from Sin For the rising of the Body could not be thought a Reward if the being in the Body was preternatural and a State of Punishment Thence also it proceeded that so many of those first Hereticks defiled the Flesh as not belonging to them and condemn'd Marriage as contributing to confine Souls to Bodies upon this very Pretence of being themselves Spiritual and being therefore for a more Spiritual way of Worship But it is as certain that this Doctrine was different from the Doctrine of the Apostles as it is certain the Apostles were for the Holy Treatment and Resurrection of the Body and that they Condemn'd those for Hereticks who Reason'd from this Principle insisted on by our Adversaries of which they had otherwise no better means of Information How therefore can our Adversaries Reason loosly for the Reformation of Christianity from that same Principle which we see was contrary to the very Foundations of truly Primitive Apostolical Christianity Which was the Foundation of most of those Heresies which were then Condemn'd by that Unquestionable Authority FOR my part I can see no Difference XIV The same Reasons that prov'd Bodily worship useful in the Mosaick Discipline prove it so still in this particular between the Old and the New Peculium We have Bodies as well as they and of the same frail Make and Constitution as theirs were Our Souls are also of the same Kind as dependent on our Bodies as theirs and as apt to be Influenc'd by them Providence has impos'd no new Rules that we know of for the Influences of Good and Evil Spirits from what were impos'd then What then should hinder but that still our Minds should be Influenc'd by the Good and Evil Dispositions of our Bodies as much as formerly And that in order to the receiving the Influences of both sorts of Spirits And certainly they cannot think that Musick has lost any of that Influence on our Bodies that it had formerly How can they therefore doubt but that it might still have the same effect on the like Bodies alike Influencing the same kind of Souls The Church is still as much a Body as it was then and as much oblig'd to Worship God in Assemblies tho' not confin'd to one particular Nation as it was then And the Apostle requires that all Acts of the Worship in Assemblies were to be perform'd with a design of Edifying the whole Assemblies He permits no Exercise of Gifts even of the Divine Spirit there but such as were for common Edification But the Edification of Assemblies is not otherwise performable than by Sensible and Corporeal Significations These are the only means by which the whole Body can Communicate in the Devotion of every particular by which they can mutually give and receive Edification It is therefore still as impossible to signifie a great Honour for the Deity Ador'd in such Assemblies but by Signs greatly affecting the very Senses And what is done in the Name of the whole Body ought to be suited to the Dignity of the Body represented That must be by Signs by which Bodies usually signifie their great Respect by the Customs of such Bodies But Bodies do not usually signifie their great Respect in their Worldly intercourse otherwise than by Pomp and Magnificence They cannot therefore signifie it in Affairs of Religion by Signs mean and ordinary Especially if their Design be to signifie it to the Senses and for the Edification of others For certainly Signs which signifie a mean or no Respect on other occasions cannot be thought to signifie a great one in the Affairs of Religion It is on the contrary taken as an Affront to Honour excellent Persons in a way unsuitable to their Character tho' the same Significations might justly be reputed Honourable if perform'd to an inferiour Person to whom they had been proportionable This Consideration must make all Significations short of the utmost that can be done dishonourable when paid to an Infinitely Perfect Being The Magnificence therefore of the Worship of God ought to be such as it us'd to signifie the greatest Respect to the Senses of the Spectators if the Respect be to be signified Sensibly I know not how our Adversaries can deny any part of this Reasoning on the Principles now mentioned BUT I know they do pretend Authority XV. The VVorship of God in Spirit not oppos'd to that which is Sensible Corporeal but to the Literal Sense of the Law of Moses for this way of Arguing God is a Spirit says our Saviour and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth St. Joh. iv 24. This is spoken with relation to the Worship of the Jews at Jerusalem and the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim and therefore must signifie something Spiritual in the Christian Religion which was not so in the Worship of the Jews and the Samaritans But this might very well be true without making external Worship inconsistent with the spiritual Nature of the Christian Religion The true Account of this Matter I take to be this That in what was common to the Jews and the Samaritans there were two Parts the Sensible and the External Part which was proper to themselves and which the Christians were not concern'd in and the Mystical and Spiritual which was principally design'd by God which was thenceforward to obtain as the peculiar Glory of the Christian Religion So the New Testament is oppos'd to the Old that it is not of the Letter as the Old was but of the Spirit 2 Cor. iii. 6. that is that the New Testament is really the same with the Old the same thing in the Spiritual Sense which was prefigur'd by the Literal Sense of what was enjoyn'd on the Jews then Thus the Letter and Circumcision are taken for Circumcision in the Literal Sense Rom. ii 27. by a known Hendiadis and Circumcision of the Heart is said to be in the Spirit not in the Letter v. 29. So the Service in newness of the Spirit is oppos'd to that which had been in the oldness of the Letter Rom. vii 6. And when the Jews understood our Saviour's Discourse concerning Eating his Flesh and Drinking his Blood in a Carnal Sense he Corrects their Mistake by telling them That the Words he had spoken to them were Spirit and Life St. Joh. vi 63. that is by warning them that his Words were to be understood not Literally but Mystically Life is join'd with Spirit in our Saviour's Words exactly as it is by the Apostle when he also tells us that the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life 2 Cor. iii. 6. intimating that the Life promis'd by Moses when he set Life and Death before the Israelites was not to be expected from the Observation of the Literal Sense of the Mosaical Law but the Mystical which was a strong Obligation to the New Peculium Because the Mystical Sense even of the old Law which was the principal Sense design'd by God was suppos'd to be the
Apostles in the keeping of Easter under Xystus It might do so in this Case as well as the other But Hippolytus was originally of the East It is certain the first Jewish Christians the Apostles themselves found it actually practis'd It is withal certain that they as Jews were prejudic'd in favour of received Customs so as not to disuse them but upon some great evidence of Divine Revelation to the contrary And where can our Adversaries find any express Revelation of the N. T. against this Custom Where can they find any new Establishment of the new Peculium inconsistent with it On the contrary the Apostle alludes to it in those Words of his concerning the Alms of the Philippians when he calls them an Odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable Phil. iv 18. well pleasing to God These Words exactly answer the Custom of joyning Incense with their Oblations then practic'd in the Temple Worship as it was also afterwards among the Christians I see no reason why the Practice should be discontinued by the Christians For these were Sacrifices allowed by the Pythagoreans themselves who were against the bloody Sacrifices then generally received This is plain from Porphyry There is therefore no reason why they should be ungrateful to the Essenes themselves who were of all the Jews best dispos'd to the Christian Religion Withal they were common to the Jews with the Heathens and therefore fittest for the old and new Peculium to unite in So far from any repugnancy to that Union which I have shewn to have been the true reason of the abrogation of those old Jewish usages which were indeed abrogated by the Christian Religion If our Adversaries ask how we can discharge our selves from the obligation of these things if we believe them lawful the answer will be very easie on the Principles now proposed By being excused from Circumcision we Gentiles are discharged from all the Impositions God was pleased to lay on the Jewish Nation since we are not now any longer oblig'd to any Incorporation with them And this is sufficient to leave things of this nature in their original indifferency as to Us as if they never had been impos'd HOWEVER our Adversary pretends XXIX The reasonings of tho Fathers produc'd by our Adversary in this Cause are quite different from those of the Apostolical Age it self That the Fathers reason as he does that they also own Instrumental Musick peculiarly fitted to that State of Nonage in which the Apostle supposes the Jews under the old Law St. Chrysostome makes such Musical Instruments rather permitted than imposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidore Pelusiote says they were born with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Author of the Quaest. ad Orthodox very probably Justinus Siculus who lived in the time of Pope Faelix II tells us that it is not so proper for a State of Infancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sing Simply but to sing with inanimate Instruments c. If these things had been true it would have been an Indignity below the honourable State of the Gospel to have used these things now and a false signifying that we were not yet past that State of Childhood from which it was the design of the Gospel to free us But we must always distinguish between the Reasonings and the Testimonies of those original Conveyors of our Christian Religion to us In their Reasonings they had no more advantage than other Men Especially where they lived at any distance and were therefore any way suspicious of not keeping close to the Reasonings of that Age whose Traditions they pretend to gather by their Reasonings For of these Reasonings we can also judge as well as they whether they were agreeable to the Reasonings to which the H. G. accommodated his Revelations that they might be rightly understood in the sense in which he intended them For the Reasonings of their own Age could no farther contribute thereto than as they still continued the same with those of their Age wherein the Holy Ghost was pleased to discover and publish his new Revlations relating to the peculiar constitution of the Gospel But the reasonings of the Age of Clemens Alexandrinus who is the first of those produced by our Author were by no means fit to inform him in this matter much less of those later Fathers who lived at so much a greater distance from the Age of the Apostles They cannot they do not pretend any one Author of the Apostolical Age who shewed them a Precedent of this way of reasoning They had none of that Age that ever reckoned Instrumental Musick among the Rudiments and Elements of the Childish State which were in course to be antiquated as soon as the Peculium should attain to their perfect and adult Age. On the contrary its being mentioned by the Apostle in Heaven shews that it was impossible by the reasonings of that Age that it could have been reckoned among the Rudiments and Elements of Children For there all are supposed to have arrived to the fulness of the measure of the Stature of Christ Which Words do plainly describe the Age of Adults in opposition to that of Children And indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that place would be better Translated Age than Stature being opposed rather to the Age than the Stature of Children So the Saints in Heaven are said to be perfect as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only in the Scripture but also in ordinary Classick Authors Nor can I understand how our Adversaries could possible excuse the Apostles themselves from this Notion of Childishness whilst even they Communicated with this Instrumental Musick of the Temple if the bare Observance of that Musick had been taken for an Element and Rudiment of Children These Reasonings from the Sense and Practice of the Apostolical Age and Writers are far more certain for proving the Sense of that Age than the reasonings insisted on by our Adversary from the Sense of those Fathers who however superiour to us were yet confessedly later than the Age of greatest Authority that of the Apostles THOSE very excellent Persons did not XXX The next age to the Apostles seems to have discontinued Instrumental Musick with out any dislike of it The true design of the Reasoning from the State or Childhood and Weak and Beggarly Elements explained sufficiently consider how very easy it was for matters of this Nature to be discontinued without the least dislike of those immediately succeeding Ages that discontinued them Supposing this Musick proper for the Jerusalem Sacrifices as they were plainly in the Temple of Jerusalem there could be no pretences to them in any other Church in the World besides the Head Church of Jerusalem where the first Apostle had the same right over all the Churches in the World as the High Priest of the Jewish Sanhedrin had over all the Jewish Synagogues in all their Dispersions This was an easie Account why
to partake of the National Sacrifices which were common to the whole Nation But no Nation however beside the Jews pretended to be the peculiar People who were favour'd with the immediate Patronage of the supreme Being They could not therefore impose Incorporation into themselves as a Condition of Admission into the new Peculium on other Nations besides themselves tho' their Circumcision had been design'd as a Right of Incorporation Their Circumcision therefore not being impos'd as a Condition of the Peculium had been as Innocent as that of the Jews was when observ'd only by their own Nation and not impos'd on others as a Condition requisite to qualify them for the Spiritual Favours of the Peculium Upon those terms the Jews themselves were permitted the use of it whilst they Commnnicated with the Uncircumcis'd Gentiles in the Offices of the Christian Religion Much less could it be Condemned in other Nations who never impos'd it farther than their own Nation There was therefore neither parity of Reason nor sufficient Consent of Nations to prove the Jewish Circumcision lawful now tho' we should on those Accounts grant that Instrumental Musick were so BUT Bloody Sacrifices our Adversary XII No Bloody Sacrifices whatsoever were fit for the Design of the Christian Sacrifices conceives might at least pretend to them Not certainly so as to unite all Nations into one Body which was the true Design of our Evangelical Eucharistical Sacrifices The Jewish Sacrifices none were capable of but one only Nation that of the Jews The same was the Case of many others of the publick National Sacrifices None were indeed suppos'd to have a Right in them but the Nation for whose use they were originally Instituted Some were as severe as the Jews themselves to make it Piacular and Capital if one of another Nation did but come into that part of their Temples where the publick Sacrifices were Offered So it appears that it was only the remissness of their Discipline above that of the Jews that made them allow others that were not of their Nation to partake of their publick Sacrifices Augustus when he was in Egypt Suet. Aug. c. 93. would take no notice of Apis and commended his Grandson Caius because he would not Pray at Jerusalem The like was the Practice of Hadrian who pretended Spartian Adri. to an Inquisitiveness into all things and to be a severe Observer of Discipline And it was a Favour usually desir'd from the Senate that other Nations might have leave to Offer their Donaries at the Roman-Altars These are sufficient Evidences of what was generally taken for the Rule which is the only thing to be regarded in this Reasoning It is true the Jews allow'd publick Sacrifices for the Persian Kings and the Roman Emperours But not so as to suffer any Heathens to partake in them Yet even this was blamed by the strictest Pretenders to the Observation of the Law among them the Galileans and the Zealots Tho' otherwise if any other Nation could admit others to their National Sacrifices the Jews had more reason to do so They by their own Confession Worshipped a God to whom all other Nations ought Duty as well as themselves which other Nations did not pretend concerning their own Deities There was therefore no Sacrifice of this kind that all Nations with their National distinctives could pretend an equal Right to How could they therefore unite all Nations into one Body as it was the Design of our Christian Religion to unite them None of them pretended to a Right to be confirmed in Heaven besides that of the Jews which yet could not unite all Nations whilst it was believed to be the Right of one only Nation There were no Bloody Sacrifices in the World which being received into one Place gave a Right to all other Sacrifices in the World I do not now insist on what Porphyry has Porphyry de Abst. endeavour'd to prove at large that the first Sacrifices received among the Nations were not Bloody but Innocent and such as were perfectly agreeable with his Pythagorean Notions which were for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They did not either know or regard the most ancient Example of Abel to the contrary However he has said very considerable things for it from the Histories of the Heathens That is enough to disprove that sort at least of Sacrifices from being a Tradition of the Law of Nations And the Reputation of being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had then prevail'd not only in those Cities which had submitted to Pythagorean Legislators but also among the Romans themselves I am apt to think this was the Reason why so many of the good Emperours who affected Felicia Tempora affected also that their Reigns might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from the Piaculum of shedding Civil Blood at least of the better Quality But the Pythagorean Doctrines were particularly grateful to the Jewish Essenes who were as I said the best disposed to the Christian Religion and who seem therefore to have been extirpated by an universal Conversion upon the appearance of it They were most addicted to the Mystical sense of the Law which is the Foundation of most of the Reasonings of the New Testament Numenius the Heathen who first joyned the Mystical Interpretation of the Law of Moses with the Heathen Philosophy was a Pythagorean and so was Philo the Jew and the Essenes as the same Philo teaches This alone was sufficient to dispose the Essenes to an aversation to Bloody Sacrifices and to have the better Opinion of the Christian Religion when they understood that by it they could satisfie the Design of the Legislator without them If they could once free themselves thereby from the Obligation of the Bloody Sacrifices required by the Law of Moses there were no other in view that were likely to be substituted instead of them at least by them But the Mystical Interpretations of the Old Testament afforded an easier account of the Change which was to be made by the Gospel and more grateful to the Relish of the Pythagorean Essenes and the Philosophical Asceticks The everlasting Priesthood which was to answer'd by that of the Gospel was suppos'd to be that of Melchizedeck So 't is expresly called by the Psalmist as the Apostle has observed No doubt as granted him by the Mystical Reasonings of those Times His Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Word us'd by Philo concerning him as well as by St. Paul concerning our Saviour was Bread and Wine exactly the same with that of the Gospel The Notion of a Priest implies an Offering by the Reasoning in the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. viii 3. And no other thing but Bread and Wine is mentioned in the Story of Melchizedeck that can be called an Offering Our Eucharist therefore must by this Reasoning be the everlasting Offering or Sacrifice relating to his everlasting Priest-hood The rather because there is a Bread from Heaven mentioned also in the