unbelief the evil Spirit was cast out of his Son Mark ix 23.24 The End and Design of Christ's Miracles required that those who were Cured by him should believe in him For they were wrought with a design to convince Men that he was the Son of God and that he was come not so much to Cure their Bodies as to save their Souls and he forgave their Sins at the same time that he healed them of their Diseases Mark ii 5. And since Faith is so necessary a Doctrine of the Gospel it was as requisite that Christ should teach this as any other Doctrine But how could he do it more properly and more effectually than by requiring Faith in those who came to be healed If they would partake of his Mercy they must qualifie themselves for it by believing that he was the great Prophet and Messias who was then so much expected and of whom it was foretold that he should make the Blind to see and the Lame to walk and the Deaf to hear c. Luke vii 22. Isa xxxv 5. And unless their Bodily Cure did conduce to the Cure of their Souls by Faith and Repentance it would be but ill bestowed upon them and therefore with great Reason might be denied them And upon this Account we find our Blessed Saviour both requiring Faith in some and rewarding it in others to whom his miraculous Power was extended Luke viii 48. xviii 42. And St. Paul perceiving that the Cripple at Lystra had Faith to be healed immediately healed him without being ask'd to do it Acts xiv 9. 2. Faith in the Miracles of Christ is required of Men in all Ages of the World though Miracles are ceased and if this be Reasonable now it could not but be fitting then that those who came to Christ should believe in him for the sake of the Miracles which they had been certified that he had done upon others For Miracles when they are fully attested are as sufficient a Ground of Faith as if we had seen them done and to manifest that they are so our Saviour might require Belief in his former Miracles of those who expected any Advantage from such as they desired him to do If they would give no Credit to the Miracles which were so notorious and so abundantly testified by Multitudes who saw them done how should others believe in Times to come when no more Miracles should be wrought for the Conviction of Unbelievers Might no Man be required to believe unless he saw the Miracles himself Then how should the the Church subsist in future Ages when Miracles would be no longer wrought but were for great Reasons to be with-held We must now believe upon the Account of the Miracles which were then done and why therefore should they not be required to believe upon the Account of them who lived at the very Time and in the same Country where they were wrought though they had never seen them Our Saviour in these Instances might introduce that Method and establish the Evidence and Certainty of those Means and Motives whereby Faith was to be produced in Men of all succeeding Ages and might hereby signifie and declare that he requires the same Faith of us from the Testimony of others that he would do if we had seen and experienced his miraculous Power our selves CHAP. XXIX Of the Ceasing of Prophecies and Miracles PRophecies are generally of more Concernment and afford greater Evidence and Conviction in future Ages than when they were first delivered For it is not the Delivery but the Accomplishment of Prophecies which gives Evidence to the Truth of any Doctrin The Events of Things in the Accomplishment of Prophecies are a standing Argument to all Ages and the length of Time adds to its Force and Efficacy and therefore when all that God saw requisite to be foretold is deliver'd to us in the Scriptures there can no longer be any need of New Prophecies which would be of less Authority than the ancient ones inasmuch as their Antiquity is the thing chiefly to be regarded in Prophecies For if to foretel Things to come be an Argument of a Divine Prescience the longer Things are foretold before they come to pass the better must the Argument needs be He therefore that requires New Prophecies to confirm the Old little considers the Nature of Prophecies and wherein the Evidence and Use of them lies but in great Wisdom and Caution will give no Credit to the best Evidence unless there were something less evident to prove it by The chief Enquiry then seems to be concerning the Cessation of Miracles but from what has been elsewhere said the Reason may appear why the miraculous Power which the Apostles received by the descent of the Holy Ghost was not to be of perpetual continuance in the Church but was to cease in future Ages For the Cause and End of the Gift of Miracles bestowed upon the Apostles was to make them capable of being Witnesses to Christ and when the Gospel of Christ was sufficiently testified there could be no longer need of such a Power which was given to enable Men to bear Testimony to it For what is once effectually proved by sufficient Witnesses is for ever proved and needs no after Evidence if this Proof be preserved and transmitted down to Posterity The Power of Miracles continued till the Gospel had been Preached not only in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria but unto the utmost Parts of the Earth which was the declared Intention of our Saviour in bestowing it Acts i. 8. And when the Gospel had stood at the Tryals and conquered all the Opposition that could be made against it by Jews and Heathens and Apostates themselves when Miracles had been wrought for several Ages before all sorts of Men upon all Occasions and had extorted a Confession from the Devils themselves of the Divine Power by which they were wrought when the Books of the Apostles and Evangelists in which these Miracles are Recorded had been dispersed in all Nations and Languages so that it was impossible that the Memory of them should be lost whence once the Gospel was thus divulged and attested to the World it could not be necessary that this miraculous Power should be any longer continued Because this is the only Reason and Design why Miracles should be wrought to awaken Mens Attention and prepare them for the Reception of the Doctrin which is revealed and convince them of the Truth of it If then it be enquired Why the miraculous Gifts which were at first bestow'd upon the Church were not continued to it in all succeeding Ages The plain Answer is Because this Power was bestowed for the Establishment of the Christian Religion in the World by convincing Men of its Truth and Authority and therefore when a sufficient Evidence had been given in all Parts of the World of the Divine Authority of that Religion upon the Account whereof these Gifts were bestowed the Reason for the bestowing
impossible to conceive The Immortal and ever-blessed God can be subject to nothing of passion or frailty The Godhead is uncapable of any imperfection and therefore uncapable of receiving any impressions of Sufferings from the Humane Nature as the Soul doth from the Body of Man So that tho' the Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ be fitly explain'd by that between the Soul and the Body in Man yet the manner of acting is very different For Finite Beings can mutually act and be acted upon by each other in their several actions and passions but the Divine Nature of Christ being impassible could suffer nothing by all that was inflicted on the Humane but remain'd infinitely Happy and Glorious under all the Torments and Agonies endur'd by our Saviour both in his Soul and Body As God is pleas'd to aid and assist and support innocent and good Men in their sufferings and to direct and conduct them thro' the course of their Lives So God was not only present with the Humane Nature of Christ but was so united to it as to become one Person with it which since the Godhead could suffer nothing from it is no more unworthy of God than if he had only guided him with his Spirit as he did the Prophets without any personal Union There is no inconvenience or absurdity in believing that God should by the most intimate and personal Union become united to a Man who did weep and bleed and die For as God by this Union did not change the Nature he had assumed or prevent the Sufferings of it so he did not partake in them No Man can deny â—upon Principles of Philosophy but that it is very reasonable to believe that God may afford a more peculiar presence to one Man than to another and that this Man may yet be subject to Afflictions and therefore the Son of God might become united to the Soul and Body of Christ in as intimate a manner as the Soul and Body are united to each other in us and yet this union of the Divine Nature might not preserve the Humane from the Sufferings incident to the rest of Mankind but must leave it to submit to them tho' they were never so grievous when this was the very End and Design of the Union It was not below the Majesty of God to be Personally united to a most Innocent and Sinless and Holy Man tho' he was a Suffering and Afflicted Man and it is not the Personal Union as some are apt to conceive which could be any diminution to God's Glory but their own error and mistake in what they surmise would be the consequence of such an Union II. The Humiliation of the Son of God in assuming our Nature may be accounted for without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd It was the greatest condescension and humiliation in the Son of God to take upon him our Nature For it is a gracious and merciful condescension for him to take care of us by his Providence God humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth Ps cxiii 6. But some times and in some places he is in a more peculiar manner present upon Earth and that is an extraordinary condescension tho' he is always the same in himself and never the less present or the less happy in Heaven But it was the most wonderful condescension in God to unite himself to our Humane Nature and to become one Person with it and so to die for us tho' his Divine Nature did not and could not suffer but only the Humane Nature to which it is united He was not ashamed to call Men his Brethren and in all things to be made like unto his Brethren Hebr. ii 11 17. but vouchsafed to assume our Nature in its lowest Condition and to be so strictly and personally united to the most afflicted of all the Sons of Men as to ascribe all his Sufferings to himself for the benefit of all Mankind It is the Infinite Mercy of God to vouchsafe us the comfort of his presence in any way or measure but it is the most astonishing and adorable act of his goodness that he would be pleas'd so far to condescend as to take our very Nature upon him that he might be born and might die for our sakes And that which magnifies his mercy and goodness in the highest measure is certainly most worthy of the good and merciful God III. The satisfaction of Christ by dying for our Sins may be explain'd without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd The Christian Faith is That as the Reasonable Soul and Flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ and that this Person consisting both of God and Man united suffer'd for our Salvation But that all the Sufferings were inflicted on the Humane Nature and terminated in it But by vertue of the Personal Union of his Divine with his Humane Nature all Christ's Sufferings receiv'd an infinite value and merit and became entituled and ascrib'd to God himself because they were undergone by that Person who is God as well as Man tho' they were not undergone by him in his Divine but only in his Humane Nature Thus God is said to have purchas'd his Church with his own blood Acts xx 28. For Actions and Passions in any person are Personal and are attributed to the whole person and sometimes those Actions and Passions which can be perform'd in one of those Natures only which constitute a person are yet attributed to the other Nature which is uncapable of them otherwise than by that relation which results from the union of both Natures whereby all things that befall the person may be affirmed of it as such and therefore have respect to both the Natures of which it consists and may be apply'd to it under the denomination of either of them All the Souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy Souls Exod. i. 5. If a Soul touch any unclean thing Lev. v. 2. And the Soul that eateth of it shall bear his Iniquity Lev. vii 18 20. In these and many other places of Scripture Actions and Passions peculiar to the Body are by reason of the union of the Soul and Body attributed to the Soul Nay both in the Hebrew and the Greek Text the Soul is sometimes put for the Body even of a dead Man Lev. xxi 11. xxii 4. in which sense (x) On the Creed Art v. Bishop Pearson explains Acts ii 27. Ps xvi 10. And in other places the Body or Flesh is often taken for the whole Man and that is attributed to it which the Flesh is of it self uncapable of The Flesh distinctly considered and apart from the Soul can neither Sin nor Pray nor Understand nor Worship nor partake of the Spirit nor be Justified and yet all these things are ascribed to the Flesh without any mention made of the Soul All Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth Gen. vi 12. O thou
Errors and both he and Socrates practised the Idolatries of their Country They asserted many excellent Truths which they had received as they profest from Antiquity but whenever they argu'd any Point they commonly fell into mistakes which oftentimes were of very ill consequence So weak a thing is Humane Wisdom without the guidance of Divine Revelation And of this the Philosophers were so sensible that divers of them would have it thought that they had some supernatural Assistance tho' they were able to bring no sufficient Proof of it The Pretences of others deserve no Regard their Impostures were too Notorious to admit of any Denial or Excuse The Genius of Socrates may be supposed Worthy of more Consideration yet it amounts to no more than this that Socrates declared that a certain Genius had accompanied him from his Childhood which often forbad him to do what he had design'd but never put him upon doing of any thing and by the Information of this Genius he often forewarned his Friends of the ill Success of what they were about to undertake But after the best Search I have been able to make concerning this Genius of Socrates I cannot but look upon it as an intricate and perplext Business It may suffice in this place to observe that (x) Xenoph. de exped Cyri. lib. 111. Xenophon acquaints us that when he advised with Socrates whether he should follow Cyrus in his Expedition Socrates sent him to the Oracle of Apollo who he said was to be consulted in obscure and uncertain Affairs which affords no very advantageous Character either of Socrates himself or of his Genius (y) Ciâ—â—dâ— Divtâ— lib. â— Tully informs us that Antipater the Sâ—oick had made a Collection of such things as Socrates's Geniu had discovered to him but whatever they were it appears that Tully had little regard to them And this we are sure of that all the Philosophy of Socrates ended in nothing but Uncertainties For when he had just before his Death discours'd of the State after this Life the most that he could say to his Friends in Conclusion was (z) Plato Phaed. that they had a Noble Prize before them great Hopes and a glorious Venture and therefore ought to possess and Charm their Minds with those Thoughts The suggestions of his Genius signified little to him if it left him no better instructed as to a future State in the last Moments of his Life It must be acknowledg'd that Socrates made great Improvements in the Moral and useful part of Philosophy He was of an excellent Understanding loving and belov'd of honest Men and had Courage and Resolution enough to bear the Affronts and withstand the Malice of others he minded none but the practical Doctrines of Philosophy and tho' he never had travelled in search after Learning as it was the Custom in those Ages for Philosophers to do but scarce ever stirr'd out of Athens yet he knew how to make the best use of the Notions which were brought to him by those who had been in foreign Countries It must be confess'd that if Plato had not made Socrates the Author of things which he had never sâ—â—d as not only (a) A. Gell lib. 14 c. 3. Diog. Laert. in Platon Xenophon but Socrates himself declar'd but had â—iven us as plain an Account of Socrates's Philosophy as Arrian has of that of â—pictetus we might have known more of him than we now are able to do But from what Plato and Xenophon have said of Socrates we may be assur'd that he did not reâ—â—ain from Idolatrous Worship nor reject the Heathen Oracles nor deliver his own Doctrines without much Uncertainty and Diffidence Plato carried his Philosophy to far greater Heights than Socrates had done and the sublimer Parts of it were not to be discovered to the Vulgar which were so difficult that he declares to (b) Epist 2. Dionysius that Men of Great Abilities and as great Application and Industry after the Study of thirty Years at last with much ado understood them Some things were not to be written at all or so obscurely as not to be intelligible if they should fall into the hands of Men who were not fit to be trusted with the Secret of them and he acknowledgeth that his best and only sure Argument for the Immortality of the Soul without the Knowledge of which all Philosophy can be but of little worth was from (c) Epist. 7. antient and sacred Tradition The Notions and Traditions which Plato had brought from other Countries with his delightful way of setting them forth gain'd him great Reputation some Attempts were made by himself and those of his Sect to bring his Laws into practice and to erect a Commonwealth after the Model of them his Name and Memory was had in Great Esteem his Birth-day was kept and the Solemnity of it was renewed about two hundred Years ago by some of his Admirers as we are told by (d) Comment in Conviv Plat de Amere c. 1. Ficinus one of that Society But there is too much Alloy found in his Philosophy for any Endeavours to gain it a constant and general Reception His Errors in some Cases are so notoriously gross and scandalous that (x) Vid. Plat de Repub lib. v. Serran edit Serranus sets over against them in the Margin Prima Insania hominis delirantis and Portentosa Insania (e) Orig. coâ—r Cels â—lib 2. Aristotle had studied twenty Years under Plato but he so often confutes and contradicts his Master that he has been charged with Ingratitude for it And if Socrates and Plato did not firmly believe the Souls Immortality Aristotle believ'd the contrary as (f) vid. Jac. Billium in Greg Nariam Orat 3â— many have prov'd out of several places in his Works (x) Diog. Leert His Will shews that he was both in his Practice and Judgment for the Idolatries of his Country His Books by an Accident lay conceal'd till they were brought to Rome upon the taking of Athens (g) Strabo lib. 13. Plut. in Sylla by Sylla But they were known to few Philosophers in (h) Lic Topiâ— Tully's time And a Learned Author has given an Account what their Fate has been since The Sect of the Stoicks is observed by Josephus in the Account of his own Life to have been like that of the Pharisees which (i) Grot. ad Mat. xxii 23. Grotius says is no wonder since in Cyprus which was Zeno's Native Country there were always many Jews But if the Stoicks were at first indebted to the Jews they certainly afterwards borrow'd much more from the Christians This Sect was very numerous and had Men of great Note in the Primitive Ages of Christianity who did not lose the opportunity offer'd them of improving it But the Philosophers then began to carry on a Joint-Interest and those who denominated themselves from any particular Sect were no longer strict in adhereing nicely to its Principles For
World than it would have been if all men had been forcibly kept from doing wickedly To restrain the Passions and over rule all the Vices of Men and set bounds to them to bring Good out of Evil and by unexpected Ways and Methods to lead Men to Repentance and to appoint and bring to pass the whole Dispensation of the Gospel by which the Treasures and Mysteries of the Divine Wisdom are revealed and such things are discovered as even the Angels themselves desire to look into 1 Pet. i. 12. this magnifies the Wisdom of God much more than the State of Men uncapable of Sin could have done There is much more Wisdom shewn in governing Free Agents than in governing by Fate and Necessity and more Wisdom in making the worst Actions as instrumental and serviceable to the purposes of Holiness and Goodness as the best could have been than in not suffering them to be and more in Redeeming Man than in keeping him by Force in such a Condition as to stand in no need of Redemption All the Divine Attributes are much more magnified by the Incarnation of the Son of God for the Redemption of Man than they could have been if he had never fall'n The Love of God is manifested in a more wonderful manner by sending His own Son to die for us His Justice in requiring Satisfaction and His Wisdom and Truth and Faithfulness in recovering Man from his miserable Condition and perfecting the Design of his Creation in despight of his Disobedience It is the Mercy of God to save them that are saved but his Justice is executed only upon the wicked and why should we think it reasonable that God should debar himself the exercise of one of his Attributes rather than punish such Men as thro' their own Obstinacy will perish Justice is as much a Perfection of God as Mercy is and tho' it may seem terrible to us yet it is as reasonable in it self that wicked Men should perish as that the righteous should be saved And God acts upon Principles of infinite Reason and Wisdom without any mixture of Passion Therefore I demand Is it reasonable or not that the wicked should suffer And if it be why should not God act according to his own Attributes and the true Reasons of things rather than by our weak and fond Passions Since there is infinite Wisdom and Justice and Mercy in God's Proceedings it cannot be conceived why the Ruine which many Men will bring upon themselves should either alter or hinder the Divine Counsels and Decrees II. A freedom of Choice conduceth more to the Happiness of the Blessed than a Necessity of not sinning could have done The Happiness of Heaven consists in the Love and Enjoyment of God but Love is never so great nor so sensible an Happiness as when there has been some Tryal and Experience in the proof of it And it must advance the Happiness both of Angels and Men in Heaven that upon Choice and Tryal they have preferr'd God before all things and upon that find themselves confirm'd and Established in the perpetual and unalterable Love and Enjoyment of him This very Consideration that they might once have fall'n from his Love inspires them with the highest Ardors of Love when they rejoyce in the infinite Rewards of so easy and short a Tryal and the Reflection upon the Dangers escaped heightens even the Joys of Heaven it self to them and makes an Addition to every degree of Bliss The Remembrance of their past Sins and Temptations and the Sense of their own Unworthiness arising from that Remembrance will continually excite in the blessed fresh Acts of Love and Adoration of God who has raised them above all Sin and Temptation and fixt them in an everlasting State of Bliss and Glory The Tryal that the Righteous underwent here makes up some part of their Happiness in Heaven and in what degree soever their Happiness can be supposed to be yet it is in some measure encreased and as it were endeared to them by reflecting upon their former State of Tryal which they were subject to Temptation and Sin The Love and Praises and Adorations of the Father for sending his Son and accepting his Ransem of the Son as our blessed Saviour and Redeemer and of the Holy Ghost as our Guide and Conductor to Heaven must suppose that we needed a Ransom and a Redeemer and the Grace and Influence of the Holy Ghost that is we must have been capable of Sin and Misery or else we had wanted these Motives to the Love of God which the Dispensation of the Gospel affords and which will make up the Happiness of Heaven to us Creatures cannot comprehend the Divine Essence but they know and love God according as he manifests himself to them and therefore that Dispensation which doth most manifest the Love and Wisdom and Goodness of God doth most conduce to the Glory of God and the Happiness of Men. The Blessed shall see God face to face they shall enjoy his Presence and partake of his Glory and in this their Happiness will consist but the Love of God is not only the necessary consequence of this Beafitick Vision but it is antecedently necessary to qualify us for it and the more any Soul is inflamed with the Divine Love the fuller and more perfect Vision of God we must suppose it to enjoy But Goodness is the Object of our Love and not Goodness in the Idea so much as Goodness extended to us And as God's Goodness is more manifested in sending his Son to atone for our Sins than it could have been by exempting us from all possibility of Sinning so our Love to him must be more strongly excited whereby the Soul is dilated as it were and made more receptive of the Communications of the Divine Essence in the Beatifick Vision As Faith is made perfect by Works proceeding from Love in this Life and without Charity is nothing worth so in the other World where Faith shall be swallowed up in Vision Love must be that Power or Quality in the Soul whereby we become capable of receiving the Divine Communications and the more extentive and boundless this is the more happy we shall be and therefore whatever is most conducing to advance the Love of God in us is the best means of our Salvation and future Happiness The Motives which the Christian Religion affords us to the Praise and Love of God will accompany us for ever to augment and improve the Happiness even of Heaven it self where Charity never fails and it is not conceivable how the Divine Love could have been so fully manifested and set forth to us so gloriously if Man had never fall'n but by representing to him the Danger of his Fall and the gracious Design of God towards him supposing he had fall'n To have escaped Hell and to find our selves in the unchangeable Possession of Salvation by the free Mercy and Goodness of God and by the Death of his own
other Man's Body And besides it must be granted by all that Believe a God and a Providence that a particular Providence may take such effectual care of us as to reserve to every Man his own Body in all the Essential Parts of it the Hairs of our Heads are all Numbred that is they are as well known to God as they could be to us if we had told and numbred them never so exactly and therefore much more the necessary Parts of us are under his Cognizance and Care These necessary constituent Parts then being the same God may supply the rest as he shall see fitting and the Body will be the same after the Resurrection that it was in this Life tho' the Bodies of Men at the Resurrection must arise in all the Perfection of an Humane Body and therefore must have no part wanting For if any part of an Humane Body should be wanting they would not have all the perfection of such a Body tho' they should be never so perfect in all the parts which they be supposed to have For if a Man having but one Eye or one Ear should be able to see or hear with that one better than ever any Man did with two yet it would still be a defect in his Body to want an Eye or an Ear. All the uses of any one part of our Bodies are not perhaps yet fully known and the Dependance which one part has upon another may be such as that it may be requisite that those parts should be raised for their Relative usefulness which may seem to have no proper use of their own after the Resurrection The Sight is a Sense which may be capable of Improvements beyond what we now are able to conceive as we may conclude from the Improvements which have been made by the help of Microscopes and Telescopes And who knows but that in the Glorified State our Eyes shall have that perfection as to be able to discern the Contexture and Motions and the whole Frame of those pure Spiritual and Coelestial Bodies and then those parts which now to the naked view and much more when discerned thro' Microscopes cause so much Admiration will be still much more admirable to behold when they are thoroughly seen and fully understood by us and to want those parts which may seem to be then no longer of any use would be to want one great Argument of our praise of God in the contemplation of his Wonderful Works But this is mentioned only to shew that an ordinary Fancy if it be allowed to take the Liberty which some have done upon this Subject might easily propose as probable Reasons in Defence of the Received Doctrines as can be framed against them (o) Quaest 53. The Author of the Answers to the Orthodox amongst the Works of Justin Martyr says that some parts of our Bodies tho' they will then have no direct usefulness yet will be raised at the last Day to be Memorials to us of the Wisdom of God in that use which we had of them in this Life And (p) Aug. Civit. Dei lib. xxii c. 17. St. Austin says that the Glory of God will be magnified in that he will have freed those Members from the Corruption to which they were subject here However it ought to suffice Christians that our Bodies shall be like to Christ's Body and therefore shall have the full perfection and proportion of all the parts constituting an Humane Body as his Body had after his Resurrection We know that we shall be like him 1 Joh. iii. 2. and as for any thing further it will be time enough to know it at the Resurrection II. It is not only Credible and Reasonable to believe that God can but likewise that he will Raise the Dead The Revelation of his Will in his Holy Word ought to put this beyond Dispute among Christians But besides it appears to be requisite from the Nature of Man consisting of Soul and Body that there should be a Resurrection of the Body it is fit that the Man should be punished that Sinned and that the Man who lived well here and suffered for Righteousness sake should be rewarded for it But if the Soul only be Punished or the Soul only be Rewarded the Man is not rewarded or Punished for the Soul is but part of the Man but Soul and Body together make up the whole Man and therefore it is requisite that the Soul and Body should be re-united For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. v. 10. For this Reason it is requisite that the Soul should be again united to the same Body otherwise the Soul and Body would constitute a Man but not the same Man that was before the Body not being the same for it must be the same Soul and the same Body that make the same Man As in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. xv 22. the same Body therefore that died in Adam is to be made alive in Christ who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Philip. iii. 21. Christ himself rose with the same Body that was Crucified and we are to be like him at the Resurrection and to have our Bodies Changed into the likeness of his Glorious Body And indeed if a New Body were assumed how could it be a Resurrection Which implies the Rising again of that Body which after the Separation of the Soul was Buried in the Grave and otherwise as it is usually argued one Body may be punished for the Sins committed in another If it be said that the Body is only the Instrument of Sensation to the Soul but is it self capable of none and therefore must be uncapable of Rewards or Punishments It may perhaps be Answered that this is more than can be absolutely concluded from the Notions of Modern Philosophy against the General Sense of Mankind and the Philosophy of all former Ages However the Body being unable to determine it self in its Sensations if it have any of its own I confess I cannot think this Argument fit to be insisted upon in as much as no Actions can be capable of Rewards or Punishments but such as proceed from choice But it must be acknowledged that the the Soul may be capable of more Happiness or Misery when re-united to the Body than in its Separate State For besides the Anguish or the Peace and Joy of Mind besides its own Reflections and its proper Operations which the Soul is capable of 〈◊〉 State of Separation from the Body it is capable of being affected with Sensations which arise from its Union with the Body And that these may be answerable to what a Man's Actions in this
thing else be of the same Colour or Tast which it appears to be of because they could amuse themselves with Difficulties and they were too much Philosophers to assent to any thing that they did not understand tho' it were confirmed by the Sense and Experience of all Mankind They were rational Men and it was below them to believe their Senses unless their Reason were convinced and that was too acute to be convinced as long as any Difficulty that could be started remained unanswered And thus under the pretence of Reason and Philosophy they exposed themselves to the Scorn and Derision of all who had but the common Sense of Men without the Art and Subtilty of imposing upon themselves and others And it is the same thing in effect as to matters of Religion The Scriptures come confirmed down to us by all the ways of confirmation that the Authority of any Revelation at this distance of time could be expected to have if it really were what we believe the Scriptures to be Why then do some Men doubt whether they be Authentick Can they disprove the Arguments which are brought in defence of them Can they produce any other Revelation more Authentick Or is it more reasonable to believe that God should not reveal himself to Mankind than that this Revelation should be his No this is not the case but there are several things to be found in the Scriptures which they think would not be in them if they were of Divine Revelation But a wise Man will never disbelieve a thing for any Objections made against it which do not reach the Point nor touch these Arguments by which it is proved to him It is not inconsistent that that may be most true which may have many Exceptions framed against it but it is absurd to reject that as incredible which comes recommended by our Belief by such Evidence as cannot be disprov'd Till this be done all which can be said besides only shews that there are Difficulties to be met withal in the Scriptures which was never denied by those who most firmly and stedfastly believe them But Difficulties can never alter the Nature of Things and make that which is true to become false There is no Science without its Difficulties and it is not pretended that Theology is without them There are many great and inexplicable Difficulties in the Mathematicks but shall we therefore reject this as a Science of no Value nor Certainty and believe no Demonstration in Euclide to be true unless we could Square the Circle And yet this is every whit as reasonable as it is not to acknowledge the Truth of the Scriptures unless we could explain all the Visions in Ezekiel and the Revelations of St. John We must believe nothing and know nothing if we must disbelieve and reject every thing which is liable to Difficulties We must not believe we have a Soul unless we can give an account of all its Operations nor that we have a Body unless we can tell all the Parts and Motions and the whole Frame and Composition of it We must not believe our Senses till there is nothing relating to Sensation but what we perfectly understand nor that there are any Objects in the World till we know the exact manner how we perceive them and can solve all Objections that may be raised concerning them And if a Man can be incredulous to this degree it cannot be expected that he should believe the Scriptures But till he is come to this height of Folly and Stupidity if he will be consistent with himself and true to those Principles of Reason from which he argues in all other Cases he cannot reject the Authority of the Scriptures upon the account of any Difficulties that he finds in them whilst the Arguments by which they are proved to be of Divine Authority remain unanswered And all the Objections which can be invented against the Scriptures cannot seem near so absurd to a considering Man as to suppose that God should not at all reveal himself to Mankind or that the Heathen Oracles or Mahomet's Alcoran should be of Divine Revelation CHAP. XXXIV The Conclusion containing an Exhortation to a serious Consideration of these things both from the Example of the wisest and most learned Men and from the infinite Importance of the Things themselves AS Wise and as Learned Men as any that ever lived in the World have died in the Belief of the Christian Religion when they had no Interest to engage them to it and many of them have led their Lives under Pesecutions and have at last been put to Death rather than they would renounce that Faith which the Scriptures declare to us It cannot be denied but that there have been Men of as great Learning and as great Numbers of them professing the Christian Religion as have been of all other Religions in the World Indeed all manner of Arts and Sciences have been more improved by Christians than by all other sorts of Men whatsoever and all rational and solid Learning is confined as I may say within Christendom For besides the Idolotrous Worship and other Impieties notorious among them whatsoever Learning is to be found among the Chinese or other Heathen Nations their Notions of Things so far as they differ from what is contained in the Scriptures are so obscure and confused at the best and so groundless that that Christian must be very weary of his Religion who can think of changing it for such Uncertainties And no Man that profess'd and called himself a Christian ever disbelieved the Scriptures but there were visibly other Reasons for it than these which the Nature of the Christian Religion could afford It was apparent in his Life that he wished the Christian Religion were false before he endeavoured to persuade himself that it is not true Some are possess'd with that intolerable Spirit of Pride and Contradiction that meer Vanity and a Conceit of being wiser than others makes them find fault with any thing that is generally received and the greatest Fault which these Man can find with the Christian Religion is that they have been bred up in it and therefore they make heavy Complaints of the prejudices of Education and the hindrances which ingenuous Minds labour under from the influences of it in the pursuit of Truth And these Men perhaps might have talk'd as much and to as much purpose for Christianity as they now talk against it if they had not been Born among Christians and been bred up in the Christian Religion they scorn to be the better for their Education and are ashamed of nothing more than to believe and think like other Men and they might almost be persuaded to be Christians still if they could but be singular in being so For the mere Affectation of Singularity makes them dispise and dispute against any thing which others allow and esteem But it will be hard to find any learned Man of tolerable Modesty and Vertue and