out or added But it is an unjust thing to bring in question the truth of such a Book or evidence only because in so many ages there could not but be great variety of Copies since both custome and reason requires that what appears in the most and most ancient Copies be preferred to the rest But that either by fraud or any other way all the Copies were corrupted and that in point of doctrine or some remarkable piece of history will never be proved for there are neither any evidences nor any witnesses of those times which attest it But if as was said before there be any thing urged in much later times by those who bare an implacable hatred to the Disciples of these Books that ought to be lookt upon as a Reproach not as a Testimony And this truly which we have said may be well thought a sufficient Answer to those who object a change in the Scripture for he who affirms that especially against a writing which hath been long and in abundance of places received ought himself to prove his charge But to make the vanity of this Objection more fully appear we will show that what they feign neither was nor could be done We have proved before that the Books were written by the Authors whose Names they bear which being granted it follows that other Books were not foisted into their room nor was any notable part of them changed For since that change must needs have some design that part would notoriously differ from the other parts and Books which were not changed which cannot now any where be discerned nay there is an admirable agreement as we said in their Senses Besides as soon as any of the Apostles or Apostolical Men published any thing there is no doubt to be made but Christians with great diligence as became their piety and care to preserve and propagate truth to Posterity took from thence many Copies for their use Which therefore were dispersed as far as the Christian Name through Europe Asia and Egypt in which Places the Greek Language was spoken And more than this the Original Copies also as we said before were preserved till Two Hundred Years after Christ Now it was not possible that any Book diffused into so many Copies and kept not only by the private diligence of particular Persons but the common care of the Churches should be altered by the hand of any falsifier Add further that these Books in the following ages were translated into the Syriac Ethiopick Arabick and Latine Tongues which translations are yet extant and do not differ in any thing of moment from the Greek Copies themselves Besides we have the Writings of those Men who were taught by the Apostles themselves or by their Disciples wherein many places are cited out of these Books to the same sense and meaning which now we read them Neither was there any in the Church of so great authority in those times as to have met with obedience if he would have changed any thing As is plain enough by the free and open dissent of Irenaeus Tertullian and Cyprian from those that were most eminent in the Church After which times there succeeded many other men of great Learning and Judgment who having first made diligent inquiry thereof received these Books as retaining their original purity Hitherto also may be referred what but now we said of divers sects of Christians all which at least such as acknowledged God to be the Maker of the World and Christ to be the Author of a new Law did receive and use these Books accordingly as we do the same And if any had attempted to alter or put any thing new into any part thereof they should have been accused by the rest for forgery and false-dealing therein Neither was there ever any Sect that had the liberty at their pleasure to alter any of these Books for their own turns For it is manifest that all of them did draw their arguments one against another out of the same And as for that which we touched concerning divine providence it belongs no less unto the chiefest parts than unto the whole Books namely that it is not agreeable to it that GOD should suffer so many Thousand Men which sincerely desired to be godly and earnestly sought after eternal life to be led headlong into that error which they could no way avoid And thus much shall suffice to be spoken for the authority of the Books of the new covenant whence alone if there were no other helps we might be sufficiently instructed concerning the true Religion SECT XVI For the Authority of the Books of the Old Testament NOW forasmuch as it hath pleased God to leave us also the writings and evidences of the Jewish Religion which was anciently the true and affords no small testimonies for Christianity Therefore it will not be amiss in the next place to justifie the authority of the same First then that these Books were written by the same Men whose Names they bear is manifest in like manner as we have proved of ours before of the new covenant These Authors were either Prophets or other very faithful and credible men such as was Esdras who is thought to have collected the Books of the Old Testament into one Volume during the life time of the Prophet Haggai Malachy and Zachary I will not here repeat again what is said before in the commendation of Moses Both that part of history which at first was delivered by him as we have shown in the first Book and that also which was collected after his time is witnessed even by many of the Heathen Thus the Annals of the Phoenicians have recorded the names of David and Solomon and their Leagues with the Men of Tyre Aswel Berosus as the Hebrew Writers makes mention of Nobuchadonosor and of other Chaldean Kings He whom Jeremy calls Vaphres King of Aegypt is termed Apries by Herodotus In like manner the Books of the Grecians are replenished with Narrations concerning Cyrus and his Successors until the times of Darius And many other things concerning the Nation of the Jews are related by Josephus in his Books against Appion whereunto we may add what before we have touched out of Strabo and Trogus But as for us Christians we cannot in the least doubt of the truth of these Books out of every one of which almost there are testimonies extant in our Books which are found likewise in the Hebrew Neither do we find when Christ reprehended many things in the Doctors of the Law and Pharisees of his time that ever he accused them of forgery committed against the Writings of Moses or the Prophets or that they used counterfeit Books or such as were changed Then after Christ's time it cannot be proved neither is it credible that the Scripture was corrupted in matters of any moment if we consider rightly how far and wide over the face of the earth the Nation of the Jews was spread who every where were
Thus is there one way in Mathematicks another in Physicks a third in matters of advice and counsel and lastly another kind when a matter of fact is in question wherein verily we must rest content when the testimonies are free from all suspicion of untruth Otherwise down goes not only all the use of history and a great part of the art of Physick but all the piety also that ought to be between Parents and Children which cannot be known other ways And indeed it is the pleasure of Almighty God that those things which he would have us to believe so that the very belief thereof may be imputed to us for obedience should not so evidently appear as those things which are apprehended by sense and plain demonstration but only be so far forth revealed as may beget faith and a perswasion thereof in the hearts and minds of such as are not obstinate That so the Word of the Gospel may be as a touchstone whereby Mens dispositions may be tried whether they be curable or not For seeing these arguments whereof we have spoken have induced so many honest godly and wise Men to approve of this Religion it is thereby plain enough that the fault of other Mens infidelity is not for want of sufficient testimony but because they would not have that to be had and embraced for truth which is contrary to their affections and desires It being that is an hard matter for them to make no great account of honours and other worldly advantages which they must do if they receive what Christ hath taught and so become ingaged to observe his Precepts Which is discovered to be true by this very thing that they take many other Historical Narrations to be true which notwithstanding appear to be so meerly by authority and not by any such foot-steps of them remaining at this day as the History of Christ hath partly in the confession of the Jews who are now in being and partly in those things which are every where found in the Assemblies of Christian People of which it must needs be granted there was some cause Lastly seeing the long duration or continuance of Christian Religion and the large extent thereof can be ascribed to no humane power therefore it must be attributed to miracles or if any deny that it came to pass through a miraculous manner this very getting so great strength and power without a miracle may be justly thought to surpass any miracle The THIRD Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. To prove the authority of the Books of the New Covenant AFTER that a Man is once perswaded by the reasons abovesaid or is induced by any other arguments to believe that this Religion which Christians profess is the truest and absolutely the best if he desire to learn all the parts thereof then must he have recourse unto the most ancient writings that contain the same Religion which commonly we call the Books of the New Testament or rather new covenant For he is very unreasonable who denies this Religion to be contained in those Books as all Christians affirm Since it is but equity to believe every Sect be it good or be it bad when it says its opinions are to be found in such or such a Book as we believe the Mahometans that the Religion of Mahomet is contained in the Alcoran Forasmuch then as we have before proved that the Christian Religion is most true and it is manifest withal that it is contained in these Books if there were no other ground yet this alone is sufficient to prove and avouch the authority of those Books But if any body requires a more particular demonstration of it I must first lay down this Rule which all indifferent Judges will allow that it is incumbent upon him who will impugne the authority of any writing received for many Ages to produce Arguments which prove that Writing to be false which if he cannot do that Book is to be defended as in possession of its Authority SECT II. Here is shown that such Books were written by the Authors whose names they have prefixed WE say then that those Books which are not in question amongst Christians and carry before them a certain Name are the very Works of those Authors whose names they bear Because those primitive Fathers Justin Irenaeus Clemens and others after them do quote those Books under these very names As also because Tertullian witnesseth that there were Original Copies of some of those Books extant in his time And besides all the Churches received those Books for authentical before there were any common publick Meetings Neither did ever the Pagans or Jews raise any controversie about this as if these were not the works of those Men whose they were said to be but Julian himself plainly confesseth that those were the writings of Peter and Paul Matthew Mark and Luke which Christians under those names have read and received For as no Man in his wits can doubt that those Writings which go under the names of Homer and Virgil are truly theirs because the one hath been so long time received among the Latine and the other among the Greek Authors in like manner it were more absurd to bring the Authors of those Books in question which are granted almost by all the Nations in the World SECT III. Some Books were anciently doubted of IN the Volume of the new Covenant there are some Books indeed now received which were not so received from the beginning as the second Epistle of St. Peter that of St. James and Jude two of St. John the Elder the Revelation and the Epistle to the Hebrews Yet this is certain that they were acknowledged by many Churches which appears sufficiently from hence that the ancient Christians use their Testimonies as Sacred Which makes it credible that such Churches as from the beginning had not those Books either were ignorant of them or doubtful Yet afterward when they were better informed touching the same they admitted them into the Canon as we now see according to the example of other Churches Neither can any good reason be given why any Man should counterfeit those Books since there is nothing comprised in them neither can ought thence be collected which is not abundantly expressed in other Books unquestioned SECT IV. The Authority of such Books as have no Titles is proved from the quality of the Writers AND here let no Man mistrust the verity of the Epistle to the Hebrews because the Writer of it is unknown nor doubt of the two Epistles of St. John and the Revelation because some Men do question whether the Author of them was John the Apostle or some other of that name For the name is not so much to be regarded as the quality or condition of Writers Hence it is that we receive many Books of History whose Authors are to us unknown As that concerning the Alexandrian War by Caesar because we may perceive that whosoever writ the same
found or have anciently been found consenting with the Books of the Hebrews touching Joshua and others seeing that whosoever gives credit unto Moses which to do no Man can without great impudency refuse the same must needs confess that there were indeed wonderful Miracles anciently wrought by God which is the thing we here chiefly go about to declare As for the Miracles of after Ages suppose of Elijah and Elisha and others there is the less reason to think them counterfeit because in those times Judaea was both more known than formerly and upon the account of diversity of Religion was extreamly hated by their Neighbours Who might have very easily blasted the fame of such Miracles if they had been lies as soon as it began to be spred abroad The History of Jonah who lay three days in the Whale's belly is to be read in Lycophron and Aeneas Hazous save only that in stead of Jonah they have put the name of Hercules whom they so much honoured that to make him appear the more illustrious they were wont as Tacitus and Servius and others have noted to report of him whatsoever magnificent things they heard of in any other places Certain it is that Julian who was an enemy of the Jews as much as of Christians was forced by the evidence of History to confess that such Men lived amongst the Jews as were inspired with the holy Spirit of God and that Fire descended from Heaven upon the Sacrifices of Moses and Elias And verily 't is well worth our observation that amongst the Hebrews there were not only grievous punishments appointed for such Men as did falsly assume to themselves the Prophetical Function but also many Kings and great Men that might have by that means purchased authority to themselves and likewise very many learned Men as was Esdras and others that never durst arrogate to themselves this dignity nor any Man else for divers Ages before the times of Jesus SECT XVI The same is proved by the Oracle and Predictions BUT more unlikely it is that so many Thousand People should be imposed upon in the avouching of a perpetual and publick Prodigy as we may call it to wit the holy Oracle which after a resplendent manner shined from the brest-plate of the High-Priest The truth whereof was so strongly believed by all the Jews to have continued until the destruction of the first Temple that out of all doubt their Ancestors had certain knowledge concerning the same Like to this from miracles there is another argument as forcible and effectual to prove GOD's providence taken from those predictions of future events which among the Hebrews were many and manifest Such was that prophecy of his being made Childless who should attempt to re-edifie Jericho and that of the overthrow of the Temple at Bethel by a King named Josiah foretold above Three Hundred Years before the thing came to pass So likewise the very name and chief acts of Cyrus foretold by Esaiah the event of Hierusalems siege by the Chaldeans foreshown by Jeremiah So also Daniel's prediction touching the translation of the Empire of the Assyrians unto the Medes and Persians then from them unto Alexander of Macedon whose Empire should afterward in part be divided among the Successors of Ptolomy and Seleucus And what evils also the Hebrew Nation should suffer from all these but especially from Antiochus Epiphanes which were so clearly foretold that Porphyry who compared with these Predictions such Grecian Histories as were extant in his time could no otherwise tell how to shift them off than by saying that those things which were fathered upon Daniel were written after such time as they came to pass which is all one as if one should deny that that was written in the time of Augustus which hath been published in Virgil's name and was always reputed for Virgil's work For there was never any more scruple made of the former amongst the Hebrews than of this latter amongst the Romans To these things we may add very many and most famous Oracles among the People of Mexico and Peru which foretold the coming of the Spaniards into those Countreys and the calamities which should thereupon follow And hither also may be referred not a few dreams so exactly agreeing with the events which both in themselves and in their causes were wholly unknown to them that dreamed that they cannot without great immodesty be referred to chance or to natural causes of which kind Tertullian in his Book Of the Soul hath collected illustrious examples out of the most approved Authors Spectres also or apparitions belong to this head which have been not only seen but heard to speak as those Historians relate who are the farthest from superstitious credulity and is reported by Witnesses of our own Age who have lived in China and in Mexico and other parts of America Nor are publick trials of innocence by touching of red hot Plow-shares to be despised which the Histories of so many German Nations and the Laws themselves have remembred SECT XVII The Objection is answered why Miracles are not now to be seen NEITHER is there any reason to object against such Miracles because there are not the like to be seen in these days neither the like predictions heard of For 't is a sufficient proof of Divine providence that such things did come to pass at any time which being once granted it will follow that God may be believed with as much providence and wisdom now to cause them to surcease as anciently he used the same Neither stands it with reason that those Laws which were given to the Universe concerning the natural course of things and uncertainty of future events should be lightly or always transgressed but only at such a time when either there was a just cause as when the worship of the true God was almost banished out of the World residing only in a little part thereof to wit in Judaea where it necessarily was to be as it were fortified with new aids against the impieties wherewith it was compassed about or when Christian Religion whereof by and by we shall speak more particularly was first by God's decree to be published thorowout the whole World SECT XVIII And that now there is such liberty in offending THERE are those who are wont to doubt of the Divine Providence because they see so much wickedness hath like a Deluge overspread the face of the whole Earth which Divine Providence they contend if there were any would have made its chiefest business to restrain and suppress But this is easily answered considering that when God had created Man with freedom to do good and evil reserving absolute and immutable goodness to himself it had not been reasonable to have put such a stop to evil actions as should have been contrary to that liberty Howbeit to keep Men from sin God useth every kind of means which is not repugnant to the liberty aforesaid Such is the ordaining and publishing of the
follows that we consider by what means this Christian Religion had its augmentation and increase that therein it may be comparable and preferred before others We see it commonly true of most Men that they will easily follow the examples of Kings and Potentates what way soever they go specially if Law and Penalties compel them to it Hereby were the Religions of the Pagans and of Mahumet propagated But they that first taught the Christian Religion not only wanted all civil power and authority but were of mean condition no better than poor Fishermen Weavers and the like Yet by such Mens pains and industry that doctrine within the space of Thirty Years or thereabouts was published not only thorowout all the parts of the Roman Empire but also among the Parthians and remote Indians Nor was it thus only in the beginning but for almost three whole Ages together this Religion was so promoted by the endeavours of private Men without any threatnings without any worldly thing to invite Men to it yea against the will and the most violent opposition of those who then had the Imperial Power that before Constantine professed Christianity this was become very near the greatest part of the Roman World Amongst the Grecians that taught morality divers there were that commended themselves also very much by their skill in other Arts. As the Platonists were famous for the study of Geometry the Peripateticks for the History of Plants and living Creatures the Stoicks for Logical subtilty the Pythagoreans for knowledge of numbers and harmony many also were admirable for eloquence as Xenophon Plato and Theophrastus But the first Doctors and Teachers of Christianity were endued with no such art but used the plainest language without inticing words only after a bare manner or naked form of speech pronouncing their precepts promises and threatnings Which having no efficacy in themselves proportionable to such a progress as Christianity made we must needs confess it was either attended by Miracles or by God's secret power assisting the business or both together SECT XXIII What great impediments there were that might terrifie Men from the embracing or the professing hereof HEreunto may be added another thing considerable namely that they who received Christianity from those Teachers had not their minds void of a certain form and rule of Religion and so were not by that means ductile and easie to be drawn as they were who first received the Paganish worship and Mahomet's Law much less was their minds prepared for it by some antecedent institution as the Hebrews by Circumcision and the knowledge of one God were made fit to accept the Law of Moses But quite contrary were filled with Opinions and Customes which are a kind of another nature repugnant to those new Institutions being educated viz. and confirmed by the authority of Laws and of their Parents in the Paganish Religion or the Jewish Rites Besides this there was another impediment to wit the most grievous evils which they who undertook Christianity must expect to suffer or had reason to fear upon that account For seeing that humane nature abhors such evils it must needs follow that the causes of those evils cannot be admitted of without much difficulty A long time were the Christians deprived of all honours and dignities and likewise much afflicted with divers penalties with confiscation of goods and banishments which notwithstanding were all but flea-bitings for they were condemned to dig in the Mines and to suffer torments than which more cruel could not be devised And such multitudes of them were put to death that there never was a greater number of Men at one time swept away and devoured either by famine or pestilence or war as the writers of those times do testifie Their manner and kind of death also was not ordinary but some were buried alive others crucified others endured punishments of the like kind which cannot be read or thought of without the greatest horror and yet this savage cruelty which continued without much intermission and that not every where till almost the time of Constantine in the Roman World and in other places endured longer was so far from diminishing the number of Christians that quite contrary their Blood might be called the Seed of the Church there sprang up still so many in the room of those that were cut off Now let us herein also compare other Religions with Christianity The Greeks and the rest of the Pagans who are wont to magnifie their own things above measure yet give us in but a very short Catalogue of such as suffered death for the sake of their Doctrine Some Gymnosophists Socrates not many more are all they can number And in those eminent Men it can scarce be denied but that there might be some desire of transmitting their fame to Posterity which had a hand in the business But amongst those Christians that suffered martyrdom for their faith there were very many of mean rank of the common sort of People such as were scarce ever taken notice of or known to their Neighbours that lived hard by them There were Women also Virgins and young Men such as had no desire nor any probable hope of getting renown in future times by their sufferings According as in the Books of Martyrs we find the Names but of a few in comparison of the whole number of those that were put to death who are only registred in gross To which we must add that by a small compliance and simulation suppose by casting a little Frankincense upon the Altar most of them might have freed themselves from such punishments Which cannot be said of those Philosophers who whatsoever they might think secretly in their hearts in all their apparent actions conform'd themselves to the vulgar customes So that to have suffered death for the honour of God cannot well be attributed to any other but only the Jews and Christians And not to the Jews neither after the times of Christ nor before them but to a few if they be compared with Christians More of which suffered for the Law of Christ in some one Province than the Jews ever did whose patience in this kind may all very near be reduced to the times of Manasses and of Antiochus Wherefore seeing Christian Religion in this particular also so vastly excels all other it ought justly to be preferred before them And from such a multitude of all kinds and sexes of People distinguished by so many several places and ages as did not stick to dye for this Religion we may well gather there was very great cause of such constancy which cannot be imagined to be any other but the Light of Truth and the Spirit of GOD. SECT XXIV Answer to them that require more forcible Reasons FInally if any yet be not satisfied with these arguments abovesaid but desire more forcible reasons for confirmation of the Christian Religion let such know that according as things are divers they must also have divers kinds of Proofs
lived in those times and was present when the things were done In like manner it ought to suffice us that whosoever wrote the Books we speak of both lived in the primitive Age and were endued with Apostolical gifts For if any body will say that these qualities might be feigned as the very Names might be in other Writings he says that which is not credible viz. that they who every where press the study of truth and piety would for no cause at all make themselves guilty of the crime of forgery which is not only detestable among all good Men but by the Roman Laws was to be punished with death SECT V. These Pen-men writ the Truth because they had certain knowledge of what they writ THIS therefore must be allowed that the Books of the new covenant were written by those Authors whose Names they bear or by such as bear sufficient witness of themselves To which if we farther add that they were also well acquainted with the matters whereof they wrote and had no purpose to lye or dissemble it will follow that the things which they committed to writing were both certain and true because every untruth proceeds either from ignorance or from a wicked desire to deceive As touching Matthew John Peter and Jude they were all of the society and fellowship of those Twelve whom Jesus did chuse to be witnesses of his Life and Doctrine so that they could not want notice of those things which they did relate The same may be said of James who was either an Apostle or as some think the next a-kin to Jesus and by the Apostles consecrated Bishop of Hierusalem Paul also could not erre through lack of knowledge about those Points which he professeth were revealed to him by Jesus himself reigning in Heaven nor could he or Luke either who was an inseparable companion to him in his travels be deceived about those things which were done by himself This Luke might easily know the certainty of those things which he writ concerning the life and death of Jesus For he was born in the places next adjoyning to Palestina through which Countrey when he travelled he saith he spake with such persons as were eye-witnesses of the things that were done For doubtless besides the Apostles with whom he had familiarity there lived many others at that time who had been cured by Jesus and had seen him both before his Death and after his Resurrection If we will give credit to Tacitus and Suetonius in those things which happened a long time before they were born because we are confident that they diligently enquired into the truth thereof how much more ought we to believe this Writer who saith that he received all the things which he relates from them that had seen the same It is credibly reported of Mark that he was a constant companion with Peter so that whatsoever he writ are to be lookt upon as dictated by Peter who could not be ignorant thereof Besides the same things that he writes are almost all extant in the Writings of the Apostles Neither could the Author of the Apocalypse be deceived or deluded in those Visions which he saith were sent unto him from Heaven Nor he that writ the Epistle to the Hebrews erre in those things which he professeth either to be inspired into him by the Spirit of God or else taught him by the Apostles SECT VI. As also because they would not lye THE other reason we spake of to prove the truth of the said Holy Writers because they had no will to tell an untruth is twisted with that which we handled above when in general we proved the truth of Christian Religion and of the history of the Resurrection of Christ Those that will accuse any Witnesses for the pravity of their will must produce something by which it may be thought credible their will might be diverted from uttering the truth but this cannot be averred of the said Authors For if any do object and say that they acted in their own cause and did their own business we must see why this should be thought their cause and interest Not that they might get any thing by it in this World or thereby avoid any danger when for the sake of this profession they both lost all the goods of this World and ventured upon all manner of dangers This therefore was not their cause and interest but only out of reverence to God which sure doth not perswade Men to lye especially in such a business whereupon depends the everlasting Salvation of Mankind Such an impious piece of villany we cannot believe they could be guilty of if we consider either their Doctrines every where most full of piety or their life which was never yet accused of any wicked deed no not by their greatest Enemies who objected nothing to them but their want of learning and unskilfulness which did not qualifie them sure for inventing falshoods And indeed if there had been the least spice as we speak of fraud and cheating in them they would not themselves have recorded their own faults and preserved the memory of them as of their all forsaking their Master when he was in danger and Peter's denial of him three times SECT VII A Confirmation of the Fidelity of these Authors from the Miracles which they wrought ON the other side God himself gave illustrious testimonies of their Fidelity by working wonders which either they or their Disciples with great boldness publickly avouched adding also the names of the persons places and other circumstances So that the truth or falshood of their assertion might easily have been discovered by the inquisition of the Magistrate Amongst which it is worthy our observation which they have most constantly delivered both concerning the use of Tongues which they had never learned among many thousand Men and their curing the diseases of the body upon a suddain in the sight of the People Neither were they any whit dismayed with fear either of the Jewish Magistrates of those times whom they knew to be most maliciously set against them or of the Romans who were far from having any good will to them and they were sure would lay hold on any thing on which they might ground a charge of their being inventors of a new Religion And yet neither Jews nor Pagans in the times immediately following durst ever deny that wonders were wrought by those Men. Yea the Miracles of Peter are mentioned by Phlegon in his Annals who lived under Adrian the Emperor Moreover the Christians themselves in those Books that contain a reason of their faith which they exhibited to the Emperors to the Senate and to the Governors do relate these things as most manifest and unquestionable truths yea they openly report that there continued a wonderful vertue of working strange effects at their Sepulchers for some Ages after their Death which if it had been false they knew that to their shame and punishment the Magistrates could have confuted
but to all People and not after that mankind had lived above the space of Two Thousand Years but even from the beginning of all Neither Abel Enoch Noah Melchisedeck Job Abraham Isaac or Jacob though all of them were godly men and dearly beloved of God knew this part of the Law but were altogether ignorant or very little acquainted therewith yet notwithstanding for all that they received the testimony of their confidence in God and of God's love unto them Besides neither did Moses exhort Jethro his Father in law to the receiving of these rites nor did Jonah the Ninivites neither did any other Prophets reprehend the Chaldeans Aegyptians Sydonians Tyrians Idumeans and Moabites for not admitting those ceremonies though when they writ unto them they reckoned up their sins exactly enough These then were peculiar precepts introduced either for the avoiding of some evil which the Jews were prone unto or for the trial of their obedience or for the signification of some future things Wherefore it is no more to be wondred that these are abolished than if any King should abrogate some Municipal Statutes which belong that is to particular Corporations to the end he might establish one law within his dominions Neither can there any reason be alledged to prove that God did so bind himself as that he would change nothing of the same For if it be said that these precepts are called perpetual the same word Men oftentimes use when they would signifie that that which they command is not yearly or accommodated to certain times suppose of War Peace or Scarcity Yet they are not thereby hindred from making new constitutions of the same things specially when the publick good requires it Thus in like manner some of the Divine precepts given to the Hebrews were temporary during the Peoples abode in the Wilderness others were strictly tied to their habitation in the Land of Canaan therefore to distinguish these from the other he calls them perpetual whereby might be understood that they ought not any where or at any time to be intermitted unless God signified that it was his will so to be Which manner of speaking since it is commonly used by all people ought to be less wondered at by the Hebrews who know that in their Law it is called a perpetual statute and a perpetual bondage which continues only from one Jubilee to another And the coming of the Messias is called by them the accomplishment of the Jubilee or the greatest Jubilee of all Thus in the Hebrew Prophets there was anciently a promise of making a new covenant as in Jerem xxxi where God promiseth that he will make a new covenant which shall be put into their inward parts and written in their hearts neither shall men have any need that one shall learn Religion of another for it shall be manifest unto all Yea further the Lord will forgive them their former iniquities and will remember their sin no more which is as if a King after great enmity and discord amongst his Citizens and Subjects should for the establishment of peace and tranquillity among them take away all diversity of Laws and make one perfect Law common to them all promising forgiveness of faults by-past if hereafter they do amend And this which hath been said might suffice but we will survey every part of the Law which is abrogated and shew they were neither such as in themselves could be well pleasing unto God nor ought they to continue for ever SECT VIII As the Sacrifices which of themselves were never well-pleasing unto God THE first and chief thing to be considered are the Sacrifices which many of the Hebrews think were invented by Man before that they were commanded by God And true it is indeed the Hebrews were desirous of abundance of Rites and Ceremonies so that there was cause enough why GOD should enjoyn them very many if it were but for this reason lest they should return unto the worship of false Gods by the remembrance of their sojourning in Egypt Howbeit when their Posterity made too great account of them as though of themselves they had been acceptable unto God and a part of true piety then did the Prophets reprehend them for it About Sacrifices saith God by David in the fiftieth Psalm I will not so much as exchange a word with thee as if I were desirous to have thy burnt offerings continually before me I will take no Buliock out of thy house nor he-goats out of thy folds For every beast of the forest is mine and so are the cattel upon a thousand hills I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wila beasts of the field are mine If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the World is mine and the fulness thereof thinkest thou that I will eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the bloud of goats Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high Some there are among the Hebrews who say that this is spoken because they that offered those sacrifices were of an impure mind and dishonest conversation But the words now alledged shew another matter to wit that the thing in it self was no whit acceptable unto God For if we consider the whole series and order of the Psalm we shall and that God in these words speaks unto the godly for he had said Gather my Saints together unto me and hear my people which are the words of a Teacher and one that instructeth Then having ended those words now alledged as his manner is he speaks unto the wicked But unto the wicked God saith To the same sense we may cite other places as in the 51. Psal Thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it thee but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings The sacrifice of God is a broken Spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise So likewise in the fortieth Psalm Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire but hast tied me to thee as he whose ear was boared through to be thy servant burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required Then said I Loe I come In the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart I have preached righteousness in the great Congregation Loe I have not refrained my Lips O Lord thou knowest I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great Congregation The like we read in the Prophet Isaiah chap. 1. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts and I delight not in the bloud of bullocks or of lambs or of he-goats When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my Courts Answerable to this place and the
least to the diminution or lessening of the glory of God the Father from whom this power of Jesus doth proceed to whom it must return and to whose honour also it ministers and serves SECT XXIII The Conclusion of this part with Prayer for the Jews BUT it is not our purpose in this Work to make any further curious inquiry into these matters neither had we spoken hereof but only to shew that there is no wicked or absurd point in our Christian doctrine which any one can pretend why he should not embrace a Religion which is beautified and confirmed with so many wonders commands such honest things and promises such excellent rewards For he that hath once received and embraced the same must for further instruction in special and particular questions consult those Books wherein as we have formerly declared the points of Christian Religion are contained which that it may come to pass we beseech the Almighty to illuminate the hearts and minds of the Jews with the brightness of his truth and to make those prayers effectual which Christ himself uttered for them even while he was hanging upon the Cross The Sixth Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. A Confutation of Mahumetanisme the beginning of it THE Sixth Book which is opposed to the Mahumetans in stead of a Preface deduces the Judgments of GOD against Christians unto the very beginning and rise of Mahometisme showing that is how that sincere and simple piety which flourished among Christians even when they were most grievously vexed and oppressed began by little and little to wax cold from the time that by the favour of Constantine and the following Emperors that profession was become not only safe but also honourable the World being as it were thrust into the Church For first of all Christian Princes would needs continue fighting and make no end of their Wars even then when they might have enjoyed peace and quietness Among the Bishops also there were most sharp Contentions about the Chiefest Sees And as at the beginning the greatest mischiefs insued upon the preferring of the Tree of knowledge before the Tree of Life even so then also was curious Learning more regarded than a godly Life and Religion turned into an Art The consequent of which was that after the example of those who built the Tower of Babel a rash affectation of things out of their reach bred jarring and confusion in their Language together with discord one with another Which the common People observing and not knowing oft-times which way to turn themselves they threw the blame upon the holy Scriptures and began to avoid them as hurtful and dangerous Religion also began every where to be placed not in purity of mind but as if Judaism was brought back into the World in Rites and Ceremonies and in such things as contain rather an exercise of the body than any amendment of the mind and in an eager zeal for that Party and side which they had once chosen Till at length it came to pass that there were every where many Christians in Name but very few in Deed. GOD did not wink at these Vices of his People but out of the innermost parts of Scythia and Germany poured forth like a Deluge immense swarms of Barbarous People into the Christian World And when the vast slaughters which they made proved not sufficient to correct and amend the lives of those that survived Mahomet by God's just permission sowed a new Religion in Arabia and that directly opposite to the Christian Religion but which in words expressed in a manner the life of the greatest part of Christians This Religion was first entertained by the Saracens who had revolted from Heraclius the Emperour and by their Arms subdued in a short space Arabia Syria Palestine Egypt Persia and afterward possessed themselves of Africa and beyond the Sea of Spain also But the power of the Saracens was abated as by others so chiefly by the Turks a Nation also very Warlike which after long combates with the Saracens being invited to Peace easily embraced a Religion suited to their manners and transferred the Majesty of the Empire to themselves The Cities of Asia and Greece were taken and by the growing success of their Arms they came into Hungary and the Borders of Germany SECT II. The overthrow of the foundation of Mahumetanisme in denying inquiry into Religion THIS Religion altogether contrived for the shedding of blood delights much in Rites and Ceremonies and would be believed without all liberty of enquiry thereinto whence the Vulgar are prohibited to read their Books that are accounted holy Which thing is a manifest argument of the iniquity thereof For justly may that Merchandise be suspected which is obtruded upon this condition that it be not lookt into It is true indeed there is not in all Men a like capacity or knowledge and quick in sight into all things many being led into error by pride others by inordinate passion or affection and some by custome But the divine goodness forbids us to think that those Men cannot know and find the way to eternal salvation who seek it not for any by-respect of profit or honour but with submission of themselves and all they have unto God imploring his assistance for the obtaining of the same And since that God hath implanted in the mind of Man the power and faculty of judging there is no part of truth that better deserves the imployment thereof than that of which we cannot be ignorant without the danger of losing eternal salvation SECT III. A Proof against the Mahumetans taken out of the Books of the Hebrews and Christians which are not corrupted IT is granted by Mahomet and his followers that Moses was sent of God and Jesus also and that they were holy Men which first of all published the doctrine of Jesus But in the Alcoran which is Mahumet's law many things are recorded plain contrary to what is delivered by Moses and by the Disciples of Jesus Thus to give one example for many all the Apostles and Disciples of Christ with one consent do testifie that Jesus was crucified that the third day he was restored to life again and after that was seen of many But Mahumet teacheth quite contrary namely that Jesus was privily conveyed into Heaven and not himself but something in his likeness was nailed to the Cross and consequently he did not die but the sight of the Jews was deluded and deceived This Objection cannot be put off unless Mahumet say as he doth that the Books of Moses and of Christ's Disciples have not remained as they were at first but have been corrupted But we have confuted this fiction before in the third Book Without doubt if any Man should say that the Alchoran is corrupted the Mahumetans would deny it and say that were an answer sufficient to those that could not prove the contrary But they cannot moreover for the integrity of their Book alledge such arguments
anothers humors But in the other there is licence granted to depart and be divorced Here the Husband performs himself what he requires of his Wife and by his own example teacheth her to fasten her affection upon him alone But there they may have Wives after Wives there being still new incentives and fresh provocations to lust Here Religion is planted within and rooted in the very heart and Soul that it being well cultivated may bring forth fruit profitable for Mankind but there Religion spends almost its whole force in Circumcision and in some other things that of themselves are neither good nor bad Finally here in Christianity a moderate use of Meats and Wine is allowed of but there in Mahumetism Men are forbidden to eat Swines flesh and to drink Wine which notwithstanding is a great gift of God beneficial both for body and mind if it be soberly taken And truly it is no wonder if some childish rudiments were taught before the most perfect law as that of Christ is But after the promulgation thereof to return again to types and figures were preposterous Neither can any just reason be given why after Christian Religion which is far the best it should be fit that any other should be brought forth SECT IX Answer to the Mahumetans Objection concerning the Son of God THE Mahumetans tell us they are not a little displeased with us for saying that God hath a Son seeing he useth not a Wife As though the word Son could not have a more divine signification in God But Mahumet himself attributes many things as dishonorable and ill-beseeming God as if he should be said to have a Wife Thus he saith that God had a cold hand which himself knew by experience that God was carried in a chair and the like Howbeit when we say that Jesus is the Son of God we do but signifie the same thing that he means when he calls him the word of God For the word is after a sort begotten of the mind Add further that he was born of a Virgin only by the operation of God supplying the vertue or efficacy of a Father that by the power of God he was carried up into Heaven all which being confessed even by Mahumet himself do shew that Jesus by a singular prerogative and peculiar right may and ought to be called the Son of God SECT X. Many absurd things in the Books of Mahumetans BUT on the other side it would be long to relate how many things there are contrary to the truth of history and many things very ridiculous in the writings of the Mahumetans Such is that fable of a fair and beautiful Woman that learned a solemn charm or Song of some Angels that were drunk whereby she was wont to ascend into the Sky and likewise descend again and ascending once a great height into Heaven she was caught of God and there fixed and made that Star which is called Venus Like to this is that of a mouse in Noah's Ark that was bred of an Elephant's Dung and a Cat of the breath of a Lion More specially that most notorious fiction concerning Death to be changed into a Ram that must remain in the middle space between Heaven and Hell And the Fable of sweating out their good chear in the other life When likewise they imagine there shall be whole troups of Women assigned to every Man for pleasure of carnal copulation All which are so very egregious absurdities that whosoever believes them deserves to be stupified and given over to a reprobate sense for his iniquity specially such a one as lives where the light of the Gospel shineth SECT XI A Conclusion directed unto Christians admonishing them of their duty upon the occasion of what hath formerly been handled AND thus having ended this last disputation against the Mahumetans there follows a conclusion of the whole not to aliens or strangers but to all sorts of Christians of what Name Nation or Quality soever they be Showing briefly the use or application of what hath hitherto been delivered to the end those things may be followed and sought after which are good and on the contrary the evil eschewed First of all that they lift up pure hands and hearts unto that God who of nothing made all visible and invisible things having sure confidence in him that his providence and care watcheth over us seeing that without his permission not so much as a Sparrow falls to the ground And let them not fear those which can only kill the body but rather let them fear him that hath like power both over soul and body And let them not only trust in God the Father but also in Jesus Christ his Son since there is no other name upon Earth by which we can be saved And this they may rightly do if they be verily perswaded that eternal life is prepared not for such as in word only call God their Father and Jesus their Lord but for such as frame their life according to the will of Jesus and their Father which is in Heaven Furthermore Christians are admonished faithfully and with due care to preserve the doctrine of Christ as a most precious treasure And for this cause let them often read and meditate the Books of the Holy Scripture whereby no Man can be deceived unless first he deceive himself For the Authors and Pen-men of those Writings were more just and full of Divine Inspiration than that they would deprive us of necessary truths or cover and conceal the same with any clouds Howbeit for the right understanding hereof we must bring a mind disposed and prepared to obedience which if we do then nothing shall be hid from us which ought to be believed hoped for or done by us And by this means that holy Spirit will be cherished and excited in us which is given us for a pledge and earnest of our future happiness Moreover I deterr Christians from imitating the Pagans first in their worship of false Gods which are nothing but vain names which evil Daemons use to alienate our minds and affections from the worship of the true God Wherefore we cannot possibly participate with them in their services and expect to receive benefit by the Sacrifice of Christ Secondly neither may Christians imitate the Heathen in their licentious and dissolute manner of life having no other Law than what is suggested by lust and prompted by sensual desire from which Christians ought to be far removed who should not only far excel the vitious and prophane Pagans but likewise the Lawyers and Pharisees among the Jews whose righteousness consisting only in some outward performances could never bring them to the heavenly Kingdom Circumcision that is made with hands is now nothing worth but it is the inward Circumcision of the heart the keeping of Gods commandments the new creature faith that is perfected in love which make Men known to be true Israelites and mystical Jews that is praisers of God and commendable in his
none of the ancient Doctors who have expounded the Creed and there are many of them have given any such sense of that Article of the Catholick Church Nay it was not in the most ancient forms of Faith nor doth the Church truly Catholick teach any thing as necessary to be believed to Salvation but what is contained in the Creed For we do in their own sense believe the Catholick Church but not the Roman Catholick Church which their Creed will have to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches because to omit many other absurdities which are in it there was a Catholick Church before there was a Roman and to say that they believe the Catholick Church meaning thereby the Roman is nothing more than to say they believe themselves SECT VII Their absurd Explication of the Unity of the Catholick Church NOTHING therefore can be further from the Truth than that Explication of the Vnity of the Catholick Church which is delivered in the Roman Catechism published by the Authority of the same Pope Pius IV. in pursuance of the Council of Trent Wherein the Catechumen is taught to believe and profess that the Catholick Church is one not only because of one Faith and other reasons mentioned by the Apostle Ephes iv and because it is subject to one invisible Governor which is Christ But because it is subject also to one visible Governor who holds the Roman Chair the legitimate Successor of St. Peter Concerning whom it is the unanimous opinion of all the Fathers that this visible Head is necessary to constitute and conserve the unity of the Church And to this Head or Pastor Christ hath given the authority of ruling and governing the whole Church as the Vicar and Minister of his Power Thus that Catechism teaches in the First Part the IX Article n. 11 12 13. Which besides that it is confuted by the plain demonstration now mentioned that Christ had a Catholick Church which had unity in it self when there was no Roman Church is directly contrary to the constant Doctrine not only of the Scripture but of all the Fathers whose consent they falsly boast of and of many Popes of Rome and of Councils also both General and particular even of the Councils of Lateran and Trent which by approving the Five First General Councils who condemn this Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome do in effect condemn it themselves SECT VIII Which forbids us to joyn in Communion with them upon such Terms TO that Church then we ought to adhere which hath kept the Rule of Faith once delivered to the Saints simple and unmixed with humane inventions Which if we admit as necessary to Salvation we betray the truth of Christ and are false and unjust to innumerable Christian Brethren who by Baptism are admitted into a state of Salvation but hereby unmercifully cut off from the Body of Christ though they have that Faith which makes them true Members of it This is the Great Crime of the Roman Church and may suffice instead of all other demonstrations to prove that they have corrupted themselves and departed from the simplicity that is in Christ For this very Article alone which is a part of their Faith that there is no Salvation but by union with the Roman Catholick Church and that by subjection to it thrusts out of Heaven not only the ancient Christian pious Emperors who refused such subjection But many of their ancient Popes who acknowledged their subjection was due to the Christian Emperors together with the ancient Patriarks and Fathers assembled in many Councils and the most famous Christian Churches the most glorious Martyrs and Saints of Christ that the best times of Christianity have known and to say nothing of after Ages the present Christians of Greece Russia Armenia Syria Ethiopia who by this Article of subjection to the Catholick Roman Church are all excluded from Christian communion and must perish everlastingly For Bellonius says that in his travels he met with Nine sorts of Christians at Jerusalem Eight of which Nine know nothing of this Universal Bishop or do not regard him and of the Ninth there is scarce half that acknowledges his Authority And yet there are Men among them of no mean note and number who have the confidence to tell us that by the Catholick Church which we are bound to believe is to be understood the Bishop of Rome whose Declarations when he will determine any thing to be of Faith we all ought to receive And though we are assured as much as are that there was such a Person as St. Peter that Christ never gave him much less his Successors any Authority at all over his whole Church Yet now to deny the Pope's Supremacy is such a Heresie that let a Man be never so Orthodox in all other points of the Catholick Faith this alone is sufficient to make him be excommunicated and cut off from the Body of Christ Witness our King Henry VIII who was excommunicated and his Kingdom given away for no other fault by a Bull of Paul the Third who affirms in the beginning of that Bull that herein he acted by Divine authority which according as God saith in the Prophet Jeremiah had set him over Nations and Kingdoms to root up and destroy as well as to build and plant having the supreme power over all Kings and People throughout the whole Earth Which certainly is such new Language never known in the Church for many Ages that they who are not convinced thereby of the corruption of Christian Religion in the Roman Church have their Eyes blinded with the Worldly Splendor of it SECT IX But on the other side not to slight Episcopal Authority YET on the other hand it must be acknowledged that this enormous power which they have usurped is a very strong proof of the high Authority of Christian Bishops in the Church and of the great reverence that was paid to them by Christian People Who otherways would never have thus submitted to their will and pleasure had not the obedience which they had been wont always to yield to their authority disposed them to be brought by little and little under an absolute subjection Nor would there have been reason for those Cautions which St. Peter gives to the Governors of God's Church not at Rome but elsewhere 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. not to Lord it over them if they had not been invested with a power which all Christians reverenced so much that it might more easily be abused than contemned and sooner perswade People to follow them with a blind obedience than to slight their judgment and refuse to conform to their Injunctions And therefore whosoever they are that now despise all Ecclesiastical Authority we may be sure they have swerved from the true Principles of Christianity and they also are altogether inexcusable who shake off the Episcopal Government and refuse to be subject to it under a pretence that there ought to be an equality among Christ's