Mind that their Law was to be eternal and yet that a few years should perswade that great multitude of Disciples converted by the preaching of the Apostles that all those Rites and Ceremonies were become invalid by the Death of a Man whom the Sanhedrin had condemned to be executed as a Malefactor without any extraordinary or supernatural accident intervening which should occasion the framing to themselves such Ideas so particular and so contrary to their first Prejudices Certainly we may very well affirm that our Incredulous Adversaries have too great a value for imposture and ignorance when they imagin that an universal delusion and unanimous consent to a Lye could convert Nations Sanctify Mankind and spread the Knowledge of God throughout the World according as it was foretold by the Scriptures or that a few simple and ignorant Fishermen whose knowledge extended no further than their Employment should discover the defects and imperfections of the Ceremonial Law and introduce instead of it a Spiritual worship as really more conformable to the Nature of God who is a Spirit and more worthy of man who is a Spirit and more worthy of man who is a Reasonable Creature that those simple and ignorant men should discover the Sacrifices under the Law to be only Types of the Death of a man who was condemned to be executed as a Malefactor that they should attribute this thought to John the Baptist and make him express it only in these words Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World John 1. 29. Words so full and comprehensive that they contain the whole sum of Christan Religion And Lastly That they should invent Mysteries so very different from mens ordinary Thoughts and Conjectures and so far above the Capacity of the most judicious and learned that it may deservedly be said of them that they are such things which Eye has not seen nor Ear heard neither has it enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive them 1 Cor. 2. 9. Lastly Experience tells us how difficult it is for persons already advanced in years to renounce the Common practices generally approved of in the World especially when authorised by Religion and Education How hard would it be for us Christians to live as the Jews And yet it would be more difficult for them to live as we do Because we look upon all their Customs as things very indifferent in themselves whereas they always look'd upon our Practices as scandalous and unlawful How then was it that not only one or two Jews but thousands who had embraced Christianity no longer in the least scrupled to converse with the Gentiles nay to to live with Heathens who before were an Abomination in their eyes You will say this was not without many considerable difficulties and was the cause of several great Animosities and Disputes I grant it but yet it appears the Ceremonial Law was utterly abolished presently after the Death of Christ the Apostles having determined that it had been accomplished in his Death and that it was not Lawful to joyn the Carnal Ceremonies of the Law with the Spiritual worship of the Gospel And I say that had not the Apostles both testify'd the Miracles and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and wrought very great wonders themselves it was naturally impossible they should have executed so great a design especially in so small a time For certainly if we consider the Disciples as born Jews they must necessarily have been very much devoted to their own Law If we consider them as poor and mean people they could not but have been passionately fond of that Law which gave such wonderful precepts for the Administration of Justice and the relief and comfort of the Poor If we consider them as simple and ignorant men they could not but have a blind love and obedience for their Law as all ignorant People have for the external objects of Religion Lastly Should we consider them as prepossessed with the usual prejudices of their Nation they must necessarily have expected a Glorious and Triumphant Messias who instead of abolishing the Law of Moses should have established it throughout the World Yet we need only consider the event to clear the truth of this matter We shall not insist upon all the Reflections we might easily make hereupon It 's sufficient to have taken notice of those things by the by because they may serve in some measure to illustrate the particular examination we shall make of the Miracles of the Gospel We have already considered them in general sufficiently to convince all reasonable Persons But it may not be amiss to insist more particularly on them that we may confound the Obstinate and Incredulous and make them at least truly sensible of their Errour tho' perhaps we cannot reclaim them from it To do this better we shall lay down four miraculous matters of fact which shall be as so many centers of the Truth we enquire into because there are several lines and degrees of Evidence and Light which necessarily lead us to the Truth of each of these matters of fact and then we shall joyn them all together the better to form a full and perfect Demonstration of them CHAP. II. The first Center of Truth a particular consideration of the Miracles of Jesus Christ WE dare say that such is the nature of these Miracles that the composers of the Gospel durst not could not would not have forged them had they been really false I say they durst not because they could not but have been publickly known To prove this I shall lay down four Examples of them which are I. The History of Zachariah the Father of John the Baptist II. The History of the Massacre of the young Children of Bethlehem III. The miraculous feeding of several thousands at several times in the Wilderness with a few Loaves and some small Fishes IV. And Lastly the supernatural prodigies which happened at the death of Jesus Christ himself As to the First we may observe that the Subject upon whom this great Miracle was wrought is a Priest a Priest who daily performed the functions of his Ministerial office and was then actually burning Incense in the Temple of Jerusalem at a very remarkable time during which the people who expected him were very intent at their Prayers to God in the outward Part or Porch of the Temple whilst he himself was in the Holy Place Now tho' the Historian had observed only concerning the Birth of John the Baptist that Zachariah and Elizabeth his Wife were far advanced in years and that the latter till then was thought Barren yet that event would have employed something so extraordinary and surprising that one might have been almost positive that the Evangelist durst not have been so bold as to forge it against the publick knowledge which all the Jews must then have had of it How then durst any one have affirmed that Zachariah wholly lost
Christ into Heaven And how can any Man reasonably imagin that it was natural and according to the regular Course of second Causes to see a Man that had been crucified and laid in a Sepulcher where a Watch was appointed to guard him rise out of that Sepulcher again appear alive to several Men that touched and handled him and afterwards ascend into Heaven in their sight Certainly that very Ascension of Jesus Christ cannot but convince the most suspicious and scrupulous Person that it was an Event purely divine and supernatural For otherwise our Incredulous Adversaries might imagin since they are everlastingly raising Doubts that the Body of Jesus Christ might have been taken down from the Cross before the Breath was gone out of it that Joseph of Arimathea who was his Disciple tho he durst not own it publickly might have dress'd his Body and recover'd him out of his Swoon by the strength of the Remedies he gave him that he might have laid another counterfeit Dead-body in his place and buried it and that afterwards Jes Christ might have privately shewed himself to his Disciples not daring to appear in publick for fear of falling a second time into the hands of the Jews and suffering a true and real Death instead of that imaginary one he had suffered before But this Fiction is absurd and incredible and that for several Reasons First Because the Evangelists relate that Christ had his Side pierced with the Lance of a Soldier which thing alone was enough to give him his Death Secondly It is very improbable to think that the Jewish Sanhedrin who had condemned him to die nay who had taken such care to set a Watch over his Sepulcher should yet suffer his Body to be taken down from the Cross before the Breath was gone out of it Lastly because it can never be supposed that a Man who hung several Hours together on a Cross should yet escape Death and shew himself not long after safe and sound to his Disciples But that which will immediately remove all these Doubts is that Jesus Christ not only rose from the Dead but also ascended into Heaven in the sight of his Disciples And this is so sensible and evident a matter of fact that they could never have been imposed upon in that respect So that it may very well be affirmed that the Argument for the Truth of the Christian Religion chiefly depends upon that Important Inquiry whether the Disciples designed to impose upon us by relating to us a false Event which they did not believe themselves Now if we can clearly prove the contrary we shall invincibly demonstrate the certain Truth of our Faith Let us therefore in order to it closely stick to the Examination of that matter of fact the most essential and the most important that ever was and endeavour to discover whether it be possible we should have been imposed upon by those Men which could not deceive themselves If we would suppose that the Disciples of Jesus Christ deceived us in their relation of a fictitious Event we must also necessarily suppose these three things 1. That their Illusion or Imposture must be a thing that was possible to be put in Execution 2. That it must be of some Use or other to them 3. That it must be such as Men and only Men make use of Now it is certain that their pretended Illusion here in question could not have any of these three Qualities 1. It could not have been possible because it must have been agreed upon by many Persons who all knew the bare Truth of the matter of fact it self 2. It would have been of no use for what could those Men propose to themselves in inventing such a Fiction 3. It could not be such as Men usually contrive because from the Beginning of the World till now we never heard of any Man that invented Lyes on purpose to have the pleasure of being hanged scourged burnt or executed upon a Scaffold 1. As to the first I 'll grant you if you will that Peter with some other Disciples might have taken away the Body of Jesus Christ out of the Sepulcher either by tricking the Watch or taking the Advantage of their sleeping or lastly by bribing them with Mony I 'll grant you too if you will they might have easily perswaded the whole Company of Disciples who were too credulous and too eager in swallowing of Novelties that Jesus Christ had appeared to them indeed and that he was risen from the Dead I 'll grant you likewise that the other Disciples might have imagined thereupon they had seen some Visions or thought they had seen him in several Places and on several Occasions but then I ask How they could have all agreed together concerning the truth of his Ascension By what Charm or Cunning could Peter and the other Apostles have made them see that which they never saw or heard a Man speak whom they really never heard By what Machine could they have caused the Clouds to descend Or by what sort of Inchantment could they have produced two Men in white Raiments telling them Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go up into Heaven Acts 1. 11. By what secret Power could they have so deeply imprinted in the Minds of the Disciples the Words which Jesus Christ spoke to them after his Resurrection the Reproaches he made them of their Infidelity his Promise of sending the Holy Ghost to them his forbidding them to depart from the City of Jerusalem and the Command he gave them to Baptise all Nations in the Name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost I say how could they have done all this if all these things were but the witty Conceits of their Imagination and Fancy Certainly tho St. Peter or some other Disciple of Jesus Christ should have formed to himself the Design and Plan of so Signal a Cheat and tho he should have set down in writing all the Articles one by one which he was obliged to make other Men believe against the plain Truth yet he could never have been so bold as to propose any such thing to those Men who were prepossessed with the Opinion that Lying was a great Sin but Truth and Sincerity on the contrary a great Vertue Nay it is even impossible it should ever come into his Head to frame so Signal an Imposture upon so sad and sorrowful an Event as the Death of Jesus Christ Neither does it appear that his Mind or his Thoughts were any ways bent upon any such Design And tho he should have been induced out of a Spirit of Revenge to invent such a Lye to discredit the Scribes and Pharisees yet it can't be supposed he should have been so very silly as to imagin that the rest of the Disciples would consent to that Imposture or be willing to maintain it
Man would conceive or endeavour to put in Practice It is absolutely impossible to find any Man so much an Enemy to himself as willingly to lose his Quiet his Liberty Friends Relations and all his Acquaintance only to assert and defend a Lye that must unavoidably be attended by such fatal and sorrowful Consequences For Nature is not insensible of Grief and Pain As she is exposed to Griefs and Sufferings so when she suffers 't is with Reluctance Complaints Sighs and Tears She cannot accustom her self to bear slightly Contempt or Infamy Nothing disturbs and exasperates her more nothing makes her more impatient than Mortifications and Disgraces How then is it possible so great a Company of People should on a sudden renounce all those inviolable Sentiments of Nature which no Violence can root out on purpose to maintain that they had seen a thing which they really never saw This is a Consideration that cannot be too often repeated Lastly it is such a Design as is not in the nature of Man to conceive For to maintain an Imposture with such Constancy as the Disciples did is such a piece of extraordinary Courage as is above the Nature or Power of Man An Impostor that thinks and knows himself to be one whose Mind tells him that he acts contrary to his Natural Sentiments cannot go long undiscover'd He is seiz'd with Remorse and his Conscience is awakened He trembles and unwarily discovers himself to the World upon the least danger he meets with He is ready to confess the whole Cheat as soon as he is brought before his Judges and is frighted with the Punishments of a secular Power and he never fails of betraying himself either by confessing the whole Business or maintaining what he has advanced after so weak and fearful a manner that he will not be long if but closely urg'd to it before he discovers the whole Truth For such is the usual Temper of Men upon such an Occasion And if a single Person that should not act thus in this respect would be looked upon as an unheard of Prodigy how much more shall an infinite number of People be looked upon as such Who can imagin that so many Persons should either on a sudden renounce their humane Nature or be of a different make from all other Men since the Beginning of the World For my part I cannot conceive how it should be and therefore look upon this as a most sensible and evident Truth But we must yet carry on this Conviction further by following those Notions which it has pleased God in his Wisdom to put into our Mind upon this Subject CHAP. V. The fourth Center of Truth A particular Consideration of the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon the Disciples THE last Degree of Evidence that occurs in the Demonstration which sensibly proves to us the Truth of the Christian Religion is the Truth of a fourth matter of fact naturally proved by its own proper Characters and that is the Effusion of the Holy Ghost on the Disciples of Jesus Christ This Demonstration of the truth of Christian Religion has three different Degrees of Evidence which also consist in the three Parts of the Testimony of the Apostles The first whereof is this Jesus Christ the Son of Mary did such Actions as cannot but be supernatural and miraculous such are for instance the Resurrection of the Dead which we have been Eye-witnesses of The second is We even we our selves have received the Power to work Signs and Wonders and such as are equal to those of Jesus Christ himself as he foretold and declared it several times unto us The third is We have not only the power to do those Miracles but can also impart it to others and those we shall hereafter convert will know themselves to be the true Disciples of Jesus Christ in that they shall work Signs like unto ours and to those which Jesus Christ himself wrought The first Degree of this Evidence must necessarily convince us For it is a very convincing Demonstration indeed to have present to one's Eyes nay in ones own Disposal and Power the Witnesses of the Miracles of Jesus Christ and such Eye-witnesses too that both heard what he said saw every thing he did familiarly conversed with him and often question'd him concerning the Difficulties that offered themselves to their Mind and lastly such Witnesses who all unanimously deposed the very same matter of fact and boldly maintain'd it even in the midst of the most cruel Torments And yet such Witnesses as these had those who were first converted to the Christian Faith But it is a thing yet somewhat more perswasive to hear those Men affirm that they had not only seen the Miracles of Jesus Christ but that they themselves were able to work the same Miracles Certainly of all the Witnesses in the World those are soonest to be received and believ'd who proffer to shew you the very Things they testify But what seems to me to be the last Degree of Evidence and the clearest Demonstration is that those very Witnesses undertook to convince Men of those matters which they affirmed to be true not only by relating those Miracles which they saw Jesus Christ do not only by profering to do the like themselves but also by promising to enable those People who should believe their Words to operate the very same things For they imparted the extraordinary and miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost to their Proselytes as it appears by the Example of the Centurion Cornelius And those Gifts became afterwards so frequent and visible that Simon Magus would have bought them for Mony They were so very remarkable that they made great and publick Impressions on the Minds of several Jews who were already converted to the Gospel of our Lord and praised God for his having also visited the Gentiles Lastly the Gospel which those Disciples preached tells us that such should be the Signs that followed the true Disciples of Jesus Christ namely that they should heal the Sick c. Certainly how strong soever the obstinacy and prejudices of the Incredulous may be yet they cannot any longer hold out against the powerful Convictions of that threefold Truth It is impossible that the Disciples should bear witness to the Miracles of Jesus Christ if they had not been true neither can we suppose they would have had the Boldness Power or Will to do it It is impossible they should have contrived together such an unparallel'd Imposture by agreeing among themselves to preach the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ of which they were never Witnesses But it is extravagant to imagin that the Apostles boasted they were able to do Miracles meerly to have other Men believe those of Jesus Christ and it argues yet a greater Extravagance to suppose they promised all those they should convert to him to make them able to work the very same Miracles they attested Besides we are to consider two things in
down from the Cross and we will believe in him Nay it is all one as if a Man should say If there be a God why does he not shew and manifest himself after a sensible manner by speaking to men immediately from the highest Heavens and then they would all be forced in spite of themselves to acknowledge him But God does not desire us to acknowledge him against our own Inclinations and consequently he is not obliged to manifest himself as we in our extravagant Desires would have him but as it seemeth best to his infinite Wisdom Had Christ or his Apostles raised all the Dead they found to Life again we should then contrary to the Design of the Almighty have had no other Faith but what depended entirely upon our Senses It is enongh that they healed almost an infinite number of Sick People and raised not only one but several Dead Men to Life So much indeed was absolutely necessary to confirm the Truth of their Calling Because they were not only to make Men believe in a crucified Saviour and adore him as the Son of God but also to oblige them for the Confirmation of their Faith to undergo Martyrdom More than this would have been but superfluous because they were not obliged to alter the Oeconomy of Faith but only to perfect it not to make Men believe against their own Inclinations but conformably to the Lights of their own Understanding But tho' I should grant all these Difficulties to be greater than they really are yet we ought to regulate our speculative Opinions by some Arguments drawn from matters of fact and not on the contrary regulate the Arguments drawn from matters of fact by any speculative Opinions And this is such a general Maxim that it holds good in all respects Many Difficulties arose at first about the Belief of the Antipodes Some pretended that such an Opinion was contrary to Reason others affirmed it could never be reconciled to the Principles of Religion And both Parties raised several notable Objections against it But as soon as the thing was evidently proved from undeniable matter of fact all their Objections and Difficulties were turned into Ridicule Some Philosophers have pretended to prove by Arguments that Motion is impossible But since we have daily Experience that there is such a thing as Motion we let these Philosophers talk on and chuse rather to believe our own Senses And I dare affirm without begging any Excuse for the Boldness of my Assertion that there never were nor never will be any matters of fact against which we might not raise several plausible Objections and considerable Difficulties that are meerly speculative Some are daily raised against the Flux and Reflux of the Sea against the Attraction of the Loadstone with Iron the Source or Head of the River Nile against Comets and Meteors nay even against the peopling of the World and the Propagation of Mankind We readily grant the Incredulous that several considerable Difficulties may be raised against the Mysteries of Religion as we see there are no less considerable ones daily raised even against the Mysteries and secret Operations of Nature But I still affirm that we must renounce the Evidence of Sense if we prefer any Difficulties of meer Speculation before those Arguments which are taken from undeniable matters of fact Tho' we should argue only upon the Nature of Things and the Principles of Natural Religion it would appear if we compare the Obscurities which cause those Difficulties with the Evidences which clear them that the latter would gain more upon our Belief than the former and this Truth we think we have sufficiently proved in our first Part of this Work But tho' we should meet with nothing else but Difficulties in those natural Principles without any Lights at all to clear them yet ought we to banish all Scruples and Doubts that arise meerly from Speculation the better to embrace the Opinion which proceeds from the Arguments drawn from undeniable matters of fact unless we have a mind to be guilty of an Absurdity not to be met with which is wholly contrary to common sense and Reason But having thus evinced the Truth of the Essentials of our Religion namely those matters of fact contained in the Writings of the Apostles it remains only that we make Men further sensible of them by laying down a few short Remarks which we shall make on several places of the New Testament whose whole Purport shall be either to perswade us that the Apostles did really teach all these matters of fact or assure us that they sincerely believed the things which they declared or else to make it appear that they could not have been imposed upon in those matters of fact For from those three principles is formed the Demonstration of the Truth of the Christian Religion SOME REFLEXIONS ON THE Gospel according to S. Matthew CHapt II. 1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea behold there came Wisemen c. Those Wise-men were of all Nations the first that came to pay their Homage to Jesus Christ The Priests and Elders amongst the Jews being consulted concerning the Birth of the Messias freely owned he was to be born in Bethlehem and were quite of another Opinion than the Modern Jews who pervert the Meaning of the Prophecy of Micah Chap. 5. As to what concerns us we affirm that the History of the coming of the Wise-men could not be falsely invented I. Because it agrees admirably with the Prophecy of Balaam Numb 24. 17. where he Cries out I shall sâ—e him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh There shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel A Star of the Wise-men indeed and a Scepter of Jesus Christ II. The Evangelist could not have made the whole City of Jerusalem believe that they were troubled and astonisht at the Coming of those Wise-men and much less perswaded the Inhabitants against their own publick Knowledge that Herod had so barbaroufly shed so much Innocent Blood III. Herod must necessarily have been told that the Christ or Messias was to be born in Bethlehem because thither he sent directly the Ministers of his execrable fury IV. And lastly Joseph fled into Egypt and was afraid to return again into Judea when he heard that Archelaus Reigned in the room of his Father Herod A Circumstance that wonderfully agrees with all the rest Chapt. III. 1. In those days came John the Baptist In this Chapter John foretells the Destruction of the Jews in these Words O generation of Vipers who has warned you to fly from the wrath to come and now also the ax is laid to the root of the Tree therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire c. He foretells also the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles in these words I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that
it easier to say thy Sins are forgiven thee or to say arise and walk There is no suspecting a Man's proceedings that proves by several sensible and healing Miracles the Authority he assumes and ascribes to himself Vers 13. But go and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice A Spiritual worship is the only worship that God delights in The ceremonies of Moses's Law were only agreeable to him as they were founded upon the Obedience that is due to God This Obedience derives its whole perfection from a willing compliance out of love and Charity For a forced and constrained obedience can never be acceptable to God That which is most excellent in Charity is Mercy which consists in forgiving injuries and doing good to others without expecting any return from them For a man may do good to another through a principle of vain Glory But the works of mercy proceed from another motive and are a product of a noble disinteressed nature Mercy then is the only thing that is acceptable to God in Religion and both Scripture and Reason tell us so But the World was so ignorant of this truth when Jesus Christ first took it for a fundamental maxim of his Religion that nothing could be more surprizing to Men than his expressing himself after this manner Vers 13. For I am not come to call the righteous but Sinners to repentance An expression that thunders out against Hypocrisie roots out of our Hearts that false Pride and vain Confidence we have of our selves humbles mankind glorifies the mercy of God and makes us sensible of the use and necessity of repentance and in a more especial manner evidently shews the self-denial of our Lord. Chap. X. 1. And when he had called unto him his twelve Disciples he gave them Power c. The Evangelist was not afraid of being contradicted by the twelve Disciples of our Lord whose names he sets down when he said that Jesus Christ had given them power to heal all sorts of Diseases among the People Vers 5. These Twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying go not into the Cities of the Gentiles c. but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel These words remove all suspicions which our incredulous Adversaries may entertain that the Author of this Gospel was willing to favour the Gentiles in prejudice to the Jews Vers 7. And as ye go preach saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Was Jesus Christ in a fit condition to make himself known for that Monarch who was to come unless he had first been endowed with an infinite Power Vers 8. Heal the Sick cleanse the Lepers raise the Dead cast out Devils freely ye have received freely give Is it possible that Jesus Christ could have made his Disciples believe they had freely received that which they had not in the least received How bold then must that command have been to work so many Miracles Vers 9. Provide neither Gold nor Silver nor Brass in your purses nor scrip for your journey c. Christ waâ— not content to chuse poor Men for his Disciples he sâ—rther obliged them to become poorer than they were He forbid them to provide themselves any thing designing to nourish them wonderfully by his Providence He resolved so to dispose the Hearts of those that should believe in their words that they should feed and cloath them This indeed was spoke like the Master and God of Nature Vers 22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name sake Christ flattered not his Disciples but foretold them from the very beginning of their ministry all the evils that were to befall them Now what can be suspected in all this Vers 23. But when they persecute you in this City flee into another for verily I say unto you ye shall not have gone over the Cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come This Text is somewhat difficult because it does not plainly appear that the Prophecy it contains was exactly fulfilled But this very Difficulty serves to confirm our Faith For why should the Evangelist write this he who lived to see the success of that matter He knew well enough that in his time the Gospel had been preached not only in all the Cities of Israel but almost in every Country in the World though Jesus Christ had not yet come in all his Glory Doubtless it was because he intended to relate things as they really were in themselves and ascribed no more to his Divine Master but just the very words he uttered And altho' Holy Writers by the coming of Jesus Christ commonly understand his last coming in his Glory yet that same expression does also sometimes signifie the Judgments which God executed upon the Jews when he sent the Romans to destroy their City which explanation plainly solves the whole Difficulty Vers 34. Think not that I am come to send Peace on earth I came not to send Peace but a Sword A Terrible declaration indeed for those Men who according to the vulgar errour of the Jews imagined that the Messias should have raised them up to the height of Happiness and temporal prosperity But who is he that was bold enough to foretel that his Gospel should disturb the Peace of the Universe How comes it he did not rather foresee that that Gospel would unavoidably be involved in the darkness of Silence and Oblivion having such weak Defenders to maintain and such formidable Adversaries to oppose it Does it seem natural that a Man who dwelt on the Borders of the Lake of Gennesareth should have pretended to make other Men rise up one against another by the bare efficacy of his word without any Arms Riches or Authority being only got at the head of ten or twelve miserable Wretches who knew nothing beyond the mending their nets Vers 28. And he that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me Did ever Man get himself any followers by such declarations as these Chap. XI 4 5. Jesus answered and said unto them go and shew John those things which ye do hear and see The Blind receive their fight and the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed and the Deaf hear the Dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them Jesus Christ convinced not his Disciples by meer speculations but by evident Objects of Sense Vers 12. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Did ever Man in so mean and miserable a Condition as he was in speak thus Whence had he this Confidence And what sort of Language is this Vers 21. Woe unto the Chorazin c. What probability is there that Christ should thus reproach the Jews who dwelt in all those Countrys unless he had really wrought several Miracles amongst them Vers 28. Come unto me all ye that Labour c. There have been many
at her c. When Jesus had lift up himself and saw none but the Woman he said unto her Woman where are those thine Accusers hath no Man condemned thee She said no man Lord. And Jesus said unto her neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more There is no need of a Comment to understand the Divine energy of these words A Heart rightly disposed will sooner be sensible of it than able to express it Vers 51. Verily verily I say unto you if a Man keep my sayings he shall never see Death How could Christ advance such a Paradox Or how is it probable that John should make him utter it he who had already seen several of his Master's Disciples die These words then must secretly imply something more sublime and uncommon than appears to us at first sight And those who taught them had deeper Understandings and more piercing Judgments than other Men. Chap. XI 25. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me tho he were dead yet shall he live This is such a strange discourse as was never met with before Vers 43 44. And when he had thus spoken he cried with a loud Voice Lazarus come forth And he that was Dead came forth bound Hand and Foot with Grave-cloaths and his face was bound about with a Napkin c. Nothing can be more circumstantially told than this matter of fact Lazarus had been Dead about four Days He was buried and a Stone had been rolled over his Grave Nay he already began to Stink Some of the Jews that were there present murmured and said among themselves Could not this Man who opened the eyes of the Blind have caused that even this Man should not have died John 11. 37. And others that were come to comfort the two Sisters were there assembled The Dead Person was raised to Life again he was seen and heard to speak Several that were there believed in Jesus Christ so that the great Council among the Jews was terrified at it and the Chief Priests and Pharisees being gathered together upon this Occasion many of them cried out and said What do we for this Man does many Miracles If we let him thus alone all Men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and Nation c. Had this matter of fact been falsly invented how durst the Evangelist so exactly describe it with all its Circumstances Why did not others make a strict enquiry and dive into the Bottom of it Did the Christians want Enemies to do it they who were continually exposed to the Persecutions of all the Powers upon Earth This Gospel was believed at Jerusalem which place was yet extant and Bethany was but a few Furlongs distant from Jerusalem The Falshood alone of that single matter of fact which was so signal and so publickly known would have utterly overthrown the whole Fabrick of the Apostles New Religion given up the Cause to the Jews and universally silenced the Christians Why then did they not manifest the Truth upon the Spot Chap. XIII 35. By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another A Divine Mark indeed and a Character not in the least to be suspected Chap. XIV 11 12. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the very works sake Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth in me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do What could the Evangelists think when he related these things if he was truly convinced by his own experience and by that of his Associates that Christ 's Disciples could not perform any Miracles Chap. XV. 24. If I had not done among them the works which none other Men did they had not had Sin He continually laid before their Eyes the Testimony of his Works Chap. XVI 2. They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service 'T is evident by this prediction the Evangelist ascribes to Jesus that the Disciples did not then expect nay were not to expect any thing but crosses and tribulations What then could support them in their present sufferings and the dismal prospect of worse to come but the hopes of such a reward as is inconsistent with the quality of Impostors A Name which our Incredulous Adversaries are pleased to give them Vers 33. In the World ye shall have Tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World He was continually foretelling them what misfortunes they were to expect This in all appearance should have disheartned them but it only serv'd to try their Patience and confirm the Word which they preached Chap. XVII 25 26. O Righteous Father the World has not known thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me And I have declared unto them thy Name that thy love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Can a Man imagin that an Impostor should express himself thus Is falshood then so different here from what it usually is and does it breath out nothing but Virtue Innocence Love and Charity Has it altogether that Spirit of pure Holiness and elevated Simplicity of ineffable consolation and wonderful Trust and Reliance upon God which run's through all the latter Discourses Jesus made to his Disciples to comfort them for his approaching Departure Chap. XVIII 36 37. My Kingdom is not of this World c. Pilate therefore said unto him art thou a King then Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King And for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the Truth Every one that is of the Truth heareth my Voice Jesus plainly declared that his Kingdom was not of this World Yet he called himself King Had he been an Impostor he would have pretended to have reigned somewhere or at least shewed some Ambition of it Chap. XX. 25 26. The other Disciples therefore said unto him we have seen the Lord. But he said unto them except I shall see in his hands the Print of the Nails and thrust my hand into his Side I will not believe c. Jesus saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed Could any one have made Thomas believe that he had been more incredulous than the rest of the Disciples and that he would not be persuaded till he had seen and felt the Body of his Master Chap. XXI 3. Simon Peter saith unto them I go a fishing They say unto him we also go with thee They went forth and entred into a Ship immediately and that Night they caught nothing But when the Morning was now come Jesus stood on the shore c. Christ being Dead the Disciples betook themselves again
to their former employment for they could not subsist without doing something to get a Livelyhood And Jesus after his Resurrection appeared sometimes to them on the Sea shore where they were a fishing What can be suspected in all this Vers 20 21 22 23. Then Peter turning about seeth the Disciple whom Jesus loved following which also leaned on his Breast at Supper and said Lord who is it that betrayeth thee Peter seeing him saith to Jesus Lord and what shall this Man do Jesus saith unto him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Follow thou me Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that Disciple should not die yet Jesus said not unto him he shall not die but if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee This is the Disciple which testifies of these things and wrote these things c. Can we imagin that the Evangelist himself invented this Report which he pretends went about concerning his Immortality And do such Thoughts come into a Man's Head However do but observe how all the particulars of this matter hang so one upon another that whosoever grants one of them must grant also the rest For the Report spread abroad that John should not die was grounded upon the Answer which Christ returned to Peter and he returned not that Answer to Peter till after his Resurrection and after having foretold Peter himself with what kind of Death he should glorifie God This connexion therefore plainly shews us what we ought to believe upon this account CHAP. VIII Wherein we shall further produce from the Acts of the Apostles several Places very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christan Religion CHap. I. 8. But ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria c. unto the uttermost part of the Earth â—et these Witnesses be strictly examined let their Patience be tryed with all kinds of severe punishments and it will then appear whether it be possible ever to force them to recant their Opinion Vers 26. And the Lot fell upon Matthias and he was numbred with the eleven Apostles In this election there appears neither Bribe Preeminence or arbitrary Partiality so different was that Society from these now established in the World Chap. II. 13 Others mocking said these Men are full of new Wine These sort of Circumstances are of excellent use to shew the Exactness and Sincerity of the Historian Vers 22. Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God among you by Miracles and Wonders and Signs as ye your selves also know How came they to know it had Christ wrought no Miracles among them And what a strange piece of Confidence must it have been in the Apostles to speak thus Vers 41. And the same Day were added unto them about three thousand Souls What but the wonderful Power of the Holy Ghost given to the Apostles could make so many Proselytes Vers 44 45. And all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all Men as every Man had need A holy Society indeed consisting of none but such as had given up all their Interest in this World and glorified God by offering up themselves and what was dearest to them as a sacrifice to him What could they hope for who absolutely renounced every thing for the sake of Christ Let a Man reason never so much upon the manner of uniting Men in a Body together 't is certain there was never a more effectual method to form a Society than Charity For it makes those things equal which humane Passions had before distinguished it subverts all competition destroys all interest banishes the designs of Pride and Ambition and all the little distinctions Vanity creates In a word it unites Men in a State wherein they all equally enjoy the same Revelation the same spiritual Worship and the same Faith Hope and Charity All which represents as it were on Earth the Joys we may partake hereafter and gives us a lively Image and Idea of Heaven And what greater Miracle than this can be brought to prove the Divinity of a Religion Vers 46. And they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from House to House did eat their Meat with gladness and singleness of Heart What Perseverance what Joy nay what Simplicity of Heart did the Apostles here shew supposing them to have been Deceivers For we must either acknowledge them to be such or else allow the Gospel they preached to be most certainly true and Divine Chap. III. 8 9. And he entred with them into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God And all the People saw him walking and praising God Is it an easy matter to make other men believe such matters of fact as these supposing they were altogether false Vers 12. And when Peter saw it he answered unto the People Ye Men of Israel why marvel ye at this Or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own Power or Holiness we had made this Man to walk Had Simon Magus performed such a Miracle he would certainly have took all the Honour of it to himself and now more confidently than ever affirm that he was the great Power of God Observe I pray here a Character of Ingenuity Humility and Sincerity which can't be sufficiently expressed Vers 16. And his name through faith in his name hath made this Man strong whom ye see and know yea the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all This multiplying expressions of the same thing may not so well please some Men and seems to be an empty flourish of words or a putting some good words finely together to signifie little a thing not agreeable to the true Eloquence Men ought to use But here it is not really so The Apostles here regarded not Politness in the least but rather were afraid they could not use expressions strong enough to let them know that it was not in their own Names but in the name of Jesus Christ that all these things were done T is no matter then whether the Ear was offended at it or not provided the Vnderstanding humbled itself in the presence of God and ascribed that extraordinary Miracle to none but Christ himself Vers 14. But ye denied the holy one and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you Observe how little he knew what it was to flatter those Men he spoke to Chap. IV. 4. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed and the number of the Men were about Five thousand How could S. Luke who wrote in a time when the Church of Jerusalem consisting of so many Proselytes flourished I say how could he have made so many believe such miraculous
such defects because it is wholly founded upon Instruction and Knowledge Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal Life John 5. 39. Chap. IV. 7 8 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness St. Paul was drawing nigh toward his latter end and the words of a dying Man are always to be regarded Whence then comes that chearful Joy the Apostle so naturally expresses in this occasion His Hopes had they been of this World must have been soon buried with him in his Grave and his Happiness too at an end Whence then derived he that great Confidence which he seems to have had Was it from the inward sense of a guilty Conscience which reproach'd him for having betray'd the Synagogue blemished his Country Men deceived Mankind testified of a Seducer and forg'd such fictitious Visions by the most signal Imposture that ever was Let any one believe it if he can First Epistle of St. Peter Chap. I. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead The Mind of those Writers was so full of the Salvation that was revealed to them that they were never weary of returning thanks to God for it Chap. II. 17 18 19 20. Honour all men Love the brotherhood Fear God Honour the King Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward c. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God c. It is a strange thing we should be desired to own that a mutual Agreement of Malice and Falshood which really is a wonderful Agreement of Piety Charity Obedience and Righteousness Paul expressed himself like Peter and Peter spoke like Paul They both acted and suffered alike nay they bore the very same Testimony being endowed with the same Patience practising the very same Virtues and discovering one and the same Wisdom in all their words Now what have we any reason to suspect in all this Second Epistle of St. Peter Chap. I. 16 17 18. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were Eye-witnesses of his Majesty For he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy Mount c. This is a Witness who spoke of what he had seen who suffered Death in defence of the Truth of his Testimony who saw it not alone for several others had seen the same thing who spoke not out of any principle of Interest or concealed what he knew through any fear or apprehension of Death and who for all that did his utmost endeavours to sanctifie Mankind and bestowed all his Time his Labour and his Life in advancing such an extraordinary work which is so little to be suspected And if so what Man is there that can reasonably mistrust him First Epistle of St. John Chap. I. 1 3. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life declare we unto you c. If you should doubt whether the Apostles did really go about testifying every where that they had seen with their Eyes both the Miracles and Resurrection of Christ 't is but learning it from their Epistles and their own words too Chap. II. 1. My little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not But what was it to him whether Men sinned or not Did ever the design of sanctifying Mankind and contributing to their Salvation at the cost of ones Blood ones Liberty ones Life enter before into any Man's Heart but theirs These and the like Reflexions are of themselves sufficient to give the Reader a relish of those Truths and incite him to make some of his own as shall more effectually instruct and convince him For my part I have made several which perhaps satisfy me better than they would any body else And no question but he will also make several of his own that will convince him far better than those of another In the mean while let us pass on to the consideration of the Substance of that Religion which Christ himself did bring into the World For after having considered the outside t is very necessary to look into the inward part of the Building SECTION IV. Wherein we shall prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by the Consideration of it's Nature and Properties Several Portraitures in which it may be considered HItherto we have insisted as it were upon the Shell and Bark of Religion we have examined the proofs taken from matters of fact being the first that offered themselves to our mind It seems therefore now Expedient we should discover as it were the Substance and Spirit of Christianity and so proceed to those other proofs drawn from the Nature of it and that by shewing the truth of it by it's Beauties and proper Excellencies But because this is too copious a Subject for us who study Brevity we shall endeavour to reduce what we have to say into as small a Compass as we can and since we cannot allow our Reflexions their due and proper Extent to give at least some Plan or Draught of the same as shall supply that defect And tho the Christian Religion may be considered under several different Faces because in this respect 't is like unto its Object which has no Bounds to confine it's Extent yet methinks we may give an Idea just and adequate enough to our present design by considering it in eleven different Draughts or Portraitures I. In the Multitude of Testimonies given in favour of it which we shall touch upon cursorily because we have already partly examined them all II. In its essential opposition to all false Religions that ever were III. In it's Effects which can only justly be referred to a Divine and Supernatural Cause IV. In the Purity of its end V. In it's Suitableness to the Heart of Man which it undertakes to reform VI. In the Relation it has to the Glory of God which it should advance VII In it's Morality VIII In it's Mysteries IX In the conformity of it's Mysteries to the light of Reason X. In that exact proportion it bears to the Jewish Religion XI And lastly in that proportion it bears to Natural Religion I hope these Portraitures will like so many
degrees of Light wonderfully illuminate the Minds of the incredulous and discover to them the truth and certainty of the Christian Religion by the sublimity and excellencies of it I. Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the multitude of Testimonies given in favour of it THough Testimonies be somewhat foreign and exterior to the Christian Religion and therefore may seem improper to discover the Perfection of it Yet it will appear they do discover it if we but carefully unite them together and so consider well their joynt union and agreement We can't but have a very great Idea of a Religion which the Wisdom of God has been pleas'd to confirm unto us by Nine several Testimonies each whereof would have been singly sufficient to discover the Truth of it The first is that of the Prophets who all testified of Jesus Christ by a long and continued series of Prophecies some far plainer than the rest for some of the Prophets saw almost as clear in the Night as I may so speak of shadows and figurative Types as we can in the Day of their exact accomplishment as has been already shewn The second is that of John the Baptist so much the more certain because it was foretold in the old Testament and Christ and his Disciples continually refer'd the Jews to that Testimony so much the more considerable because we can't suspect John the Baptist of having been guilty of any base complacency towards the Jews or mean designs for his own Interest The Wisdom of God having been pleas'd to set him above such Suspicions by the Austerity of his Manners and his unusual way of living set down in the Gospel with such a strange and particular Description The third is that of the Apostles those witnesses whose Constancy was tried by the severest Punishments inflicted upon them yet they boldly resisted the Violence offered them by so many Torments they endur'd Torments sufficient to extort even from the greatest Malefactors a confession of their Crimes Yet here is the difference between Them and common Offenders that the latter are compell'd unwillingly to undergo the Torture but the Disciples of our Lord rejoyc'd in being thought worthy to suffer Malefactors indeed know certainly they shall be executed if they confess the Truth but the Disciples of Jesus would have had much more reason to fear Death had they disguised the Truth by any close Deceit The fourth Testimony is that of the three Persons which bare record in Heaven the Father when he declared in Jordan that Jesus Christ was his well beloved Son in whom he was well pleased and in another place I have glorified him and will glorifie him again The Son when he testified of himself by his Miracles And the Holy Ghost when he confirmed the Testimony of the Son by the Effusion of his extraordinary and miraculous Gifts upon the Disciples The fifth is that of the Conscience of Men which acknowledges freely that the Christian Religion can remove our Fears comfort us in our Afflictions humble our Minds in the midst of plenty and strengthen them in poverty in a word sanctifie us by delivering us from our sins and so consequently supply all our wants and necessities The sixth is that ev'n of the Enemies of our Religion who have been forced to speak favourably on our side The Jews and Gentiles have testified in our behalf the Wisdom of Providence and the convincing force of Truth having obliged them tacitly to own that Truth against which they had declared themselves such inveterate and implacable Enemies The ancient Jews believed that the famous prophecy Jacob uttered upon his Death-bed The Scepter shall c. was to be understood of the Messias This their own Writings testify and their Talmud acknowledges that that Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief who was to be bruised for our iniquities and from whom they hid their faces as from a Leper was the true Messias Nay they are forced to have recourse to the extravagant Fiction of a double Messias and ev'n by that they pay a kind of homage to the Truth The Samaritans were of Opinion that the Messias was shortly to appear in the World as is evident by the discourse of Christ with the Woman of Samaria And this the Jews were so strongly perswaded of that some of them chose rather to own Herod the Great for the Messias tho an Idumaean and wicked Prince than renounce an Opinion they were prepossess'd with and which was so deeply rooted in their Minds Others led away by the same Opinion cast their Eyes upon one Agrippa descended from Herod who was engaged in the Roman party Others also instigated by the same hopes followed a certain Robber into the Wilderness And the Jews seeing their City just ready to be laid in Ashes imagined that their Messias was just upon manifesting himself Nay the merciless Ring-leaders of those factious Wretches who tore one another in pieces during the devastation of Judea so obstinately sought after one another's Ruin only because they expected to vanquish the Romans and so become the Conquerours of the World that were to fulfil ancient Prophecies Few Ages after they turned to one Barkokebas a villainous Robber only because they thought him the Messias according to their Computation of the years of his coming Josephus a great Man and well versed in the Scriptures imagined as well as others that the Time prefix'd for his coming was accomplished or if he did not really think so himself he took at least an occasion from that Opinion commonly approved of in the East to ingratiate himself with Vespasian Herod the Great himself terrified and amazed by all these Reports made his fearful apprehension remarkable by a deluge of Blood Then did the Jews acknowledge that in the days of the Messias there would be no Government No Magistrates nor any Commonwealth left in Israel But afterwards the necessity of maintaining their Opinion against us made them have recourse to several different Evasions Not many Ages after the coming of Jesus Christ into the World when they found that their Messias did not appear some of them began to say that he had hid himself others that he was come already in the Person of Hezekiah others that his coming was put off by reason of the crying sins of the People nay they went on to that degree of impiety and irreligion as to pronounce them cursed who should calculate the years of the coming of the Messias From all which we see plainly that by these their Confessions and Shifts they in a manner bear witness tho unwillingly and without design to the Christian Faith As for the Heathens besides the authentick Testimony of Pliny the younger concerning the Innocence of the Christians and besides that of Tiberius concerning Jesus Christ whom he would have inserted among the Gods being himself astonished at the surprising Wonders which he had heard of him we all know that there have
have for ever divided Now the Christian Religion restores the Society of Nature For by uniting Men so strictly in the Bond of Charity it farther strengthens that natural Love which we call Humanity It destroys too the Societies of Interest and Ambition because it extirpates such inordinate Desires as are not true Principles of Vnion and good Vnderstanding one among another It also strengthens Civil Society by commanding us to obey our Superiours and teaching us to render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods Lastly it establishes such a Society as restores the Equality of Nature among us and whereas there was in the World till the coming of Christ a Society of Men externally indeed united by the Bond of Civil Laws Government and the Degrees of Proximity of Blood but internally divided by their irregular Passions Christ shews us a Society of Men externally divided by the distance of Time and Place and the disparity of their Conditions but internally united by the Bonds of the same Faith the same Hope and the same Charity Nor are these meer Ideas or Speculations for besides that the Christian Religion visibly relates wholly to the Design of making Men holy and pure and dedicating them to God besides that the Apostles tell us that it is the End of their Preaching directing themselves in their Epistles to those that are called to be Saints and to the Spiritual Israel and declaring concerning Apostates that they went from them because they were not of them besides that Jesus Christ on all occasions makes the very same Distinction refusing to own them for his Disciples that should be wholly taken up with the advantages of the World and giving this Mark and Character of those whom he owned for his My Sheep hear my Voice and the World hates them because they are not of the World Joh. 17. 14. I say besides all this we have this Satisfaction that we can produce a Society of holy Men that yielded not to any Powers of the World but withstood the most rigorous Trials of Persecutions and renounced the enticing Charms of the World the better to adhere to the Cross of Christ A Society victorious in Temptations that overcame Vices and deluded the indefatigable Endeavours of Tyrants a Society composed of Mortal Men yet not to be exstinguished by Death that was subject to the Laws of Nature yet encourag'd with motives Super-natural that conversed in the World yet despised it that was dispersed in several different Times and Places yet always united in the same Thoughts and Opinions that was continually attack't by different Passions yet constantly surmounted them In a word a Society that still flourish'd in the midst of Persecution increas'd the more as often as it was defeated and rais'd it self out of it 's own ruins Certainly he must have read but little of Ecclesiastical History that is unacquainted with all these Truths and he must be wilfully blind and purposely impose upon himself that acknowledges not the Efficacy of Religion in all those wonderful Effects And 't is properly in that Society of holy Men or in the Church it self that we ought to seek for the Fruits of Religion for there we shall find the Accomplishment of those ancient Prophecies which promised to shew us the Sheep feeding with the Bear and the Leopard with the Lamb c. And as the Ark of God could not be left in the midst of it's Enemies without working several Wonders among them which even those Infidels were sensible of so the Christian Church cannot continue in the World without producing such remarkable Effects in it which the most incredulous themselves cannot call in question For let them tell us if they can how came the Oracles of the Heathens to be immediately silenced when the Apostles first preach'd the Mysteries of Christianity and by what Power the Sound of those Men being gone to the end of the World made those Oracles eternally cease which had so long foretold things to come and so forc'd the Heathenish Writers as Plutarch and others to inquire into the Cause of that so sudden and so unexpected Silence For to object with Julian that the Jewish and Christian Oracles have been also silenced concludes nothing because the Apostles foretold that the Gift of Prophecy should cease But how appears it that the Oracles among the Heathens declar'd they should one day be silenced The Accomplishment of our Prophecies being an everlasting Proof of the Truth of our Religion serves us instead of Perpetual Oracles But what Accomplishment of Prophecies confirms the Pagan Religion No less wonderful an Effect of our Religion was the abundance of Revelation which brought so many Superstitious and Idolatrous Nations to the Knowledge of the true God Hence came the World to be fill'd with Wisdom by the preaching of ignorant Persons and the meanest Servants to have more noble and rational Ideas of the Deity than the most quick Clear-sighted Philosophers and that too by the Proposal of such a Doctrin as seems indeed to the Flesh an Object of Scandal and Horror We cannot deny but that the Christian Religion has the advantage of all others for having utterly abolished all those Sacrifices wherein they offered the Blood of Men Neither can we doubt but that this cruel and bloody Superstition was sufficiently advanc'd in the World since we find that the Holy Scripture reproaches the Jews for having sacrificed their Children to Moloch and that Julius Cesar tells us in his Commentaries that it was an ancient Custom among the Gauls to offer Human Victims to their pretended Deities I confess indeed the Romans had already renounced such a barbarous and cruel Superstition but then I question whether they did not still retain some Spice of it in those Spectacles they exhibited to the People wherein they were extreamly pleased to see the Blood of their Gladiatours run down who killed one another meerly to make them Sport A Sacrifice so much the more impious because dedicated rather to the unlawful pleasure of Men than the Honour of those Beings they look't upon as Gods And what but the Christian Religion could have abolished all those bloody Spectacles and horrid Divertisements We have just reason to be surprized to think how licentiously that abominable Sin usually punish'd by God and Man with Fire reign'd heretofore in the World and we cannot without horror and amazement reflect how that the love of both Sexes seem'd equally grown common to Men and that ancient Authors freely speak of that kind of Debauchery which our own Writers dare not so much as mention lest they defile their Writings Socrates is represented to us by some of them as being deeply smitten with the Beauty of Alcibiades and the Emperour Trajan whose Panegyrick well deserv'd thirty Years labour strangely blemished his Reputation by that monstrous Lechery Which pretty well shews the just Grounds for St. Paul's reproach to the Heathens who says that because when
such a deep penetration of Mind and attempted to exalt Man above himself by infatuating him with the Conceits of his own Wisdom But God who knows best what Remedies are most proper for us has given us a Religion which satisfies the Heart without corrupting the Vnderstanding and enlarges the Vnderstanding without corrupting the Heart and that because it satisfies and yet mortifies it enlightens and yet confounds the Understanding If to the Understanding several great and sublime Truths are revealed it has not therefore any pretence to exalt it self because it knows that Knowledge to be above its Capacity and ows it only to Revelation If the Heart finds the Objects of Religion answerable to it's infinite Desires it has no reason to be puffed up by them because those Objects destroy its darling Passions and vitious Inclinations So that the only means to enlighten and at the same time humble our Understanding was to intermix some Obscurity with the Light of Revelation and the only way to satisfy the Heart and prevent its being puffed up was to qualify some sorrowful and mortifying Duties with the extraordinary Promises of the Gospel Thus the Severity of Christian Morality and the Obscurity of its Mysteries are two different means which God has made use of to enlighten the Understanding without puffing up the Heart and to satisfy the Desires of the Heart without flatering those Passions which corrupt the Understanding Which manifestly shews that the Christian Religion has not only the Divine Stamp upon it since it contains the true manner of reforming and regulating the Desires of Mans Heart but also that the Severity of the Christian Morality and the Difficulty of its Mysteries which shock the Incredulous most in the Principles of Christianity were purposely made use of by God in his eternal Wisdom as the most proper Means to sanctify Mankind which is the grand Design of the Christian Religion We have then here the Two most essential and most important parts of our Religion Its Morality and Mysteries The latter are necessary in respect of Faith and the former is the Rule of those Duties which God is pleased we shall perform as a Means to attain Everlasting Life It would be superfluous to lay down here at large what Doctrin or Precepts are contained in the Gospel because it has pleased God that we cannot pretend any Ignorance of them and besides 't is the Truth of Religion in general we are now treating of we are oblig'd to speak here only of Christian Morality and the Doctrin of Faith in general As for the Morality of Christ it has so many remarkable Characters that it is impossible to reflect upon any of them without immediatly acknowledging its Divinity For I. 'T is it seems a Paradox to the Senses to the Heart to the Mind and Nature of Man It was never before heard of or known that a Man must take up his Cross and think those Blessed that are poor in Spirit that mourn and are persecuted for Righteousness sake that we must love our Enemies and pray for them that shall revile and persecute us that we must not only comfort our selves in the midst of our Afflictions and Crosses but also rejoyce for being thus afflicted and esteem our Happiness and Glory the greater as our Sufferings are increased Men I say had never such Thoughts before and the Puradoxes of the Stoicks are nothing to these for here we find to our great surprize that a few poor Fishermen rustick in their Speech preach such Maxims abroad as are as far above the ordinary Capacity of the Understanding as they are contrary to the Affections and Inclinations of the Heart II. 'T is observable that Christian Morality seems to be a very sad and mortifying thing For it curbs and restrains all our Passions Self-love repines at it Voluptuousness can't endure it Pride is wholly humbled and mortified by it and those who seem to allow of it most cannot but privately hate it when ever their Hearts are engaged in any Passion It has been often observ'd that there have been Christians in all Ages who attempted to pervert the sense of it by putting such Glosses and Interpretations upon it as were more conformable to their Inclinations than to the Truth it self and by endeavouring to extirpate it at least indirectly when they durst not attempt it in a more open manner But let no man imagin that this Morality was offered to the World under any Disguise Christ who among so many other wonderful Characters of his Calling has a very remarkable one and that is never to flatter the loose Inclinations of Men plainly declares that whosoever will be thought his Disciple must pluck out his Eyes and cut off his Hands must hate himself deny himself nay even hate his own Soul c. Expressions which explain one another and certify us that the Pains and Torments the observers of his Morality must undergo are like unto those which Men endure when they cut off their Arms or pluck out their Eyes or are in a manner separated from Themselves There is nothing in all this like the cunning Address and subtle Management of Men in the World when they endeavour to establish new Doctrins and it evidently appears that Christ alone is a Teacher come from God III. The better to comprehend this it is observable that all the Principles of Christian Religion depend upon Humility as their chief Foundation For if we pretend to the qualification of Christ's Disciples we must be meek single in heart poor in Spirit weary and heavy laden little in our own Conceits Lambs little Children in Innocence and want of Malice and Servants of other Men. Christ has united two different qualities before not easily reconcilable the Humility of the Heart and the Light of the Understanding charging us to be wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves 'T is manifest this Union was necessary for the true Sanctification of Mankind a Secret indeed Men had not yet been able to find out There have been some who have forsaken their Interest and have been either burnt or had their Arms and Hands cut off who durst encounter Death it self supported by Pride and a vain hope of Glory which they prefer'd before all things But it was never known that Men had so little Self-love as to sacrifice their Lives unless at the same time they could make their Name immortal Such a Miracle is only to be produced by the Christian Morality IV. After what has been said we shall have less Reason to wonder that this Morality roots up every Vice since all Vices proceed either from Pride or Voluptuousness This Morality then which subverts the former by the severe Mortifications of Repentance and destroys the latter by the Ideas it gives us of the Greatness and Perfection of God as opposed to our Wretchedness and Misery I say this Morality contains every thing absolutely necessary to extirpate our Vices in their first Rise and
them on the brighter side they appear great sublime and conformable to the Nature of things worthy of God and closely united to the most inviolable Principles both of our Heart and Understanding Their Greatness and Sublimity caused such an Admiration in those Persons who had the Honour to divulge them to the World as they could not possibly conceal For sometimes they are forced to declare that they are things which Eye has not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man 1 Cor. 2. 9. An Expression which is as natural as full of Energy and clearly demonstrates what great Ideas they had of them Another while they express themselves after this manner and without controversy great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit c. 1 Tim. 3. 16. And again Colos 2. 3. they call them the Treasures of Wisdom and seem to be continually at a loss to find out Expressions worthy the Majesty of them And these Objects are infinitely raised above our Senses scarce seem to have any probability are altogether repugnant to the Ideas of the Heathens and carnal Notions of the Jews are above any Conjecture of Men and consequently Objects worthy of God himself For they glorify him after an excellent manner and clearly reveal unto us his Greatness and Majesty either in the Gifts he confers upon Men or the Sublimity of those Duties he prescribes them to follow or the Excellency of the Reward he proposes to them or the use of those means whereby he leads them to it Compare the Notions of Christianity with those of other Religions and you 'll be convinc'd of this Truth But 't is not sufficient that those Mysteries seem to us far above the Capacity of Men who could never have invented them and worthy the Majesty of God who alone was able to reveal them to us We may also further add that the Principles of Reason and Natural Religion exactly fall in with them For they are not like the idle Tales and Fictions of the Poets which the Heart of Man formerly so eagerly embraced when at the same time their Reason condemned them for it The Creation of Heaven and Earth by an Almighty Being the Redemption of the World by a Mediatour the expiatory Sacrifice of Christ the Communion of Saints the Resurrection of the Dead the Remission of Sins and life Everlasting are all Objects equally reasonable sublime and full of Majesty and the Denial of them will take away the improvement of the Light of Reason by the clearest Revelation and destroy the very Nature of the Supream Being What would become then of the Wisdom of God Would it suffer Men to be wholly taken up by such ends as are contrary to the design of their Creation Would God permit Irregularities and Confusions to reign in publick Societies and never compose them whilst at the same time he establishes a firm Union and as it were a Society amongst irrational Creatures If so what would then signify those Principles of Morality and that natural Law which he has written in our Hearts Wherefore should he make so many things for the good and preservation of Man that were not the End he was designed for What would become of the Justice of God And what would be the Truth of the inward sense of Conscience What would be the Punishment reserved for the Wicked and the Reward which attends the Just What would become of our Soul since Reason has taught us that the thinking Principle within us is distinct from Matter and that the Soul depends not upon any Dissolution of the Parts of Matter Whence is it that this Soul has Notions of its Immortality What use would there be of Equity and Justice Why might not Men rather give themselves up to Vice which would then be wholly preferrable before Virtue Who then will refuse to acknowledge such Principles to be in themselves lawful and reasonable without which there is nothing but Confusion and Disorder in publick Society Darkness and Incertainty in the Mind nothing but Errour and Illusion in the Conscience and natural Law of Reason nothing but Prejudice and Misery in the practice of Virtue and if things are so then also the Goodness Wisdom and Justice of God are at an end those excellent Attributes which had so clearly proved to us the Truth of his Existence These are not the Speculations of contemplative Men or the Niceties of School-men but certain Truths that slow from the nature of things and in an excellent manner agree with the ultimate End of Man But how clear soever the one side of these Mysteries may be they are very obscure on the other not that they have or can contain any thing that is repugnant to sound and unprejudiced Reason but 't is because they cannot be fathomed by our shallow Understanding and that t is neither secure nor allowable or even possible for any man to search into the Depth of them Now tho' it be not absolutely necessary for us to enquire why God was pleased not to explicate all Difficulties in his Mysteries and tho' it be sufficient only to alledge that such was his Will and the Decrees of his Wisdom yet we must not neglect to illustrate and interpret them as far as Scripture and Reason will permit Every body knows the Difference between Sight and Faith Sight admits of no Difficulty but Faith is intermixed both with Light and Darkness both their Objects being very different from one another For we do not see what we believe and properly speaking we do not believe that which we see To see is to perceive by ones self but to believe is to perceive by another Mans Eyes Sight is twofold that of the Sense which perceives those Objects only that are suitable to its nature and that of the Vnderstanding when it judges of the nature of things by its own proper Light Faith also is twofold Humane and Divine The first is that Persuasion we have of sacred Mysteries grounded upon the Testimony of Men and the other that which is established upon the Testimony of God So that after what has been thus premised 't is an easy matter to understand the meaning of the Apostle who tells us that the Will of God is that we should walk by faith and not by sight that is we must lay aside our Reason and follow only the Light of Revelation and receive those Truths which promise us Salvation on the Testimony of God alone Nevertheless 't is easy to perceive how great a Repugnance we have to it in as much as the Pleasure of God in not giving us Mysteries without Difficulties restrains the roving Speculations of our Minds It humbles the proud Reason of Man and robs him of the Priviledge of a full Insight into matters which yet infinitely concern him When we should renounce the World which is present to our Eyes we would fain see those Objects Religion has put in
inevitable Difficulties when joyned to Religion Their Ends are so different that they may justly be allowed to be opposite For 1. The main Design of Philosophy is to gratify the vain Curiosity of Men whereas Religion designs only to mortify it 2. The one endeavours to find out the Nature of things the other professes an utter Ignorance of them 3. That swells up the Heart of Man by encreasing his Knowledge This humbles it by requiring him to submit his Reason to his Faith Lastly Philosophy endeavours to comprehend all things whereas one of the most essential parts of Religion consists in hmbly acknowledging that we comprehend nothing at all of the hidden Mysteries of Nature much less of those of Religion And therefore hence it is that Philosophy seldom agrees with Religion nor Religion with Philosophy Thus Copernicus and Descartes doubtless were not well pleased with the Descriptions the Author of Genesis gives us of the Creation of the World of the Two great Luminaries of Heaven of the Miracle of Joshuah who stopt the Course of the Sun of the third Heaven which St. Paul speaks of of the New Heavens and the New Earth which sacred Authors make us expect of the Conflagration of the Heavens the Dissolution of the Elements and the putting out the Light of the Stars all which Signs are to preceed the great and wonderful Day of Judgment I say such Philosophers as these would perhaps cry out that these Objects had no relation to their Ideas of Astronomy But certainly there is no reason to wonder at it For those Holy Writers intended to speak in the Language of the People and not in that of the Philosophers They had a mind to sanctify Mankind and not to explain the Mysteries of Nature and therefore it was highly necessary they should accommodate their Expressions to the Vulgar Notions Nay the Holy Ghost was pleased they should use no other that so his Mysteries being represented under those Vulgar Ideas might be suitable to every ones Capacity at least in the manner of their Revelation since they could not be so in their own Nature Nor ought we to think this Conduct of his extraordinary or unusual For thus the Wisdom of God acted when it was to represent to the Ancient Israelites the Wonders of the Gospel Dispensation And it made use of Expressions borrowed from Customs and Practices generally received amongst Men. It says that all Nations shall go up to Mount Sion that there shall be an Altar in the midst of the Land of Egypt that in every place Incense shall be offered unto God and a pure Offering that the Tabernacle of God shall be with the Gentiles c. But if it be asked then why the Prophets foretold the Calling of the Gentiles in this familiar way 'T was because those were the Notions of the People and that it was necessary they should use only Expressions known and familiar to the Vulgar since Revelation it self would have become unintelligible without that condescending Goodness of God who is wont to accomodate himself to the Capacity of every Man without Exception For supposing that God had deferr'd his Revealing to us the Truth of the Creation of the World the Miracle of Joshua the Glory which the blessed enjoy in the other World the Judgment to come c. till all Men had been made to understand by the Principles of Philosophy that the Stars are bigger than the Moon that 't is the Earth and not the Sun which moves that the Heavens are nothing but liquid Spaces of an Infinite Extension that the Sun is so essentially bright that he cannot lose his Brightness without an immediate Annihilation of his Essence c. Heavens where should we be and what would become of us if all Men must necessarily first become Philosophers before they can learn to fear God But the Wisdom of God is so wonderful in that he not only accomodates Himself to the Notions of every Man that he may render Himself intelligible to all but also in that he has at the same time taken care we should not be deceived in urging too far the literal Sense of all those vulgar Expressions Thus for instance nothing can be more insipid than the ridiculous Jests of our Incredulous Adversaries touching those Descriptions which the Scripture gives us of Hell-fire And certainly they do but Expose themselves as often as they pretend to mock and despise Religion For he that will truly consider what Holy Writ tells us in that respect will certainly find that it puts several different Images together to represent to us by known and familiar Ideas an Object altogether unknown and set before us by all those different Images such Notions as one single Idea was wholly unable to represent Thus for that end it borroweth the Notions of the Fire and Brimstone of Sodom the sore Affliction of the Days of Noah the Judgments which God himself displayed over the Nations in the Valley of Josaphat the terrible Darkness spread over all the Land of Egypt whilst at the same time the People of Israel freely enjoy'd the the Light of God in the Land of Goshen the unquenchable Fire and the Worm of the Valley of the Children of Hinnon which dieth not c. the weeping and gnashing of Teeth of those Children sacrificed to Moloch who for that End were thrown alive into the Arms of that burning Statue Now 't would be full as reasonable to carry on the sense of some of these Ideas too far as to raise any Difficulties upon the Notions of Paradise the Bosom of Abraham the Celestial Canaan the Heavenly Jerusalem c. all which Notions are particularly designed to represent to us the Bliss that attends the Faithful And these Ideas would be absolutely false and contradictory if understood in a literal Sense because 't is certain that Paradise can never be taken for the Land of Canaan or Jerusalem for the Bosom of Abraham Hence therefore it plainly appears by the Variety of all those Images that they can never be taken in a strict and literal Sense and that the Nature of the Object represented to us after so many different ways was too great and sublime to be described unto Men by any one single Idea of this Kind And indeed according to this Notion 't is an easy matter to answer a certain Objection raised about a future Judgment which at first may seem somewhat considerable and to carry in it some intricate Difficulty Some hold that the Description which Holy Writ gives us of the Day of Judgment when it tells us that the Son of God is to be preceeded by his Holy Angels that he will place Men some on his right Hand and others on his left c. I say they affirm that this Description neither agrees with the Idea which we already have of the Nature of Spirits nor with that we should entertain of so great and signal an Event To answer this Objection we are only to
distinguish the Object from the manner after which it is represented to us The first indeed is very reasonable great and sublime worthy to take up our Thoughts and able to move our Hearts And we have already sufficiently evinced its Conformity to our Reason in shewing that we either must deny any Evidence to be in the light of Reason and Nature of things themselves or else acknowledge a future Judgment And what can be greater than an Object which justifies the Wisdom of God his Justice and all his other Attributes and brings all Men under his strict Examination all their Actions all the Thoughts of the Understanding and all the Motions of the Heart And this Object is that alone as is real and immutable As for the manner that is proposed to us of its Accomplishment 't would never suit with our weak Knowledge were it altogether as sublime as the Object it self and we should be so far from comprehending any thing in the nature of it that it would certainly dazzle our shallow Reason if God did exactly represent it to us as it is in it self But Christ has sufficiently shewed us we must not push too far the signification of any of those expressive Images in that he uses such a multitude and variety of others to represent that Judgment to us For sometimes he describes it by the Parable of the groom and the Virgins then again by the just Judgment a Lord past upon all his Servants whom he had in his absence intrusted with his Talents One while he represents the Judge of all the World as a Shepherd selecting his Sheep from the He-goats another time he describes him under the Image of an Housholder plucking up the Tares and dividing it from the Wheat that he might burn the former but gather the latter into his Barn In a word he compares him to a glorious and triumphant Monarch who is preceeded by several Legions of Angels or Messengers sounding the Trumpet before him Now all these Descriptions would certainly be of no use were they to be taken in a strict and literal Sense The same Judgment must necessarily be made of the History of Dives and Lazarus which tho it appears never so reasonable and circumstantially told yet for all that is but a Parable in the Opinion of all the sensible part of the World and would seem absurd if it were understood in a literal Sense Let not then Philosophy any longer be offended at any of the Scripture Phrases or its figurative Expressions Let it not object that a material Fire properly so called cannot burn up our Souls that Angels have no Mouths to sound Trumpets that the Valley of Josaphat is too little to contain all Mankind c. These are such trivial Difficulties as can't puzzle those who are never so little acquainted with the Language of Canaan Besides it is certain that the Mixture Men have made of Philosophy and Religion has been considerably prejudicial to our Faith For first Philosophy as it were heaping up one Speculation upon another tells us that there is an infinite Extension of Matter that there are other Globes inhabited and peopled other World 's framed of the Concourse of Atoms that there are certain invio Iable Laws of Nature that there is an Eternity of Matter and several other Imaginations of this kind as have not the least relation with the Principles of Religion And thereupon the Passions which are upon the watch to catch and embrace every thing that favours their several pretences in resisting Faith authorise the smallest Conjectures and give such weight and credit to those things which otherwise would certainly pass for meer Extravagancies And thus it happens that the Scruples of Philosophy are changed into Certainties through our unreasonable desire of changing Certainties of Religion into Doubts Secondly Philosophy creates in us an Habit of endeavouring to judge of every thing by our selves only a Disposition indeed absolutely contrary to the Nature of Faith which requires of us a Belief purely grounded on the Testimony of God But Men are so far from relying upon it that they are continually asking Demonstrations of us and those too they would have to be Geometrical ones that is so clear and evident as to be free from all perplexing Obscurity These Men make large Pretensions and Demands and sure it is that we have sufficient Demonstrations but they are all Demonstrations of Faith and there can be no Faith but what has some Obscurity as well as Light Thirdly Another very dangerous Effect of Philosophy is that it changes Religion from Practice into Speculation For the nicer and sublimer our Inquiries are into the Nature of Mysteries the more we neglect the Body of Religion which is essentially practical Religion appears not then to us in its usual Brightness and Majesty And the more we pursue it by nice Speculations the farther it gets out of our reach Experience teaches us that the Progress we make in reasoning sets us at a greater Distance from the true Center of Religion which is Piety and that the more Metaphysical it is the less able it is to satisfy our Mind but rather raises Scruples in the Understanding Whereas on the contrary the more we practise Religion the better we are acquainted with it because we grow then sensible of its divine Efficacy by our own Experience and are made to believe the true value of it by the Impressions it leaves in our Hearts Had Religion indeed been purely design'd to teach us how to Philosophize and argue about the Nature of things it would have been sufficient to take the Measure of it from a Speculative Knowledge of the Understanding But since it was given us to sanctify our Hearts it is but reasonable that Contemplation should yield to Practice and the inward sense we have of its Divine Efficacy VIII Policy is yet a far greater Enemy to Religion than Philosophy Not but that it often happily makes use of Religion to keep Men within the Bounds of their Duty but it pretends to have a Right of Superiority over it It would have Religion submit to its Orders whereas Religion submits only to the Orders of God Policy generally looks upon the greatest part of Men as no better than Slaves to those that are in power but Religion in spite of Policy makes all Men equal and effectually removes all those Distinctions which humane Passions had put between them Policy according to the Prejudices of Pride and Ambition acts as if the Lives of the meaner sort of People were of no more value than those of Brutes But Religion assures us that the Soul of a Peasant is as dear and precious to God as that of a Monarch What! Says the Ambitious Man must all People become my Equals and Companions Yes certainly replies Religion and far happier than thou art like to be unless thou repentest A great and mighty Character indeed which truly convinces us that it solely springs from God
easily beleive Mysteries tho we are not able to dive into the manner of them 3 dly This Submission to God is so very reasonable that none but a Man utterly void of Sense can be so stupid as not to perceive it For till we are endowed with an infinite Understanding we shall never be able to know but one side of things and consequently we must necessarily be for ever ignorant of the other 4 thly It is very just and equitable if ever any thing was so and it aims at nothing but shewing us our Ignorance and representing to us that being liable to be deceived we ought carefully to follow Revelation as a true and faithful Guide We should certainly be extravagant proudly to deny our own Ignorance or impiously suspect that God could deceive us when his Design is to reveal his Majesty to us V. But what is chiefly to be observed for the Honour of our Religion what shews the Characters of its Divinity and forces us to acknowledge them is that it teaches us that to see clear into matters of Religion we ought not to rely upon the Light of our Understanding and that we must lay aside the Evidence of Reason if we would be free from Errours in point of Faith 'T is a wonderful Effect of the Christian Religion that it renders us happy by inducing us to renounce our selves and no less admirable that it enlightens our Minds by obliging us to renounce our Reason To look boldly and stedfastly upon Mysteries is the way to be blind whereas we shall easily perceive the Light of God shining about us if we do but humbly cast down our Eyes We shall be sufficiently learned if we rest satisfied with the Knowledge of what God has been pleased to reveal unto us And nothing more betrays an Universal Ignorance than an insignificant Desire to be ignorant of nothing In other Sciences a Man's Skill is measured by his Knowledge but in that of Salvation he is best instructed who is most humble he who has the least Pride has the most understanding And the proof of it is easy We have already seen that the nice Speculations of Reason about Mysteries do but more perplex and darken what was before obscure Let us now see how much the submitting our Reason to Faith makes us have a clearer Insight into those Mysteries or at least how much it hinders our being confounded by them 'T is certain that by continuing in such a state of Humility whatsoever Difficulties may arise they will not have force enough to discompose our Minds We shall not be surprised that we are not able to comprehend the Nature of God or his manner of Knowing loving and acting or his Eternity Immensity c. but we shall rather be ravished with Admiration to think that we that are no better than Worms or Atoms are yet thought worthy to know him and raised to that pitch of Glory as to have some Prospect tho but a faint one of his wondrous Works and infinite Perfections Neither shall we have any reason to be offended because God formerly abandon'd the Gentiles and casts away other Nations which still abide in profound Ignorance and Darkness tho perhaps there is nothing in Nature so difficult or incomprehensible as the Conduct of God But we shall rather reflect upon our Selves and endeavour to search into the Knowledge of our own Nature And upon such a consideration we shall find our selves buried and swallowed up if I may so speak in some Corner of this vast Universe and that too in such a Time or conjuncture as is a meer Point in comparison of that almost infinite Duration of Time which has elapsed and that Eternity which is still to pass away We shall only perceive a few Years and a few Nations which we ascribe to Providence as its Object as if that which presides over the whole Creation were to be bounded by a few Ages or Nations But weak and foolish Creatures that we are we perceive not that infinite Succession of Objects which take their Turn and move on according to the Decree of eternal Wisdom we perceive not the strict union of this World with that which is to come or the share those Nations whose Ignorance we so much deplore have in that continued Chain of Events nor the Rights which Divine Justice has over them or at least we have but a faint and imperfect Knowledge of them We consider not that a thousand Years are as one Day and one Day as a thousand Years one Nation as an hundred Nations and an hundred Nations as one Nation in his sight who is able to create an infinite number of them out of Nothing as he did us And in this we may be compared to those who lying in the bottom of a Well would fain see the whole Extent of the Heavens Were we truly sensible of our wretched Nature we should not be so curious or inconsiderate but rather dread the Fate of those Men who were smitten from above for having looked into the Ark of God We should find out the Falsity of those Opinions which are the products of a rash Curiosity and whilst we limited our Enquiries by Revelation we should easily discern those that went beyond it We should distinguish Religion which mortisies us from Superstition which flatters and agreeably deludes us and however Policy in the height of its Pride might rank us among Creatures not much superiour to Brutes we should not cease to think our selves the Children of God No Charms of Eloquence should impose upon our Belief no idle Niceties of Grammar perplex that Faith which depends upon the Objects of the Gospel which are indeed too manifest in their Nature too often repeated and closely united to the Principles of Common Sense too well confirmed and attested by their Events too worthy of God himself and conduce too much to our Sanctification to be ever called in question In a word we should then shake off our Incredulity when we removed that which excited within us a secret Propension to it It is therefore certain that God has covered the Mysteries of Religion with a sacred Darkness and has even permitted Men to make them yet more obscure by their vain Speculations But what at once gives us Wonder and Consolation is that the deepest Philosophers and most curious Enquirers see not always clearest into the matters of Religion but those only who make least use of the force of their Reason and forbear to enquire nicely into those things which it becomes them humbly to believe This seems to be the Opinion of Christ himself who said to his Father I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Mat. 5. 11. And here indeed we cannot but tremble with Reverence and Admiration when we joyn this Character of the Divinity of our Religion to the rest Hence it is that we
must renounce our selves and beg of Almighty God that he would enlighten our Understanding when we perceive that such a sublime and elevated Science which offers such noble and magnificent Objects to our Consideration is yet conceived by those only that are pure in Heart Here then ought we to cry out what a Divine Religion is this Which at once enlightens and humbles us which amazes and yet clears our Understanding which leads us to saving Knowledge by the free and ready confession of our own Ignorance and takes away all the Imperfections of our Understanding by making it submit to Faith Where is the Wise Where is the Disputer of this World IX Portraiture of the Christian Religion or the Conformity of its Mysteries to the Lights of Reason HAving look'd into the Original of all our false Prejudices 't is now no difficult matter to distinguish Religion from Superstition and Divinity from Philosophy Without such a Distinction we must inevitably fall into the greatest Difficulties and by it 't is easy to demonstrate that Religion contains no greater Difficulties than even Nature it self Thus the Doctrin of Predestination of Grace and Original Sin are such unfathomable Depths as terrify at first view the Mind of him that endeavours to reconcile them to the Light of Nature and methinks I already hear a Multitude of Doctors crying out against me that I ought not to presume to dive into thebottom of those profound Mysteries which confound their Reason the more attentively they consider and reflect upon them But I beg leave of those worthy Men to tell them that all those matters would seem to them less difficult than they do were they less Philosophers than they are And I would have them always remember that Faith and Reason Divinity and Philosophy are essentially distinct one from the other in as much as the former barely perceives the Object it self without endeavouring to search into the manner of it and consists in that Submission which prevents its further Enquiries Pride and Rashness being contrary to it whereas the latter continually endeavours to know both the things and the manner of them together with the Physical Causes of them having no greater Enemy than Ignorance to oppose its Progress Accordingly a Divine ought only to enquire whether there be any such thing as Grace Predestination Original Sin c. But a Philosopher not satisfied-with a bare Knowledge of it will yet further enquire what is the order of the immutable Decrees of God after what manner Grace determines our Free Will and by what means Original Sin was transmitted from the first Man to his Posterity The Apostles who were the truest and indeed only Divines that confined themselves within the due Limits of Divinity have very largely instructed us in all those Objects by fully demonstrating the truth and necessity of them yet have not let fall the least Word that could give us an Insight into the manner of them But the succeeding Christians applying themselves to the study of the Platonic and Aristotelian Philosophy really thought the knowledge of Salvation a Science as well as the rest and thereupon framed to themselves many fruitless and unprofitable Speculative Systems which in many places were repugnant to Piety and perplex'd our Divine Religion with several humane Difficulties It would be injurious to imagin that St. Paul in his large Discourse about the Doctrin of Predestination aimed at nothing else but to gratify the vain Curiosity of those he address'd himself to All that he there says tho' seemingly Speculative is in reality Practical The Question was Whether the Distinction that was between the Jews and Gtntiles was not wholly taken away and if so whether the Gentiles were not to make up one and the same Body with the beliving Jews Those of the Circumcision being accustomed to look upon the Heathens as a People that were cursed could not easily imagin that they should ever enjoy the same Privileges with them But St. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles endeavours to confute this Prejudice of theirs and to that purpose he shews them that God is the God of all Men that he suffered that all Men should Sin that he might thereby extend his Grace to all that the Choice he made of the Jews for his peculiar People was a free and liberal Election that 't was by by Faith alone and not by Works that the Patriarchs were acceptable to him that his Mercies were not entailed upon the Posterity of the Patriarchs that the Circumcision of the Flesh was not the reason of their Acceptance with God that the Law of it self could not have that effect that it was not for the Good Works of Jacob that his Posterity was preferred before that of Esau for whilst the Children were yet in their Mothers Womb and had done neither Good nor Evil it was told Rebekah consulting the Divine Oracle about them that the Elder should serve the Younger Now the Reflections to be made upon this Doctrin of St. Paul are these 1. That the absolute Necessity there was then to treat of those matters and the urgent occasion that obliged the Apostles to speak of them is now wholly at an end for there 's none among the Christians that either calls or ought to call in Question the Election of those Gentiles who sincerely believed the Gospel So that if we happen now adays to be ingaged in any eager Disputes about those matters 't is meerly out of a Principle of Vanity or Obstinacy or a rash and impious Curiosity Every thing was practical in St Paul's Discourse of Predestination whereas those are wholly Speculative that are in these latter Days composed about it St. Paul had no other Design but to create Peace and Charity between the Jews and Gentiles by shewing them that they were both the Object of the Divine Election But now this Doctrin is changed into Speculation and Philosophy and has no other use but to create Scandalous Divisions in Christian Societies 2. The best and surest Method in this Case is to imitate the Modesty of St. Paul who barely asserted the thing taking great care not to search into the manner of it He only spoke of Election in general And when his curious and impertinent Reason went about to examine the performance of it he only cryed out O the Depth of the Riches c. It must be confessed St. Paul had as much Wit as any modern Divines can pretend to and so could have framed as probable Systems of the Consent and Harmony of the Decrees of God or have found out either in the ill use we make of our Free Will or in the Springs of our Soul wherewith to solve these Difficulties Yet he never attempted it And the reason was he was a true Divine and not a meer Philosopher and knew very well that the most essential part of Faith consists in humbly casting down our Eyes before the dark side of the Mystery 3. But because we are
Phenomenon it would be also contrary to Sense since all unanimously testify there is such a thing But Sense certifies the Existence of that Phenomenon and Reason is truly perswaded that it is so Reason thinks it a very hard matter to understand and Sense affirms not the contrary Reason therefore and Sense perfectly well agree together and such is likewise the joint Agreement of Faith and Reason in the greatest Mysteries of Religion Those are Difficulties indeed worthy to be admired which Philosophy so confidently starts up in matters of Divinity There are many things in Nature whose Existence we readily own but nothing tho inconsiderable in it self the manner of which we can comprehend and yet it never came into any Man's Mind that had but common Sense to call them in question If then we shew our selves so very reasonable in Natural things why should we prove so senseless in matters of Religion In common things our Understanding acts naturally but in Religion 't is deluded by the Passions which continually seek how to suggest to it new occasions of Doubting We may pass the same Judgment upon matters of Grace Do but distinguish Philosophy from Divinity and you will avoid thereby an infinite number of Difficulties it being certain that for the most part they proceed either from the eager desire we have to understand what is altogether incomprehensible or from the Speculations we have already made upon that we could not comprehend Now to know the Injustice of Men in this we need but observe that most of them being fully perswaded that God preserves us nourishes and supports us by his perpetual Concurrence without which the Meat we eat and the Care we have of our Preservation would stand us in no stead and by which we immediately Subsist yet we never heard that any one did seriously conclude from thence that we ought wholly to lay aside the Care of our own Preservation and solely rely on the Concurrence of God We never saw any one so sensless as to perplex himself with these sorts of needless Questions If it can be said that I nourish my self by taking those Aliments as are absolutely requisite for my Preservation how can it be reasonably affirmed that God nourishes or preserves me Or if it be God as nourishes me how do I lie under an Obligation of doing it my self I say we never heard any of those Difficulties objected against Natural things whereas it appears they are continually started in matters of Religion However there are as good Grounds for them in the one as the other because they consist in the Dependence we have upon the Deity either in our being Creatures already or being born again or becoming new Creatures In Nature we all know we subsist only by the Concurrence of God without inquiring into the manner of it But in Religion we are not content to know that we are Regenerated by Grace we further desire to search into the manner of that Operation and our principal care is how to find it out so that those very Difficulties which could not perplex Men in matters of Eating and Drinking seem terrible and frightful to them when 't is requisite they should lead a good Life If you would know the reason of it you must consult the Heart of Man 'T will be sufficient for us if we Act with as much reason in Religion as we do in civil Life If we consult the purest Lights of Reason it will inform us that 't is as necessary the New Creature should have its Dependence upon God as that the Creature should depend upon him because God himself is as well the Author of the one as of the other and as our Bodies have neither Life Motion nor Being but from him so our Souls have no Faculties Knowledge or Affections but what they derive from thence Every Being comes from him and nothing but what is defective can have any other Principle The thing it self then is very certain I mean that there is such a Grace to which we must necessarily refer all the good that is within us and that belongs to Divinity But the manner of its operation that is the degree of virtue it displays over us the manner in which it determines our Free-will its minutest Conjunctures c. may be hidden Mysteries belonging to the consideration of Philosophy but not in the least prejudicial to our Faith which consists in an humble Submission as well as in Knowledg and can as readily profess its utter Ignorance of a hidden Mystery as it gladly perceives it when revealed I question whether Divines have observed that when the Apostles are pleased to point out to us what is most eminent in Mysteries they neither examine the Order of the Decrees of God nor the inconceivable Transmission of Original Sin whereby the Wickedness of the First Man was conveyed down to us nor why Grace seems incompatible with Free-will Whence proceeds this if not from their Ignorance of Philosophy and want of vain Curiosity which by their own Example they designed to teach us to avoid What is then according to them the great Mystery of Godliness This is it God was manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels believed on in the World preached unto the Gentiles received up into Glory Tim. 3. 16. The Incarnation which is expressed in these Words God was manifest in the Flesh is a great and sublime Mystery but if we lay aside our Prejudices we shall find it conformable to our Reason 1. For it must be first of all granted that in this Covenant the Almighty debases not himself in favour of those with whom he makes it as we see in dishonourable Treaties where a King is upon equal terms with his Subjects This is a Covenant wherein God unites himself to the Creature without diminishing his Greatness and Glory and where the Creature unites it self to God without losing its due sense of Humility The Sun unites himself with the Cloud where it imprints its Brightness without an Eclipse and why should not God unite himself with an innocent Nature without lessening his real Worth and Dignity 2. We have an excellent Representation of this Truth in the Union of our Soul and Body where two Substances distinct in the highest degree are united together without having any natural proportion betwixt them What has the Soul to do with the Body And how can there be any Affinity betwixt things of so different a Nature It may perhaps be answered that there is a greater Disparity betwixt the Humane and Divine Nature than the Soul and the Body I agree that the Disparity is infinitely greater but the Diversity is still the same and there is a great deal of difference betwixt an Union which carries a mutual dependence along with it such as that of our Soul and Body and an Union which contains the dependence only on the one part such as that which is betwixt the Divine and Humane
Books of the Old Testament are partly reducible to Three Heads 1 st To a general Preparation of all things for the reception of the Messias who was to come 2 ly To the Representation of his Office and Oeconomy by a Type or Shadow 3 dly To the describing of him after such a manner as to render it altogether impossible for the Elect Souls not to know him when he came Whosoever shall consider the Books of the Old Testament under these Three Notions will certainly discover nothing in them that can perplex his Faith but he will find that every thing therein serves to increase his Knowledg by discovering to him as it were the Scheme of God's Councels and his great Plan and Design of Religion But since 't is not our present Design to dive into the unfathomable Abyss of the Justice Wisdom and Mercy of God so neither shall we enquire into the Reasons which induced him to permit Men to sin or why he was pleased to save some rather than others or upon what account he made use of the Intervention of a Mediatour rather than of any other Means or whether there were any other way to expiate the sins of Mankind but the Death of Christ I say we shall not trouble our selves about any of these vain and fruitless Enquiries And since it is but just we should freely own our Ignorance I think we can never find a better opportunity to acknowledge it than when we are talking about the secret Methods and Councels of God because we can never discover the bottom of them unless we cease to be what we are or he to be what he is Without attempting then to search into the manner of these things which is altogether incomprehensible to us and of which we are not able to speak but imperfectly we freely suppose the Truth of them We do not in the least question but God permits Sin because we are all Sinners We know that a small Number of Men are sanctified to whom the Scripture makes several great and sublime Promises And we are also taught that they are delivered from their Sins by the intervention of a Mediatour and that God had resolved to bring it to pass by such means even before the Foundation of the World But let us now consider how the Wisdom of God prepared and disposed Men for it These Preparations related in the Old Testament are manifold For there are Preparations of Events Preparations of Ceremonies Preparations of Prophecies Preparations of Precepts and Preparations of Tenets As for the Events they all relate to this great Center of Religion Had Abraham always lived in Vr of the Chaldees he must necessarily have fallen into Idolatry as well as the rest of his Kindred or he could never have preserved to his Posterity the Knowledge and Worship of the true God and his Seed consequently could not have been a Seed of Blessing for all the Nations to come It was then absolutely requisite he should forsake his Country as well as his Kindred And had Jacob always lived with his Father Laban the Posterity of the latter would have corrupted that of the former so that Esau having already mixed himself with Strangers the holy Race could by no means avoid being confounded with the profane and so the Promise of the Messias would not have been entailed upon any particular Family or Nation because in Succession of Time it would have been altogether impossible to distinguish it from the rest It was then necessary that Jacob should forsake his Father-in-Laws House and consequently live apart from all other Nations And had it not been for the protecting Providence of God this People who was honoured with his Covenants and intrusted with his Oracles would have absolutely perished in Egypt and together with them the Hopes of a promised Redeemer To preserve therefore such comfortable hopes they were necessarily separated from all other Nations and the better to keep themselves in that State tho' they differed from them all in matters of Policy Manners Inclinations and Religion yet it was necessary they had God for their supream Magistrate who gave them all those wonderful Marks of his Protection we read of in the Old Testament Tho' thev were carried away captives into Babylon for their Sins they were necessarily gathered together again from that Dispersion Seventy years after lest a longer Bondage should have made them for ever lose the Marks of their Election 'T is no difficult matter to perceive that it was in behalf of the Messias only that God was pleased to make so many Distinctions And the Promise of his coming could not be entailed upon every Nation of the World He set apart one single Nation from the rest purposely to intrust them with so great a Salvation And because 't was absolutely requisite this Distinction should remain till the Birth of that Redeemer so for that End he appointed five very remarkable Principles of that Separation The first whereof was the Knowledge of the true God a divine Character of the Election of that People and a Priviledge they could not chuse but be infinitely jealous of especially when they considered what profound Darkness Ignorance and Superstition was then dispersed in the World The second was the Circumcision that sign of his Covenant which God was pleased the Israelites should bear in their Flesh to distinguish them the more effectually from all other Nations For it was not by meer Chance or out of any fantastical Humour that this Custom was first settled among the Jews 'T is not to be supposed they could have received without very powerful Motives to it so painful and difficult a Custom so contrary to the natural Affection of Mothers as appears by the Example of Zeporah nay which even seems at first view somewhat shameful and obscene As for Philo's and other Mens Reflexions on the Customs of the Circumcision they are very pitiful The third Principle of that Distinction was the Land of Canaan which God gave to the Patriarchs and their Posterity after them tho' he did not give them immediatly an actual possession of it He fixed the Hearts of that People upon that particular Land lest they should have been insensibly dispersed over the Face of the whole Earth And the Patriarchs upon their Death-beds strictly recommended the carrying of their Bones into it the better to fix the Hopes and Affections of the whole Nation upon it But lest it should have happened that the Canaanites the Perisites the Jebusites c. who were before in possession of that Land should have intermixed themselves with the holy Generation and consequently corrupted them by their Superstition God himself consented that those Nations should in this Life undergo an exemplary Punishment for their Sins which had been carried on to the utmost pitch of Excess and for that end his Vengeance made use of Josuah and his Armies as Instruments to destroy them utterly The fourth was the Tabernacle and afterwards the
search no great sagacity or penetration of Mind to discover this Truth For it is manifest that the Christian Religion is not design'd for the satisfaction of the carnal and worldly Appetites of Men as that of the present Jews who aspire only after temporal Prosperity and worldy Pomps Nor is it a Monstrous medly like that of the Samaritans made up of a ridiculous mixture of the Pagan and Jewish Religion Nor is it impious and cruel like that of the Gnosticks nor has it any of the Faults or extravagant Superstitions of the Pagan Religion But since we have not leisure to oppose it particularly to all the Errors of other Religions we must be contented to shew in this Comparison the advantages the Christian Religion has above all the rest by laying down the following Rules I. Other Religions as being principally of human Invention and Institution were formed by degrees from the different Imaginations of several Persons who successively made such Additions or Alterations as they thought convenient The Greeks for Example added several things to that Religion they received from the Egyptians and the Romans to that they had received from the Greeks Menander sâ—â—ll improved the â—ottish Impieties of Simon Magus and Saturninus and Basilides added to those of Menander And the reason is because Men are never weary of inventing nor the People of believing Novelties But it is not so with the Christian Religion which was wholly deliver'd by Christ is entirely contain'd in every one of the Gospels and ev'n in each Epistle of the Apostles What ever alterations Men have thought fit to make in the Doctrine Christ brought into the World did only corrupt the Purity and Spirituality of it as appears by the great disproportion there is betwixt the Apostolical Doctrine and the ordinary speculations of Men. II. Other Religions durst not shew themselves openly in full light and therefore were veiled over with a mysterious Silence and affected Darkness The Gnosticks chose the Night to cover the Impurity of their abominable Mysteries And the Romans exposed themselves to the satyrical Railery of their Poets 〈◊〉 being so careful to conceal the Worship they paid to their Goddess Bona Julian and Porphyrius set all their Wits to work either to set off the ridiculous and offensive Ceremonies of Paganism or to palliate their Superstition by several various explanations of it as when they so stâ—ffly affirmed that they worshipped one only supreme God tho they acknowledged at the same time other Subordinate Deities depending one upon another and when they endeavour'd to justify the Worship they paid to their Idols by using many subtile and nice Distinctions It is certain there is a Principle of Pride implanted in the Hearts of Men which is the Reason they cannot endure to be accused of entertaining any absurd and extravagant Opinions so that when ever their Passions have made them embrace a Religion which seems not very reasonable they employ all heir Wit to make it at least appear consonant to Reason But the Christian Religion requires no Veil to cover it no mysterious Silence no dark Dissimulation or close Disguise altho it proposes such kinds of Objects to us as are vastly contrary to all our Prejudices and receiv'd Opinions The Apostles freely confess that the Preaching of the Gospel is as it were an apparent Folly but yet they assure us God was resolved to save the World by that seeming Folly They knew that the Death of Christ became a scandal to the Jew and a folly to the Greek yet they publickly declared that they were determined not to know any thing save Jesus Christ and him crucified And how comes it then that they did not in the least mince or endeavour to soften the sense of that seeming Paradox so far were they from concealing it but that they were strongly and fully persuaded of the Truth of that adorable Mystery and that the abundance of their Understanding serv'd only to make them more fully comprehend the efficacy of the Cross III. Should we strictly consider some Religions we should find they were first for the most part institued either by Poets or Philosophers and that they generally spring from the sportive Conceits or witty Speculations of the Understanding which is the reason they were not so universally approved The Philosophers always derided the Religion of the Vulgar and the Vulgar understood nothing of the Religion of the Philosophers Socrates ridiculed the Religion of the Athenians and the Athenians accused Socrates of Impiety and Atheism and condemned him to death The Christian Religion alone is approved of as well by the Philosophers as the vulgar People as neither depending upon the Ignorance of the latter nor proceeding from the Learning of the former It has a divine Efficacy and agreeable Power suitable to all Hearts It is adapted to the Capacity of the most simple and ignorant tho infinitely raised above the Philosophy of the Wise It is sublime without being nicely speculative and simple without being mean in its Sublimity preserving its Clearness and in it's Simplicity preserving it's Dignity In a word there is nothing so great nor so inconsiderable in human Society but what may some way fall under it's consideration and it is equally approved of and admired by all IV. Other Religions brought Men from Spiritual Objects to those that were Corporeal and Earthly The Christian Religion brings them from the Objects of Sense to those of the Vnderstanding We all know that the Heathens when they Deified Men or worship'd a Deity under an human Shape they were so far paying that Deity a Worship due to a Spiritual Nature that their Adoration consisted in several Games Shews and divers Exercises of the Body The Jews and Samaritans by their eager Disputes whether God was to be worshipped in Jerusalem or in Mount Gerazim extinguished Charity the true Spirit of Religion in their too hot defence of the external part of it Nay the Prophets complained formerly that the Jews made 〈…〉 to consist in bowing down their Heads as a â—â—â—rush and putting on Sackcloth and Ashes And the holy Scripture observes that the Priests of Baal were wont to cut themselves with Knives and Lances when they sacrificed to him as if there were no other way to make their God hear their Prayers but by inflicting such Punishments on their own Bodies The modern Jews can't be persuaded that we have been called to the knowledge of the true God tho they find we all profess to put our trust and confidence in him because they perceive not that we use any Corporeal Ceremonies And the Mahumetans more irreligious than superstitious make their Religion and its Happiness depend chiefly on their Senses when they Worship they turn themselves towards Mecha as the Jews did towards Jerusalem and earnestly desire of God that he would gratify their Senses and tho they have a sort of a Religious Respect for the Letters that compose the Name of God and