Difficulties as it is now adays through the fault and neglect of Men 'T would then appear to us more conformable to Reason to hold Predestination than otherwise For if there be a God he cannot but foresee what will become of Men and that they will fall into Misery and Sin And if some of them be saved 't would be very absurd to think that God designed them not unto Salvation And this Doctrin of Predestination when distinguished from the Speculations of Schoolmen and vain inquiries of humane Curiosity is wholly comprised in these two Propositions God foresees the Sin and Misery of Mankind and some part of them he designed to Save according to that of the Apostle those whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate c. Now can any thing be more reasonable than these two Principles are For if a wise Man can be said to foresee the Time to come by the Rules of his Prudence and Conduct would it not be below the Majesty of God to suppose him ignorant of Futurity who was the Author of Time Is it possible he would not as yet be concerned in the Salvation of Mankind And can it be supposed that Man should be saved as it were by an unforeseen Chance against his Will What would become of his Mercy if what he did proceeded not from the Design he had to save us Could he have sent his Son into the World and yet deny Salvation to those who were to be born after the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ There occurs in all this but one Difficulty which is the same that St. Paul urged to himself when he said Thou wilt say then unto me Why doth he yet find fault For who hath resisted his Will Are we guilty then will the Gentiles say because we were not sooner partakers of his Light Or how can I be saved the Reprobate will cry out since God did not predestinate me to Salvation To this we reply We must not call in Philosophy to our assistance to avoid this Difficulty which is common to all Systems and in some becomes greater St. Paul went no further than this let us in imitation of him stop there also Let the Bounds of Revelation be those also of our vain Curiosity The greater skill Philosophy affords us to solve this Objection the further it removes us from the Truth which seemed wholly impenetrable to a Writer far more learned than us and who was forced to cry out when he reflected upon it O the Depth c. 'T is easy to shew that this is a common Difficulty We cannot own the Existence of God without ascribing to him a Fore-knowledge of the Time to come and it is certainly true that to explicate the Divine Prescience will produce in us the same intricate Doubts as Predestination so that both of them being infallibly true 't is utterly impossible to go against either of them 'T is further evident that this Difficulty is no less considerable in natural things than it is in those that concern Religion For if God can foresee the Time to come he must of necessity have foreseen and set Bounds to our Lives which if true we may eat or not eat we may preserve or not preserve our Selves it being all one since we cannot exceed or come short of those Limits which the Almighty has prescribed us Whence I conclude That the Doctrin of Predestination contains two sorts of Difficulties the first which spring from the too refined Notions of Philosophy which ought not to perplex our Minds for we are not obliged to answer them The second which are natural and common to all the Affairs of Life so soon as you have laid down this Principle That there is a God who made us and that he can foresee that which will certainly come to pass For if we are taught both by Experience and Reason that God hath a knowledge of Futurity and that he hath foreseen and foretold it upon many Occasions as it appears by the fulfilling of Prophecies 't is evident from thence that both Experience and Reason perswade us to receive the most difficult things or rather the only Difficulty that is implied in the Doctrin of Predestination The same might easily be proved in Original Sin and the Efficacy of Grace if we distinguish between the manner and the thing it self It is true we are Originally defiled with Sin having been shapen in iniquity and conceived in Sin and being by nature Children of Wrath. The Holy Scripture informs us of the thing it self because absolutely necessary to our Humility and Sanctification 'T was unnecessary to know the manner of it since it is to no purpose for a Man to know how he fell into a Pit his business then being to find the means how to get out of it And therefore the Holy Scripture is silent as to the manner in which Original Sin was transmitted to us that is as to the Physical manner of its infecting the whole Race of Mankind All the Questions which Divines generally Start are meerly Philosophical containing such Difficulties as we are not obliged to answer If we distinctly understood the union of our Soul and Body we might very clearly explain that incomprehensible Transmission of Original Sin but since our Learning can never arrive to that Height we have great Reason to distrust our Philosophy but be it as it well the Difficulties proceeding from our vain Curiosity ought not to be taken for the Effects of Faith Faith and Reason are here in a perfect union by keeping themselves within their due Bounds Faith teaches us the thing it self and Reason assents to it Reason comprehends not the manner of it and Faith supposes it incomprehensible If Reason could deny that Men were from their Cradles inclinable to Evil it would be contrary to Faith which teaches us that Principle And if Faith should flatter us with the hopes of freeing that Object from all the Difficulties occuring to those who endeavour to search into the bottom and manner of it it would be also contrary to Reason which knows Faith wholly incapable of such an attempt But since it is not so nothing hinders but that we acknowledge the agreement between Faith and Reason The same proportion there is between Reason and Faith is also betwixt Reason and Sense And as Faith is above Reason so is Reason above Sense 'T is an undeniable Truth that Reason and Sense never oppose one another altho one of these Faculties cannot comprehend the manner of those things which the other does Thus for instance Sense testifies that there is an ebbing and flowing of the Sea and Reason which is truly convinced by this Testimony together with the unanimous Consent of Men agrees to the Truth of it tho wholly ignorant of its Physical Cause If Sense could certify that this Phenomenon could be perfectly known it would be contrary to Reason which scarce understands it at all and if Reason absolutely denied there were any such
have here something still more clear and convincing than all this to offer Either those Books which you may think forg'd or not forg'd spread of themselves the Christian Doctrine throughout the World after they had been carried into several Parts of it before there were any Apostles to preach it there or else those Books were composed after the Apostles had published their Doctrine in the different parts of the Universe I see no medium If the Books of the New Testament instructed men in the Christian Doctrine before any of the Apostles had preached it how could the Romans be perswaded that St. Paul which is a meer Name had wrote an Epistle to them or those of Antioch that St. Peter had been in their City or the Galatians that St. Paul had preached the Gospel to them or in general all Judea and Galilee that Jesus Christ with his Disciples had preached there or in particular the people of Jerusalem that he was there condemned to Death by the Sanhedrin c. But if the New Testament was not collected into several Books nor composed till after the Disciples of Jesus Christ had preached the Gospel in the several parts of the World it must follow from thence that there were some Apostles before that time and a certain Jesus Christ crucified who was reputed the Son of God and the true Messias according to the Christian Doctrin So that whether those Books be forg'd or not still I am certain they relate certain fundamental matters of fact which are necessarily true For it is certain there was such a person as Jesus Christ who dwelt in Nazareth and was at last crucified at Jerusalem 'T is also as certain that Peter James and John were Fishermen who followed him out of Galilee and preached the Gospel after his Death in several Parts of the World Wherefore then should I be the only person that should question a thing never so much as doubted of among the Christians or the Jews nay which the Incredulous themselves of these times do not pretend to call in question But to stop a little here It seems that Jesus the Son of Mary living in a certain Corner of Judea pretended himself to be the Son of God or if you will the Messias 'T is very strange indeed that a Man of so mean an extraction who all his life time followed the profession of a Carpenter as his Enemies so often reproached him to have done should notwithstanding pretend himself to be the Messias who was to have been according to the profess'd opinion of that age surrounded or attended with pomp splendour and temporal Prosperity Let us therefore enquire a little into it This Jesus whoever he might be and whatever Idea we may frame to our selves of him gathered together a company of Disciples some of which he took from among Fishermen on the bank of the Lake of Gennesareth some out of the Towns of Galilee nay and some he called from among the Publicans themselves whom the people ever had in abomination as the First Enemies of Christian Religion laid to his charge Those men which thus followed him were of mean Education and Birth They neither had Learning nor Politeness they neither were acquainted with the heart nor the inclinations of men neither with the Policy of Princes nor the elevated Morals of the Stoicks nor lastly with the misterious and secret Wisdom of the Sages But they were mean and simple Persons as the Enemies themselves of Christianity readily acknowledge I shall not at present examin what Reasons induced them so firmly to adhere to Jesus Christ nor what convincing arguments he used to engage them to follow him It is enough we know they were ignorant persons who looked for the Messias according to the common Opinion of those times and so might probably be thought to have been imposed upon in that respect But here I cannot but admire that those mean and ignorant people who had undoubtedly framed to themselves a very sublime Idea of their Messias and imagined no less than that he would have distributed Crowns to them to use that expression since this was always a strong opinion amongst the Jews I say I cannot but admire that those ignorant sort of people should content themselves with the outward and apparent meanness of a man who took quite another form upon him than that of a Conqueror It can't be denied that Jesus Christ was in a very poor and mean condition when he called his Disciples since Porphirius Celsus and Julian the Apostate reproach him with it Besides this is such a matter of fact as no man would invent tho' he could easily have done it and which he could not easily invent tho he would have done it 'T is certain the Jews at that time and always before expected a Triumphant Messias 'T is also as certain the Disciples adher'd to Jesus Christ notwithstanding the profess'd opinion they were prepossessed with at that time this is what we are surpris'd at Since the Disciples found not in Jesus Christ all the Glory and temporal power they were strongly perswaded their Messias should have been invested with they undoubtedly imagin'd that what their Master did not then actually possess he would certainly enjoy some time after They did not at all question but that he was to re-establish the Monarchy of Israel and overcome the Enemies of the Jews This made them to dispute the Priority among themselves They would know who was to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven that is in the flourishing Kingdom of the Messias which they termed the Kingdom of heaven in imitation of the Prophet Daniel Nay two of them importuned our Saviour to grant them to sit the one on his Right Hand and the other on his Left as soon as he was exalted to that state of Glory I admit not of these matters of fact meerly because they are in the New Testament but because they are very conformable to the Jewish Tradition and Reason it self Common Sense assures us that the Disciples adhered not to Jesus Christ without some hope or other Now what could they hope for from him whom they looked upon as the Messias but that which they expected from the true Messias himself viz. a temporal deliverance attended with the like Prosperity But not to advance any thing doubtful or in the least uncertain in it self I affirm that the Disciples considered Jesus Christ as the true Messias and that they could not regard him as such but either in the sense of the Jews or in that of the Christians that is either as a temporal Deliverer or a spiritual one and consequently that whatever sense we take it in still were they to hope for some advantage or other from him but let us see how far this twofold Consideration will lead us Whilst the Disciples were strongly preposessed with the thoughts that Jesus was their Messias that is the person that should have raised up their Nation to
been clearly explained by their event Neither the Books of the Old or New Testament bear the least record of Mahomet whereas the Prophets had foretold the coming of Jesus Christ as of a Messias that was to unite the Jews and Gentiles and to carry the Covenant of God unto the ends of the World Mahomet established himself in the World by force and violence but Jesus Christ only by patience and sufferings The former was environ'd with Soldiers the latter was attended with Martyrs The one put men to Death but the other received Death for our sakes Mahomet's ambition who established such a flourishing Empire was presently seen in the success he had in his undertaking But Jesus Christ was far from self Interest or Ambition since he withdrew himself when they would have made him King and declared his Kingdom was not of this World Instead of encouraging the carnal prejudices of his Disciples he took care to undeceive them and to foretell all the Evils they were to expect And tho' any should presume openly to dispute all these matters of fact still they appear by the end and success of the Gospel the design of which was to sanctify the heart and calm the disorderly passions of the Soul Mahomet invented such a Religion which agreed only with corrupted Reason and the loose inordinate desires of the heart He made the scandal of the Cross to give place to the magnificence and grandeur of the World he took away the most spiritual and difficult matters of Morality to fill the minds of his Disciples with carnal and sensual Ideas But not so did our Saviour act who proposed his Cross to the minds of men as an astonishing Paradox and a continual cause of Mortification and Repentance Mahomet Established his Religion by the help of Ignorance and Darkness by suppressing such Books as might have enlightened mens Understandings and by requiring a blind submission from them Jesus Christ on the contrary would not have them believe his Doctrine but as they found it conformable to that of the Prophets Search the Scriptures says he for in them ye think ye have eternal life John 5. 39. Mahomet established himself in the World by dissembling and disguising his thoughts He promised in the beginning a toleration of all Religions carried it fair to the Christians but afterwasds did his utmost endeavours to extirpate them utterly But Jesus Christ declared at first his intention and design which was to save mankind and overthrow Superstition it self Nor he nor his Disciples used any Policy or Circumvention in this respect Mahomet died but never rose nor pretended to rise again from the dead thereby to shew he was approved of God Jesus Christ died but it was believed he rose again from the dead upon the testimony of those who had seen him after his Resurrection and testified of the Truth of this matter of fact to all the World at the expence of their lives and effusion of their blood Mahomet's Religion was invented maintained and supported by Policy but that of Jesus Christ was at first offensive to all the Princes upon earth and was established in the World notwithstanding all their endeavours to the contrary Mahomets's Religion appear'd at first view to be as it were the Triumph of Humane Industry and Covetousness but the Religion of Jesus Christ shew'd that of integrity and justice in their full perfection and Natural Religion in that proper purity and simplicity that was restored to it by Charity Mahomet laid the foundation of a particular Monarchy and established such Laws as humanly speaking are serviceable only in those places wherein he has settled his Dominion but Jesus Christ has given us new Principles of union and intelligence very usefull to the good of publick society in general and very fit to cement the union of all men together by making the spirit of Charity reign in the World The coming of Mahomet did not sanctify mankind but that of Jesus Christ was attended with an innumerable Company of persons who all renounced the World meerly by the Faith they had in him 'T was not Mahomet but Jesus Christ who exactly fulfilled the Oracles concerning the calling of the Gentiles because Mahomet derived all his knowledge of the true God from Jesus Christ as we have already shewed Lastly Temporal Prosperity was the true Character of the Religion of Mahomet and it might be very well affirmed that Mahomet was a Man of God if it were true that all those who enjoy the greatest Prosperity in the World that is all Tyrants wicked and unjust men are the favorites of God But the Character of the Religion of Jesus Christ is patience self-denial innocence and a simplicity of manners and certainly he was approved of God if God approves of vertuous patient humble and charitable men It concerns now the Incredulous to answer all these differences if they would have us allow of this Comparison for otherwise we shall ever reject it as being very ridiculous and extravagant CHAP. XV. Where we further examin the objections of the Incredulous THe Incredulous are apt to raise as many suspicions against the miracles of Jesus Christ as against his person because of all those proofs which establish his Religion there are none that can move the senses so much as that taken from true Miracles I. Then they object that Jesus the Son of Mary might have healed two or three people either by chance or by vertue of Second causes and that that good success might have got him afterwards the name of a Prophet through the ignorance of the people who are wont to ascribe to supernatural Causes every thing that is unknown to them We answer that we have here a very great number of miracles all of different kinds evident and sensible miracles in their Nature unimitable and above all Imposture Such are the Resurrection of the dead healing the Blind the Lame and the sick of the Palsy c. II. They pretend that he might perhaps have suborned Witnesses to testify some fabulous miracles But how could this be Since Jesus Christ had neither money to give nor dignities to promise and as for cunning Politick niceties Riches and Credit they were only amongst the Scribes and Pharisees and Doctors of the Law his implacable Enemies who took all opportunities to prejudice him because he publickly censured their hypocrisy upon all occasions III. They object that Jesus Christ was so prudent as to work his miracles only before three of his chosen Disciples viz. Peter James and John Now say they who knows but that those three Disciples to flatter the ambition of their Master might have attested certain Miracles as true which were not really so To remove this suspicion we need only reflect upon the many miracles Jesus Christ wrought in the presence of his other Disciples He raised from the dead the Son of the Widdow of Naim as he was a carrying to be interr'd He raised Lazarus from the grave in
Neither was it because of his extraordinary Piety For Moses called the meekest of Men was without doubt in that equal to him 'T was then because of the advantage he enjoyed both in Seeing and Hearing the Messias But how comes our Saviour to add that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than him Must we understand by the Kingdom of Heaven that Kingdom of which John himself said the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Was it not rather because John saw none of all the Wonders of that Kingdom which the least of Christ's Disciples had seen Which indeed was the reason that our Saviour told them Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they hear For verily I say unto you that many Prophets and righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Matth. 13. 16 17. Now all this evidently supposes the Miracles of Christ and all the other marvellous Events which serve for a Confirmation of our holy Religion What he also said himself concerning Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is altogether strange and very surprising Nay the very name he gave to that sin implies something in itself Singular and Extraordinary For no body before him ever expressed himself after this manner Men were not ignorant that sinning against God was a very great Crime but they had no Knowledge of the sin against the Holy Ghost much less were they satisfied if there was any harm in Blaspheming against him This unusual Language necessarily proceeded from a new Revelation and from new and different objects not seen or heard of before For the Jews knew not what the Holy Ghost was if we take that word in the Sense of the Evangelists Nay there were some of them who tho converted to the Gopsel of Christ yet still were ignorant of the true meaning of that Expression In the mean while if we will but consult the Writings of the New Testament and therein the Gospels the Acts of the Holy Apostles and the Epistles of those great and extraordinary Men they will presently inform us that by the Holy Ghost must be understood in most of those places the extraordinary and miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit imparted to the Men of those days and that to Blaspheme against him is downright Blasphemy against that Divine and Glorious Principle of all things which was the cause of all the Perfections and Miracles of Christ and gave such Power unto Men. So that there is first in that Text such an obscurity as proves that the Evangelists could not have thought of inventing it had not Christ himself really utter'd these very words and secondly it undeniably supposes the miraculous matters of fact the Pharisees were wont to ascribe to the Power of Belzebub wherein indeed Chiefly consisted the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost In like manner this Text Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. 5. implies a very puzling Difficulty because it was not usual formerly for Men to express themselves after this manner It is a very difficult matter indeed to understand the true meaning of that Text but it is yet far more difficult to invent it and all the Doctors in the World might put their Heads together and yet never be able to invent the like Text. Above all it was not natural for the Jews to invent any such thing because they had no such objects amongst them as could fill up their Minds with any such Ideas When we suppose the Baptism of the Holy Spirit confer'd upon Christ's Disciples we may then easily comprehend the true meaning of that mysterious but very remarkable Expression We might also add to this Text that other which mentions the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire In like manner it pleased God in his Wisdom that they who related to us the History of Christ's Resurrection should tell us also some things which we cannot at first view easily comprehend tho they have a true and reasonable meaning on purpose to make us understand that as it was impossible those obscure and difficult sayings ascribed to him by them should come of themselves into their thoughts had not he really spoke them so consequently it can never be supposed that those Men should have forg'd the History of Christ's Resurrection or their Discourses with him after he was risen from the Dead as for instance these Words which he spake to Mary touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father John 20. 17. We could make almost an infinite number of such Remarks as these which tho' they cannot come up to an evident Demonstration yet are very proper to make us sensible of the Truth of those matters of fact we are now speaking of The Sincerity of the Disciples will further appear by the great number of Circumstances with which their Narrative is fill'd some whereof are so singular that they can't easily enter into any Man's Mind and others so unbecoming their Master or dâ—â—â—dvantageous to themselves that there is not the least Probability they could have any Desire to forge them others are so inseparably united with those Events which must necessarily have been well known that they durst not so much as think of forging them against the publick Knowledge every body must have had of them as we have already proved at large But lastly 't is not our present Design to insist purely upon probable Reasons tho' never so probable and sufficient of themselves to form a true and perfect Demonstration when joyned together I therefore proceed to that which is in itself wholly Demonstrative Now the whole Demonstration of the Truth of Christian Religion depends upon this Argument namely that the Apostles and Disciples of Christ sincerely believed his Miracles Resurrection Ascension and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost whence it follows that all those matters of fact are most certainly true We have already given an invincible proof of the Consequence of this Argument by shewing that it was impossible the Disciples should have been imposed upon in all these matters of fact that tho' they might have been deceived in the Miracles of Christ yet they could not be imposed upon in his Resurrection that tho' they should have been imposed upon in his Resurrection yet they could not be deceived in his Ascension and that tho' they should have been deceived in his Ascension yet they could not be so too in the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost which are matters of fact that they knew by inward sense and continual Experience I prove also the Principle of this Argument viz. that the Disciples of Christ sincerely believed all those matters of fact by the same Gradation I say then that the Disciples could not impose upon Men as to the Miracles of Christ not only because they asserted them at the Expence of their own
down from the Cross and we will believe in him Nay it is all one as if a Man should say If there be a God why does he not shew and manifest himself after a sensible manner by speaking to men immediately from the highest Heavens and then they would all be forced in spite of themselves to acknowledge him But God does not desire us to acknowledge him against our own Inclinations and consequently he is not obliged to manifest himself as we in our extravagant Desires would have him but as it seemeth best to his infinite Wisdom Had Christ or his Apostles raised all the Dead they found to Life again we should then contrary to the Design of the Almighty have had no other Faith but what depended entirely upon our Senses It is enongh that they healed almost an infinite number of Sick People and raised not only one but several Dead Men to Life So much indeed was absolutely necessary to confirm the Truth of their Calling Because they were not only to make Men believe in a crucified Saviour and adore him as the Son of God but also to oblige them for the Confirmation of their Faith to undergo Martyrdom More than this would have been but superfluous because they were not obliged to alter the Oeconomy of Faith but only to perfect it not to make Men believe against their own Inclinations but conformably to the Lights of their own Understanding But tho' I should grant all these Difficulties to be greater than they really are yet we ought to regulate our speculative Opinions by some Arguments drawn from matters of fact and not on the contrary regulate the Arguments drawn from matters of fact by any speculative Opinions And this is such a general Maxim that it holds good in all respects Many Difficulties arose at first about the Belief of the Antipodes Some pretended that such an Opinion was contrary to Reason others affirmed it could never be reconciled to the Principles of Religion And both Parties raised several notable Objections against it But as soon as the thing was evidently proved from undeniable matter of fact all their Objections and Difficulties were turned into Ridicule Some Philosophers have pretended to prove by Arguments that Motion is impossible But since we have daily Experience that there is such a thing as Motion we let these Philosophers talk on and chuse rather to believe our own Senses And I dare affirm without begging any Excuse for the Boldness of my Assertion that there never were nor never will be any matters of fact against which we might not raise several plausible Objections and considerable Difficulties that are meerly speculative Some are daily raised against the Flux and Reflux of the Sea against the Attraction of the Loadstone with Iron the Source or Head of the River Nile against Comets and Meteors nay even against the peopling of the World and the Propagation of Mankind We readily grant the Incredulous that several considerable Difficulties may be raised against the Mysteries of Religion as we see there are no less considerable ones daily raised even against the Mysteries and secret Operations of Nature But I still affirm that we must renounce the Evidence of Sense if we prefer any Difficulties of meer Speculation before those Arguments which are taken from undeniable matters of fact Tho' we should argue only upon the Nature of Things and the Principles of Natural Religion it would appear if we compare the Obscurities which cause those Difficulties with the Evidences which clear them that the latter would gain more upon our Belief than the former and this Truth we think we have sufficiently proved in our first Part of this Work But tho' we should meet with nothing else but Difficulties in those natural Principles without any Lights at all to clear them yet ought we to banish all Scruples and Doubts that arise meerly from Speculation the better to embrace the Opinion which proceeds from the Arguments drawn from undeniable matters of fact unless we have a mind to be guilty of an Absurdity not to be met with which is wholly contrary to common sense and Reason But having thus evinced the Truth of the Essentials of our Religion namely those matters of fact contained in the Writings of the Apostles it remains only that we make Men further sensible of them by laying down a few short Remarks which we shall make on several places of the New Testament whose whole Purport shall be either to perswade us that the Apostles did really teach all these matters of fact or assure us that they sincerely believed the things which they declared or else to make it appear that they could not have been imposed upon in those matters of fact For from those three principles is formed the Demonstration of the Truth of the Christian Religion SOME REFLEXIONS ON THE Gospel according to S. Matthew CHapt II. 1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea behold there came Wisemen c. Those Wise-men were of all Nations the first that came to pay their Homage to Jesus Christ The Priests and Elders amongst the Jews being consulted concerning the Birth of the Messias freely owned he was to be born in Bethlehem and were quite of another Opinion than the Modern Jews who pervert the Meaning of the Prophecy of Micah Chap. 5. As to what concerns us we affirm that the History of the coming of the Wise-men could not be falsely invented I. Because it agrees admirably with the Prophecy of Balaam Numb 24. 17. where he Cries out I shall sâ—e him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh There shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel A Star of the Wise-men indeed and a Scepter of Jesus Christ II. The Evangelist could not have made the whole City of Jerusalem believe that they were troubled and astonisht at the Coming of those Wise-men and much less perswaded the Inhabitants against their own publick Knowledge that Herod had so barbaroufly shed so much Innocent Blood III. Herod must necessarily have been told that the Christ or Messias was to be born in Bethlehem because thither he sent directly the Ministers of his execrable fury IV. And lastly Joseph fled into Egypt and was afraid to return again into Judea when he heard that Archelaus Reigned in the room of his Father Herod A Circumstance that wonderfully agrees with all the rest Chapt. III. 1. In those days came John the Baptist In this Chapter John foretells the Destruction of the Jews in these Words O generation of Vipers who has warned you to fly from the wrath to come and now also the ax is laid to the root of the Tree therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire c. He foretells also the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles in these words I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that
such a deep penetration of Mind and attempted to exalt Man above himself by infatuating him with the Conceits of his own Wisdom But God who knows best what Remedies are most proper for us has given us a Religion which satisfies the Heart without corrupting the Vnderstanding and enlarges the Vnderstanding without corrupting the Heart and that because it satisfies and yet mortifies it enlightens and yet confounds the Understanding If to the Understanding several great and sublime Truths are revealed it has not therefore any pretence to exalt it self because it knows that Knowledge to be above its Capacity and ows it only to Revelation If the Heart finds the Objects of Religion answerable to it's infinite Desires it has no reason to be puffed up by them because those Objects destroy its darling Passions and vitious Inclinations So that the only means to enlighten and at the same time humble our Understanding was to intermix some Obscurity with the Light of Revelation and the only way to satisfy the Heart and prevent its being puffed up was to qualify some sorrowful and mortifying Duties with the extraordinary Promises of the Gospel Thus the Severity of Christian Morality and the Obscurity of its Mysteries are two different means which God has made use of to enlighten the Understanding without puffing up the Heart and to satisfy the Desires of the Heart without flatering those Passions which corrupt the Understanding Which manifestly shews that the Christian Religion has not only the Divine Stamp upon it since it contains the true manner of reforming and regulating the Desires of Mans Heart but also that the Severity of the Christian Morality and the Difficulty of its Mysteries which shock the Incredulous most in the Principles of Christianity were purposely made use of by God in his eternal Wisdom as the most proper Means to sanctify Mankind which is the grand Design of the Christian Religion We have then here the Two most essential and most important parts of our Religion Its Morality and Mysteries The latter are necessary in respect of Faith and the former is the Rule of those Duties which God is pleased we shall perform as a Means to attain Everlasting Life It would be superfluous to lay down here at large what Doctrin or Precepts are contained in the Gospel because it has pleased God that we cannot pretend any Ignorance of them and besides 't is the Truth of Religion in general we are now treating of we are oblig'd to speak here only of Christian Morality and the Doctrin of Faith in general As for the Morality of Christ it has so many remarkable Characters that it is impossible to reflect upon any of them without immediatly acknowledging its Divinity For I. 'T is it seems a Paradox to the Senses to the Heart to the Mind and Nature of Man It was never before heard of or known that a Man must take up his Cross and think those Blessed that are poor in Spirit that mourn and are persecuted for Righteousness sake that we must love our Enemies and pray for them that shall revile and persecute us that we must not only comfort our selves in the midst of our Afflictions and Crosses but also rejoyce for being thus afflicted and esteem our Happiness and Glory the greater as our Sufferings are increased Men I say had never such Thoughts before and the Puradoxes of the Stoicks are nothing to these for here we find to our great surprize that a few poor Fishermen rustick in their Speech preach such Maxims abroad as are as far above the ordinary Capacity of the Understanding as they are contrary to the Affections and Inclinations of the Heart II. 'T is observable that Christian Morality seems to be a very sad and mortifying thing For it curbs and restrains all our Passions Self-love repines at it Voluptuousness can't endure it Pride is wholly humbled and mortified by it and those who seem to allow of it most cannot but privately hate it when ever their Hearts are engaged in any Passion It has been often observ'd that there have been Christians in all Ages who attempted to pervert the sense of it by putting such Glosses and Interpretations upon it as were more conformable to their Inclinations than to the Truth it self and by endeavouring to extirpate it at least indirectly when they durst not attempt it in a more open manner But let no man imagin that this Morality was offered to the World under any Disguise Christ who among so many other wonderful Characters of his Calling has a very remarkable one and that is never to flatter the loose Inclinations of Men plainly declares that whosoever will be thought his Disciple must pluck out his Eyes and cut off his Hands must hate himself deny himself nay even hate his own Soul c. Expressions which explain one another and certify us that the Pains and Torments the observers of his Morality must undergo are like unto those which Men endure when they cut off their Arms or pluck out their Eyes or are in a manner separated from Themselves There is nothing in all this like the cunning Address and subtle Management of Men in the World when they endeavour to establish new Doctrins and it evidently appears that Christ alone is a Teacher come from God III. The better to comprehend this it is observable that all the Principles of Christian Religion depend upon Humility as their chief Foundation For if we pretend to the qualification of Christ's Disciples we must be meek single in heart poor in Spirit weary and heavy laden little in our own Conceits Lambs little Children in Innocence and want of Malice and Servants of other Men. Christ has united two different qualities before not easily reconcilable the Humility of the Heart and the Light of the Understanding charging us to be wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves 'T is manifest this Union was necessary for the true Sanctification of Mankind a Secret indeed Men had not yet been able to find out There have been some who have forsaken their Interest and have been either burnt or had their Arms and Hands cut off who durst encounter Death it self supported by Pride and a vain hope of Glory which they prefer'd before all things But it was never known that Men had so little Self-love as to sacrifice their Lives unless at the same time they could make their Name immortal Such a Miracle is only to be produced by the Christian Morality IV. After what has been said we shall have less Reason to wonder that this Morality roots up every Vice since all Vices proceed either from Pride or Voluptuousness This Morality then which subverts the former by the severe Mortifications of Repentance and destroys the latter by the Ideas it gives us of the Greatness and Perfection of God as opposed to our Wretchedness and Misery I say this Morality contains every thing absolutely necessary to extirpate our Vices in their first Rise and
easily beleive Mysteries tho we are not able to dive into the manner of them 3 dly This Submission to God is so very reasonable that none but a Man utterly void of Sense can be so stupid as not to perceive it For till we are endowed with an infinite Understanding we shall never be able to know but one side of things and consequently we must necessarily be for ever ignorant of the other 4 thly It is very just and equitable if ever any thing was so and it aims at nothing but shewing us our Ignorance and representing to us that being liable to be deceived we ought carefully to follow Revelation as a true and faithful Guide We should certainly be extravagant proudly to deny our own Ignorance or impiously suspect that God could deceive us when his Design is to reveal his Majesty to us V. But what is chiefly to be observed for the Honour of our Religion what shews the Characters of its Divinity and forces us to acknowledge them is that it teaches us that to see clear into matters of Religion we ought not to rely upon the Light of our Understanding and that we must lay aside the Evidence of Reason if we would be free from Errours in point of Faith 'T is a wonderful Effect of the Christian Religion that it renders us happy by inducing us to renounce our selves and no less admirable that it enlightens our Minds by obliging us to renounce our Reason To look boldly and stedfastly upon Mysteries is the way to be blind whereas we shall easily perceive the Light of God shining about us if we do but humbly cast down our Eyes We shall be sufficiently learned if we rest satisfied with the Knowledge of what God has been pleased to reveal unto us And nothing more betrays an Universal Ignorance than an insignificant Desire to be ignorant of nothing In other Sciences a Man's Skill is measured by his Knowledge but in that of Salvation he is best instructed who is most humble he who has the least Pride has the most understanding And the proof of it is easy We have already seen that the nice Speculations of Reason about Mysteries do but more perplex and darken what was before obscure Let us now see how much the submitting our Reason to Faith makes us have a clearer Insight into those Mysteries or at least how much it hinders our being confounded by them 'T is certain that by continuing in such a state of Humility whatsoever Difficulties may arise they will not have force enough to discompose our Minds We shall not be surprised that we are not able to comprehend the Nature of God or his manner of Knowing loving and acting or his Eternity Immensity c. but we shall rather be ravished with Admiration to think that we that are no better than Worms or Atoms are yet thought worthy to know him and raised to that pitch of Glory as to have some Prospect tho but a faint one of his wondrous Works and infinite Perfections Neither shall we have any reason to be offended because God formerly abandon'd the Gentiles and casts away other Nations which still abide in profound Ignorance and Darkness tho perhaps there is nothing in Nature so difficult or incomprehensible as the Conduct of God But we shall rather reflect upon our Selves and endeavour to search into the Knowledge of our own Nature And upon such a consideration we shall find our selves buried and swallowed up if I may so speak in some Corner of this vast Universe and that too in such a Time or conjuncture as is a meer Point in comparison of that almost infinite Duration of Time which has elapsed and that Eternity which is still to pass away We shall only perceive a few Years and a few Nations which we ascribe to Providence as its Object as if that which presides over the whole Creation were to be bounded by a few Ages or Nations But weak and foolish Creatures that we are we perceive not that infinite Succession of Objects which take their Turn and move on according to the Decree of eternal Wisdom we perceive not the strict union of this World with that which is to come or the share those Nations whose Ignorance we so much deplore have in that continued Chain of Events nor the Rights which Divine Justice has over them or at least we have but a faint and imperfect Knowledge of them We consider not that a thousand Years are as one Day and one Day as a thousand Years one Nation as an hundred Nations and an hundred Nations as one Nation in his sight who is able to create an infinite number of them out of Nothing as he did us And in this we may be compared to those who lying in the bottom of a Well would fain see the whole Extent of the Heavens Were we truly sensible of our wretched Nature we should not be so curious or inconsiderate but rather dread the Fate of those Men who were smitten from above for having looked into the Ark of God We should find out the Falsity of those Opinions which are the products of a rash Curiosity and whilst we limited our Enquiries by Revelation we should easily discern those that went beyond it We should distinguish Religion which mortisies us from Superstition which flatters and agreeably deludes us and however Policy in the height of its Pride might rank us among Creatures not much superiour to Brutes we should not cease to think our selves the Children of God No Charms of Eloquence should impose upon our Belief no idle Niceties of Grammar perplex that Faith which depends upon the Objects of the Gospel which are indeed too manifest in their Nature too often repeated and closely united to the Principles of Common Sense too well confirmed and attested by their Events too worthy of God himself and conduce too much to our Sanctification to be ever called in question In a word we should then shake off our Incredulity when we removed that which excited within us a secret Propension to it It is therefore certain that God has covered the Mysteries of Religion with a sacred Darkness and has even permitted Men to make them yet more obscure by their vain Speculations But what at once gives us Wonder and Consolation is that the deepest Philosophers and most curious Enquirers see not always clearest into the matters of Religion but those only who make least use of the force of their Reason and forbear to enquire nicely into those things which it becomes them humbly to believe This seems to be the Opinion of Christ himself who said to his Father I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Mat. 5. 11. And here indeed we cannot but tremble with Reverence and Admiration when we joyn this Character of the Divinity of our Religion to the rest Hence it is that we