these dry Bones shall live and become the same Man they were before their Dissolution And this must appear very easy for the Soul loses nothing by the separation from the Body as the Body does by being parted from the Soul This piece of Divinity within us owes no homage to the Elements nor is liable to be chang'd as they are As to the Souls of the Blessed they pay a constant attendance before the Throne of Grace and are always expecting the joyful Command by which they are oblig'd to a re-union And as to the Souls of the Unhappy they shall be forced unwillingly to re-inspire their unwelcome Mansions to animate once more those Parts which as in tortur'd Men are only new set and compacted to be tormented a new As there is nothing in the Resurrection of the Body which carries the appearance of an Impossibility so Secondly It is in it self very probable and suitable to the Rules of true Reason The ancient Apologists of Christianity defending it against the Heathens usually shew'd the probability of a Resurrection from some Parallels in the Works of Nature Thus the * Tertull. de Resuâ—t c. Springs rising so gloriously from the Winter and the Day from the Night the most beautiful Offsprings from the most deform'd Parents were by their pious Rhetorick exalted into some kinds of Proofs as well as Types of the Resurrection But these are not so much Evidences of as handsom Allusions to this great Truth in order to take off that Contempt with which the Heathens entertain'd this new and surprizing Doctrin Tho' the order of Effects and Changes in Nature furnish us not with any thing which may make the Resurrection probable yet the just view of the Wisdom and Goodness of God as it is discover'd by the Light of Reason will make it appear very suitable to it For tho' it is not agreeable to the Divine Wisdom to raise up Mankind only to make them capable of acting over again all that scene of Folly Ill-nature Vanity and Vice which they live obnoxious to now yet to command them back to a Life which is truly heavenly glorious and happy in which they are made fit for so glorious a Being as God Himself to take delight in is a design worthy a wise and good Creator who certainly made Man for some nobler Ends than what he can arrive to in this State of Mortality The chief design as seems evident to the Light of Nature it self for God to create Man was to communicate his own Goodness and to presentiate an order of Objects to himself which bearing his own Image and being endued with Reason might still glorify his Name and yield him back some faint Reflexion of Himself If so since God Is to all Eternity why should he not desire a Presentiation of these Objects to all Eternity Why should he not be willing to be glorify'd and to have this sort of Reflexion of Himself made back to all Eternity And since God has laid the Laws of Morality and Religion on the Body as well as on the Soul since that is oblig'd to Purity and an humble Adoration as well as this to Virtues peculiar to its Nature why should God be fancy'd to be so wholly taken up with this as not in the least to be concern'd for that Why should he change the State of the Blessed and divest them of that which properly makes up their Humanity by refining them into a pure Spirit As the Resurrection is thus probable so is it Thirdly Upon the prospects of the Divine Promises and Predictions certain and beyond all question firm It was obscurely predicted ever since the very Fall of Man and darkly imply'd in the Promise of the Messias who was to be a Redeemer of the Body as well as of the Soul As the first Man was made with all the Perfections due to his Body as well as to his Soul so he who should repair what Man lost by his Fall must restore him the Excellencies of that as well as of this And tho' the Revelation of a Resurrection to the Jews was not so clear as to put it beyond all doubt and to make it a strict Article of Faith yet are there several Texts in the Old Testament which are manifest Allusions to it and tacit Proofs of it Thus Moses introduces God speaking See now that I even I am He I kill and I make alive And thus Isaiah with his usual height of Language Thy Dead shall live together with my dead Body shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in the Dust for thy Dew is as the Dew of Herbs and the Earth shall cast out the Dead To which may be subjoin'd that remarkable place of Job Though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another Tho' the excellent Grotius applies these Words to his Temporal restitution or at most to discover his Expectation of a future State alone yet they seem at least to allude to the Hopes which he had of a Resurrection As to that place which our Saviour quotes from Exodus I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob they appear only in general to prove the Immortality of the Soul and to shew that these Patriarchs were not in a State of Annihilation tho' with particular regard to the Sadducees against whom they were urg'd they are a just and matchless Argument for a Resurrection For they scrupled only the Immortality of the Soul and if they could conceive that the Soul could exist independent of the Body they could grant that it might be re-united to it For they were of the same Opinion in that Age which the followers of Spinosa and Mr. Hobbes maintain in ours That what Is is Material excepting God alone in which fundamental Point of Natural Religion of God's being a Spirit those ancient Scepticks were much more Orthodox than our modern ones But how obscure soever the Doctrin of the Resurrection might be under the Revelation of the Old Testament yet under the New this Article is deliver'd with all the light and demonstrative force imaginable The whole stress of the Gospel is as it were repos'd upon it and because it look'd strange and surprizing to the unbelieving World it is enforc'd with greater Arguments repeated with more frequency To mention only one remarkable place of our Saviour's Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done Good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation As this was a considerable part of our Saviour's Preaching so he confirm'd it by his own Example by rising from the Dead himself and so by virtually raising those which are his For If the Spirit of him which rais'd Christ from
or absolutely needful to the gaining of Eternal Life but what was so under the Old Testament before his coming otherwise he had been oblig'd to have inform'd the Lawyer of thâ—se new Terms of Salvation and not to have refer'd him to the Law and what was to be read in it He did not therefore new extend the old Commands or impose new ones he introduc'd no new Religion into the World nor even material Circumstances of it the Will of God as it was reveal'd to Man being of that kind that it is as unchangeable as his own glorious Nature and the way to Heaven as much one as that ever-blessed and holy GOD whose enjoyment makes up the Bliss of that happy State This Conclusion drawn from the design of the Words I shall endeavour to prove by shewing First That it was inconsistent with the Character which our Saviour should bear to exercise such Legislative Power as to give New Commands or new extension to the Old ones Secondly That the Moral Law in its own nature was incapable of receiving an addition of New Commands or of having the Old ones extended to New Duties Thirdly That as it was inconsistent with our Saviour under that Character which he bore and as there was this incapacity in the Law so That he never attempted to do what was both thus against the Nature of the Thing and besides his own Character to extend the Old Commands or impose New ones Fourthly That as our Saviour has not added any thing to the Law so neither has he taken any thing from it nor is there any Priviledge in the Gospel which makes void any of the Commands of God before given Lastly I shall briefly reflect on the Encouragement that there is to observe the divine Commands because their observance shall be rewarded with Eternal Life as it is styl'd by our Saviour The three first of these Positions are quite contrary to the Doctrin taught by Smaloius or whosoever else was the Author of the Racovian Catechism and Racov. Cat. â— â—â—â— c. to the generality of the Vnitarian Divines nay and even to some of great Name amongst our selves who in some Bâ— Taylor 's Ductor Dubitant pag. â—42 c. Rule 4. Edit 1696. Forbes and others things seem too favourable to their Opinions who affirm That it was agreeable to our Saviour's Character to make additions to the Law and that the Law was qualify'd to receive 'em and that he did not only extend the Mosaick Commands to new Duties but also made the Appendage of several Commands of his own Such are the Commands of Self-denial taking up the Cross or Patience under Misery and Death the following of Christ to which Duties they say there was no obligation before Christianity In opposition to whom I shall endeavour to prove First That it was inconsistent with that Character which our Saviour should bear to exercise any such Legislative Power as to give new Commands or newextension to the old ones By the Virtue of his Character our Saviour does not so much as assume Authority to displace the Scribes and Pharisees from Moses's Chair or to weaken that power which they had gain'd over the People tho' he well knew how unjust their Pretensions were both to the one and the other so far is he from publishing any thing but what might reasonably be spoken from the Chair of Moses and suitably to his Sence The Scribes and Pharisees says he sit in Moses's seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe and do that observe and do 'T is true he divests the Law as was fit of those artificial Traditions which instead of strengthning did in his unerring Judgment make it void He drew off that Veil from its Face which their Doctor 's Interpretations had put on it and shew'd the beauty of its Holiness in its full lustre But he does not that we find add any thing to it and as He came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets so neither came he to make any New Law of his own For the Character which he sustain'd was indeed unqualify'd for such an Office because he did not appear in the Person of a Law-giver to give New Laws but in that of a Mediator being at once the Priest and the Sacrifice to atone for our breaches of the old to free us from the Curse which we had contracted by them and to be made a Curse for us that he might redeem us from the Curse of the Law For this is one of the great differences between Moses and Christ That the former was to make Laws and by the force of them to accuse and condemn the Disobedient whereas Jesus Christ came only to pardon absolve and reconcile Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father says he to the opposing Jews there is one that â—coâ—soth you even Moses in whom you trust The reason is because God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World or indeed to execute any other branch of Judicial or Legislative Jurisdiction but that thro' him the World might be saved For the Law the Rule of Practice and Obedience was given by Moses but Grace the Dispensation of Pardon and Reconcilement to the Benitent and Truth the Fulfilling of the Types of the Law came by Jesus Christ The appearance of a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief was too inglorious for a divine Law-giver to assume and Laws would but receive small force from him who was despis'd and rejected of men So that he was only to live suffer and die suitably to the Law a Pattern of unmateh'd Innocence and Virtue to fulfil it not to add to it And indeed it was absolutely unnecessary that our Saviour should be invested with the Power of adding any thing to the Law For Secondly The Moral Law in its own nature was incapable of receiving an addition of New Commands or of having the Old ones extended to New Duties The Psalmist tells us The Law of God is perfect and there is reason that it should be so if we consider that the fources of Good and Evil are not chiefly laid in any positive Injunction of God with a design to try Man's Obedience as * Sunt qui nullam praeceptorum causamquaerunt sed dicunt omnia solam Dei Voluntatem sequi Maimonides Mor. Nov. â— 3. c. 26. some have fancy'd but in the order and dependance of things themselves which are always in the principal the same We must therefore conclude that this Law which is the Rule of this Good or Evil must be always the same too and therefore when it began to be a Law or a measure of this Good or Evil it must be as perfect as it is at present because what is now Good or Evil was always Good or Evil. Farther If we survey the compass and latitude of that Holiness Sanctity and Perfection which were commanded by the Law we may find that it was not
would make a sober Heathen blush First because the Christian Religion is only a Law for our Actions which can invite and perswade alone but cannot force an Observance And the ill Actions of Christians ought no more to be imputed to Christianity it self than the Disorders of any Persons who live under Civil or Municipal Laws ought to be charg'd upon those Laws Secondly Tho' these Persons Lives are an open contradiction to Christianity yet it does not follow but that they may be convinc'd of the Truth of it in their Minds and Understandings For we may easily see that Men are not always determin'd by the dictates of their Reason but frequently by the biass and relish of their Senses and Passions Nor can we conclude that because Persons live as if Christianity was an Imposture that therefore they are fully perswaded that it is so Farther we find that they have often Remorses and sad Reflections on their Actions which can only rise in Minds satisfy'd of the Truth of that against which they practise For only the fear of being call'd to Account hereafter can make us sorrowful and amaz'd for having done amiss here under temporal Impunity Thirdly Morality Philosophy and the noblest Institutions which ever were lie under the same blemish with Christianity For the Lives of their Professors have seldom answer'd their refin'd Rules And it is scarce possible that they should do so till Man is subtiliz'd into a pure Spirit and rescued from those Passions and Inclinations which at present checquer and discolour our Natures As to the Zeal of these Persons it is false and counterfeited if their Actions are not conformed to their great Pretensions Thirdly 'T is no just Objection against Christianity That several Professors of it embrace it not out of Reason or Conviction but out of a supine Credulity and walk blindly on in the Christian Religion only because it is the Worship of their Country For the Christian Religion does not demand any such credulous Temper of Mind from its Professors All that it requires is an Understanding free from Prejudice and which is ready to pay attention to Reason Our Saviour at the Establishment of this Religion did not desire to be believ'd on his own Testimony If I bear witness of my self says he my witness is not true He appeals to his Miracles as the most glorious Credentials of his Celestial Mission for the Works which the Father had given him to finish the same Works that he did bore witness of him that the Father had sent him These Miracles he proposes to the Examination of the Spectators and if they could discover any Imposture in them that they were perform'd by the power of Nature or of Magick as was * Celsus apud Origen p 340. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz Christum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. ab Aegypto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards urg'd then he refus'd to be believ'd He does not fix the guilt of Unbelief purely in the Jews rejecting his Religion but in refusing to pay an Assent to it after that it was made suitable to Reason prov'd out of the Prophecies of the Old Testament supported by Miracles greater than every thing but their Infidelity If I had not done among them Works which none other man did they had not had sin but now have they both seen and hated me and my Father As our Saviour so his Apostles addrest to the Reasons of their Followers in order to excite their Faiths Thus St. Paul Prove all things hold fast that which is good And that Apostle which our Saviour lov'd after a most passionate manner advises the Church Not to believe every Spirit but to try the Spirits whether they are of God So that the Christian Faith does not consist in an implicit Credulity and blind Assent but in a well-founded and rational Belief arising from just Information and exact Reasoning on Things The saving Principles of Religion indeed are few and lie in a small Compass though not within so little Bounds as the Author of The Reasonableness of Christianity and * Hobbes de Civ Relig p. 386. c. par 6. c. Dico autem alium Arti culum Fidei praeter hunc JESUM HSSH CHRISTUM hommi Christiano ut necessarium ad salutem requiri nullum c. Mr. Hobbes contend for And tho' every one ought to give the true Reasons for his Belief yet the Saving Truths of Religion in many illiterate Persons if attended with a Moral Life Humility of Spirit and Fervency of Devotion may be as acceptable to God as in the most eminent Critick in Theological Matters who can give the nicest Resolution for every thing relating to them Yet notwithstanding this every one is oblig'd as far as lies in his power to examin and try the Articles of his Religion and to be a Christian not by Education Custom or Example but by Reason and Conviction So far is Religion that is the Reform'd Religion such as was taught by our Saviour and his Apostles from encouraging a supine Credulity or blind Belief Nor is the Sceptick's Fourth Objection valid That Christianity has been propagated by God only in a small part of the World and even where it has been promulg'd it is found but an indifferent Expedient to work any such extraordinary Effects on Men's Minds as might be expected from a Religion which God himself came down from Heaven to preach and to seal with his Blood As to the first part That Christianity is only known to a small part of the World it may be reply'd First That tho' God has been graciously pleas'd to promise that he will by his good Providence so order things that the sound of the Gospel shall be heard in the uttermost parts of the Earth yet has he not limited the Time when it shall thus be universally promulg'd Secondly That it is the fault in some measure of Christians themselves why their Religion is not diffus'd among the unconverted Nations because Voyages to these barbarous Climes are only undertaken upon Motives of Interest or Prospects of Commerce without any design to promote the Truths of Religion Thirdly The Christian Religion has been communicated to almost all the Civiliz'd World Most of the Territories of the four famous Empires have had the Gospel preach'd amongst them besides other Parts more lately discover'd While good Morals and Humanity while Humility Chastity Honour and Probity flourish'd so long the Christian Religion continued but when these were deâ—ac'd by Violence Ambition Pride Lust and Ill-nature it was time for Religion to take her flight up to Heaven or to some more hospitable Regions upon Earth For how could she subsist when her foundation Morality was remov'd Fourthly As to those places where the Christian Religion has not been heard of God will deal with them as a God of Mercy He who lives up to the Light of his own Reason up to a true Sence of the Dignity of his own Nature
of Abraham or of Lot as well as of Christ because he spake of them too Nay there is no Being so evil which is ever mention'd in Holy Writ but the ever-blessed Spirit might be said to be their Spirit according to this wild and uncouth Hypothesis St. Barnabas styles the Spirit of the Prophets the Spirit of God who should appear in the Flesh Justin Martyr says that the Prophets were not Self-inspir'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apolog. 2. p. 76. Irenaeus against Marcion as expresly that it was Jesus Edit Sylburg lib. 4. c. 21. Advers Haeres p. 337. Edit F. Ardent Christ who spake to Abraham and Moses If it was God therefore who spake by the Prophets and Christ was Co-partner with God the Father in this speaking Christ must be God of the same Nature with the Father Thirdly Christ is God because of his Exercising all power in Heaven and in Earth For the Government of the World is a Branch of the Divine Prerogative He rules over all Kingdoms of the Earth He whose Name is Jehovah is the highest over all the Earth But Volkelius himself as refin'd an Author De Ver. Rel. Book 3. c. 21. as any that Party can boast freely owns that Christ exercises Jurisdiction over all things to use his own words which are contain'd not only in the vast compass of the Earth but also of the Heavens Christ therefore must be God Fourthly Christ is God because He is to raise the Dead from their Graves to Life and a new State For none but He who breath'd a living Soul into us can restore it None but One whose Understanding is infinite who knows every Atome of our Bodies every Dust and Particle which belongs to us He who is conscious what Dust appertains to each Body what Body to each Soul None but One whose Power is as unbounded as his Knowledge in regard of whom all Creatures must suffer and do what he will have them Who can summon and re-assemble our scatter'd Atomes from the Earth and from the Waves and reconcile our long estrang'd Parts to their ancient familiarity Whose Voice can awake the sleepers of Thousands of Years some to Peace and Joy but some to Misery and everlasting Contempt But Christ is the Person who must raise the Dead For the Dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live All that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done Good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Fifthly Christ is God because He shall Judge the World For it is necessary for him who shall Judge the World that he should be intimately acquainted with the Consciences of all Mankind that all their Thoughts should be laid naked and open to his view and that all the devices of their Hearts should be manifest to him But none besides God can have such a Knowledge as this for Lo he that declareth unto man what is his thought that maketh the morning darkness the Lord the God of Hosts is his Name But Christ is ordain'd by God to be Judge of the Quick and Dead and to this end Christ both died rose and revived that he might be Judge both of the Dead and the Living and so for that reason must be God Lastly He who shall destroy and change the World who in the Prophet's Language shall roll the Heavens together as a Scrowl the Heavens which like a wide stretched Scrowl are written over with beauteous Characters by God's own hand he is God For this is one of the peculiar Actions of God that he shall destroy the Heavens For as a Vesture shall he change them and they shall be changed But Volkelius owns that our Saviour has such a power and that he shall roll them up together like a Scrowl and burn them And therefore on that account must be God which may be farther made out Secondly From the ill Consequences of the contrary Assertion For how open does the Socinian Christ lie to the Exceptions of the Jews or the more rational sort of Deists who own a God a Providence and a future State and to any who maintain the Unity of the Godhead yet deny the Divinity of Christ And is it not very sutable for the Jews to reason against Christianity from the Socinian Principles after this method We are convinc'd from Scripture that there is but one God we know that there is no other besides him or with him for Who is God save the Lord and who is a Rock save our God But now you introduce one Jesus as God who was neither God from Eternity nor by Nature and Essence This new this created God we look upon as a Fiction we can pay him no Homage no Adoration till we have renounc'd Moses and the Prophets and offer'd violence to the Principles of Reason and Natural Religion Farther our God has taught us by his Prophet Isaiah that He even he is the Lord and besides him there is no Saviour and this is spoken Prophetically with regard to the times of the Messias How then can we own this Jesus for our Saviour who is by Nature different from God We are commanded to worship the Lord our God and to serve him only How then may we worship and serve Jesus who is a God different from the God of Israel How can we give him equal Honour with the Lord Jehovah without provoking his Wrath and forcing him to repeat all those Inflictions on us which our Fathers justly suffer'd God has expresly declar'd that He withnot give his glory to another but by worshiping your Jesus is not God's Glory given 〈…〉 Object distinct from God The Scriptures solemnly inform us that God alone â—â—â—â—'s the Heart and the Reins and is conscious to all the Thoughts of Men If we as you do should apply these Actions to the Man Jesus we should be guilty of advancing a false God into the Throne of the Almighty and making a Creature rival the Deity Farther Has not God taught us to address to him alone in the time of our Distress and promis'd his succours to encourage our Prayers Can we then pray to your Jesus whom you your selves deny to be the true God of Israel The Scripture threatens that Gods which have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under the Heavens Can we then honour him for God who was so far from making the Heavens and the Earth that he himself had no Being when they were form'd Or can God at the last Day be angry at us for not receiving and worshiping him as God who according to Scripture was to perish from the Earth and under the Heavens Lastly The Idea which we have and always had of God represents him to our Minds as present every where Omniscient and Almighty If therefore he who is offer'd to us
Goodness to make suitable Requitals which he will most certainly perform tho' not in Kind yet in what will be much more for our Advantage and will consult tho' not our present Satisfaction yet our lasting Benefit An Observation therefore of God's returns to our Prayers Thanksgiving for his Grants and Denials a due Value of the Privilege of Prayer a Correcting our Prayers for the future by our past disappointments and lastly Almâ—giving are necessary aâ—ter we have pray'd to make our antecedent Prayers duly effectual So that I shall proceed to enquire into Lastly What Acts are to be continued and extended through each of these both before in and after our Prayers And First We ought to be possest with a great sence of our imperfections in the discharge of this weighty Duâ—y This must nun through all the parts of it but ought more particularly to be exprest both before and after our Devotions At both these times we ought solemnly to entreat God's Pardon son the Errors that we have or may commit for the stragling of our Thoughts which the best of Men can more easily bewail than prevent since the most watchful and steady Mind cannot hinder all the disorders of a roving Fancy in the midst of our most serious Devotions for our over-earnest begging of Blessings of a trivial Nature or for our want of any of the former Qualifications in that measure which is expedient The next Qualification is a very comprehensive one and which takes in all the rest yet withal a very necessary one too and that is universal Holiness and Sanctity For our Praying in a short time will make us loave off our Sins or our Sins our Prayers So that this will be an Effect as well as a Qualification of our Devotion For tho' the former Qualifications may be sufficient for a new Convert and for one who has but lately had the sence and conviction of Religion upon his Mind yet from a Proficient in this Duty nothing will be accepted less than a general a compleat and uniform Obedience to all God's Commands For tho' the Prayers of one who begins to leave his Sins and yet sometimes upon the prevalency of Custom or the surprize of a violent Temptation relapses into 'em may be heard upon his Repentance yet this state of Sinning and Repenting must not continue longin Aâ— general Piety must be super induc'd oâ— else iâ— is a sign that his Prayers have not â—ad their due efficacy if they do not conquer all Sin at least so that it may noâ— reign in us if they do 〈◊〉 give us some sort of fore-tast of the Joys of that Place to which they are directed and make 〈…〉 Soâ—is Sympathize and conform themselves with the Virtue and Innocence of its blessed Inhabitants So that the summ of â—ll is â— That Purity a Consideration of â—ur Wants a Trust in God a good Intention are necestsary to prepare us for Prayerâ— Humility Attention Fervour Charity Brevity and Perseverance in the time of Praying An Observation of God's Providence â— Value of our Privilege to Pray a Reforming of our Prayers by our Disappointments and Almsgiving are requir'd after we have pray'd And a Senâ—e of our Imperfections and an Vniversal Piety are to run through all the Periods of this Duty A Prayer which is put up to Heaven after this Method is surely more suitable for a reasonable Creature to present before his Almighty Maker than what is utteb'd by or rather impress'd upon a Soul cast into a purely passive State or Posture into a State of Expectations of the Divine Emanations to enlighten the Mind as that Duty has been model'd by some late foreign Mollnos Madame de Bourignon c. Enthusiasts Which is but what had been before advanc'd by Enthusiasts of our own Nation for thus an †James Naylor's Love to the Lost p. 13. Author of great Character amongst the most irregular Sect which ever oppos'd this Church allows of no use of our own Intellectual Powers of our Passions Imaginations or Wills in the exercise of this Duty Because says he God will be serâ—'d with his own alone and not with any thing in Man which is come in since the Fall so the Imaginations Thinkings and Conceivings are shut out And these Qualifications before hinted at seem much more intelligible more adapted to the Oeconomy of our Devotion than * â— Horris's Resteâ—â—ions on the Conduct of Humane Life c. Sect. 11. The taking hold of essential Truth nakedly as it is in it self than the applying the Mind to the intelligible World the World of Truth than the addressing to the Ideal World than †Entretiens Christiâ—nnes de la Recherche de la Verite de P. Malebranche l. 3. ch 6. the union with God the seeing of all things in God Terms in some measure invented by two refin'd and curious Thinkers the one of our own the other of a Neighbouring Kingdom And here I cannot but reflect on a dangerous Error of a Mystick * Monsieur Francis de Salignac Fenelon Archeveque de Cambray Maximes de Saints ou sur la vie interieure Writer of more who seems to exclude Virtue from the Staâ—e of transform'd Souls as he styles them and those wrap'd up in the highest transports of Devotion But that Virtue is not only a preparation for Devotion but also a compleating of it has been shewn in this Discourse and not only so but that it is practic'd by the Blessed by whom Devotion is exercis'd in its most exalted flights was made out tho' far below the Majesty of the Subject in the preceding Essay But to close all Furnish'd with the former Qualifications we may be justly said to Pray always and in the Spirit Yet such Prayers as were before describ'd will never fail of Success till God shall cease from being True and our Almighty's Strength from being Merciful Such Prayers as these will be acceptable Sacrifices to the Heavenly Altar will procure Pardon for Sin and Encrease of Grace and â—t length Eternal Life and will at last expire into Everlasting Thanksgiving When we shall need to Pray no more but this Duty as some fancy of Faith and Hope shall cease and we shall have nothing to do for ever but to give Thanks Adore and Praise AN ESSAY UPON MELCHIZEDEC OR A Parallel between the Priesthood of CHRIST and Melchizedec THERE are scarcely any purely Historical Passages of Scripture which carry the appearance of greater Obscurity or have had more various Sences put upon them than those which regard Melchizedec Tho' who this Person was has been a Controverted Point and perhaps ever will be so for Controversies do not end with the first Authors of them yet that Christ is parallel'd with him in his Priestly Office is as evident as the other part is dark and intricate I shall therefore endeavour to give a view both of the obscure and bright side of this Subject by making
raise the Body from the same Grave in which it was at first repos'd unless it was the same Body which was there at first repos'd Tho' the Body shall be glorify'd and spiritualiz'd yet it shall be the same For if the Bodies of our first Parents could pass from Immortality to Mortality and yet continue the same obnoxious to Punishment in this for Sins committed in that why may not the Reverse of this be true and Men from Mortal become Immortal from Corruptible become Incorruptible and yet abide the same I shall close this Essay with making a short Reflection on a Passage in a late Treatise written on this Subject by the Learned Dr. Hody to whose Merit I pay an extraordinary Deference tho' I cannot in all things in this Point pay an Assent to his way of Reasoning He seems without sufficient Motive to endeavour to overthrow the Arguments of the Fathers by which they prove the Identity of the Rising Body The Fathers reason in short That since there is a relative combination between Soul and Body since the Merit or Demerit of any Action is shar'd between them that therefore they shall both appear the same to receive Rewards or Punishments for their good or ill Actions This method of Discourse seems just and true notwithstanding that the Learned Doctor says that Dr. Hody concerning the Resurrection of the same Body p. 210 The Arm that stabs sins no more than the Sword and 't is the Soul only that is the Murderer This is a fine abstracted Cartesian way of talking but would scarce be accepted in any Court of Justice if a Murderer should plead it to his Judge to exempt his Body from satisfying the Law And this Notion seems to tend to confirm that which some Enthusiasts not long since advanc'd that So long as we keep the Soul pure we may do what we please with the Body To strengthen this the Doctor Ibid. says That the Body is not capable of any Rewards or Punishments Why then from this Argument should the same Body rise But certainly tho' the Body can resent no Pleasure or Pain without the Soul yet they in conjunction receive several Impressions of both which the Soul could not perceive alone therefore to make both perfectly happy or miserable both must be rais'd and both the same The Doctor 's last Argument is That if all the bulk of the same Matter should rise we should be Monsters of Men at the Resurrection But the Effluvia to answer this Objection which make up this vast Mass flow from the Carneous Parts and from the Blood which are not particularly concern'd in Human Actions the former of which Plato so much admir'd by the Doctor calls only * Wool or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Timaeo Down to wrap the Body easily and softly round the latter the Forrage and Pasturage of the Flesh But from the Vessels Parts and Organs peculiarly serviceable to Life Motion Sense Imagination Understanding and Will the Effluvia are inconsiderable nor would they much surpass their due Dimensions if all the Matter which ever belong'd to them were rais'd AN ESSAY Against SCEPTICISM In Matters of Religion IN order to endeavour to give some Check to the prevailing Humour of Scepticism which is become so extreamly Modish that no Person can be that self-admir'd thing a Wit without it I shall First as is most natural propose a short view of some of those pretended Reasons which the Scepticks and Deists and others of the same Order usually give for their Scepticism and Doubts about the Truths of Religion To every one of which I shall return a transient Reply Secondly I shall take a short survey of the true Reasons and Motives which make Men Scepticks First The pretended Reasons are such as these First They believe Religion to be false because many who make great shews of being Christians are only such out of Interest and in all likelyhood would change the Christian Profession for another which would be more serviceable for their Designs Secondly They have an ill Opinion of Religion because many who are zealous for its Truths are yet negligent of the Morals of it and live after such a manner as would make a sober Heathen blush Thirdly They despise Religion because several Professors of it embrace it not out of Reason or Conviction but out of a supine Credulity and walk blindly on in the Christian Religion only because it is the Worship of their Country Fourthly They entertain a low Idea of Christianity because tho' said to be reveal'd for the good of all Mankind yet God has only propagated it in a small part of the World and even where it has been promulg'd it is found but an indifferent Expedient to work any such extraordinary Effects on Mens Minds as might be expected from a Religion which God Himself came down from Heaven to preach and to seal with his Blood Fifthly That the Divisions amongst single Christians and the Wars and Discords between Christian Princes and Commonwealths often heightned by Religious Controversies and inflam'd by the violent Harangues of Ecclesiastick Persons are great Prejudices against the Christian Religion and give a Moral Deist great Advantage over a Zealot for Christianity These have been and still are some of the leading Forces in the Van of Scepticism There are indeed many particular Objections laid against peculiar parts of Christianity which cannot fall within the compass of this short ESSAY But to return a cursory Reply to each one of these Objections First 'T is no just Reflection upon the Religion That many who make great shews of being Christians are only such out of Interest and in all probability would change the Christian Profession for another which would be more serviceable for their designs Tho' some may be Christians at present out of Interest yet if we enquire into the first Institution of our Religion we shall find that it was its intrinsick Worth which first recommended it to the World when there was no outward Motive or Interest to make it taking For did the Apostles and first Disciples of our Saviour turn Christians upon any temporal Prospect Or what Advantage could those who succeeded them for the two first Centuries propose What could they gain by this new Profession but Disgrace Imprisonment and Death And can any one be a Platonick lover of Shame and Pain and court Misery for its own sake alone Now these purer Times nighest to the origin of our Religion are those which our Adversaries ought to have enquir'd into and level'd their Objections against otherwise their Arguments only wound the present Professors of Religion many of which we own to live below the dignity of it but fall far short of doing any injury to Religion it self Secondly The Sceptick ought not to have an ill Opinion of Religion because many who are zealous for its Truths are yet negligent of the Morals of it and live after such a manner as