their Souls at peace with themselves because they have then been satisfied that God has been at peace with their Souls Now such Comforts and smaller Happinesses as these because they have always accompanied and been proportionate to their fainter Love of Holiness have given in sufficient Evidence that their Happiness shall then be perfect and compleat when their Holiness shall be so And by having so done may inforce our present Exhortation which is That by growing in Grace and by improving in the Love of God and Goodness they should fit themselves for an eternal Happiness For by what has been said they may now begin to be satisfied that when their Saviour requires of them to love the Lord their God with all their Hearts with all their Souls with all their Strength and with all their Minds he does in effect require of them to love their own Souls since it is by this time notorious that what in this Case is their Duty will prove not only their true Way to Happiness but that it will also put them into the actual Possession of such Happiness 2. I would add in the second place That if we do not sincerely love Holiness and by consequence desire it we shall never attain to the Perfection of it And if we fall short of a perfect Holiness we shall by consequence fall short of Eternal Happiness For our Saviour will not bestow a perfect Holiness there where it is not desired and it cannot be desired there where it is not loved We must therefore fit our selves to be made perfectly holy as well as he is willing to make us so For as we have seen already that those only who hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be satisfied so we shall here add That those only who are so satisfied shall be blessed A SHORT INQUIRY Whether it does not appear from The Scriptures THAT THE GOSPEL OF OUR Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST Shall be made known to those Men After their Resurrection to whom it had never been made known Before their Death LONDON Printed for Benjamin Tooke at the Middle-Temple Gate in Fleet-street 1700. THE PREFACE IT may be perceived by the very Title that I would be thought however I have all along worded my self to propose the following Essay for so I would chuse to call it only Problematically For which Reason I have separated it from the foregoing Discourse and have cast it here by it self If it be found true it cannot for that Reason be condemned of Novelty because it is wholly grounded upon the Scripture and goes no farther than those Consequences which That affords will warrant And if it be found true it may perhaps be found useful also for the Resolving of more Difficulties in Religion than what it expresly pretends to But I was unwilling to adventure too far and therefore desire the Reader to take it in good Part such as it at present offers it self to him T. S. A SHORT INQUIRY c. IT has been our professed Business in the foregoing Discourse to make it out That there is no other Name under Heaven but that of Jesus Christ given to Men whereby they must be saved Which because it is a Truth only made known by Revelation and because it is attended with some Difficulties which our Natural Reason cannot easily surmount has therefore of late especially been slighted to say no worse by some Men who call themselves Christians but who for all that will allow nothing to be necessary to Salvation but the Belief of a God and that Natural Religion which is consequent to such Belief and therefore who are desirous at least to lay aside all Revelation whatsoever Now tho' others who have looked farther into the Matter cannot persuade themselves to renounce God's Revelations concerning a Saviour made to Man in the Old and New Testaments which do indeed carry sufficient Evidence in themselves of their Divine Authority the main Drift and Design of the First being to foretell and prefigure the Coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah with other Things relating to his Birth Life Death Resurrection c. And the main Drift and Design of the Last being to exhibit to us the Accomplishment of what had been so foretold and prefigured For the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy and the Spirit of Prophecy is the Spirit of God Yet even some of these Men do so treat the acknowledged Revelations as to employ their Reason rather to expound away those Difficulties than to resolve them by that means rejecting the most express Meaning of a great Part of the New Testament and so cutting those Knots which they perhaps therefore only cannot because they will not try to untie Now tho' we have attempted to resolve several such Difficulties and some of them in such a way which we hope may persuade thinking Men that provided they hold fast the Foundation they are not always obliged to tread in beaten Paths Yet one grand Difficulty still remains and that is That if Men are to obtain Salvation by Jesus Christ alone and if such a Doctrine can only be known by Revelation then it may seem strange at least that the Revelation is not made known to all Men. And it may seem the more strange that it is not so because in those very Revelations which we have of it we find expresly that the Salvation designed in Christ Jesus was intended for all Men And it is natural to think that that which is designed for the Benefit of all should be exhibited to all and that especially when such Design is the Counsel of Wisdom and Omnipotence Besides if the Revelation of a Saviour was necessary for any then either immediately or mediately it must be necessary for All because if any of those Men to whom it is not made may be saved without it then so might those to whom it was made and so the Revelation as to its necessity to Salvation might have been wholly spared For which Reason we cannot think it sufficient to say that the Saviour knows all Men and so can save them tho' all Men do not know the Saviour and so cannot believe on him And therefore the Scriptures of the New Testament do expresly assign our Salvation on our Part to our Belief and they do as expresly make our Saviour the Saving Object of such our Belief And therefore tho' the Author of The Reasonableness of Christianity has shewed himself no great Friend to Articles of Christian Faith and therefore does at least pretend to wipe away the Necessity of all other Articles in our Creed but this That Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah yet he does not adventure so far as to exclude the Necessity of that Article My Business is not with that Author at present and therefore having taken notice that he does so far agree with me I shall proceed Only I would by the bye remark That tho' that be the first and leading Article of
both in the one Case and in the other that we may be as well satisfied of his Deity under the last Head as of his Humanity under this But neither shall I at present pursue this Thing any further because I must go on towards That which is the present Design of it and that is the Expiation of Sin Therefore 3. Thirdly The Scriptures do acquaint uâ— that That very Person to whom they dâ— ascribe the Expiation of Sin was God anâ— Man in Conjunction or in other Words the he was God Incarnate To this purpose the tell us in one place That the Word was maâ—â— Flesh and that he dwelt amongst us or as 〈◊〉 is in the Original he tabernacled among us which was typified by the Feast of Tabernâ—cles under the Jewish Law and by God's abode and residence in the Tabernacle of thâ— Sanctuary in the Jewish Commonwealth as hâ— been fully made out by Learned Men We are told in another Place that God was manifested in the Flesh and in a third that in him that is in Jesus Christ dwells all the Fulness 〈◊〉 the Godhead bodily with several other Placeâ— of the same import and to the same purpose and design Now because this Propositioâ— does comprehend the two former for iâ— our Saviour be God Incarnate there can be no doubt but that he is God and Man and because our true understanding of the Doctrine of the Expiation does mightily depend upon the Doctrine of the Incarnation and because lastly this Doctrine of the Incarnation is not only vigorously opposed by many among us but also slighted and even ridicul'd by not a few therefore we must a while make a Stand here and examine whether the Incarnation which we affirm to be revealed by the Scriptures will not stand the Test and admit the Approbation of Reason or whether as is pretended it be so absurd as to be easily confuted by Reason or to be treated with Contempt and Derision And in the first place we cannot but take notice that as Contempt and Derision is very seldom a Sign of Wisdom so it is so far from being so when it is imployed about any thing which does appear to be the Revelation of God that in such a Case we may certainly pronounce it to be Folly For let it for once be supposed that some Men and yet those some have been very far the greater Number of Christians through all Ages since the New Testament was recorded for the Word of God But I say let it for once be supposed that some Men have been mistaken in the Meaning of God's Revelations in the present Case Yet because the obvious and literal Sense of such his Revelations does speak the same thing that they do that is because that Book which is on all Sides agreed to be the Word of God does in plain and express Words tell us that God was manifested in the Flesh that the Word was made Flesh and the like it must needs be insolent and soolish to treat the literal and plain Meaning of such Propositions with Scorn and Derision Because in such a Case should the Meaning be what at first view it appears to be it will 〈◊〉 but an ill Excuse for such a Treatment to aâ— ledge that Men thought otherwise and peâ— haps it may be nothing better but rathâ— worse to alledge that they knew otherwiâ—â— No! where Things revealed by what we oâ— selves confess to be the Word of God 〈◊〉 plain and categorical but more especiall where such Things have from the same Woâ— of God a great deal of collateral Confirâ—tion as the Incarnation has in such Casâ— if we doubt of the plain and literal Meaninâ— our best and most prudent way will be to 〈◊〉 our Doubting be attended with Modesty aâ— Sobriety and to let our Inquiry after anothâ— Sense be sincere and diligent And not upoâ— the Confidence of our own Presumption 〈◊〉 upon the presumed Strength of our Naturâ— Reason to reject That which upon such 〈◊〉 Inquiry may prove a Truth For if we wâ— admit nothing for Truth that is proposed 〈◊〉 us as such by Revelation but what we caâ— without such Revelation discover to be so 〈◊〉 our Natural Reason all Revelation may 〈◊〉 to us be superseded and so the Old Tesâ—ment indited by the Spirit of God for thâ— Institution of the Jewish Religion and tâ—â— New Testament indited by the same Spirit fâ—â— the Institution of the Christian might havâ— very well been spared and Natural Religicâ— which was in the World before either migâ— well enough have supplied the Place of Boâ— Now this Consideration we have therefore offered in the first place to check the Confidence of those who lean so much to their own Understandings that they will never allow Revelation to guide their Reason but on the contrary do so manage it by their uncouth Expositions as to permit it to speak no Truth but what their Natural Reason might have acquainted them with without it But to proceed To such Men who therefore reject the Belief because they deny the Possibility of the Incarnation I would put this short Question which is Whether or no they are acquainted with the Nature of all possible Unions For it is most certain that the Reach of no Man's Understanding is so large as to enable him where to fix the utmost Bounds of all such Unions nor yet to account for the Manner how several of those Unions with which yet it is acquainted are made And Instances might be given and those too not a few to make out what we have said But tho' Humane Understanding is not acquainted with all possible Unions nor can account for many with which yet it is acquainted yet that will be no good Argument that therefore there are no such Unions Alas our most refined and improved Reason falls short in its Knowledge of the greatest part of those Things which yet are as surely known as it is sure that there is such a Thing as Omniscience and such a Being as a God And when we are once satisfied that any Union be it what it will is revealed to us by Omniscience as we may by the same Means be satisfied in Reason that there really is such an Union so we may be satisfied in Modesty that the Knowledge and Discovery of such Union did exceed the Grasp of our Natural Understanding Tho' therefore in what follows I do neither pretend to prove or to explain the Incarnation by Reason yet if any Thing shall be offered by which the Expressions which the New Testament gives us of it shall appear to be plain and literal and that their Meaning is what it seems to be it will be a sufficient Ground for our Belief of the Thing because those with whom we have to do in the present Argument do not pretend to doubt the Truth but only the Meaning of such Expressions 1. In order then to the helping forward our Faith in the Union of God and Man in
other sort of Natural Philosophy they had been very well satisfied and contented without that new and uncouth Article of their Christian Faith Other Instances might be produced to shew that gross Fooleries and Corruptions have crept into Religion at this Door Whereas a due Consideration that the Christian Religion is a Covenant and the treating of it as such would acquaint us much better with the Nature and engage us more effectually to the Duties of it But this useful Remark being left in this place we proceed 2. The second Objection therefore against the Imputation of our Saviour's Obedience to Believers in order to their obtaining the promised Reward of the Covenant stands thus That supposing that our Saviour did provide for the Directive Part of the Law by his Obedience and that he did also fulfil the Vindictive Part by his Death In such Case there does therefore seem to be a Superfluity in his Provision because should his Obedience alone be imputed to us we should by that Means be entitled to a perfect Righteousness and then there had been no need of his Death to expiate our Sins because then we should have had no Sins to be expiated And that which may add some Strength to what is thus alledged is this That our Saviour paying that Obedience to the Law while he was in the Flesh the Obedience so paid was paid before his Death and therefore in the Course of Things it should seem that it might be imputed before his Death and in the Course of Justice without it For when by such Imputation we were once entitled to his Righteousness the Plea of his Death in order to qualifie us for Happiness must needs be useless and superfluous Now tho' it may seem indeed that Things might have gone so if we only have a Regard to the Order of Time yet if we look to the Order of Reason and Justice we shall easily perceive that they could not For we cannot by any Estimation of Justice whatsoever be reckoned Righteous so long as our Guilt lies upon us and when once by our Sins we have made our selves guilty such Guilt must needs lie upon us till it be one way or other expiated Now because we have already and fully made it out that it neither is nor can be expiated any other way than by the Death of our Saviour therefore the Death of such Saviour must in the Order of Justice first expiate such our Guilt before we can possibly be entitled to a perfect Righteousness For who can put a clean thing into an unclean It is neither agreeable to the Methods of Wisdom or Justice so to do And therefore we may be sure that it cannot be the Practice of the most Wise and Just God No! we know well enough because we are told so by the Spirit of God that our Saviour first died for our Sins and after that rose again for our Justification And we know moreover that when God had once given forth his Law tho' had an exact Obedience been paid to it the Vengeance of it which was only Conditionally threatned had never been executed for the Justice and Execution of such Vengeance does entirely depend upon our Transgression yet after we had transgressed the Law the Execution of such Vengeance was as necessary as was the Happiness promised if we had not transgressed it For Vengeance does by the Tenor of the Law stand in the same Relation to Sin as Happiness does to Obedience The first becomes our Due in case we neglect our Duty the last in case we perform it And the Distribution both of the one and the other must as necessarily follow upon our Performance or Non-performance of those Conditions to which each of them do stand respectively engaged as it is necessary for God to love Holiness and hate Wickedness One Part of the Law therefore is in Justice to be provided for as well as the other And then if neither the Punishment of Man could fulfil the Law on the one Hand nor the imperfect Obedience of Man on the other and if our Saviour undertook for Man's sake to supply Man's Defects then there was the same Necessity in Justice that he should fulfil the Vindictive Part of it by his Death that there was that he should fulfil the Directive Part of it by his Obedience And therefore as neither his Obedience not his Death had been necessary no nor his Incarnation neither upon which such his Death and such his Obedience do depend But I say as neither his Obedience nor his Death had been necessary if Man had obeyed the Law himself so upon Man's Transgression of the Law they both became necessary Because as we have already seen Man's Punishment is in Justice as necessary upon his Breach of the Law as his Obedience was upon God's Promulgation of the Law And therefore when our Saviour undertook to save sinful Man that is Man who had transgressed the Directions of the Law and Man who lay exposed to the Vengeance of the Law it was necessary in order to his doing so justly that he should have a Regard to one Part of the Law as well as to the other that is that he should fulfil the Vindictive by his Death and the Directive by his Obedience And had he not done both one Part of the Law at least had been neglected and so the Redemption had not been just By which we may by this time understand that there is no Superfluity in his providing for Man's Salvation both by the Obedience of his Life and by the Sufferings of his Death For that cannot in Reason be accounted Superfluous in the doing of any Thing whatsoever without which such Thing cannot be done justly Now as in our Answer to the former Objection we made good not only the Possibility but the Legality too of the Imputation of our Saviour's Righteousness so in our Answer to this we have shewed the conjunct Necessity both of the Imputation and of his Death in order to Man's Salvation By all which we may at last come to understand that God in his Counsel for Man's Salvation as he consulted his Mercy so did not lay aside the Care of his Justice For the whole Transaction as we have largely seen was in him Justice as it was to us Mercy Justice as it fulfilled the whole Law Mercy as it redeemed us from the Curse and invested us in the Promise of the Law A strange Mixture and had it not been discovered to us by Revelation by our Natural Reason not to be fathomed But as it is revealed agreeable as we have seen to such Reason so assisted 1. By which we may in the first place understand That tho' Christ crucified be to the Jews a Stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness yet to us he is and that notoriously the Wisdom of God and the Power of God For his Wisdom and his Power can we see bring Things to pass beyond the reach of Angels and