CHAP. I.

THat the Gospel is intelligible, can­not but appear to every one that is acquainted with it; for though there may be some things wrapped in Clouds and Difficulties, yet they are such as do not so nearly relate to Practice, but are of a more speculative Considerati­on: But as for the whole Duty of Man in order to Holiness, and a good and pious Life, it is laid down in such easie and plain terms, that no man can have any reasonable excuse for himself, if he [Page 11] do not know and practise the Will of God. For the Divine Wisdom fore­seeing that the greater number of Be­lievers throughout the World would not be men of deep Reason, but rather of great Love and Faith, and such as would cordially adhere to their Saviour against all Oppositions, though they could not syllogistically maintain the Reasonableness of every part of the Doctrin they professed; God, I say, foreseeing this, hath suited the Gospel to the meanest Capacity, and there needs no great Skill to be a good Chri­stian, but rather an hearty and sincere applying ourselves to the Practice of what is so fully discovered to us. The Goodness of Almighty God is such, that he considers the several States and Con­ditions of men in the World, and makes allowance for those whom his Providence hath so placed, as that they are not in a capacity of attaining to any great mea­sures of Knowledge, and accepts of the constant and sincere Inclination and Bent of their Wills in practising what they know, and they shall never be cal­led to an account for what they had no opportunity of gaining. And although he that knows much and apprehends [Page 12] the Reasons of things, and makes this Knowledge instrumental to the purifying and purging his Soul from Vice, be far more excellent than he whom Nature has made of a slower Apprehension, yet this man is in no wise contemptible, but dear and acceptable in the sight of God, who never fails to reward honest Sim­plicity and Innocency, and to recompense every degree of hearty Love with a suit­able proportion of Glory.

But that we may see before our eyes the Plainness and Perspicuity of the Gospel in all matters that concern the Salvation and future Happiness of a Chri­stian, we may take a brief Abstract or Sum of our Duty, which is this; ‘To love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and to have a firm and radica­ted Faith in his Goodness declared to the World by his only begotten Son Jesus Christ; an universal Abstinence from all Wrong and Injustice; a hearty Love and Good-will to all men what­ever; to hold fast that which is Good, and to abstain from all appearance of Evil; to be of a compassionate and for­giving Spirit, and if we have received an Injury, not to recompense it again in any kind; to abstract and withdraw [Page 13] our hearts and minds from earthly Goods, and make Treasures for our­selves in Heaven, and to be no more solicitous for worldly concernments than the Lilies of the field or the Fowls of the air, but that having food and rai­ment therewith to be content; to keep ourselves pure and undefiled, not only from outward and grosser, but inward and more refined Pollutions; to be ready to do good and distribute to the Necessities of our Brethren; to live peaceably, if it be possible, with all men; In a word, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, just, lovely, and of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, to think on such things.’ What can be plain­er and easier than this? Nor is the Simpli­city of the Gospel any derogation from it, though that impious Epicurean Celsus deride it upon that account, extolling the Writings of Plato above the Scriptures: For, as Origen acutely enough replies,Lib. 7. con­tra Celsum. the Design of God in the Gospel being to make men good and virtuous, it was necessary the Precepts tending to that end should be delivered plainly and per­spicuously, suitable to the Capacities of the illiterate Vulgar, who are better [Page 14] allured and won by a common and usual form of Speech, than by the artificial Deckings and gay Schemes of Rhetorick: [...]. And therefore Christ and his Apostles did much more advance that which was their chief aim, the Life and Nature of God in the World by that (as Celsus calls it) rude and rusti­cal manner of speaking, than all the elegant Writings of Plato, which if they ever were advantageous for the recti­fying and amending the Lives of men, it was only to such whose Intellectual Faculties were raised and elevated above the Plebeian Strain. Therefore did the Holy Jesus on purpose make choice of ignorant and illiterate Persons, that it might appear that the things which they spake were not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth, 1 Cor. 2.13. & 1.27. but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, and that by the foolish things of the world God might confound the wise, and by the weak destroy the things that are mighty.

Object. But you will say, To what purpose is that Intricacy and Perplexity which is found in many Places of Holy [Page 15] Scripture, and wherefore are many of the chiefest of its Doctrines involved in such Darkness and Obscurity?

Answ. 1. It was in some measure requisite that the Scripture should be obscure to conciliate Reverence, and to beget a greater Esteem of its Worth and Dignity. For the Gospel is often called a Mystery, which supposes som­thing venerable and secret, and hidden from the eyes of vulgar Persons. And God as in Nature, he hath hid many pretious things in the Bowels of the Earth, which cannot be obtained without great Labour and Diligence; in like manner hath he veiled many inestimable Treasures in the Christian Mystery, which are only attainable by the diligent Search and sin­cere Endeavours of pious men: For should the Divine Wisdom have dis­played at once all the Glories and Beauty of this sacred and recondite Method of re­covering Souls, it would appear contem­ptible and worthless, as being the easie pur­chase of every profane and impious Person.

2. The Reason of the Obscurity of Christianity lies not so much in the Na­ture of the thing itself, as in the in­congruity of mens Minds and Under­standings with so high and raised an Ob­ject. [Page 16] The Eye cannot behold the Sun unless it have some Resemblance and Si­militude of it within itself; for like is known by its like, and if mens Minds be not purified and brought into some Cognation and Likeness with the Truths offered to them, it is impossible they should ever have any true and genuine Apprehension of them. There is a Learn­ing and Knowing the Truth as it is in Jesus, in that God-like, meek, and re­signed Spirit, and till mens Tempers be plain'd and smooth'd from the rugged­ness of their Passions, and the stubborn Asperities of their Lusts, and won to the embracing of the Truth in the love of it, in that Christ-like Nature of Humi­lity and Self-Denial, they may fill their heads with sapless and lean Notions, windy and turgent Fancies, but never nourish up their Souls with solid and substantial Knowledge. The true sense of Religion and Christianity arises out of a mind devoid of Passion, and in which the Life of God has taken deep root and flourishes and spreads itself throughout all the powers of the Soul, giving a tincture, relish and savour of itself to every Thought, Word, and Deed in the whole course of a mans Life. And with­out [Page 17] this purified sense, we feed upon nothing but the Husks and Shells of Reli­gion, and fall in love with Shadows in­stead of lasting and durable Substances. And this is no more than what the Scri­pture speaks of itself. 1 Cor. ii. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, be­cause they are spiritually discerned. There is required a spiritual Sense, a Life of Holiness and Justice, of Benignity and Righteousness, to the true discrimina­tion of Good and Evil. And further, to the Knowledge and Understanding of Divine Mysteries, there is necessarily required the Aid and Assistance of that Almighty and Omnipresent Spirit, who by his fostering Incubation brought into Being the goodly frame of Heaven and Earth, and that this Holy Spirit of Truth may begin the Efformation of the new and heavenly Nature (a considerable part of which is Divine and Spiritual Wisdom) there must be some previous Preparations, and men must be morally good and virtuous, or else they will be perfectly incapable of the illapse of his Celestial Influence. And therefore it is no marvel, if to brutish and immoral [Page 18] Persons the Mystery of Godliness be hid and obscure.

3. That there might be somthing still reserved for the gratification of all de­grees of Christians in all Ages of the World. There are both weak and strong Christians; some that are Babes in Christ and are fed with Milk, others that are of full Age, and have a discrimina­ting sense of Good and Evil. For the one there was [...], a rudimental way of instruction, whereby men were led, as it were, by the hand through the Principles of Religion, as the Author to the Hebrews intimates, Heb. vi. where the first thing required of them that embraced Christianity, was Repentance from dead works, and Faith towards God, and upon this followed Baptism, then [...] which I take to be Catechizing, and after that Confirmati­on by the Bishop; agreeable to this Apostolical Custom is the Practice of the Church of England, who after Ba­ptism appoints Children to be instructed in the Church-Catechism, and then brought to the Bishop to receive Con­firmation: For others whose intellectual Capacities were fit for the reception of higher Mysteries, there was [...], a [Page 19] full and rational Explication of the several Dogmata of Christianity; and of these St. Paul is to be understood when he says, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, even the wisdom of God in the Mystery of the Gospel. And St. John distinguishes the several Ages and Growths of Christians; I write unto you little Children, 1 John 2.12, &c. because your Sins are forgiven you for his names sake: I write unto you young men, be­cause ye have overcome the wicked one: I write unto you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. Now that the Stewards of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven may give every one his meat in due season, it is ne­cessary there should be a diversity in the Gospel, that every proportion and degree in Grace may receive somthing which may both strengthen and gratify the know­er. A man is not satisfied with that which will nourish and content an Infant, and and he that is well grown in Piety and Ho­liness, leaving the Rudiments and Prin­ciples of Christianity ascends to higher Notions, and is infinitely satisfied and ravished with the Contemplation of the Works of Nature and Providence, in beholding the Divine Goodness and Wis­dom in the Manifestation of that Mystery [Page 20] which lay hid from Ages and Generations, and whose only Design being revealed, is the complete Restauration and Perfecti­on of Human Nature. And in this is the Saying of the wise man verified, Eccles. 2.26. God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and joy.

CHAP. II.
Of the Truth of Christianity.

THe second Illustration of the Ex­cellency of Christian Religion is, That it is true; which will best be evi­denced by these Gradations:

1. It is certain that there was such a Man as Jesus in the World: And here I would desire the Enemies of this Truth, whether Jews or Heathens, to give me liberty to make use of the same Argu­ments they themselves do in proving the Truth of their Histories; For how are they assured that there were any such men in the World as Moses and Aristotle? If they say they have it from a constant and unquestionable Tradition, we can bring [Page 21] the same proof for the Christian Religion, the Truth of which hath been delivered successively from one Generation to ano­ther for above these sixteen hundred years. If they appeal to the Writings of those who were contemporary with them, the Christians have the same Plea: For the very Enemies of Jesus, such as Celsus the Epicurean, and Julian the Apostate ne­ver questioned his Existence and Being upon Earth. The words of Celsus we have in the second Book of Origen, [...]. And Julian confesses as much, as we find by Cyril in his sixth Book, [...]. I might here bring in the Testimony of Tacitus, Pliny, and Numenius the Pythagorean who in his third Book [...] (as Origen tells us) relates a certain piece of the History of Jesus, which he afterwards allegorizes;Lib. 4 con­tra Celsum. but I need not be copious in this, the Jews themselves who never thought they could sufficiently detest and hate the Name of the Holy Jesus, yet could not deny but he once lived among them, and therefore call him [...] as Lucian in derision [...], him that was hanged on a Tree.

[Page 22]2. It is likewise as unquestionable that Je­sus wrought many notable Miracles while he conversed with men; and they are such, as if we look into the Quality and Design of them, do evidently prove his Mission from Heaven, and therefore that all men ought to believe on him. And this mi­raculous Power ought to have convinced the Jews by their own Law, for this was the Sign or Token left by Moses to discern between the true and false Pro­phet, Deut. xviii. 21, 22. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a Prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, i. e. if he do no Miracles, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spo­ken: And consequently, if there shall come one whose Doctrine tends to the establishing the pure Worship of the true God, and delivers nothing but what is for the promotion of Piety and Holiness, and shall confirm this his Doctrine by Miracles, both Jews and Gentiles ought to believe in him. But if any one come and seek to draw men from real and sub­stantial Holiness and the Worship of the true God, and to gain credit to his per­nicious Design, shall work a Miracle, we [Page 23] are not to believe him, because God sometimes permits such things to be done to try the Constancy and Stedfastness of men. Deut. xiii. 1, 2, 3. To this the Jews object and say, that our blessed Saviour performed his Miracles by magical and diabolical Arts, for so they tell him, that he cast out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils. To this impious Cavil we may return (1.) the Answer which our Saviour made them, Mat. xii. 25, 26. Every king­dom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself, how shall then his kingdom stand? For the Doctrin of Christ being so exactly opposite and destructive of the kingdom of Unrighte­ousness and Darkness (as Porphyry him­self acknowledged, [...].Euseb. Praepar. lib. 5.) If the Head and Prince of this wicked Polity should abet the Lord Christ so far as to impower him to cast out his associates from their usurped Habitations, it would undoubt­edly beget an intestine War, and the Powers of Hell would be at an eternal Variance and Dissension with one another, which at last would be the cause of the ruine of their Kingdom. (2.) This were an invincible Tentation put upon Man­kind, [Page 24] for there can be no surer manifesta­tion of the Presence and Approbation of the Deity, than when a man is inabled to work Miracles: And it were irreconcile­able with the Goodness and Wisdom of Almighty God to suffer the most innocent and harmless Persons in the world to be fatally and inevitably deluded. (3.) The great Synedrium consisting of the High-Priests, the Elders of the People, and the Scribes or Lawyers as their Assistants, whose Office and Right it was to try the Prophets, are said by the Jews to be skilled in Magick Rites for the better and surer Exploration of those who pretended to be true Prophets, but wrought their Wonders by the help of Apostate Spirits; which, if it were so, is a very pregnant Testimony that Jesus performed his Mi­racles by the Divine Power and Appro­bation; for otherwise his Fraud would soon have been detected by that great Council. (4.) That there are prestigious and Satanical Miracles, is an Evidence that there are likewise True and Divine, as in Nature the being of Worse argues the existence of Better, Sophisms and Fals­hood the reality of Truth, and the opera­tions of Second Causes lead us to the knowledge and being of a First; where­fore [Page 25] if it be granted that evil and lapsed Genii can work Miracles, it is apparent that the first and best Cause of all things may and does produce Effects of a Divine Power and Virtue; and that the Mira­cles of the blessed Jesus were such, ap­pears partly from the Holiness and Puri­ty of his Life and Manners, in all parts of them blameless and irreprehensible, and partly from the Design and Intention of his Miracles, namely to confirm and give credit to that sublime and heavenly Doctrin he brought into the World, whose End was to correct and reform the Lives of men, and disseminate the blessed Life and Nature of God upon Earth; which Considerations are sufficient to be­get a firm and undoubted Perswasion that the immaculate Soul of Jesus was extra­ordinarily assisted and acted by a Divine Power and Efficacy which enabled him to perform those stupendious Operations that are recorded in the Gospels.

3. We have reason to believe that there was a timely History of the Life and Transactions of Jesus compiled. For we can no ways doubt but that the Disciples of our blessed Lord, bearing so tender and dear a Love to their Saviour, and being so fully convinced and satisfied in [Page 26] their Minds that he was the promised Mes­sias, who should regenerate and renew the World, did compose and draw up an Abstract or Compendium of his Life: And if we consider likewise how much it would conduce to the carrying on the Design they were setting on foot in the World, that all men should believe in the Holy Jesus, and imitate his immaculate and faultless Example, we cannot readi­ly believe that they were so stupid as to neglect such an effectual Instrument for the promoting their purpose, or so un­charitable as to envy Mankind so great a Good.

4. That the Histories of the Gospel were compiled by those whose Names they bear in the forefront. And for this we have no greater Reason to doubt, than we have to question whether the Penta­teuch or five first Books of the Bible were written by Moses, or whether those Wri­tings which bear the Names of Cicero and Virgil as their Authors, were ever com­posed by them. Suppose now we would know who was the Author of some very antient Writing; to prove this, one Te­stimony must be taken from those who were contemporary with the Author, or at least very little distant from him, and [Page 27] from the perpetual Consent of wise and learned men; and in this the sacred Vo­lumes have infinitely the advantage above any other Writing whatever. Tertullian affirms that the Archetypal Copies writ­ten with the Apostles own hands were extant in several Churches in his time. Age jam, qui voles curiositatem melius exercere in negotio salutis tuae, De Praesc. adv. Hae­reticos. percurre Ecclesias Apostolicas, apud quas ipsae adhuc Cathedrae Apostolorum suis locis praesident, apud quas ipsae Authenticae Literae corum recitantur. And is it any more incredible that the very Autographa of the Apostler should be seen in Tertullian's time, than that Cicero's hand should be shown in Quintilian's or Virgil's in Gellius his age? But beside that, we have the concurrent Testimony of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Clemens Alexandrinus, all of which were the very next to the Apostolical Age, we never find any Controversie moved either by Jews or Pagans whether those Wri­tings were theirs whose Names they bear. Julian in Cyril acknowledges that the Epistles of Peter and Paul, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are the very Writings of those Persons with whose Names they are adorned. Add to this further, that amidst the early Differences [Page 28] and Dissensions amongst Christians, we never find any sober and grave Person questioning this Truth: Indeed we read of the Ebionites, a sort of Judaizing Chri­stians who rejected the Epistles of St. Paul, but yet they denied not that he was the Author of them, but refused them because they thought St. Paul an Undervaluer of and Apostate from the Law of Moses. But suppose the Author of any of the Books of the New Testament be to us unknown, as it is of the Epistle to the Hebrews, yet ought it not to be of any less Credit and Authority with us for either the Doctrin or History contained in it, because the Matter and Substance of the Book is more to be regarded than the Name of the Au­thor; and therefore because for example we find nothing in the Epistle to the He­brews which may rationally invalidate our Belief of the things contained in it, and over and above have sufficient evidence that it was never repudiated by the Chri­stians who succeeded the Apostles, we de­servedly receive it as Canonical Scripture.

5. That we have all imaginable Reason to ground our Faith upon those Histories of the Gospel delivered to us. And this appears, 1. Because 'tis not likely those who wrote them should be deceived. [Page 29] 2. Neither is it probable they would de­ceive others.

There is no likelihood they should be deceived, because they were either Eye-witnesses of the things they delivered to Posterity, or else wrote them from the mouths of those who were Spectators of them; and we never find a Miracle record­ed which Christ did alone, without the Company of two or three of his Disciples; When he was transfigured, he took with him Peter, James, and John; when he raised the Ruler of the Synagogues Daughter, he carried the same three with him. Matthew was one of them who per­petually accompanied our blessed Lord, and saw the greatest part of those things which he wrote. Mark, it is thought, was an Associate of St. Peter, and wrote his Gospel from his mouth. And Luke, beside that he was one of those who travelled about with St. Paul, who had his Com­mission and Revelation from Heaven, he also in his Dedicatory Preface to his Go­spel, professes himself to have had perfect Understanding of all things from the very first, as they were delivered to him from those who were Eye-witnesses of them. St. John was the beloved Disciple, and always followed the Lord Christ where­ever [Page 30] he went, and setting aside the Me­taphysical Sermons recorded in his Gospel, he relates very few miracles or new things, but what are confirmed by the Testimony of some one of the other three. As for that notable Miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead after four days burial, omitted by all the rest, it is capable of this account; St. John lived long after all the rest of the Apostles and Evangelists, even to the De­struction of Jerusalem, and Lazarus being then alive when the others wrote their Gospels, they purposely omitted it, lest the reciting and recording so eximious and convictive a Miracle, might exaspe­rate the Jews against him, and bring him to ruine, but being dead, St. John might safely transmit it to Posterity in his Gospel.

Again, It is very improbable they would deceive others; For, Cui bono, to what end or purpose, or what Design could they aim at in deceiving the World? Ho­nours and Preferments they could not ex­pect, they being all in the hands of the Pa­gans or of the Jews their bitter Enemies, who hated the holy Jesus with an implaca­ble hatred, and for that very reason per­secuted all his Adherents; nor could they hope for Riches, when the Profession of Christianity exposed them to the Loss of [Page 31] all temporal Goods, neither could the Go­spel be preached without the neglect of mundane affairs. But perhaps some will say, they imposed upon the World, that they might be the Authors of a new Sect; But (1.) either they believed the Doctrins which they taught to be true, or they did not; if they did not believe them, we cannot easily imagine they should so far forth put off all Humanity and good Nature, which they so seriously and frequently inculcate in their Writings, as to expose so many thousand innocent Persons to Death upon their Assertion of a Falshood: yet if they could be so prodigiously cruel to others, would they be so prodigal of their own Blood as to throw it away upon an uncer­tain Delusion? If they thought them to be true, as it is most likely they did, their Writings shewing that they were in good earnest, then 'tis certain that it was not the poor and trifling Glory of being the Authors of a new and unheard of Sect, but the real Good and Advantage of Man­kind which animated and encourag'd them to such an Undertaking. (2.) It is not the manner of Cheaters to provoke to so many Witnesses, as we find the Apostles did. St. Paul asserting the Resurrection of our blessed Lord, beside the Testimony of the [Page 32] twelve Apostles, brings in five hundred upon the Stage at once to confirm the same Truth, the major part of which were then alive when he wrote that Epistle. 1 Cor. xv. Add to this that a Lie is strictly for­bidden by their Writings, and those that delight in it menaced with eternal Destru­ction. Eph. 4.25. Col. 3.9. Rev. 21.8.3. (3.) Suppose men could be so wicked, yet would the Goodness of God suffer such a Cheat to be put upon the World? If we look upon the whole frame of the Christi­an Religion, it is such, that the more good any man is, the more likely to adhere to it, and the most harmless and innocent Per­sons in the world are most apt to be charm­ed and overcome by it: But surely to them that believe a just and righteous Provi­dence governing the affairs of the World, it is apparent that God would not have suf­fered an Error so universally to prevail, nor those who most of all resemble his blessed Nature in Justice, Mercy, and Compassion, to be involved in Obscurity and Ignorance, and eternally to perish in a Delusion; since he may, and acting according to his Nature must, necessarily detect it.

Now because the glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God, dismant­ling [Page 33] the Prisons of Death, and freeing him­self from the Chains and Fetters of the Grave, is the great Pillar and Foundation of the Christian Doctrin; therefore it will be requisite to wipe off those Spots the mouth of Envy and Detraction hath cast upon it. To this end I shall examine that Objection of the Jews, who seeing the clear and evident Proofs of the Resurre­ction of Jesus, invented this Elusion of it, That his Disciples came by night, and stole him away while the watch slept. To which, the many improbable and unlikely Cir­cumstances it is attended withal will be a sufficient Answer and Reply: As (1.) how unlikely is it that his Disciples, who just before fled every one from him, should now resume such Courage as to venture to steal his Body from a Guard of Soul­diers? (2.) It is not likely that all the Watch should be asleep at one time. (3.) If they were, yet 'tis hard to imagine that his Disciples should come just at that time. (4.) How could they roll away the Stone and take out the Body (which surely would have made no small noise) and yet none of the Guard hear them? (5.) Sup­pose they had taken away the Body, Quid ex cadavere emolumenti? what benefit could they have expected from a dead [Page 34] Carcase? would the dead and infamous Body of an Impostor be a sufficient Motive to induce them to deny Friends and Rela­tives, worldly Interests and Profits, yea, Life itself to maintain his Credit by telling the World a fair Story of his Resurrection, if indeed there were no such thing.

This being then sufficiently evidenced, that Christ rose from the dead, it is an un­deniable Confirmation that all his other Miracles were true: And indeed it could not suit with the Justice of God to leave his Soul in Hell, or suffer his Flesh to see Corruption: For the Innocence of the Lord Christ was bright as the noon-day, and all his Sufferings being undergone upon our account, and having made a full and perfect atonement for Sin, the righte­ous Providence of God was engaged to raise him up, and instate him in that bles­sedness which he merited for himself by his voluntary Humiliation and Condescent. According to what the Apostle affirms of him, Acts ii. 24. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, [...], because it was not possible, i.e. it was not meet, suitable or agreeable to the Justice of God, that he should be holden of it.

We have seen the Objection of the Jew, [Page 35] and I shall now conclude this Particular by considering what the Heathen and A­theist hath to say against the Resurrection of Jesus; and he brings his Exception after this manner; If Jesus did really rise from the dead, why did he not then shew himself alive to all, or at least to the chief Priests and Rulers of the Jews who condemned him to be crucified, and not only to his own company, and that not constantly to them, but like a Spectrum or Ghost appearing and then vanishing away?

But it is no wonder if impure and A­theistical men do not apprehend the Di­vine Dispensation of Jesus in the Flesh, since there is a perpetual Antipathy be­tween their gross and feculent Souls and the Holy Spirit of heavenly Wisdom: but to them that are sincere there is nothing in this instance but may admit of a fair Apo­logy: We must know then that the Soul of the Holy Jesus being vitally united to the eternal Logos, and never lapsed from the pure and immaculate Regions of Bles­sedness with the rest of Mankind, but so qualifying his Glory as to fit himself for an Union with a terrestrial Body, must have even in these earthly Habitations a very efficacious Principle of Life and Virtue within him, which though shut up and [Page 36] constrained by the encumbrances of Flesh and Blood, yet shone through the Veil, and sometimes broke forth into pure Light and Glory; wherefore through the Pleni­tude and Perfection of this high and exalt­ed Life, it so came to pass that in the time of his converse with Mortals before his Death, he was not seen alike and after the same manner by all, but according to the Measure and Model of their frail Capacities: And some such thing Judas, who betraid him, seems to intimate by gi­ving a Sign to the Apprehenders of Jesus to know him, when yet it was true what Christ said, that he was daily with them teaching in the Temple. And certainly, we cannot but think somthing extraordinary to be in the blessed Jesus, when the Scri­pture tells us that the children of Israel were not able to behold the glorious Vi­sage even of Moses when he descended from his converse with God in the Mount. Although then in the frailties of his Flesh, when he was a Man of Sorrows, and had not yet spoiled Principalities and Powers, nor died for Sin, he suffered himself to be seen of all, yet when he had broken the Powers of Hell, and rose as a triumphant Conquerour from his Bed of Darkness, the Grave; he was not then the Object of [Page 37] every mans sight, his Divinity being more refulgent when the Oeconomy he under­took in the Flesh was finished; but to those who were capable of his Presence he appeared and shewed himself alive to confirm and strengthen their Faith, and yet spared their Imbecillity and Imperfection by staying but a little with them at a time. For even his Apostles were not all capable of beholding him at all times, and therefore he selected Peter, James and John, who alone were able to bear that glorious Spe­ctacle of his Transfiguration, and behold Moses and Elias in their celestial Robes, and hear not only their Discourse, but the voice which came to them from the clouds. And hence we gather that he would not appear to those who insulted over him in his misery, and were the Authors of his ig­nominious Death, out of compassion to­wards them, lest they should be struck with Blindness, as the wicked Sodomites who sought to abuse those Angelical Personages that were hospitably received into the House of Lot: And thus we read that Saul in his Journey to Damascus, was struck blind by that excellent Glory, which yet became an innocuous and recreating Splendor to St. Stephen a little before his Death.

CHAP. III. That Christianity contains nothing light and trivial, but grave and sober Truths, delivered in that decorous and becoming Majesty as well suited with that Blessed Spirit, which inspired the Prophets and Apostles.

THe third Particular to be proved in order to the Declaration of the Excellency of Christianity is, that it treats of no small and trifling things, but such as are of the greatest importance in the world. For what is more noble and gene­rous than that which concerns the Happi­ness and Welfare of the whole Creation? What more sublime and excellent than that which tends to the unmasking the cloudy and obscure face of Providence, and discovering the unsearchable Wisdom of God in the harmonious Order and Sym­metry of the World? But to descend more particularly.

1. The Gospel teaches us, that the true and genuine Felicity of Mankind is the Participation of the Nature of God. That the Souls of men are in an undue and [Page 39] wrong estate in this World, that is, that their Natures are by some means or other corrupted and vitiated and forced from their proper Bent and Inclinations; needs no other confirmation than the great In­quietude and Dissatisfaction they find in the best terrestrial Joys and Delights, and their diligent and indefatigable Inquisition after some noble and permanent Good, which may be commensurate with the vastness of their Capacities and Desires. And although as men come into the World, their Animal Powers and Faculties (whose proper Objects are the Results of Sense and corporeal Motion) are fully a­wake, and usurp the Throne of Reason and Intellect, yet those Lordly Powers like an oppressed Prince still lay claim to the Soveraignty and Dominion, and when­ever any due occasion is offered, give an evident proof of their heavenly Birth and Extraction, and strive to free themselves from their unjust Captivity, and regain their native Liberty and Command. And if by a favourable Assistance and timely Aid the Minds of men conquer and sup­press the rebellious Passions and Desires of the mortal Body, and become in any mea­sure healthy and strong to relish their pro­per Food and Nourishment, and amidst [Page 40] all the flattering Appearances and fine Shows presented to them from this out­ward World, discriminate between real Good and Evil, and select true and sub­stantial from false and adulterate Joys, they behold with Pleasure and Enravish­ment a perfect Union and Harmony be­tween whatever Truths shall duly be pro­pounded to them and their rational Na­tures. For the Souls of men being in their general Strictures and Lineaments Intelle­ctual, it cannot be but that their highest Felicity and truest Accomplishments must flow from the exercise of their higher and more immaterial Powers, and the more spiritualiz'd and refined they are from ba­ser Alloy, the more tender and apprehen­sive are they of whatever is Noble and Excellent, and agreeable to the Purity of their Natures. Albeit therefore our Fa­culties be depraved and debased as we ap­pear upon the Stage of this World, yet there being in us a strong Propension to re­turn to our first and primitive state, out of which we were forced by the unjust Usur­pation of Iniquity and Sin, Truth and Goodness, and all those beautiful Forms and Ideas which shone in our Souls before their unhappy Lapse and Revolt from the blessed Laws and Government of Gods [Page 41] own Life, will upon a congruous Propo­sal renew their antient League and Friend­ship, and conspire the utter Subversion of all irregular Appetites and Desires, and re­duce the whole Man into a strict Obedi­ence and Observance of the Dictates and Prescriptions of that holy and exalted Principle of Life, which being once fully seated and radicated in our Minds and Spirits, is alone able to make us perfectly happy and blessed. For the Souls of men are not devoid of innate Knowledge, but are essentially stored through the gracious Bounty and Liberality of the first and bles­sed Author of all things, with the Prin­ciples of all manner of Science and Wis­dom whatever, and hence cannot but em­brace and receive every thing that hath any Cognation and Affinity with those first Inscriptions on their Natures. Now the great Happiness, Delight, and Satisfaction of every degree of Life in the World con­sisting in and arising from the kindly and agreeable Actings of its chiefest and best Faculties and Capacities, and the Nature of Man so far forth as it is capable of mo­ral Good and Evil, being made up of such Principles as are wholly Intellectual, he will not only esteem the Effluxes and E­manations of the Rational Life to be the [Page 42] Foundations of his Felicity, but seek the Amplification and Diffusion of it, and reduce all exorbitant Motions to its Rules and Determinations. And if we will not impose upon ourselves, nor degrade our Minds below the Folly and Triflingness of Children, but act like Men who prefer Things before empty Sounds and Names, the eternal Rules of Justice, Righteousness, and Goodness, will appear infinitely more eligible than any thing else in the World beside; for let a man be possest of the most glorious and splendid Advantages and Sa­tisfactions that possibly can grow out of the Earth, and let him extract the Flower and Quintessence of Sublunary Delights, and he will find them at the best very di­lute and flashy, and too base and dispro­portionate Objects of a pure, active and indefatigable Mind. And were it not that men are cheated into an Esteem and Ap­probation of them, partly from the Ex­ample of others, who daily run the great­est Hazards and Labours in their Acqui­sition and Purchase, and partly, from the innate Pravity and Iniquity of their own Spirits, which being preingag'd in an early Contention after the things of Sense, are more forcibly struck and moved by the E­missions and Radiations of the Corporeal [Page 43] World; it were exceeding improbable they should forego such valuable and ex­cellent Pleasures as those of Virtue and Holiness, for the small and inconsiderable, though the most refined Joys of this Regi­on of Mutability, especially when they are perpetually attended with such instant Sa­tieties and afflictive Circumstances. That blessed Author of our Felicity the Lord Christ, who both knew the Soveraign Good of our Spirits, and designed the Ce­menting and Restauration of the broken and distracted World by entring into it, makes it his first care and business to purge and refine our Minds from the Dross and Pollution of material Concretions, by bringing down the Price of terrestrial Love, and setting a low Estimate upon what the World calls Happiness, Riches and Honours and all the choicest Gratifi­cations of the inferior Life, and propound­ing not only such Precepts as in their own nature tended to the raising and elevating the Powers and Faculties of our Souls to their highest and most enlarg'd Perfection, and which by our Conformity to them should fully satisfie all our rational Thirsts and Appetites, but likewise revives our languishing Resolutions, and reinspirits our Minds with new Strength and Vigour [Page 44] by his own Example, as the most attractive and powerful Means that possibly can be offered to an ingenuous Nature. All the time that he conversed upon Earth, he went about doing good, transcribing the fairest and most amiable Perfections and Attributes of the moral Essence of God for our Imitation, redressing and healing the Imperfections of Mankind, and casting a benign and auspicious Influence upon the distempered World, by propagating and diffusing the holy Life of God into all ca­pable Receptacles. And that he might shew us what a small and mean Valuati­on he puts upon mundane and temporal Felicities, and how little they contribute to the Advancement of that which is the Flower and Summity of our Souls, he commands great Temperance and Mode­ration both in the Prosecution and Use of them, and declares a high Dislike against all Exorbitancy and Excesse, condemning all anxious and solicitous Thoughts about these momentany Concernments as crimi­nous and faulty. And what he enjoined upon his Disciples and Followers, he him­self always observ'd and practis'd, never disquieting his holy Breast with doubtful and corroding Cares, nor charging Hea­ven with Partiality and Unkindness, though [Page 45] he became so poor for our sakes that he was forced by a Miracle to pay his Tri­bute-penny to the Roman Governour. His blameless and immaculate Soul no impure touch of Pleasure ever defiled, nor unjust and unhallowed Action ever stained and sullied its native Brightness, but remained to his dying upon the Cross a spotless Temple eternally consecrated to the Di­vinity residing in it. But that which did most of all allure and attract the Hearts and Spirits of men, was his exceeding and superlative Charity, which not only burnt bright within its own Orb, but by a sacred Influence and Communication melted and thaw'd the benum'd and frozen World in­to a soft, pliable, and sequacious temper, and set abroad a Godlike Spirit of univer­sal Tenderness, Pity, and Compassion up­on the Earth. And that so illustrious a Person might want nothing to recommend his Life to Mankind as the most complete Pattern of the Divine Nature, his Patience exhibited in a noble sufferance of all those Ignominies and Disgraces put upon him, made him no less conspicuous than those other radiant Virtues rendred him accep­table to God and Man. And if there be any thing more that is worthy and deco­rous, and perfective of the Nature of Man, [Page 46] it was eminently contained in the Lord Christ, whose glorious Mind was too large and great to bring forth any poor and ab­ject Design, but took the whole World into his Care, and folded the Creation within the Arms of dear Compassion. By all this and much more we are taught wherein consists the greatest Excellency, Beauty and Dignity of our Souls; namely, in the Acts of Goodness, Righteousness, and Mercy, in profound Humility, and Self-Denial, in Patience, Longanimity, and uncorrupted Purity of Body and Spirit. For these and such like Heroical Exertions of our Minds bring not only a present De­light and Gratefulness with them, but per­vade by a secret and insensible Influence all our Animal Powers, and diffuse a certain Savour and Relish of themselves through­out our inferior Faculties. As it is with Vice and Sin, every pitiful and degenerate Production of which spreads its contagious Nature, and leavens our whole Man with its poysonous and infectious Inspirations: so much more will Truth and Righteous­ness disseminate a healthful Efflux, and hallow our vital Capacities, as being the most congenerous and agreeable Objects of our intellectual Parts. The Life of God which alone ought to have the Soveraign [Page 47] Command over the whole rational Crea­tion, and which will in due time conquer and triumph over the dark and apostate Principality; that Life, I say, of universal Sanctity and Righteousness is an immortal thing like its great Source and Parent, and is always passing through the World, and will not rest any where but in such a fit and congruous Subject, as bears some Analogy and Similitude with itself: And being once seated there (unless it be forcibly driven out by rebellious Lusts, to which it pro­claims an irreconcileable War) it will con­tinually dispread its lovely Nature, and en­large its Kingdom by the total Consum­ption or Conversion into its own Likeness and Quality, whatever resists and hinders its Progress, and at last, when freed from the sluggish weight of Mortality, like a quick and active Flame carry up the Soul with Joy and Triumph into Heaven, to which it always breaths and aspires. Hea­ven itself is nothing but the blessed Mansi­on of Righteousness, a State of pure and undefiled Light, whose happy and glori­ous Inhabitants are perfectly delivered from the Bondage and Servility of Corru­ption, and Goodness, and Justice, and all the Moral Excellencies of Divinity en­thron'd within their sacred Breasts. And [Page 48] every good Man does not only presage, but really possesses in this Life a part of his future Happiness, when the Divine Nature throughly informs, possesses, and actuates the Powers and Faculties of his Mind, and he faithfully attends to, and is guided and governed by its Laws and Sug­gestions. And he whose Soul and Spirit, thus becomes an Habitation of Righteous­ness, is in a sense Deified, and God dwells in him, and he is united to that Omni­present Spirit of Love and Purity. For that Divine Nature, the Participation of which is the End and Design of the whole Gospel, is not Power and Wisdom, but something more precious and soveraign: for if a man had all Power, that he could remove Mountains, and with his breath stop the constant Gyres and Circulations of the Earth; and if he had all Wisdom and Knowledge, to understand the abstru­sest Theory in Nature and Providence, and could perswade with the Rhetorick and Oratory of an Angel; yet if he had not Charity, the Bond of Perfection which not only consolidates and holds together the great Body Politick of Heaven and Earth, but is the Root and Center in which all the lines of Beauty and Excellence in Human Souls unite and meet; he would [Page 49] have no more of the true Life and Spirit of Christianity in him, than a tinkling and sounding Piece of Brass. Love is the Joy of Men and Angels, the Glory of Hea­ven, and the first pregnant Spring and Source from whence issued all the nume­rous Productions of the Spiritual and Cor­poreal Life. For God is Love, and Love is that (to speak with Reverence) makes the Divinity a Uniform Being, all other Modes and Attributes being too fluctua­ting, arbitrary, and unsetled to be the Basis and Foundation of that ever-to-be-adored Author of all things. And as Goodness is the most pretious thing in the Deity, and for that reason alone obtains the first place in acting, so is it that which consummates and completes all moral Agents that de­rive from him; Power and Wisdom and all other Modes being nothing but the se­veral Explications and Diffusions of abso­lute Goodness. But that we may not mis­take ourselves, the Philosopher tells us of a [...], a Harlotry as well as a Heavenly Venus, whereby the Soul is enamour'd with these fading Beauties, and ensnared by the powerful Inescations of Sense and Corporeity, and this weakens and destroys the Soul; but 'tis the celestial Venus that is the beautiful and perfective [Page 50] Object of Human Minds, and by its Union with it changes and transforms the Soul into its glorious Image. And what we have hitherto said, is no more than what the natural Sentiments of our own Souls bear witness to, and all the moral part of Eth­nick Philosophy attests, which was wholly employed in laying down Rules and Pre­cepts for the regulating mens Lives, and putting a stop to the bold Intrusion of Vice; and this was universally acknow­ledged the only way to acquire a Cogna­tion and Affinity with God: And what was judged laudable and decorous then, and approved as most excellent, is made much more so by the Christian Oecono­my, which sets the Attainments of a rati­onal Soul at a higher pitch, than the secu­lar Wisdom and Philosophy of the Gen­tiles could arrive to. For what more en­nobles and inspirits the Mind of Man with true Glory and Magnanimity, than the captivating his irrational Desires, and sup­pressing all inordinate Lusts and Appetites, and the introducing a Spirit of Love, Meekness, Temperance, and Sobriety? What more Divine and Godlike than Charity? to bind up an aking head, and dry up watry eyes, and relieve him who was fighting with the Pressures of Want [Page 51] and Poverty? What greater Pleasure can we reasonably imagine, than that which results from an Act of Goodness and Bounty, whether it respect the Souls or Bodies of our fellow-Creatures; in extricating him who was involved in a Labyrinth of Misery, and bringing the cheerful Day to him who sate in a Night of Ignorance and Error? Which things, if duly considered, as they are very agree­able and proportionate to our higher and rational Soul, so they depretiate the gros­ser Satisfactions of our viler parts, and make good this first Proposition, That the true Felicity of Human Souls, results from their Participation of the Divine Na­ture.

2. The Gospel shews us the true way to obtain this complete Perfection of our Spirits, that it is by an universal Purifica­tion of our Minds from all Pollution what­ever, and an entire Resignation of our­selves to the Conduct of the Divine Life and Light. But it will be said that Philo­sophy teaches as much as this, and the Pythagoreans, Platonists, and Stoicks assert­ed the highest Perfection of the Soul to consist in her Union with God, which is obtained by a perfect Extirpation of all irregular Motions, and an abstraction of [Page 52] the Soul from her Love and Sympathy with the Body, and transforming her whol­ly into Intellect; For the Passions and sensual Affections being once subdued, and the Rational Life excited, the Soul becomes presently like unto God, as Porphyry speaks, [...].Lib. 3. [...]. And Hierocles shews us the Scope and End of this [...] or Purgation of the Mind, namely, [...]. Wherefore although the Heathens by the Light of Nature proceeded to the eradi­cation of Vice out of their Minds, yet they retained still an arrogative Life, ascribing the Attainments and Perfections of their Souls, and their whole Progress in Virtue to their own solitary Endeavours, and this their Spiritual and subtle Pride tainted and infected the best of their other Performan­ces; So that though they were glorious Lights in their Generations, yet they fell short of the Character of a true Christian, which is an entire Subjection of a Mans self to the Government and Command of the Life of God, being perfectly dead to [Page 53] all Self-seeking and Interest, and no other­wise affected to ourselves than if we were not: And this heavenly Temper the Di­vine Providence reserved for the meek and humble Soul of the Messias to bring into the World, who hath resumed that as the most compendious way to Blessed­ness, which was rejected by the wise men of the World.

3. He that shall impartially and with­out Prejudice peruse the Evangelical Hi­stories, shall find that there is not any thing recorded in them vain and trivial, but such as is of the highest moment and import­ance, and some way or other useful and advantageous for the Propagation of Chri­stianity in the World: and for those things which seem most liable to the Exceptions and Cavils of vile and prophane Persons, I shall endeavour to shew their Reason­ableness, and how becoming and decorous it was to insert them in the Histories of the Gospel. It is too well known that there are a sort of Men in the World, whose Minds are so deeply tinctured with Saddu­cean and Atheistical Principles, that, being otherwise furnished with a quaint Volubi­lity of Speech, and some Smatterings of Philosophy in this knowing Age, deem it the highest Improvement of their Wit to [Page 54] laugh and jeer at that profound Wisdom which is found in Christianity, now accu­sing its Dogmata of Impossibilities and Contradictions, and then scoffing at the Historical Part as Fabulous and Roman­tick, clearly discovering that their grand Drift is to leaven the Minds of men with that pernicious and venomous Doctrin, That there is nothing but Matter in the World.

To begin therefore with the Birth of the blessed Jesus and the Circumstances attending of it, as of the Star which led the Wise Men to him, and of their Adoration of him, that these things are not indeco­rous and ridiculous, nor impertinently re­corded, but sutable and agreeable to the Nativity of so great a Person. That a Vir­gin should conceive and bring forth a Child,Christ why born of a Vir­gin. ought to be no such strange thing to the Jew, since their Prophets have fore­told that it should so come to pass, parti­cularly in Isa. vii. 14. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel. And if this were not to be understood of a pure and imma­culate Virgin, where were that Sign which God by his Prophet ushers in with such Solemnity; Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, ask it either in the depth, or in the [Page 55] height above: for nothing is more ordinary in the World than that a young Woman should bring forth a Child: Add to this, that the Jewish Rabbins teach, that the Ge­neration and Nativity of the Messias shall not be after the manner of other Creatures by carnal Copulation, but after an extra­ordinary manner, and his Father shall be unknown till he himself reveal him. Nor ought it to be thought a thing impossible by the Gentiles, since they affirm many of their Heroes to be the Sons of the Gods; and Plato is said to be begotten on Pericti­one by Apollo, who forbad Aristo to have any familiarity with his Wife, till Plato was born. But to them that believe a just and righteous Providence governing all the Affairs of the Universe, it is obvious to conceive, that all Souls are sent into the World according to their Demerits in a former Life; and therefore as a deeply lapsed Soul descends into an inequal and monstrous Body, from which Adunation can result no other than a brutish, cruel, and intemperate Life, and a Pronity to all other Vices arising from such an Asym­metral and inhospitable Society; so the pure and immaculate Soul of Jesus, must assume a terrestrial Body after an unusual manner, more pure than the rest, that it [Page 56] might be free from Sin and Pollution as well as fitted to converse with Men, and that he might in it teach an extraordinary Temperance, Justice, and Goodness, and all other Virtues by his Life as by his Doctrin. For neither would the Justice of God precipitate so great a Soul into an unfit and incongruous Habitation, nor its eximious Purity admit of an Union with an inquinated and filthy Body.

Of the Star.Nor is it any whit incongruous that an unusual Star should attend the Rising of the glorious Sun of Righteousness; for though it be commonly said of Comets, [...], that no one appears to the World but portends some Mischief, which Historians plentifully observe, and hence is that of Claudian,

Yet Origen in his first Book against Celsus affirms, that Chaeremon the Stoick in his Treatise of Comets proves by several In­stances out of Histories that Comets some­times presage the Approach of good thingsThe same the Col­ledge of Priests affirmed of the Comet that appeared at the Ludi Ve­neris Genet [...]icis instituted by Augustus. Plin. l. 2 c. 25. And Virg. Ecl 4. Ecce Dionaei processit Caesaris Astrum.. If then those great and wan­dring [Page 57] Globes be looked upon as the Pre­significators of great Changes and Alte­rations in the World, what wonder is it that the Birth of Jesus who should work so mighty a Mutation upon Earth, and in­troduce a Religion universal and common to all Mankind, should be declared by a new and stranger Star? And if it be said, that it is impossible for a Star in the Hea­venly Regions, to design punctually so small a place as a particular House upon Earth; I answer, that the Magi found the House wherein Jesus was, not only by the disappearing and vanishing of the Star o­ver it, but [...], by a diligent Search and Inquisition after the Child, perhaps of the Shepherds who were not far distant keeping watch over their Flocks.

It remains now, that we Apologize for the other part of the History, viz. Of the VVise Men. The coming of the Wise Men from the East to Jerusalem; to which purpose it will be requisite to consider the Quality of these Magi, who probably were none of these grosser sort of Sorcerers that make an ex­press Compact with the Devil, but such as receiving from others certain forms and mysterious Conjurations, use them as they were delivered to them, without enquiring [Page 58] further into their Nature: And perhaps the black Society may oblige themselves to attend such dark and hidden Mysteries, whether the Transactors of them know them to be theirs or not. But whether these Magi were such, or had a more open and visible Commerce with evil Spirits, it mat­ters not, since this is certain, that the airy Principality can act no further, where a more divine and excellent Power inter­venes. Wherefore through the mighty Virtue of the Divinity residing in the Soul of Jesus, and the unexpected descent of a glorious Host of Angels to these terre­strial Regions, singing an Anthem of Praise at the Birth of Jesus, it came to pass that the Power of the airy Principality was on a sudden restrained, and an universal Chil­ness and Horror ran through the dark Kingdom, so that they were unable to at­tend their own Hellish Mysteries, which the Magi perceiving, their usual Incanta­tions not succeeding, nor the accustomed Effects following their secret Rites and Ceremonies, they began to think the Cause of this unexpected Accident to be extra­ordinary, and knowing the Prophecy of Balaam, that a star should come out of Ja­cob, and a scepter rise out of Israel, con­jectured that the Man foretold to come [Page 59] with the Apparition of a Star, was now born into the World, and believing him to have a transcendent Power over the aereal Agents, resolved to come and wor­ship him, presenting him with the choicest Gifts of Arabia, Gold and Myrrh and Frankincense, as to a King, a Man, and a God. And if any man desire a further Mystery, he may take the learned Grotius his Observation, that by these three are denoted those three Evangelical Sacrifices which through Christ we offer unto God, viz. Works of Charity and Mercy, Phil. iv. 18. Incorrupted Purity of Body, Rom. xii. 1. and Prayers, Psal. cxli. 2.

We that are Christians are taught in the Gospel, that Jesus Christ, the Saviour of Mankind, is God as well as Man;Christ God and Man. and this Truth being of so high and great con­cern, we not only believe, but are ready to give all possible Satisfaction to the Jew and Heathen: To the Jew we say, that it was long ago declared by their own Prophets, Isa. ix. 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his Name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This the more antient Rabbins al­ways interpreted of the Messias, and 'tis [Page 60] but a groundless Conceit of R. Solomon's to transfer it to Hezekiah; for who sees not that these Appellations of the mighty God, and the everlasting Father, cannot possibly agree to Hezekiah? Again Chap. vii. 14. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel: i. e. God with us, God dwelling and conver­sing in Human Nature. And by the Hea­thens this Mystery was not thought impos­sible, since Julian believes that Aesculapius the Son of Jupiter descended from Hea­ven and was incarnate, appearing first at Epidaurum, then in many other places, that he might cure the Bodies and restore the Souls of men to their pristine Recti­tude and Perfection. And is there any greater Difficulty in believing that the Word, the blessed Son of God, was once in­carnate and dwelt among us? But further to make out this great Truth to those that already believe the Histories of the Go­spel to be true: 1. We may take a view of those many Operations Jesus performed in the Nature he assumed, some of which were incommunicable and only proper to the Deity, such are, to work a true and real Miracle, to forgive Sins, and to in­stitute true and religious Worship. He was hungry, which shewed him to be a [Page 61] man, and yet fed above five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, whereby he manifested his Divinity. He thirsted, yet to others he gave rivers of living waters to fertilize their Souls, and quench and allay their Thirst. He was weary, yet he calls to him all those that are weary and heavy laden, and promises Refreshment: though he were dumb and opened not his mouth, yet was he that Word by which all things were made: He lays down his Life, yet had he Power to take it up again. 2. There is nothing in the Divine Nature to contra­dict or prejudice this Union, but very much to be drawn from thence for it. For Divine Goodness willing universally to communicate itself in measures and de­grees, assisted by an eternal Wisdom, found out this way of Union with Human Nature, as most fit for an Universal Com­munication, wherein the Divine Life is perfectly exhibited, and all Perfection is as it were epitomized. 3. There is a migh­ty Congruity and Sutableness in this My­stery with the Design of perfecting and restoring lapsed Souls. For the eternal Logos bringing out of his Ideal Fecundity into actual Existence the whole Rational Creation, it is highly agreeable with Di­vine Wisdom, that by the same Word all [Page 62] fallen Beings should be again restored; that the first and blessed Cause of their Existence should also be the Author of their Recovery and Return to the perfect Law of Gods own Nature. And if beside we consider that all the Creatures are but the Effects and Emanations of that mighty and potent Word, outwardly produced and brought into actual Life and Being; the Conjunction and Union of the eternal Mind with Human Nature will appear ex­ceeding congruous. 4. No Dishonour can accrue to the blessed Nature of God by such a state in which there is no Evil, Turpitude, or Defilement. The Bright­ness of the Divine Sun is no whit obscured by the adjunction of the Humanity, but the Humanity is made more glorious and tran­scendent by being exalted into the Fellow­ship of the Divinity. 5. The Obscurity and Incomprehensibleness of this Mystery ought not to prejudice our Belief of it, since that many things in Nature are in the dark to us, and that faint and glimmer­ing Knowledge which we have of them is only cojnectural, not demonstrative; we know there is an Union between Soul and Body, but the manner of it is unknown and hid from us, and if we believe no fur­ther than we can comprehend, we must [Page 63] be Scepticks in Religion as well as Philo­sophy. Yet somthing we may collect from the Union of Soul and Body, as also of other Natural Compositions, that forasmuch as they are extremely distant and unlike in their Nature and Proprieties, and yet uni­ted to the making of one Compositum; therefore the Immensity of the Divinity can be no hindrance from taking Humani­ty into an Union and Association with it. 6 We cannot doubt, but that God who is immense and omnipresent, may manifest a peculiar Presence in this or the other particular place, as seems best to himself. That infinite Nature which pervades and is extended through the vast Capacities of immense Space, can as easily actuate, in­habit and fill a Human Soul and Body; nor is the Divinity contracted or diminished by being united to a Creature, but being diffused through all places, manifests itself by a more special Inhabitation in the sa­cred Temple of the Soul of Jesus. We see the Soul of Man dilating itself through our corporeal Fabrick, expressing its Activity and Presence by the exceeding quick Sensi­bility of every part, and yet hath its peculi­ar Center and Residence in the Brain; and cannot God, in whom are found all possible Perfections, manifest his peculiar and Di­vine [Page 64] Presence to the ever faithful and obe­dient Soul of the Messias?

Hitherto I have declared the great Ex­cellency and Becomingness of the Truths of the Gospel, and shall conclude this ge­neral Head with the Recitation of two or three Objections more, made by the Jews against our Saviour, and recorded in the Histories of the Gospel.

Object. 1. The first we find in John vii. 48. Have any of the Rulers, or of the Pha­risees believed on him? But this People who knoweth not the Law are cursed.

Answ. 1. To this I return, that inasmuch as the great Synagogue and Rulers of the Jews rejected Jesus, and would not ac­knowledge him to be the expected Messi­as, the more reason had others to believe in him: for their own Prophets long ago predicted the Rejection of the Messias by the Jewish Nation, who should be so obsti­nately blind, that they should not know him when he came into the world; as we read in Psal. cxviii. 22. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner: so likewise in Isa. vi. 10. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and [Page 65] convert and be healed. To which purpose is that Saying of R. Judas in the Talmud, That when the Son of David shall come, there shall be few wise men in Israel, and the wisdom of the Scribes shall stink, and the Schools of the Prophets shall become Bro­thel-houses.

2. The holy Jesus wanted not Disci­ples even among the wise men of the Jews; such was Simeon the Just, the Scho­lar of Hillel, who was filled with the Holy Ghost, and after whose Death, that Di­vine Spirit which inspired the great Syna­gogue, departed from them. John the Ba­ptist who not only acknowledged Christ himself, but sent his Disciples to him, as to that Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world: and Gamaliel is said to have followed the Apostles, and to have been Simeon's Scholar: And St. Paul who was a man of great Repute and Esteem with the Jews, and sate at the feet of Gamaliel, yet was afterward an Apostle of the holy Jesus: and Josephus further informs us, that the more sober and serious Jews, who were Lovers of the Truth, were such as followed Jesus, and those that were studious and zealous for the Law, sharply rebuked Ananus the High Priest for com­manding the Disciples of Jesus to be stoned.

[Page 66]Object. 2. Acts i. 6. Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? It was a current Opinion among the Jews in our Saviours time, that the Messias should be a Temporal Monarch, and redeem them from the yoke of the Romans; as appears from this Question of the Disciples, who doubtless spake the general sense of the Jews; but they find­ing nothing in the Attempts and Actions of Jesus tending that way, hence they could not believe him to be the promised Messias.

Answ. Christ came into the World, such as he was foretold to be, that is, hum­ble and meek, not with the Splendor and Glory of an earthly Prince, but poor and despicable, a man of sorrows, and with­out form and comliness; as it is predicted by Zechariah the Prophet, Zech. ix. 9. and Isa. liii. The End and Design of his com­ing was to appease the Anger of God, by devoting himself for the Sins of men; to destroy the Kingdom of the Devil, and to make one body of Jews and Gentiles, of which he himself should be the Head. And 'tis no way fit and agreeable for such an Undertaking to appear in earthly Splendor and Glory, filling the World with Blood and Slaughter like another Alexander or [Page 67] Caesar, by the Puissance of mighty Armies. Wherefore the holy Jesus being to disse­minate and promote the blessed Life of God upon Earth, shewed his Divinity more refulgent by Vileness and Contempt, his Power by Weakness and Infirmity, his Glory by the Scorns of men, and his Al­mighty Life and Virtue by Death and the Grave. And if he had otherwise descended from the celestial Mansions, than the Scri­ptures relate, Man had entituled himself to part of the Glory of his Undertaking, and the more splendid the Divine Life had appeared to outward view, with the fainter Lustre had it shone in itself. Besides that that Doctrin which Christ was to bring into the World, and render acceptable to men by his own Example, was quite con­trary to the Gratifications of the Animal Life, and too vile and base to be essential to the Perfection of Human Nature.

Object. 3. Mat. xxvii. 40. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross.

Answ. He that came into the World clothed with human Flesh, and in the several Actions of his Life manifested him­self to be a true Man, would now in this last Act keep a Decorum; that as he was born into the world like other men, parta­king really of Flesh and Blood, and all [Page 68] the Frailties and Infirmities of Mankind, Sin only excepted; so he would die like other men, and suffer a real Separation of his Soul from his Body, that we might be conformable to him in his Death, and die unto Sin, crucifying all our inordinate Lusts and Affections, and descending into the Grave with him by a profound Humi­lity and Mortification; which is a suffici­ent Answer to this insulting Cavil of the Jews, that if Jesus were the Son of God, he must needs demonstrate it by a miraculous Descent from the Cross.

CHAP. IV. That-Christianity is every way fitted and accommodated for an effectual Recovery of lapsed and degenerated Mankind.

TO this purpose we must consider Man as a rational Being, endued with Liberty of Will, and a Lord of his own Actions, and consequently must be treated according to those Faculties and Qualifications bestowed upon him by the gracious Bounty of his Creator. And this being the Nature of Man, he is not to be dealt withal like a Stock or Stone, that is [Page 69] wholly inert and sluggish; nor like a Beast that is acted and led only by the im­pulse of Sense; but as indued with Reason and Intellect, and capable of discrimina­ting between real Good and Evil; and this Principle in Man cannot be forced without the Destruction of his Nature, but is allu­red and drawn by moral Arguments. Wherefore the Design of God in the Go­spel being to wind men off from Sin to a serious pursuit of Virtue and Good­ness, he makes use of such Arguments as are most powerful and efficacious for that end, and most sutable to the Nature of Man: As

1. What can more deter men from Wickedness and Vice, than the sober pressing upon them the Consideration of a future day of Judgment, wherein the just Judge of Heaven and Earth will im­partially look into their Lives, and dis­pose of them according to the moral Frame and Disposition of their Spirits? To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for Glory, Honour and Immortality, eternal Life: But to them who do not obey the Gospel, he will re­compense Tribulation and Wrath. He that is convinc'd that the Scriptures are the Word of God, must likewise believe, that [Page 70] though God be patient and long-suffering, not willing that any should perish; yet he is likewise just, and hates all Sin what­ever; and to convince all unbelieving and Atheistical Persons of his Displeasure a­gainst Wickedness and Vice, he has ap­pointed a Day wherein he will judge the World; a Day wherein Jesus Christ the blessed Son of God shall visibly descend from Heaven, accompanied with innume­rable Legions of mighty Angels, before whose Throne all wicked Men and Devils shall stand with Paleness and Horror, ex­pecting the Pronuntiation of that dreadful Sentence, Go ye cursed into everlasting fire; which final Doom and Sentence shall pre­sently be executed upon them; for through the stupendious Operation of the Son of God, the infernal Treasures of Fire shall be opened, and an universal Deluge of Flame shall spread itself over the Face of the aged Earth, which shall be cleft and riven by terrible Eruptions of sulphureous Matter, breaking forth with horrible Rage and Fury from the lower Regions, and this together with Showers of Fire rain­ing down from thick and pitchy Clouds, shall wrap Universal Nature in a sheet of Flame, and complete an external Hell, where the Worm dieth not, and the Fire [Page 71] is not quenched. Tell me then, O Man, thou that thinkest Righteousness but an idle Name, on whose hard and stubborn soul a Discourse of another Life can make no Impression; where will be the Objects of thy Love and Joy, when the Heavens shall be dissolved, the Elements melt with fervent Heat, and the Earth with all the works therein be burnt up? What shall support and bear up thy dying Hopes, when all sensible things shall perish in this dreadful Conflagration? Thinkest thou that the Holes of the Rocks, or the secret Caverns of the Mountains can hide thee from his Eye which pierceth through Ob­scurity; who is every where present by his mighty Power, and to whom the Night is as bright as Noon-day? Or will that just Judge, who sits upon the Life and Death of all the Sons of Adam, be bribed with thy Gold and Silver, when the whole World is his, and the Fulness thereof? Surely nothing but Righteousness will then deliver from Death, nothing but In­nocence and Purity, white as the Beams of Light, can save the Souls of men from eternal Destruction: Wickedness and Sin like a Talent of Lead shall sink down those Souls that have delighted in it, into that sulphureous Lake where a most acute [Page 72] and searching Pain shall stick close to them, and unspeakable Torments weary their restless Ghosts for ever. A sad and pitiable Calamity! but as just as great; for the blessed Author of all things does not make Laws to ensnare the Creation, nor does he directly and primarily intend Punishment, but has entailed that upon Disobedience, that men might consider and beware, and in time provide for their Reception into all that Happiness God made them for, and which he by threat­ning Punishment, so affectionately desires they should enjoy.

2. That there might be nothing want­ing to enforce the foregoing Considerati­on, the Scripture manifestly resolves our good or ill Being in the other Life to de­pend upon our Deportment in this. It is in this life that we lay the trains of our future Happiness or Misery, and every moral Action has an Influence either good or bad upon Eternity; and here it is that we have a vital Union and Conjunction either with Hell or Heaven. To be born into this World, is not only a Punishment, but a state of Probation to us Mortals, wherein he that acquits himself generously and nobly, fighting manfully against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and re­turns [Page 73] with the Spoils and Trophies of his conquered Enemies to his beloved Lord, shall be crowned with an eternal weight of Glory; but he that through faint-heart­edness and cowardice yields himself a wil­ling Captive to his Lusts and Corruptions, sparing those rebellious Sins and Affecti­ons, with whom the Captain of our Sal­vation has sworn War for ever, he com­bines and unites himself to a living Hell; and no sooner is his Soul dislodg'd from its earthly Fabrick, but it descends into those Regions of Bitterness and Sorrow, with which it so wilfully sought a Cogna­tion and Affinity in this Life. And he that will but patiently lend an ear to this, can­not so obstinately forsake his own good, nor delay and put off his Repentance by imagining the day of Judgment a great way off, and not likely to overtake him: For no sooner has Death disseized him of his terrestrial Tenement, but that univer­sal Nemesis which pervades the whole World, will fatally convey him to such a Place and Society, as he had prepared and accommodated himself for here on Earth. And he that obstinately rejects the Counsel of God, and sets at nought all his Reproofs, will find that the Wrath of the Lord can reach him, and he will have [Page 74] little or no Possibility left to better him­self in the other World.

3. For the more ingenuous sort, who are rather attracted and won by the Ex­pressions of Kindness and Love, than the Fear of external Punishment; what can more prevail with them, than to behold the ever-blessed Son of God, who lived in the boundless Tracts of Truth and Righ­teousness, forsake those celestial Mansions, and come down and take a Body of Flesh and Blood, and here lead an obscure and evanid Life, persecuted and afflicted, ne­ver seeing good days, but always carrying an heart full of Pensiveness and Sorrow, and at last die a painful and ignominious Death upon the Cross; and all this to re­cover and free the race of Mankind from the Tyranny and Slavery of Sin? What can this but beget a suitable return of Love in every ingenuous Soul? What kind heart is there that this Spectacle will not fill with Tears of Love and Joy, and with the most endearing Expressions de­vote itself to a faithful Obedience of so compassionate a Saviour?

4. The Promises of the Gospel are most suitable means for the reinstating men in the Possession of Gods own Life, that possibly can be offered to the World. [Page 75] For he that considers how deeply Vice and Iniquity are radicated in our very Natures; and what great Diligence and Care is required to extirpate even a single Habit, which of a long time hath gotten an entire and full possession of our minds; and withal reflects on the crazy and sickly state of our most generous and manly Fa­culties, how bedwarfed and unable they are to resist, through a continued imbi­bition of a sweet Poyson from Sense; can­not but conclude the Evangelical Oecono­my would be very lame and imperfect, were it not instructed and furnish'd with Arguments sufficient to countermand and outbalance the importunate Solicitations of the degenerate Principles of Unrighte­ousness and Sin. And indeed were not a Crown of Glory the great [...] of our holy Faith, were not Virtue countenan­ced with an appendent Felicity, the Face of the World would now appear as squa­lid and deformed, as in its first and great­est Brutishness and Barbarity: For who would seek the Renovation of decayed Righteousness, or who would entertain afflicted and oppressed Holiness, if its Reward did not fully answer and compen­sate whatever Troubles, Difficulties, and Molestations do attend it? Who would [Page 76] buy Religion with the Expence of all his temporal Interests, nay of his Life itself, if he were not assured the Happiness laid up for holy and incorrupt Souls, did in­finitely transcend and exceed the choicest Pleasures and Gratifications that are to be met withal in this Region of Mutabili­ty? And that such a Course and Order of things should be taken, is not only a merciful Provision of the good and wise Creator of all things towards us Sons of Sense, but gives us a full Evidence and Assurance that his Intentions for the Re­covery of the World are real and sincere, and renders unsuspected the grand Dis­pensation of Christianity. For had the Gospel propounded only intellectual No­tions, and solicited our choice by things most remote from Sense, while we were so fatally entangled and opprest with the Incumbrances of dull Mortality; such a Design would rather confound and amaze the Faculties and Capacities of men, than prove any whit serviceable for the regain­ing their antient Liberty and Command; like a potent and vigorous Light set before weak and distempered Eyes, which ra­ther blinds than affords them a true and faithful discrimination of Objects. Where­fore Divine Wisdom hath treated the [Page 77] Sons of men after a sensible manner, and engaged them by Arguments that more forcibly strike their Fancies and Imagina­tions, and have a greater Influence for the promoting the indispensable Duties of Sanctity and Truth, than any terrestrial Pleasure can possibly be allective to the contrary. 'Tis true, if Religion could consist with Avarice, Vain-Glory, and Ambition, the covetous Miser who rips up the Bowels of the Earth for Treasure, and spins out his Life in a golden Thread, would become a Proselyte; and he who seeks to ride upon the shoulders of the Multitude, and lives upon the Air and Breath of Popular Applause, would need no Inducements to turn Christian: But when things go directly contrary, and he that will be a sincere Disciple of the Son of God, must crucifie his rebellious Lusts, and descend into the Grave of Mortification, and cashier every inordi­nate Motion and Desire that hinders or any way obstructs his approach to so in­estimable a good, as the Possession of the blessed Life of God; and this not to be done without indefatigable Industry and Care, and as it were a Dilaceration of himself from himself, that is, a forcible Subjection of that grand Principle of our [Page 78] Apostasie and Deviation from God, which is so mischievously powerful, to the Com­mands and Laws of our superior Life; there is no man can doubt, but that the Promises of the Gospel are infinitely ne­cessary, in order to that weighty Design eternal Wisdom seeks to carry on by the Promulgation of them to the World.

Which Promises we may refer to these three general Heads, 1. Pardon of all our Sins upon a true Repentance and sin­cere Conformity of our Minds and Spi­rits to the Will of God. And this was the great End of Christs coming into the World, that he might reconcile it unto God, and assure guilty Sinners who had made themselves obnoxious to Divine Wrath and Displeasure, that if they will return to their Loyalty and Obedience, and express an unfeigned Repentance by sincere Purposes and Resolutions of a new Life, God will forgive their past Tres­passes, and remember their Iniquities no more. The whole Gospel, what else is it, but a free and gracious Declaration of Pardon and Forgiveness to the World? which, as it takes away all direful and jealous Thoughts, which criminal Per­sons through a Conscience of their own Guiltiness and Sin, and frequent Presa­ges [Page 79] of Divine Vengeance, are apt to retain of God; so it gives them a true and faithful Representation of his Nature, that he is no dreadful and hurtful Being encircled with Tempests and devouring Flames, no Tyrant whose arbitrary Love or Hate are the Rules and Laws of his Government; but an Almighty Good­ness whose pregnant Fecundity gave Life and Being to the whole Creation, and studiously endeavours the Conservation of all things in all that Happiness their Natures are capable of. This was it to which the holy Jesus bare witness, and published to the Sons of men by going about doing good, and diffusing a Spirit of real Righteousness throughout the World: He took it upon his Death that this was true, that God did infinite­ly desire the Reconciliation of the World to himself, and that not for any Self-Ends or Designs (for what can accrue to him who is infinite Life, and eternally possessed of whatever speaks Perfection?) but for the sole Good and Welfare of things themselves, that every Being might obtain that Place and Order in the Uni­verse, and enjoy all that Felicity to which it was at first intended, and from which nothing but its own wilful Wretch­edness [Page 80] could degrade it. For Gods Ju­stice is nothing but his Goodness, Power, and Wisdom imployed for the Mainte­nance and Conservation of what is eter­nally just and right; and if this may be done without Extremity and Rigour, his Goodness doth as much oblige him to take the gentlest and mildest Course, as any man can pretend his Justice for exact Punishment and Severity. But that all the Attributes of the Deity might be at once secured, and fallen Man re­stored to a Capacity of being made happy again, Christ appearing in human Nature hath undertaken the Cause of Man, and given himself a Ransom for all, the Punishment due to us being transferred on him, and through the Sa­crifice and Death of Jesus, God is upon terms of Peace and Friendship with the World, and proclaims a free Indulgence to all who will lay down their Hostility and Rebellion, and become obedient Sub­jects to his Kingdom. God takes no ad­vantage against any man to destroy him, and 'tis a horrid Impiety in us, to suspect him of Treachery and Deceit; and to represent God to our minds in such a fearful Garb and Image, as eternally wishing the Destruction of the greatest [Page 81] part of his Creatures, is no less Idolatry, than to fall down and worship the Works of our own hands.

2. The powerful Assistance of Gods Spirit to enable us to perform his Com­mands. When the great Love the holy Apostles bare to the Lord Christ, made them sorrowful for his Departure, they supposing he would then leave them to the Mercies of a faithless and perverse Generation; he takes Compassion on his Charge, and assures them that when the time comes that his bodily Presence should be withdrawn from them, he would not leave them destitute and for­saken; but send the Comforter, the Spi­rit of Truth unto them, who should not only perform the Office of an Advocate, in pleading and maintaining the Justice of his Cause against the unrighteous World, but be a Principle of Love and Purity in their hearts, and conduct them through the various Windings and Ob­liquities of Error and Falshood into the plain and easie Paths of Truth and Righteousness. And for a Confirmation of this Promise, he appeals to common Sense and the Evidence of all Mankind; If ye who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall [Page 82] your heavenly Father (from whom all Creatures proceed, and upon whom they depend more intimately, than Faculties and Actions upon the Principles from whence they flow) bestow his Holy Spirit upon them that ask it of him? Where­fore that no man might despair, and count it an impossible thing to atchieve a perfect Victory and Conquest over his Lusts and Corruptions; God has pro­mised, that the Business shall not be trans­acted by our own single Effort and so­litary Endeavours; but that we shall have the powerful Aid of his blessed Spirit, than which nothing can be a more vigorous Encouragement. For what can resist his Almighty Energy and Virtue? or what can be so stubborn and refracto­ry, that he cannot render sequacious and obedient, who at first brought all things out of nothing? Be our Lusts never so mighty and gigantick, and the Powers of Darkness never so resolutely armed a­gainst us, yet the Strength and Assistance derived to us from Heaven, is able to put to flight all our Enemies, and make us perfectly victorious. The Spirit of God is no dull and sluggish Prin­ciple, but a quick and active Life; and into whatever Soul it enters, it is perpe­tually [Page 83] cleansing, and purifying, and refi­ning it, till it have wholly extirpated and destroyed whatever beats no similitude with itself, and rendred the whole Man an immaculate Temple for the Manifesta­tion of its own glorious Presence. Let no man then pretend an invincible Infirmity, or that he is fatally bound and enslaved to Sin and Vice; for if we would but excite those Powers God has given us, and by ardent Breathings invocate the gracious Auxiliaries of Heaven, there would be Wonders wrought upon our Souls, the Strength of our Corruptions would abate, and our furious Passions be restrained and reduced into Discipline and Order.

3. The last general Head is the Pro­mise of a future and blessed Immortality in Heaven, when this present Life is end­ed. The blessed Jesus, while he lived upon Earth, did not wholly obscure his Glory in the mantle of Flesh and Blood, but gave a notable Specimen of that effi­cacious Life and Power, which as he himself was already possessed of, so all those that believe in his Name should hereafter be endued withal, which should melt their Corruptible into Incorruption, and translate them to the quiet and peace­ful [Page 84] Regions of Immortality; in his Trans­figuration upon Mount Tabor, which was enough to call off the Thoughts and Cares of men from the trifling Concerns of this World, and teach them, that there was a better Portion to be expected for all the Sons of God and Virtue in the pure and undefiled Mansions of Heaven, where dwells nothing but Truth and Goodness: But the most lively and preg­nant Evidence of the future Subsistence of our Souls, was his glorious Resurre­ction from the dead, whereby as he was declared to be the Son of God with Pow­er; so it gives us a full Assurance and convictive Demonstration, even to out­ward Sense, that the comfortless Cham­bers of the Grave shall not for ever de­tein us; but that when he who is our Life, shall appear and summon Earth and Sea to deliver up their dead, and open the secret Receptacles of Souls; then shall all holy and righteous Persons appear with him in Glory, and take possession of their long expected Joy, and receive the just Recompence of all their Pains and Labours; an Inheritance incor­ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved by a gracious Providence in the Heavens for them. All Power is [Page 85] committed into the hands of Christ, who hath vanquished Death and Hell, and captivated all the Powers of Darkness, and begotten us to a lively Hope, that when we shall put off our Mortality, and be released from all terrestrial Pres­sures and Incumbrances, he will cloth us with an heavenly Body like unto his own Body of Light and Glory. But lest we should undo ourselves with fruitless Expectations, and flie to Heaven in our vain Dreams of Salvation, before our sin­cere Conformity to Gods blessed Will and Commands has rendred us capable of that pure and holy State, fancying we can read our Names written among the Stars, before we have learnt the Precepts of a holy Life, God hath annexed Con­ditions of Obedience to all his Promises, and resolved that no man shall be crown­ed, but he that with Courage and Per­severance maintains the War against Sin and Hell. And indeed the Reward that is promised to all virtuous Persons in the Gospel, hath so great Affinity and Agree­ment with Holiness, the Condition of it, that in the Nature of the thing itself, he cannot be capable of the one, who is not aforehand invested with the other: For what is Heaven, but a state of spotless [Page 86] Love and Purity, where no Envy nor Malice straitens and contracts the bound­less and enlarged, no clouds of Passion or disordered Lust obscure the Brightness of that eternal Day, where the Sun of Righteousness neither rises nor sets upon the Horizon of Time, but remains Ver­tical for ever? And now what Concord can possibly be imagined between such transcendent Beauty and Glory, and the Deformity and Ugliness of the Frame and Temper of an unrighteous mans Spi­rit, where every thing lies cross and un­toward; and his unruly Desires, like the boisterous Waves enraged by a sudden Storm, sweep the bottom of his polluted Soul, and throw up so much Mire and Dirt, that it defaces whatever is comely, and leaves not the least Emblem of Heaven to be discerned in it?

This is the grand importance of the Promises of the Gospel, which is enough to demonstrate the prudent Care and dear Affection of the Son of God to the Chil­dren of Men, and a sufficient Manifesta­tion of the great Ingratitude and Unwor­thiness of those who do not believe in him, that it is not the Want of Reasons or con­victive Arguments, but their own care­less and wretchless Neglect of Considera­tion, [Page 87] that makes them deaf to such Charms of Love, and stupid and unmindful of so important Interests.

But men seldom want Objections a­gainst that which they have no mind to believe; against this therefore 'tis said, That if the Promises of that eternal Re­ward, Christ has made to us in the Gospel, be so framed as to be inevident to men, and leave them place of doubting; it will be no such great Crime in wicked Persons, not to believe those Promises, and so not to embrace them.

To this I say, (1.) That the Gospel leaves no such place of doubting, as to make Infidelity or a Disbelief of it excu­sable. For Unbelief can then only be ex­cusable, when there are really wanting such Arguments, as may beget Faith in a rational and unprejudic'd Person: But the Gospel and the Promises thereof be­ing sufficiently confirmed by such preva­lent Reasons, as are apt to acquire Belief and Credence from an unbias'd Nature, the pretended Inevidence, where there is no just Cause or Suspicion of Doubt­ing, cannot at all patronize Infidelity, nor be a reasonable ground to act contra­ry to what Belief would otherwise incite them. Its true, were the Arguments for [Page 88] the Disbelief of the Promises of Life and Salvation equal to, and strong as those that perswade us to the Belief of them, there would be some Colour and Appear­ance of Reason for rejecting them; but when there can be no such Doubting or Fluctuation of Judgment, as proceeds from an Equilibration of Arguments on both sides, it is impossible that Infidelity should have any rational Apology. For what can be more convictive, than to have some holy and divine Person come into the World, who should by many infal­lible Miracles, Wonders, and Signs, give an evident Proof that he came from God; and for a full Confirmation of his Do­ctrin, rise from the dead the third day after the suffering a painful and ignomi­nious Death; and to shew that he was no Spectrum or illusive Phantasm, con­versing with his Disciples for the space of forty days, and afterwards ascending in their Presence into the highest Heavens, there to rule and govern his Church till the End of the World; to testifie which his Apotheosis, he sends down his holy Spirit upon his Apostles, and enables them to speak with Tongues and do Miracles: which Scheme of Providence doth so pal­pably evince the Interposition and Effici­ency [Page 89] of a Deity, and that all these things hapned by his actual concurrence, that he must on purpose blind his eyes, who will not see it.

2. All the place of doubting, which is left to us in the Belief of the Promises of the Gospel, is no other than what may be in the highest moral Certainty imaginable. It only leaves a Possibility that, notwith­standing all the Arguments brought to confirm it, it may yet be otherwise. Eve­ry thing is not capable of a Mathematical Demonstration, but the ways of Proba­tion are different according to the Diver­sity of Subjects. And certainly, he will be a very imprudent man, that will ne­glect an important Affair, to the Under­taking of which he hath highly probable Reasons, only because 'tis possible it may be otherwise.

3. It was a great piece of Divine Wisdom, so to order the Gospel that the Promises of Life and Salvation should not be so evident, as those things that are known by Sense or Demonstration; but only so far as might conciliate Faith in a rational Person, that thereby the wicked Tempers and Dispositions of men might the more plainly be disco­vered. If the Gospel had been so de­monstratively [Page 90] certain, so as to exclude all Doubting, i. e. Possibility to the con­trary, all men would have been forced and necessarily good, and all that Praise which is due to the embracing of Virtue, would have been lost; but now that men believe, when notwithstanding there is a Possibility to the contrary, the Trial of their Faith will be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. For what Praise is due unto him, that believes not out of Choice, but from the necessary and de­monstrative Truth of the Thing itself? Let not any man therefore flatter him­self with hopes, that this will patronize and defend his Infidelity, that it was possible the Evangelical Promises might be uncertain; but let him consider, up­on what account his Faith induces him to act in the Affairs of the World. Will a human Faith be sufficient to perswade the Merchant to commit his Life and Fortunes to the flattering Waves, when he knows not but a merciless Pyrat or the next succeeding Storm may bereave him of both? Will the Souldier march all day scalded with Heat, or pinched with the Northern Cold, and expose his Body to a Storm of Bullets and Swords [Page 91] drunk with his Companions Blood, and all for the Spoils of an uncertain Con­quest? Shall this be able to put us upon Action, and shall not the Belief of the Gospel, which is not half so uncertain or inevident as this? We need no such firm ground to build our Faith upon in matters of the World, and therefore we are utterly inexcusable, if we do not be­lieve in the Son of God, who hath brought Life and Immortality to light.