IT'S our business and design for the se­curing of those, who shall read this discourse, from damnable Errors: for the glory of the eternal Son of God, whose Divinity we find boldly impeach'd and blasphemously deny'd by a pestilent crew of subtle and insinuating Hereticks: for the confirmation of that Faith in Christ which we profess, and in which we hope to dye: to encounter several of those Ar­guments thro' God's assistance, which those enemies of Christianity assault the World with. To which end, it will be absolutely necessary to clear the sense of these words from those artificial clouds which some have endeavour'd to obscure them with, and here we find the Socinians not so much disputing about the meaning of the first as­sertion, without controversie great is the my­stery of godliness; as about the connexion of these words with the particulars follow­ing. For if they can prove that the Incar­nation of the Son of God is no part or mem­ber [Page 2] of our Faith, or no mystery of our Reli­gion, they deprive us of one of the best and plainest Texts of Scripture for the main­taining of his Divinity. Again, if they can so bafflle all mysteries in Religion, that no­thing must be regarded but what can easily be comprehended by weak and corrupted reason, our holy Religion stands upon a lower ground than the wretched Systems of Pagan Divinity; and God must stand reprov'd him­self, if he speak any thing by inspired Pro­phets, which the meanest person cannot fully and clearly understand. In our entrance therefore on our intended discourse, we must first remove these difficulties before we speak to the particulars.

And here we cannot but take notice that the Socinians generally profess abundance of respect for the Scriptures, and seem to take a great deal of pains to assert their authori­ty; and it is upon the pretendedly genuine explication of that Word of God they build those Heretical Opinions, with which they disturb the Church. Socinus makes it a strange thing that any man professing Chri­stianity should make any doubt of the au­thority of the books of the Old and New Testament,Vid. Socin. de author. Scrip. op. v. 1. p. 265. especially the last, since the Writers of it were men of reputation and exactly acquainted with those things they writ about; since the Writers were very well known, since the books themselves are not corrupted or depraved, and because [Page 3] there are no full or clear testimonies to be found that those books deserve not that cre­dit we commonly give them.Catech. Sect. 1. c. 2. The Racovian Catechism asserts the sufficiency of Scripture to make men wise to Salvation. Eousque sunt sufficientia ut in rebus ad salutem neces­sariis iis solis acquiescendum est, they are so sufficient to that great end, that we ought to depend upon them only in matters of Salva­tion. And for their assertion they add this among other reasons, That it was not likely in so large a book, and where so few things were absolutely necessary to Salva­tion,Ibid. those very few things should not be fully laid down; or that in a book where God had ordered so many things unnecessa­ry, he should have forgotten any thing that was absolutely necessary to Salvation: And farther they avouch the integrity of Scri­pture, that those holy Books are not cor­rupted or alter'd, and that principally be­cause they say it's inconsistent with God's Providence and goodness to permit those writings in which he had declared himself and manifested his Will, and shewed the way to eternal Salvation, and which as such were immediately received and approved by all good men, to permit such Writings to be any way corrupted: besides that there were so many Copies of those Books transcribed at first, in places so far distant one from another, and they were translated into so many several languages presently, [Page 4] that if any corruption or alteration had been attempted,Ibid. c. 1. it had been impossible they should all have conspired in the same read­ing: and therefore we may observe where the least change has been made, the Copies disagree. In this observation we close with them, and by their own rule the better answer their cavil with this Text.

For they tell us that some Copies read this Text not as we do, [...], God was manifest in the flesh, but [...] which was manifest in the flesh, with­out any mention of God at all. Erasmus was the first in this observation, Grotius follows him and tells us [...] God is wanting in the vulgar Latin,Grot. in loc. the Syriac and Arabic tran­slations, and that St. Ambrose takes no notice of it, and that Hincmare Bishop of Rhemes says it was foisted into the Text by the Nestorians. Curcellaeus tells us the same, and of an old Greek Copy mentioned by Mo­rinus, wherein part of the word was writ­ten by a later hand. This Critical observa­tion the Socinians with one consent lay hold on, by that means endeavouring to avoid so plain a Text for the Divinity of the Son of God. So Volkelius tells us plainly that our Text is one of those Scriptures,Volkel de [...]d [...]elig. Edit Am l. 5. p. 462. c. [...]1. quas ad errorem suum stabiliendum detorquent adversarii, which those who believe Christ to be God wrest to the maintenance of their own error, for the name of God is not in all the Greek Copies, as may be seen by the [Page 5] vulgar Latin and Syriac Versions, but all the following particulars are to be referr'd to the Mystery of Godliness mentioned be­fore, which mystery of Godliness was ma­nifested in the flesh: and this Grotius before cited on the place, takes to be very good sence. Crellius on this place observes the same thing, yet owns Quod Graeci constan­ter pro ö legunt Θεὸς, that the Greeks, whose the Original is, read the name of God unani­mously in the Text, tho' some Versions want it. He tells us a story of Macedonius the Patriarch of the Pneumatomachoi, or those Hereticks who deny'd the divinity or personality of the Holy Ghost, or of some other of that name of which more hereafter, that he attempted the depraving of this passage, and that there is no question but he inserted the controverted word into the Text afterwards. He refers us to an abridg­ment of the case of Nestorius and Eutyches, Crellius i [...] loc. Bibliot. fr. Pol. in­ter opera Cr. v. 2. p. 18, 19. written by Liberatus a Deacon of Carthage, who tells us that Macedonius Bishop of Con­stantinople was deprived by the Emperour Anastasius as a falsifier of Scripture, and particularly for inserting the word God in this place of S. Paul: He tells us indeed that, In eo consentiunt omnes malam manum huic loco fuisse adhibitam, fraudemque à Ma­cedonio attentatam. All agree in this that some foul play was offered to the Text, and that Macedonius was concern'd in the cheat; but for this we must take his word, for he [Page 6] gives us no other authority: and all this is repeated in the Racovian Catechism,Catech. Raco. p. 55. Sect. 4. c. 1. and the short note of Andreas Wiscoveatius upon the question about the sence of our Apostle. Schlicktingius another of the same Tribe, and a great hearer of Crellius, yet here con­tradicts his companion and tells us boldly and roundly,Schlicktin­gius in lo­cum. oper. t. 2. p. 150. Contin. Ir. Ir. p. 106. par. 58. that several Greek Copies read it otherwise than we do, i. e. they omit the word God, but proves it only by the forecited translations: and to name no more, Zwicker in the defence of his Irenicum Ire­nicor. against Comenius, calls this Text locus dubiae lectionis, a place read several ways. Now the inference these Hereticks make from this Criticism is, That this Text is in­deed no proof of any thing: for since we know not how it was written at first, by rea­son of the difference among the Copies now extant, it's not to be admitted as a proof; so Crellius, Crell. ubi supra. Cum nemo ambigat tentatum esse aliquid circa hunc locum, varientque hodie lectiones, nil ex illo solidi, ad aliquod in Re­ligione Dogma stabiliendum duci posse certum est, Since none doubt there has been some­what attempted about this Text, and that the Copies at this time differ one from an­other, no solid argument can be drawn from thence, for the confirming any Tenet in Religion. With him agrees the Raco­vian Catechism in express terms: but here we may answer them, according to their own position before mentioned, That since [Page 7] the original Greek Copies, in which Lan­guage the new Testament was written by the inspired authors, do all agree in reading this Text as we do in our Bibles, we need not trouble our selves about the disagree­ment of two or three Translations, since, having to do with men highly pretending to reason, we may rationally conclude God's goodness and providence would take more care to secure the Originals than those Tran­slations, and that he really did preserve the Originals unperverted on purpose to pre­vent the ill effects those imperfect transla­tions might otherwise have had: for who but a proselyte of Rome or a Socinian would run to an uncertain stream, when he might with the same ease drink at the fountain head where every thing is pure and clean?

But if we examine the matter more strict­ly, the whole pretence of different Copies is false or impertinent.Vid. Go­thofr. in Poli Synop. Gothofredus in a particular discourse on this Text could find no difference in the original Books, and all Grotius and Schlicktingius, and Curcel­laeus and Crellius have said, amounts but to one among 1000. and that one very que­stionable too: The Syriac translation in­deed does want the word in our Poly­glot Bibles, but the Arabic version has it God appear'd in the flesh: [...] nor do I find any various readings there. The vulgar Latin has not the word [Page 8] indeed: but when Grotius, and from him the rest tell us that St. Ambrose read it not, they shew more craft than sincerity; that Father reads the text without God in it, but he interprets it as we do, that the mystery here spoken of was Christus in carne, Christ appearing in the flesh.Ambros. com. in E­pist. 1. ad Tim. Edit. Par. 1549. p. 2056. Tamdiu aspe­ctu humilis visus est per carnem, quamdiu de­victa morte resurgeret à mortuis & videretur majestas ejus qui natus ut homo non erat totus homo: He appear'd humble in his flesh so long till having conquer'd death, he rose again, and that his Majesty might be seen, who tho' he was born as a man, was not meerly a man, i. e. he was God as well as man. Not to take any notice that St. Am­brose really was not the author of those Com­mentaries on St. Paul's Epistles printed commonly among his works, but Hilary the Deacon a stout adversary of Arianisme in the fourth Century. As for Crellius his story of Macedonius, it's loose and imperti­nent. Macedonius indeed who was thrust into the chair of Constantinople by the Ar­rians upon the death of Alexander in the year 342. was Heretick enough, and conse­quently like enough to attempt an ill thing. But that Macedonius mentioned by the Dea­con Liberatus, was thrust out of his See by the Emperour Anastasius for his not com­plying with Hereticks in the year 515. when it was too late to attempt an innovation in Scripture, and who beside could have no [Page 9] design in so doing, since he held no peculiar opinions about our Saviour, to which such a corruption could be subservient.Brev. c. 19. Concil t. 5. p 762. Libe­ratus indeed tells such a story in his abridg­ment, but it's so impertinent, that even Crel­lius himself concludes he was mistaken in it, and we may go farther and pronounce it wholly false, since a Manuscript Copy of the new Testament presented to Charles the first of blessed memory, by Cyrill then Patriarch of Constantinople, reads, as we do at this day: and that Copy being about 1300 years old, was written long before the latter Macedo­nius was born: so that there was no need of running himself into danger by inserting that word into St. Paul's Text which was there before; the Socinians, tho' daring e­nough to impose upon the world, could not but see the absurdity of their own pretence: therefore they try to weaken the force of this Text by another artifice.

For so they tell us, that allowing the word God in the Text, it's not to be understood of Jesus Christ, but of God the Father; and in this they have Grotius, tho' at a distance, their Leader too, who gives us this general interpretation of the Verse: We are not here concern'd about any ordinary truth, but about that part of it, which no man of himself was able to make out, which has an extraordinary faculty to generate true piety in our hearts,vid. Grot. in locum. a part of truth in comparison of which all the Precepts and Principles of [Page 10] the Mosaic Law and of Philosophy are idle and of no effect, and this mysterious truth amounts to this, That the Gospel was pub­lished not by Angels, but by poor, infirm and inconsiderable men, as our Lord and his A­postles seem'd to the World; so the great mystery was manifest in the flesh: this Go­spel was justified in the spirit, i. e. it was ap­prov'd to the World by many Miracles, these being wrought by the influence of the spirit: it was seen of Angels, and that with the grea­test admiration, for Angels came to the know­ledge of the Gospel by the means of Men; it was preacht to the Gentiles, not only to the Jews, who before were God's peculiar people, but to the Gentiles who were meer strangers to the true God; it was believ'd on in the World, a great part of Mankind entertaining it, and it was receiv'd up in glory, i e. it was exalted very gloriously, because it introdu­ced a far greater degree of Holiness into the World than any former Opinions did. So much pains did that learned man take to ob­scure a plain Text of Scripture, and his gloss upon it was but impertinent and absurd at last. He's mighty willing to let the Verse pass without that emphatical word in it, but his fancy about the Gospel's being manifest in the flesh, and seen of Angels, being justified in the Spirit and receiv'd up into glory, are so poor and dilute, as became not a man of learning and sense to obtrude upon the world: therefore his Socinian followers, tho' they [Page 11] touch upon this gloss of his; yet they quit the Gospel, which he insists upon, and take God the Father in its room. So Volkelius as­serts, Deum Patrem in carne manifestatum fu­isse intelligendum esse, that by the Text we are to understand that God the Father was ma­nifest in the flesh, and pursues that assertion with this Paraphrase of the whole, That God by Christ and his Apostles, who suffer'd ma­ny things on that account, did more clearly then ever discover himself and his will un­known to all precedent Ages. In the mean time tho' he reveal'd these things by inconsi­derable men, he took care by that divine po­wer he shew'd in them, to evidence his own justice and truth, and to have his will ap­prov'd: that at that time and not sooner, this will of his was known and understood by the very Angels, and the extraordinary wis­dom of God which shines in it, lay open be­fore them; that this same will of God was preach'd to foreign Nations unacquainted with him before, and destitute of divine re­velation;vid. Volke­lium ubi supra cum reliquis. that the World in all parts gave credit to it, and that it was openly receiv'd by Men with a great deal of Honour. So far Volkelius, with whom agree Crellius, tho' di­lating more largely upon the place. Zwicker, and the Racovian Catechism. Schlicktingius, goes along with Grotius, and will by no means admit of the word [...] or God, and in plain terms tells us,Schlicktin­gius in loc. Deum manifestatum esse in carne dicere, nugari est; it's meer fooling to say, [Page 12] God was manifest in the flesh, and that God­liness and God manifest in the world were very different things. But this we shall have occasion to animadvert upon afterwards.

As for this [...], or the great my­stery mention'd in the Text, Suidas inter­prets [...] by [...], holy rites of a se­cret nature,Vid. Suid. in Lex. v. 1. Vid. Vossii Etym. ling. latinae & Dieterici Lex. nov. testam. or not commonly known, that they were so call'd [...], because those that heard them stopt their mouths, that they might not divulge or explain them to any. Vossius and Dieterichus from Casaubon and Hornius chuse rather to derive it from the Hebrew word [...] which signifies to hide or to conceal, from hence comes [...] a concealment or a place to hide one in: so that whencesoever its deriv'd, they agree it signifies somewhat of a secret nature not ea­sily to be found out, In Ecclesia ea vox gene­ratim accipitur pro re Sacrâ naturae lumine in­comprehensibili, says Vossius, as us'd by Eccle­siastical Writers, it's generally taken for ho­ly things incomprehensible by the light of nature, tho' sometimes it has a more re­strain'd signification relating to Symbolical rites; and so the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are frequently call'd mysteries: but in the Text where we are told the mystery of Godliness is great, and that assertion prov'd by the following particulars, we learn that the whole affair of the Incar­nation of the blessed Jesus with its conse­quences, [Page 13] by which the Redemption of Man­kind from the slavery of sin and death was effected, is a deep and profound mystery, or secret, not to be comprehended by any hu­mane understanding, and yet so necessarily to be believ'd, that no man can rightly as­sume the name of Christian, or pretend to give a due credit to the doctrine of the Go­spel, without embracing and fully belie­ving it.

But here we lie open again to the insults of our Socinian adversaries, for they seem very unwilling to allow any such things at present as mysteries in Religion: for tho' they do believe there were in former ages, as particularly before our Saviour's time, many things tending to humane salvation, which yet to humane understandings were inscru­table and never to be found out; yet these things are now reveal'd, and consequently comprehensible enough by sound reason, and certainly to be fathomed by discourse and sense. Thus Schlicktingius in his disputation against the Doctrine of the Trinity, oppos'd to Meisner, a Lutheran Divine,Schlicktin. in Meisner. de Trin. &c. p. 70. Mysteria Di­vina non idcirco mysteria dicuntur quod etiam revelata omnem nostrum intellectum captum (que) transcendunt, sed quod non nisi ex revelatione cognosci possint: Divine Mysteries are not therefore call'd mysteries, because they tran­scend our understanding after they are re­veal'd; but because they cannot be known without divine Revelation. For what need is [Page 14] there of a Revelation, if they are no more intelligible afterwards than they were be­fore? wherefore Humane reason may deter­mine concerning divine Mysteries when they are once reveal'd, nay it ought to do so: for how should it give any credit to them unless it had first passed a judgment upon them? And so soon as ever our reason has pass'd a true and uncorrupt judgment upon them, it always finds those mysteries to be very true. Thus He. Elsewhere he asserts, that our ignorance of divine mysteries proceeds not from the corruption of our nature through the fall of Man, but from the extraordinary sublime nature of those Mysteries;Disput. pro Socino. p. 101. 1 Cor. 15.51. De verâ Relig. l. 1. p. 344. and therefore af­ter they are once reveal'd to us, whether by God's word or by his Spirit, Tantas habemus vires, ut eas animo comprehendere valeamus, we have so much strength of mind that we are able to comprehend them. The same Do­ctrine he preaches in his Commentary on that of the Apostle, Behold I shew you a mystery; and Crellius speaks to the same effect. But this reasoning is not such as should make us much admire our own faculties with respect to the mysteries of Religion: It's true in­deed our reason may serve us so far as to convince us such or such a truth is reveal'd, our eye sees it in that Book which we call the word of God, our ear hears it; therefore by discourse we conclude that that Truth stands so reveal'd there, and our reason enables us to judge whether the revelation be authen­tick [Page 15] and fit for us to depend on or no. But according to their acknowledgment, wretch­ed man involv'd in sin, could with all his wit and sense discover no remedy for his misery, the more he discours'd with himself, the more plainly he'd find, that He who had of­fended a Being wise, knowing, and powerful to punish, could rationally expect nothing but punishment from one so offended: Mer­cy could take little place in Man's thoughts in the case; he could see reasons enough why he should be punish'd for his sin, but no rea­son why he should be pardon'd, since he had sinn'd: God now had decreed a remedy for him, but God's decree was secret and indiscoverable. As man could not naturally feed himself with any reasonable hopes that such a remedy should be: neither could he contrive how that remedy should be effect­ed, or by what means he an offender should escape the stroke of Justice; since Mercy as well as justice must have some ground or reason to move upon: the means then as well as the decree was hitherto mysterious. Well, Almighty God in his wonderful com­miseration of humane weakness was pleas'd to promise somewhat comfortable to our first parents, in the strength of which pro­mise they were enabled to live, tho' under the weight of those calamities sin had laid them open to: God afterwards besides these extraordinary promises of the same nature made to the Patriarchs, inspired se­veral [Page 16] holy Men, who spake as influenced by him, and they foretold man's redemption by a Messias, one that should be Anointed to that purpose. Here then the mystery was reveal'd, and what man before could not rationally have hoped for, he was now as­sured of by God himself. But did not the whole matter continue a Mystery still? Nay, was not the Mystery now more inscrutable than before? Could Man give a reason, or comprehend the matter in his Soul, why an exceedingly provoked God should express such love or pity for those who had pro­voked him? If they could have done so, they might have done it as well before, and con­sequently have concluded, that tho' they had incensed God, yet his wrath would certainly be atoned, and therefore there was no need of a Revelation: or after this Revelation, could Man tell certainly what the meaning of this Messiah was? They saw him sometimes described by the Pro­phets under all the glorious characters of a mighty King, nay, equall'd with God himself in his titles and in his name. Some­times they saw him character'd as very mean and contemptible, as riding on an Ass in­stead of a triumphant Chariot, as one who had no form nor comliness in him, no beauty for which he should be desired, nay, despi­sed and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Could common reason so easily discover what manner of [Page 17] person he should be in whom these parti­culars so seemingly contradictory should meet? If so, what made the Jews, who had enjoyed a greater portion of divine light than the rest of the World, what made them stumble so extreamly at the person of the Messias when he appear'd, or think it so im­possible to reconcile Prophecies so seeming­ly contradictory to one another? were the Jews the only persons utterly deserted by reason, or grown brutes on the suddain? What shall we say to the existence of a God, one supream Being who manages all things? That there is a God, tho' the Socinians de­ny it, Nature, and the various works of the Creation teach us; for reason will perswade us that the Apostle speaks plain enough to that purpose, when he makes it a reason why the Heathens should be inexcusable, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shewed it unto them, for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen,Rom. 1.19.20. being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and God­head: This same existence of a God is re­veal'd to us in Scripture, but in the mean time we must own that by Scripture we re­ally know no more of God than Nature and the works of Nature had discover'd before: for that which may be known of God was visible in them as the forecited Text in­forms us; nay, had not Nature imprest upon [Page 18] our Souls some Idaeas of the divinity, had not we been able to read his eternal power and Godhead in them, all the revelations in Scripture would have appear'd very im­pertinent and unsatisfactory, since all the discourse in it concerning God might easily have been interpreted into a religious ficti­on, contriv'd meerly to get reputation to that Book of which God was the pretended Author. But after Nature and revelation have done so much, are we able to compre­hend the nature of the Almighty? is not every thing that bears the character of infinity dark and mysterious still? we know God is, we know that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him, but can we tell by what methods his prudence manages the universe? can we tell how he is infinitely wise, just, good, merciful, true, &c. or tho' we know God is so, can we tell what it is to be so? No, we know the positive part, but for us to go farther would argue us Gods and not men: But does the re­velation of a certain truth that was my­sterious, change its nature? is not that which was a mystery before, a mystery still? The Christian Religion or the Principles on which it was built were once mysterious, a Socinian will assert, they were so before Christ's coming into the world: but, if we may give any credit to our Apostle who wrote after the Ascension of our Saviour into Heaven, the mystery of Godliness is [Page 19] great still, and it will continue so as long as Heaven and Earth endure? But here for our better procedure in countermining the Socinian Heresies, it will be necessary briefly to discuss that question how far humane reason is to take place in matters of Divi­nity: For Smalcius tells us positively,Smale. Hom. 8. in c. 1. Joan. p. 89. Nul­lam esse religionis particulam, quae cum ra­tione non conveniat: & quae cum ratione non convenit opinio eam etiam in Theologiâ nullum locum habere posse. That there is no little point of Religion which does not agree with reason; and whatsoever opinion does not agree with reason can have no place in Theological matters. Now for the better clearing this matter, I shall lay down these Propositions.

That the Reason of Man is the Candle of the Lord, according to that of Solomon. 1. Prov. 20.27. Its the real Image of God in man, given to Man, that he might be able to discourse with him­self, and argue concerning the nature of every object laid before him. It's that whereby he is able to distinguish between things, to judge of what tends to his own happiness, and what may any way be pre­judicial to it. It's that whereby Man comes to see God in his Creatures, from the frame and contexture and management of which he understands the wisdom and power of him that made them, and to observe his own dependence upon that Almighty Sove­reign. [Page 20] It enables him to argue from obser­vations upon himself concerning the good­ness and mercy of God, and how fit it is for all created Beings to adore and magnifie the Creator. It shews how fit it is that those who so intirely depend upon him should devote all their services to him, how they should all seek to him in every distress, and worship him, so as may be acceptable to him. When I give humane reason so high a character, I understand it only as imparted to him in his first Creation, when he was equally clothed with native beauty and innocence, his discursive faculty was then so high and clear, that we, miserable creatures, have at present only some poor defective glimpses of it; or we see it like some glorious light indeed, but fix'd at so prodigious a distance, that we cannot with all our present skill take it's true magnitude. As it was then, it fitted Man for that mighty Sovereignty over the inferiour parts of the Creation, which he was then invested with; it taught him to cultivate the garden of the Lord, so as became a faithful Ste­ward and Servant; It gave him such a view of the Divine Nature, that nothing could possibly seem more absurd or shameful, than any thing he could do that might offend God. And so true an insight into that which we call Natural Philosophy, that the nature of every creature was obvious to him at first, and he capable of naming all things [Page 21] according to that nature. So that it was really not a want of reason which made him sink under the temptations of Hell, but it was carelesness, not standing duly upon his guard, nor adverting seriously to the tenour of what was offer'd. He had the weapon, but he made no due use of it: he was crea­ted indeed in a state of perfection, but his passions and affections were alterable, his body passible, nay, his reason it self capable of a countermine when the design of oppo­sition center'd in a being created to as great advantages as himself. And when parties of equal strength and courage are engaged in a contention, the first that's guilty of an inad­vertency must certainly be foil'd; had not love and beauty like the pipe of Mercury, lull'd the hundred eyes of original reason into a fatal sleep, death could never have found entrance into the world, nor sin have been the dreadful harbinger of its ruines. But we see Sin and Death have over-power'd and prevail every day more and more upon us without any considerable opposition, which had reason retain'd its primeval vi­gour, it would certainly have met with, therefore we conclude,

2 That reason stands now extreamly impair'd by the fall of man, and in a great measure in­capacitated for prosecuting those noble ends for which at first it was bestow'd. It's true, reason is the very form of the Soul, the Soul it self [Page 22] a substance pure, immaterial, Divine, but it's immerst in a body of a grosser nature, or­ganized indeed originally exactly for its re­ception, and every way fit to be actuated by it, and by vertue of that exact preparation of its subject, it moved originally with ease and freedom: but forms may admit of alte­ration, and sin has effected such an alterati­on in the Soul, it has not quite extinguish'd that candle of the Lord, but it has made it burn very dim and uncertainly; it has not entirely separated reason from the Soul, but it has made it slow and unactive, or else on­ly perversly active; and whereas the body was exactly fit at first for the operations of an unpolluted Soul, that body it self is much disordered now, and even where the Soul would act better, it finds it self oppressed with that body of Death which sin has loa­ded it with: that Death as its preparative has thousands of diseases and distempers, many of which extreamly impair that little reason we are still possest of, not that the Soul is immediately prejudiced in it self by them, but as the curious Artist can yet do nothing without his tools, so the Soul moves, heavily because the body is wholly unfitted for its exerting its activity: and so farther as we observe the Artisan's work is worse or better according to the excellency of his tools, so daily experience teaches us, the mind applies it self more nimbly to work, is more curious in its fancy, more large and [Page 23] various in its inventions, more calm and so­lid in its judgment, according to the temper and constitution of that body it resides in. Hence we conclude that those we call Ideots or Fools have Souls immortal and rational as well as our selves, but those Souls have no proper organs to demonstrate their innate reason by: these unhappinesses are all the fatal consequences of sin, and we could hard­ly believe that sin had had any ill conse­quences at all, had not reason suffer'd by it: for if we can, as really we do, observe, that reason teaches every one who now adverts seriously to it, to aim at quiet and happiness; so had not sin clouded it strangely, it had been impossible any temptation whatsoever contrived by Hell or its emissaries could have baffled it. But it's plain that by our present incapacities to answer the sophistry of the tempter, we are continually betray'd to sin: reason in its height and purity would have convinced us of the madness and folly of every thing that's ill, reason as it now stands perverted suffers us, unless prevented with a great deal of industry, to embrace ill un­der the notion of good, and it's no small argument of a great weakness in our ratio­nal faculties to be so impos'd on: We often­times now entertain our capital adversary the Devil as an angel of light, we misprise vice for virtue, falshood for truth, sophistry for solid arguments, novelty for antiquity, superstition for devotion, noise for sense, [Page 24] interest for zeal, confidence for great parts and ingenuity: and reason it self as now it stands, when we have a few lucid intervals, shews us the extreme ridiculousness of those mistakes, and the abilities which some have to expose the follies of others, and at the same time to betray their own, is unanswe­rable evidence of the imbecillity of humane reason in general. It's doubtless possible for some of excellent constitutions to argue themselves into a strong perswasion that there is a God. It's again possible, nay we see it too too common for men of delicate intellectuals to pretend to answer all the ar­guments brought to prove the being of a God, and they do it so plausibly, as to get proselytes, and to make abundance of room for horrid Atheism. We make no question but that we have proofs really unanswerable of the Divinity of the Son of God; the So­cinians with whom we are now concern'd, deny it, and pretend to demonstrations of the contrary, and all from principles of rea­son or Scriptures rationally interpreted; and many well meaning men think they are in the right, and therefore close with them: These oppositions of Reason could never have happen'd, had the Soul or mind enjoy'd its original freedom and activity; for nothing could possibly have been offer'd in opposition to reason wholly clear and perfect, that ha­ving been incapable of stooping to mean arts and trifling sophistry. But we need indeed [Page 25] no more but to reflect a little on our first Parents, and on our selves, to prove the truth of this conclusion. It's impossible to over­look the prodigious difference there was be­tween Adam as a knowing Monarch, giving names to all Creatures according to their na­tures, and Adam sowing Fig-leaves together to hide his nakedness from Creatures whom some conclude irrational; and flying to the shelter of the Trees of Eden for a security from the presence of an all-seeing God; one argued excess of wisdom, the other the ex­travagance of folly: and for our selves, as the Jews proved themselves dull and senseless, who could not be convinced or reduced by him, who spake as never man spake; so we cannot without extreme difficulty find any impressions of good made on our Souls by the most forcible discourses: whereas reason in its primitive glory could admit of nothing, but what was holy, just and good; all this notwithstanding we conclude,

3 That Humane reason corrupted as it is, has yet so much of light and strength, as to shew and convince us of a general necessity of Reli­gion: This we assert of the light of nature, which really is nothing but meer reason, as it stands at present affected. Now if the works of nature are such, as according to the asser­tion of the Apostle, do evidence the Almigh­ty's power and Godhead, this evidence must be clear to somewhat that's able to compre­hend [Page 26] it; and if it be so very full and plain, that they who neglect it are altogether inex­cusable, then that reason which we now en­joy, which alone is capable of apprehending natural evidence, must still have that strength that those who by its conduct cannot find out a God, and their general duty to him, are therefore not to be excus'd. God has made the World, and all things therein, and gives to all life and breath,Acts 17.24, 25, 26, 27. and all things, and has made of one blood all Nations to dwell upon the Earth, that they might seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him: but it would have been very ill argued of the Apostle from such Topicks, if such observations had not really been enough to guide those who search after God to make a discovery of him. And here the Socinians seem to act by very strange measures, they conclude as before I observ'd from Smalcius, that there's nothing to be admitted into Re­ligion but what's agreeable to reason; but we cannot tell what's agreeable to reason, unless we can fully and clearly comprehend it: for otherwise we may be mistaken, and sup­pose that agreeable to reason, which really is not so. But at the same time, Socinus himself looks upon the light of nature as not suffici­ent to impress on Man the notion of a God, Socin. prae­lect. Theol. c. 2: but will have that general opinion of the ex­istence of God to flow only from traditional knowledge, or from revelation: yet after this assertion of his, Crellius one of the most [Page 27] learned of his followers and defenders, goes about in his Book de Deo & ejus attributis, to demonstrate the being of a God from the works of the Creation. But if Man has not sense enough, by considering the works of na­ture, to argue to the being of a God, such a demonstration is extremely impertinent. Socinus would prove his opinion among o­ther things by that of the Apostle, He that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him, which is prefaced with that: That without faith it is impossible to please God.Heb. 11.6. But this is no proof at all, for Men may by considering circumstances come to the ac­knowledgment of some supreme power; and yet never believe in him, nor ever own or practise their duty to him: and therefore St. Paul takes notice of some holding the truth in unrighteousness, who when they knew God, glorified him not as God: tho' they were con­vinced of his existence, they were not careful to perform the duty of Creatures or servants to a Supreme Creator; they were not thank­ful but became vain in their Imaginations,Rom. 1.21. and their foolish hearts were darkned, &c. Now those St. Paul there reflects on were Heathens in general, who being under a ne­cessity of believing that there was a God by rational discourse, yet out of a supine lazi­ness, troubled not themselves to improve rea­son so far as they might and ought to have done; and therefore, without any considera­tion [Page 28] of the divine Nature, fell to worship Idols, or to respect the Creature more than the Creator; yet even that Idolatry it self is an uncontroulable evidence of the general notion of God's existence, since no man possibly could be drawn to adore several, if he really believ'd there were no God at all. Nor farther does it follow, that because I'm satisfied there is a God, therefore I must necessarily be acceptable to God; for tho' my sence of his Divinity may of it self be pleasing to my Maker, yet if that sence have no operation upon my life and conversa­tion, my continuance in sin must cancel all those advantages I could hope to receive upon an inevitable conviction. Nor does Scripture any where tell us of such as believe there is no God.Ps. 10.4. Ps. 14.1. It's true, we read of some in all whose thoughts God is not, of the foolish body saying in his heart there is no God: but wicked men, even assisted by Di­vine Revelation to the knowledge of God's existence, may forget him; nay the very best of men do so when they fall into sin: and for a wicked man to say in his heart, there is no God, i. e. to wish heartily there were none, and to believe there is none, are very different things. Caligula that Roman Emperour said in his heart there was no God, when he would needs supply the worlds defects by assuming Divinity to himself; but Caligula own'd that he was otherwise convinc'd, when upon a thunder-storm [Page 29] he sculk'd into vaults, and hid his head from the fury of an angry Superiour. And we have now a-days but too many Atheistical wretches, who employ all their witts to prove to themselves and others that there is no God, who yet when death approaches, or some terrible distemper shakes their bodies, tremble at approaching judg­ments, submit to old innate notions of a God which they had long endeavour'd to have stifled, and are ready to cry to the mountains to fall upon them, and to the rocks to cover them from his wrath whose very being they formerly pretended to de­fie. Nor yet are there really any Nations discover'd who are wholly without such notions of a God as flow from a due con­templation of Nature.vid. Blavii Atlant. maj. in America Braslianā. Nay the very Bra­silians themselves to whose story Socinus refers us, tho' of all other nations the most ignorant and barbarous, are not so wholly Atheistical, but that, if we may believe Geo­graphers, they believe the Souls immortality and existence after its separation from the body, a thought alone which must be at­tended with the owning of a God: and hence Crellius well enough observes,De Deo & attr. l. 1. c. 3. Quod sacri libri non semel ad rerum in naturâ ex­istentium contemplationem nos vocant ut Di­vinae Majestatis radios in eis relucentes & admirandarum ejus proprietatum vestigia illis impressa lustremus. That the holy Scriptures do more than once call upon us to medi­tate [Page 30] on the various parts of Nature, that we may see the rays of Divine Majesty shine­ing in them, and the footsteps of God's power wonderfully impressed upon them. For not only all the works of Nature in a body, but every single thing gives us a par­ticular argument of the being of a God. But supposing we pursue the opinion of So­cinus recommended by Smalcius to the Uni­versity of Heidelberg; if withal we observe what the Racovian Catechism asserts, that Man's free will is not impair'd by Adam's sin, and conclude, what's very natural, that the other faculties of the Soul are no more weakned than the Will, it will plainly fol­low, that Man even in the state of Inno­cence was not capable naturally of knowing there was a God: and therefore Socinus fairly refers his knowledge in that kind to God's revealing himself at first to him. And certainly that natural light which even in primaeval purity could not reach to the bare existence of a God, must be at this time very insufficient to judge of every thing God has reveal'd, and to comprehend every mystery which is concern'd in man's salva­tion. Farther, if such as the Brasilians or Indians are really wholly without the apprehension of a God, it will appear from thence, that Traditional knowledge may be worn out; but as for divine Revelation as extant in the Word of God, it can have no credit among Heathens till they are first [Page 31] convinc'd there is a God whose that Word is; therefore there must be arguments drawn by discourse from the worlds structure, that must first prove that principle, and then that there are really divine Revelations; and that those writings which we call the Word of God contain those Revelations, will be demonstrable enough.Tertul. de resur. car­nis. For as Ter­tullian says, Praemisit Deus naturam magi­stram, submissurus & prophetiam, quo faci­lius credas Prophetiae, Discipulus naturae, God sends Nature as a mistress before, designing to assist it with revelation or prophecy, that being first the disciples of Nature we might the more readily give credit to revelation. Therefore S. Basil calls the school of Na­ture, [...], the school of ra­tional Souls, and the disciplinary of the knowledge of God. And the antient Monk Anthony answered the inquisitive Philoso­pher very well, when he asked him how he could live without books.Socrat. Hist. Eccl. l. 4. c. 23. [...]: My book is the nature of all existent things, a book which is always ready when I would know the words of God. Though the words of Tully a Heathen, are more directly oppos'd to Socinus, De Divi­nation. l. 2. Esse praestantem aliquam aeternamque naturam, & eam suspiciendam adorandámque hominum generi pulchritudo mundi ordoque rerum coelestium cogit confiteri: [Page 32] That there is some excellent and eternal nature, and that to be ador'd and admir'd by mankind, the very beauty of the world, and the curious order of coelestial bodies, will force us to confess. If then an Hea­then by natures light could discover not only the being of a God, but the necessity of worshipping him, it's sufficient evidence of our conclusion, That humane reason or the meer light of Nature may shew us the general necessity of Religion, notwithstand­ing those decays it has undergone by Sin. For if that notion naturally imbib'd that there was a God urged men to serve him by several methods of Religion, it's plain that notion enforced Religion in general upon all mankind; we conclude

4 That humane Reason as it now stands cor­rupted, when it applies it self industriously to Religion or the adoration of a God meerly on general notions, as a reward for that industry, certainly meets with divine assistances, by which means those intentions which at first are honest and sincere are made really effectual to Gods glory and the improvers happiness. Humane reason no sooner discovers the existence of God, but upon a farther pur­suit of that notion in enquiry after God's nature, it finds it self lost in a vast abyss, nothing but immense infinity being the ob­ject of a faculty unquestionably finite and limited, must of consequence confound it, [Page 33] unless there be some guide or director found out for it. This made Simonides of old, (who was not only Poet a suavis, verum etiam caetero [...] doctus sapiensque, Cicero de Nat. Deor. l. 1. p. 27. as Tully calls him, a sweet Poet, but a man otherwise learned and wise) when Hiero King of Si­cily ask'd him what God was, require a days time to [...]onsider of the question, when the day after Hiero repeated his question, he desn'd two days, and when he askt still more and more time, and Hiero wondring askt him the reason, Quia quanto, inquit, diu­tiùs considero, tanto mihi res videtur obscurior, because, says he, the longer I consider of the matter, the more obscure I find it. Tully seems indeed to impute this to his general Scepticism: but since he own'd a God, and had no other guide but Nature, it shew'd his wisdom to acknowledg the deficiency of that principle in carrying him farther. It was Socrates's modesty which made him confess he had only learn'd this, that he knew no­thing. And it was Simonides's prudence which made him own his ignorance in so my­sterious a particular. Reason teaches a man that has lost his eyes how great inconveni­ences he's lyable to by that loss, when he knows his helpless condition, tho' Reason with all its arguments cannot restore his eyes, reason can teach him to seek for a guide who can see, and will satisfie him how far the kindness of the guide may re­pair his misfortune. The same Reason in [Page 34] matters of Religion, tho' it find out a God, yet shews Man his natural blindness in rela­tion to the consequences of that principle. Now the Soul being always covetous of knowledge, hoping [...]y it [...]o repair in s [...]me measure the ruines of the f [...], i [...] a M [...] but follow its i [...]ation, con [...] [...] to apprehend the [...] and to seek for one qu [...] [...] p [...]. Here then we must own, [...] God h [...]s call'd upon mankind so earn [...] [...] [...]ome to him, and has promis'd that those who do so he will by no means reject, and that he will assist such by the gifts of his Spirit, that they may improve the farther in divine knowledge; we must own that it would be inconsistent with these engagements and promises, and consequently with Go [...]'s ve­racity, if he should not be ready to rew [...]d with sutable assistances all such who acco [...] ­ing to their abilities diligently seek [...]: As a full proof of his readiness in the case, he has imparted his Will to mankind in Scripture; the reading of books is the or­dinary means of attaining knowledge, or at le [...]st a due converse with such who have leisure and capacity to read and underst [...]d them, such reading is useful even to inspi [...]d persons,1 Tim. 4.13, 14. whence St. Paul advises Timothy an Evangelist to give attendance to reading, as well as to exhortation and doctrine, and not to neglect the gift that was in him. And howsoever some may contemn th [...] [...]ane [Page 35] learning which they cannot reach, we have no reason to believe that S. Paul was pre­judiced in his Apostolical abilities by having been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, or by having bestowed some time in reading the Poems of Aratus or Epimenides. That God himself might comply with this ordina­ry means of acquiring knowledge, He com­mitted his own Will to writing, and that in such a manner that the weakest might not complain the book was wholly unintelligible, nor the wisest make their boast that they comprehended every thing contained there. The man that seeks to improve his reason by reading, in search of books must act very irrationally if he pretermit the Book of God; For he that believes there is a God, and takes him for a Being infinitely superiour to himself, when he thinks it worth his while to converse with humane writings, cannot but judge it much more so to examine a book which carries the name of God him­self as its Author in the frontispiece: Hee'd read it, tho' it were to no other end, but to find whether it were agreeable to that august title it bore, and what real characters of the Divinity were to be found in it. But when such a man comes once to read it seri­ously, tho' he's not able to comprehend all he reads, yet his rational faculty must run very low if he find not more improvements of it there than in all other writings whatso­ever. It's observable of the Mariners that [Page 36] carried Jonah for Tarshish, that when the storm sent by the God of Israel lay hard up­on them, the Mariners in their fear called every one upon his God; they believ'd in general there was such a being, but a mul­titude being adored by the greater part of the world, instead of one, every one had his particular idol to address to.Jonah 1.4, 5, 9, 10.14, 15, 16. But when Jonah, sensible of his crime, and that ven­geance which pursued it, had confess'd the truth and perswaded them to throw him overboard, and they tho' unwillingly com­plyed with him, they, before they would do an action so severe and extraordinary, applyed themselves to the true God; and finding the storm to cease upon their Prayer, they offered Sacrifices to him, and made vows; thus Pagan Mariners grew a kind of converts to true Religion. So when Men in consulting Scriptures, especially at first, find their Souls disturb'd under a sence of former ignorance, and meet with advices in that sacred book sufficient to extricate themselves out of that perplexity; promises of the true God's readiness to hear and to assist those who desire to know him, occur frequently too: as particularly that of the Psalmist in the old Testament,Ps. 69.32. Your heart shall live that seek the Lord; and that of Wis­dome, I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me. Prov. 8.17, 20, 21. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I may cause those that love me [Page 37] to inherit substance, that I may fill their trea­sures, i. e. that I may furnish them with solid knowledge, and make them rich in un­derstanding: and that more clear yet of our Saviour, when the Spirit of truth is come, Joh. 16.13. he will guide you into all truth. The Reader of these promises though very dubious in him­self before, will be apt to send up his pe­titions to that God who made these promi­ses; who will be as ready to hear such, as he was to hear the ignorant Mariners before. Thus light may shine into the Souls of those who are soberly inquisitive, and that so great and clear, as may be very unaccount­able to the receivers of it, but extremely pleasing. It was such an industrious reading and a real desire to understand, tho' at that time he confest his ignorance, that prepar'd the Aethiopian Eunuch for the instructions of Philip, sent unto him on that particular errand. And tho' God do not presently send an Evangelist to convert every one that seeks after what's good, yet he has a thousand ways as efficacious to draw men to a sence of true Religion, and what mat­ter is it to us what way God makes use of, provided he do but work the same glorious effect in us at last? God takes delight in those that honour him, as those who seek him certainly do. Sincerity and humility are required indeed as preparatives in the case, yet no more than what's requisite in those who study books of humane learning. [Page 38] For he that does not seriously desire to pro­fit by study, never will profit; and he that's too opinionative of his own sence, can ne­ver make any advantageous use of what he meets with in the discourses of other men: and there's no reason we should expect to improve in those things which concern the weightiest matters in the world, viz. our eternal future happiness or misery, upon lower terms, than in those really of a fri­volous and inconsiderable nature. But to encourage men to a right application of their reasoning faculty we conclude,

5 That the farther a man advances in the study and practice of true Religion, the more clear and comprehensive his Reason grows, and comes so much the nearer to its primitive acute­ness, and consequently, is able to dive so much the farther into divine Mysteries: And this indeed is what true Religion aims at; We have lost our Innocence, by that loss we have impair'd our Reason; that we may assure to our selves that happiness our first Creation had sitted us to, God has found out for us those ways, that we endeavouring to retrieve our Innocence, may retrieve our Reason in a good measure too: And having howsoever the infinite merits of a Saviour on our side, at last may attain to the first intended happiness. Reason is certainly a talent bestowed upon us, not to lay it up in a napkin, but to use and to make [Page 39] the best of it. Had such a Book as Scripture been deliver'd to Adam before his fall, I make no question, but it would have been in every point intelligible to him: as things stand now we may and ought to exercise our reason about it, but not so as to limit Scripture by our reason, but to limit our reason by Scri­pture. It's true, Scripture may by meer rea­son be prov'd to be the Word of God, but that operation is very slow, and requires a very unusual application; therefore God in the infancy both of the Jewish and Christian Church made use of Miracles to work more strongly and swiftly upon the Soul, not that he design'd to supersede our reason, but to quicken it and to set it so much the more in­dustriously on work, and withall, by a redu­cing it to an acknowledgment of its own de­fects, to make it submit the more entirely to him whose power was able so far to out­reach its utmost capacity; Miracles were the common objects of Mens senses, and indeed appeals to them: and when the Jews had known a Man from his Child-hood that was born blind, and when they saw him about forty years of age blest with sight, they had no reason to distrust the truth of that, of which they every moment saw the effects; where there was lodged a power sufficient [...]o produce so extraordinary an eff [...]ct, and the kindness and usefulness of the mi [...] wrought would vindicate it from [...] of any malignant spirit, it [...] [Page 40] conclude, that in the same person was cen­tred a veracity agreeable to that power, and consequently it was reasonable to believe what ever was delivered by so great and so benign a Power. But after all, as reason could not possibly give an account of the manner of working so sensible a miracle, but by resolving all into omnipotence, nor was it necessary it should: so neither was it ne­cessary reason should comprehend every thing that was spoken by God, and yet it lies un­der a necessity of believing every thing true that's so spoken, and that again upon a ra­tional principle, viz. that He who speaks, being God, can neither deceive nor be decei­ved. But as those who engage themselves in the study of any particular Science, under­stand but little at first of its reason, but by assiduity and diligence come to see throughly into it; so it is in matters of religion, he that's but a Babe can bear no stronger nou­rishment than milk, he that's stronger can digest substantial meats, i. e. the beginner in those studies must pretend to nothing farther than what's very plain and easie; but when by continual meditation be has made those plain things familiar to him, there will some consequences offer themselves, not so plain, but every whit as true as the first principles, and that reason which at first was ready to stumble at the most obvious noti­ons, will afterwards digest those at a grea­ter distance, and be as strongly convinced of [Page 41] them as of the former; but in the chain of consequences somewhat will occur at last beyond the reach of the largest unbeatified Soul. Thus that Man is naturally miserable. is a truth undeniable by reason of our every days experience, natures light has confirm'd the World in the truth; yet Man is very apt to stumble and perplex himself at the occasion and ground of his being so: doubts arise in the case from some weak reflections upon God's justice and goodness; yet its uni­versally believ'd, and the reading of Scri­pture farther confirms the truth; that Man, miserable as he is, making use of such and such means, may be happy, is a truth reveal'd, and without revelation imperceptible; yet now its once reveal'd, reason can properly argue, that the same things or qualificati­ons which would have secur'd happiness to Man at first, must do so now, and the attain­ment of Innocence, was that original mean, Innocence the indispensible qualification; But reason proves again that that primitive Innocence is really unattainable now, and it will proceed thus far further, that either there must be some way discover'd to make up that unhappy defect, or else Man must sink in his natural misery, and all the care he can take to prevent it will do him no service: here divine revelation goes along with him too, and what reason, as now af­fected, could never have dream't of, we have a revelation relating to the making up [Page 42] of this defect, and that by the Incarnation and Passion of the Son of God, but there Faith rests upon Revelation alone, and gets no assistance at all from reason, but only from that distant principle, that the revea­ler cannot deceive nor be deceived: reason can come no nearer, nor can it judge of the revelation by any other principle, yet the Man who believes not this, how little so­ever he can understand of it, is in a state of damnation. The wonderful wisdom and good­ness of Almighty God appears in this, as acting in the most difficult case and in the kindest manner, but to suppose the wisdom and the goodness of God in so prodigious effects should not surpass our discursive fa­culty, is absurd, as reducing divine perfecti­ons to humane rules; but it never can be un­becoming to an ordinary Christian to express himself in these things, as the Apostle does in what relates to them, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Rom [...]. 33. how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! where Schlicktingius himself tells us his judgments are unsearch­able: Quod eorum causam ac rationem & illa ipsa nemo perscrutari possit, because none can find out either the cause or reason of God's judgments, or the judgments themselves: and afterwards, Idem ille qui solus haec potest fa­cere, Schlickt. in locum. solus etiam potest cognoscerè, He alone can understand these things who can do them, that is, onely God: yet these consi­derations [Page 43] should be no discouragement to any, from improving their reason, even in matters of faith, since tho' reason can never in this life comprehend them all, yet many of those things which appear very strange, uncouth or mysterious to a young unexperi­enced Christian, are very clear and intelli­gible to those who have their senses exer­cised. As the very doctrine of the Cross, absurd and foolish to a novice, appears so necessary to one experienc't in Christianity, that he knows not how to reconcile it to true sound reason without it; since Philosophy aims at something of that nature, and Chri­stianity, if truly asserted, must infinitely tran­scend Philosophy in the excellence and use­fulness of its instructions. Maximus there­fore answers well to that objection of Here­ticks against the use of reason in matters of a Divine nature, [...], &c. But there are some things in them which transcend our understanding: I own it, but let us learn this too from Scripture, that there are some things to be searcht after by our reason, be­cause they are attainable. For as it argues no piety to be prying into every thing, so it argues as little to look into nothing: what we adore we all know,vid. Vede­lii ratio­nale. The­ol p 766. according to that Text, we know what we worship but to enquire how great, what his nature [...], how or where he exists, is direct mad [...] our Rule therefore with respect to chosen [...]hs [Page 44] reveal'd, must be this, Not onely to believe what's laid down there, because we under­stand it, but because we believe it as laid down there, therefore to endeavour to un­derstand it; so reason comes into its proper place, it owns its imperfections and its po­wers both; it puts it self into the way of di­vine assistance, and grows capable every mo­ment of improvement towards perfection. But we conclude,

6 That this perfection is not compleatly attain­able till all our enquiries after happiness are compleated in the enjoyment of it: as the good Christian is ever growing in grace, so he's ever growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which knowledge despises not the use of reason, but considers it, [...],Strem. l. 6. as Clemens of A­lexandria calls it, as the lowest step of the ladder of Christian philosophy, the lowest step indeed, but yet a step which they that would clime higher must make use of; and if they would but carefully observe how in all Christian improvements reason has still its share, that it grows stronger and stronger in its aspiring after what's good, that faith it self as it finds reason treading in its foot­steps, grows more vigorous and unconque­rable, that yet at best there are a great ma­ny clouds hanging upon it arising from that mortal and declining state we are in in this world: These observations would reduce the [Page 45] extravagant hopes of some in this life, and excite in them the more earnest longings af­ter the perfections of a better; and who, when he sees the glorious image of his Ma­ker blotted and defaced, and knows there is a time to come when it shall be restored to its pristine integrity, would not think it extreamly reasonable to long for that sea­son? Faith and Hope and Charity are Chri­stian Graces, the wings, if I may so call them, on which the divinely originated Soul soars towards Heaven; yet great and necessary as they are, the two first expire with mortality, the last immortal Charity survives beyond the limits of time.Heb. 11.1. For Faith which is by the Apostle described as the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, can have no place when we come to en­joy all we long for in the beatisick vision; we are to live by faith while on earth, that bearing us up above all those troubles and perplexities which attend us: but those are all past, and not to be repeated by all the malice of Hell it self, when we come to the Celestial Canaan, that land of everlasting rest. And as for Hope it respects futurity, and somewhat greater than we yet enjoy, but as that Apostle argues, Hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees,Rom. 8.14. or is in possession of (for that's the meaning of the phrase) why does he yet hope for? In Heaven we see and are in possession of unallay'd bliss, we hoped for it here, we have it there, so [Page 46] Hope having no farther object, dyes too, but Charity survives still. The life of Heaven is nothing but peace and joy and love: all other passions which distract the Soul, have had their periods before; all that promote its blessed state continue still: but let Charity bear never so glorious a Character, Reason meerly Humane in that glorious state out­vies it still, and comprehends it as the grea­ter does the less. We see there, beyond possi­bility of contradiction the reason of all God's dispensations towards Mankind, those intricate providences, which have so puzled our Intellectuals here below, will then be plain and intelligible, nay fully and actually understood by all the Souls of just Men made perfect; all the unfitnesses of a corrupt car­case will be then removed, and a glorified body answer readily and naturally all the motions of the glorified Soul. And since we look upon knowledge as the end and per­fection of the rational Soul, we may be as­sur'd that in a state of bliss, it shall have at­tain'd that perfection,1 Cor. 13.12. for as St. Paul teach­es us, We now see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we are known: and as St. John agreeably with him, though it does not yet appear what we shall be: for we see but darkly now and in part, yet we know that when our Lord shall appear at last,1 Joh. 3.2. we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And when reason once comes to use [Page 47] sense so far, as to see God as he is, infinitely happy, infinitely good, infinitely glorious, it has gone far enough. And thus far have I given an account of Humane reason, or the light of Nature, for I think I may well e­nough use them, as Synonymous, and how far it may be useful in matters of a Divine na­ture. I shall draw onely a Corollary or two from thence; and then proceed.

1 We conclude from what has been dis­cours'd concerning Humane reason, That our obligation to Almighty God is infinite, in that He who might have taken from us wholly that natural light, because we had so extremely slighted it, was yet pleas'd to continue it so far, as that rightly apply'd, it might still be useful to us even in matters of salvation: It's true, we cannot examine things with that clear­ness and satisfaction, which Adam's first en­quiries were accompany'd with: our under­standings are somewhat parallel to that Earth, which fell under a Curse for the sin of Man: It was naturally fertile before in good things, but then it was to bring forth onely bryars and thorns; yet Man might eat bread from it still, onely it must be in the sweat of his brows, He must take pains for that now, which he might have had with­out any trouble before. So our Natural rea­son was clear and free at first, common oc­currences needed no deep meditations, nor extraordinary passages any tedious study to [Page 48] apprehend them in every circumstance. The case is now otherwise, our reason busies it self naturally about trifles, and onely puzles and perplexes it self in matters of no weight or moment; yet still it may move to good purpose, but it requires abundance of care and pains to cultivate it so, as it may pro­duce any thing that's good; and even with a great deal of pains too, sometimes it makes conclusions onely vain, troublesome and mi­serably false: this unhappiness is the conse­quence of our own follies at first, and it's God's unmerited goodness, that we can yet by making use of due means distinguish in some measure between truth and falshood, at least in the more obvious parts of religi­on: and his goodness yet appears farther, in that where our decrepit reason fails, he's pleas'd to interpose with the influences of his blessed Spirit, and to preserve the Modest and Humble from falling into damnable Er­ror: that our Reason may have a subject profitable to employ it self upon, God has given us his Word, blessed are they who meditate on that word day and night: he calls upon us to apply our selves to the Law and to the testimony, to search the Scriptures, to search them with the same care and diligence as those who work in Mines seek for the golden Ore. Whereas he lays in his Word several Commands upon us; He would have us examine them so as we may be con­vinced that they are not grievous, but Ho­ly [Page 49] just and good: These Commandments therefore must be examin'd by the rule of right Reason, which whosoever follows, will be infinitely satisfied in them. In his deal­ings with mankind he calls upon them to examine their own ways, by the same rule he enters into arguments highly rational with mankind himself, he bids them to judge in their own causes between himself and them, and see if discussing things ra­tionally, they must not necessarily fall upon that confession, That God's ways are e­qual, but the ways of men unequal. When he recommends his mercies, when he would terrifie with his judgments, He appeals to Humane Reason still, or that share of light which we are now partakers of. Now he that will employ that light he has upon such noble subjects, if he be not prejudiced with wicked principles before, or puff'd up with self-conceit, must necessarily be a very re­ligious man; for, the clearer any mans ra­tional faculty is, the more pious he must be; only men of very low abilities can be either Atheists or Hereticks. It's confest indeed some Hereticks, as the Socinians in particu­lar, with whom we are at present concern'd, pretend highly to Reason, but they only sham us with fond pretences, and their rea­son is all empty and sophistical; and A­theists are the Men of sence, if we may be­lieve fools and madmen: but there is a vast difference between a flashy Wit and a ridi­culing [Page 50] Humour, and sound judgment, and solid and weighty argument. But God who knew before what artifices Hell and wicked men would make use of to pervert truth, calls upon us to exercise our reason farther, in discovering and baffling those cheats the enemies of our Souls would fain put upon us, wherein, as Hereticks and Schismaticks generally make their appeals to God's Word, and we have warning in that very Word, That in those doctrines where there's any shew of difficulty, those who are unlearned and unstable wrest the Scriptures to their own destructions: We are warn'd to try the Spirits whether they be of God; and Scripture being the rule of tryal, we are oblig'd to study the true sence and meaning of that. To which end our rational faculty carries us along in study­ing the original Languages, in which Scri­pture was written, and finding out the true meaning and import of words and phrases in other authors, and the modes and cu­stoms of countries to which any Texts re­fer. Reason goes with us in comparing text with text, and matters of faith or practice laid down in one place with those laid down in another, in observing the force of those arguments drawn from such and such Texts, their real dependance upon or direct consequence from the places alledg'd, and the general consistency of opinions offer'd with the end and design of those positive [Page 51] truths laid down in Scripture, Reason has here a large field to exercise it self in. And whereas we are urg'd by some to abjure that utterly with respect to those points of faith or practice that are under debate, pretending they'd insist only on the letter of Scripture, Maximus tells us well in the formerly cited discourse of his, [...], they drive you from examining Scripture too strictly, insinuating that it's dangerous to pry too narrowly into secrets, [...],Maximi disceptatio inter opera Athan. T. 2. p. 296. but disswading it indeed that they might avoid the reproof of their Errors from thence: where he takes farther notice, how such persons if they meet but with a word that at first hearing sounds favourably to their fancies, they run away with it without ever consi­dering the design of the inspired Writer, or examining the agreement of their own shallow glosses with the general tenour of Holy Writ: an humour that prevails with too many still, who prefer the sound of words before the truth and pertinency of texts of Scripture; and therefore imagine themselves to argue very piously and agree­ably to God's word, when all their talk is nothing to the purpose. But mysteries, the great mysteries of Religion are reveal'd in Scripture: it proves God's goodness yet farther, he has by that means given Reason a task proper for its exercise. For tho' our [Page 52] Reason be not able to fathom all the depths of those mighty revelations; yet as Chy­mists seeking after their great Arcanum, tho' they miss the main design, yet by the way they make a thousand useful experi­ments, never otherwise to have been found out. So those who take due measures, and industriously insist in the searching the na­ture of mysteries in Religion; though they can never in this life reach their utmost ex­tent, yet they attain many things in their quest, of a very useful and a very comfortable kind. Thus we see the Weeks of Daniel, the Visions of Ezekiel, the whole book of the Revelation have given abundance of em­ploy to the best and wisest Christians, who yet have never been able to come to any considerable agreement in the Interpretation of them; yet the learned labours of many have been so far from lost, that many excellent truths have been fully clear'd, many pious Souls wonderfully supported, and many controversies happily resolv'd to the secu­rity and edification of the Church of God. And we have found plainly that some have seen into those mystical secrets much more clearly than others, which argues their quicker apprehensions, and their more power­ful assistances in their studies, and is with­al a great encouragement to others to pro­secute the same studies with patience; since tho' their progress is not great, it may be sure, where something is attained to, more [Page 53] may be; and we believe it was not with­out reason that the author of the Apocalypse in particular begins his Visions with that,Revel. 1.3. c. 22.7. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, and to conclude them to the same purpose. And in his Vision of that beast with seven heads and ten horns to whom the Dragon impart­ed of his power which arose out of the sea, and of that other which came up out of the earth, that had horns like a Lamb and spake like a Dragon, he gives a kind of challenge to humane Reason, Here is wisdom, Rev. 13.18. let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a Man, and his number is 666. i. e. Here's a task fit for a man to engage himself in, here's e­nough for him to exercise all his abilities upon. But it would be no such extraordi­nary blessing for a man to read a book, of which he could hope to understand nothing at all; and it would be no great evidence of a man's extraordinary wisdom, to spend his time in poring after the interpretation of a mystic number, and to find out to whom it belong'd, if the whole was never design'd to be in the least intelligible. No, God never set man at work in any inquiry, but he intended the profit should at least be worth the pains. It must be confest that what Schlicktingius asserts is very true, Pro­phetae novi Testamenti, Christo jam exorto, [Page 54] arcana Dei ita explicarunt ut ab omnibus in­telligi possint; & quae in novo Testamento scriptae extant futurorum praedictiones, claris verbis conceptae sunt: That the Prophets of the New Tastament after Christ's appea­rance explain'd the secrets of God in such a manner as that they might be understood by all. And the predictions of future things in the New Testament are express'd in plain words: plain words may express very hard matters, and there's no need of uncouth Hyperboles, or aenigmatical or ambiguous expressions to make a thing mysterious. Our Saviour preach'd in as plain a manner as ever any did or could; yet how did the Scribes and Pharisees, Schlicktin. in 2 op. Petri c. 1. v. 21. nay, how did the Disciples themselves stumble at his fami­liar Parables? and tho' we have them in some measure interpreted to us in the Go­spel-story, yet many learned and good men disagree in explaining several particu­lars contained in them still; And I have not yet found that our adversaries them­selves pretend to an infallible exposition of any considerable difficulties: and the fore­named Author speaking concerning the book of the Revelation, tells us it was laid down in Visions and representations, Non tam ut Christiani distinctè cognoscerent quid fu­turum esset, id enim nec Ecclesiae, nec divinis consiliis expediebat, quin potiùs ut ex eventu praesignificatum id esse quod evenit, intellige­rent: not so much that Christians should [Page 55] know what was in future times to come to pass; for that was neither agreeable to the Churches necessities nor to Gods designs, but only that by the event of things Chri­stians might be able to understand, that what hapned had been foretold long since. This very comparing of predictions with events would require no small intention of our rational faculties; yet here he owns these Visions and representations to be my­sterious so long till the event unriddle them. And there's no truth of so profound a na­ture, no expression in Scripture so difficult, but that futurity will make it all plain and delightfully intelligible to the Souls of just men made perfect: yet here's constant work for the soundest head, and the more such a one discovers of the mysteries of Religion, the more he'll be sensible of the defects of his own understanding, and he'll find the more reason to bless the name of God who has yet continued to him the ruines of a compleat understanding: and given him such subjects to exercise it upon as may gra­dually raise it towards its original strength, till heavens glory gives it a consummate perfection. But as we are obliged to be thankful to God for giving us the use of Reason, so we must take care

2 To use our Reason in all debates about mat­ters of Religion with that sober and humble Modesty as becomes Creatures so much decay'd [Page 56] as we are in our most glorious endowments. It has been the abuse of reason, and a strange confidence in that which in it self at present is extreamly weak, that has introduced so many Errors and Heresies into the Church of Christ, a humble and a modest Christian would always secure himself with the fa­mous resolution of St. Augustine, Errare pos­sum, Haereticus esse nolo, I may fall into an Error, but I will never be an Heretick, i. e. I'le never be obstinate in any singular opini­on of mine own; too much diffidence of our selves makes us slaves to every one that has boldness enough to contradict us; too much confidence renders us incorrigible in our fol­lies, even when much wiser Men would un­dertake to instruct us; and nothing can pro­voke God more to baffle us in all our inqui­ries, than that innate pride which makes Men value themselves above what is fitting, for as St. James tells us, God resisteth the proud, Jam. 6.4. but he giveth grace unto the humble; there are some things which relate to Reli­gion, wherein God has deliver'd himself so, as to let us know words and names, but has not reveal'd enough to give us an insight into the matters which are intimated under them, Men need not trouble themselves too curiously about such things; Moses taught the Israelites very well,Deut. 29.29. The secret things be­long unto the Lord our God: and the Son of Syrach gives an excellent lesson, Seek not out things that are too hard for thee, neither search [Page 57] the things that are above thy strength, Ecclus. 3.21, 22. but what is commanded thee think thereupon with reve­rence, for it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that are in secret. What if among such things I should reckon Mens over-curious enquiries into the nature of God's decrees, which enquiries have produ­ced a great many foolish and uncharitable controversies even among good men; there is employment enough for a good Man's whole life in things more needful to be known: I will not say it's absolutely un­lawful to be prying into what God has thought fit to express himself very obscure­ly in, but this I'le say, that whosoever will be walking in those private paths had need to tread with a very gentle foot, to look frequently backward, and on each side, as well as forward, to be very distrustful of his own ability, very submissive to the judg­ment of Superiors in office, age or gifts, ve­ry earnest and indefatigable in his prayers to God for his assistance, as he shall see fit to impart it on such an occasion; very ten­der of imposing his own judgment upon o­thers, and of being too positive in those opinions he takes up: since the corruption of our reason, a man frequently thinks he has made a very great discovery in some weighty point, and hugs himself with the plausibility of his thoughts, he imagines, (as we are generally apt to be very fond of the products of our own brains,) every thing he [Page 58] has laid down, or methodiz'd in his thoughts, to be so very plain and clear, that it's impos­sible any man of sense should not immedi­ately be his proselyte; and some perhaps are ready to flatter such a one in his over-ween­ing conceit, by a pretended concurrence in their sentiments with him: after all, it hap­pens as often, that another of as great natu­ral abilities, and as searching a head, disco­vers a great many mistakes in the others beautiful Scheme of thoughts, and baffles the whole invention the other had admired him­self for: such things ought to make all, espe­cially in religious matters, where it's dange­rous jesting or innovating, to act with a­bundance of circumspection; and indeed rather to confine themselves to lower studies than to hazard the over-setting their own In­tellectuals, by engaging into boundless en­quiries. Those things may in themselves be lawful, which yet cannot be very conveni­ent: Some such curiosities are very idle and ridiculous, as disputing what God did be­fore he made the World; Whether He could have pardon'd Mens sins without a Mediatour, &c. He was fatally answer'd to such a Question, who asking an Eminent Christian, what the Carpenter's Son, mean­ing Christ, was then a doing, was told, He was making a Coffin for such a lewd Inqui­rer as himself, who dy'd in a very few hours after.Ecclus. 3.23. The Son of Syrach advises well, Be not curious in unnecessary matters: for more [Page 59] things are shew'd unto thee than men under­stand. i. e. God has laid open such infinite treasures of Divine wisdom before us, and our understandings are so very short, that we need not look out strange subjects of our meditations, it's enough if we can in some tolerable manner comprehend those sacred truths that are deliver'd to us: and we are more concern'd to endeavour to do so, than some are ready to imagine. For though a Socinian may tell us, God has declared se­veral things in holy Scripture, that are no way necessary to Salvation, the assertion is absurd and false; that old Axiome, Deus & Natura nihil faciunt frustra, That God and Nature never do any thing in vain is enough to refute it: for since the end of Scripture is the making Men wise to salvation, it's very bold to say God knew not how to frame such a Book, without abundance of impertinen­cies, when we see many Men, setting much slighter ends before themselves, will yet pro­secute their discourses in so close and exact a manner, that the most critical judgment may perhaps find what to add, but cannot find what to take away from their writings; there is therefore no positive truth asserted in holy Writ, but what is really useful to Man's Salvation, since there's nothing throughout the whole, but what serves to illustrate God's goodness, and mercy, and truth, &c. or Man's misery by Sin, or hap­piness by Grace, or lays down rules of life [Page 60] and practice, or gives us examples of Vir­tues or Vices in others, from all which some­thing very instructive may be drawn; nor can we believe that even the genealogical Tables in Scripture were, as a late Writer impudently suggests, design'd onely to amuse and confound us, but to set us in a way to find how all the ancient Prophecies centred in Jesus Christ, the promised Messias. As the positive assertions, so their true and ge­nuine consequences are in some sort, and to some Men necessary to salvation, God, ha­ving given greater capacities, and larger Souls to some than he has to others, expects proportionable improvements from them, and a Man of wisdom and learning cannot be saved onely on the same terms on which a person of low and mean endowments may; therefore those of greater parts are bound to look into every thing divinely reveal'd, and to what may be regularly deduced from it; but as perfection in good works is re­quired in every one that is to be saved, and yet many are sav'd, tho' none are perfectly good; so it is in relation to things contain'd in Scripture, every one is bound to study them: things of common practice are plain and obvious in them, things at first to be believ'd are taken for granted, but Man is for his life-time employ'd, and to be so in farther search into the meaning of those things that are more obscure. Could Man once in his life-time attain to a perfect un­derstanding [Page 61] of every thing set down there, there would quickly be an end of all sacred study; but since the wisest find in the Word of God more than they can understand; and yet find they every day by study understand more and more; and the mean­est wits upon a due care and industry find proportionable advances, there is always enough to excite mans utmost diligence and care; and as in practical piety, so it is here, he that improves his time best to get knowledge, tho' he cannot reach to all he should, his defects shall be pardoned for his sake, who in himself contains consummate wisdom. But it remains still true, that it could not reasonably be requir'd that a man should engage himself in the study of the whole Book of God if there were any thing positively asserted there, the knowledge and understanding of which would be lost time, as the studies of all impertinencies are. But howsoever necessary these studies are, if they are not prosecuted in a due manner, i. e. with an humble sense of our own natural defects, with a sober and sub­missive judgment, and with all that modesty which becomes one who is desirous to learn; they'l prove but mischievous, and make Hereticks, Schismaticks or Atheists, in­stead of knowing and improving orthodox Christians. It's true, that nothing ought to be admitted into Religion which is con­trary to reason, but it must be understood, [Page 62] which is contrary to reason in its primitive integrity, for that which we call reason now we every one find extremely subject to mistakes: and for me to measure those truths which are reveal'd by an infallible God, by the standard of that sense or judg­ment which I know to be mistakeful and fallible, is unreasonable, with any sober discourser, to extremity: and it argues too great a pride in our low condition to ima­gine, that because once we were made per­fect, that therefore we should in any respect continue so, though we had sought out to our selves many inventions. Many are de­ceived by their own vain opinion, ver. 24. says the Son of Syrach, and nothing can certainly be more prejudicial to a Man in his disquisitions after truth, than a great conceit of his own abilities to find it out. God commonly blasts such fond pretenders to ingenuity, and makes them take a great deal of pains only to pro­cure infamy and perpetual disgrace to them­selves. Such mischiefs would be avoided, yet Humane Reason have it's due use and esteem if the Apostles injunction were well obey'd, that no man should think of himself more highly than he ought to think, Rom. 12.3. but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Men ought when they meet with any difficulties in di­vine Writings, not to make their Reason the measure of Truth, but to make Truth the measure of their Reason; and rather to [Page 63] suspect their own apprehension of it, than the weakness, or ambiguity on the defective­ness of the authors assertions or expressions. And so much for the use of Humane Reason in matters of Religion; it's a great bles­sing to us still tho' impair'd by sin, and if soberly and modestly used will by di­vine assistance rise to a greater strength and vigour, and be able to comprehend every day more and more of the mystery of Godliness, till it comes in a glorifi'd state to comprehend every thing that can any way contribute to its consummate happiness.

Having gone thus far in the debate con­cerning the use of Humane Reason in mat­ters of Religion, and declared how care­ful we should be not to indulge our selves in vain and useless curiosities; for the vin­dication of our selves as Christians we are to consider, that a full proof of the Divi­nity of the Son of God is a task that comes under no reproof in the case. That the blessed Jesus the great captain of our Sal­vation is God as well as Man, that he is God of God, light of light, very God of very God, as the Nicene Creed expresses it; that he is perfect God, not a factitious or an aequivocal God, as some would have him; but that He who is God the Son is infinite in all his Attributes, God over all blessed for ever, as God the Father is, is Articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae, such an Article of our Christian Faith, so essential to the [Page 64] Mystical Body of Christ, that while it's embrac'd, the Church has a real Being; when it's laid aside, the very Being of the Church expires at the same time. It's so necessary an Article of Faith, that except a man keep it whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly: for he that be­lieves in such a Messias, such a Saviour who is not God, is really an Idolater, as fixing his belief in one that is not able to save. For Man's misery is too great to be reliev'd by any inferiour power; and the blood of Bulls and of Goats might as well have serv'd for the expiation of Humane guilt, as the sufferings of one who was a meer man, and consequently could have no proper merit to plead for us, no inherent power where­with to assist us. Some of those Hereticks who deny the Divinity of the Son of God, have been so sensible of this, that they have maintain'd and preach'd it in those Con­gregations where they have been concern'd, That it's as lawful to pray to the blessed Virgin, or to any other Saint, or any An­gel, as it is to pray to the Son of God: and that all those are really guilty of Ido­latry, who make any such Prayers or Sup­plications to him. Now tho other Socinians call these blasphemers on this account: they are really injurious to 'em; for if that which they all agree in be true, viz. That Jesus Christ is not the most high God, then who­soever worships him as God, breaks the [Page 65] first and second Commandments as much as those of the Church of Rome do, and are as notorious Idolaters, as we shall hereafter have occasion to prove. In quest then of the truth of this doctrine, That Jesus Christ is the true God, we are to bend our Reason, and to meet and baffle those great pretenders to it with their own weapons, and to prove to them that tho we think the mystery of godliness to be great, as the Text asserts it, to be [...], as S. Chrysostom ex­presses it, to be unexpressible and wonder­ful and incomprehensible; yet we receive some considerable advantages from its be­ing revealed: for by that means we know the [...], the positive truth, that he who ap­pear'd in the flesh visible to humane eyes, and so far humbled to atone for humane Crimes, was really God: hence to be ador'd by us, hence able to perform the work he came about, and to save to the utmost all those that come to the Father in and by him; and this we firmly and stedfastly be­lieve, tho' we cannot comprehend the [...], or the manner how so great a miracle of Mercy should be brought about: and those proofs by any particulars whatsoever laid down, of this truth, using reason with that sobriety and modesty which we ought, we may examine and try throughly, and judge how far they come up to those things they are designed to make good; and so our Faith it [Page 66] self may be rational and thence invincible, tho' every particular of it be not intelli­gible to us in its full extent. With rela­tion to the Text then we assert

That the Mystery of Godliness which the Apostle tells us is great, cannot be apply'd to the several particulars laid down in the latter part of the verse: for let us with Grotius, by the mystery of godliness understand the Gospel, as we commonly understand it, and which we own does contain the mystery of godliness. That the Gospel was preach'd by weak Men we own, nay, that our Savi­our himself in his state of exinanition, or in his humane nature appear'd weak and contemptible enough we own too: but that the Gospel appear'd in the flesh, or cloath'd with flesh, which is the proper im­port of the Apostles phrase, we deny as ab­surd. That the Gospel was justified in or by the Spirit, the miraculous effusions of that, confirming the truth of the Gospel preach'd, we may own well enough; but that the Gospel was seen of Angels is scarce sence, that it was never known before it had been declar'd by Men is false, for the Angels could not be unacquainted with the several Pro­phecies of the old Testament concerning the Messias to come; nor could they be so far to seek in the meaning of those Prophecies, many of which they had been instrumen­tal in delivering: and the Angels them­selves [Page 67] were indeed the first preachers of the Gospel; So the Angel Gabriel tells Zacha­rias concerning the Son that should be born to him, Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the chil­dren, Luke 1.16, 17. and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The same Gabriel afterwards tells the blessed Virgin; Behold thou shalt con­ceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus. v. 31, 32, 33. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the high­est, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. It was an An­gel that appear'd to Joseph in a dream,Matth. 1.20, 21. and told him that his espoused wife was with child of the Holy Ghost, And she shall bring forth a Son, says he, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Again, an Angel of the Lord tells the Shepherds who were watching their flocks by night,Luke 2.10, 11, 13, 14. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people; For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. To which Gospel a whole Choir of Angels subjoyned their Eucharistical Hymn, Glory be to God on high, in earth peace, good will towards men. [Page 68] These instances are enough to prove that Angels knew the Gospel before men preacht it: not to mention their administring to our Saviour in the wilderness, when entring on his prophetical Office, and their pub­lishing his resurrection, the great confirma­tion of the Gospel before his Apostles had any apprehensions of it. The Gospel was indeed preach'd unto the Gentiles, and be­liev'd on in the World; but it was far from being receiv'd in glory: for it was scorn'd and derided, and cruelly persecu­ted both by Jews and Gentiles: the Devil raising all the powers in the world as far as possible, for the extirpation of what was so great an enemy to his Tyranny; the Gospel then will not answer all those parti­cular marks set down in the Text.

Neither yet are they applicable to God the Father, as several of the Socinians would have them, for to say God the Father was manifest in the flesh, because his will was preach'd by Men, who were but flesh and blood, besides that such an assertion quits the Suppositum, or Subject which was God the Father, unless God and Gods will be one and the same thing, which cannot be asser­ted, It's so uncouth an expression, as is no where to be parallel'd either in Scripture, or any Ecclesiastical Writer. We read not any where that God the Father ever appear'd in the flesh, or assum'd Humane nature, nor did [Page 69] ever any dream of such a thing, unless we recur to the ancient Patropassians, so call'd, because they believ'd it was really God the Father, who being Incarnate suffer'd death on the Cross, for the sins of Mankind, but of that we have no foot-steps in holy Writ: nor was the Deity it self ever made manifest in the flesh, but in the flesh of the blessed Jesus,Col. 2.9. in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily: not in his doctrine, as the Socinians would have it, but in himself;Vid. Schlicktin. in loc. and according to their own demands on the like occasion, we would have them shew us some other clear place of Scripture, wherein God the Father is said to be manifest in the flesh, or to be manifest in Christ and the Apostles, and then we may the better consent to their interpretation: Again, it's as odd and un­usual to say, God the Father was justified in the Spirit, for what need was there of any such justification? his Eternal Power and Godhead were visible in the Universal fa­brick of nature, and all the Miracles done by our Saviour, (which Socinians refer to the influence of the Spirit,) were done that Men might know he was the promis'd Messias; and those done by the Apostles after his as­cent into Heaven, carry'd along with them the same respect; but we never heard of any publick declaration made by the Spirit, for a more peculiar conviction of the World, that the most High God, was God indeed, or the true God: we may understand things [Page 70] thus, as the Socinians say, but we may a great deal better let it alone, and not run into such interpretations of God's Word, as we can neither reconcile to truth nor sense. If we go farther, the matter is not mended at all, when we say God the Father was seen of Angels, for what novelty was there in that? had not they stood continually before his face from the instant of their first Crea­tion? or should we flie to God's will, was not that known to his peculiar Ministers, till such time as they came to learn it by the preaching of mortal men? who can imagine so short a Text of Scripture, and design'd to make known the greatest mystery in the world, should lash out into such absolute im­pertinencies? but to proceed, God the Fa­ther was preach'd to the Gentiles, but where? he's mention'd often doubtless as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in those Epistles written by the Apostles, to their Gentile Converts, but the Gospel it self is stil'd the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Apostles pretend to preach, nay to know nothing among their Converts, but Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 2.2. and him crucified, as St. Paul expres­ses himself, if we must say God the Father was preach'd, he was certainly preach'd most to the Antediluvian World by Noah and the elder Patriarchs, or he was preach'd to the Jews, of whom we acknowledge that they had no such distinct notions of the Trinity, as we by the Gospels assistance have at pre­sent; [Page 71] but yet both among Jews and Gentiles he was declar'd by other names, than that of God the Father: and if, according to our common Logical notions, Relatives do mu­tually suppose or remove one another, if Jesus Christ was not really and actually the Son of God, pre-existent to his incarnation, the name of Father could not properly have been apply'd to the supreme God, nor he be preach'd to the World under that chara­cter; so that in fine, we conclude that the preaching of God the Father to the World, was no part of the Mystery of Godliness: Nor is it properly so to say, that God the Father was believ'd on in the World, for that too was nothing newly effected by the appearance of our Saviour, the World in general from its first original believ'd there was a God, if there were any who from those apprehensions they had of the existence of a God, set themselves to live virtuously, as considering that God under the notion of a knowing and severe Judge, and one capable of rewarding men according to their works, such Persons believ'd in God according to our own sense, when we repeat the Creed: Now that some did thus believe before our Saviour's appearance in the flesh is unquesti­onable; all those who liv'd religiously be­fore the promulgation of the Mosaic Law, did thus believe in God, and are some of them remembred as the great Heroes of Faith, in the beginning of the Eleventh [Page 72] Chapter to the Hebrews: If then this were a Mystery, it was of a very ancient standing, and discovered long before the coming of Christ. The application of the particulars thus far failing, we have some reason to be­lieve, that neither will the last agree any bet­ter to that imposed sense; He was received up in glory, or into glory: Here our adver­saries flie to God's will again, so confound­ing God and God's will, as if they were not to be considered as distinct, but this we have consider'd before, where we observed that contradiction the Gospel met with in the World: As to God the Father, where or when, or how, or by whom was he receiv'd up in glory, the holy Scriptures give us no intimation of his having descended at any time from Heaven to Earth, and He that's receiv'd up into glory ought to be so receiv'd by some Being superior to himself, which a Socinian knows God the Father cannot have, now as the Apostle teaches us, He that de­scended, Eph. 4.10. is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things: but God the Father never that we hear of in Scripture descended, therefore God the Fa­ther who ever of himself was surrounded with infinite glory, never was by any receiv'd up into glory: And thus have we shown the vanity of those glosses, which the Socinians, and others have fixt upon this Text; we shall now show to whom the particulars in the Text do properly and unquestionably be­long.

[Page 73]And here, since Scripture makes it very plain, that the whole method of serving God in an acceptable manner, is laid down by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: That, as himself tells us, He is the Way, the Truth, John 14.6. and the Life, and no man comes to the Father but by him: The whole mystery of Godliness or of true Christian Religion can consist in nothing, but what refers to him, who is the author of it, that is the blessed Jesus; con­cerning whom, and whose doings and suffer­ings for us, there is nothing reveal'd in the Gospel, or in the foregoing prophecies, but what's mysterious: He was indeed God ma­nifest in the flesh, God blessed for ever, yet for the sake of wretched Sinners descending to Earth, and taking our Nature upon him, being cloth'd with flesh, and all those in­cumbrances and infirmities attending upon a mortal state, sin onely excepted; He is that eternal Word which was in the begin­ing with God, nay that Word that was God, John 1.1.14. and that Word was made flesh, and dwelt a­mong us, as we learn from St. John: Now if Christ really was God, the most opinionative of the Socinians would conclude the Text plain enough, for that Christ was certainly and literally made flesh: but if we cannot read this Text of the Apostle truly without inserting the word God: And Smalcius one of the great promoters of the Socinian he­resie declares;Smalc. de verbo in­carnato. c. 18. Nos Graecum textum Vulgatae longe esse anteponendum censemus, is vero ha­bet [Page 74] Deum in carne esse manifestatum, We look upon the Greek Text as far to be preferr'd before the Vulgar Latine, and the Greek reads it, God was manifest in the flesh: and if neither the Gospel, nor the will of God, nor God the Father can properly or truly be said to be made flesh, and yet God was manifest in the flesh, then that Jesus who was truly and literally cloth'd with our flesh, must be that God; the farther proof of Christ's real and eternal Divinity belongs to another place: but his true and indisputable huma­nity is the first plain and most obvious asser­tion of the Apostle here: This same blessed Jesus was as plainly justified in the Spirit, since not onely the miracles he did justified him in the sight of all Mankind, and prov'd that he could be no cheat or Impostor, as the Jews were willing to have him thought, but at the time of his Baptism by John in Jordan, while he was praying, the Heaven was open'd, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, like a Dove, upon him, and a voice came from Heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son, Luke 3.21, 22. in thee I am well pleas'd: Now the Holy Spirit would not in so open a manner have descended on him, who had pretended to that relation to All­mighty God, which really never belong'd to him: Therefore John the Baptist makes a right inference from that descent; I saw, says he,Joh. 1.32, the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove, and it abode upon him: And I [Page 75] knew him not, v. 33, 34. but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Ʋpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God. Our Lord himself makes it one of his last instructions to his Disciples, that when the Comforter, that Holy Spirit whom he would send, should come, he should, amongst other things, convince the world of righteousness; because He, the blessed Jesus, went to his Father, and the world should see him no more:c. 16. v. 8. 10, 14. and that that Holy Spirit should glorifie him, for he should receive of his and shew it to men. And thus effectually that Sacred Spirit when he was so plenti­fully according to promise pour'd out on the Apostles and their companions, enabled them to prove that Christ was the Son of God: and to confirm their rational argu­ments and deductions from the Old Testa­ment by a thousand signs and miracles, such as made the most stubborn of mankind bow their necks to the yoke of Christ, and own that He was truly what he call'd himself, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the World. If we proceed according to the Apostles method, Jesus Christ God Incar­nate was seen of Angels, seen with the greatest admiration, since even Angelic in­tellectuals could never have reach'd so far as to imagine God's love to mankind, [Page 76] which yet they knew to be extraordinary, should shew it self in so prodigious a conde­scension: Yet when he was pleas'd to stoop so low, the Angels saw, and knew, and prais'd him tho' wrapt in swadling clothes and lying in a manger: they ador'd him, and administred to him, tho' tempted forty days and forty nights by the Devil in the wilderness; they attended him with their ministerial comforts, when in that bitter agony in the garden when praying more earnestly his sweat was as it had been great drops of blood falling down to the ground; Luke 22.43, 44. They attended his sepulchre, when he shook off the fetters of Death,Matt. 28.2, 3, 4. Acts 1.10. and broke through the confinement of the grave, stri­king terror on the trembling Watch, but bringing comfort to the women whose ear­ly zeal brought them first to the sacred Se­pulchre; and they waited as diligently on his ascent into Heaven, so that they saw him, and admired that immense love which appeared so glorious in his humble, and so powerful in his exalted state. This Saviour of the world, that he might really be so, was preach'd unto the Gentiles, the Word of God was now confin'd no longer to the Jewish nation, that vail of the Temple rent in twain when he gave up the ghost upon the Cross, took away that wall of separa­tion which was between those Jews and the rest of mankind, and through him both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit untoEph. 2.28. [Page 77] the father: Now of himself, in this case He taught his disciples after his resurrection, That thus it behoved Christ to suffer, Luke 24.46, 47. and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations be­ginning at Jerusalem. Thus Philip preached Christ in Samaria, Paul preached him every where in the Synagogues; Paul declares to the Corinthians, We preach Christ crucified, 1 Cor. 1.23, 24. to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness: but unto them which are call'd both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And many Texts we meet with declaring the same thing, and teaching us, that it's the great incumbent duty on all those who call themselves Pastors of the flock of Christ, to preach him, and him only to the world. For he who was so preach'd to the Gentiles was indeed believed on in the world; The three Eastern Sages, who adored our Saviour in his infant age, were the first fruits of the Gentile world, and even Samaritans were profelyted to his Doctrine while he converst with the world; to believe in him was that condition with­out which Salvation could not be attained. So he teaches Nicodemus, John 3.16. God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. v. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already: because he hath [Page 78] not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. It was a just sense of the indispensible nature of this condition, that made men submit so readily to the first preaching of the Apostles, and fly out so eagerly and so early into that Question, What shall we do to be saved? 'Twas that which in Judaea brought multi­tudes daily into the Church, of such as should be saved: and enabled S. Paul to preach the Gospel fully from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, and that with extra­ordinary success: and gave Tertullian in the Second Century a just ground to boast of the vast multitudes of Christians in every quarter of the Roman Empire. And to this day the same blessed Jesus is the only rational hope of all that dwell on the earth, and of those that remain on the broad Sea. To conclude this explication of the Text, this same Jesus after he had done and suffered so much for our sakes, while he converst with and blest his Disciples,Luke 24.51. he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven: He had at last that Petition answered which in the days of his flesh he put up to his Father. Now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self, John 17.5. with the glory which I had with thee be­fore the world was! And if it was glorious for Elijah to be carried up to Heaven in his fiery chariot while Elisha was a spectator of his translation; how much more glorious was it when our Saviour in the open view of [Page 79] all his followers, had the clouds themselves humbly bowing to his feet to raise him thi­ther, where he sits continually at the right hand of his Father making intercession for us miserable sinners. Having thus given the true interpretation of the Text, take its full meaning together in this Paraphrase, S. Paul still speaking to and instructing Ti­mothy as in this Verse he does.

It's not without great Reason that I have given thee, who art thy self a Bishop in it, such directions about those whom thou art to admit as Ministers in the Church of God. That Religion our blessed Master has be­queathed to us, has nothing in it but what is Holy and Pure, too pure to be touch'd with unclean hands, and not fit for every unlearned and presuming Novice to meddle with. The whole Body of our Faith is founded upon such things as are infinitely true, but of so sublime and surprising a Na­ture, that the strongest Humane Reason can never wholly comprehend them all: let me but name them as reveal'd, and all mankind will soon agree, that the most soaring and capacious Soul must falter in its enquiries after them. The eternal Son of God, God equal with his Father, the great Creator of all things; rather than perishing man should be eternally lost, resolv'd to atone divine vengeance with his own sufferings, and since without blood there could be no remission, and the immense Divinity could not suffer [Page 80] so, He took flesh and blood, our weak and passible nature upon himself, and in our na­ture offered himself a sacrifice to his Father for us. This glorious Sacrifice produc'd the great effect, and reconciled our angry Judge; but that undertaking was too great for man, tho' so deeply concern'd, to be­lieve; the chasm between an holy God and polluted man too wide and hideous deep ever to be made up. It's true, when God himself was mention'd as the undertaker of so great a work, even despairing man might entertain some dawning hopes; but when they saw a poor Carpenter's Son, one who had not so much as where to lay his head, assume yet the glorious title of the world's Redeemer and Saviour, their hopes slagg'd, their almost grasped joys seem'd just vanish­ing into empty air: When the Holy Ghost, God too, infinitely good, and powerful, and wise, interpos'd, and attended that humble Man with so much vigour and con­stancy, that He, by a thousand glorious actions, and by a close and perpetual cor­respondence with Heaven, visible even to vulgar eyes, prov'd the entire Union that was between himself and his Father, and that Sacred Spirit: and justified himself in the thoughts of very aliens themselves, who could not but acknowledge, of a truth, that, for all his mean appearance and his scandalous Passion on the Cross, He was the Son of God. But could men have [Page 81] doubted still, the happy Angels those purer and more discerning Spirits saw him too, they saw him and knew him, and ador'd him, they saw their mighty Lord, tho' veil'd in all the rags of poor mortality: And tho' sin might have made a former breach between those blessed Spirits and polluted man; yet now where their Lord loved they lov'd too, and always look'd, and always waited on him while he wrought the worlds redemption: while he was so justified and so attended on, divers gave up themselves absolutely to his service, whom he lov'd, and taught, and protected, and endued with miraculous knowledge, elo­quence and courage, and sent them on that blessed errand to preach to the Gentiles the glad tydings of Salvation in his name: They boldly undertook the work, and tho' they had ignorance and prejudice, and malice and cunning to contend with: meer men contemn'd before, but then inspired, broke through all opposition, and the forsaken Gentiles heard the gladsome sounds of peace; and tho' there were too many enemies to their own good, yet those laborious mes­sengers of Heaven preached with that power and efficacy, that men began every where to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nay, the more men of perverse minds cross'd the designs of that Gospel preach'd in the name of the Son of God, the more those who believed in him were [Page 82] multiplied. As for himself, when he had finished that stupendous work, and by his own Death had conquered Hell and Death; He broke those fatal chains, and rose again, no more lyable to humane rage. His Al­mighty Father who had viewed all the pro­digious efforts of his Love to mankind with an ineffable complacency, reach'd out his holy arm to receive that very humane Nature in which his beloved Son had done and suffered so much: from him the chearful clouds were sent for a Chariot, and he went upwards flying upon the wings of the wind, while j [...]cund Angels, those ministerial flames, wait­ed on his triumphs, and taught his wondring followers what they were afterwards to ex­pect from their Redeemer: These are those mighty mysteries, on which our most holy faith is built, their truth, however unintelli­gible to us, is our security, and the sincerity of our faith will necessarily show it self in an holy conversation and godliness. The Verse I have explain'd, then imports,

That without Controversie the Mystery of Godliness is great; or in more words, That the Basis or foundation of that Religion introduced into the World by the Doctrine of Christ's Go­spel, is indisputably and agreeably to the na­ture of Religion, to Humane reason extremely profound and unintelligible. To prove this, we shall enquire,

1 Into the Ʋniversal agreement of all persons, of what Religion soever; That Mysteries are essential to Religion.

[Page 83] 2 Whether our Saviour intended the entire a­bolition of all other Religions, for the settlement of his own, or rather to unite what was good in every distinct Religion into one, and to sub­lime or perfect that so, as it might tend most to God's glory, and Man's happiness, and whether that could be effected, Men standing in their present corrupt state, without the retaining of old, or instituting of new Mysteries in his Re­ligion.

3 What considerable advantages can accrue to Religion, from those Mysteries it's founded upon?

1 Then we must enquire into that Ʋniver­sal agreement of all persons whatsoever, that Mysteries, or some principles or circumstances of a more secret and abstruse nature, are essen­tial to all Religion: But here to prevent all mistakes, it must be remember'd, That so much as concerns the practical part of Re­ligion, as contain'd in the Word of God, is so clear and evident, that the words of St. Paul are justly apply'd to them, If they be hid, they are hid to those that are lost, whose eyes the God of this World hath blinded, that the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ should not shine upon them: 2 Cor. 4.3, 4. The words whereby all things necessary to be done to­ward the attainment of eternal life, are ex­prest, are such and so plain, that the simplest Christian may understand them: And that person who goes about to involve the pra­ctical duty of a Christian, whether in respect [Page 84] of his communication with God or man, in obscure and mysterious terms, crosses the end of the Gospel, which is to instruct the weakest understanding in an easie and intel­ligible way how to live godly, righteously, and soberly in this present evil world; yet it must be acknowledged, that, even in rela­tion to practice, there are some apparent dif­ficulties; and notwithstanding all that plain­ness apparent in God's word, a Man has a very hard task sometimes to distinguish be­tween what's lawful and what's unlawful; such cases are commonly known by the name of Cases of Conscience, or such matters wherein so many arguments, seemingly strong and plausible, appear on both sides to the understanding, that it knows not which way to act, and all that hesitancy or doubtfulness arises onely from a fear of of­fending God: These generally respecting Christian practice, create a great deal of trouble, frequently to very good Men, (for others are seldom troubled with such reli­gious fears) and these are sometimes by various and unusual circumstances rendred so very intricate, that the wisest and most discerning Men are often at a loss to clear and resolve them to the Querent's satisfacti­on: Here the Jews were order'd to have re­course to their Priests, whose lips were sup­pos'd to preserve knowledge, and the Priests when there was any thing of a more inex­tricable nature, had the Ʋrim and Thummim [Page 85] to appeal to: The Heathens had some e­mergent doubts, as to matter of publick management of themselves, which some­times perplex'd them too, and they had their imaginary wise Men the Priests, attending their desecrated altars, who would assume, as if they had the art of resolving doubts; those who profess Christianity have still a severer task in these matters, as having no Oracle immediately to consult, and having doubts more numerous and obscure to contend with. But here learning, and study, a strict fami­liarity with God's Word, and an exercised experience carry the Christian Priest thro' a great many vexatious enquiries, and a mo­dest consultation with others, who are blest with such qualifications, tends much to the settlement of dubious minds; but after all, these are properly no mysteries, for the rules of Scripture, by which such inquiries are ul­timately determined, are very plain and ob­vious to every understanding, their nature being like that of a Light in a dark place, which serves to guide and direct Travellers in the way they should go; but the occasion of these doubts is the misapplication of rules to matter of fact, the misapprehension or misrepresentation of circumstances, &c. wherein the distempers of the Soul are much like the diseases of the body, if the Patient can give a just and rational account of those parts about him which are griev'd, and how he finds himself, the Physician easily under­stands [Page 86] the disease, and is able to apply the proper medicines: but if the Patient gives a broken and uncertain account of his con­dition, even a skilful Physician may grosly mistake the disease and its remedy to the Pa­tient's ruine; so when doubting Christians understand not the state of their own Souls, nor the first motives or occasions of their fears, or where they are afraid or ashamed to lay open themselves with all sincerity to him, from whom they expect relief, it's not to be wondred at, if excellent advices fail of their proper effect, whereas a true insight into a Man's self makes the greatest seem­ing difficulties easily and certainly determi­nable.

As for matters of Faith they are of ano­ther nature, and (tho' matters of practice, so far as practice is religious, depend upon what the Christian believes altogether and are so very plain as I shew'd before) yet those objects of faith, are so far beyond the reach of reason, as it is from Earth to Heaven; nay, that very faith without which, as we are sufficiently assur'd, it's impossible to please God, though it be inherent in the pious Soul, is absolutely mysterious and in­explicable. We feel the prodigious force of it in those acts whereby it raises the Soul to a contemplation of Divine things, but it is as the Prophets of old felt the inspiring energy of the sacred Spirit, when they spoke what it dictated, but could give no account [Page 87] of the methods of its operation in them; the Apostle when he tells us of it, that it's [...],Heb. 11.1. the substance of things hoped for, and that it's [...] the argumental evidence of things not seen; tho' he gives us doubtless an authentick description of that necessary grace, yet shows the unintelligible nature of it by his very expressions: for what dif­ference is there among Learned Men, and how much pains taken to clear the meaning of this description? It imports indeed that true faith is of so efficacious a nature, that tho' it have respect onely to things which are at a distance, yet it represents them to the Soul so plainly and so powerfully, that the Soul reaps equal satisfaction from that distant view as it would from an immediate possession. Meginhardus the German Monk writes well of it, when he says, Faith is called the substance of things hoped for by a figure, not that it's really their proper substance, but because that faith which works by love, by which the just live, and by which power is given to us that we should be call'd and real­ly be the Sons of God, that faith in the trou­blesome pilgrimage of this life meditates on the reward of eternal happiness with so firm and certain an hope, Ʋt in corum cordi­bus qui charitate, quae per spiritum sanctum in eis diffusa est, dilatantur, Vid. Di­ctericum in voce. jam nunc per ineffa­bile desiderium ea faciat subsistere, that even at this time by that ineffable ardency of de­sire [Page 88] they are possest with, it makes them subsist in their hearts who have hearts en­larged with that charity or Love which is pour'd into them by the holy Spirit; and Jaeobus Capellus in our Criticks explains the same Apostolical expression thus, Fiducia est velut in statione manens ac rem promissam expectans cum animi submissione, habénsque simul vim & statuminandi sperantem, & si­stendi rem speratam; i. e. This faith is a confidence well fixt and setled, waiting for the thing promised with a due submission of mind, and having a force in it self suf­ficient to support him that hopes, and to bring to hand the thing hoped for. Again, it's the evidence of things not seen, there­fore out-going humane reason in this life, for if humane reason were clear enough to prove to us those things undeniably which we expect in a future state, there would then be no need of any other evidence, at least we should not by the Apostle be referr'd to an evidence naturally more obscure, when reason, that by which we do or should most commonly act, could give us what was much more plain and obvious; but our reason be­ing notoriously defective in the case, our firm belief that there is an Heaven of joys, and an Hell of woes to be met with here­after, is an argument not to be answer'd, that there are really such things; for the Soul of Man is not easily carried out of it self in­to violent longings after a meer phantastical [Page 89] good, nor is it ordinarily terrified with ap­prehensions of Mormoes or bug-bears, but where it runs out most into fabulous or fi­gurative expressions of its expectations, there's somewhat real and sound in the bot­tom; so those that talk of infernal Judges in Hell, and various kinds of sensible pains to be there felt, and of Furies torturing Souls, &c. all agree certainly in that, that vengeance does certainly attend ill actions, and that tho' Men may escape plausibly in this world, they shall certainly suffer terribly in the next, tho' they cannot make a tole­rable conjecture how a guilty Spirit should suffer to such extremity: In the same man­ner, those that tell us of Elysian fields a­dorn'd with variety of beautiful Flowers, blest with a serene Air and a continual Spring, where those that have done well, happy in each others society, shall live in un­disturb'd pleasures beyond the reach of fates malice, or times consumption, All such prove their certain belief, that there is and shall be a reward for the righteous, that is an unal­lay'd felicity to be attain'd; but what a kind of felicity that is which is infinite and eter­nal, who can tell? nay who would value them as the Saints do, if they could possibly com­prehend them? No, it is because eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entred into the heart of man to conceive how great those things are, which God has prepared for those that love him, Therefore the holy and the wise are [Page 90] always panting after those enjoyments, as the thirsty Hart pants after the water brooks, therefore they are willing to undergo every thing that a malignant World can lay upon them, as being certainly assured, that what­soever the joys of Heaven are, all the afflicti­ons or sufferings they can meet with in this World are not worthy to be compared with them; Impressions looking toward these things are so natural to the Soul of Man, that all the artifices of wickedness are not able to efface them, and yet the consequen­ces of these impressions are so great and my­sterious, that all the wit of Man cannot possibly comprehend them, yet faith goes through with all, and is not, cannot be mi­staken in its confidence at last.

If Faith it self, the continual security of the Soul, be so dark and undefinable, what must we judge of the objects of it, they being generally so vast, that Faith it self, soaring as it is, can go but a very little way in its Idea's of them: that the objects of Faith are real and true, is evident from what has been said, that their Nature is incom­prehensible, and their Reasons inscrutable to created Beings, is as true, but not at all to be wonder'd at; since there are a thou­sand common effects of Nature, the truth of which we are beyond contradiction con­vinced of: but why they should happen so or so, the cunningest Philosophers are no more able to resolve than despised Ideots [Page 91] or Naturals. Agreeably to what I am urging I instanc'd before in the being of God, a truth which Men cannot balk tho' they take never so much pains to that purpose; that this God, this supreme Governour or Manager of all things must some way or other communi­cate himself to his Creatures, for that other­wise they could neither pretend to a well be­ing, or a being, is as clear by rational dis­course: but how God should communicate of himself to these creatures, where there is so vast a disproportion in their Natures, is a riddle which we have not yet found any Apollo subtle enough to resolve; and yet that God does communicate himself to his creatures is as plain, and undeniable. Those who engage themselves into enquiries about these things do but lose themselves in inex­tricable Labyrinths, and indeed, according to the genuine rules of right reason, do but take pains to no purpose; it was that ge­neral sense which mankind all along has had of these things, that has made them endea­vour to frame some short Idea's of the Deity to themselves, and so, tho' they could con­ceive nothing adaequate to his Nature, yet they have run high as words can carry them, when they stile God a being infinitely just, powerful, good, merciful, wise, &c. These general notions of theirs in some measure influenc'd the lives of many, but much more all the external and visible parts of their re­ligious Devotions: And when they have [Page 92] shewed their utmost skill in contriving Schemes of divine Worship, those men have done best and most sutably to the nature of Religion, who have contrived the outward parts of it so, as they might a little shadow out the necessary apprehensions of the di­vine Nature, and yet so too that the Devo­toes, who made the nicest observations of things, might be sensible, that those exter­nal religious shews referred to a great deal of a darker and more inintelligible nature, and which no Symbols whatsoever could possibly illustrate or represent; and those Divine Oracles which were spoken of in all parts of the World, as they rendred Re­ligion more August and Venerable to the eye of the World, so the nature of those Oracles convinced the World yet more strongly of the defectiveness of humane un­derstanding, the certain knowledge of fu­turity where men imagine themselves free agents, being Essential to the Deity, but one of the most puzling things humane Rea­son can possibly fix upon: This the Romans and their predecessors the Latines repre­sented by a Janus with two faces, the He­trurians by a Janus with four, which might, as some tell us, refer to the four parts of the year, but more genuinely it represented the Deity looking every way, so that no­thing past, present or to come could possibly avoid its knowledge; and the Prophets of old had that character as communicated to [Page 93] them from the inspiring Deity, that they knew, [...],Didymus in Hom. Iliad. 1. v. 70. it being as Didymus tells us, [...], the part of a compleat Prophet to understand exactly the three differences of times. Men are apt to be presuming enough on the depth of their own understanding, but we find Heresies, since the propagation of Christi­anity, have taught men much more confi­dence than ever Nature did; and therefore as we find Philosophers of old the more rati­onal the more modest, but that those who set up for senceless Paradoxes made it their business to hector every body into their own notions, and to make up their want of argu­ment by face and metal, as we may see in Lucretius his Epicurean Poem, So Schisma­ticks and Hereticks in the Christian Church, the farther they fly from the genuine pra­ctice of ancient Christians and the Doctrine of the Gospel, the more positive and daring they are in their assertions, the more close Communion they pretend to hold with God, and to be the very privadoes of Heaven; as the profligate Gnosticks of old pretended to know every thing, when indeed they knew nothing; and some wretched Ignorants of late years, when they have been led Captives by the Devil at his will, have yet talked of being godded with God and Christed with Christ: And our followers of Socinus who run violently against the stream of Reason, [Page 94] bear themselves for the greatest rationalists in the world: Whereas Nature tho' cor­rupted taught Men modestly to own their own ignorance, to confess their inability to comprehend all those mysteries attendant on the Deity, to look upon shadows and represen­tations of things at a distance, as the best way of imprinting reverence upon Mens minds, and therefore to satisfie themselves with such shadows and figures, lest by pretending to more they should fall into absurdities, and by that means render themselves and Religion contemptible and ridiculous.

2 God took a particular care of the Jewish Nation, and instituted all those Rites and Ceremonies which they made use of in their worship, all which Rites and Ceremonies were either so many remembrancers of things past, as the great goodness and mercy of God shewn to the people of Israel, and his justice or vengeance on their enemies; or otherwise they were so many types and sha­dows of things to come, and particularly of that Messias or Saviour of the world to be born into it in fulness of time: Now the manner of Gods avenging himself on his own and his peoples enemies was uncouth and prodigious; but the birth of a Saviour, one who by his interest with Heaven should visit and redeem his people, to procure Sal­vation for the whole world, was altogether a mystery, a means of procuring the worlds happiness, which all the Witts in it could [Page 95] never have pitched upon. There was not among the Jews the least garment belong­ing to those who officiated in holy services which had not something mysterious in it, I own these Mysteries were not like those wherein our Faith is so deeply concern'd, but they were Mysteries still, tho' of a lower fourm: and such Mysteries as the generality of the Jewish people were very far from diving into; yet Reason would have gone a considerable way in teaching the Jews what God insinuated to them by such pre­scriptions: All the circumstantials of Jewish worship were render'd the more considerable by those never-failing Oracles issued out from between the Cherubims, and by Pro­phets raised up among them by God him­self frequently, till such time as they lost the glory of their Nation by Captivity and Slavery to prevailing strangers: Those Re­velations which such Prophets had, extend­ing particularly to future events of things, were such as really entangled the Jews strangely, and they, who, among Mysteries reveal'd, had unhappily pitched upon a wrong interpretation of things, were un­capable at last of applying events to Pro­phecies and so ruin'd: It's true the Priests themselves at first understood the meaning of things well enough, but time corrupted them, and introduced ignorance among them as well as among the vulgar; but what­soever the Priests understood at first, or how [Page 96] much soever of the true meaning of things they understood at last: they were yet not to cast pearles before swine, nor holy things to dogs, they were not to prostiture Mystical matters to every common enquirer, tho' at the same time ready to teach Gods statutes and judgments to every one that humbly sought for information; but as to the manner of God's delivering their Law to Moses in Ho­reb, and his writing the Ten Command­ments with the finger of God on the stone-Tables, his guarding and directing them by a Cloud all day, and by a pillar of Fire all night, his Glory shining at particular times and on particular occasions in the Ta­bernacle of the Congregation, his deliver­ing his Will from the Mercy-Seat, and be­ing said to dwell peculiarly between the Che­rubims, his oracular resolution [...] difficulties by Ʋrim and Thummim, &c. These were matters of so profound and inextricable a Nature, that neither Priests nor people were ever able to give any considerable account of them.

If among the divine Institutions of the Jews there were so many matters of a mysti­cal Nature, it's not to be wondred that Their Worship, who had no assistance by divine Revelation, should be more than or­dinarily encumbred with them; the Notions which the Gentile world had of a Deity, tho' positive and uncontroulable enough, were, according to the means they had for [Page 97] acquiring divine Knowledge, much more obscure than those of the Jews: if yet they would have a shew of any Religion, they were under a necessity of suiting it with some circumstantial rites, which when they had try'd their utmost skill had a meaning, but that meaning was very obscure: We may believe that many of their Priests en­deavour'd to make as deep impressions as they could of Religion upon the minds of those men they were concerned with, but the greatest satisfaction they had in their own inventions was but this, that the no­torious obscurity of their publick Rites, was very exactly representative of that God whom they acknowledged a Being infinite and in­comprehensible, and those things which were mysterious even in the sence of their first Inventors, were much more so when they fell into the hands of their Successors, who being blind Leaders of the blind, all sence of true natural Divinity was quickly lost both among Priests and People: thus we have reason to think the Hieroglyphical Theology of the Aegyptians was in a great measure rais'd from those hints they had taken of Man's duty to the World's Creator, from their converse with the Jewish Patriarchs, that the first contrivers of it were capable of making it considerably useful and instructive to the World, and from thence those seeds of Moral Virtues, which bore some fruit in ancient Heathens, had their originals; [Page 98] but when sloth and negligence took place among their degenerate posterity, and the cruelty of Cambyses King of Persia destroy'd all the Priests of that Nation without di­stinction, the whole body of their Divinity was lost, some of its characters may be still remaining among old pillars or obelisks and other ruines of their ancient magnificence, but as unintelligible to us as the Chinese writing is to a common labourer, or the squaring of a Circle to one that never heard of Mathematicks.

All Men from the world's beginning acknow­ledged God's Ʋniversal Sovereignty by offer­ing Sacrifices. That Men offer'd Sacrifices and of living creatures too, very early, is apparent by the History of Cain and Abel, Gen 3.1, 2, 3, 4. where we are told that in process of time, i.e. as soon as they were in a capacity of doing so, Cain who was a tiller of the ground brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord, and Abel who was a keeper of sheep brought of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof: But that these were the first Sacrifices offer'd, we have no reason to con­clude, since Adam had the same sence of things, and the same motives to offer Sacri­fices which They had, and doubtless set them an example of so doing. Eusebius of Cae­sarea, tho' observed to be singular in the case, gives much the best and most rational account of this Sacrifice. I take, says he, [Page 99] the ground of this action not to have been meer chance, or a device meerly humane, but to have risen from a divine thought: for whereas good Men who were illuminated with the divine spi­rit, and lived in a near familiarity with God, plainly saw there was a necessity of some extra­ordinary means for the expiation of damning sin, they concluded it necessary to offer to God the giver of the Life and Soul something by way of a ransome or redemption price to pro­cure their own Salvation, and since they had nothing which they could offer to God better or more valuable than their Souls, instead of them they Sacrificed beasts, De De­monstr. E­vang. l. 1. c. 10. so [...], offering the Souls of others in lieu of their own, and this was cer­tainly the best Sacrifice and most significant of their apprehensions: Where that reason given by Eusebius, and made use of by Justin Martyr, and the author of the Answer to the Orthodox, printed among Justin's works, and by St. Chrysostome and other ancient Christians, and by Rabbi Moses ben Maimon and his followers among the Jews, why Cain and Abel should pitch on offering Sacrifices, and Abel particularly of living creatures, viz. their wisdom and near converse with heaven, suits yet more exactly with Adam himself, who had converst with God in a state of perfection as well as imperfection: And tho' we know the ruines of reason to have been very great in Adam by his fall, yet they were not so great in him as in the rest of his [Page 100] posterity, and Adam having a right appre­hension of that promise concerning the seed of the woman, without which right appre­hension he could have derived very little comfort from it; to fix in his own mind and in the mind of his posterity the true mean­ing of that promise, he offer'd, as soon as without prejudice to the multiplication of Creatures he could, such Sacrifices as might shadow out the promised redemption, and make so early a faith in the promised seed, that Lamb who was slain from the beginning of the world, appear and really be rational: nor was there any need of divine institution or command in the case, where original rea­son yet retain'd so much strength and vigour; And whereas some learned Men have writ­ten whole discourses to prove that Men were allowed to eat flesh before the flood, Vid Maii Hist. ani­mal. sacror. l. 1. c. 2. p. 32, &c. I am so far from being convinced by what I have met with to that purpose (building my contrary opinion on that vast difference be­tween God's commission given to Adam, Gen. 1.29, 30. and that given afterwards to Noah, Gen. 9.2,3,4.) that I conclude one of the violences the Gigantick race were afterwards guilty of was their trans­gressing their first limits in that matter, and that Adam seeing living Creatures fixt in an higher state, as being exempted from that servility to which Plants and Fruits and the Herb of the field was subjected, and yet observing a certain Dominion over [Page 101] those nobler Creatures invested in himself, he concluded he could no way more ratio­nally exercise his government, nor express his expectations of a Saviour, than by kil­ling of those Creatures, not for his own luxu­ry, but to offer them in Sacrifice to that God whom he had before so ingratefully of­fended: Thus Gods power and Mans neces­sity were acknowledged both in one and the same Sacrifice: I conclude farther, in re­lation to the first custome of offering beasts in Sacrifice, that what Reason taught Adam to do, God set his Seal to and approved it, by sending fire from Heaven to consume it, which was an unquestionable evidence of God's acceptance, an encouragement to Adam to proceed in that course, and to his posterity to imitate him: And this I am the more confirm'd in, because I find both Jewish and Christian Writers generally concluding, that the visible difference which God put between the Sacrifice of Cain and Abel was, that he consumed Abel's with fire from hea­ven, but not Cain's, by which means Cain was able to judge of his brothers acceptance and his own rejection; and he might be the more certain in his judgment, because he had often seen his Father's offerings so con­sumed before. That Adam was a Priest in his own family as every Father is, and that Cain and Abel were so in theirs, and the rest of the ancient Patriarchs, is un­questionable, but when upon the World's [Page 102] encrease Men began to unite into larger So­cieties, private and family devotions or reli­gious observances were not look'd upon as sufficient to shew mens deference to the su­preme Lord of all things, God was to be reconciled and rendred propitious to publick Societies as well as to private members of such Societies, which considerations in pro­cess of time were the occasion that particu­lar bodies or numbers of Men were set apart to attend more peculiarly on the services of Religion, which bodies of Men took care to settle the methods of those services, wherein according to the clearness of their understandings those methods were more or less obscure or incoherent. God taking a peculiar care of the seed of Abraham taught them not to leave off sacrificing, but to or­der their Sacrifices in so holy a manner, as might best agree to that end for which they were appointed, i. e. to foresignifie that great mystery of the worlds redemption by the sacrifice of the death of Christ: But the Devil Tyrannizing over the greater part of the world beside, and under the same reli­gious pretexts of atoning an angry God and acknowledging his sovereignty, soon conver­ted all that worship and those Sacrifices in­tended to the true God, to himself: So that great enemy of Souls, got to himself the name of God, he was adored as the author of all good, and revered as the executor of vengeance upon all wicked Men, He made [Page 103] use of diverse artifices to maintain his usur­pation, among the rest he made special use of ignorance as the mother of Devotion, a principle which the Church of Rome has made great use of of later years to the same purpose; his Priests, urged by interest, were excellent Agents in his curst designs, and by his direction loaded every part of Idolatry with such a Mass of Mystick rites and Ceremonies, necessarily so, lest their lewdness and scandalous nature should have made them generally odious, that it was impossible for the greatest part of Mankind to see through the clouds and dust they had rais'd about themselves; with these Myste­ries all the whole rabble of Deities were con­tinually accoutred, all which false Gods were but one Devil, who assum'd so many names to himself, partly that he might the better suit himself to the various humours of Men, partly that he might entrench as much as possible upon that honour due to Almighty God, by assuming all the Divine Attributes to himself, and partly that if he happen'd to lose that Honour he had usurpt under one name, he might at least preserve it under another.

1 Hence arose the strange rites of Isis & O­siris so much celebrated among the Aegypti­ans, the Eleusinian, so famous over all Greece, among the Athenians, wherein so strange an obscurity was affected, that the very Rules and Orders for their publick performance [Page 104] were unknown to common worshipers, and not under pain of death to be divulged to any, unless initiated for five years together in them, which course of initiation once past, there seems to have been no great fear the initiated should make them publick, the world at worst not having been bad enough to have approv'd such abominations; But the Religion of Sacrifices went farther, and those who were sensible how just God's an­ger was against the World for Sin, conclu­ded the most precious Offerings must needs be the most acceptable to God for their ex­piation, therefore they came to pitch upon Humane Sacrifices, thinking a rational Soul the most proper [...], or ransome for a ra­tional Soul: Hence grew those Enthusiastick extravagancies of the Priests of Baal, who when they found their God deaf to all their invocations, and insensible of their Sacrifices, and themselves derided for their folly by Eli­jah, 1 Kings 18.26, 27, 28. They cried aloud and cut themselves af­ter their manner with Knives and Lancers till the blood gush'd out upon them: And that was pretty fair for their own personal zeal; but this was not enough; therefore in a pressing extremity we find the King of Moab taking his eldest Son, who was to have reigned after him, 2 Kings 3.26, 27. and offering him for a burnt-offering up­on the wall of his besieged City: The misery he was reduced to required something of ex­traordinary to allay it, and nothing could show a more eager desire to atone his angry [Page 105] Gods, to whose displeasure he imputed his present calamity, than to offer a Sacrifice so dear and valuable to himself to atone them. Where before I pass on, I cannot but take notice of that passage in the contents of the now Cited Chapter in our English Bibles, viz. The King of Moab by sacrificing the King of Edom's Son raiseth the Siege: In which pas­sage they follow the opinion of Junius, tho' without any ground at all: For how came the King of Moab, so streightly besieged, to get the King of Edom's Son into his possession? We read of his desperate attempt to break through to that King of Edom with 700 valiant Men, v. 26. But the consequence of his at­tempt was, He could not effect what he de­sired, the failure in which bold design made him, in the extremity of his despair, flie to as astonishing a remedy; besides (not to men­tion it, that the King of Edom in those days was but a Deputy, a Viceroy, and his Go­vernment not hereditary) We find the con­federate Kings raising their Siege upon that strange action, but had Moab so cruelly sa­crificed the Heir of Edom, reason will teach us it must have exasperated the more, and made them press the Siege the more streight­ly, to have been revenged on so extreme a barbarity: Again, some would perswade us with as little sense, that that great Indigna­tion which is said to have been against Israel, was from the King of Edom, enraged to see the Jews prosecute the Siege so far as to cost [Page 106] the life of his Son: For indeed that anger against Israel was from God, who having formerly given them a charge not to dis­possess the Children of Ammon or Moab, as being the Posterity of Lot, Abraham's Ne­phew, was displeas'd now to see them carry on a War so far, as to make a considerable Prince commit in his extremity so great an abomination: Their inveteracy against him forced him to it, and God required mercy from them to their kindred, and therefore the Israelites, though late, sensible of God's anger and the reason of it, rais'd their Siege and gave over so inhumane a War; Nor yet could it have been reasonably accounted so dear or precious a sacrifice to have offer'd the blood of an enemy, as that of an onely Son, as we may conclude from the aggravating cir­cumstances of that severe command to Abra­ham, Gen. 22.2. to take his Son, his onely Son, the Son whom he loved, and to offer him a burnt sacri­fice; and from God's accepting nothing less than the death of his onely begotten Son, for the Redemption of Mankind from the damnati­on of Hell: Besides this unhappy Prince, the Israelites themselves, tho' so often caution'd against such things, are justly charged by the Psalmist, That they offered their Sons and their Daughters unto Devils, Psal. 106.37, 38. and shed Innocent blood, even the blood of their Sons and of their Daugh­ters, whom they sacrificed unto the Idols of Ca­naan, and the Land was defiled with blood: Where God's own people fail'd, it's no won­der [Page 107] the Gentile world fell into such mad­nesses,Praepar. Evang. l. 4. c. 7. therefore we find the Carthaginians and Phoenicians burying Slaves alive on some extraordinary exigences, as Eusebius from Porphyry informs us, or offering them to Sa­turn: The Romans running into the same follies in the second Punick War, in obedi­ence, as they pretended, to the Sibylline O­racles; Now all these and the like Sacrifices were suppos'd to have some secret meaning, and to represent imperfectly some mighty future events, being things the vulgar might gaze and wonder at, but could never under­stand; yet they shewed that general sense of Mankind, that Religion could not subsist without Mysteries, and the Devil he made too good use of those natural notions, fur­nishing the Heathen world with such Mystick Rites, as might keep Men at the greater di­stance, lest too plain discoveries of himself should have undeceiv'd thinking Men, and have taught them to turn to the worship of the true God.

That the Devil might ape God the more exactly, and over-aw Men the more securely, as Idolatrous Priests in Scripture pretended to receive answers from their Gods; so he in several places, under several names, had his Ammonian, Delphian, Pythian, Dodonian, Ephesian, Paphian Oracles, where he used to return ambiguous and puzling answers to such as came to enquire of him concerning the events of things, by his ambiguous ex­pressions [Page 108] he endeavour'd to conceal his want of omniscience, and secured himself from the accusations of his deluded worshippers, he likewise had his Prophets, such as inspired with a Devilish fury raved out obscure and insignificant non-sence, which yet were gene­rally receiv'd with the greatest veneration, and preserv'd as rules of practice for Men in their necessities to have recourse to, out of which if in an exigence they were able to pick any thing, they were ready to admire his veracity whom the Sons of Wisdom knew to be the Father of lies: Such Prophets were Tiresias and his daughter Manto, and Am­phiaraus and Calchas, the answerers from the Delphick Tripos, from the Sibyls Cave, and from Trophonius his Den, &c. These fill'd weak heads with mighty wonders, that the Gods should so freely impart their secrets to Men, whose sanctity they admired as much as Cyrus of Persia is said to have done that of Bell and his Priests, in the Apocryphal story, and were as grosly cheated.

But tho' by these Devices of Satan the far greater part of Mankind were miserably a­bused, as to the object of their Devotions, yet the reason and design of their Devoti­ons was good and true, nothing could blind them so far, or lay them under so deep a stu­pidity, but that they plainly observ'd their own unhappy and defective state, they were able still in many moral cases to distinguish between good and evil, virtue and vice, and [Page 109] having a true sense of the existence of a God, they had still so much natural Logick as to infer from their own extraordinary inclina­tions to wickedness, or to be guilty of Im­moralities, that Heaven must be atoned, that there must be some way of Mediation found out between God and Man, otherwise they must be wholly miserable, therefore they kept up their Sacrifices and solemn Devo­tions, as some shadows or weak representa­tions of that mediating work; but even while they did so, reason prevail'd and act­ed them so much farther that they conclu­ded, an upright, a sincere and well purged mind was much more acceptable to the Ʋ ­niversal Sovereign than their sacrifices for any intrinsick worth could be, and this truth was so firmly fixt in the hearts of Men, that the Devil himself never durst undertake to oppose it, though it were so cross to his own wishes, lest Men should have been rouz'd from their dead sleep by such irra­tional and damnable insinuations, and so have seen with horrour and amazement what Gods they worshipped; Yet neither could the more sagacious part of Mankind be satisfied with these things, they saw the distance between God and Man was too great to be made up by any typical or representing Sacrifices, and that a compleat purity was far beyond the reach of meer humane na­ture, therefore the Gentiles, who had some sense of that weight which opprest them, [Page 110] groan'd and long'd earnestly to be freed from the slavery of corruptions, by some means sufficiently powerful to that end, and so to be brought in to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God; hence rose those frequent discourses of the Gods assuming Humane shapes, coming down to earth and conversing with Men, which though we find most frequently men­tion'd in Poetical Writings, yet unquestio­nably had its foundation from those accounts in the Writings of Moses concerning the ap­paritions of Angels, as particularly to A­braham, and Lot, and Jacob; hence grew that prevailing rumour, about the times of Augustus Caesar, that an universal King should be born in Judaea, to whom all other Mo­narchs should be forc'd to bow, and who by wonderful means should make up the breach between God and man; this too had a far­ther confirmation from the translation of the old Testament into the Greek Language, and from some fragments of the true Sibyl­line Oracles not unknown to Tully or Virgil, and from Balaam's predictions, as plain as any Jewish Prophecy whatsoever, which he being of another Nation would certainly acquaint his own Country-men with, from whom it quickly might be spread over the whole World: From some or all these Ori­ginals arose the Expectation of those Eastern Sages, who no sooner saw that prodigious Star shining at Noon-day, but they conclu­ded, that glorious Light which was to lighten [Page 111] the Gentiles, and to be the glory of God's people Israel, was then risen; but though Men did generally apprehend the necessity of those things, and lived in continual expectation of them, yet how such things should be, how such prodigious, but excellent effects, should ever be produced, was a Mystery hid from all ages, a dark, obscure, unfathomable abyss of Divine goodness and wisdom, ne­ver offer'd to be explain'd to any, because incomprehensible by all.

As it was the unhappiness of the Gentiles to be encombred with a great deal of Igno­rance, so it must follow, that their Myste­ries, where clearest, had but a very indi­rect aspect to their acknowledgments and expectations. But the Jewish solemnities and predictions had a more exact and di­rect aim at the coming of the promis'd Mes­sias, their Prophets were more numerous, their prophecies better attested, and more commonly known and enquired into, their Rites and Ceremonies all of Divine appoint­ment, and consequently not one of them in­significant or superfluous, till they were va­cated by the appearance of the Messias him­self, in and by whom they were unridled and accomplished. Yet their Religion was Mysterious still to the most understanding Persons among them; their prophecies, tho' so much inquired into, yet like a Book seal'd to them, and they as unable to conceive how the Son of God should take upon him [Page 112] humane nature, how he should put an end to all Typical Sacrifices, though of never so Di­vine an Institution, by offering himself one perfect and all-sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole World, which so should really effect that mighty re­conciliation which all other did but imper­fectly hint at, they were as unable to con­ceive of these things, as a People who had long sate in darkness could have been, as by their prejudices against him, and their ab­surd fancies about him appear'd, when no other Messias could serve their turn, but some powerful temporal Prince rais'd up by the hand of God, as Moses, Joshua, or the Judges of old had been, to free them from the slavery they then lay under, and once more to restore the Kingdom to Israel: The result then of all is this, that the World has known no Religion or Religious worship but what has had some circumstances and fundamentals too, not obvious or easie to be understood either by the unthinking vulgar, or by the more curious and inquisitive understandings, it's enough for my design, if the World con­cur in that one principle, That something may be necessary to be believ'd, which yet no meer humane reason can comprehend: Nay, I may proceed farther, and say, That some points of faith are so very sublime, that even revelation it self cannot make them intelligible to Men, as Moses when he had seen the back parts of God, the shadow [Page 113] or reflex of his glory was as far off compre­hending his full glory as before; and the A­postles when in their transfigured Master they saw a glorified body, yet were unable to express what they saw but by very weak re­semblances; and S. Paul when ecstasied in the third heavens, could no more compleatly comprehend the felicities or glorious visions of that place than he could before: Since then natural reason led the Gentiles to be­lieve mystick truths, and God led his own people of Israel to the like, from both toge­ther we may conclude, That Religion it self cannot subsist without them, and that those things which are called mysteries in Religion are not therefore to be rejected, because they are mysteries indeed, i. e. because every little pretender to sence cannot comprehend them. And so we come to the second enquiry pro­pounded in the beginning of this discourse, and that is,

2 Whether our Saviour intended the entire abolition of all other Religions for the Settle­ment of his own, or rather to unite what was good in every distinct religion into one, and to sublime or perfect that so as it might tend most to God's glory and Mans happiness, and whether that could be effected Men standing in their present corrupt state without the re­taining of old or declaring of new Mysteries in his Religion? where for our better satis­faction we must again examine these things.

[Page 114] 1 What Sentiments Men generally had of the ends of Religion before our Saviours appea­rance in the world?

2 How far they had depraved or perverted those ends? The reason of these enquiries will appear afterwards.

1 We enquire then what Sentiments Men generally had of the substance and ends of Re­ligion before our Saviours appearance in the world? And here, if we would give Religion as it's true, a definition, we may take it thus, Religion is the worship of God in such a manner as is most agreeable to those revelations he has made of himself to the World, this the Jews confirm, The Author of the book Kosri, or a Dialogue between the King of Cosar and Rabbi Isaac Sangar concerning Religion, infers from a prece­dent discourse,Libri Cosri pars 3. p. 234. That Men can have no access to God, i. e. they cannot be admitted as true worshippers, but by the commands of God, i.e. by Worshipping him according to his prescripti­ons, and we cannot come to know the commands of God but by Prophecy or Revelation: Or we may rest in the Apostles definition, that true Religion is the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness in hopes of eternal life; Tit. 1.1, 2. But if we respect Religion in general, as taken up by all Nations we may describe it, as, The method of worshipping God by all men suitably to those notions they had of him [Page 115] and of their own duties: As for the Jewish Nation they were once the sole professors of true Religion, and for the hardness of their hearts were loaded with abundance of Ce­remonial institutions, but yet in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, we find sincere and hearty obedience to the moral Law very much urged and insisted upon, as the best evidence of true and unfeigned piety; and where God expostulates sharply with his people for their rebellion and disobedience, He tells them plainly,Ps. 50.8, 9, 13, 16, 17, 23. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices, or thy burnt offerings to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goat out of thy fold. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? No, these things God could pardon, But unto the wicked, God says, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant into thy mouth? the reason of the expostulation fol­lows, thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee, by which words the great folly of those is exprest, who pretend them­selves the servants of God and instruments of his glory, and yet live disagreeably to their profession, wherefore it's added, Who so offereth praise glorifieth me, and to him that or­dereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God. Thus again, God by the Prophet Samuel argues with Saul, 1 Sam. 15.22. Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord: [Page 116] Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams: So the Pro­phet Isaiah, Isa. 1.11, 13, 16, 17, 18. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats, Bring no more vain oblations, incense is an abomination to me, it follows, wash ye, make ye clean, put away the evil of your do­ings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widows: Well, what should be the effect of all this reformation? as much as a wretch­ed sinner could hope for from the most be­nign Being, Come now and let us reason to­gether, saith the Lord, tho' your sins be as scar­let they shall be white as snow, tho' they be red like crimson they shall be as wool: So the Prophet Micah, Micah 6.6, 7, 8. Wherewith shall I come be­fore the Lord, and bow my self before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-of­ferings, with calves of a year old, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oyl? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, or the fruit of my Body for the sin of my soul? No, God requires not these things at our hands, but He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Nay, Solomon himself, who was so personally profuse in his offerings, that a man would have suspected he had fixt [Page 117] the whole substance of Religion in such ex­terior services, when he comes to draw up what was incumbent upon Man in a few words, passes sacrificing by as inconsiderable in respect of this sincere obedience, Eccl. 12.13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God, and keep his Commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Thus far the wri­tings of the Old Testament receiv'd by the ancient Jews shew us the ends of Religion, viz. That where it really had a place it ne­cessarily produc'd purity and sincerity of mind, without which no sacrifice tho' never so costly could be accepted with God; Da­vid teaches us the lesson plainly,Ps. 51.6, 7, 10, 19. Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom, purge me with hysop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me, and much more to the same purpose, then he concludes all, Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteous­ness, with burnt offering and whole burnt-of­fering, then shall they offer bullocks upon thine Altar. But since the Jews are for the most part hardned against their own greatest interest, and so may be thought to have now changed their minds, being known for such bigotted ce­remonialists, I shall add the confessions of one or two modern Jews: So Rabbi Isaac Sangar in the book Cosri before cited,Cosri. pars 3. p. 157. for thus he tells the King he converses with: A holy and [Page 118] pious man is not the rigid man for every cere­monial punctilio, but he who, where he dwells, with a prudent and impartial hand gives every one their right, who loves justice, oppresses none, defrauds none, nor bribes any to be his slaves or tools upon occasion. Again, Because the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth, therefore the holy man neither does, nor speaks nor thinks any thing, but he believes the all-seeing eye of God to be upon him, ready not only to reward for what's well, but for what's ill done too, and to visit for eve­ry perverse and wicked word or action, p. 168. &c. To him I shall add Rabbi Moises ben Maimon, who in his More Nevochim, More Ne­voehim, pars 3. c. 28. p. 419. or explainer of difficulties, teaches us, that every precept of God, whether it be affirmative or negative, aims at these things, first, that it may take a­way all violence from among men and beget good manners necessary for the conservation of political Societies: and secondly, that it may instil true principles of faith, such as are in their own nature necessary to be known, for the expelling of wickedness and encouraging honesty and virtue. Now if these sober and necessary virtues, which are of no value if not sincere, be the ultimate intention of all God's Laws; it follows that those virtues are more accounted of with God which are inward and affect the Soul, than all outward performances how pompous soever, as much as the end of a thing is more excellent than the means conducing to it: The Son of Si­rach [Page 119] agrees admirably with this truth, He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten, Eccl. 34.18, 19. his offering is ridiculous, and the gifts of un­just men are not accepted, the most high is not pleased with the offerings of the wicked, nei­ther is he pacified for sin by the multitude of sacrifices: and thus much may suffice to shew us whereon the Jews laid the whole stress or weight of their Religion.

Nor did the Heathen world among their wiser thoughts much deviate from the same paths of truth, to this we find the whole Doctrine of the Stoick Philosophers inclining, as it's summ'd up by the learned Gataker in his preface to Marcus Antoninus. For they believing and maintaining That there was really a God, who did take a constant care of worldly affairs, and that his Providence did concern it self with the actions of single men, as well as of entire Societies, from thence very rationally concluded, that He alone ought to be adored by man, invocated to all humane undertakings, that He should possess all our thoughts, over-rule our words, terminate our actions, that Men should give themselves en­tirely to the celebration of his name, and that by a simple voluntary and compleat obedience whithersoever his Providence is pleased to lead us, without any tergiversation or mur­muring, and should endeavour to adorn that vocation he is pleased to fix us in by solid vir­tue, and that with an inflexible courage, tho' by so doing we should incurr the hazards [Page 120] of a thousand deaths: This is so rational that it looks almost like Christianity it self: Plato declares himself excellently, speaking concerning the uselessness of any great pomp in religious sacrifices, [...], &c.Plato in Alcibiade. vid. Cragii resp. Lace­daem. l. 3. p. 180. For it would be a very hard case if the gods should respect only or principally the nature of our gifts and sacrifices, and not our souls whether they be holy and just; but I think they much more regard these, than all the pom­pous expence of sacrifices, in spite of which a man either in a private station, or as a pub­lick magistrate, may in one years space be guilty of a thousand trespasses both against the gods and men: The same Plato, who was himself an Athenian, tells us this remarkable story, There being long and continual wars between the Lacedemonians and Athenians, the Athe­nians were always beaten both by Sea and Land, the Athenians extremely troubled at their misfortune, and debating among themselves by what means they might prevent the like for the future, thought it was worth their while to consult the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon, and amongst other things the messengers were to enquire of the Oracle what the reason was, that they gave the Lacedemonians continual victories rather than themselves, for the case was plain, that the Athenians always offered the most and the best sacrifices of all the Gre­cians, and enrich'd the Altars of the gods with the noblest presents, and spent more money [Page 121] upon their august annual religious solemnities, than all the Grecians put together; whereas the Lacedemonians tho' every whit as rich, never troubled themselves with any such cares, and were mighty sparing in their sacrifices, to all which plea the Oracle very briefly an­swer'd, that the [...], or the sincere and honest devotion of the Lacedemonians was more valued by the Gods than all the costly Sacrifices of the Grecians: Thus sometimes would the Devil himself speak what was rational:Suidas in verbo. p. 1101. Suidas in his interpretation of [...], touches upon this story, and infers from it, [...], That sin­cere piety is a matter of no burdensom expence, no extreme curiosity, but full of modesty: Thus too Philostratus, a man otherwise of design bad enough, in the life of Apollonius Thya­naeus, one whom he would equal for sancti­ty and miracles to the blessed Jesus, brings in that Apollonius discoursing with the Priest of Aesculapius, and telling him, That the Gods acting with infinite justice, [...], where they find any man of a sound mind and uninfected with wickedness, they reward him not with a golden Crown, but with all internal good, but where they meet with one stigmatized and corrupted with sin, they reserve him to punishment, and are but the more angry when such miscreants dare to enter their Temples and attend their Services: Then turning to Aesculapius the [Page 122] pretended God, He tells him, Thou O Aescu­lapius doest wisely and as becomes a God, not permitting wicked men to approach thee, tho' loaded with all the riches of the Indies, or of Croesus, for such do not sacrifice nor make their offerings out of reverence to thy Divinity, but because they have deserved punishment for their Impieties, they'd buy it off with mony, which divine justice will by no means admit of: The same Apollonius afterwards to a Cilician Prince that seem'd afraid to approach the Altar,Philostra­tus in vita Apollon. c. 8, 9. and to admire Apollonius his happi­ness in being so familiar with the God, speaks thus, My love to and studying of vir­tue has procured me this freedom, [...], and if thou wilt take but the same care to be honestly virtuous, come boldly to the God, and petition freely for whatsoever thou canst wish for. I shall not seek into later Philosophers, such as Seneca, or Plotinus, or Arrian, or Hierocles, whose noblest Sentiments I look upon as drawn, not from Zeno, or Plato, but from their converse with Apostolical Writings, or the Books of the Eldest Christian Fa­thers, whose Doctrines they endeavoured to transfer to the reputation of declining Idolatry: Onely we may take notice that not onely Philosophers, whose grave studies might promise as much, but the loose Scenes of a Plautus or a Terence will inform us, That they must be men of the best lives to whom the Gods would bend the gentlest ears, that others [Page 123] may importune Heaven to no purpose, while the innocent Soul shall compel the Gods themselves to be obsequious: How agreeably all this to that of the Son of Syrach, the offering of the righteous maketh the Altar fat, Eccles. 35.6, 7, 10. and the sweet savour thereof is before the most High, the sa­crifice of a just Man is acceptable, and the Memorial thereof shall never be forgotten: Do not think to corrupt with gifts, for such God will not receive, and trust not to unrighteous sacrifices, for the Lord is just, and with him is no respect of persons; and a Man would al­most think that old Tragedian cited by Por­phyrius and Clemens Alexandrinus had some such passages as these in his eye, when he cry'd out, [...], &c. i. e. What Man can be so weak a fool, so supinely credulous, as to ima­gine the Gods are pleas'd with bones quite bare of flesh, and stinking vapours, things which hun­gry Dogs would never care for? or who would believe that Gods would take themselves to be highly honoured, and obliged to abundance of gratitude to thieves, or pickaroons, or tyrants, vid. Gatak in Antonin. l. 10. p. 360. when making gaudy offerings to them? No, let but the hand free from guilt be lifted up to the Altars of the Gods, not the most rich or costly hecatombs shall sooner reconcile the angry Dei­ties than those. I shall add no more to shew that sense the Pagans had of the ends of re­ligion, but onely make a short reflection, upon God's justice in dealing with Mankind, as set down by St. Paul, He tells us, God will [Page 124] render to every man according to his deeds, Rom. 2.6, &c. to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eter­nal life, but to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish to every soul of man that doth evil, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile; Now that the Jews and Gentiles, who stood upon no equal ground, yet should suffer equally in case of disobedience, seems to some very harsh, but if again it be considered, that that God who gave the Jewish Nation such great advanta­ges, required of them proportionably great returns, whilst the Gentiles who had been partakers of less light, were onely required to walk in that light they had, to come up as near to a perfection in faith and virtue as that would admit of: This consider'd, the Gentiles were every whit as guilty in neglecting their duties which were lighter and fewer, as the Jews in neglecting theirs which were more numerous and difficult, since the disobedience to the Divine commands is as notorious in one case as in the other; and this reflection reaches farther, and teaches those, who are more weak and ignorant, not to presume too much upon God's mercy be­cause they know so little, since it's as rea­sonable they should perform that little they know, as that we, who know more, should do our duties, and their negligence and pro­portionable unfruitfulness in good, and ours, [Page 125] proceed from one and the same damnably offensive principle; for as the Apostle urges it,v. 12. as many as have sinn'd without Law shall perish without Law, and as many as have sinn'd in the Law shall be judg'd by the Law; This every Man must acknowledge to be the grea­test equity in the World; the faith and works of the Jews and so of Christians shall be can­vas'd and examin'd by those rules of faith and practice extraordinarily imparted to them; the Gentiles had no such Law, but the light of Nature was their guide, there­fore their works shall be tried by that and by no other light, now a defect in obedience to the innate light of nature, is as much a contempt of God, and so as criminal, as a defect in obedience to the written Law of God, and consequently as justly punish'd; now how far this natural light extends, as these passages I have quoted from Heathen Writers considerably evidence, so the Apo­stle tells us, That the Gentiles which have not the Law, i. e. the same Law that was given to the Jews,v. 14. do by nature the things contain'd in the Law, they not having the Law are a Law unto themselves: This proves that truth, that God's written Law is not a disannulling, but a confirming and enlarging upon the Law of Nature, in the manner of a Com­mentary upon an intricate Text, to illustrate and explain it; well then, The Gentiles shew this natural Law written in their hearts by the witness of their consciences, and their thoughts [Page 126] in the mean time accusing or excusing one ano­ther; v. 15. for having as I shew'd before clear ap­prehensions of the Being of a God, and ha­ving made very considerable discoveries of his nature so far as legible in the works of the Creation, they cannot upon a serious debate with themselves, and weighing their own actions by their own notions and rules, but have an infallible certainty of the recti­tude or pravity of their actions, and this is as much as a Jew or Christian can do by his publick Laws, and an exact scanning of them: Now if my Conscience can certainly inform me of things essentially and eternally so, whether they be good or bad, the same Con­science will give me as infallible a certainty that God is and must be just when he re­wards me according to my actions, whether they be good or evil; he calls me to account for what I do know, not for what I do not know, and punishes me for transgressions within the reach of my understanding to have avoided, and not for those that were unintelligible without a positive revelation, and this even corrupted Reason will own is agreeable to the strictest rules of equity and justice.

2 We are to enquire, since we have seen what Jews and Gentiles, before our Savi­our's birth into the World, understood con­cerning the nature and ends of Religion, which every one for himself supposed to be true (since none can be thought mad enough [Page 127] to trouble himself about that religion he certainly knew to be false) We are to en­quire how far both Jews and Gentiles had deprav'd and perverted those ends, and what care they took to manage themselves ac­cording to that knowledge they really had, when our Saviour appear'd in the flesh; And here again we may begin with the Jews, a­mong whom if we find an extraordinary de­generacy, we can the less wonder at it a­mong the Gentiles; If then we examine the state of things among them, we have it thus; It was once among them, Do this and live, i. e. Live here on Earth in a strict obedience to those things commanded you in the Law, and you shall be rewarded with an happy future life; Now when the terrors and glories of Mount Sinai were fresh in memory, and Parents, according as they were order'd, took care to inculcate God's power, justice and good­ness particularly exerted toward the People of Israel into their Children, and gave a­greeable examples in themselves, obedience was the common study, and peace here, and a glorious expectation hereafter, the com­mon consequence: But when a new gene­ration arose who had not seen God's won­derful dealings with his people, and the too prevailing examples of neighbouring Idola­ters, taught the Israelites a wicked ingrati­tude, the Law of God was slighted, and (as it is among us at this day) the Man who could defie Heaven with the greatest auda­city, [Page 128] was the most set by: And though fre­quent judgments over-took their Impieties, there was no thorough purgation made among them, but they went on to add sin to sin, so that among the Scribes and Pharisees, the great Zealots of the Law at the time of Christ's coming in the flesh, things were at that pass, that the blessed Jesus had reason when he told his Auditors, that Except their righteousness should exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, Matth. 5.20. they should in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: If therefore the very best among the Jews, as they were generally esteem'd, were utterly uncapable of eternal happiness, what may we think of the multitude who were instru­cted by them? and what reason may we con­clude our Saviour had to admire the Centu­rion's faith,Matth. 8.10. and to declare, he had not found so much, no not in Israel? It's needless now to look back upon that gross Idolatry, which once, like some subtle poyson, had infected every vein of that unhappy Nation, though other lighter punishments had fail'd, the Captivity of Babylon had pretty throughly purged out that folly, nay so far, as made that head-strong people flie out into the o­ther extreme of a superstitious aversion even to ornamental Statues, and where there could be no danger, of which humour Josephus gives us several instances: But about our Saviour's time, though not the same, yet Errors every whit as fatal and pernicious [Page 129] had over-spread them, they were not vi­sible Idolaters, they worship'd not the Host of Heaven, nor the ridiculous Idols of the adjacent Nations, but they idoliz'd the em­pty figments of their own brains, making void the Law of God by their own traditions, Matth. 15.9. and teaching for doctrines the Commandments of Men: Their different Sentiments in Re­ligion had divided the whole Nation into factions, and all Men were grown the fol­lowers of the Pharisees, or Saducees, or Es­senes, and among the several Parties, Reli­gion it self was almost crusht to nothing: As for the Saducees, tho' they made a pow­erful Faction in the State, yet their Opini­ons were so gross and absurd, as virtually overthrew all the reason of Religion; they deny'd the Resurrection of the Dead, Acts 23.8. an opi­nion taken up by some professing Christia­nity in Tertullian's time, whom therefore he calls, Propinquos Saducaeos Christianorum, De carne Christi. Vid. Dru­sium de tribus Se­ctis. l. 3. p. 138, &c. the Christian Saducees, and Partiarios sen­tentiae Saducaeorum, followers of the opinion of the Saducees; of whom since that Father speaks somewhat dubiously, if I might put in my own conjecture, I should conclude, they maintain'd the same Error which some now adays are propagating, viz. That we shall not rise with the same bodies with which we die, but something of a finer composition, which is in effect to deny the Resurrection it self; for such a thing as they propound is not a resurrection, but a new creation or a new for­mation [Page 130] at least of somewhat which was not before, so that indeed it's onely Saducisme, a little more cunningly insinuated; In that the Saducees deny'd the existence of a Spirit, they asserted of consequence the Corporeity of God,Belli Ju­daici l. 2. c. 12. and deny'd the Soul's immortality: [...], says Josephus, They deny the permanence or continuation of the Soul; they deny'd any rewards or punish­ments hereafter, so the same Historian, [...] They take away all punishments and rewards after Death, and Origen more at large;Fragmento in Mat­thaeum. Saducaei censent post hanc vitam nihil homini repositum praemii, sive ad virtutem profecerit, sive nunquam vel studuerit à vitiorum terminis excedere, The Saducees hold, that after this life, whether a Man live virtuously, or make himself a slave to vice, it's the same thing, since there's no re­ward attending either: Now adding to these, what Scripture charges them with,El [...]ncho Trihaere­fews Se­trarii, c. 16. ad num. 120. that they say there are no Angels, (a passage which puzles the great Scaliger extremely, because the Saducees are said to receive the five Books of Moses as Divine, in which Books Angels are often mention'd,) for any to be Religious where there's nothing to be ho­ped for from it, no effects to be found ei­ther of God's anger or his love, is what seems very irrational, and takes away the whole design of the Messiah's coming, and vacates all the promises to piety in the Go­spel. Such absurdities made the Saducees [Page 131] odious to those who had any sence of Reli­gion among their brethren, and they were generally look'd on as unfit for any to hold communion with, therefore we may ob­serve, that whereas our Saviour owns the Scribes and Pharisees as sitting in Moses's Seat, and commands his disciples to hear them, i. e. to obey their prescriptions, so far as agreeable to the Law of Moses, He utterly excludes the Saducees, whom he charges with Ignorance of God's Power and his Word, from any such Prerogative, and bestows very little pains to confute such absurd and pal­pable Heresies.

As for the Essenes they were the spawn of the Pharisees, a very severe Sect, if we may believe Jewish authors;Scaliger in El [...]nek [...] c. 25. we find 'em no where mentioned in Scripture by name, of which some imagine the reason to have been because they liv'd privately in the Coun­trey, not concerning themselves at all in civil or publick affairs, by which means they escaped our Saviours reproofs; and well they might, if Scaliger's account of them be true, That they were not an ambitious crew of cheats, as the Pharisees, nor grosly impious, as the Saducees, however having so scandalous ancestors as the Pharisees, we may rationally conclude they were somewhat tainted with their vain superstitions: Nay, if Josephus the Jewish Historian were any way prudent in his choice, the Essenes must have been the more superstitious of the two parties, or [Page 132] some other way the worse, since Josephus, who knew the Essenes very well, and ob­served their customes and their manners throughly, chose rather to associate himself with the Pharisees than with them: their publick tenets were for the most part good, according to those accounts now extant of them, but whereas their Ascetick life seem'd to recommend them much to the common vogue, and that no where commanded, we may conclude, that when our Saviour de­nounces so many woes against the Hypocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees, they were not without their shares in the intention of his reproofs; for indeed we find the blessed Je­sus generally reflecting upon those who were the guides of the Jewish people in matters of Religion, they being blind and leading the blind both fell unhappily into the ditch: and such blind guides were those as well as others; otherwise they who have the character of being in extraordinary manner [...],Josephus ubi supra. or extraordinary lovers of one another, would certainly have taken greater care to instruct the vulgar in the real import of that Law, of which they themselves had so venerable an opinion: and a sort of men, who were so very eminent for their virtues themselves, would by their Doctrines and examples have prevented the vacating the Laws of Mo­rality so grosly, by the silly niceties of im­pertinent Traditions: And Men who had their minds so wonderfully adapted for the [Page 133] most sublime matters, would certainly have clos'd very readily with our Saviour, who spoke so incomparably, and taught with so unusual and therefore surprising an autho­rity: but we meet with no such extraordi­nary effects of their pretendedly divine Phi­losophy, but the Jewish people generally cor­rupted, and none of these admirable men taking any pains to stay the deluge of pub­lick impieties.

But,Non enim eadem sacra colu­êre, nec iis­dem sacri­ficiis deo litárunt. howsoever silent the Scripture may be concerning these devout and applauded Schismaticks, we meet with the Pharisees often enough, to their eternal ignominy; They were, besides their pretences to ex­traordinary knowledge in the Law, and a supererogatory purity in their lives, great intreaguers in affairs of state, and finding the Saducees a powerful and encroaching faction, they countermined them, and ta­king the advantage of Queen Alexandra's superstitious humour (who had a particu­lar charge from her dying husband to close with them as powerful and indefatigable,De bello Judaico. l. 1. c. 4. and therefore the more capable of support­ing her authority) they engrossed almost all publick interests into their own hands, as Josephus teaches us: so they assumed a kind of Papal prerogative, would be infallible in opinion or judgment, and supreme in dig­nity, and so be truly Custodes utriusque ta­bulae, the great guardians of the whole Law of God, as respecting both matters of faith [Page 134] and of practice. A long habit of fear got­ten into mens minds, makes them at length forget how they came to be possest with it, and that which arose from the force and vio­lence of those whom they found able to com­pel them to any thing, grows in tract of time to an apprehension of some great in­trinsick merit in the person whom they fear; thus when the Pharisees were clambring to that height of power they grasp'd at, the steps they mounted by were visible and odi­ous, but their powers too great to be re­sisted; when they had gotten a long and quiet possession of Authority, the people, who had forgot their former ill practices, and violence, grew into a strange opinion of pharisaick sanctity; they found themselves no better than slaves to a prevailing faction, and were willing to hide the scandal under the plausible pretext of only being admirers of and therefore servants to the Saints of the most high; That these wretches might stand the higher in the worlds opinion, the com­mon people were perswaded to believe, That if but two were destin'd to inherit eternal happiness, the one must be a Scribe, the other a Pharisee, now the Scribes were not all ne­cessarily Pharisees, tho' some of them were, the account given of their difference by To­status, Petavii animadv. in Epiph. [...] 1. tom. 1. ad Haere­sin, 15. as quoted by Petavius in his notes on Epiphanius, is very good, and it's this, Tho' the Scribes and Pharisees are joined in the same Gospel text, yet as distinct one from [Page 135] another, its to be observ'd, that they are not distinguished as the Pharisees and Saducees, i. e. as if they were direct opposites, for no Saducee can possibly be a Pharisee at the same time he is a Saducee: but they are di­stinguished one from another, as a Gramma­rian and a Logician may be, for though its one thing to be a Logician, and another to be a Grammarian, yet the same person may very well be both; so its one thing to be a Scribe, another to be a Pharisee, for he that's a Scribe must be a man learned in the Law of Moses, he that's a Pharisee must enter himself into a particular Sect, and engage in a peculiar me­thod of living, but he that is a Pharisee, that is a Sectary, may be a Scribe too, i. e. a man learned in the Law at the same time: With these we have Lawyers named by our Savi­our, but their employment being to explain the Law to the people, which was the em­ployment of the Scribes too, they seem to be one and the same sort of men, and the case is the plainer, if Maldonate's opinion be true,Maldona [...]. in Matth. c. 2. That some Scribes were as publick Notaries, others as publick Teachers, so having a double office incumbent upon their party: Take these Scribes, Lawyers and Pha­risees together, they were notorious Hypo­crites: They had reduc'd Religion to no­thing but air, to a meer empty shew, they had a form of Godliness, but they denyed the power of it: They were extremely ambitious and vain-glorious even to ridiculousness. They [Page 136] laid heavy burdens upon the shoulders of others, but would not touch them themselves with one of their fingers, they did all their works to be seen of men, they made broad their Phylacte­ries, that they might seem the greater zealots for the Law, and enlarged the fringes upon the corners of their garments for the same purpose; they loved the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief places in the Synagogues, and greetings in the market places, Matth. 23.4-7. and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi, all this contrary to that simplicity and modesty which their Law in several places required of them. Again these, in conjunction, shut up the kingdom of heaven against those that were de­sirous to enter it. They abused prayer by running it out into an impertinent length, that the world might not suspect men of such fervent devotions could have any thoughts of devouring widows houses. They abused the intent of Proselytisme, that being to bring strangers to the knowledge of God, but they made theirs twofold more the chil­dren of hell than they were themselves: They allowed perjury, payed Tythes of Mint, Anise and Cummin, but omitted the weightier things of the Law, Judgment, Mercy, and Faith: They were outwardly clean, but inwardly con­scious to themselves of infinite extortion and excess: They appear'd outwardly righteous to the eyes of undiscerning men, but within were full of hypocrisie and all iniquity, as our Sa­viour informs us in the continuation of that [Page 137] chapter. The Pharisees particularly were so infamous for these things, that one Joshua an ancient Rabbine, and if his age be right­ly calculated, antecedent to our Saviour's Incarnation, reckons the foolish severities of the Pharisees as one of those things that brought a general infelicity upon the world, and yet by those hypocritical severities they pretend­ed to merit Heaven and more, they judged their own wills so absolutely free, their own abilities towards performance of the Divine Law so very great, that They esteemed a reward of mercy or happiness attain'd by God's free grace a matter not worth their ac­ceptance, but glory purchas'd by merit was really great and honourable: they encourag'd im­pieties admirably, by entayling felicity, or a portion in the future world, upon every one that was born an Israelite, were his circum­stances never so discouraging, a principle re-asserted and maintained by their modern Rabbines: Which corrupt opinions, ex­treme superstitions, and shameful Hypo­crisies, as they fill'd them with abundance of prejudices against our Saviours Doctrine and Person, which carried nothing but love and meekness, humility and sincerity along with them, all direct contradictions to their opinions and practices, so after our Saviour's time they expos'd 'em to all the contempt and derision imaginable; hence they got those ridiculous nick-names given 'em by the Talmudical writers, as cited out of the [Page 138] book Sotah by Buxtorf, Buxtorf. in voce [...] Lex Tal­mud. Where first they are called Sichemites, because as Hamor and Si­chem consented to be circumcised, so these, not out of any respect to God's honour, but to advance interest and serve their own carnal ends, this was their [...] the second sort of them was the [...] I might call them Creepers from their pretended humi­lity, whereby they seemed afraid to raise their feet from the ground, as being far from any thing of a lofty humour, by which means they stumbled often and fell down, the inconveni­ence of which they bore with a great deal of ap­parent patience, the next was the [...] a Blinking Pharisee, or one that breaks his face against the walls, a name given them on occasion of their imaginary purity and spiri­tuality, which was so great, that for fear a maid, or a woman, or any other unclean thing should fall into their sight, they walkt with their eyes so far shut, that they could not chuse their own way, and so often ran their heads against walls and posts: The fourth sort was the [...] these may be call'd Crook-backs, from an humour some of them had taken up, of stooping so much out of hu­mility too, as they call'd it, that they seemed almost to walk double, or to be very crooked, and this was, lest by walking upright, they should disturb the Almighty, or hit his feet, which they concluded to be very near the earth, that being his footstool, and he filling all things with his presence: The fifth is [Page 139] [...] This Pharisee I would call a Supererogatorian, or one who superciliously asks, what you can shew him more that he has to do and hee'l do it, intimating thereby that he has already done every thing God has commanded, and has now time and ability to perform a new task: The sixth kind is the [...] This tho' it sounds favourably, and signifies the Pharisee of Love, yet the Talmudists tell us plainly, it signifies no more than a meer Mer­cenary, or one that endeavours to observe the Law, not out of any principle of fear or love of God, but of a fondness of that reward that's promised to those who do so, which reward tho' we may have a due respect to, as the Apostle assures us, yet the love of God must princi­pally constrain to that filial obedience which God requires at our hands: the last nick­name the Pharisee carries is, that he is [...] The Pharisee of fear, or he that keeps the Law, or pretends to do it, meer­ly out of a wretched slavish fear of punishment. These several names were justly bestowed upon them as so many characters of infamy, from those several observations the world made of them: Their long clothing car­ried somewhat venerable in it, but Rabbi David upon that of Zephaniah, where the Prophet in God's name threatens to cut off all that wear strange apparel, tells us,Zeph. 1.8. Vid. Dru­sium de 3. Sect. l. 2. c. 1. That by that expression some understand those men who to make a shew of piety and holiness to [Page 140] the world, put on garments that are not like the garments of other men, that by those gar­ments they may be taken notice of for very pious and holy men, but in the mean time their ways are wicked, such were the Pharisees who, in a word, at our Saviours appearance, had perverted the Law of God so as to be a meer stale of their ambition and false interest; they were religious in shew, but the greatest enemies of Religion in reality.

If after the Jews we come to take notice of the Gentiles, we shall find they were fal­len into the same or greater corruptions, The precise Stoicks, so famous for their Morals, were both themselves and their fol­lowers as infamous for their effeminacy and luxury; those great enquirers into the wis­dom of God discover'd in the works of Na­ture, lost themselves and their admirers in a thousand follies, they recommended con­tinence and sobriety, themselves in the mean time being bauds and panders to their own unnatural Lusts; they declaim'd against pride, yet thought themselves too good to converse with earth; their chief Philosophers ptetended to unite a rational Soul to the Di­vine Nature, and at the same instant made ignoble Magick and Diabolical contracts the very crown of all their endeavours; the ge­nerality of the Pagan world, tho' they multiplied their Deities so fast, scorn'd the slavery of a devout fear, and dar'd and hector'd the greatest of their Gods with their [Page 141] extravagancies: they fell into the foolery of deifying one another, and by such a super­fetation of Divinities, came to have no fear at all of God before their eyes; what enor­mous crimes they fell into, S. Paul gives us a just account of, where for their sence­less Idolatries, he assures us, God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves, and as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, so God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient; hence they were fil­led with all unrighteousness, fornication, Rom. 1.24.28—32. wick­edness, covetousness, maliciousness, they were full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malig­nity, they were whisperers, back-biters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventers of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without na­tural affection, implacable, unmerciful, and these knowing the judgment of God (that they which commit such things are worthy of death) not only did the same themselves, but took plea­sure in those that did them: Sin was grown among them then, as at present it is with us, one of the most fashionable things in the world, so that even their own companions, the Parasites and Sycophants, of those irre­ligious ages, could not but now and then Satyrize upon their vices; it was indeed no wonder that in our Saviour's time, and the immediately precedent and subsequent Ages, [Page 142] they should be so miserably corrupted, the degeneracy began betimes, for Maximus Tyrius tells us a story of Anacharsis the Scythian, (a man of a truly philosophical spi­rit and of ancient simplicity, and living a­bout the time of the great Cyrus, who re­stor'd Israel to their countrey after the Cap­tivity of Babylon, Maximi Tyrii Dis­sertat. 15.) that he came into Greece in quest of a wise man, or one whose words and actions were of a piece, Athens that eye of Greece, and where all the various Sects of Philosophers were in their splendor, could shew him no such man, nor could the rest of Greece satisfie his inquiry, till at last, in an obscure corner of the Countrey, he found one Myson, a man of no name nor reputation in the world, but one that really spoke and acted too as be­came a wise and good man: And if Greece which seems to be the world's glory for the learning and valour, and the yet greater reputation of it's inhabitants, could afford no better store of men who liv'd virtuously, how meanly must we conclude the rest of the world was stock'd with them! there­fore Lucian, that impious but witty scoffer at Christianity, could not forbear lashing the Philosophers themselves, who knew so much, and exposing them to the world's contempt, so in his Icaro-Menippus, Menippus tells his friend a story of his being in heaven, where, among other considerables, a Council of the Gods was call'd by Jupiter their supreme, to discourse with them concerning the Philo­sophers, [Page 143] and Jupiter tells the rest, that the Philosopers were a race of Men lazie, quar­relsome, vain-glorious, cholerick, gluttonous, silly, proud, abusive, and in a word ac­cording to Homer's phrase, [...], an unprofitable burden to the Earth, some of these call themselves Stoicks, some Academicks, some Epicureans, some Peripa­teticks, and by several other more ridiculous names these assuming to themselves the vene­rable character of Virtue, they walk about with a supercilious and disdainful look, a long reverend beard, a starch'd habit, but under all the most detestable manners in the World, yet these wretches, forsooth, despise all the World beside themselves, they talk lewdly and sillily of the Gods, and, getting a company of unex­perienced youths about 'em, they make a migh­ty noise of virtue, and always commend sobrie­ty and modesty among their followers, and rail against wealth and pleasure, but when they get once by themselves, they gorge themselves without measure, they indulge themselves in all manner of lust, and are base enough to rake a kennel for a leaden farthing, and what's worse in them than all the rest, when they themselves do nothing towards the good of man­kind either privately or publickly, when they are neither fit for the Wars abroad, nor for con­sultations in private, they are always accu­sing others, and with bitter expressions and studied abuses, Luciani [...]. 2. p. 208. &c. they reproach and rail upon their neighbours, and he's the greatest man [Page 144] among them who is most noisy, impudent, and has the foulest tongue: Had St. Paul and Lu­cian liv'd together, though one were so holy, the other so much an Atheist, a Man would have thought they had agreed together in their accounts of the degeneracy of those, who were accounted the wisest part of the World; to these I may add Philostratus, who giving us an account of a discourse be­tween Apollonius Thyanaeus and Phraotes an Indian Prince, he introduces the Prince, re­flecting upon Apollonius and his Compani­ons thus, I hear, says he, there are many a­mong you, who make Philosophy their trade to get by, and putting it on, like a Garment which they can as easily throw aside, they bear themselves high upon an habit that belongs not to them, and most certainly as common thieves, who look upon themselves as sure of hanging whensoever they are catcht, Philostrati vita Apol­lon. l. 1. c. 12. are for a short life and a merry, so these Philosophical rogues among you indulge their lusts and their guts, and are the tenderest and most effeminate Crea­tures in the World, and this I take to proceed from the defect of your Laws. He that coun­terfeits the publick Coine dyes for it, and so does he that cheats an Orphan, or any thing of the like nature among you, but, as I am told, there's no Law among you that punishes Quacks in Philosophy, who onely abuse and corrupt it, nor is there any Magistrate appointed to take cognizance of them: Thus far he. By which we learn that as to the Divine Law, where [Page 145] there is no Law there can be no transgression, so in respect of worldly matters, where there's no Law there's nothing but transgres­sion, and by the concurrence of all these so very plain testimonies we find, that the ends of true Devotion in that part of the World which was without the pale of the Jewish Church, was not onely perverted about the time of our Lord's appearance on Earth, but it was worn out of memory, and God so re­presented by Men, that there seem'd to be no better way of approaching his nature, than by an irresistible ingenuity in all man­ner of bruitish violence and extravagant wickedness.

Thus have we at large consider'd the an­cient Maximes of Religion, and seen wherein the World in general believ'd it to subsist, and we have seen how far both Jews and Gen­tiles had declined from their own principles; by the whole it will appear, that the fulness of time was come in every respect, that hu­mane wickedness was grown to that height, and consequently that great God whose eyes are purer than to behold sin, so infinitely pro­voked, that, had not the blessed Jesus the Son of God interpos'd, as great and uni­versal a deluge of vengeance must have over­spread the World, as that of Water hereto­fore; but withal it will appear as plain, that notwithstanding all these abuses and depra­vations of Religion, the foundation of it still stood good, the Laws of God were as [Page 146] really believ'd to be holy, just and reasonable, and obedience to them as necessary among the Jews, and Virtue and solid Honesty was as much commended, tho' perfectly starv'd, among the Gentiles, as ever before, it was the practice of what they so commended that so miserably fail'd among Men, so that there was indeed no kind of necessity to ex­tirpate the whole of all former Religions for the setling that of Christ, but onely of a reformation of abuses and clearing the old foundation from all that rubbish, from all those bryers and thorns that had overgrown it, and there was need of reinforcing those duties appertaining to Religious converse whether with God or Men, upon all sorts of persons with new and more forcible argu­ments than former Ages had offer'd, that Men might re-entertain their first Love, and do their first works, so bringing forth fruits agreeable to repentance: Therefore our Sa­viour professes of himself with respect to the whole Mosaic Law, that he came not to destroy, but to fulfil it; i.e. to shew its whole design and intention, to perform every part in his own Person,Mat. 3.15. upon which reason he offer'd himself to John's Baptism, though in its own nature but a deduction from, or an appendix to the Law, and when John made a modest refusal, Jesus said to him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. He came to fulfil it farther in suffering upon the Cross, by [Page 147] which Sacrifice of his, it being the end of the Law, all Jewish Sacrifices were vacated, the substance being once come, the shadow could have no longer place in the World, and consequently all those Ceremonies con­ducing to their Sacrifices had an end too: So he fulfill'd whatsoever the Mosaic Law had prefigured to the Jewish people. He came to teach Men the very comprehensive nature of the Law, to show his own Dis­ciples and Followers how much more was required at their hands, than what the strict­est Zealots among the Jews thought them­selves obliged to, to convince them that it not onely reach'd the outward Man, and so might be slighted by evasive subtilties, but it was to engage all the inward affections of the Soul, and so must necessarily exclude all collusion and Hypocrisy; this method our Lord follow'd in that admirable Sermon up­on the Mount, wherein He cancell'd no part of that Law given to the Jews of old, but commented upon it; And so the Apostle St. Paul acted with relation to the Gentiles, and therefore when he was at Athens, though his Spirit was stirr'd up in him, mov'd equally with grief and anger to see that populous City so wholly given to Idolatry: yet He fell not immediately to the reproaching of their Religion, nor to the taking it away both root and branch, but he took an happy oc­casion from that Inscription upon one of their Altars, [...], To the unknown [Page 148] God, to assure them that he preach'd no o­ther God to them, but him whom they igno­rantly worship'd, He being that God who made the World and all things therein, Acts 17.23, 24. and therefore could not be confin'd to Temples made with hands.

Thus from the beginning of the World, Religion, as to its Essence, has been immu­table; what was fixt in Man by nature, so long as Nature is, must be the same too; God planted in man his own fear, and what­soever tended to the promotion of that, and an earnest desire of self-preservation, with respect to this and to a future life; whatso­ever byasses men now to a wretched slavish fear onely of Divine displeasure, and makes them therefore rather avoid evil than do good: And whatsoever engages men in un­lawful ways of securing themselves from any apparent danger, all that arises from those corruptions nature at present is embarrassed with: these things are to be mended, but God is still to be fear'd, and Men shall still get a good name by doing real good unto themselves; Obedience was the great first end of every Law, and a Law was given our first Parent to put him upon a tryal of original prudence, which could never put him upon any thing but what was excellent; when pru­dence seem'd drowsie, sin crept upon him, and ruin'd him and his prosperity, but be­cause Man sinned, God did not therefore change the nature of his commands, but he [Page 149] explain'd and improv'd them, by adding particulars coincident with them; he supply'd the defects of reason impair'd, and reveal'd those things at which it might have stumbled beyond recovery: Noah and his Sons had not a new Law, but the same again illustra­ted farther, and more clear'd up by additi­onal revelation, to supply the greater decays of humane abilities: Nor did God change his mind when he chose the Seed of Abra­ham from the rest of Mankind, or give Is­rael any new Laws essential to Religion, for Circumcision and the Paschal Feast were not of the essence of it at all, since Man might have kept all the moral Law without ever participating in either: The rest of the ce­remonial and political injunctions were neces­sary to the Jews necessitate praecepti, as they were commanded by a God infinitely pow­erful and wise, and who could enjoyn them nothing that was unfit or unjust, but the mo­ral Law which was the Law of nature, and obliged all Mankind, as well as the Nation of the Jews, was necessary, necessitate Medii, as an absolute and indispensible means of salvation, or as containing such duties, and forbidding such sins, as without an exact care in each of which it was impossible for any man living to be saved: and whereas the circumstantial Laws of the Jews were such as had no intimate connexion with or dependance upon one another, all the parts of the Moral and perpetually obliging Law [Page 150] are of so close an alliance, and in their ex­ecution so inseparable one from another, that as S. James says,James 2.10. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all: for the whole sum of the Law being comprehended in those few words, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thy self, If therefore any man bow to an Idol, or worship more Gods than one, or profane the name of the true God, or be guilty of perjury, or refuse to devote one day in seven to the worship and service of God, by any of these sins he proves he does not love the true God so entirely as he ought. And again, He that dishonours or rebels against his pa­rents natural, spiritual, or civil, or that com­mits murder with his hand or in his heart, or that submits to the enticements of lust, or that defrauds and purloins from another, or that by falshood endeavours to prejudice the life or estate or reputation of others, or who indulges himself in covetousness, or gives way to the first motions of the heart that encline to envy, Whosoever sins in any one of these particulars, tho' at the sametime he be a rigid observer of all the rest, cannot be said to love his neighbour as himself, since he would not be willing, either that by himself, or by any other, any injury of what kind soever should be done to him: and how much more essential to the body of Religion the Jews [Page 151] thought these perpetual Laws, than their own Ceremonial Institutions, is plain from their practice, since they, as much as possible, hinder'd all meer Heathens from co-habiting with them, and yet admitted those whom they called Proselytes of the gate, upon their renouncing a plurality of Gods, and submitting to the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, to the priviledge of performing their Devoti­ons in the exterior Court of the Temple, and kindly suppos'd them too capable of a portion in the world to come. As God made no alteration in the natural Law by what he gave Israel by the hand of Moses, so nei­ther did he innovate any thing when he sent his only begotten Son into the world for it's Salvation, the Law of Christ was the Law of Moses, which was the Law of Noah, which was the Law of Adam, which was the Law of pure original Nature, which was the Law of God; as Moses was the Law-giver of the Jews, so was the blessed Jesus the Law-giver of the Christians, but if we look on them both as meer Men, their legislative power was not original, but as Stephen tells the Jews, Acts 7.53. Numb. 21.18. the Law was given them by the disposition of Angels; Moses yet is called a Law-giver in the Song of the Israelites, but it's in the same sence as a Judge on the Bench, who has no power to make any thing a Law of his own contrivance, or by his own Authority: God himself, on whose services myriads of glorious Angels always attend, is a Law-giver, [Page 152] as a King on his Throne, who has no superiour, and therefore what he there de­crees, has the force and sanction of a Law, the Lord is our Judge, Isa. 33.22. says the Prophet, the Lord is our Law-giver, the Lord is our King, he will save us: As our Saviour was Man, he too, tho' superiour to Moses, and pecu­liarly faithful in all the house of God, had no authority to make alterations in that ori­ginal Moral Law, and as he was one with his Father, and so conscious of every determi­nation of his, it was impossible he should vary from himself, i. e. from his blessed Father, or should openly in the world act as if it were possible any thing imperfect should come out of the hand of God: Hence we ratio­nally believe, that if salvation be a thing really attainable, it must be attained by the same means by all persons whether Jews or Gentiles. Of the Patriarchs several have that testimony given of them in Scripture, that they pleas'd God; now there being no variableness nor shadow of turning with God, but he the same yesterday to day and for ever, whatsoever pleas'd God in those, the same and nothing else can please him now. And whereas our blessed Saviour in the days of his flesh made it his business to please his Almighty Father, and did so by performing every punctilio of the Mo­saic Law, so we who are to follow his ex­ample, must perform the same; but where­as the very circumstantial appendages of a [Page 153] Law, tho' nothing essential to it but the meer evidences of the Sovereignty of the Lawgiver, are not yet to be cancell'd, but by a power equal to that which gave them their first obliging authority; therefore it was necessary that Jesus Christ, in and by whom the ceremonial sanctions of Moses's Law were vacated, should be God and so have the same original Divine Authority in himself; and his fulfilling and re-confirm­ing all the substantial parts of that Law, made it yet the more publickly authentick, and taught his followers to have their due respect to him, which was due to both an Al­mighty Lawgiver, and an infallible Interpre­ter. And whereas that insupportable bur­den of Ceremonies is taken off from the necks of Christians, it being laid upon the Jews partly for the hardness of their hearts, and partly for to shadow out to them their ex­pectations of a Messiah, who being himself come in the flesh has now no need of types and shadows to prefigure him; so the old Natural Law is urged upon them with the greatest strength and reason in the world, and the force and intent of it is more clear­ly shew'd them; from whence the Apostle S. John, who tells those he writes to, that he gave them no new commandment but the old which they had heard from the beginning, yet in the very next verse subjoins,1 John 2.7, 8. Again a new commandment I write unto you, the sub­stance of which is, that you love one another, [Page 154] this was an old commandment, in that Na­ture injoyn'd it, and it was co-incident with that, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self; it was a new Commandment, in that it was re-inforced and inculcated so very often by our Saviour, in that He gave so many powerful reasons why his followers should practise it; and yet the result of all amounts only to this, that the design of Religion being to restore Nature to its first happiness, and that being rationally concluded to be the best and purest Religion which has the greatest effects in that design, if those who were his Disciples would but take care to evidence their Discipleship by that mutual love and endearing charity, they would, at the same time, convince the world that the Lord whom they follow'd was truly autho­riz'd by Heaven, that the Doctrine which He preach'd was really agreeable to the Will of God, and that Love being the first intention of pure and uncorrupted Nature, That which raised and encouraged men most powerfully to it must needs be the most suitable to that original purity of Nature. And hence it is that we observe, many are prejudiced against Christianity by those cursed feuds and animosities to be found a­mong Christians, they having an eye ge­nerally to the restauration of Nature, but quarrels and contentions being wholly barba­rous, brutish and unnatural; hence it appears farther too, that whereas the Apostle seems [Page 155] to distinguish between the Gospel and the Mosaic dispensation, as if the first were the Law of Faith, the last the Law of Works, and that such a Law as by which Salvation could never be obtain'd, The works the Apostle reflects on, are not the duties of the moral Law, but the Ceremonial punctilio's of the Levitical Law, which, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, agreeably to what I asserted before, assures us, were not able to make any man perfect; but for the Moral Law he's so far from invalidating it, that where ever he dehorts from any vices, such as he calls the works of the flesh,Gal. 5.19, —24. which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, strife, wrath, seditions, heresie, envyings, murders, drunkenness, re­vellings, and such like; of which he tells us, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God: Again, wheresoever he exhorts to any virtue, such as Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against which there is no Law; Wheresoever he does thus, He enforces the Moral Law with expressi­ons as strong, and reasons as weighty as the Holy Ghost could inspire him with; and where the same Apostle assures us that in Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, Gal. 5.6. he shews what works are excluded from any efficacy in our Salvation, for Circumcision is put for the [Page 156] whole Ceremonial Law, and where he adds that Faith working by Love is available, he shews the inefficacy of all pretences to Faith without good works, agreeing with S. James, that Faith without works is dead, James 2.26. and with his own severe reflection elsewhere upon those, who profess they knew God while in their works they deny him, Tit. 1.16. being abominable disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.

Since then it was the great end and design of the Gospel to confirm the Moral and eternal Law of God, and so by just degrees to reduce fallen Man again to the rules of perfect rea­son, to make him sensible of the noble na­ture and spiritual inclinations of the Heaven­born Soul, that so he might the more fully apprehend, how much below himself he falls in yielding himself a slave to Sin, and how much he retrenches his own true li­berty by that unbridled exorbitancy he aims at: the Gospel being intended to set Man's natural misery in a true light, and withal to shew the sole remedy for that misery in the undertakings of a Saviour: It remains an inquiry still whether Man could, in the state he is in at present, arrive at a full and plain satisfaction in these matters? And here we are to call to mind our second Posi­tion relating to Humane Reason, which teaches us, that by the Fall, humane reason is exceedingly impair'd, and very much inca­pacitated for those great ends for which it was first bestow'd on Man; and it's plain that [Page 157] though our Saviour has appear'd, though he has brought us the glad tydings of life and salvation in and by himself, tho' he has taken the kindest care imaginable for the propagation of this Gospel, we are still by birth the same naturally miserable and mis­understanding Creatures that we were be­fore; and therefore we are in some sence actually regenerate or born again in Baptism, being in it born members of the Christian Church, and so having a right to all Christi­an priviledges, and it being a Symbol or sign of our new birth or resurrection from dead works to serve the living God; yet after our Baptism, our intellectuals are still the same poor, weak, and miserably foolish; and hence it comes that Catechetical instructions in the principles of Christian Religion, and frequent Sermons or exhortations to true piety and sincere goodness, or dehortations from Sin, and explications of hard and diffi­cult expressions or doctrines in Scripture, and vindications of divine truths from the as­saults of Hereticks, Schismaticks or Infidels, and the refutation of those errors, endea­vour'd by such to be impress'd on the minds of Men, all these things are absolutely neces­sary for advancing our knowledge in Divine Matters, for keeping us from the paths of error, and for teaching and shewing us how to live godly, righteously and soberly in this present evil world: And the more improve­ments we make according to these means of [Page 158] grace which we enjoy, the more powerful assistances and encouragements we meet with from Heaven in our work, as was be­fore observ'd in our fourth Position concern­ing humane reason. Yet after all, we re­main but on the positive side of those great truths laid down in Scripture, we believe them firmly and stedfastly, because we have an irrefragable and infallible testimony of their truth, the veil that was upon the hearts of men is indeed taken away, the types, sha­dows and ancient Prophecies, relating to the Messias, are all made good in his ap­pearance upon earth, the way to life is made clear, and according to right reason, very easie and agreeable to those who endeavour to walk in it; and Man so endeavouring, is reconciled to God by the blood of his dear Son Jesus Christ, and there is a nearer and more close Communion between God and man than heretofore, all these things and the infinite love of God in them, are now so plainly decipher'd, that he who runs may read them. But for the rational part of these things, or what means an Almighty God could make use of to effect things so stupendous, how that dismal distance be­tween a pure Divinity and corrupt Mortality, should be made up; how God himself should stoop to man, when man notwithstanding all his inordinate ambition, could never rise to God, how that strict communication between God and Man should be maintain'd, &c. [Page 159] All these things are such mysteries, that its impossible for even Angelical Intellectuals to comprehend them fully, since common rea­son will give us this maxim, that Nothing but an infinite being can perfectly understand all the operations of an infinite being: There­fore we have the Communion between God and Man still shadowed out to us in the Symbols of Bread and Wine, consecrated into a clear representation of the body and blood of our Saviour to us in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper: Nor can we believe (whatsoever Grotius, In tract. An. semper sit commu­nicand. per Symbola. a man of more learning than ortho­doxy, would perswade us to,) that we, while we have the means and opportunities of com­municating with one another, and holding a close communion with God, by partici­pating of those Symbols which our Lord himself instituted to that very end and pur­pose, can possibly communicate as well with­out them, or that we may make at any time the Bread and Wine a Nehustan, a sign of no account or value at all, because perhaps it may have been abused to ill purposes by a factious or an Idolatrous Crew: but not to insist upon that; Tho' it be with S. Chryso­stome and many other Antients, [...], a dreadful and tremendous Mystery, and will be always so accounted by the most understanding and humble Chri­stians; there's not an article of our Faith, not one of the principal heads of the Apostles Creed, which we so often repeat, but its [Page 160] a body of Mysteries. Mysteries, after all the pains of the most learned and pious men, un­intelligible otherwise than as to their posi­tive truth by all mankind; and more parti­cularly those clauses concerning our blessed Saviour are so true, so essential to our eter­nal salvation, and yet so far above our reach, that while we meditate on them seriously, our Souls have nothing but miracles of po­wer, wisdom, mercy, and love in view, but being known for such, they all hold their miraculous nature still, and can never be ful­ly decipher'd either by Men or Angels; and that we should yet be obliged stedfastly to believe these things, though we cannot com­prehend them, will appear no way unrea­sonable, if we consider these things, belong­ing to the 3d. Inquiry, which is,

3 What considerable advantages can accrue to Religion from those Mysteries it's founded up­on? we consider in pursuit of this Query,

1 That by a due reflection upon the nature of such Mysteries as are really necessary, and con­sequently of very great weight and importance, men are brought to a due acknowledgment of the deficiency of their own reason, they learn how weak and shallow all the utmost flights of wit and reason are, when they come once to stand in competition with the results of in­finite wisdom and unlimited understanding: Men of the most presuming abilities find it [Page 161] very hard to unriddle ancient parables, and to give a clear and evident explication of aenigmatical writings and figurative senten­ces and expressions; the youthful Philistines, Men without doubt of very brisk parts in their own esteem, as we may conclude by their ready acceptance of Sampson's propo­sition, faltred pitifully when they set their wits on work to expound his riddle, and the Pharisaical Allumbradoes, those men of light, who (like the modern Chineses) concluded almost all the World blind except them­selves, when our Saviour put that Dilemma to them concerning John's Baptism, viz. Whether it were from Heaven or of Men, it confounded them so as all their mighty wis­dom could never dis-intangle them; if these things were difficult, the fundamental My­steries of Religion are much more so; Men have attempted several ways to solve the appearances of Nature, and some have made such ingenious researches after them, and have laid down Hypotheses so very rational for the solution of difficulties in them, that they have got themselves the applauding vogue of the World, and their Dictates have been valued by learned Men as the great standards of Philosophic reason: Nay, the acquists of some in these matters, have puft them up with that ridiculous vanity and pride, that they have dared to trample up­on all Religion, nay upon the Deity it self, imagining themselves able to demonstrate, [Page 162] how the World and all the parts of it might be constituted, regulated, and continued, without any concurrence of a Divine and unbounded Providence: but when these same mighty pretenders to wit and sense, have come to look into the shallow Mystick rites of ancient Heathens, they have but fool'd and disgraced themselves: but when such fall upon the foundations of Christia­nity, they prove like that Stone our Saviour speaks of, which whosoever shall fall on shall be broken, Matth. 21.44. but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder; they onely show themselves egregious fools, and endeavour to ridicule every thing which they find them­selves unable to understand. Thus Lucian or some of his Contemporaries in his Philo­patris, a Dialogue of that name, makes it his business to scoff at several things, reveal'd in Scripture, and at several of the Mysteries of Christianity, though neither he nor his followers, not Celsus, nor Porphyry, nor Libanius, nor Julian himself, nor any other of that witty scoffing tribe, were ever able to confute the Writings of the Prophets or the Apostles, or to baffle their Christian An­tagonists by any serious argument. In the forenam'd Dialogue Critias offering to swear to Triepho, or to give him an oath for his se­curity from any danger, having named seve­ral of their Heathen Gods, Triepho derides them all with reason enough, Critias at last breaks out thus, By whom then shall I swear [Page 163] that I may be believ'd? The other answers, Thou shalt swear by that God who rules above, Philopa­tris, Oper. Luciani. T. 2. p. 770. the great, the immortal, the Heavenly God, [...] The Son of the Father, the Spirit proceeding from the Father, one of three and three of one, [...] Reckon of these as of Jupiter, esteem these God; after this the same Buffoon proceeds to scoff at that great Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Paul, calling him that bald high­nos'd Galilaean, who mounted upon the air into the third Heaven, and there learnt wonderful matters, [...], He rege­nerated or renewed us by water, and gently guided us into the foot-steps of the blessed, and redeem'd us out of the regions of the wicked; and again he burlesques the original of all things, where he tells his Companion, that there was light incorruptible, invisible, incom­prehensible, which put an end to darkness and disorder, [...], onely with speak­ing one word, as that slow-tongu'd Man, mean­ing Moses, has written; and more to the same purpose, and of the same scurrilous stamp; and this is the wit of Atheistical heads, who think it's enough to expose a Doctrine they understand not, or cannot edifie by, as some would express it, meerly to name it and no more; where, as the true Sons of Religi­on, though they are far enough from pre­tending to fathom the great objects of faith, [Page 164] cannot yet but derive ineffable consolations from the positive truth of those Mysteries contain'd in Holy Writ; but this over­weening of their own extraordinary wit, made many persons of excellent natural abi­lities, of well exercised reason, and inimi­table diligence, in the first ages of the Go­spel, stumble so foully at the Doctrine of a crucified Saviour; for as a just punishment for that foolish pride and self conceit, God destroy'd the wisdom of the wise, 1 Cor. 1.19. and brought to nothing the understanding of the prudent, so the Stoic and Epicuraean Philosophers were mightily puzled with those new Gods, as they were pleas'd to call them,Acts 17.18. viz. Jesus and the resurrection, as if because they could not understand what the meaning of a re­surrection was, therefore the Apostles who preach'd it up must needs either make a God, or a Goddess of it: Thus the same doctrine of the resurrection; and that of Christ's being the Son of God, and several other mystick truths were cast in the teeth of suffering Christians, as if they could be no better than mad men, who would undergo so many hardships for assertions so very unintelligible, as that they could deserve nothing less than derision; and it was often urged as an evidence of a bad cause, that it had so many strange and incomprehensible postulates attending on it.

The same is the plea of the Atheistical, what if I should add of the Heretical wits [Page 165] of our age, who labour hard to expose whatsoever they meet with beyond the reach of their debauch'd understandings, and would therefore have all sound Religion banish'd out of the Commonwealth, because, for­sooth, they cannot comprehend How God should become Man, should be born of a pure Virgin, should converse with men, should dye for their sins, rise again for their justification, and ascend up into glory with that humane body he had assumed unto himself, from whence be­fore the Worlds dissolution he should certainly come to be the Supreme determining Judge of all both Men and actions, upon which Faith the whole Christian Oeconomy is built, and without the certain truth of all which, Chri­stianity would be the most absurd and unrea­sonable religion in the World: Thus He­reticks, thus Atheists discourse, as if it were indeed impossible there should exist a God of greater wisdom and power than themselves, or however, that he must dispose of all things just agreeably to their Capacities, on pain of being dethroned for a default, when yet eve­ry day they see men like themselves born in­to the World, but can give no possible ac­count of the reason of their acquiring such and such particular shapes or features in the World; they see a man born naked into the World, but cannot tell us why they are not all cover'd with hair, or scaly armour like Beasts, or with scales and fins as Fishes, or with feathers as Birds: they see and know [Page 166] they have naturally but two feet, but cannot tell why they should not be born without any, as Worms, or Fishes, or why they should not have four, as the greater number of Beasts, or why not greater numbers, as most insects; they see Man, a Creature of a noble and Ma­jestick frame, endued with a discursive fa­culty, ready to descant upon every visible object, yet cannot tell why nature should have given man but two eyes wherewith to survey so vast and unaccountable a variety, when at the same time she has studded the head of a contemptible Fly with several thousands; they find themselves able to call to mind a mighty number of particulars, seen, heard, read, talkt of, but cannot in­form themselves certainly where the nume­rous Idaeas of sensible things past should be lodged, when at the same time the mind is crouded with a World of present objects, and roving too after the most uncertain fu­ture contingencies; and yet, after all these notorious instances of their wretched Igno­rances, God must lay his whole Divine power and wisdom at their feet, or else he must be no God for them: We may say with a little al­teration of David's words, Man overvaluing his own wisdom hath no understanding, but is like the beasts that perish; if he could com­prehend God, he'd despise him, since he can­not, he'l deny him, an humour uncouth and unnatural even to corrupted reason; but the truly wise man, when he sees himself thus [Page 167] puzled with every little effect of common nature, is so far from thinking it strange, that the great Sovereign of all things should say or do any thing above his understand­ing, that he rather would wonder (did he not acknowledge both omnipotence and omni­science in God) how so excellent a Being should possibly stoop so low, as to make any thing concerning himself intelligible to a corrupted transgressing Creature; the more he looks upward to God the ordainer of all things, the readier He is to break out into that expression of the Psalmist, When I consider the Heavens the work of thy fingers, Psal. 8.3. the Moon and the Stars which thou hast or­dained, Lord, what is man that thou shouldst consider him, or the Son of Man that thou vi­sitest him! The more he meditates on God's infinite perfections, the more humbly sen­sible he grows of his own wants, and easily can see at how sad a loss wretched Man would have been for obtaining that Divine favour which he had forfeited by Sin, had not somewhat Almighty interpos'd: nor can he be but extremely humbled in his own thoughts, when he sees how unsearchable God's wisdom is, and his ways past finding out, since He, out of such strange confusions as Sin had brought into the World, could pro­duce order, and by the most improbable and unsuspected means, could once more lay o­pen to Men the way to eternal happiness, that way which Sin had shut up before; the [Page 168] more a contemplative Man learns to admire his God in this case, the more he learns to undervalue himself, and never to depend upon his own dreams and imaginations.

2 By those Mysteries attending Religion in ge­neral, men are in the better capacity to make a judgment of Religions of all ages, and to fix themselves upon that alone which is proper to conduct us through a troublesome world to ever­lasting happiness: The nature of any religi­ous profession may be distinguish'd by such characteristicks; for since God, as he mani­fests himself to mankind, is unquestionably a very benign and merciful Being, that Reli­gion which has the closest correspondence with such manifestations of himself, must certainly be the most pleasing to God, and consequently the best: Mystick Rites and Ceremonies have been various, and tho' the Devil had his design in the invention of se­veral, yet Men too, who us'd them, had, as before I prov'd, in all of them some parti­cular respects to futurity, and that happi­ness expected by means of a Mediator be­tween God and Man; but as God was never pleas'd by unclean offerings, so much less could he be pleas'd with humane blood of­fer'd upon Altars devoted to him, (however such Sacrifices might be thought to prefigure best the shedding of Christ's blood, that blood without which there could be no remission); and therefore we find, that tho' God tryed [Page 169] Abraham's faith and obedience by that se­vere command, that he should offer up his only Son a burnt offering to him, and tho' he permitted the good old Patriarch to go on a great way toward putting the command in execution, yet when he was ready to give the fatal stroke, he stop'd his hand, and accepted the readiness to offer it better than he would have accepted the sacrifice it self when actually made; therefore whatsoever mystery savour'd any thing of cruelty, was enough, if there were nothing more, to de­secrate that perswasion which admitted of such things. Again, whereas those who pretend to any considerable notions of a God will acknowledge him to be infinitely holy and pure, and consequently to love the same holiness and purity in his Creatures. Wheresoever any mystick rites have at any time trespassed upon such purity, we may be assured God has nothing to do with such worship; a brand in this case the Pagan zeal endeavoured to fix upon the Christians, as well knowing how odious such a charge would render them: Thus Caecilius in Minutius Foelix, having be­fore charged the Christians with murdering and devouring infants, he adds,Minutii Foelicis Oct. p. 90. Edit. Hackian. On a cer­tain day the Christians, men, women and chil­dren of every age and sex, meet together at a feast, after much junketing, when their in­cestuous lust grows hot, a dog tyed on purpose to the candlestick, pulls it down, extinguishes [Page 170] the light, and then in the dark they promi­scuously pollute one another with fornications, adulteries, incests, and what not: But Pliny, as much a heathen as himself, vindicates the abused Christians from that horrid calumny in his Epistle to Trajan, where he informs that Emperor, That he had found by certain intelligence, that the Christians on a set day were wont to meet before it was light, and al­ternately to sing an Hymn to Christ, as if he were God: Séque sacramento, non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed nè furta, nè latroci­nia, nè adulteria committerent, nè fidem fal­lerent, &c. i. e. And they did by solemn oath engage themselves, not to any wickedness, but that they should not steal, nor murder, nor commit adultery, nor perjure themselves, &c. Now how those who entered into such so­lemn mutual engagements not to commit such sins, should yet be so notoriously guilty of the worst of crimes, and how such very guilty persons, and such horrid abomina­tions,Plinii E­pistol. l. 10, Ep. 97. should have escaped Pliny's cogni­zance, who had made it his particular busi­ness to enquire into the behaviour of Chri­stians, its very hard to imagine. But how­soever falsly these things were charged up­on Christians, they were true enough among the Heathens, where the Eleusinian rites among the Graecians, those of the Bona Dea among the Romans, with their Bacchana­lia, &c. were nothing but so many subtle contrivances to render all manner of lewd­ness [Page 171] and villany authentick and valuable, on which account the Apostle exhorts his Ephe­sians, Ephes. 5.11, 12. to have no fellowship with such unfruit­ful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them, for that its a shame to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. Far­ther yet, whereas God has now really by his Son accomplished that great work of the worlds redemption, those mystick Rites and Ceremonies which fore-signified that to be done, are now vacated, and those who would have mysteries of that nature still continued, do as much as in them lies, to drive the world into an aversion from him, who alone is able to save to the uttermost all those who come to God by him: For those rites continu­ed, will move the world to belive that the Messias is not yet come, that the Faith so long profest in him, as if he were come, is vain, that He who once pretended to that name, only impos'd upon the world, and was no better than a cheat, and that there­fore the Jewish Religion is and ought to be still in its full force: Now this will appear very absurd and unreasonable to any one who has seriously weighed all those argu­ments brought to prove that Jesus Christ was the Son of the living God, and there­fore could be no Impostor, and therefore must be that Messias he declar'd himself to be; which being true, it will follow, that our Saviours coming must of necessity put an end to so much of the Jewish Law as was [Page 172] not co-incident with that of Nature, and con­sequently not perpetually obliging. That ma­ny of the Jews themselves ever look'd upon their Law as of a mutable nature in it self, is proved sufficiently by Raymundus Martini in his Pugio fidei against the Jews, and that it could never be more properly actually chang'd, than by the Messias, appears in him who proves, from Jewish writers themselves, that the Messias, the King, shall be greater than Moses, nay greater than the ministring Angels, and therefore the fittest for such a work; and, as he shews, their own gloss in the Midrasch Koheleth upon that of Solomon, Eccles. 11.8.Pugionis fidei p. 3. dist. 3. c. 20 tells us, That every Law of all people whatsoever, every Law that a man can learn in this world, is all but vanity in com­parison of the Law of the Messias: Things of a less perfect and lasting nature must then vanish when that appears which is more per­fect and eternal: Whatsoever therefore crosses that end for which God sent his Son into the world, and retains mysteries now altogether insignificant, as being fully ac­complished, that cannot be pleasing to God, and consequently, the present Religion of the Jews cannot be the true Religion. There are indeed some mysterious truths in which all Religions agree, viz. The existence of a God, his spirituality, invisibility, incomprehensi­bility, &c. they all agree, That his Provi­dence governs all things in the world, however trifling and inconsiderable they may appear in [Page 173] the eyes of the world: that He hears, sees, knows, understands every thing, tho' they know not how, according to the objection of Atheists, to reconcile such things to his want of eyes, ears, soul, or any other parts, which are all inconsistent with a spiritual be­ing: All agree together in granting the pre­sent state of Man very wretched and de­plorable, in looking upon him yet as capable of happiness, provided a sutable mean for its pro­curement could be found out, and in expecta­tion of some proper help for that purpose: These things being agreeable to the general sence of mankind, and being the original reasons of mens putting themselves into a religious course, must still be approved by every one; and every one of these, that Religion set­led in the world by our Saviour and his Apostles, does advance yet more plainly, and confirm more strongly to the world: And whatsoever mysterious truths it farther propounds, they are all so far intelligible by every one, as may serve sufficiently to con­firm those first principles; whatsoever is farther to be seen in them, is what moves mankind to lay aside, all brutish, malicious, and unmanly humour, as the meditation upon that extraordinary love of God to mankind, of God the Father in sending his only Son in­to the world to dy for it, of God the Son in leaving the bosom of his blessed Father, and in our nature and for our sake suffering that bit­ter and scandalous death upon the Cross; of [Page 174] God the Holy Ghost in pursuing us continually with his influences and assistances, and so work­ing in us to will and to do according to God's good pleasure; this meditation naturally runs into that Apostolical conclusion, Joh. 4.11. if God thus loved us, then ought we also to love one another. If we contemplate our own mon­strous demerits, our aversion to every thing that is good, our inclination to every thing that is evil, and so offensive to God, our ingratitude for mercies receiv'd, our un­fruitfulness under the means of grace and Salvation presented to us, our natural en­mity to God and goodness: And if with­al we seriously consider, that all those fore­mentioned favours are conferr'd on us in a state of obstinate enmity, the inference is easie as our Lord has laid it down,Matth. 5.44. That we should love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us. If again, we think on that wonderful mer­cy of God whereby, for the merits of the blessed Jesus, he's pleased to forgive us our sins, those natural bars between us and heaven, the consequence we must of course draw from thence is, that of the Apostle, That we should be kind, Eph. 4.32. tender hearted, for­giving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us: Thus we see what excellent influence these very truths, the nature and reasons of which are above the reach of our groveling minds, may have up­on [Page 175] us. If we proceed, and reflect upon the purity and holiness of that God with whom we have to do, that he's a Being who can­not endure sin, who punishes it for its odi­ous nature even in his dearest children, all those mysteries reveal'd to us in the Gospel are so far, by any fair consequence, from perverting our minds, that they give us all the motives imaginable,1 Pet. 1.15. that as he who has called us is holy, so should we be holy in all manner of conversation. A man may be a good heathen and yet a filthy Sodomite, a through-pac'd Jew and yet be blind, hard-hearted, carnal; but a man cannot be a true Christian but he'l endeavour to avoid all ap­pearance of evil, Jude 2 [...]. and to keep himself un­spotted from the world: he'l live in a con­tinual abhorrence of whatsoever may pre­judice his soul, or pollute his body, and knowing that he is not his own, James [...]. but that he's bought with a price, he'l follow that advice, he'l endeavour to glorifie God in his body and in his spirit, which are gods: 1 Cor. 6. [...] and, to go no farther than what I had instanced in before, a man that meditates on that account the Apostles and Evangelists have given us of the appearance of the Son of God in the flesh, and on the ends and designs of such his appearance, he'l never spend his time idly about types and shadows, when he is invited to embrace the substance, he'l study to conform himself to the Doctrine of the Gospel, to be, so far as belongs to a [Page 176] meer man, a perfect imitator of all those ex­cellent virtues so apparent in our Saviour during his converse with the world: he'l carefully avoid all sin, which was incapable of pardon from an offended God but upon the terms of the passion of his dearly beloved Son; and will be throughly satisfied of the danger of such transgression by a rational assurance, That if men sin wilfully after they have receiv'd the knowledge of the truth, Hebr. 10.26, 27. there remains now no more sacrifices for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the ad­versaries: If then true Religion consist in worshipping God according to those revelations he has made of himself to the world, and we cannot propound any reason to our selves why God should have made any such reve­lation of himself to us, but only that when we have a rule, we might have an example too, then whatsoever religion that is, whose most obscure and incomprehensible mysteries highly promote that excellent work of fol­lowing our exemplar or growing up into an assimilation to God himself, by endeavour­ing to be holy as our heavenly father is holy, and perfect as he is perfect, That Religion must certainly carry us by the surest ways to eternal happiness; but such a Religion is that instituted by our Saviour in the Go­spel, therefore that's a Religion above all others, for the sake of such mysteries, so profound, but withal so very profitable and [Page 177] instructive, to be embraced by all wise and considering Men.

3 A due reflection upon those mysteries any Religion is founded upon, with a just appre­hension of the deficiency of our own reason in tracing them, is a very proper means to create in mens minds a due and exact reverence for it. Thus that very notion that we have of God's infinity, of his dwelling in impene­trable darkness, or in inaccessible light, of the unsearchableness of his ways, the incom­prehensibility of his wisdom, &c. All these things make awful impressions upon mens souls, and make them to fear before God, and to reverence him; and this God him self inten­ded when by his Prophet he assured the Jews, My thoughts are not your thoughts, Isai. 55.8, 9. neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts: This prodigious distance between the nature of God and Man was enough to overawe man, on whose side there was so very great a disadvantage: God's prohibition so often repeated to the Jews, that they should not represent him to themselves by any figure or image whatsoever, with the reason as frequently inculcated, that they never had seen any thing which could look like any representation of him, was to prevent that contempt which too much familiarity with superiors naturally pro­duces: [Page 178] for representing a God by any thing of a gross or material nature, is apt to create as gross an Idaea of the Divinity it self in the mind of a Man, and those once entertained, produce a sawciness and fami­liarity, not at all agreeable to that immense distance there is between a divine and a mor­tal Being. Thus it's observable, that the Gentiles generally were upon several occa­sions extravagantly free with those Gods they worshipp'd: Hence the Tyrians when Alexander the great besieged them, chain'd the Image of Apollo to that of Hercules, lest the God should leave them, because one of their Citizens had had a melancholick dream, forsooth, that he designed to serve them such a slippery trick in their necessity: So the Athenians clip'd off the wings of the I­mage of the goddess Victory, lest she should fly away from them: So Dionysius the elder of Sicily, took off a golden mantle from the statue of Jupiter and put him on a woolen blanket, with that scoffing reason, that the blanket was fitter for all weathers, being lighter in Summer, and warmer in Winter; So he took off the golden beard of Aesculapius with that Witticisme, That it became not him to have so long a beard, when his father Apollo had none: It's true these affronts were proper enough for those Idols to whom they were offer'd, but they were very un­becoming those who offered them, since they profest to believe that they were really [Page 179] gods, so that they were not those Images or Statues which were abus'd, but it was the true Divinity it self, which they imagined resident in or about those Images; And of this Inconvenience from material Images e­ven of material Saints, the Romanists are sometimes sensible, witness that action of a Spanish Peasant, who making his offering to the Image of the blessed Virgin, and imagi­ning she look'd not so kindly on him for it as he expected, He very briskly told her, she need not be so proud, for He remembred she was but a sorry piece of timber the other day; it was yet the more effectually to prevent such inconveniences, that God appointed a part of the Tabernacle first, and of the Temple at Jerusalem afterwards, under the Sacred name of the Holy of Holies, to be wholly in­accessible to any but the High Priest, who bore an extraordinary Character among the Jews, nor might He enter into it above once a Year, and that with a great deal of respect and ceremony; This made God to strike the men of Bethshemesh with so terrible a judgment for daring to pry into what God intended to keep secret;1 Sam. [...].19. and to strike Ʋz­zah dead upon the place; for presuming to do what was above his station, and touch the Ark, though it seem'd an action proceeding from a good zeal, or a fear that the Ark, the peculiar Symbol of God's presence among his People, should have fallen to the ground;2 Sam. 6.9. but we may see what a terror that signal [Page 180] vengeance struck upon David himself and all his Company;v. 10. and it's observ'd of Pom­pey the Great, that after He had been so bold as to look into the Holy of Holies, upon his taking Jerusalem, that though He saw nothing there, nor offer'd any violence to any thing about the Temple, but expressed a great deal of reverence towards the place and those that attended on it; yet that God's judgments pur­sued him from that time, that He prosper'd in little or nothing that He undertook, all things from thence verging hastily to his final ruine: So jealous is God of his honour, so terrible to those who will be strugling to know what he would have kept secret from the World. That great reverence, which a due distance be­tween God (and the things belonging to him) and Man creates, is so well known in the World, that wise Men have thought it con­venient, that there should be somewhat of a Mysterious Majesty in those who are God's re­presentatives on earth, which has taught the great Eastern Monarchs that prudent piece of state, to shew themselves as seldom as possible to the People, by which means the Vulgar not being capable of any diminutive thoughts of those, whose weaknesses they are unacquainted with, almost reverence their Kings as Gods, and conclude no submissions can be too great to them; But what should I talk of Princes, when even those arts every day made use of, have some darker parts, on which reason we see some Men infinitely cu­rious [Page 181] in comparison with others, and that every Art has its every days improvements, and to make them the more valued, their first Inventers are very careful, not to pro­stitute what has cost them a great deal of pains and study, to every one that would be prying into their methods and discoveries; Hence Ocellus Lucanus, an old Astrologer, ad­jures his Readers, by every thing he thought mysterious in his Art, to keep what he impar­ted to them among their most religious secrets, and not communicate them to profane or illite­rate persons, and that they should repay their kind Instructor with that reverence he deser­ved; Such solemn engagements Orpheus and other ancient Heathens required of those who were initiated in their mystical Theo­logy: For the religious among the Gentiles, were throughly convinc'd of this, that the more unintelligible the meaning of their re­ligious rites was, the greater restraint they laid on vulgar and untutour'd Souls, and made them the more resolute in their super­stitions: Hence one concludes, That those things which are easily understood, are gene­rally despis'd by the vulgar, so that to make such plain things have any due effect on infe­riour Souls, they must be attended by some­what of a prodigious nature.

Tho' the Writers, from whom I alledge these things, were but Heathens, yet they discours'd rationally, and but with too much truth; For every one has seen the proof of [Page 182] what they assert notoriously made good; It has been charged on our English Church as an unpardonable crime, as a robbing Souls of that food design'd by God himself for their en­tertainment, that they have omitted Solo­mon's Song, a great part of Ezekiel's pro­phecy, and the Book of the Revelation, in the Lessons of their daily service: It's true they have done so; the Jews did more, for not­withstanding their great diligence in read­ing Scripture, they thought it fit, not to allow the reading Solomon's Song, or Ecclesi­astes, or a good part of Ezekiel's or Daniel's Visions, till they were more than thirty years of age, concluding those mysterious Wri­tings to be far above common understand­ings, and we do not find Mens wits now a­days so infinitely out-strip those of their Predecessors, that every illiterate mechanick, or ordinary auditor can understand them; Those who complain of not having those Books read in our Service, should never com­plain of the obscurity of rational and cohe­rent discourses, nor pretend to be most edi­fied by the plainest things: If we must judge of Peoples edifying in attendance upon Di­vine ordinances, by their lifted Hands and Eyes, by their loud sighs, and seemingly pas­sionate groans, I have known them frequent in a numerous Congregation, where falshood, blasphemy, and unintelligible non-sence, has taken up the greatest part of the Preacher's discourse; and I have observed the same in [Page 183] the wild extempore effusions of some eminent Dissenters: This plainly shews, that there are too many who understand not what is meant by plain preaching: they call noise, and earnestness, a furious action, and a tone sometimes melting and whining, sometimes sob­bing and roaring, by that name, which is all so far from deserving it, that nothing can possibly be more offensive to Almighty God, nor more destructive to the precious and im­mortal Soul: Plain preaching consists in truth laid down in proper and significant terms, urged by pertinent and solid argu­ments, and defended by well connected reason, drawn chiefly from that great Fountain of light and truth, the written Word of God: it teaches men, who attend it with due dili­gence and humility, a great many of those things they were utterly unacquainted with before, it lays down before them the whole counsel of God which has respect to their eternal Salvation, it explains God's Word where it seems obscure, shews the connexion of Divine truths with one another through­out that sacred Book, and not only warns men of encroaching Errors, but solidly con­futes them: The plain Preacher supposes Christians are not always to continue in an Infant state, always to stand in need of in­culcating the first Elements of Religion: He supposes mens younger years should be throughly season'd with those Principles, that a greater age should have proportion­able [Page 184] improvements, for he's infallibly assu­red, that those who are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, are neither better nor worse, than vessels of wrath fitted for destruction: He believes, e­very Ambassador of Christ has reason to expect, from professors of a mature age, what that Author of the Epistle to the He­brews expected from them, That leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ, they should go on unto perfection, not laying again the foun­dation of repentance from dead works, Hebr. 6.1, 2, and of faith towards God, of the Doctrine of Baptism, and of laying on of hands, and of the resur­rection of the dead, and of eternal Judgment: It seems then the inspired Writer thought the preaching of faith and repentance to be so far from being the sole duty of a Prea­cher, that he thought it unreasonable and highly reprovable, that the Preacher should have any occasion to inculcate them at all to truly edifying Christians; It was neither credit nor advantage to the Hebrews, that they were dull of hearing, Hebr. 5.11, 12, 13. that they were un­skilful in the word of righteousness, that where­as they ought to have been teachers for their time, they had need to be taught again them­selves: Nor can the same dulness ever be commendable in others; Yet every age has been unhappily furnish'd with such preten­ders to Religion, who talk much of it, but never grow the better or the wiser for it: Such our Saviour met with, and such his A­postles, [Page 185] especially that great Apostle of the Gentiles St. Paul, who were full of their complaints of hard sayings, such as none could bear, and on that reason were always ready to follow false teachers, and false Apostles: The vulgar thought them much more edify­ing than either the Son of God himself, or those whom he had peculiarly sent and fitted for the promoting of mens salvation; and so they would always have thought, had not they in pity to prevailing Ignorance, and that it might be inexcusable, done so many authentick and undeniable miracles, to prove their own Divine Commission, which once proved, a more serious regard to what they preach'd would be acknowledged necessary, and even dark parables, and profound specu­lations about the deepest points in Divinity, would appear very comfortable and instru­ctive; Our Saviour speaking in parables to the Jews, reflected severely upon them, in his reason for so doing, I do so, says He, because they seeing see not, Matth. 13.13, 14, 15. and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand, and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive: Well, did this pro­ceed from the difficulty and obscurity of what was preach'd? No, though he taught them in parables, things not obvious to e­very one, their unhappiness proceeded from another reason, This Peoples heart is waxed [Page 186] gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them: Therefore he tried to open their eyes with miracles, it being then but the dawn of the Gospel, and men were not so easily wrought upon by clear reason, and by earnest perswa­sion: They were not the repeated tenders of mercy, nor threats of eternal damnation, that could convince them of the necessity of obedience to and belief of that Word which was Divine and Saving, had not Miracles been exhibited, such whose events they could give no account of to themselves or others, in them, therefore they could be content with that want of plainness which they knew not how to satisfie themselves with before.

The force and convincing power of Mi­racles lay indeed wholly in the inexplicabi­lity of their reason: So long as Jannes and Jambres could work wonders, in appearance, parallel with those of Moses, they believ'd him no Messenger sent from God, but a cun­ning Jugler like themselves, and how they wrought such surprizing wonders, they knew well enough; but when Moses had once out­reach'd the utmost of their skill, they who thought themselves before unconquerable in jugling sleights and Magick skill, presently acknowledged that the finger of God was there, [Page 187] and began to tremble at what they had de­rided before; so, when he that spoke as never man spoke, could by no other arguments con­vince the stubborn Jews that he was their long expected Messias, He bids them believe him for his very works sake; nay and indul­ges them so far as to allow,John 15.24. that if he had not done among them the works which never man did, they had had no sin: And the Pharisees were very sensible what advantages accrued to the Apostle's doctrine by the miracles they did, as appears by that question among them upon St. Peter's healing the impotent Man, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell at Jerusalem, Acts 4.16. and we cannot deny it. But we find not our Saviour upon every miracle he did, presently giving the Jews an account how or by what power he did them, but he left them to make their conclusions from what they saw: And the Apostles, upon their Examination before the Jewish Council, onely answer, If we this day be examin'd of the good deed done to the Impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all, and to the whole people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, Acts 4.9, 10. whom God rais'd from the dead, even by him doth this man stand before you whole; by which account they left them but in a maze of mystery and wonder more inextricable than before; But if the unwonted cures of distempers, the ejection [Page 188] of Devils, the restauration of dead bodies to life, could over-aw the most obstinate stubbornness, how much more must the my­sterious subjects of our faith, the appearance of the Son of God in our nature, his suffer­ing death for our redemption, his resurrecti­on and ascension up into glory, truths of a more sublime and incomprehensible nature, and confirm'd too by those very astonishing miracles, work men to a profound venera­tion of that Religion grounded upon them! I'le add, that had it been possible for God so far to have laid aside his own immense glory, that men might have seen it fully and with open face, that they might have plainly read how all those wonders of love and mercy had been wrought, it would have been altogether unfit, since the pride of man would have been apt to trample upon, and despise the known cause of the most unex­pected productions.

It's necessary then that the fundamentals of Christ's Religion should carry with them somewhat of that awful Majesty inherent in its founder, nor is this wisdom of God in a Mystery to be laid open to scoffing Atheists, or Men onely impertinently curious after no­velties; Pearles are not to be cast before Swine, nor Holy things to Dogs: The Chri­stians in the primitive Church were very strict in this respect, insomuch that the Gentiles objected it against them, that they kept the very God they worship'd unknown [Page 189] to the rest of the World; So Caecilius in Minutius Foelix very passionately, What silly and absurd opinions, says he, do these Christi­ans take up, when they would perswade us that God whom they worship, a something, whom they can neither see themselves, nor show to any body else, does strictly examine the actions, manners, words, nay the very inmost thoughts of Men? And Maximus Madaurensis, in a more submissive style, speaks thus to the great St. Augustine; Show me now at length, O thou wisest of Men, what God it is ye Chri­stians claim as yours, and whom ye own as pre­sent with you in your most private recesses, as for us we expose our Gods to publick view, and adore them, and with offerings of Incense en­deavour to reconcile them to us in the hearing of all the world; The ancient Christians would neither discourse of the Mysteries of their Faith, nor of their Sacramental Sym­bols before Ethnics, who would then, as the conceited Socinians do now, deride every thing they could not understand: So La­ctantius, speaking of the Resurrection, a Do­ctrine which Christians ever own'd as a fun­damental, and which Heathens thought the most absurd and irrational principle in the World, subjoyns at last, This is that Do­ctrine of the Prophets which we Christians maintain, this is our wisdom which Idolatrous pretenders to Philosophy contemn as vain and silly, because we make it no subject of our pub­lick disputations, but God has commanded us, [Page 190] that we should peaceably and silently lay up his secret in our hearts and consciences, not perti­naciously wrangling with profane persons, who violently oppose God and his religion, not with a design to sift out the truth, but to expose it to a publick scorn; Nor ought the Mystery to be discover'd by us especially, who denominate our selves from that faith: Nay, even those who were Converts to Christianity were but gradually enter'd into these things; the Ca­techumeni and Energumeni being shut out of the Church so soon as the Sermon was done, and not permitted to be so much as Specta­tors of the Sacramental Mysteries.

From what has been hitherto discours'd, we may justly conclude, That since Religion can have no part or interest, ordinarily, in the hearts of Men, unless it be usher'd in by causes Mysterious, supernatural, or in their full extent incomprehensible: Since our bles­sed Saviour by introducing his Gospel into the World, has not taken away, but strongly confirm'd the necessity of obedience to God's Laws, whether written or natural, which was, as we have before observ'd, the general intent of Religion, and agreeable to those notions the World commonly had of it: Since, for the better carrying on this end, Mysteries are so very advantageous to reli­gion, as to make Men have reverend appre­hensions of it, upon account of its incompa­rable Excellencies in its causes and effects, [Page 191] and upon account of the weakness and shal­lowness of their own understandings, since all these particulars are true; it's likewise absolutely necessary, that the Christian, the onely true, Holy, pure Religion, should be built upon such a foundation, as might appear to all Men, upon the strictest inquiry, beyond all doubt or controversie, Mysterious, inexplicable, incomprehensible. Nor could it be an imper­tinent labour to clear this truth, because it totally ruines all the pretences of the Socini­ans, that, after the Revelation once made of the great fundamentals of our Faith, there could remain nothing of so obscure a nature, but that we by the pure strength of our own reason might be able to comprehend it, In short, that though it be true, that Scripture, as suf­ficient for that purpose, is and ought to be the sole rule of Faith, yet reason ought to be the rule of Scripture, Reason, as it now stands, loaded with all the miserable consequences of sin, reason so blind, as without the ex­traordinary light of holy Scriptures, to be wholly unable to lead a Man to Eternal life; it obviates their assertions, that the true an­cient Catholick Interpretation of this and other Texts of Scripture, that speak of the eternal Divine nature of the Son of God, or of that glorious Trinity subsisting in the Fa­ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, is false and un­reasonable, meerly because it introduces an unintelligible incarnation and unity of the Di­vine and Humane nature in Christ: a My­sterious [Page 192] co-essentiality of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, &c. not­withstanding all those glorious revelations God has made of himself in Scripture; For if it be certainly true, that Religion in it's general notion, cannot subsist unless built upon a mystick foundation, and that there­fore Christian Religion in particular can­not subsist without it, then it will follow, that the continuing Mystick nature of the great Articles of our Faith, can create no prejudice in any person whatsoever against our Religion on their account; since espe­cially it will remain impossible to draw any genuine consequences from those mysteries, but what will be so far from impeaching, that they will strongly confirm and re-in­force all those duties relating to God or man, which are laid upon us by the natu­ral or written Law; and it will follow far­ther, that the Socinians themselves, by their endeavours to level all the Articles of our Faith, the great saving principles of the Gospel, to impair'd reason, or by endea­vouring to leave Christiany naked of all My­steries, do what in them lies, to disannul all the Religion of Christians, to take away all the use and advantage of the Gospel, leaving the world so involv'd in Atheism, or in meer Deism, at this time very little to be preferr'd before the other.

Having done now with the positive asser­tion, our next work is, with all exactness [Page 193] and humility, to consider the illustration of this Proposition in the severals laid down by the Apostle, which altogether afford us the whole sum and substance of the Gospel; for all that glad tydings sent from Heaven to Earth for the comfort of mankind, consists in this, That for their sakes, to procure their Salvation, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of Angels, preach'd unto the Gentiles, believ'd on in the world, receiv'd up into glory: all which particulars, (tho' the full prosecution of the first, be all our present task) are incomprehensible my­steries, yet as well worth our enquiring into, as the Apostles writing them, who without doubt would never have laid the weight of piety, or godliness, or true Religion, upon those grounds, had they not been worth our looking into, or their truth worth our vin­dicating from all the attacks of prejudiced, opinionative, or haeretical men: It's true a late author tells us,Naked Go­spel, p 34. c. 1. l. 20. That to dispute concern­ing a Mystery, and at the same time to confess it a mystery, is a contradiction as great as any in the greatest mystery; the expression is worth our remark, for the boldness and ab­surdity it contains: It's bold not to say impious, to insinuate so broadly, in a dis­course where Christianity's concern'd, that all great Mysteries are made up of, or at least contain contradictions; what have we then nothing at all Mysterious in Scripture? what's that love between the blessed Jesus [Page 194] and his Spouse the Church, so admirably character'd in the book of Canticles? can our Author find nothing Mysterious in all those adumbrations of ineffable love? or can he easily give us a Catalogue of the Con­tradictions there? the real Contradictions I mean, for things that are of no mysterious nature at all on any other account, may seem to contain somewhat contradictory, but seeming contradictions are not real: Can he fathom every thing relating to Daniel's weeks? Men of a great deal of learning, industry and sobriety have taken a great deal of pains to explain the mystery of them, and have scarce yet given the world satis­faction, were not the Vision mysterious, it would be more easily clear'd, but because it is not, must it therefore be contradictious to it self? or to make a yet closer instance: the nature of a God, can He or any Socini­an make it comprehensible to humane under­standings? or else will the very notion of a God imply a contradiction? He must be a very new fangled Son of the Church of Eng­land who will assert that: but why must it imply a contradiction to dispute or dis­course about, or to enquire into a confest mystery? That God was manifest in the flesh is true we believe, that every circumstance relating to his Incarnation as laid down in Scripture is true, according to the genuine and common interpretation of such words whereby these circumstances are express'd, [Page 195] we believe too: That as they are true we may dispute about them, and clear them from all that Sophistry, whereby some subtle men would fain baffle us out of them, is no uncouth or irrational opinion; yet, after all, we take the whole account of this Incar­nation, as laid down in Scripture, to be a very great mystery: But where lyes the Con­tradiction, either in believing it a mystery, or in defending it as such? This truth that God was manifest in the flesh, is as before in­timated, that upon the literal truth of which the whole Salvation of mankind depends, How he should have been so, is to all man­kind mysterious and incomprehensible, yet may we without any contradiction explain, de­fend, prove, and draw inferences from it: Hear what a Bishop of our own, a genuine son of our sacred Mother the English Church, says of this manifestation of God in the flesh: How it was effected, Vid. Mon­tacut. Nor­vic. in Act. & Mon. Eccles. c. 1. par. 39. p. 27. 1 Pet. 1.12. by what means made possible, heaven and earth cannot under­stand nor deliver, [...], It was a mystery from the beginning, the Angels under­stood it not, [...], it will be a mystery to eternity: the Angels as yet can go no farther than their [...] to receive a glimmering of it, as it were by the crany of a window, or by the chink of a door, and how shall we dare to enquire, how it was done? [...], this question is indissoluble, that inextricable, Faith alone has power to [Page 196] resolve them both; this we submissively agree to, and therefore we enquire not how, or in what manner God was made flesh, any farther, than some particulars relating to that Incarnation are plainly laid down in Scripture; far be any such presuming curio­sity from us; only since the Apostle, in the consequent parts of the Text, has asserted, that God was made flesh, which according to the natural sound and common accepta­tion of such words in all languages and wri­ters, is, that he who was made flesh, or ap­pear'd in the flesh, was God, since the A­postle has asserted the positive truth, and has made it the first part of the great my­stery of godliness, and such a part, as all the other particulars do but serve to prove and confirm: We must assert too, that this par­ticular point or article of Faith, that He who was made flesh for the Salvation of man­kind, was really God, God properly so call'd, the most high, the eternal God, blessed for ever, not any made or subordinate God, but the maker of all things, in a word, the true God, exclusive of all created Beings whatsoever. We assert that this is an Article of our Faith, so true and so important, that upon a true embracing it in the sence so laid down, the Salvation of all men depends; as much, as upon believing in Christ the Son of God at all, or on being neither impious, nor blasphe­mers, nor idolaters: And therefore we assert farther, that how great a mystery soever [Page 197] this may appear, (and it never ought to appear otherwise) to enquire into and seek for all such Scriptures, as may render it in­disputable, is neither impertinent to our Lord's design, in being so incarnate, nor is it fruitless to those who make it their bu­siness to inquire into such proofs, nor is it dangerous to any, who make that enquiry with due humility and care: But on the contrary it's very dangerous, nay fatal, as before, not to enquire into it, or not to be fully satisfied about it.

I know we have in this point more enemies than the meer Socinians, some capital asser­ters of the Arminian tenets, being desirous to give such a latitude to Religion, as may take in all their friends, are very willing to perswade us, that it's not very material, or necessary to believe, that Jesus Christ the Son of God, is God of the same substance or nature with his father. So Episcopius a man of great learning and ingenuity in his fourth book of Theological Institutions, c. 34.Traitè sur la Divin. de J.C.S. 1. c. 1. p. 10. &c. the sum of whose plea amounts to this, That the essence of Christian Religion consists not in meer contemplative knowledge, but in practice, and that it consists much more in obedience, than in abstracted speculations on the Deity, which, tho' it be true enough, has really no place here, for can we call those principles meer or simple speculations, which are so im­portant, that we our selves are or are not Idolaters, accordingly as they are true or [Page 198] false? If Christ be of the same substance with his Father, or if, which comes to the same end, Christ be the supreme or sovereign God, he ought to be adored in that quality; and Socinians themselves cannot without im­piety refuse to acknowledge him as such, and to honour him under that name: but if he be not so, we cannot confound him with the Sovereign God, without Idolatry: The great concern here then is, to avoid impiety, or idolatry; and by consequence, those inquiries must be of a practical nature, which are of so very great and extraordinary an importance. Episcopius makes several vain attempts to shew, That it is not at all essential to Salvation to know if Jesus Christ be God by an eternal generation; or that, be­ing but a simple creature, or which is the same, a meer man like one of us, he is called God upon account of his ministry: for when he goes about to make us see that these are no fun­damental inquiries, in shewing us that those, who believe Jesus Christ is a meer Creature, may worship him without being guilty of Idolatry, because they adore him not as he is man, but as he holds the place of God, as his Ambassador or Substitute: this proof is imperfect and insufficient. For to prove that these questions are impertinent or unnecessary, it's not enough to shew that Socinians, without being Idolaters, may worship him, whom they believe to be no more by nature than a meer Man, which [Page 199] supposition yet we shall in due time prove, God willing, to be false. But he ought to shew withal, that we without Idolatry may worship Jesus Christ as the supreme God (as we really are taught to do by the Church of England) tho' at the same time he really be not the sovereign God; which seems to be a very hard if not an impossible task, as I question not but hereafter it will more plainly appear. At present I shall only touch upon an argument, urged by Episco­pius, from a Topick very easily found out; the reason then given by him, why it is not necessary that we should believe Jesus Christ to be perfect, or the true God, is, Quia nu­spiam in Scripturâ id necessarium creditu esse asseritur, nec per bonam, nedum necessari­am consequentiam ex eâ elicitur, Because it's a doctrine of which the Scripture no where af­firms, that it's necessary to be believed, nor can it be drawn from thence by any good, much less by any necessary consequence: And he goes on to shew, that this argument ought to be of very great force among those of the reformation, because they profess there's nothing necessary to be believed, but what's either directly, or in plain terms contained in Scripture, or drawn from thence by very clear consequence; the last indeed, the sixth Article of the Church of England agrees with, but what she thinks of his first assertion, may very well be gathered from the second, wherein she propounds this Do­ctrine [Page 200] as necessary to be believed, The Son, which is the word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eter­nal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the God­head and manhood, were joyn'd together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man, &c. With the Church of England agrees, the Helvetic Confession,Vid. Har­moniam Confessio­num in notatis. c. 3. that of the French Churches, Artic. 6. the Scotch Confession, Artic. 1. the Synod of Dort, Artic. 8. the Synod of Czenger. in Hungary in their own Argument against the Socinians, and in Artic. 2. the Confession of Augsburg, c. 1. of Strasbourg, c. 2. the Saxon Confession exhibited to the Synod of Trent, c. 1. that of Wittemberg, Art. 2. the Confession of the Prince Pala­tine, Art. 2. that of Bohemia, Art. 3. and 6. of Basil, Art. 1. and finally the Orthodox consent of all the Fathers with holy Scripture, Artic. 2. c. 1. and it's observable, that the authors and subscribers of all these Confessi­ons, imagine, that they ground this par­ticular Doctrine of the eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon Scripture; so that they declare they either find it there in express terms, or at least thought they drew it very naturally from thence, and cer­tainly they were not mistaken; for, let us reflect a little on the Commandments of [Page 201] the Old Testament, there Israel received this charge, Hear, O Israel, Deut. 6.4. Exod. 20.2, 3. the Lord our God is one Lord; I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other God before my face: Observe what the Prophet adds to these precepts, Remember, says he, to the same Israelites, the former things of old, Isai. 46 9. for I am God, and there is none else, I am God, and there is none like me; the same Prophet introduces Almighty God speaking thus, I am the Lord, Isai. 42.8. that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven Images, and this particularly in such a place, where God is comforting his people with a descri­ption of the office, power, excellency of the Messiah, and teaching all to rejoyce upon the certainty of his coming: Our Saviour himself when he contested with the most subtle and powerful adversary in the world, alledges this against him,Matth. 4.10. get thee hence Sa­tan, when he had endeavoured to hire him to worship himself, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve: This then of the Ʋnity of the supreme being, and the incommunicability of divine worship to any other Being whatsoe­ver seems very Authentick Doctrine, and to be very well attested; yet after all this (to prevent that damning sin of Idolatry) whereas S. Peter refus'd the adoration of Cornelius with that reason,Acts 10.26 Stand up for I my self also am a man; And the Angel, who had shewn S. John all those wonderful Pro­phetick [Page 202] schemes, refus'd the worship of that Apostle with those words,Rev. 22.9. See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, worship thou God; yet the blessed Jesus, He who being the Son of God, at least in some sence, should have been of all others the most careful, for se­curing his fathers honour, yet He tells the Jews, that his father had committed all judgment to him, Joh. 5.23. that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the father, i.e. with the same kind of, or with equal honour; now every one will own, that the Father is to be worshipped as the supreme Being, or as the most high God, therefore Christ there as­sumes to himself the glory, honour or wor­ship belonging to the most high God: nor could this be strange in him who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God: Phil. 2.6. The same Jesus suffer'd himself to be worshipped, without any reluctancy or prohibition of the worshippers: He forbad not the wise men from the East, Matt. 2.11 when they fell down and worshipped him, and made their offerings to him; nor did the blessed Virgin (who doubtless knew what it was to be an Idolater) reprove them for their misapplied adorations: nor did the An­gel, Matt. 8.2. c. 9.18. who was their guide and director in their journey, inform them of this error: No more did Christ forbid the Leper, who worshipp'd him, nor the Jewish Ruler, who beg'd his goodness for the healing of his [Page 203] daughter; Nor his Disciples when by his power delivered from the storm; Nor yet all the Disciples when after his resurrection they all came and held him by the feet and worshipp'd him: c. 14.33. c. 28.9. now Scripture in all these places puts no difference between that wor­ship that is given to Christ, and that which the same persons generally render'd to the supreme God, therefore they knew nothing, but that he really was of the same nature with God: nor could he be so kind, or good, or wise, as he is character'd to us, who could see so many guilty of so damn­ing a sin as Idolatry, (which they must have been guilty of, if they gave to him, a meer Creature, that sovereign worship which be­long'd to the Creator,) without any reproof or check for it. Now tho' this danger may seem to infer a great deal of necessity of knowing Christ to be the true God, yet we may press it farther: For S. Paul tells us in plain terms,Rom. 10.13. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, where he is speaking of no other but our Lord Jesus Christ, now this laid together with that other text,Acts 4.12. that there is no salvation in any other, for there is none other name un­der heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved, joyning these together, as they assert the positive, so they include the negative of equal truth, that Without calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, Salvation can never be attained: but then it follows, How [Page 204] shall they call on him in whom they have not be­liev'd? v. 14. or in whom they have not had faith? but Faith may not be fixt on any, but on him who is the true God: true Faith is only towards God;Heb. 6.1. as the Apostle's phrase tea­ches us, and the Socinians themselves in the very Text we are now upon, would per­swade us to believe, that it was onely God the Father who was believed on in the World, Heb. 11.6. because he onely was the proper object of Faith, and we are told that without Faith it is im­possible to please God; but to imagine, that any Faith can please God which is placed in any Being beside himself, is foolish and ab­surd; Yet whereas God declared by his Pro­phet of old, Cursed be the Man that trusteth in Man, and maketh flesh his arm, and in his heart departeth from the Lord: Jer. 17.5. Christ a little before his Passion, bids his Disciples, as they believed in God, John 14.1. so to believe also in Him: But now if without believing in Christ eter­nal life and happiness cannot be obtain'd, and that be saving Faith which is fix'd on Him, and if we be reasonably commanded to believe in him, and yet true saving Faith cannot be fix'd in any but in God alone, then it will follow, that Christ must be God, the true, the Supreme God, and it will follow too, that it's indispensibly ne­cessary that all Men should know he is God, that they may know in whom it is that they believe, that he is the proper object of Di­vine Faith, and able to answer all the ex­pectations [Page 205] of Faith: For otherwise, as, a proposition may in it self be true, and yet I may be a lyer, when I swear it is true, be­cause I know nothing of its being so: So, though Christ may be in himself the true God, yet I am an Idolater, for worshipping him as the true, while I know not that he is indeed the true God: And St. Paul ac­quits not the Athenians of Idolatry, in con­secrating an Altar to the unknown God, tho' that God, unknown to them, was the same God whom he preach'd unto them: Nor will that of the Apostle St. John, be easily avoided, where having before told us, We know that the Son of God is come, 1 John 5.20. and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in Jesus Christ; he subjoyns, This is the true God and Eternal Life: These words, if we interpret them as they lie, and they seem to have no figure or Hyperbole, or foreign relation in them, may pass for a very plain Text to prove, that it concerns no less than our Eternal Salvation, to know that Jesus Christ is the true God, and this Interpreta­tion gives the clearer reason, and stronger Emphasis to his following rule,v. 21. Little Chil­dren keep your selves from Idols: If then our Lord's design was to procure Man's ever­lasting Salvation, a right and certain know­ledge of that on which Eternal Life depends, cannot be impertinent to our Lord's design: And if to worship God according to his de­clared [Page 206] Will, be the purpose of every one that embraces Christianity, exclusively of all other Religions, he that thinks it neces­sary, in his worship, to distinguish between these respects due to a meer Creature, and those Honours belonging to the Creator can­not miss his purpose, or lose his labour: and He who, by solid proofs, drawn from clear and pertinent places of Scripture, makes his Faith in this particular, rational, cannot ea­sily incur any extraordinary danger: though, without so doing, he may incur a fatal ha­zard, and thus we come to a direct discourse on that Particular, where these things will be more fully considered.

Having concluded the first words of this Verse, Without Controversie great is the My­stery of Godliness, to signifie to us the con­currence of the Christian Faith with the Worlds general vogue in relation to Reli­gion, and that Mysteries great and obscure are very necessary to the perpetuation of that Faith, and rend'ring it venerable among conceited and presuming disputants, it cannot be unuseful to discourse on the first instance the Apostle makes use of to illustrate the Mystery of Godliness, or of the Christian Faith, viz. God's manifesting himself in the flesh; or appearing and showing himself to humane eyes cloth'd in humane nature; for though God manifests himself a thousand se­veral ways in his works of Creation and [Page 207] Providence, where his Truth, Justice, Mercy, Power, Wisdom, &c. are notoriously evi­dent to diligent observers, yet all these ma­nifestations of himself are at a distance, and such as though they give us a very fair Idea of divine Goodness as in himself, yet con­duce little to Humane happiness while Men reflect upon themselves as miserably dege­nerate from that original excellency they were created in: and as such who have ex­tremely abus'd all those evidences of God's power and influence upon the World, which have been given for restraining them within due bounds, and making them submissive to a superiour Law: such reflections teach Men to look upon themselves as in a ruinous state, fit subjects for eternal displeasure, and of themselves wholly incapable of satisfying divine justice, or retrieving forfeited happi­ness, and upon God onely as a severe Judge and powerful revenger, of whom they could onely conclude, that he would vindicate his own honour upon those that injured it, and punish those to extremity who had not duly improved those overtures of himself which he had made in his visible works. What Man in such a case might wish for is easie enough to conjecture, He that's falling down a precipice would bless the Hand that would save him from death, and he that's going immediately to execution, would be over­joy'd to hear of a pardon; so would almost despairing, wretched, sinful Man do, wish for [Page 208] some proportionable power to interpose be­tween himself and vengeance. But such a power onely could be in God, and yet so great a benefit could be procur'd for Man onely by such an adequate satisfaction to God's anger as could be given by a Man; Here Humane conceptions were entirely at a loss, the universal imperfection of their nature they plainly understood, and so the impossibility of meer humane satisfaction; they easily found it was no created being, it was no mere man though strengthened by Divine assistance, nay it was none of those pure and happy Spirits who attend on cele­stial Ministrations, that could stem that pro­digious tide of immense wrath, therefore God himself must interpose; but how Infi­nity should be confin'd, how He who grasp'd the Universe in his hand should stoop from Heaven for the sake of those who had affron­ted his goodness before, how He should con­descend to assume Humanity, the necessary Medium of peace, were Mysteries too great for Man to fathom, and Hopes too large for guilty souls to please themselves with; but what was so very obscure to Man was plain and easie to the Almighty; and when the time of his redeem'd was come, when he look'd and there was none to help, Isay. 63.4, 5. and wondred that there was none to uphold, then his own arm brought salvation to the World; It was then in that absolute fulness of time, when sins and miseries, and anger were at the height, and [Page 209] all things seem'd inevitably running to eter­nal destruction, that God sent forth his Son made of a Woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law from those burdens, and that death to which they were enslav'd: to stop the fatal final sen­tence then ready to be past, God himself was so made manifest in the flesh; In rela­tion to which great action we shall assert,

1 That Jesus Christ the Messias appearing in our Humane nature, or cloth'd with flesh and blood, was really the Son of God.

2 That the same blessed Jesus was God, equal with his Father, or really and truly God, as well as real Man.

3 That it was necessary, that to effect our Sal­vation, God, and particularly God the Son should assume our nature to himself.

4 We shall make some deductions from these Con­siderations.

1 We assert then, That that Man call'd Jesus Christ, and reputed the Messias, or the Saviour of the World, who appear'd in our nature, was really indeed the Son of God: It's he whose Genealogy we have in Scripture descended according to the flesh, from the Royal Line of the House of Judah, the true and legal Heir of David's sacred Family: whose birth into the World, as it was mean and despicable, so it was very publick and unquestionable: We find his actions set down at large in the Gospels, and Him, according to their history, [Page 210] a Man of a blameless life and conversation, and of inexpressible condescenscions and good­ness, we observe him going about and doing good (the proper character of a great Per­son) in the Country of Judaea; healing Dis­eases, casting out Devils, forgiving Sins, and that not by a precarious or surreptitious po­wer, but by a really supreme inherent Au­thority of his own: We meet with him af­terwards accus'd by Jews, condemn'd by Ro­mans, and according to their Law, crucified between two Thieves, on Mount Calvary, bu­ried by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, rais'd again in a stupendious manner, con­versant among several Persons who were his Companions and admirers before, talking, eating and drinking with them forty days together, and afterwards in publick view lifted up above the Clouds, beyond the utmost reach of humane Eyes, this Man call'd Jesus Christ by the Writers of all these things, was really the Son of God.

He that would recommend a new disco­very to the World, gives a considerable ad­vantage to its reputation, by the extraor­dinary worth and merit of the Author; and therefore whereas the Gospel, or the glad tidings of salvation were the newest and most glorious discovery the World was capable of, and though the most welcome to a declining Age, yet with all the most incredible, it was incumbent upon the first divulgers of it, to recommend it upon the [Page 211] wisdom and power of its founder. The re­puted wise Men of old, to render them more venerable to the multitude, were wont to derive the first Originals of their great Benefactors from the Gods; But never was any benefit conferr'd on any place or Person by the kindest Patron which could stand in competition with that which the blessed Je­sus conferr'd on the whole World, there­fore never could any such publick Bene­factor be with equal reason deriv'd from Heaven with him: From thence therefore the inspired Writers deduce his Pedigree too, as well as from David, and tell us boldly, that that great Man, whose praises they celebrate in their Writings, was indeed the Son of God; which they assert not in a Me­taphorical sense, as the Psalmist calls Ru­lers and Governours,Psal. 82.6. I have said ye are Gods, and ye are all of you Children of the most high: As the Angels are stil'd by God himself, in his question to Job, Whereupon are the foundations of the Earth fastened, or who laid the corner stone thereof? When the Morning stars sang together, Job 38.6, 7. and all the Sons of God shouted for joy? as believers are stil'd by the Evangelist: As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; John 1.12. 1 Joh. 3.2. And again, Beloved, we are now the Sons of God; But the holy Writers make him the Son of God in a plain literal sense, as Seth is call'd the Son of Adam, being begotten of [Page 212] him, as Isaac of Abraham, as Solomon of David, or as we generally understand the word in our common expressions of the near­est Relations, declaring him so the Son of God, begotten of his father before all worlds, in contradistinction to creation: But it would not have been enough to satisfie the world in the truth of that extraordinary original for them to assert it; for tho' men value great discoveries according to the credit of their Authors, yet the weight and greatness of the discoveries make them nice and curious in their disquisitions about them that they may not be impos'd on, for how wretched a disappointment would it have been for a whole world, to be big with the violent ex­pectation of a Saviour, to be throughly sen­sible of their own necessity, to have a com­pany of men boldly publish to them, that the expected Saviour was really come and qualified suitably to those wonderful ex­pectations they had of him, and yet to find nothing but a sham or an imposture at last, a Bar-cozbi the Son of a ly, instead of a Barcochab, the Star that should have risen in Jacob, as the unhappy Jews were deluded at last.

In such a case Men are wont to look for clear and uncontroulable evidences of the au­thority of the discoverer, and had not God himself afforded such to the world in rela­tion to the descent and original of our Sa­viour, it would scarce have been reconcile­able [Page 213] to infinite justice, to have condemn'd the world for not believing on him; Nor would Almighty God have made use of those effectual means to satisfie humane doubts, had he not himself judged it highly rational that those creatures of his for whom he intended so great a good, should receive entire satisfaction in the truth and nature of that good bestow'd. In the evidences of his being the Son of God, lay all the strength and weight of his Doctrine, and the validity and efficacy of that Repentance preach'd by the Apostles in his name; had he, after all those glorious pretences, been one of an inferior rank, there never had been so great an Impostor in the world as Christ, nor such frontless cheats as his Apostles, nor such abused, besotted, bewitched Crea­tures in Nature as the Christians in all ages have been: Therefore to vindicate both their own Credit and that of their Master, the Evangelists in their writings, first ap­peal to the common knowledge of those who liv'd at the same time that Christ convers'd on earth, at which time had what they pub­lished been false, it would certainly have been quickly confuted by the interested Jews and Romans: For the Jews who saw them­selves expos'd under the characters of the most obstinate and ingrateful infidels in the world, and the Romans who saw themselves traduced as tools in the hands of their own vassals to carry on the most barbarous and un­reasonable [Page 214] cruelties; would certainly have vindicated themselves to the utmost against their slanderers, could they have found any flaws in those things they delivered; yet the Jews never went about to deny the ex­istence of Jesus the supposed Son of Joseph, nor the reality of those mighty works per­form'd by him, but rather to shew the pos­sibility of all those things tho' Jesus were not the Messias, wherein they were easily baffled, and the Gentiles endeavoured to confront his Miracles by the pretended wonders wrought by Simon Magus, and A­pollonius Thyanaeus, and so to depretiate the Messiah's reputation, but with as little suc­cess: And indeed it was almost inconceive­able, that a company of mean men, looked upon generally with an evil eye, should re­solve to publish a parcel of notorious false­hoods, which every man upon his own know­ledge could have confuted, and thereby have exposed themselves to the just fury of a deluded multitude: it was inconceivable that so many in their writings and preach­ings could at such different times and such distant places agree together, to put a sham upon mankind, and to do it so coherently in it self, and so agreeably to one another, as it was apparent these men did. Now in writing a History of immediate transactions, there can be nothing fairer in the world than for men who are eye and ear witnesses of the things in question to compile the [Page 215] story, and to publish it in their times who knew the same things whether they were true or false, as certainly as themselves, and an History so written, that passes through such an age without reproof, may justly pass for authentick, nor can any meer humane testimony attain a greater certainty. And where the subject of such a History is Di­vine, where many things are declared be­yond the reach of humane capacities, where they are yet laid down so exactly agreeable to those things obvious to humane under­standings, and where there appears nothing disagreeable to the common expectances of the world, nor to those best and fairest Idea's we have of the Divine Nature, there the History grows it self divine, and proves it self dictated by a Being superiour to all terrene defects: such a History is the History of the Gospel, and such an appeal to humane sence and knowledge, and carryes such de­monstrations of inspiration with it; where we find God himself declaring by a voice from Heaven, (the nature of which the Jews from their ancient records must necessarily apprehend,) at the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist,Luke 3.22. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, which voice, as being de­sign'd for the Introducing of our Saviour into the world, was audible not only to John the Baptist, but to others, and when it was repeated at the transfiguration, Matth. 17.5. it was audible to all those who accompanied him, [Page 216] and John the Baptist himself, of whose Com­mission the Jews seem'd very well satisfied, declares,John 1.33, 34. He that sent me to baptize with wa­ter, the same said unto me, Ʋpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost: and I saw and bare record, that this is that Son of God. Now tho' the stubborn Jews seem not to have depended at all upon these declarations, nor to have been by them convinced of the truth of what was asserted in them, yet their ac­knowledging John the Baptist to have been a Prophet, and their never denying the truth of these accounts as here set down, are in­deed very considerable proofs of their truth, especially since nothing could repre­sent them worse, than relating such things as truth, and describing them as incredu­lous and refractary still.

The Evangelical writers as they give us this account concerning voices from Heaven, and the testimony of John the Baptist, so they inform us of Christ himself that he owned and asserted his own original too, so he tells Nicodemus, a person of sence and curiosity, as appears by his discourse with our Saviour, God so loved the world, John 3.16. that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have everlasting life: Which declaration refers to himself, he mentioning that sending of the Son of God, as a thing now accomplished, which title [Page 217] none assumed, nor was it given to any be­fore himself. They tell us how justly he rebuk'd the Jews for charging him with blasphemy because he called himself the Son of God; John 10.36. for the nature of those works he did openly in the world's view, was a sufficient proof of his being sent by God, since no­thing less than a divine power and assistance could possibly effect such things, as the Jews if they had not been resolved upon ruine, could not but know: But God was not wont to send such on his errands, who puff'd up with pride would usurp great and im­proper titles to themselves, or who would impose on the world by daring falshoods; the Jews were not wholly irrational in thinking he deserved death for calling himself the Son of God, if really he were not:John 19.7. No Poli­ticks yet could fairly give a toleration to open blasphemy: But the Jews, tho' very angry with him for calling himself by so august a name, railed at him indeed, and accused him and persecuted him, but never went about to disprove him; nay, when he challeng'd them if they could to convince him of sin, John 8.46. to shew any crime whatsoever that he had been guilty of, they answered him only with an acquitting silence; they were excellent at generals, but the worst in the world at particulars; and yet to be with­out sin, was so extraordinary a quality as could be compatible only with one de­scending from Heaven: Ʋnclean Spirits [Page 218] terribly sensible of his power, frequently howsoever unwillingly confest him to be the Son of God, Matth. 8.29. Mar. 3.11. and they were too much his ene­mies to acknowledge a thing so very disad­vantagious to their own designs, had it not been truth. Nathanael a prudent and a pious man, upon discourse with him, easily confest Thou art the Son of God, Joh. 1.49. thou art the King of Israel; The disciples when they saw how with one word Jesus laid that storm which had threatned their destruction, confest,Matt 14.33. of a truth thou art the Son of God: Humane power could not quell the loud and violent storms, but he that made them could easily allay their fury. The Roman Centu­rion who was his guard at his Crucifixion, when he saw how at his giving up the ghost, the earth quaked, Matth. 27.50—54. the rocks rent, the veil of the Temple was split in twain from top to bottom, and the graves opened, and long bu­ried bodies arose from their heavy sleep, could not but submit his faith to such prodigious visions, and profess that truly this was the Son of God: Nature was not wont to un­dergo such dreadful convulsions, for the death of an inferiour person, but when its great Creator suffer'd, it was time to own its sympathetick pangs; after these things it was no wonder to hear the Apostles de­clare,Acts 3.13, 36. That the God of their fathers had glo­rified his Son Jesus Christ, and again, That unto us God having raised up his Son Jesus Christ, sent him to bless us in turning away [Page 219] every one of us from our iniquities. But af­ter all, had either Jews or Romans prov'd as well as call'd Christ a deceiver before, it must have been a very unordinary confi­dence in the Apostles to act over the baffled farce again, and to set up their Master for the Son of God, who had justly suffered be­fore for blaspheming that Divinity he pre­tended so near a relation to. But tho' what I have said already may go a good way to­ward the proof of that, That Jesus was the Son of God, yet for the farther clearing this matter, we may enquire

1 Into the promises and predictions concern­ing his birth, or appearance in the world as an Intercessor for it.

2 Into the manner and circumstances of his Birth.

3 Into the intent and design of his Doctrine.

4 Into that influence Scripture history in these cases ought to have upon all those who own the being of a God whether they be Christians or not.

1 It's our business to enquire into those promises and predictions current in the world concerning such an Incarnation of the Divi­nity, or its extraordinary appearance in the world for the restauration of its bliss, before by the encrease of wickedness perverted and ruined: for Promises and Prophecies concern­ing a person yet unborn, and these publick [Page 220] and obvious to an inquisitive world, are wont to signifie such a person wholly extraordi­nary, especially when the same spirit which imparts the fore-knowledge of him gives his very name to the world; so we find, when the Man of God cryed against the Altar in Bethel, 1 Kings 13.2. he prophesied, That a child should be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, who upon that Altar should offer the Priests of the high places themselves and pollute it with dead mens bones; that Josiah spoken of there so long before his birth, made good the Prophets word to the utmost, and has that admirable character bestowed upon him by the Holy Ghost,2 Kings 23.16, 25. That like to him there was no King before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, neither after him arose there any like him: So the name of Cyrus was fore­told long before his birth by the Prophet Isaiah, He's there stil'd God's shepherd, his anointed, the man whose right hand God him­self had holden, but he was to be a perfect Hero, and such heathen as well as sacred Hi­storians represent him, and God by Isaiah predicts his glory,Isai 44.28.45.1, 2. even That he should per­form all his pleasure, saying to Jerusalem thou shalt be built, and to the temple, thy foun­dations shall be laid, which Cyrus so named by the Prophet was indeed a type of our Je­sus, our Saviour and deliverer.

[Page 221]How numerous, and how plain soever the Prophecies of him in Scripture were, we shall more particularly consider here­after, but some principal passages we must on this occasion take notice of: And first of that foundation of humane hopes, the Proto-evangelium Paradisiicum, or that pro­mise made to our first Parents in their lapsed state, tho' before their expulsion from Pa­radise, for it was a promise to them, tho' a threat to the Serpent to whom the speech was more immediately directed,Gen. 3.15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel: This being by all Christians and antient Jews in­terpreted of the Messias, was the first glad tydings of hope to those who were just fallen into a ruinous condition, this supported our great Parents spirits, when otherwise no­thing could present it self to them, but fears, terrors and desperation: after this we find God promising as a peculiar blessing to Abraham—and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, Gen. 22.18. which the Jews too of old understood of the Messias, to be of the stock of Abraham according to the flesh, nor could it otherwise have been made good; for the Jewish nation, tho' they were parta­kers of particular and infallible oracles, yet were but an obscure nation in respect of the rest of mankind, and tho' they were active in the degeneracy of their Church, to make [Page 222] Proselytes to their Law, yet the numbers were not great, and if that of our Saviour be truth, That they made their Proselytes two fold more the children of wrath than they were them­selves, Matt. 23.15. that care of theirs was no very great blessing to the world; Therefore S. Peter in the close of that Sermon he preached on occasion of the lame man's cure,Acts 3.25, 26. applyes this promise to our Jesus, and more distinctly and determinately S. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians, Gal. 3.16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, He saith not unto seeds as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. And further we have in the early ages of the world that famous and indisputable prophecy of dying Jacob, The Scepter shall not depart from Judah, Gen. 49.10 nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until Shilo come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be, the exact accomplishment of which, as Shilo means the Messias, that is, the Christ, we shall afterwards take notice of. It were no difficulty to shew how many of those institutions and Ceremonies of the Jews prefigured this same Saviour, but I shall rather confine my self to prophetick words than actions, as tending more directly to my purpose. Famous was that prediction of Balaam, Numb. 24.17, I shall see him but not now, I shall behold him but not nigh, there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Seth. [Page 223] 19 And afterwards, Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have the Dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the City; by which ge­neral destruction is onely meant that Idola­try, and those Idolaters which the Doctrine of the Gospel should confound, and this, as Christians have all along applied to Christ, So the Jews prov'd sufficiently they under­stood it so, by their eager following the Bar­cochab, whom they thought pointed out by this Text, as I hinted before.

Nor did the Jews till afterwards when they came to seek subterfuges for their ob­duracy, question the meaning of their Law­giver, when he told them, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet, Deut. 18.15. from the midst of thee, of thy Brethren, like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken, this could onely be made good of Christ, since Moises Ben Mai­mon, the most learned of Jewish Writers of late, has largely prov'd the disparity be­tween Moses and all other Prophets menti­on'd in Scripture, and Scripture it self as­serts, That there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, Deut. 34.10. whom the Lord knew face to face: Our Saviour onely spoke out Divine Mysteries in the day time, and in the face of the whole world, he needed not, as others, the mediation of Angels, or of Dreams, or of Visions, to make him understand the will of God, but saw and knew every thing past, present, and to come, clearly and fully in himself: His humane nature lived not onely [Page 224] in a strict friendship, but in a close and com­pleat union with the God-head, and therefore felt no Convulsions or ecstasies, no violent emo­tions of his rational faculties, nor was he confin'd to time, or place, or common rules, and methods, but as the fulness of the God­head dwelt in him, so he deliver'd Oracles to Mankind at all times, as he himself pleas'd, for God did not give the Spirit to him by mea­sure. Job 3.34. Thus inspir'd David, publishes that Eternal Decree, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee: ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, Ps. [...].7, 8. and the utmost part of the earth for thy pos­session, which could never be true in respect of David, who never acquir'd so vast an Empire as is there promised, but it was re­ally acquir'd by our Saviour, who by his holy Gospel subdued the Ʋniverse, and made all Mankind partakers of that redemption wrought for them by himself: And so Saint Paul preaching Christ to the Jews at Anti­och in Pisidia, tells them, That the promise made to their Fathers, God had fulfilled to them their Children, having rais'd up Jesus again, as it is written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; Acts 13.32, 33. and the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, proves his Superiority to Angels by that Argument: For to which of the Angels said God at any time, Hebr. 1.5. Thou art my Son, &c. And again, to prove the mission and autho­rity of Christ having said before, That no [Page 225] man takes the Priestly honour to himself, but he that is call'd of God, as was Aaron, he pleads, So Christ glorified not himself, to be made an High-Priest, Heb. 5.4, 5. but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee; and so we are certain of the due ap­plication of the Prophecy, which we shall dilate on farther in another place.

Such again was that of David in the Per­son of Jesus, afterwards to appear in the World,Psal. 40.6, 7, 8. Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou open'd; inti­mating by that the inefficacy of all those legal and typical Sacrifices which the Jews and, in imitation of them, others had been us'd to; for if these Sacrifices could have avail'd for the taking away of Sin, they had no longer been types and shadows, but things of a real and substantial excellency; which since they were not, Burnt-offering and Sin-offering hast thou not requir'd, Then said I, Lo I come, in the Volume of the Book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, Hebr. 10.5-10. O my God, yea thy Law is within my heart: And thus this Prophecy is apply'd by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, onely with that difference, that whereas the Psalm has it, Mine ear hast thou open'd, according to the Hebrew, the Apostle follows the tran­slation of the Septuagint, and renders it, a Body hast thou prepared for me, the sense a­mounting still to the same, for as the He­brews, according to the Law, made a Servant [Page 226] their own for ever, by opening their ears or boring them, Exod 21 6. so God made his Son Jesus o­bedient as a Servant, by preparing him a body, which was open'd too and fastened to the cross, as the Servants ear, in boring, to the posts of the door; Nor was that less plain or consi­derable, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy foot-stool. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent; Psal. 110.1-4. Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck: The first part of this our Saviour, who undoubtedly knew its true meaning, assumes to himself, and con­founds the Pharisees, by asking them that Question, That whereas it was expected the Messias should be the Son of David, yet Da­vid calls him Lord, Matth. 22.41-45. How could he be his Lord and his Son too? which was a mystery inex­plicable to those who had meer carnal and mean notions of the Messias; but a difficulty which when they got over, it would not be so very hard to believe him, humble and de­spicable as he appear'd, to be the very Messias they look'd for; For if he who was David's Lord, and indeed God blessed for ever, could condescend so low as to be David's Son, it could not be strange that he who was Da­vid's Son should stoop lower yet, and appear in the form of a servant: The latter part of this prediction relating to a Priest, is by the Writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews ap­ply'd to Jesus,Hebr. 7.17-21. as a proof of the legitimacy and eternity of his Priesthood; Of the same [Page 227] authority is that, [...] 18, [...] [...]. The Stone which the builders refus'd is become the head of the corner, this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes; which (not to mention the Jewish fable of such a stone, being reall, met with­all in the building of the second Temple, which had by several been thrown aside as useless, yet afterwards by miracle was found fit for the joyning of the corners of the buil­ding) our Saviour makes use of to convince the Jews of their folly and obstinacy in re­fusing to own him in his great Mediatorian office, and to let them see that their con­tempt of Him could be no prejudice to his sacred dignity and Honour, but that he, who was now thought too inconsiderable to be of any use to the Jews, one of the smallest of the Nations,Matth. 21.42, 43, 44. should afterwards appear great enough to joyn Men of all Countries and Na­tions together in one Sacred bond, and to crush all his Enemies in dreadful ruines; for so he adds, on repetition of those before quoted words, Therefore I say unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, and whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder: And this ad­vancement and dilatation of Christ's power St. Peter justly takes notice of, from the same Psalm, in the case of the Cripple newly cu­red,Acts 4 9, 10, 11, 12. If we be this day examin'd of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means [Page 228] he is made whole, Be it known to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God rai­sed from the dead, even by Him does this Man stand before you whole; This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is be­come the head of the Corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

That of Isaiah is wholly extraordinary, and, as I hinted before, it was a sure sign of some extraordinary Person intended, it gives us the very name proper to our Jesus, as he was the Son of God, Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, Isai. 7.14. and shall call his name Immanuel; where the thing foretold is so much a miracle, that it cannot be believed to have occurr'd more than once in the World, nay, the prodigiousness of the thing has made some, great pretenders to reason en­deavour to weaken the very authority of Scripture it self, from the impossibility of the thing foretold: And the Jews have endea­vour'd to affix a large sense upon the Text, as if no more was meant than barely, That a Woman should be with Child, and so the mi­racle is wholly taken away: But all these little stratagems of unbelievers have fail'd, and the very Name added would convince considerate Men of some great thing de­sign'd, since a meer Man, or one coming in­to the World, according to the ordinary [Page 229] course of nature, could not be truly call'd Immanuel, or God with us: This declaration of the Evangelical Prophet, as He's justly call'd, is soon follow'd by another of the same nature; For unto us a Child is born, Isai. 9 6, 7. unto us a Son is given, and the Government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be call'd, Wonderful, Counseller, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, of the increase of his Government, there shall be no end, upon the Throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from hence­forth even for ever: In all which the Pro­phet seems to write a perfect History of things past; he speaks with that assurance and confidence, as if he had seen that hope of Israel born into the World, and wholly ecstatick in his contemplation of so infinite a blessing bestow'd on the World, he fixes such Titles upon him, as were compatible with no meer man, nay he makes him God, an Infinite, an everlasting God, the Ʋniversal Monarch of Earth and Heaven, yet leaves him drest in flesh and blood at last, a Child born, a Son given to us, miserable perishing Creatures: But Isaiah's reflections on the promised Saviour are so many, as not to be instanced in, more particularly we may just name that,Isai. 11.1. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots; And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom [Page 230] and understanding, the spirit of Counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity, for the meek of the Earth, and he shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked; and more to that purpose, which St. Paul in his discourse to the Antiochians in Pisidia alludes to; And that again,Acts 13.22, 22, 24. The voice of him that crieth in the Wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make streight in the desert an high-way for our God, every Valley shall be exalted, and every Mountain and Hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made streight, and the rough places plain, [...]i. 40.3.4, 5. and the glory of the Lord shall be reveal'd, and all flesh shall see it toge­ther, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, which John the Baptist applies to himself and his Master:Joh. 1.23. Such is the whole fifty-third Chapter, a compleat, though compendious Chronicle of our Saviour from his Cradle to his Tomb, happily read by the Aethiopian Eunuch; since from thence the Evangelist Philip took occasion to preach to him Jesus: Acts 8.34, 35. Such that, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me, to preach good tidings to the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the Captives, and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound, Isai. 61.1, 2. Luk. 4.17, 18, 19. to proclaim the acceptable Year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, apply'd to himself by our Saviour.

[Page 231]Agreeably to these Predictions the Pro­phet Jeremy foretels, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise to David a righteous branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, Jerem. 23.5, 6. and shall execute judgment and righ­teousness in the Earth, in his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is the name whereby he shall be call'd, The Lord our righteousness; Which is again re­peated by him, Jer. 33.15, 16. To the same purpose Ezekiel, I will save my Flock and they shall be no more a prey, and I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David, he shall feed them, and he shall be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, Ezek 34.22, 23, 24. and my servant David a Prince among them, I the Lord have spoken it; Which is repeated and enlarged, Ezek. 37. 21—ad fin. Daniel yet more plainly, I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him; And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom, Dan. 7.13, 14. that all People, Nations, and Languages should serve him, his dominion is an everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away, Rev. 14 14. and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroy'd; Which St. John alludes to; not to mention any thing of Daniel's weeks, Micah gives us that, Thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little a­mong the thousands of Judah, Mica. 5.2. yet out of thee shall he come forth to me, that is to be ruler [Page 232] in Israel, Matt. 2.6. whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, which those Priests Herod afterwards enquired of, could re­member very well: And lastly, Malachi as plain as any,Mat. 3.1. Behold, I will send my mes­senger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddainly come to his Temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in, behold he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

These are a few of that very great num­ber of Prophecies which rais'd the ex­pectation of the Jews for the appearance of a Saviour, whom they expected as a mighty temporal Prince, not considering that the things foretold of him were beyond the at­chievments of the greatest Potentate in the world: For to be the great messenger of that Covenant which was between God and his people, and at the same time the God whom they sought, and whose their Temple was, who yet were taught to worship only the true God; to be the glory of a private town as of Bethlehem, yet of an eternal ori­ginal with respect to the time past, and the worlds everlasting head and governour with respect to the time to come; to be a David, a man after God's own heart, who should do all his will, after David's natural death; to be infinitely happy, just, compassionate, Anointed by the sacred Spirit of God, to have the greatest of those born of a woman his harbinger, and by him acknowledged [Page 233] for a God, tho' shaded from vulgar eyes by a cloud of humane frailty, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, yet a child, a Son, brought forth in the world and given to us; To be born of a pure and spotless Virgin, so Man, yet the hopes of all the ends of the earth, and of those that remain in the broad Sea, and so God: To be despis'd by the great and wise, yet the great Center of Ʋnity for all the Nations in the World; To be at once Da­vid's Son and David's Lord, and seated at the right hand of God: To terminate all material typical sacrifices in his own flesh, and unlimited obedience, yet to be own'd by God himself, as his only begotten Son, and heir to the government of all things: To surpass their admir'd Moses, as a Master his Servant in the Prophetick gift, and an intimate familiarity with God; To be the utter ruine of Idolatry, that seed which should be the blessing and therefore the de­sire of all nations, that seed which should break the head, ruine the policy and Ty­ranny of that old Serpent the Devil; To be a real and visible Man, yet our Immanuel, God with us, which is the summ of all those Prophecies and Promises; To be all these things is not consistent with a temporal Mo­narch whose breath is in his nostrils, tho' all the nations in the World ador'd him: The absolute conquest over prevailing wicked­ness, the triumph over Death and Hell and [Page 234] all the obstacles of a blessed Immortality, the redemption of a guilty world from im­pendent vengeance, by a swift and entire obedience to the Almighty Will, the making up that prodigious Chasme between an in­finitely pure and holy Deity, and a depraved and provoking world, are thoughts and en­terprises too vast and glorious to be under­taken by any child of Man; therefore who­soever it was, that all those mighty things should be accomplished in, whosoever should be so infinitely beloved by Heaven, and so prodigious a Benefactor to mankind, must be according to those titles fixt upon him, the Son of God, his Son in a true literal sence, and as such he may really be capable of doing more for us, than we our selves can ask or think.

The blessed Jesus, as I intimated before, was not only the expectation of Israel, but the desire of all nations, and therefore pro­mis'd to all nations in the forecited passages as well as them; and tho' the Jews were not so good natur'd as to be very Commu­nicative of their divine treasures, yet the Gentiles who had their concerns in so just an hope, had their predictions too, and tho' not so clearly, foresaw the approaching days of their Redeemer; the elder Prophe­cies, such as that to our first Parents in Paradise, or that to Abraham might get a­broad into the world, the prophecies them­selves being originally known to others, [Page 235] as well as those whom they more imme­diately concern'd; and that passage of Job, I know that my redeemer liveth, Job 19.25, 26.27. and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and tho' after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for my self, and mine eyes shall be­hold and not another, tho' my reins be con­sumed within me, is a sufficient evidence, that those who lived without the pale of Jacob's family were sensible of what they wanted, and that their hopes were reason­able that those wants should be supplied; and Balaam's predictions being heard by Moabites, strangers to Israel, were without all question taken great notice of by the heathen nations: Hence arose the fame of the Sibylline Oracles, talked of so much by antient writers, and by what we find spo­ken of 'em by Tully, De Divi­nat. l. 2. and transcribed from them by Virgil, sufficient to raise mens ex­pectations and desires for some very great and happy event; hence grew those common discourses of the Gods descending in humane shapes to converse with and instruct men, Which shewed mens general apprehensions of the love of the Deity to mankind, of the possibility of an Incarnation, and the useful consequences it might have for the reforma­tion of corrupt nature. Hence that pro­phetick advice of Confutius the famous Chi­nese Philosopher who liv'd 550. years be­fore our Saviour's birth, t [...] Prince to be [Page 236] virtuous, Huetii Demonstr. Evang. Prop. 7. c. 32. for says he, The actions of a good Prince ought to be agreeable to the Laws of God and Nature, and he should not doubt, but that when that expected holy One shall come, his virtue shall then be as much honour'd, as it was before while he lived and reign'd. And I cannot but think it reasonable to conclude, that Balaam's prophecy might be known there and better preserved by their learning, so antient among them, than in other places, and that excited by that, the wise Men came from thence to worship our Saviour at his birth, especially since the length of a journey from thence seems most agreeable to Herod's calculation, when to be sure of reaching the new born King, He killed all the children in Bethlehem and its coasts, Matth. 2.1, 2, 9, 10. from two years old and under, ac­cording to the time that he had diligently en­quired of the wise men. About our Saviour's time, and before and after, for a while, a rumour was spread abroad every where that One should be born in Judea, who should be the Ʋniversal Monarch, as Suetonius in the life of Augustus, and in that of Vespa­sian, and Tacitus in the fifth book of his Histories, tells us, which fame Josephus the Jewish Historian laid hold on to flatter with Vespasian, and to get his own liberty by perswading him the prophetick rumour pointed him out for the Roman Empire. Here again, That ever-living Redeemer, that glorious child, who should reduce the [Page 237] frame of Nature to so happy a condition after all the disorders it had suffered, who should banish sin and wickedness, That look'd for Holy One, who should give virtue its due reward, that Jewish native who should command the humble world, must of ne­cessity be concluded somewhat more than Man by the longing Expectants: He must be God to effect such wonders, and yet must be a Man to be a native of Judaea, he must have humane nature to be born with into the world and to converse with men, and to take away the very smallest foot­steps and tracks of Sin he must at least be partaker of Divinity; thus all the Pro­phecies both among Jews and Gentiles con­clude in a necessity that the worlds Re­deemer from that misery and those dangers it lay under, must at least be the Son of God. The Chara Deûm soboles magnum Jovis in­crementum, as Virgil expresses it: And thus much may serve for those Prophecies fore-running the Birth of our Saviour, I proceed now to enquire

2 Into the manner and circumstances of his Birth, which notwithstanding its outward or appearing meanness, was exactly agreeable to the grandeur predicted of him; for his being born in a publick Inn, and in a place of contempt, his being laid in a Manger, and having as some tell us Oxen and Asses for his Companions, were no prejudice to his [Page 238] dignity, its not the place of birth but the parents of whom Men are born that makes them vile in the worlds eyes: A Beggar may be born in a Palace, nay, wrapt in purple too, and concluded great by incurious fools, and great Princes have been born in forests and deserts, lost to all humane helps and respects sutable to their descents; yet he that's born of Parent beggars is a beggar still, and he that is deduced from the just Possessors of a Throne, a Prince: and such was our blessed Saviour being God of God, light of light, very God of very God, tho' manifest in the flesh; and to shew that he was such, He that had been so often pro­mised before, when the time of his mani­festation in the flesh came, had no less than an Angel from Heaven to notifie his very Conception, and his too, who was to pre­pare his way before him.Luke 1.11-21. An Angel told Zacharias of John the Baptist, when age made him past the hopes of such a blessing, an Angel too foretold the blessed Virgin, That she should conceive in her womb and bring forth a Son and call his name Jesus, v. 30, 31, 32, 33, &c. who should be great, and be call'd the Son of the Highest, to whom the Lord should give the throne of his father David, and who should reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of whose kingdom there should be no end: So proving that Isaiah's prophecy, c. 7. v. 14. was presently to be accomplished; it being a Virgin to whom the Angel foretold those [Page 239] great things, who without a miracle could not conceive, and the design of his Birth being that he might be Jesus the Saviour of the world, which none could be, but who was Immanuel, or God with us. After such preparatives, it was no wonder if other prophetick passages came to be made good too; the fulness of time requir'd such an ac­complishment, as well as the compleating of Sins, which were the occasion of those gra­cious promises to the sinners, as they mov'd the merciful God to pitty and compassion, which he chose then to shew when danger and misery was in its extremity. Prophe­cies concerning persons and places have ge­nerally their fixt times to be performed in, which tho' they are very difficult to be found out by others before hand, who are not possess'd by the same spirit which in­spir'd the Prophets, are yet very plain and easily intelligible to considering Men, when they come to read and seriously to weigh the Histories of things past; and we who stand at that advantage of time, who have the History of the blessed Jesus faithfully deli­vered down to us, and the predictions fore­going his Birth into the world, may so com­pare them together, as to make them strong­ly confirm the truth of one another. And thus, whereas we find the repeated promi­ses to Abraham and Isaac, that in their seed all the nations of the earth should be bles­sed, which could not be effected by any [Page 240] temporal Interests or extent of Empire: For tho' wise Governours are a blessing to any nation, yet all nations together are too great a Body to he managed by a single hand, and a Solomon himself can be no great blessing to those that never heard of him: But when he appear'd who was to save the people from their sins, Matt. 1.21. as the Angel in a dream inform'd Joseph, Luke 1.78, 79. When the day-spring from on high visited the world, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of peace; When that common Salvation was presented to humane eyes which was pre­pared before the face of all people, Luke 2.30, 31, 32. to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as the glory of the tribes of Israel, as old holy Si­meon expresses himself, then that Ʋniversal Blessing was really bestowed, and Jesus taking flesh of the blessed Virgin, was really that sacred branch who scattered his good­ness as the Sun his beams, through all the quarters of the Universe. Remission of sins, Redemption from the powers of Death and Hell, Reconciliation of sinners to a terribly incensed God, were all favours of an Ʋni­versal influence, none could be exempted from their glorious effects but those who coveted their own ruines, and were resolved not to accept of an offered blessing. That celebrated prediction of Jacob, That the Scepter should not depart from Judah, nor the Lawgiver from between his feet till Shilo [Page 241] came, was as punctually made good at the time of our Saviour's appearance in the world, who was the Shilo promis'd, or the person to be sent to take the Government upon him; which Prophecy though the Jews have endeavoured to render as obscure as possible, and tho' others by their needless curiosity have made us no fewer than six se­veral interpretations of it, yet it seems to have no such extraordinary difficulty in it, if that particle which is in our Bibles tran­slated, and, be but, as usually it is, transla­ted, or, for so the import of it will be that either, a regal Government should be continu­ed in the tribe of Judah, or at least a Law-giver, when that Government ceased, should be found among them, i. e. a legal expositor or determiner of the meaning of the Law of Moses, till the Messias should be ready to come. Now he that considers that as Judah had the superiority among his brethren, that he was the Leader of the Israelites to the war against the Canaanites, Judges 1, 1, 2. that his tribe was abundantly the most numerous of all the rest, as may be seen by the several accounts of their encrease, that the tribe of Judah had much the noblest and the largest share in the promised Land, and that the Royalty was at last regularly setled in the house of David in that tribe, to which family in particular the Messias was confined; He that shall consider these things carefully, and shall observe withal; That upon the [Page 242] defection of Jeroboam, the tribe of Levi in their zeal to the honour and service of the true God, left the rebelling tribes, for so we are told,2 Chron. 11.13, 14. That the Priests and the Levites that were in all Israel, resorted to Rehoboam the son of Solomon out of all their coasts, for the Levites left their suburbs and possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, by which means the tribe of Levi, to the chief family of which the Priesthood belong'd, came to be in some measure incorporated into the greater tribe of Judah, if withal he take no­tice that, tho' the regal power in the tribe of Judah ended with the Captivity of Baby­lon, yet the Priesthood continued in the family of Aaron, he may easily see the ful­filling of Jacob's words; for we may see Aaron the first Patriarch of the Priestly fa­mily breaking out of his own into the tribe of Judah and marrying Elisheba the daughter of Aminadab and sister of Naashon of the tribe of Judah, Exod. 6.23. which Aminadab and Naa­shon are particularly reckoned among Da­vid's predecessors by S. Matthew, Matth. 1.4. by which means the Regal and Sacerdotal line were intermingled as well as the tribes were af­terwards: nor were such alliances altoge­ther extraordinary, for we find afterwards Jehoiada the high-priest marrying Jehoshabeath the sister of Ahaziah King of Judah, 2 Chron. 22.11. of the house and lineage of David: Now the Scep­ter is assign'd immediately to the hands of Judah, the royalty being fully and entirely [Page 243] in the hand of that tribe without any com­petition either with the Benjamites or Si­meonites, part of which tribes stuck fast to Judah's interests after the revolt of the ten tribes: but the Lawgiver is placed be­tween his feet, not according to the sence some affix to that phrase, as if Jacob spoke modestly of the original birth of such Law­givers, as if being between the knees were an equivalent to being born from the womb of such a one, as it's true it sometimes means, but it signifies the Lawgiver shall be in his protection, or within his jurisdiction and li­mits, as a great Officer between the feet of the Sovereign on some solemn occasions, or as the Bishop of Rome is said to have set the Archbishop of Canterbury between his feet at the Council of Lyons with that ex­pression, Includimus hunc in orbe nostro tan­quam alterius orbis Papam; and so the Law­giver was continually within the proper bounds and limits of the tribe of Judah both before and after the Captivity of Babylon: But as the Scepter departed from Judah at that Captivity, so the legal expounder of sacred writings to the Jewish nation was taken away about the time of our Saviour's Incarnation, the family of Aaron being then lighted, and every one admitted to the high-priesthood who could give most money for that office, and the Civil Government tho' under the title of Herod being a meer vas­sal to the Roman Empire: When these [Page 244] things were both come to pass, then Shilo the promis'd Messias came, in whom those particular assurances to David were made good, That out of his loyns the Messias should come: In him the Royal and Priestly line were united, he was legal Heir to both Houses; he was a King and Priest for ever, to whom the gathering of all Nations is, and ought to be;Luke 1.27 32.35. Now that the blessed Virgin was of the House and Lineage of David, as well as Joseph, we learn from Scripture, and if the Tribe of Judah was exalted by the advancement of David to the Imperial Throne, it was much more exalted and more adorable to the rest of the Tribes by the birth of Jesus the Saviour of the World, and the King of all things both in Heaven and in Earth.

How Moses his word was made good, of the Prophet to be rais'd up like to himself, I show'd before, that being made truth in the birth of Christ: but it's more compleat ap­plication belonging to our Saviour's manly age when he made himself publick, and un­dertook to preach repentance to his obsti­nate Country-men; But that of a Body hast thou prepar'd for me, came to pass, when the Angel's word was effected, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, therefore al­so that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God; Luke 1.25. It was an im­mediate Divine power that gave a beginning [Page 245] and increase to that Sacred Body in the Vir­gin's Womb, nothing could be produced between Man and Woman, as under the an­cient curse, and miserably corrupted and pol­luted in their natures, that was fit for those great things at that time design'd for us, for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? therefore a Virgin untouch'd by man was chosen for his habitation, who was to redeem lost mankind, and was overshadowed by the power of the Almighty, Gen. 1.2. which did in­cubare in Virginem, as the same Spirit is said to move upon the face of the Waters, to cover it as the Bird covers her Eggs to make them prolifick, as the word imports; now a body so prepar'd, and so inhabited, as our Saviour's humanity was, could not be but pure and un­defiled, since if a corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit, neither can a good Tree bring forth evil fruit; the reasons of both their productions being the same. Nor was it unreasonable he should be David's Lord, though his Son according to the flesh, whose birth was intimated by holy Angels, whose Father was Almighty God himself, and whose Kingdom was to endure from everlast­ing to everlasting, all which circumstances rendred him infinitely more considerable to pure reason than ever David was; nor could the humble manner of his entrance into the World be any just prejudice to his mighty title: David was mean and inconsiderable too, when God took him from attending on [Page 246] the Sheep-fold to feed his People Israel, and the Prophet Zachary gives him notwith­standing his apparent meanness, his due Ho­nour, Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion, shout O Daughter of Jerusalem, Zach. 9.9. behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an Ass, and upon a Colt the foal of an Ass: He might then be a King still, how despicable soever he appear'd to humane eyes; and as a King according to the extent and proportion of his Empire, might be Lord of David, and of all the Kings upon Earth. Isaiah had long since foretold he should be born of a Virgin, and so in the event he was, Mary his Mo­ther was a Virgin, even beyond the confu­tation of the malicious Jews, it was to such a one the Angel was sent, it was such a one who was according to his assurance to be overshadow'd by the Holy Ghost, it was such a one who was to conceive and bring forth: And the Evangelist openly declares of Jesus, That when as his Mother Mary was espous'd to Joseph, Matt. 1.18. before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost, and of Joseph he asserts, That he knew her not until she had brought forth her first born Son, v. 25. and he call'd his name Jesus: And whereas, the Prophet had been ecstasi'd with joy at the knowledge of a Child, a Son of so Divine a nature being given to his People, when that Child was born indeed, the Sacred Host of Angels was rapturous, as the Prophet had [Page 247] been before, for when one of that heavenly Chorus had told the watchful Shepherds, Be­hold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all People, Luke 2 10.11. v. 14. for unto You is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord: Presently the whole Quire in a joyful transport prais'd God, and said, Glory to God on high, and on Earth peace, and good will towards Men; and his being really born of the House and Lineage of Da­vid, gave him a claim sufficient to an Inter­est in that Prophecy, that the Messias should be a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots; and whereas a voice in the Wilderness, was to cry before our Saviour's preaching in publick, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, &c. No sooner was John the Bap­tist born, who was Christ's forerunner both in birth and in that work too, but his inspir'd Father Zachary declares of him, Thou Child shalt be call'd the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, Luke 1.76, 77. to give knowledge of Salva­tion to his people for the remission of their sins. The Messias was to be the Prince of Peace, according to the Prophets, and he eventually prov'd himself so, when he made his first entrance into the World in the time of the most universal peace the World had known, the swelling Roman Empire was then in a profound calm within it self, after all those Civil broyls which had almost torn out its bowels before, and it was at peace with [Page 248] all its Neighbours round about, which had not happened of several Centuries be­fore, in such a juncture what could ra­tionally have been expected but what was suitably great and wholly extraor­dinary? That subtle old Serpent began to feel his influence even before his birth, when all those stratagems of his, whereby he was wont to embroil Mankind, were broken: he saw too easily that fatal off-spring of the Woman, which should break his head, ruine his arbitrary Tyranny and Power, and easily dissolve those seemingly irrefragable chains whereby he formerly had miserably enslav'd humane nature: This was that great and glorious King which God himself in spite of all the tumultuary insults and oppositions of terrene powers in conjunction with infer­nal malice, setled upon his holy Hill of Zion: It was He concerning whom so many graci­ous promises were made, as upheld the Church of old under those many dangers, difficulties and oppressions it was ordinarily engag'd in: God knew and pitied his Peo­ples calamities, and had promis'd, that he would find out an adequate remedy for their extreme necessities, this they believ'd, they knew that God who had promis'd was truth it self, and could not disagree with himself, and therefore when their condition was most cloudy, they saw the day of their Redeemer at a distance and were glad, and resolv'd though God kill'd them, they would yet trust [Page 249] in him; This hope and confidence made them patiently endure the torture, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection, resolving never to quit the hope of Israel, their faith in the Messiah, that they with him, suffering for the faith in him might rise again to the resurrection of Sal­vation.

But as the blessed Jesus was that Star him­self, which Balaam had foretold should arise in Jacob, so a Star attended his Birth, not onely shining like the Pillar of Fire in the Night; but giving a surer guidance than the cloudy Pillar in the day time, leading the observing Sages from the utmost quarters of the East, to give an Alarm to the Jews, and make them curious too in observing the signs of the times, that they might be sure not to miss at last, when he should come, of Him, whose coming they had expected so long: And indeed the Priests and Rulers, and He­rod, nay, and all Jerusalem were troubled,Matt. 2.3. and disturb'd at that happy news, which should have been their greatest joy and sa­tisfaction; The chief Priests and Scribes trembled, to think if that were true, that their imposing upon the People with a spiri­tual Tyranny and Hypocritical sanctity would be at an end: Herod was justly startled at the name of a King, as Princes are generally very jealous of Competitors in Empire, and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem, who had often felt Herod's fierce and bloody temper before, [Page 250] might justly fear an Inquisition to be made among them for this young Claimer; Herod yet of all the rest had the deepest impressions of fear and passion made upon himself, which, when the Wise men had deluded him, he ven­ted upon the miserable Bethlehemites. The poor laborious Shepherds receiv'd the News with calmer minds, they had no Govern­ments, no Interests to lose, but liv'd in harm­less Peace, and humble content in ignoble Cottages, and if their Flocks did well, they'd ne'er be concern'd in the cares of Kings and Potentates, therefore they flew eagerly to the Presence of their Saviour, and agreed with the Eastern Sages in their Prudence, not esteeming the new-born Infant, according to the meanness of his circumstances, but accord­ing to the glorious presages and indications of his Birth-right: So happy are the lowliest minds, and so much more capable of Divine impressions, than those distracted with the thoughts of worldly grandeur: So much more suitable they are to him, who tells us, He was meek and lowly in spirit, not puft up with the Hosanna's, nor yet dejected with the Crucifiges of the impetuous and variable mul­titude; but though Herod were angry and raged, God would not permit his madness to take place, chearful Angels were ever ready to wait their Master's errands, and they warn'd Joseph of the impendent dan­ger, so opening the way to the accomplish­ment of every word of God; for when [Page 251] Joseph fled into Aegypt for security, whose low condition in the World made him both unsuspected to the Jewish frontier guards, and to his Aegyptian entertainers, who little suspected that a mighty King enter'd under their Roofs, under the tutelage of a contemptible Mechanick, or that a little harmless Infant conceal'd a God; when this was done, an Angel too in due time gave Joseph such intelligence, as put an end to his voluntary banishment; and yet things were ordered so, that upon the news of Herod's Son's reign, Joseph turn'd aside to Nazareth, instead of returning to Bethlehem, that so the Son of God might at once be call'd out of Aegypt, and be stiled a Nazarene, that no Prophetical circumstance or Punctilio might be want­ing to his Birth, which was necessary to convince the World of his being that re­al Messias, which had been so long pro­mised to the Fathers; from all which it was no wonder that Christ himself after­wards referred the Unbelieving Jews to these very Considerations,Joh. 5.39. Search the Scri­ptures, says He, for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life, and they are they which testifie of me.

Now that He who before his appearance in the flesh had been the Author of a strong and impregnable faith in God's people, and who created such fears and made such [Page 252] terrible concussions in the souls of wicked and ungodly men, that he who when born, was to do things beyond the utmost reach of any thing but Omnipotence, to do a Creator's work, and restore all the decays of ruined Nature, that he should make his entrance into the world in a miraculous manner, was rationally to be expected, since the causes in supernatural as well as other things must be proportioned to the effects: And cer­tainly to any thing but a Jew, these prodi­gious appearances at the birth of our Saviour would have signified as much as golden Scep­ters and imperial Diadems, and all the gaudy shews of victories and conquests; and especially it should have been so since the Jews themselves, stupid as they were, ex­pected wonders in and at his birth; but a­bove all things their behaviour was strange to him in that, if the Messias were to be the King of the Jews themselves, the Jews them­selves as his Subjects should with the first have submitted to him, by which means, if any, he might have grown formidable to their enemies, and have, as they expected, restored the kingdom again to Israel, whereas indeed,John 1.11. He came to his own, but his own re­ceived him not: So that if he must have been so great and victorious, his Conquest must have been made at first upon his native rebels, before he could have spread the ter­ror of his arms abroad; They who expected only a Man, tho' very great, to appear, [Page 253] should have look'd for no such effects of his appearance but what might justly have con­sisted with humanity, armies are not wont to grow like Mushrooms in a night, and those who cannot have the assistance of their Subjects for their own good, can scarce ex­pect suitable supports from others to carry on or secure the interests of ingrates or re­bels. If any thing of worldly greatness were indeed to have been expected at the Messiah's advent, it should have been, that in so depraved an age of the world, he should have come attended with miraculous vengeance to destroy the adversaries of di­vine goodness and their own happiness: That Those his enemies who would not admit that he should reign over them, should have been brought out and slain before his face: But on the contrary, as his design was Mercy, so he came in a way proportioned to it, the lenity and softness of his ingress into a sink­king and undeserving world was wholly asto­nishing; Born, as it was foretold, of a pure and spotless Virgin, a descent agreeable to that prodigious innocence apparent in his life and converse, and according to the very tendencies of nature, more likely to incline to pity and compassionate tenderness of the miseries of others, such a temper being the ornament as well as the expected compani­on of a Virgin state: He was born a King, that he might with the greater intention study the good of his Subjects, yet born in [Page 254] a low and contemptible estate, that he might the better instruct the too aspiring sons of Men, that all the most substantial greatness is founded in humility; He was not well­com'd into the world with the dreadful shouts of conquering armies, but with the softer Hallelujah of joyful Angels, gentle and kind Spirits, whose triumphs were rais'd, not from the dismal groans of an impenitent tortured world, but that glory arising to God's eternal Name, from that peace brought down by him to earth, and that good will which was then undeniably de­monstrated toward the sinful children of men: His Birth was not first notified to Kings or Emperors or other worldly Grandees, that they might have cast their Crowns at the feet of him who lives for ever and ever, but to innocent and toyling Shepherds, who were watching their flocks by night, Men whose veracity none could reasonably suspect, and who could have no bye perverse design of their own to carry on, no intreagues to manage by imposing cheats and shams upon the credulous, who were the most proper witnesses of his Birth, who himself fed his flock like a shepherd, Isal. 40.11. who gathered the Lambs with his arm and carried them in his bosom, gently leading those that were with young; as it was predicted of him. Nor was the Royal Palace of a Monarch honoured with his nativity, but a mean and scorn'd stable, to shew That God had chosen the weak things [Page 255] of the world to confound the things which were mighty, and that the base things of this world, and things which are despised were chosen by God, and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are, 1 Cor. 1.27, 28, 2 [...]. that no flesh should glory in his presence; and yet that it might not be pretended that He who was rightful Monarch of the world wanted the due ac­knowledgments of his Sovereignty and divi­nity too, from his wiser and more conside­rate vassals, the Eastern wise Men, whom yet we dare not with those Legendary Au­thors, conclude to have been Kings, made their Presents to him of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrhe, proper offerings to so extra­ordinary a person, and sufficiently divulged both his birth and title, tho' that interstice of time between his birth and preaching publickly made all those premonitions for­gotten.

But was he meerly, as he was esteemed, the Son of an inconsiderable tradesman in Israel, of a poor person thrust into the stable of an Inn to give place to his Superiors? was it a slighted infant the companion of beasts it may be at his nativity, and beneath the notices of Men of birth and fortune? was it such a one that could be born by divine ope­ration of an untouch'd Virgin of the sacred royal Line? was it such a one that was re­ceiv'd into the world with the homage of blessed Angels, attended with a prodi­gious Star at his birth, adored by humble [Page 256] foreigners, blest and admired by Judaean Saints, and holy Men? Could such a one employ the dreams, visions, revelations, and the calmer studies of so many inspir'd Pro­phets both among the Jews and Gentiles, employ the care of active Angels for his pre­servation from the malignant fury of envi­ous powers, and the happy Pens of faithful Evangelists to transmit the series of his glorious actions, as well as the account of his miraculous birth to inquisitive ages? Could such a one be the Prince of Peace, the ever­lasting God, the infinitely wise Counseller, that blessed seed in whom all the nations of the World should be blest, that rock of Ages on which was fixt the faith of the Prophets and Patriarchs, the Saints and Martyrs of old, so firmly, that neither the force nor subtilty of Men or Devils could prevail against them? No, these were works only fit for a divine Being to undertake, nothing but God could be so waited on by humble and acknowledging nature, nothing but God could so strongly affect the hearts of holy Men; to raise the drooping soul above all the gay prospects of a flattering world, above all the dangers generally attending despised piety, to make Men sit loose to all those exterior blessings they meet with in this world, and to account all things but as loss and dung in comparison of that Salvation wrought for them by Jesus, to make them scorn the rack and wheel, and smile at flames [Page 257] and lingring tortures, and all this only upon the credit of a future happy state, for the purchace of Crowns and kingdoms invisible to all eyes but those of faith, and this too when all such sufferings and inconveniences might be avoided by a few short words and some little inconsiderable actions, these at­chievements are far beyond the most ambi­tious thoughts of meer mortal Creatures, beyond their most aspiring hopes, tho' in­fluenced by those united powers, which acted so vigorously in all the several Pro­phets of foregoing Ages. It's extremely derogatory to God's justice and wisdom to imagine, that Man, who was not able to support himself in his innocent state when once attack'd by a slight temptation, (tho' there were then no defects of any kind in his intellectuals,) should be able now when every faculty in him is weakned and per­verted by the spreading infection of sin, to work his own redemption: or should God have ordered a greater price to have been paid for satisfaction for sin, when a lower would have effected it, or have sent a par­taker of the eternal Godhead, to take upon him and suffer in humane nature for the worlds crimes, when an inferiour person might have compassed the great design as well. Nor had the benefit conferr'd upon us been so valuable, had God only wrought that for us, which, had he not done, we could as easily have wrought for our selves: [Page 258] But the case was otherwise; fallen Man was now in a state of damnation, perfect innocence and compleat satisfaction, for in­veterate guilt must retrieve him from Hell, but fallen Man was incapable of any such innocence or satisfaction; Angels who had sin'd, were incapable of pity, who had not sin'd were incapable of merit, their Creation from nothing, and their support in original sin­lesness, were benefits so great, that all their chearful attendances on coelestial services were too little to requite; he must there­fore be somewhat greater and more perfect than either Men or Angels, who undertook the mighty work, who was in a capacity of meriting and not under a necessity of mercy, which only the eternal Son of God could be; he alone who was of himself impeccable, could fully satisfie the utmost pretensions of infinite justice: who was a voluntary in his exinanition or humiliation and sufferings, and who needed no sacrifices for his own sins could perfectly atone the wrath of God: and therefore he took Man's cause into his own hand, and came in our nature, bringing Salva­tion along with him: then Natures Laws justly yielded to him who was the God of Nature, the Heavens then declared the glory of God, and the firmament shewed his handy work, the faith of pious Men was vigorously re-in­forc'd, by the full and miraculous accom­plishment of antient Prophecies and Promi­ses, and Angels themselves own'd it an ho­nour to be the first Evangelists.

3 [Page 259]To prove that Jesus Christ was and could be no other than the Son of God, we come to consider the intent and design of that Do­ctrine introduced by him, and by his Apostles and Ministers preached to the world in his name, where we are to observe, That as the writings of the Old and New Testament are to be the great standard of whatsoever is at this day published to the world as the will of God, so before the writing of the Gospel, the Law of Moses and of the Pro­phets was the true and certain Test by which all Doctrines were to be tryed, and as the Apostle writes to the Galatians, Gal. 1.8. Tho' we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Go­spel unto you, than that ye have received, let him be accursed, So had Jesus whom we conclude the Messias, gone about to propa­gate any other kind of Doctrines than what the Prophets had before, or than what was in every point agreeable to their precepts and rules, instead of being the worlds Sa­viour, he had proved himself an accursed impostor; and therefore when the Jews thought to take the advantage of him on this very score, he prevents them with that open declaration, Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, I am not come to destroy but to fulfil, Matth. 5.17, 18, 19. for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments, and [Page 260] shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, i. e. That he shall be of no esteem or value at all in the true Church of God: But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven; Luk. 10.25, 26, 27, 28. Agreeably to this when the Lawyer stood up and tempted him and said, Master what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Christ goes not about to give him any new rules of life, but referr'd him to the old, what is written in the Law, says he, how readest thou? And when the Lawyer had answered, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thy self; which was the real summary of the Mosaic Moral Law, as our Saviour himself else­where informs us, Christ replyes upon him, Thou hast answered well, This do and thou shalt live: Now if life, i. e. life eternal were to be obtained by the practising according to Legal instructions, there was no need of prescribing any new way of obtaining that everlasting happiness; and therefore when Christ gives us that parable of the rich Man and Lazarus, and introduces the tormen­ted rich Man supplicating that Lazarus might be sent to forewarn his five brethren, lest they also should come into the same ter­rible place, Luke 16.17. ad fin. Abraham tells him, they have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them; and to shew the fulness of their writings for [Page 261] reforming of sinners, Abraham upon his far­ther importunity subjoyns, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be­lieve tho' one rose from the dead: By which passage our Saviour plainly informs us, that even himself and his own Gospel after his resurrection would never take any place where Moses and the Prophets were de­spised before, the Law being the Gospels foundation, and preparing the devout soul for it's entertainment; for Christ still took notice of what we ought to consider, That truth is always agreeable to it self, and con­sequently the God of truth must be so too, and therefore if the writers of the Old Testament were inspired from heaven, which all wise men have hitherto believed, then the writers of the New Testament had no other way to prove their own inspiration but by agreement with the former, lest the holy Spirit, to whose conduct both pre­tended should seem inconsistent with him­self, or variable as mens humours could ap­prehend him. It's not now to be doubted but that our Saviour who knew what was in Man, therefore all along gave just preven­tives of those Cavils which the malicious Jews could afterwards raise against him, and therefore in his first Sermon upon the Mount he shews himself so far from evacuating what was in its own nature moral and per­petually obliging, that he on the contrary clears it from all those putid glosses the [Page 262] Jewish readers or Rabbins had fixt upon it, and whereas they had endeavoured to find as many starting holes from the severity of good Morals, as the Jesuites of later years have done, he gave his hearers the full sense and meaning of the Law, that so, by pretending to liberty from its rigours, they might not run themselves into eternal woes; and in plain terms lets them know, that whereas they were ready simply to ima­gine the severities of the Scribes and Pha­risees very extraordinary and meritorious, they were infinitely deceived, and that ex­cept their righteousness should exceed the righ­teousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they should in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matth. 5.20.

It was doubtless the full end and design of Moses and the Prophets to advance the honour of that God who employed them, to make his Name and his Laws respected, not only among the tribes of Israel, but a­mong all those nations to whose knowledge their writings were likely at any time to come: who by the rationality and tenden­cy of the Laws would certainly judge of the wisdom, goodness, and integrity of the Law-giver; but when those Prophets and others, had done their best, their endeavours were mixt with so many failures and imperfecti­ons, that sometimes they fell themselves a great way under God's displeasure, as Moses by his infidelity and presumption at the rock. [Page 263] The man of God that Prophesied against the Altar in Bethel, by yielding to the lying suggestions of the old Prophet: Jonah by his frowardness because of God's superse­ding his prophetical denunciation by his long suffering and mercy extended to penitent sinners, &c. And besides, in all those ser­vices those holy Men perform'd they could claim no higher a title than that of unde­serving servants, for that they had only done what was their plain duty, and in case of failure they were obnoxious to very se­vere penalties; and Moses tho' he have that honourable character, that he was faithful in all God's house, it was but as a servant still, and for a testimony of those things that were to be spoken after, Heb. 3.5, 6. But Christ as a Son over his own house took a more exact and effectual care in all things to promote the glory of his Father. It's natural for the Son to be more sollicitous in such cases than a mercenary servant, who does what he does, prompted both by a fear of punishment and an earnest expectation of reward, above both which things a pious Son always lives; and therefore, whereas the rest always call God their Lord and King, &c. the blessed Jesus continually calls him his Father, his heavenly father, and by that relation he so stands in to the Almighty, and by what he has done for us in taking our nature upon him, and the consequences of that assum­ption, he has procured the same privilege, [Page 264] (superiour to what was apprehended by those of old) with assurance of being heard to say in our Prayers, Our Father which art in heaven. But to effect all this in relation to his Fathers honour and our good, how many scorns, abuses, persecutions and barbarous cruelties did he undergo from wicked Men! yet as freely as if he had been altogether unconcern'd, so long as Men could but any ways be reduced to an acknowledgment of their errors, and a se­rious repentance. What he underwent so, made him as Man the more fit to prescribe Laws to others who were likely to suffer extremely from the same foolish world for embracing those truths he delivered them, as we always esteem an Humble man most fit to teach others humility, and a Charitable man charity, and a Patient man patience. For tho' others may declaim as well in com­mendation of the same virtues and in re­proof of the same vices, yet the discourses of exemplary persons are justly expected to make the deepest impressions upon their hear­ers. With this advantage our blessed Lord instructed every one, that would receive his Doctrine, in the ways of happiness; he used all the allurements of irresistible Wisdom and unanswerable Reason, all the motives of Mercy and Goodness, to procure their at­tendance and obedience, He set them a com­pleat pattern of obedience to God, and of innocence and holiness in his converse, and [Page 265] then gives that as a standing rule, that his Disciples should follow his example, and let their light shine before Men for that very end, that others seeing their good works might glo­rifie their Father which was in Heaven.

But when the blessed Jesus design'd the reformation of a sinful World, the nature of his Doctrine, and the manner of its propaga­tion was adapted rightly to so admirable an end: And therefore, whereas the wretched Heathen part of Mankind did infinitely dis­honour their Creator, whereas they exactly answer'd that account of the Apostle, When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, Rom. 1.21, 22, &c. but became vain in their Imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkned, they changed the glory of the incor­ruptible God into an Image made like to cor­ruptible Man, and to Birds, and to four-footed Beasts, and to creeping things, they changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipp'd and serv'd the creature more than the Creator, whence they were filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malice, envy, &c. Whereas this was their real con­dition, infinite numbers of them by this means running head-long into everlasting damnation, and yet the ill-natured Jews, to whom the Oracles of God were at that time committed, took no care for their re­covery, pleasing themselves onely with a fond conceit of their own righteousness, cry­ing to all the rest of Mankind, Stand by [Page 266] your selves, come not near us, for we are ho­lier than you: Since they only talk'd of their being the people of God, and boasted of his Temple, studying more to proselyte Men to an outward Circumcision, and a few empty Ceremonies, than to real inward holiness and integrity; since these very Jews did but abuse their own greater advantages, and trample upon the most excellent and obli­ging part of the Law, our Saviour rectified their Error by the dilatation of his own Do­ctrine, and taking exact care to have it spread as far as humane guilt had extended before; so that had but Men been as careful to improve their vertues as their vices, none upon Earth could have been ignorant of God's will, but the knowledge of that must have cover'd the Earth, as the waters cover the Sea: As he took his flesh of the Jews, so he took the earliest care to reduce the lost sheep of the house of Israel, preaching and do­ing miracles among them in his own Person, beside sending out his Disciples to preach in all their Cities: But the veil of the Temple was quickly rent in twain, and the Holy of Ho­lies, the highest Heavens laid open to all that sincerely believ'd on him, whether they were Jews or Gentiles. He came not as an Herald to proclaim War, but with the glad tidings of peace, and as an ambassadour of re­conciliation; he resolv'd to make Mercy tri­umphant over Justice, to give light to them that sate in a more than Aegyptian darkness, [Page 267] and to guide them in the ways of everlasting life; and therefore as himself vouchsafed to talk with the Samaritan Woman, and others of that Nation, to shew that he was not so rigidly uncharitable and unconcern'd for Uni­versal welfare, as the Jews were, so he gave his Apostles a very large commission, to car­ry his Doctrine to all Nations, that all Peo­ple, if careful of their own Eternal Inte­rests, might come to the knowledge of his truth, and be sav'd.

That Doctrine, and those Laws, by which he intended to effect these great things, to reduce a corrupted World to a sense of duty, were so Innocent, so Pure, so Rational and Divine, that nothing less than a common Reformation could have been expected from them; for let a Man examine the Gospel through, let him do it with the most violent prejudices, the severest Eyes, he'l find no foot-steps of self-interest in our Saviour's ma­nagement of himself; he sought not the ap­plauses and honours of the vulgar, as appear'd by those frequent offences he gave them in his plain and open reproofs, and those disagree­able propositions he commonly made to them; otherwise the vulgar were not so dull, but that He who spoke as never man spake, might in a great measure have influenc'd them, and drawn them to an easie rebellion against their foolish and obstinate Superiours; notwith­standing all his care to the contrary, the pre­dominant humour was once to take him by [Page 268] force and make him a King, which he was so far from indulging,Joh. 6.15. that he quietly with­drew himself from their disorderly zeal. He expos'd himself indeed to all manner of ha­zards, but never sought to advance himself any farther, than to a bare vindication of his Innocence: What he aim'd at was the good and safety of others, to snatch them who were falling into everlasting flames, from that dreadful place, to make them wi­ser, and every way better; what he pro­pounded to them was the Cross, self-denyal, patience, humility, a constant expectation of afflictions, things not popular among vain men, but such as would stand them in more stead than all the trifling honours and plea­sures of the World; If then onely to aim at publick good, if to lay down and command such Doctrines, as himself could reap no be­nefit by, but those to whom he spoke might; if to declare openly against all high and am­bitious thoughts, and to be the great Exam­ple of his own Instructions, argue the harm­less nature of that design a Man carries on, doubtless what our Saviour taught tended to the most Innocent purposes in the World: Had he privately compos'd a Law, and after­wards without propounding it to publick ex­amination, endeavour'd to settle it by force of arms, by an eager persecution of those who should have rejected it even to extermi­nation, howsoever good the Law might have been, the very method of its propagation [Page 269] would have been an insuperable prejudice against it, and would have made all Men conclude its deficiency as to reason and ju­stice; But our Saviour pursued another Me­thod, He trod in those steps so many had traced very happily before, He endeavour'd to advance onely such notions as were con­fessedly of Divine original, He propounded them to the Judgment and censure of all, He was ready to answer all Questions, to resolve all doubts, to silence all cavils, and though He carried on his purpose with the utmost Zeal, yet He made use onely of gentle per­swasions, and of unanswerable arguments, which none who were not direct enemies to reason, could refuse: He pleaded a Divine authority for his undertaking, yet desir'd not that his Plea should be regarded any farther than he confirm'd it by his works, and by the Innocence of his life; his works were truly miraculous, all works of mercy not of terror, obliging not only his friends by them, but his very enemies, witness the cure of Malchus's ear; He call'd for no fire down from Heaven, no Earthquakes, no storms of Sulphur, or Ʋni­versal Deluges to force Men to submission, but endeavour'd fairly to convince all who had not heard of his Doctrine before, how much it tended to their welfare, not forbid­ing their objections, or studying little shifts and artifices to evade them. Now if those who have made men better than they were by plain force are justly celebrated by all as [Page 270] Benefactors, how much more do they deserve the name, who do as much good by gentler means? The Peruvians were wont to account their Yncaes the Sons of Heaven, because they made it their continual business to civi­lize a barbarous World, to do which they pro­pounded their own Laws first to the inspecti­on of strangers, and endeavour'd to perswade them of the great benefits they were like to receive by submitting to them, producing examples of the felicity of others by the same obedience; but where they were re­jected, those Yncae's introduced civility by force of arms, yet stand not condemn'd in record even for those rougher proceedings: and it could not argue an inferiour Original for our Saviour, that he us'd no violence at all; and yet if we compare the successes of his Gospel, inforced by nothing but reason, a charitable Zeal and profitable Miracles, with the progresses either of Moses's Law, which was from Heaven, or that of Maho­met, which has been spread prodigiously by Wars and Conquests, or that of the Peruvian Yncae's, which was promoted by the calmest ways that ever any meer humane politicks were; the Gospel has prevail'd infinitely beyond them all, having been truly Catholick, when others have been confin'd to particular Countries, having out-stood all arguments rais'd against it, when the rest have been baffled by almost every undertaker: and ha­ving out-stood the strength of time, when the [Page 271] very name of several others are almost lost; and even Mahometism it self (of a much younger standing) though it has thriven be­yond the rest, has fallen very short of the progress of the Gospel: This Universal prevalence is an irrefragable evidence of the Gospels excellence, and proves the Con­triver of it not to have been of an Earthly original, since nothing but Heaven could re­commend and practise what was so indispu­tably innocent.

Again, to aim wholly at the extirpation of vice, of all sin and wickedness, and the pro­moting and recommending of virtue and good­ness, carries the highest purity and sanctity along with it. If miscarriages in government, and trespasses upon humane Laws produce ter­rible convulsions of state, and unexpected re­volutions in political affairs, (of which at this day we live to see unaccountable instan­ces) it's easie to infer from thence, that encroachments upon the Laws of God and na­ture, must have the same influence upon ge­neral affairs, and create strange disorders in the World, and mightily prejudice all the bonds of humane Society. It naturally excites God's vindictive justice, and makes him scatter vengeance every where; it cre­ates nothing but mutual distrusts and jealousie of one another among men, so that they grow like Wolves or Devils in their mutual animosities and injuries. As these things are the consequence of wickedness, so they are [Page 272] certain proofs and indications of the preva­lence of Sin in any place or Nation; they show a general infection to have spread it self in a very corrupt people; and there­fore he that endeavours to purge out the malignant humours of men labouring under such pernicious distempers, employs himself in the purest and most desirable work, since he endeavours onely to reconcile guilty na­ture to an incensed God, and waspish and ill humour'd Men to one another. A full and ri­gid execution of Laws against impudent vi­ces may keep some under by its terror, and make them at least seek the darkest corners for the perpetrating of villanies, but it re­presents not Sin a whit the more in its na­tive ugliness, nor gives any ordinary satis­faction, that Sin is exceeding sinful; for it's easie enough to conclude that God and Men may prohibit and punish such or such an action out of their own arbitrariness, to shew their own absolute and uncontroulable power, upon which account, though Force may restrain them for a while, yet there re­main in perverted minds some strange Gustos of delight in finding opportunities to do what they are forbidden, and which they conclude may be things good enough not­withstanding such prohibitions; but when vice is delineated truly by Instructors appoin­ted for that purpose, who are neither afraid nor asham'd to speak Truth, when they find Sin decried by solemn and weighty arguments, [Page 273] more than by authority, where on the other hand, they find virtue and goodness described fairly as it deserves, recommended by earn­est and gentle perswasives, set out with all its circumstantial beauties, discover'd in its happy effects, with relation both to earthly and heavenly influences; when they see bles­sings shour'd down from Heaven upon them, and their very Enemies at peace with them, when they see how all this onely propounds a pure and unmixed goodness in Devotions towards God, and in Converse among Men; such Observers have nothing to say for them­selves, in case they chuse the worst part; they cann't pretend so much as to excuse themselves, that they embrace evil not vo­luntarily but by mistake, and sub specie boni, since vice and virtue ly both unveil'd and naked before them; Or they must acknow­ledge themselves onely to be resolutely wick­ed, to be so because they will be so, which puts them easily past all hopes of pity or of Pardon. But since devotion and ordinary converse were so exceedingly deprav'd, and since the wisest among meer Men had made so many attempts for reforming them, and yet had been so miserably mistaken in their measures to that end, as to convince them of the impossibility of such atchievments from their hands, when one person, howsoever despicable and mean in his outward appear­ances, could reassume the forsaken design, and not onely assume, but apparently accomplish [Page 274] it, laying down such Rules, as if exactly follow'd, must necessarily restore all things to an absolute perfection; when Men ob­serve all his instructions to agree closely among themselves, and with the ancient au­thentick methods of doing well, and all con­curring still in the same center of Ʋniversal Sanctity, it must be necessarily concluded, That the Ʋndertaker was somewhat more than Man, that nothing less than infinite holiness and wisdom could effect such things, which being yet apparently effected by One who was a true Man, that true Man must withall be acknowledged the Son of God.

And whereas the generality of inquisitive Men in their searches after truth and wis­dom always observed strange deficiencies in humane reason, whereby antient wise men broke into so many several divisions in their inquiries after the Chief good; whereas they found, that none could lay down a fair pro­ject for pursuit of That, but that presently he was assaulted by whole Armies of ad­versaries, and all projects found absurd and unprofitable for acquiring that they aim'd at: When the Gospel of our Saviour came to be divulged, tho' it met with adversa­ries enough, they were all too weak to in­val date its strength and reason. It was neither the juggling fair-tongu'd Pharisee, nor the absurd and ambitious Saducee, nor the wrangling Sophister, nor the Sceptical or cunning Philosopher, nor the undermining [Page 275] Heretick, that were able to ruine the repu­tation of the Christian Doctrine, but it still grew upon them tho' they were cruelly as­sisted by earthly powers, and indeed made use of all the roughest means for the ex­tirpation of the Professors of the Gospel. And what was very considerable, tho' the great promoters of Religion after the Apostles and their immediate Successor's times, nei­ther had the gift of languages, nor had much of the learned education of those Ages, yet they were able, having truth on their side to baffle all the learning of the great wise men among both Jews and Pagans, which could never have happened, had not what they preached and defended been highly rational. For keen adversaries, who pretended to the greatest acuteness of Wit and Sence, would never have quitted arguments that had been stronger for the sake of meer cant and im­pertinent jangling. But indeed the common scope of the inquiries of wise men, being to discover what was really the greatest de­gree of humane happiness, and the highest and chiefest good, (by which they confest somewhat Lost, and tho' possibly to be re­trieved, yet not without the greatest diffi­culties imaginable) there was no propo­sition made by any for the full discovery and attainment of that Good, but it was eagerly listned to, and the probabilities on all sides being duly weighed, and the effects of the several propositions being carefully [Page 276] consider'd, Christianity gain'd the victory, whose effects were the most considerable, whose Professors the most innocent, whose promises were the most excellent and pun­ctual, and whose rules the most general, intelligible and unquestionable. Pagans and Jews if they were not wilfully ignorant, could not but see all those principles of reason which themselves pretended to, extremely advanc'd by this doctrine introduced by Christ; for whereas they were wont to de­cry pride and haughtiness of spirit, arro­gance and contempt of others, very earnestly, its true the vice was so notorious that they could not want arguments to disgrace it: yet while ambition and an enterprising hu­mour were commended, while their ap­plauded Philosophers were the persons who above all others contemn'd and vilified the vulgar, and since their very gods were re­presented to them as tainted with the same fault, their ingenious Lectures and fine di­scourses against it were generally lost. But when Christianity teaches the miserable na­tural condition of Men, how they are all the heirs of wrath, and just inheritors of eter­nal damnation, because they broke an easie Law, and forfeited their original Innocence; when it shews how Angels those purer Spi­rits fell from that glory they were at first enstated in, by a pride and haughtiness supe­riour to that of Man, when it shews us, how short and transient our life here is, how [Page 277] uncertain and flitting all our comforts and enjoyments, how little power we have to help ourselves under any extraordinary ca­lamity or temptation, and yet that we are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, when it represents us to our selves as too weak by any strength of our own, to get the ma­stery of Innate lusts and sensual desires, and God's anger as just hanging over our heads and extremely hard to be aton'd, nay plainly impossible to be satisfied, had not a very powerful Mediator interpos'd on our ac­counts, all these things are so many morti­fying considerations to the proud, that who­soever allows himself but a few serious thoughts on these heads must certainly be very mean and humble in his own eyes, looking upon himself as too inferiour for divine mercy to take notice of, too unwor­thy to be partaker of any great hopes or extraordinary future felicities; and such Humility is propounded to us as an excellent foundation for extraordinary grace, and as the best way to be exalted by God in his due time. Again,Jam. 4.10. whereas Pagans recommend friendship and fidelity to all persons, and give us a great many extraordinary ex­amples of the noble effects of those virtues, yet they commend revenge, and applaud that internecine hatred which concludes in nothing but blood, and therefore represent their greatest Heroes, such as Achilles and Aeneas and Alexander, as desiring only to [Page 278] live till they might throughly revenge the fair deaths of their friends, and can scarce tell how to condemn their barbarous Tydaeus whom they make when dying of his wounds himself, yet gnawing the bleeding head of his enemy Melampus, (who had hurt him in a fair war,) with an expiring rage: Where­as we see Joab murdering Abner in cold blood, on pretence of revenging the death of his bro­ther Asahel, whom Abner had killed purely in his own defence; and find our Saviour reckoning it as a Jewish maxim, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, Matth. 5.43. and hate thine enemy. Yet a good Christian looks upon revenge as so unmanly a humour and so disagreeable to those principles he owns, that he scorns to be thought guilty of it; for what advan­tage is it to me if one have killed my Bro­ther or my Father, to kill him for it? will it restore any life to my dear departed re­lation? will it contribute to the peace and satisfaction of the departed soul? Or, will it not rather shew a devilish temper only delighting in murder, and committing that very crime my self which I think I can never punish with severity enough in another man? are there not a thousand inconveniences at­tend such practices, deadly and immortal feuds not terminating between particular men, but legacy'd down to entire families, and concluding at last in mutual utter exci­sions, or by both of them falling under the impartial strokes of a superior's Law? Re­venge [Page 279] is brutish, Dogs and Bears and Wolves and Tygers out-do Man at it; but it's noble and God-like to forgive, and therefore our blessed Saviour teaches all men who expect pardon from heaven for themselves, to be ready to forgive their bre­thren here, i. e. those who are partakers of the same humane nature with themselves; He commands us, To love our enemies, Matth 5.44, 46. to bless them that curse us, to do good to them that hate us, and to pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us, for if we love them that love us, what do we more than others? The meanest souls, the greatest aliens to virtue are capable of such things: Publi­canes, esteemed the meer scandal and refuse of mankind among the Jews, could do them, but those who followed Christ were to act in softer methods. They may design to make the world their slaves, but it must not be effected by rage and a studious revenge on every little supposed affront, that sets men upon their guard, and he that by such courses strives to subject me, must expect the same measure from me if I can get him at advantage: but He that studies to do good to all, is consequently beloved and ad­mired by all; a forgiving and reconcileable temper obliges all mankind, and every one is a willing servant or slave to him whom he loves. How easily does this compassionate temper slide into a true and universal Charity? and our Saviour plainly shews by the course [Page 280] of his doctrine, that as it was Man's great ambition in his first sin to become like to God, tho' he miserably mistook the way, so he now accounts it the greatest honour to God, that Man should indeed be what he then aim'd at, that that Image of God which was imprinted upon the Souls of Men in their first Creation should be restored to its pri­mitive perfection and lustre: but there was no way to bring this about more effectually than by implanting this real and extensive Charity in the hearts of Men, which makes them the true representatives of that God who is love and goodness it self. It changes that state of war corrupt nature's ingaged in, and diffuses a Catholick and agreeable serenity through the world; it abolishes that Wol­vish humour predominant among Men, and makes every one a God to his fellow. God makes his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends his rain upon the just and upon the unjust, he allows means for the conversion of sinners to repentance, as well as for conducting the righteous to that glory prepared for them; and Charity teaches us to resemble him in this, where he par­dons and blesses, that we should do so too, and not neglect, or despise, or implacably persecute those of whom God himself is pleased to take care.

Intemperance in meats and drinks was one of those vices which Paganism very ra­tionally condemned and exposed so far as to [Page 281] make wise Men asham'd of it: They saw plainly how it impair'd mens reason, how it engaged them in frequent and senceless quarrels, destroyed health and confounded estates; yet they had but very small appre­hensions of the influence it might have upon mens future conditions, how displeasing it was to Almighty God, how certain an evi­dence of Mens brutish and carnal inclina­tions; Our Saviour therefore heightens their reasons against it, by shewing the certainty of judgment after death, the severity of that judgment, the uncertainty of the time of our leaving this world, the immediate conse­quence of judgment upon death, and that there is no intermedial state of reconcilia­tion to heaven, and therefore he advises his disciples,Luke 21.34. Let not your hearts be over­charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares, he refers them to the instance of the old world where they lived in mirth and jollity till the flood came suddenly upon them and destroyed them all, and to the instance of the Sodomites who practised the same dissolute Liberti­nism, Luke 17.27, 29. till it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: Now if there be reason to avoid these vices, to escape some temporal inconveniences, Men should do so much more to shun shame and scandal and eternal torments. Thus did the blessed Jesus in all the instances of sin or goodness use so much stronger arguments for the [Page 282] first and against the last, than the most stu­dious meer humane zeal could reach to, that consequently Men were infinitely more obe­dient to him than they were to other Di­ctators in virtue: For if Scipio Africanus could truly make it his boast, That among all his souldiers there was not one but at his bidding would throw himself off the highest rock into the sea tho' certain to be drown'd, how much was our Saviour honoured, when so many thousand zealous Christians voluntarily exposed themselves to the most exquisite torments in assertion of that truth He had transmitted to them? When not the angry insurrections of the headstrong multitude, nor the threatning frowns of raging Tyrants, nor the lingring tortures of racks and wheels could affright them from their obedience; when all the pitiful subterfuges of mean and com­mon souls were generously scorned, and the Crown of Martyrdom esteem'd much more than the Imperial Diadem? But it was the clear and unanswerable reason of our Saviours commands, of his Laws, that convinced so many: and those who were unwilling to renounce their own reason, were as unwil­ling to relinquish the precepts of the Gospel; tho' they could not be fond of extreme mi­sery, yet they would endure any thing ra­ther than to believe they were no Men; and it was no sign of predominant madness or Hypochondriacal vapours for men to discourse more intelligently than before, to be more [Page 283] earnest in pursuit of wisdom, to be more humble, more sober, more charitable, more devout, more blameless in their lives and conversations than others. But could a meer Man dive so far into the depths of reason beyond the rest of the World, who wanted all visible and ex­ternal means for the improvement of his know­ledge and natural abilities? Christ had not what we call liberal education, the Jews who knew it, objected that against him, How knoweth this Man Letters, having never learn­ed? But he answers them appositely enough, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me; and adds, He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, John 7.15, 16, 18. but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and there is no un­righteousness in him: Now to advance Rea­son beyond humane reach, to promote God's glory not as a Servant, but with greater strength of argument and zeal than a meer man could do, proves beyond contradiction, that the Man Christ Jesus could be none o­ther than the Son of God.

4 I come now to enquire into that influence, Scripture-history in those cases ought to have upon all those who own the Being of a God, whether they be converted to Christianity or not, which will necessarily take in that au­thority which the Word of God, as such, ought to have with an Infidel; which enqui­ry, though it be of a nice and speculative nature, yet it will necessarily convince All [Page 284] of that value they ought to set upon Scrip­ture, when they call themselves Believers and Christians, how careful they should be to punish and discourage all slights and con­tempts thrown upon it, and how ready to lose their lives, or any thing that's dear to 'em, rather than part with those truths con­tain'd in it.

It were easie to prove Scripture equally va­luable to the greatest strangers to Christianity with any other Humane writings whatsoever; For Heathens never pretended any such ve­neration for those Writings they had oppor­tunity to converse with (how great names so­ever they bore in their titles) as to be afraid to oppose or confute them, and to distinguish among them between truths and falshoods, and proper subjects of Credibility and Incre­dibility; for tho' the Opinions of some Per­sons were look'd upon as more rational than those of others, and the Writings of some Historians as more Authentick, yet they were all acknowledged full of mistakes, and naturally liable to such; nay their very Di­vine Writings, those which they thought written, and which tradition told them were written by divine instinct, were frequently call'd in question; and so their Poets the first Authors of their Divinity were generally re­puted great Fablers, and they deserv'd it well; and their Sibyls whose Oracles were so much celebrated among them, were by Tully in his 2d. Book de Divinatione, before [Page 285] the name of Christians, or of Christ himself was heard in the World, cry'd down as a cheat for the most part; and where Acro­sticks (as some of those so call'd) were inca­pable of that divine Original they pretended to; Which instance, whether Tully were in the right or no, proves yet certainly the dubiousness of Mens minds among the Hea­thens, as to the authority of their most sacred and esteem'd Writings, and how small a Crime they held it to impeach any of them. Yet they valued many Authors so much, as to take a great deal of care to preserve their Wri­tings, and to transmit them very carefully to Posterity. Now to raise Scripture to this proportion of esteem among them, no more needs to be alledg'd, than that the Subjects they treat on, are generally very good, as the Writings of any old Philosophers could pretend to be; that though the Nation principally concern'd in it, was not so famous as many of the rufling or Politick founders of other large Empires were, yet there were such a People really in the World as the Jews, and afterwards as the Christians were; that they had Laws given them, and liv'd under particular forms of Government, and that the Historical account given of Jewish Poli­ticks and Monarchs, and of the first Founders of Christianity, and their industry, and suc­cess, were as Rational, and as likely to be true, as the Histories of other Political trans­actions; and a great deal more likely to be [Page 286] true in the eldest parts of its History, as that of the World's Beginning, of the Long Lives of those before the Flood, of the Flood it self, and the escape of a very small number from it, of the Reparation of the World by a new increase of Mankind, and other Crea­tures, of the Original of that call'd the Dead Sea, from the Conflagration of Sodom and Gomorrha, Admah, and Zeboim, by fire from Heaven, of the Ascent of the Jews out of Aegypt, and the Calamities suffer'd by the Aegyptians upon their account, of the Ori­ginal of the Jewish Government, Sacred and Civil, &c. These accounts of Antiquity, and many more of the same nature, look'd infi­nitely more probably, than the dreams and forgeries of their eldest Authors, for whose sake they look'd upon all their own stories, relating to the first Ages of the World, as onely obscure and fabulous. These Pleas, as I said before, might serve to bring any into as good an opinion of that Book which we call Scripture, as of any other meer humane writing: But that's not enough; Scripture may, to Infidels themselves, be prov'd to be far superior in the original, nature and use of it, than any thing else the World pretends to; the certainty of which lays open a fair way for the conversion of Infidels to Christi­anity, and indeed is such a medium, as with­out it, or unquestionable miracles, which Mi­racles too must tend wholly to the confirma­tion of the authority of Scripture, it's wholly [Page 287] vain to pretend to their conversion.

What I mention'd at first, that the excel­lency of Scripture might be prov'd, or its au­thority have a due influence upon such as ac­knowledge onely the being of a God, was spo­ken with relation to Atheists, who deny any such Being at all; for tho' we have not met yet with any Nation so barbarous, but it has had some notion of a God, (as where-ever there is any pretence to divination or predi­ctions of future contingencies, there must be such) yet since some will pretend to Courage enough, utterly to deny the existence of a God, and make it their business to make proselytes to the same non-sense: I confess no Arguments, of that nature I aim at, can have any effects on them; those who deny a God, will scarce acknowledge any parti­cular Writing to be the Word of God; but to those who do acknowledge a God, these things will be obvious enough, and past dispute.

That if there be a God, i. e. One great supreme Being, who presides with an absolute and illimited power over the World, and all transactions in it: This God must necessarily have all those Attributes, due to himself, which are requisite for the exercising such a power, for he that believes not this, has no true notion of a God, without which yet no Man can pretend to any true or solid reli­gion; for as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us, He that comes to God [Page 288] must believe that he is, Heb. 11.6. and that he is a rewar­der of those that seek him; so the Stoick Phi­losopher joyns with the Apostle, when he makes the greatest part of true Religion to consist in having [...], true opinions of the Gods, so as to know that they are, and that they manage all things well and justly, that all ought to obey them and acquiesce in those things which are done by them,Epict. Ench. c. 38. and to act in agreement with them, as being govern'd by an All-wise Mind; now, according to these Models, none can have a true or exact apprehension of a God, but he who represents God to himself as capable of performing all those things for which he thinks it necessary to believe He is: And from hence it was that Epicharmus tells us,Cudw. In­tel. Syst. p. 263.-4. [...]. Nothing escapes the eye of the Divinity, this you ought to take notice of, He's the Overseer of us all, and there's nothing that he cannot do; which shews he under­stood the God of all things to be omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, three of those great attributes Christians give to God, and that it was necessarily to be understood by all others who pretended to the same know­ledge of a God. Hence God, or he whom Pagans own'd to be the supreme God, known to them by the name of Jupiter, is call'd by them, the great Architect or Maker of the World, the Prince and chief Ruler of the Ʋni­verse, [Page 289] the first or chief God, the first Mind, the great God, the greatest of the Gods, the highest, the superior to all Gods: the most transcendent God, the God of gods, the Prin­ciple of Principles, the first Cause, He that generated the Universe, He that rules over the whole World, the Supreme Governor and Lord of all things, the God without beginning, self-originated, and self-subsisting, He that is far beyond the reach of Humane Minds and understandings, that Eternal Being which can never change and never perish. The beginning, the end, and the middle of all things. He who is one God onely and all Gods in one: now the result of all these titles is, That the Supreme Being which governs the World is infinitely perfect, which if drawn down into Christian words and principles, amounts to this, That God is infinitely pow­erful, just, true, merciful, glorious, loving and good to all his Creatures, and all these things are so essentially constitutive of the Deity, that without the concurrence of them all, there could be none; for what is perfect, must be so in all instances, for any one exception ruines the whole assertion, and makes that Being, what ever he may pretend to really, imperfect.

Amongst these several Attributes which render God adorable to the World, that Love or Goodness of his whereby he regu­lates and provides for all his Creatures is one, and as he originally desires, so he promotes [Page 290] their real happiness, and of this Goodness the Heathens had notions as well as our selves, though not perhaps so clear or con­victive as those God has blest us with in Scripture; thus Platonists perswade us, that God himself was turn'd into Love when he made the World, that order in which he had set, and that providence by which he go­vern'd all things, showing the most prodi­gious effects of Love or goodness. So the Greek Comedian gives us an odd Idea of the World's Original,Aristoph. in Nubibus. That in the beginning Confusion and Night, and Hell and Dark­ness had an existence, there was then no Earth, nor Air, nor Sky. In the first place black-winged Night laid a prolifick Egg in the inscrutable bosome of profound Dark­ness, from which in succeeding Hours was produced desirable Love, glittering in the Air with golden Wings, and like the bree­ding Winds, coupling with prepared Cha­os, or dark confusion in the infernal regi­ons,p. 121. expos'd our kind, first of all, to light; nor had the Gods themselves any being, till Love it self had mingled all things. Which Poetical expressions being duly explain'd, or reduced to plain sense, and the Gods in the last passages meaning onely Angels, Moses his history of the Creation, Gen. 1. and St. John's discourse, John 1. concerning the Creation of all things by Christ, with his assertion oft repeated, That God is Love, are not very different from them; For, tho' [Page 291] they were of a more obscure and impenetrable kind, yet Paganism in general had very con­siderable notices of the immense goodness of the Divine nature, and those amongst them who oppos'd Atheism, and asserted Providence, took no small care to set off di­vine love, or the necessary care God had of his Creatures good, with the greatest Lu­stre; and the Ancient Christian Doctors, nay, the Apostles themselves, witness Saint Paul at Athens, and St. Peter with Cornelius, and the Ancienter Prophets and Holy Wri­ters found God's Goodness exerted to his Creatures, an excellent Argument to draw Pagans, as well as others to Repentance and Obedience.

Among other apprehensions Pagans had of God, that of his Purity and Holiness was very considerable; they who ascribed Per­fection to him, and knew what Perfection meant, look'd upon him as necessarily infi­nitely Pure; for where they tell us of God's being impassible, they prove he cannot be guilty of any thing ill, that being contrary to the original nature of a Spiritual Being, which therefore must be suppos'd to suffer, when it is suppos'd to sin. But as they had these notions of God's immense purity, so they had as quick a sense of the depravation of Man's Nature, and were ready to la­ment it with almost as great an Emphasis, as St. Paul himself could lament his own corruption; hence that ingenious Platonist [Page 290] [...] [Page 291] [...] [Page 292] Maximus Tyrius acknowledges,Dissert. 26. [...], &c. For the Soul of Man is too weak to extricate it self by force of Reason from all those perplexities it meets with, especially being while in this life involv'd in many dark and gloomy Clouds, and always miserably wearied and distracted with the noise and tumult of occurring mischiefs, for what Man is there so good, who can live without offence or without fault? but Men might live easily enough without fault, did not the general depravation of their natures prevent it, for of what is Good nothing but Good can come. But though this Purity in God and Corruption in Man, must necessarily put God at a great distance from Man, yet as God was Lord and Master at first, both by right of Creation and Preservation, he is so still, (as he that was owner of a Kingdom, does not lose his right in it, because it is vi­sited with the Plague, and the Infection it may be fatal and almost Universal) so Man owes Obedience and Subjection to God still, as he that was my Slave when perfect and in health, is not therefore set free of course because he's sickly, or has lost an Arm, or a Leg; Or he that was so when in his wits, does not cease to be so now because he's distracted, and does not understand his Du­ty: The Relation between God and Man stands good, and is believ'd to do so by Heathens as well as Christians, as a Son owes a Duty to his Father, when his Fa­ther's [Page 293] angry, as well as when he's pleas'd; and when himself has really offended him, as well as when he has not; and this rela­tion is necessarily on man's part to be maintained to the utmost, since by its fai­lure he loses all hopes of Happiness, and on God's part in vindication of his own Good­ness.

He therefore that rightly understands Humane Pravity of Nature, and yet be­lieves he owes a duty to the supreme Being, must conclude it necessary, that he should have some Positive Rule or method whereby to manage himself: nor is it enough in this case to fly to the Law of Nature as if that were sufficient: That had been so indeed, had Man continued in that rectitude of fa­culties which he had in the first beginnings of the world; but Heathens have been very sensible there's no such thing to depend on now: For tho' the Laws of Nature are as Just, as Reasonable, as Necessary, and as Ob­ligatory now as ever, yet if men have not Reason enough to understand it, what does the excellency and compleatness of Natures Laws signifie to them? as, tho' I am blind, the Sun shines at noon-day as bright and clear as ever it did, but I see never the more for all that. It was the Apostle's complaint, that the good that he would that he did not, Rom. 7.19, and the evil that he would not that he did, the reason of which was that general Corruption of Mankind, which He, as one of them, [Page 294] 23 was partaker of; fo [...] He saw another Law in his members, waring against the Law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the Law of Sin which was in his members; the same is the complaint of Medaea in the Poet when meditating upon a dreadful re­venge she design'd on her husband Jason —video meliora probóque, Deteriora sequor; Now let the Laws of Nature be never so ad­mirable, which way can a Man thus di­stracted within, compose himself so, as to take a fair view of that Law, or be enough himself to practise upon it? The Law of Nature is really obscure and mystical, to be traced through a thousand dark and per­plexing Labyrinths, which require more than a Man, as now fix'd, to travel through; therefore it cannot be enough to satisfie Man's want, and to give him full and clear direction to do the Will of God, which obedience to his Will is yet His Duty.

He again who has a just Idaea of immense Goodness in God, will never be capable of reconciling His refusal to give Man a Law to walk by, to such goodness; For while no Man that acknowledges a God doubts but that he'l punish sinners, none can doubt but to clear his own Justice from all cavils, he'l punish them only as Sinners against some Law, for sin is defin'd to Christians a Transgression of the Law; but that Law must be some such Law as the Transgressor was really capable of knowing: As our Justi­ciaries [Page 295] punish the most ignorant Clowns when they break our Laws (tho' perhaps the suf­fering persons never knew of those Laws) and yet very justly, because there were such Laws really extant, and in such a Language as they understood, and it was their Duty and Interest to be acquainted with, and to enquire after those Laws, the breach of which might any way be penal to them. It's as little doubted, that God will reward those who keep such Laws, and will encou­rage them, by the easiness of the Laws pro­pounded, to a ready and exact obedience; These things were so strongly fix'd in the minds of antient Pagans, that it set their Philosophers at work to read Lectures, and to prescribe Laws concerning Virtue and Vice, to all people, declaring previously, That there was an absolute necessity of such Laws for Men who indeed were ingaged in the dark, and some of them could almost have pretended to Divine influences upon them, tho' their Priests and Fortune-tellers did it with more applause: But all this was to bring mens minds to a greater veneration of their Principles; and Empedocles in par­ticular, thought it no ill Policy to Teach his Philosophy first, and commence a God afterwards, for which end he threw himself alive into the mouth of Aetna in Sicily, and receiv'd his Apotheôsis in the midst of flames. Yet, after all, Philosophy was ca­pable of doing very little, and could not, [Page 296] nor ever was receiv'd by Men as any par­cel of that Law they wanted to guide them, because they were wholly unable to deter­mine among them what that one great and chief Good was, the fruition of which they were to aim at: and in submission to which they were to admit of the propounded Law; on account of the weak title of these Pre­tenders, the Priests, who attended on the publick services of their more celebrated gods, pretended to extraordinary Inspira­tions; and some of them, especially, such as the Cumaean Sybil, Tiresias, Amphiaraus, the Priests of Jupiter Hammon, the Del­phian, Dodonian and Trophonian Priests, &c. seemed to be in frequent Raptures and sa­cred Agonies, as if they had been newly conversing with some Gods, and in these fits they delivered strange obscurities un­couth and wild, as we find by Homer, A­pollonius, Virgil, Statius, Sophocles, Seneca, and others: These Priests thus obtaining a great reputation for sanctity, and it being thought they were but as so many Engines conveying the speeches of the Gods down to Men, their Dictates bore a great sway in the Heathen World, and they were much consulted in the inventing and making of Laws; But these again were so disagreeing among themselves and with one another, their Fancies generally so irrationally extra­vagant and unintelligible, the self-interest in them, so notoriously apparent to every [Page 297] body, and their Lives and Manners so ab­solutely undivine, (which was a very consider­able prejudice among Heathens themselves) and matters of fact delivered by them to posterity in writing, were commonly so wild, so trifling, or so full of falsities, that all these things quite ruined their claims, and still the Heathen World had new Laws, and new Lawgivers to seek. Hence their Gods themselves, that is, the Devil who usurped the Divine name, and under that name, at several times and in several places procur'd divine Honours to himself, took courage to give answers to enquirers and a kind of Directions for Men to act by; and that he might look the liker a God in­deed, he'd now and then adventure upon some little Truths, such as had a very consi­derable Moral import in them, such as [...], Noli altum sapere, and some few more of a like nature, but these Ora­cular Rules, proceeding from so great a Patron of real impiety and abominable Ido­latries, were commonly received accord­ingly; and tho', as to Sacrifices and all the gaieties of a costly Worship, they were willingly enough ruled by that usurping Impostor, and if any barbarous offering was to be made in blood of Slaves or Chil­dren, or the like, Superstition was but too obedient; Yet, in those things that were really Good and worth taking notice of, they were so distrustful as they came to no­thing [Page 298] among them. Maximus Tyrius there­fore, in those cases, prefers Philosophy it self, so far as concerns the Conduct of Men's lives, to all these Oracles, for, as he argues, the Gods pretend to tell us what's sodden in a boiling Caldron in Lydia,Dissert. 19. p. 189. they tell us of a wooden Wall, of ohe danger of cutting through the Corinthian Isthmus, some­times they talk of a future Earthquake, of a threatning war, and an approaching Plague, but as for those things which are much more worth our knowledge, such as how Wars may be avoided, by what means we may live with­out any need of Walls and Fortifications, how we may behave our selves so as to have no reason to fear a Plague, not one word, nei­ther Apollo at Delphos, nor Jupiter at Do­dona, nor any other Gods, have any thing to say to these things, only Philosophy teaches these things. Yet afterwards, he flyes even from That too as insufficient; For, says he, I require such an Oracle which may teach me without ambiguity to live quietly, answer me then, whither will you send Mankind? which way must they go in the case? where must they end? let the Rule of Life be one, let it be com­mon to and concern All? Thus He, neither satisfied with Philosophy, nor any way to Happiness, yet known to him, no nor with the additional stories of God's descending down to Earth, in Humane Forms to con­verse with and to instruct Men in the me­thod of acquiring Happiness.

[Page 299]Now this Rule, thus sought for among Heathens, we say the Scripture is: They know not that it is so; We prove it, be­cause the Scripture is the Word of God: There's no ingenuous Pagan but will agree with us, that if it is the Word of God in­deed, it must of necessity be the thing they look for, and sufficient to effect those great things they desire from it; it's our part then to prove what we call Scripture to be God's Word, and thus far they meet us in the way, They acknowledge the absolute necessity of such a Word, the absolute necessity of Man's obeying him who governs all things, the absolute incapacity Men are in to know of themselves how to perform that duty, its extraordinary consistency with Divine Goodness that there should be such a Word given to Mankind, whereby they may be guided to happiness, and their joy and readiness to receive such a Word, suf­ficiently proved to be such, when exhibited; all which infer their supposition, that God may, if he please, impart his Will in such a manner to the World: Now what a Hea­then would require in such a Word which should be the rule of his life, could only be,

That it should be One, that it should be of equal concern and respect to All, that it should not be clog'd with Ambiguities, that it should be Practicable, that it should be sufficient for the end it's designed for, and [Page 300] that it should be suitable to, and worthy of its Author, these are the most comprehen­sive Qualifications a stranger to Christianity would have in that Word which is ascribed to God, and these it will not be very diffi­cult to show in that Scripture which we be­lieve, for

If we look into the Moral and Perpetu­ally obliging part of God's Word as a Rule of Life and Practice, it's but One, and that a very short one too, as laid down in the De­calogue by Moses the Jewish, and as Epi­tomized in the Gospel by Jesus the Christi­ans Lawgiver, Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self, and upon these two, as our Savi­our teaches, depend all both the Law and the Prophets; the whole body of the Old Testament and the New is but one large and plain comment upon these few words, shew­ing their full import in abundance of par­ticular instances; so as there are no Emer­gencies of Humane life, but what are redu­cible to them; There is set down the just Commendation of that one short Rule, the miserable failures of Men in putting this in execution, the true grounds and reasons of their failures, their falling under divine dis­pleasure on that account, the means found out to atone that divine displeasure, and the extreme difficulty of atoning it, the con­tinuing [Page 301] Defects of Humane Obedience, the Mercy of God yet equally continued for the sake of that compleat atonement made, and God's acceptance of an upright heart and sincere endeavours, (according to the do­ctrine of Pagan wise men themselves) in­stead of absolute and unattainable perfection in Virtue and Goodness, and Crowning such sincerity and integrity with that happiness due to a total perfection: And all these things are illustrated with such an Historical de­duction of things, as serves exceedingly to confirm all the particulars, and to convince the World how angry the True God is with those who transgress, and how infinite­ly pleased He is with those who endeavour to walk by this Rule; and All compar'd to­gether shew abundantly, that the whole body of Scripture is indeed but one and the same Rule, agreeing with it self in all parti­culars: and the Matters of fact laid down with that simplicity, impartiality and pro­bability, and so agreeably to those broken fragments of Antiquity themselves esteemed most highly, and so very pertinent to the drift of the Book it self, i. e. to make Men devout towards Heaven, and sociable among one another (all which things were never pretended to meet in any one Writing whatsoever before) that, till any firm in­stance can be produced to the contrary, Scripture in this particular must be owned the Word of God.

[Page 302]If its general and equal respect to all Man­kind be enquired after, the very manner of expression used in Scripture shews it to be really Universal, for when the Rule says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and Thou shalt love thy Neighbour, and yet nominates no particular person to whom the sence should be restrain'd, Scripture in that speaks to every individual person who hears or reads it, as Nathan to David, Thou whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free, young or old, learned or unlearned, Christian or Pagan, Thou art the Man. When, in relation to any branch of this short Rule, any doubt is propos'd and the solution given to a par­ticular Person either in plain terms or in a Parable, that particular solution concerns every man living; so when the Lawyer asked Christ, Who is my neighbour? and Christ had answered him by that Parable of the Man rob'd and wounded between Je­rusalem and Jericho, and relieved by the good Samaritan, and upon the Lawyers de­claring for the Samaritan's charity, Christ replyed upon him, Go and do thou likewise, tho' the discourse be to one Man, the im­port reaches You and Me and every Man who at any time may meet the same Objects of Charity, and be in the same Circumstan­ces; and when in pursuance of the great Rule any thing is forbidden, and it's said, Thou shalt not do This or That, it means, No Man on any pretence whatsoever shall do it, [Page 303] and every Judgment against a particular Criminal tells us, that Except we repent we shall all likewise perish; and every Blessing following Goodness, speaks, Thus shall it be done to any Man, whom the King of all things delights to honour; and as happiness eternal is propounded to All, which is unquestion­ably Man's chiefest good, so the means pro­pounded for attaining it, are the same to All, All purchase it at the same rate, and ac­quire it with the same spirit; and in this particular all Humane Writings whatsoever own their defects.

Happiness in Scripture being the end pro­pos'd, and we being taught wherein it con­sists so, as to have all sorts of Pagans con­curring in the perswasion, that it consists in the fruition of the Love and presence of the Supreme God, the way to gain it is set down so plain, that none who have common rea­son can doubt of its meaning; for though a 1000 Queries, and impertinent enough, have been made by Casuists, in what instances we ought to love God, yet never any but Je­suits, who had heard the Rule of Scripture, Thou shalt love, &c. could doubt whether Scripture taught us to have any love for God or no; Men must resolve to read it backwards, as they say Witches do, who can doubt its meaning; neither can they doubt, but that we ought to love God, so great and pure a Being, in all instances whatsoever. The very Pagans themselves were sensible [Page 304] of the little Artifices of that subtle Spirit, which was wont to speak in their Oracles, when they sought to secure themselves from a charge of falshood, by speaking what was dubiously to be interpreted: and though sometimes for things Past or Present they'd speak tolerably, yet in all future matters they'd falter miserably, as Croesus King of Lydia found to his cost, who chose a God to himself among the multitude by his Ve­racity, having contriv'd it so that several of his Messengers should at one and the same hour enquire of a several Oracle what Croe­sus was then doing, of all which One onely answering right, that One He devoted him­self to, and yet that One, when he came to enquire the event of his intended War a­gainst Cyrus, cheated him with a paltry am­biguity to his ruine; their subtilties in that kind quickly grew proverbial, to the disho­nour of the Impostor; but that divine spirit which influenced Holy Writers, needed no such subterfuges for apparent weakness, nor have any yet been able to discover any such thing in Scripture; and though some Pro­phecies are very dark and obscure at present, yet the event of things has so exactly ex­plain'd many of the most difficult, that none can doubt but just periods of time will un­riddle them all, and make the Apocalypse it self as plain as any other part of it.

Scripture runs upon no vain and trifling speculations, such as might disturb and heat [Page 305] the fancy, but its whole scope and import affects the practices of Men; it advances real knowledge onely, and such Knowledge will show it self in our actions. To Love God and our Neighbours, are things infinitely useful and rational, and on that account were admir'd by Pagans in the primitive persecuted Christians; the duties are so of­ten, and by such variety of Arguments ur­ged in Scripture, that as it's almost impos­sible Men should be ignorant of what's re­quir'd at their hands, so it's as impossible they should not know how to perform it, that Book lays no task upon us, but what's pleasant, safe, and certain; commands no­thing, but what it gives us numerous instan­ces of, as perform'd by others, and there­fore possible to us; it shows us God's Per­fection, and requires Ours, as knowing the fairest Copy excites the greatest ingenuity and study to equal it; and whereas we can­not but be sensible of our own Errours, it shows how God accepts the sincerity of our endeavours, and gives us the instance of One great real Man, who reach'd that consum­mate perfection in our nature, and that for His sake we are receiv'd; in all these things Heathen wisdom fail'd, either prescribing gay impossibilities for practice, or propoun­ding happiness as the mark to aim at, but teaching Men to shoot the contrary way, by engaging them in mean pleasures and down­right sensualities; and where the speculations [Page 306] were best, they had none to appeal to, who had ever liv'd up to their own principles, their most fam'd Sages being meer prosti­tutes to notorious immoralities, notwithstand­ing all the fair shew some late Writers have endeavour'd to make with them; onely Pa­gans had some few scatter'd extracts out of Scripture, which were in themselves excel­lent, but being onely fragments injudici­ously cull'd, and incoherent, and wretchedly misunderstood, were wholly useless.

Whereas all Rules and Methods of living before discover'd were lame and imperfect, not sufficient to carry Men through those extraordinary difficulties and objections they might meet with in a course of virtue, (as appear'd by the Famous Brutus, who because he saw it unfortunate, concluded Virtue was nothing but an empty name;) Scri­pture is compleat and every way sufficient for the design it carries on, and therefore stands at advantage against all other Rules, because Whoever follows others most exactly, can­not be happy at last, but He that sticks close to our Rule cannot be unhappy; it informs the Mind, it resolves Doubts, it answers Ob­jections, it encourages Weakness, it dissi­pates Fears, it reproves Errors, and makes Sufferings easie, of which there are so many thousands of instances, own'd by Infidels themselves, that from hence too it's past dispute that our Rule has this quality of the Word of God.

[Page 307]In fine, there's nothing through the whole tenour of it, either in its Doctrine or Hi­story, that's beneath the Majesty of an infi­nite God; if God would speak to Man, he could speak no better, therefore he must speak thus and onely thus. He that finds Princes composing Sacred Hymns infinitely beyond their Orpheus or Callimachus; Mora­lizing as far beyond their admir'd Antoni­nus, as he beyond Porters or Scavengers; He that reads Prophets more soaring and divine than their Plato's, or Zeno's, or Py­thagoras's, and in a strain more soft and charming, as well as more Majestick; and Herdsmen more profound and more truly fatidical, than their Sibyls, or Apollo, and Fishermen more accurate, argumentative, and rational, than their Philosophers of the no­blest Sects, able to baffle 'em in Disputes, to out-reach them in discovering the causes and natures of ordinary appearances in the World: He that observes Men of various lives and conditions, of different tempers, dif­ferent times, distant places, different natural abilities, writing a series of Historical pas­sages, with more clearness, better digested [...]n point of Chronology, more probable in [...]atters of fact, more full, exact, and im­ [...]artial in the Characters of Actions and Per­ [...]ons, more agreeing with one another, and [...]he best Pagan Writers, than all other Hi­ [...]orians whatsoever, nay, than Old and [...]ublick Records themselves, though pre­serv'd [Page 306] [...] [Page 307] [...] [Page 308] and managed with the greatest appa­rent care and exactness; He that can find nothing low, flagging, and uneven among such variety of Pen-men, nothing trifling, useless, or superfluous, let his perswasion be what it will, let him be Turk, African, or Indian, if he have but his Reason free, he must conclude, if God ever did impart his will to Man, it must be in this Book which we call Scripture; and if He then return to his own principle, of the necessity, in point of justice, that God should give a Rule to Man that might procure his Happiness, it will as necessarily follow, that our Scripture, our Rule must be the Word of God. Which proves its own Immortal Original farther, in that notwithstanding the continued malice and subtilty of Enemies, it could never be de­stroy'd, it could never be disprov'd, it could never be interpolated, or any thing be added to it, nor be made shorter, or any thing ta­ken from it; but while other Humane Wri­tings have been easily abus'd, and additions and alterations made in them, not discover'd or well distinguish'd to this day by the most exact Criticks, nothing could so be fasten'd upon Holy Writ, nor any inferiour Writer or uninspired impose his own upon the World for the Word of God.

Assur'd of these things, We, as Christi­ans, among other parts of Scripture, em­brace the History of our Saviour's Incarna­tion, and these things, being unanswerable [Page 309] by an Infidel upon his own principles, as a Deist and a Rationalist, he must own the whole History of Scripture to be true; and amongst the rest, this of the Birth of Christ: for as I have no reason to suspect his Vera­city, who gives me an account of somewhat to his own advantage, who yet has always told me truth, in things that made against himself; So a Pagan, who thinks he has reason to receive all the other parts of Di­vine History, because he finds them exactly true, has no reason to suspect the Faith of the same Writers in one particular: And besides, the thing has been so oft attempted, but with so little success, that He may justly conclude, That matters of fact impossible to be confuted by any argument, cannot possibly be false: This obliges an Infidel to acknow­ledge the truth of our History of the Incar­nation in particular; and Scripture in gene­ral, own'd to be Divine, is a certain foun­dation to build the Conversion of Infidels upon. And thus much for the first head, That Jesus Christ the Messias, who appear'd on Earth, in our Nature, was really the Son of God.

2 We come now to the Second Particular, which is this, That the same Blessed Jesus, who was the Son of God, was God equal with his Father, or really and truly God as well as real Man: He was God, though manifest in the Flesh; To prove the Truth of which [Page 310] might seem needless, had there not been of old, and were there not of late Years reviv'd a Generation of men, who, under pretence of sacrificing to Reason, have set themselves wholly to explode the Belief of a Trinity; as a means to make good which adventure of theirs, they positively deny the Divinity of the Son of God; they cannot well admit of any Mysteries in Religion which themselves cannot comprehend, the very pretence to which comprehension is enough to make a Mystery no Mystery, for if They who em­ploy themselves in this work can compre­hend it, every one may do so too, or at least the generality of the Intelligent World, but what's generally understood cannot be a Mystery, and yet our Apostle in the words preceding the Text, tells us, that That My­stery of Godliness, of which this Text is a part, is without all controversie a great My­stery. But that Jesus Christ the Son of God was God equal with the Father, we shall prove by these Considerations.

1 By those accounts of his Appearance, and of his Nature, laid down in the Old Testament.

2 By the Declarations of Himself, and of his Apostles in the New Testament.

3 By his Actions during his converse with the World in our Nature.

4 From the Faith of the Primitive Church.

5 From that common and on every hand ap­proved practice of adoring and presenting our prayers to Him.

[Page 311] 1 Then We are to consider that account the Scriptures of the Old Testament give of Him, and of his Appearance in the World, where I will not undertake an exact estimate of e­very thing that has by Ancient Writers been apply'd that way, nor every thing that Mo­dern Controversie-Writers have insisted up­on, but upon some particular and more re­markable passages onely. Among which the First is that of three Angels appearing to A­braham just before the destruction of Sodom,Gen. 18.2. where I shall not insist on that, that Abraham ran to meet them at their approach, and bow'd himself toward the ground, because I look up­on that, and the consequent words, as onely expressions of kindness and hospitality, suitable to the custome of that Age and Country, and to that respect, a Person of Abraham's goodness and sagacity would express to Stran­gers of a promising miene and venerable aspect: But after this,v. 22. we find the Angels going for Sodom, but Abraham standing still before the Lord; Two onely went forward, so Lot in Sodom met with, and entertain'd but Two; the Third continued still with Abraham, with infinite condescension, declaring to him the reason of this extraordinary appearance up­on Earth; this favour hindred not the de­sign, but the other Two pass'd on while A­braham had the liberty to argue the case with him, who is particularly stil'd the Lord, so the Writer, so Abraham in that converse frequently stiles him, and that not by the [Page 312] same word originally which Lot made use of to the two Angels appearing to him,c. 19.2. which is onely [...] which the Jews account a name applicable to any, but by that sacred and ineffable name [...] A name, as they say, onely applicable to the most High God; and here we find Abraham continually speak­ing, as any who ownes and reveres the Eter­nal Majesty of God, would supplicate to Him, and making use of that particular ar­gument in his request, Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? c. 18.25. He then to whom Abraham apply'd himself was the Judge of all the Earth, therefore no created Angel, for such were never honour'd with that Cha­racter, but it's properly attributed to the Supreme God by the Psalmist,Ps. 94.1, 2. O God to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thy self, lift up thy self, thou Judge of the Earth! and by the Apostle,Heb. 12.23. where he tells the Hebrews, They were come to God the Judge of all, or as your Margin reads it, To a Judge the God of all. If we look yet forward into this story, when Lot was convey'd safe from the destruction which fell upon Sodom, Gen. 19.24 we are told, The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Hea­ven, Epiph. Haer. l. 3. p. 832. where Photinus, from whom some de­nominate our Socinians, owns, it was the [...], the Word which rained from the Lord,Sandii Hist. Enud. l. 1. p. 118. but that Word was God, as we learn from the Evangelist, John 1.1. By this we gain the certainty, that our Saviour, the Son [Page 313] of God had a Being before he was born of the Virgin Mary, that the Title, Power, Acknowledgment, belonging to the true God were given to him, therefore that He was the true God. To this might be added the History of Jacob's wrestling with the Man, when he was left alone; The Man he wrestled with,Malac. 3.1. antiquity generally under­stood to be the Angel of the Covenant, so Christ is nam'd,Heb. 12.24. and this interpretation is no way disagreeable, since the wrestler from the very contest gives Jacob the name of Is­rael, which signifies a Prince, Gen. 32.28 or one that powerfully prevails with God. The Person wrestling with Jacob, refuses to tell his name, which created Angels were not wont to do. Gabriel told Zacharias his name, the name of Michael is often mention'd,Luke 1.19. and the Writer of the Apocryphal book of Tobit, supposes it no unusual thing, when he intro­duces Tobias's companion, calling himself Raphael, one of the seven Angels that stand in the presence of God, i. e. are in a more glorious state than the rest of that Heavenly Host; Again, Jacob expresses his sense of his Antagonist, in the Name he gave to that place, and the reason of it, for, says he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved; And lastly, Jacob pray'd to him for a blessing, and would not part without it, which argued his acknowledgment of a Divine power in him; and the Prophet Ho­sea makes such an interpretation of the [Page 314] Text scarce disputable, where speaking of Jacob, He had power over the Angel, says he, and prevailed, Hos. 12.4, 5. He wept and made supplica­tion unto him, (that was to own Him the true God) He found Him in Bethel, and there he spake with us, Even the Lord GOD of HOSTS, the Lord is his Memorial; [...] An expression so great and so high, as ne­ver any created Being pretended to.

We may then take notice of the 45 Psalm, a Psalm by all the ancient Jews apply'd to the Messias, and rightly, as will appear; that Messias was Jesus Christ, in that both Arians of old, and Socinians of late, as well as the Orthodox agree, his very Name carries it, He is Jesus the Saviour, He is the Christ, the anointed of God the Father. The Psalmist there represents him at first, as a Man, tho' Fairer than the rest of humane race; Ps. 45.2. but he subjoyns, Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever, the Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter, Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness, therefore God thy God hath anoin­ted thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fel­lows, where that God to whom the Apostro­phe or exclamation refers, is called by the same name with that God, who is said to anoint him, in the original, and the whole Text is authentically apply'd to the Son of God by the Apostle,Hebr. 1.8, 9. even to that Son whom he there shews to be so far above all Ange­lick Beings, that when his Father brings his [Page 315] first begotten into the World, he says, And let all the Angels of God worship him, which the Apostle quotes from the Psalmist,Psal. 97.7. not lite­rally, according to the Hebrew, but accord­ing to the then current translation of the Septuagint, which though varying from our Hebrew a little in words, is the same in sense. That the word by us translated Gods, signi­fies, and is apply'd to Created Beings, some­times, we admit of, as no way prejudicial to truth; but if the Angels are commanded to worship Him, and that Angel whom Saint John would have adored, forbad him, be­cause He, though an Angel,Rev. 22.9. was but a fellow Servant, a Creature, and order'd him to wor­ship God, i. e. the Supreme Being, then that must be a Rule to Angels too, and they might not adore or worship a Creature, no more than the Apostle might; therefore the Son of God was no Creature, since they are commanded to worship him; therefore He must be God, for we know of no inter­medial power between a Creator and a Crea­ture; We are to worship the Lord our God, Mat. 4.10. and him onely are we to serve, as our Saviour himself alledges, but We are to worship the Son of God, Angels are to do so too, there­fore the Son of God is God. And since we are gotten into this first Chapter of the E­pistle to the Hebrews, we may add, in evi­dence of our assertion, that other quotation, Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foun­dations of the Earth, Ps. 102.25. and the Heavens are the [Page 316] work of thy hands, Heb. 1.10, &c. they shall perish, but thou remainest, and they all shall wax old, as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail; which Text is so home to the proof of the Divi­nity of the Son of God; that Schlicktingius twists and winds himself every way to evade its force in his Commentary on the place, and after all does but Magno conatu magnas nugas agere, as the Comedian, he makes a great stir to no purpose, He finds fault with the Author of the Epistle, If He, says he, design'd to perswade us Christ was the most high God, why did he not say so without any farther circumstance? the matter had been then past dispute: But we suppose it is so plain as nothing can be more already, it's as plain as those words he'd prescribe could have made it, to All, but men of perverse wits, who wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction; for if, as He owns, none but the Supreme God could be the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and the Creation of Heaven and Earth be here by the Apostle ascribed to the Son, then the inevitable con­sequence which the Heretick would have had laid down at first, is, that the Son is the Supreme God, or God equal with the Fa­ther: And whereas the main foundation of the Arrian and Socinian Heresie is, (as San­dius, another of that tribe, owns) that there was a time when the Son was not, if the Son [Page 317] of God was indeed the Creator of all things, then he was before all things, and conse­quently before time it self, and so their foundation is apparently false; for he that had a Being before time was, must of ne­cessity be Eternal. But Schlicktingius would perswade us that, of the whole Text pro­duced by the Apostle, onely the sence of the last words is to be referr'd to Christ, and that it's quoted onely to prove, that the Dominion of Christ shall not expire, but with the abolition of all things,Schlicktin­gius in locum. Quod Regni Christi, quod nunc in terris administrat, ter­minus, cum inimicorum ejus omnium abolitione, quos Coeli & Terrae ruina involvet, sit con­junctus, are his words, That the end of Christ's Kingdom, which he administers in this World, is joyn'd with the utter aboli­tion of all his Enemies, who shall be at once involv'd in the ruines of the Universe; As for the first part of the quotation, he makes it altogether impertinent, but that the Apostle took the Text whole as it lay, because he knew the Hebrews, to whom he wrote, were in no danger of interpreting the Creation of the World, as referring to Christ, whom they knew well enough to be no other than [...], a meer Man, and no more, and adds, that had the Apostle design'd any more by that Text, it had been al­together beside his purpose: But here I con­clude, our Adversary mistook the Apostle's meaning wilfully, which is this.

[Page 318]Writing to the Jews, his first design is to convince them of the Messiahship of Christ, whom they knew to be a Man, they had seen evidences enough of that in what he did and suffer'd among them, they had seen him cru­cified, dead, and buried, so that they could not dream of his having onely a fantastick body, being onely an apparition, as some He­reticks afterwards asserted, a phantasm, or a Spirit had no flesh and bones as they saw him have; The Hebrews were so certain of this, that they would believe him to be no more than a Man, a man weak and inconside­rable, a perfect cheat, pretending to the noble character of being their long expect­ed Messiah, but no way answering that Cha­racter, having appear'd in no such glory as the Prophets had foretold, and having wrought no deliverance for Israel, accord­ing to their reasonable expectations. Now, to convince them of their Error, he asserts Christ to have been the Son of God, v. 2. He proves the Messiah was to be so from their own Books, v. 5. He asserts Him to have been the express Image of God's Person, the brightness of his glory, the Ʋpholder of all things by his power, v. 3. That the Messiah was to be so, he proves from his superiority to Angels, v. 6, 7. Nay, he asserts him to be God, and proves the Messiah was to be so, v. 8, 9, 10, &c. In the Epistle afterwards he shews the accomplishment of the Legal Types in him, with the excellency of his office in [Page 319] every respect, particularly of his Priesthood, the conclusion of all which to them is this, That if the Types of the Law were accom­plisht in him, (which they could judge of by comparing the Law with his Actions) if He were the Son of God as himself asser­ted and proved, he then could be no cheat, how meanly soever he appear'd in the world, but was capable of being the Messiah, and having own'd himself to be so (since he was incapable of deceit) He really was that Messiah they expected, and had wrought a Deliverance greater, and more valuable than they dream'd of, not only for them, but for all the World: and to make good this Truth, the applying the Creation of all things to him was not impertinent; God made the Worlds by his Son, v. 2. of this Chapter: Therefore he by whom the worlds were made, had a being himself before they were made, which is what St. John asserts of the Word which was God, John 1.1, 3. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made, all which consider'd, it's no wonder the Psalmist prescribed so to the Church, Hearken O Daughter and consider, and incline thine ear, forget also thine own peo­ple, and thy Father's house, so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty, Psal. 45.10, 11. for he is thy Lord God, and worship thou him; He that was God was really and lawfully to be wor­shipped.

[Page 320]The next place I shall urge is that of the Prophet Isaiah, Isai. 9.6. Ʋnto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and he shall be called Won­derful, Counseller, the mighty God, the ever­lasting Father, the Prince of Peace: That this was a Prophecy of the Messiah to come, has never that I know of, been doubted, and it has been as universally apply'd to the blessed Jesus; but that he should be called the mighty God, and yet not be God, would appear very strange! The title of God is, we know very well, apply'd in Scripture to Angels, to Princes, to those to whom the Word of God was sent, but none of these ever wore the name of the mighty God; The mighty God here is emphatical and equiva­lent to the Almighty, and the only God: and that we should be the less doubtful of his meaning; the same Son, who is called the mighty God, is called the everlasting Father, or the Father of eternity, the Father is as much as the Author or Commander of eter­nity, which could not without absurdity be applyed to him, who once was not, or had no being himself. The Chaldee paraphrast calls him [...] The Messi­as living to eternity, the name indeed is very proper to God the Father, nor could it with any probability be applyed to the Son, did not our Saviour himself solve the difficulty effectually when he tells us,Job. 10.30. I and my Fa­ther are one; if they be One, the same Epi­thets [Page 321] belong to both; and yet that we may the less doubt to whom the whole text be­longs,Ephes. 2.14 2 Thess. 3.16. Heb. 7.2. this mighty God and everlasting Father is styl'd the Prince of Peace, so the blessed Jesus is said to be our Peace, to be the Lord of Peace, and the just successor of that Priest of the most high God Melchizedech, who was king of Righteousness and king of Peace.

Again the Prophet Jeremiah, in that plain­est Prophecy of his concerning the certain Advent of the Messias, teaches us thus,Jer. 23.5, 6. Be­hold the days shall come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and this is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness, [...] That name there too is applied to him which belongs to none but to the supreme God; It's the name, as Ben Maimon assures us, which signifies the Divine essence purely by its self, without any respect to the Crea­tures: now that the Divine Essence it self should be attributed to a meer Man is down­right blasphemy; but here it's attributed to that Branch promised to David, which all the antient Rabbins, and the eldest Fathers of the Church interpret of the Messiah, that Christ was the Messiah every one who re­ceives the Gospel must acknowledge, there­fore Jesus the Messiah was God, and so the Lord our righteousness. If we farther com­pare this with that of the Prophet Isaiah, Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righte­ousness and strength, In the Lord shall all the [Page 322] seed of Israel be justified and shall glory, Isai. 45.24, 25. 1 Cor. 1.30. and that again with that of the Apostle, Christ Jesus is made of God unto us wisdom and righ­teousness and sanctification and redemption, We shall find somewhat more attributed to Christ than lyes within the power of the holyest meer Man that ever was or could be in the world; Israel is to be saved, Man to be justified by him: now let a Man be never so pure, never so innocent, if he be but a meer Man his Righteousness and Innocence is nor can be no more than may serve his own necessity, it is what God requires at every one of our hands; it's true for ten righ­teous Men God would have spared Sodom, but that was only temporally, God's judg­ments might have been deferred for a while, and yet the Sodomites have been damn'd at last: But the Righteousness of Christ is meritorious and available on our account, he is our righteousness, and consequently by him and upon his account we are justified from the guilt and punishment of sin, our sins being pardoned through his merits and for his sake, and we instead of damnation, being made Inheritors with the Saints in glory: hence it comes to pass, that we, who are forbidden to glory in Man or in any child of man, v. 31. because there is no help in them, are allowed and encouraged to glory in the Lord, and well we may since he may be and is our Righteousness, therefore he whom we are allowed to glory in must be [Page 323] more than Man, but he is no Angel, there­fore he must be God.

The last place I shall insist on is that of the Prophet Micah, Micah 5.2 But thou Bethlehem E­phrata tho' thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth to me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from ever­lasting; That this Text referred to the Messiah we are put beyond doubt by that of the Evangelist, where he tells us that when Herod had demanded of the Jewish chief Priests and Scribes where Christ should he born, they presently answered him it should be in Bethlehem of Judaea, Math. 2.4, 5, 6. and bring this Text to prove their assertion, the appli­cation then being certain, we may observe how directly this Text contradicts the Ar­rian and Socinian Position: They say, there was a time when the Son was not, the Pro­phet says, his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, or as the Septuagint, [...]. His goings out are from the beginning from the days of eternity, if his goings forth were from eternity, he himself was from eternity too, if from eternity, there was then no time wherein he was not, therefore he was God, for there's nothing to which eternity can be truely attributed but God; or if we should with some learned Men translate the Hebrew word [...] from the East, our In­terpretation would not suffer at all, it would [Page 324] then be, his goings forth have been from the east from the days of old, therefore he was or had a Being before the date of this Pro­phecy; therefore, he had a Being before he was born of the blessed Virgin, therefore he was eternal, therefore he was God: I might have urged more passages out of the Old Testament, but these may suffice to evi­dence that That Messias of whom the Pro­phets spoke, was believed by them to be God as well as Man; their Prophecies indeed were by that means the more obscure and unintelligible to the Jews, who saw Christ frequently, but they saw only his Humane Nature, they understood no more of Him, nor did they then expect their Messias should be God, but only some great Man, which they saw the blessed Jesus as to his outward appearance was not, and therefore they pick'd a quarrel with him as guilty of Bla­sphemy,Joh. 10.33. because he being a Man made him­self God.

2 We come to consider His declarations of Himself, and his Apostles declarations con­cerning Him, in the New Testament, which we shall find of such a nature as may suffi­ciently prove the Divinity of the Son of God, and here we'l begin, as Enjedine a subtle and industrious Unitarian does, with that of S. Matthew, where having given us an account of the Angels charge to Joseph concerning his espoused wife, then with [Page 325] child by the power of the Holy Ghost, he tells us, that in all this, that of the Prophet was fulfilled, Behold a Virgin shall be with child, Matth. 1.23. and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us, this the Evangelist quotes from Isai. 7.14. Here Enjedine makes the Evan­gelist a very impertinent Writer, alledging Old Testaments-texts upon every little hint, tho' never so far from the purpose; which argues very little reverence for an inspired Writer: He tells us The name Immanuel could not signifie that Christ was God, because the Prophet where he names him, says he was sometime to be born, that he should eat butter and honey, that he should sometime be ignorant of the difference between good and bad, &c. therefore he could not be God; but all these things were and were necessarily true of him as he was Man, since he assumed a real and not a fantastick body. We know he was born in the fulness of time, taking flesh of the Virgin Mary, that what was the dyet of other infants in those parts of the world, was his too, that it might be evident to all the world he had assumed a real body like other men, in every thing but sin; We believe his Humane Body grew and increas'd as that of other men, and that rational Soul joyned with his body, by which he was a true Man, had its advances in understand­ing, tho' at a greater and more early rate than others, all this we believe, and yet [Page 326] Christ might be God and God with us for all this: For the reality of his Humanity was not any prejudice to the truth of his Divi­nity, he was perfect Man and no less per­fect God. Our adversary questions farther whether the name Immanuel be here given to Christ or not, because he finds him no where else called by that name: But neither was there any reason for that, this prophetical name being chiefly designed to signifie his Nature, Enjed. in locum. as Christ was to signifie his Office, and since 'tis certain the name does belong to some body (for it's not put there for no­thing) either it belongs to Christ, or that Author ought to have named some body to whom it did belong, but he is silent in that matter, therefore we conclude it belongs to the Son of God. He alledges farther, that supposing the name Immanuel be the name of Jesus in the Text, it signifies no more, than that God was in and with him as he was with other of his Prophets: but that's impertinent, since the name doth not import that God was in or with him, but that, upon his Incarna­tion, God was with us, i. e. God did then assume flesh and appear to and come among us, which could not be unless he were God. He tells us, Moses might as well have been called Emmanuel while he converst with the Israelites, and the Ark of God (espe­cially since the Israelites expected to be saved by it, and upon its being brought into the field the Philistines cryed out, God is come [Page 327] into the Camp) but was Moses conceived of the Holy Ghost? was the Ark of God really a living Saviour? God might have given them what names himself pleas'd, but we no where find that he gave them this, which shews that he designed to appropriate this name wholly to his own Son, when he should send him into the world, that under that very state of exinanition or humiliation we should see him, we should know how great a Being converst with us. What else he objects is absurd even to ridiculousness, viz. That many since that time, have born the name of Immanuel, and yet we never took them for gods, as several Emperours of Constantinople, and many private men, among the rest Immanuel Tremellius, as he instances, a learned Protestant of later years: He might as well have proved, that because se­veral Jews and others have been called Moses, and yet none of them were Lawgivers to Israel, therefore Moses the Son of Amram was no such Legislator; or that, because there were several Jews who bore the name of Josua or Jesus, who were not the Savi­ours of the world, that therefore our Jesus was not so; what signifies what name I or another fix upon my Son? Or what's more ordinary than for Men to baptize their chil­dren by Scripture-names, without ever re­flecting on or knowing the meaning of those names? But where God gives a name, and where the Spirit of God interprets it, nei­ther [Page 326] [...] [Page 327] [...] [Page 328] the Name nor the Interpretation can be insignificant, nor is it so here, but being by the Prophet of old assign'd to, by the Evan­gelist here applyed to the Son of God, it suf­ficiently teaches us that He was God eter­nal, even God with us.

In the next place we may consider that Command of our Saviour himself to his A­postles when he gave them their Commissi­on for executing their Apostolical Functi­ons,Matth. 28.19. Go ye and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Where the Son and the Holy Ghost being set equally with the Father, as the objects of our Baptismal Faith, either prove to us their certain equa­lity, or seem of a very dangerous import, ready to impress upon us false notions of the Deity, and to make us think those really e­qual, whom we see by Christ himself joyned together, without any particular mark of di­stinction or inequality, when indeed they are not: But this were to represent the Evan­gelist under a very ill Character; I shall not insist upon that in this place, that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are here named as three distinct Beings, and one as much and really a person as the other, Enjed. & Wolzogeni­us in loc. (which the Socinians de­ny of the Holy Ghost) but shall only take notice of those evasions they make use of, for here they tell us, That we may as well infer from that of the Apostle concerning the Israelites, 1 Cor. 10.2. That they were all Baptized [Page 329] unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, that Moses was the most high God, as that Christ was God from this command of Mens being baptized in his name; We know well e­nough, that to be baptized into Moses is, to be initiated into that Church which is governed by that Law given by God to Mo­ses: and that to be baptized into Christ is, to be entred into that Church which receives God's Law as delivered by Christ; but where, in any divine precept, do we find God the Father and Moses, and the Holy Ghost linked together, as if there were an equality among them? We are told indeed by Wolzogenius, that that passage after the Israelites having gone through the red Sea, is a parallel,Exod. 14.31. Having seen that great work which God had done upon the Aegyptians, having drowned them, while themselves were safe, we are told, the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, or in the Lord, as your Margin reads it, and in his servant Moses; but that's indeed no parallel, for there's distinction enough made between God and Moses, one is the Lord, the other but the servant: but there is no such di­stinction in the Text, no servant, no inti­mation of an inferiority, but only the order of nature followed, and the Father put be­fore the Son, and both before the Holy Ghost which proceeds from both: Then, whereas Enjedine tells us, That to be bap­tised into Moses was not to believe that Moses [Page 330] was the most high God, and consequently, That to be baptised into the name of the Son of God, is not to believe any such thing of him, he forgets, that to be baptised into the name of the Father, is to declare our be­lief of His being the most high God, by his own confession: (yet that belief is the very Character by which those Hereticks distin­guish themselves from us, whom they call Trinitarians) and if that be own'd, our baptising in the name of Christ, must infer our acknowledgment of his Divinity, since the Father and the Son are joyned together in the same expression, and we are baptised alike, and as much into the name and belief of one, as of the other. But they would prove that Christ is not here made equal with his Father, because S. Paul afterwards ranks him but with himself and others, as in his reproof of the Corinthians for saying,1 Cor. 1.12 I am of Paul and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Here indeed they confess there is a real superiority in Christ to any of these mentioned with him: That acknowledgment was inevitable: But farther, tho' the A­postle condemn the Corinthians for calling themselves by his name, or the name of any of his fellow labourers, yet he approves their calling themselves by the name of Christ: for so he tells them with respect to Creatures and their circumstances,2 Cor. 3.22 23. All are theirs, whe­ther Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things [Page 331] to come, all are yours; but then he changes his stile, and ye are Christs, and Christ is Gods, and so he was, the Messiah, the Anoin­ted sent by God into the world. In conclusion they tell us, that these words were never designed as a formulary of Baptism, which they prove, because there is no account in Scri­pture, particularly in the History of the Acts, of any baptised by this form, but will they assert there was no form at all, no sig­nificant words made use of in the admini­stration of that ordinance? that would be to leave the meaning of the outward Cere­mony uncertain, and to take away the Sa­cramental nature of baptism; if there were any words used, either they must allow these, or assign some other, which none that I know of have attempted. It's true, they say, the Eunuch only declared to Philip, before his Baptism,Acts 8.37. that He believed Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and there was no need of more, Philip questioned not his belief of a God, He was a Jewish Proselyte, and if he owned the Son-ship of Christ, he would by consequence believe whatsoever should be revealed to the world by him: But we read not of any words used by Philip in the act of baptising him; they say this silence proves the words in the Text we are treat­ing of, were not used: I say no, but Christ's particular institution being very well known, and his disciples using to obey his commands, S. Luke's silence infers that Philip used those [Page 332] very words so instituted, otherwise the Evan­gelist would have taken notice of some o­ther; and thus after all, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, being joyn'd toge­ther in the words of institution in Christian Baptism without any mark of inferiority, these words prove the Son of God to be God equal with his Father.

The next place we shall insist upon is that remarkable beginning of S. John's Gospel, In the beginning was the Word, John 1.1, 2, 3. and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God, all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made; where we have these two great men Erasmus and Grotius agreeing with us, That they are an unan­swerable argument of the Divinity of the Son of God, who yet are apt enough to betray that article of our Faith, by weakning other considerable evidences of the same truth. As for the person here meant by the [...], the Word, the Socinians themselves as far as I can find, excepting the Annotator on the Racovian Catechism, acknowledge, that it is the Son of God: to tell all their discour­ses, for the eluding the force of this Text, would be a work too tedious, only this we may observe, they tell us, That whereas Moses begins his History of the Creation with a like expression to this of our Evan­gelist, its rational to believe, that the E­vangelist here is only going to describe a [Page 333] second or a better Creation, or rather the renovation of all things by Jesus Christ, which had been ruined by the fall of our first parents; which renovation of things began at the time of our Saviour's Incar­nation, and therefore the Evangelist means no more by that phrase, In the beginning was the word, but that Jesus Christ the word of God had a being when the Almighty God first set upon this work of re-creation or renovation of all things. And that indeed the design of the Evangelist is only to obviate an ob­jection, that might be made on the behalf of John the Baptist, who stood fair to have been taken for the Messias, because he first entred upon his office, and preached repentance, and baptised, which were truly Evangeli­cal works; whereas Christ himself lay hid, and wholly undiscovered to the world: But to my best apprehension, there was very little need of all this care, for tho' some such thoughts might have entred into Men's heads when they were all full of expectation of a Messias, that John, whose holy and severe life, and whose very useful doctrine was ge­nerally known, might be that Messias, as we see by that message which the Jews sent to him from Jerusalem, Art thou the Christ or Elias, or that Prophet, or who art thou? tho' men might entertain some such thoughts, the Evangelist represents John the Baptist as very careful to prevent any such dangerous mistakes; therefore he not only answers nega­tively [Page 334] to their particular enquiries, viz. That he was not Christ, nor Elias, nor that Prophet, but he answered positively too to their Gene­ral question,v. 19-23. that He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths streight, as saith the Prophet Esaias. Now the Baptist being so very much reverenc'd, and so mightily followed as he was, his answer could not but be spread about through all Judaea, and the expectations of Men be the more rais'd, be­cause the person there prophesied of by Isaias, was to be the forerunner of the Messias: he therefore being come, the other could not be far behind. Besides, if we interpret the Gospel of the glad tydings of Salvation brought to all mankind, the Evangelists expression will be untrue. For, not to men­tion the Promise to our first Parents, and those afterwards repeated to the Patriarchs, and frequently declared and enlarged upon by the Prophets, that of the Angel to Za­charias, the Father of S. John Baptist, and that of the same Angel to the blessed Vir­gin (and they were [...]einly tydings of great joy, and the real beginnings of that which is peculiarly stiled the Gospel) both these were before the very conception of our Saviour, therefore He as a meer man, was not, or had no being in the beginning of the Gospel; and doubtless the Evangelist here, in the beginning of his History, taking up the very expressions of Moses in the beginning of [Page 335] Genesis, and using his very words as tran­slated by the Septuagint, supposed his Rea­ders would take his words in the same sence as they understand those of Moses, and so, in the beginning in both places, signifies as much as before there was any thing existent: so before any thing, but the eternal God him­self, had a being, God out of nothing, pro­duced all things: and so before any thing, God excepted, had a being, the Word was: therefore that Word was God, because God only could exist in the beginning or before the Creation of all things: and thus the Evangelist says something peculiar of Christ, and what might really set him above the Baptist, or blessed Angels, or any other Creatures whatsoever: Otherwise the A­postle, according to the Socinian fancy, would have taken pains to prevent an Ob­jection never brought, at such a time too as never any Man could have rais'd it, for he wrote his Gospel, according to all accounts, about the 90th. year of our Saviour, toward the end of his own very long life, and when the Gospel was spread in all quarters, and Heresies had gotten a great footing in the Church, when that Objection about John Baptist would have appeared nonsensical and ridiculous: Whereas, had he design'd his Master's honour or the advantage of mankind, he would have made haste, and have pen'd his Gospel very early, when such poor ob­jections might have appeared with some [Page 336] countenance. But it follows, In the begin­ning the Word was with God, this seems to prove very plainly, that, if the Word here spoken of be indeed the Son of God, he had a being before he was visible in our Nature, and that above, or in Heaven, or in the pe­culiar place of the Divine presence; which granted, is enough to destroy all the Soci­nian Doctrine of Christ's being a meer Crea­ture, or a Man like one of us, and no more. That Christ really had such a Being antece­dent to his Incarnation, we have reason to believe on the authority of concurrent Texts of Scripture, for so our Saviour calls him­self before the cavilling Jews, John 6.51. That Bread which came down from Heaven: But if he came down from heaven, He must first have been there, and that at least some time be­fore he told them so. The Jews in general, nay his own Disciples, thought this a very hard saying, an expression that was very hard to be understood; and so it was to those who were wholly taken up with carnal thoughts; our Saviour cures their amazement or incredulity with a strange intimation, What and if you should see the Son of man a­scend up into heaven? v. 61, 62. This question plainly enough asserts, that he had been with God before they converst with him here on earth, and this Socinus himself acknowledges, for he knew not how to disengage himself from the force of this, and that yet more asto­nishing declaration of our Saviour to Nico­demus, [Page 337] No man hath ascended up to heaven, Joh. 3.13. but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven; which ex­pression, according to the Socinian Ratio­nal way of exposition, as they call it, is meer riddle or contradiction: but accord­ing to the Catholick Faith concerning the eternal generation of the Son of God, is easie and intelligible to every man. For if it were God that was manifest in the flesh, and continued the same eternal God still, He might in his divine nature always be with his Father, and yet in his Humane Nature be conversant among Men, at the same time. But tho' Socinus and his followers sometimes own the literal truth of these expressions, they cannot hold true to what they allow, for one while they'd change it's nature, and make it figurative, So Jesus Christ was in heaven by the divine raptures or meditations of his Soul, Explic. loc. S Script. Op. v 1. p. 146. or he was in heaven by that per­fect knowledge he had of all divine matters; thus Socinus himself: But he quits it at last, and flyes to that wonderful discovery, filium hominis verè & propriè de coelo descendisse & in coelo fuisse, That the Son of Man was truly and properly in heaven, and descended from thence, before he discours'd these things with the Jews. But would you know how? it was as S. Paul, who tho' but a meer Man, was caught up into the third heavens, 2 Cor. 12.2, 3, 4. into Pa­radise, and heard unspeakable words which it [...]s not lawful for a man to utter; so the blessed [Page 338] Jesus was taken up bodily into heaven, and there was conversant some time with God, and was there as in a School, taught those things he was afterwards to preach, and do in the world: Would you know when? It was, say some, when he was twelve years old, and his parents mist him at their re­turn from Jerusalem, and after three days found him among the Doctors.Wolzog. in Jo. c. 3. v. 13. Wolzoge­nius supposes it during the forty days fast in the wilderness, for whereas Socinus thinks it highly fit that as Moses the type was with God upon the Mount, that he might there learn those Laws and Ordinances he was to deliver to the Israelites, so it was very rea­sonable, Christ the Antitype, should have some such like converse with God, for the same purpose, in a nobler place, therefore this Author, to carry on the parallel the far­ther, would pitch it on that time to which the Evangelists allot forty days, because Moses was the same space of time in the Mount, and this was the great Invention of Laelius Socinus, which cost him so much study, so many fastings, and earnest prayers to Al­mighty God: and Schlichtingius pursues the fancy with a great deal of heat and vio­lence; Crellius joyns with it too, so that this may pass for their general solution of the dif­ficulty, a difficulty which could never be found till they created it, and with their mighty pretences to Reason and clear interpretations of difficult places, shut all true Reason and [Page 339] clear Scripture-light out of doors. It's cer­tain, that the Evangelists mention nothing of this formal ascent into heaven, and is it likely that they who set down all the cir­cumstances of his birth, to his very wrap­ping in swadling clothes, and lying in a manger, they who mention his flight into Aegypt, his wandring from his parents, his several ascents to Jerusalem, his Transfigu­ration on mount Tabor (a matter much less glorious and important) his talk with Moses and Elias, (a very unnecessary dis­course, if he had learn'd all those things from God himself before) is it likely, that those who set down these things so pun­ctually; nay, S. Luke himself (of whom, when it serves their turns, they say, that He was so inquisitive, as to omit nothing of consequence wherein our Saviour was con­cern'd) that these should omit so prodigious an Ascent into heaven as this, which would naturally have conciliated so great an au­thority to his person and his doctrine, and would have been very necessary too if he had been no more than a meer man? Had there really been such an Ascent, it would have been very improper in his younger years, for besides the weakness and insufficiency of that age for the most divine speculations, we are told plainly, after that dispute of his with the Doctors, and his return with, and obe­dience to his parents,Luke 2.52. that He encreased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour with [Page 340] God and Man, which must be false and ridi­culous, if he had been in Heaven before, and had been fully instructed in all divine mat­ters by God himself. As for that second time allotted for this Ascent, viz. immedi­ately after his Baptism, the Evangelists tell us plainly, the design of his being led by the Spirit into the wilderness was, that he might be tempted of the Devil: Luke 4.2. Nay, and as S. Luke asserts, He was tempted by the Devil forty days, this could not have been true, had he been in Heaven any or all those days; and whereas the Evangelist adds, that in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended he afterwards hungred; this story must be both false and disgraceful too: for how could he, who had corporeally attained the glorious vision of the Almighty, be so soon affected with the inconveniences of flesh and blood, when we never find Moses, tho' fast­ing as long several times, complaining of any such hunger? Or can we believe the Devil, so very diligent and violent an enemy to Man's happiness, would have given our Sa­viour so glorious a respite, which, in all probability too, must have been so prejudi­cial to himself? When the Socinians can shew us any thing like a proof of their dreams in God's word, we'l consider it, till then we'l entertain it only as a ridicu­lous, not to say a blasphemous Romance, and adhere to the natural and genuine interpre­tation of these words, the Word was with [Page 341] God, viz. that Jesus Christ, or, he who in his humane nature bore that name, was from eternity actually existent in the presence, and in the bosom of his father, that therefore that Prayer of his was rational and intelligible, Now O father glorifie thou me with thy self, Joh. 17.5. with that glory which I had with thee before the world was: This Prayer is intelligible enough, according to the common Doctrine of the Christian Church, that Christ had a being before the beginning of the world: quit that sence and we have nothing but figure upon figure, incoherent, inconsistent, and very profound Heterodoxy and nonsense. And may we not fairly assert that old way of explaining such passages as these, when the Evangelist in the continuance of his dis­course, says plainly, and the Word was God? That the Word was with God, say they, is as much as if the Apostle had said, tho' he was unknown to the world, he was very well known to God in his privacy, and that's very likely to be true, if God be Omniscient, that he knew his Son: But if it be said, He only knew him, then it's false; for God him­self had, by his holy Angels before, made him known to the blessed Virgin, to his sup­posed father Joseph, and to the Shepherds of Bethlehem, and to the Wise Men of the East; nay, he was known to most of them, by the name of the Son of God, by the office of saving his people from their sins, &c. and good old Simeon, in his Eucharistick song, [Page 342] gives us a compleat Compendium of the Go­spel,Luke 2.31, 33. and we are sure, He knew the infant Jesus to be the salvation of God, who was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of God's people Israel. Here then we find, the adversaries of our Faith wholly mi­staken: in the consequent gradation of the Evangelists, they are yet engag'd in more difficulties, but what methods do they fix upon to disengage themselves? Accord­ing to the ordinary acceptation of the words, a man would be ready to conclude that the Evangelist meant as he said, and that if the Word was God, he was so indeed, and there­fore not simply a Creature or a meer Man; but (what may look very suspitiously) it's observable, that those who are unwil­ling to own any such thing as a Mystery in the Objects of our Faith, make every word in this beginning of S. John's Gospel My­sterious; so, by God we must understand Man, or one that really is no more than a Man, only honoured with the name of God, as being his Deputy or Vicegerent, or as the Psalmist speaks to Kings,Psal. 82.6, 7. I have said you are Gods, and all of you are children of the most high, but ye shall dy like Men, and fall like one of the Princes: Well, we allow it; Prin­ces are so styl'd there in a figurative sence, because of their deputation from heaven, and the derivation of their authority from thence: And in David we have a King, a Man after God's own heart, but was ever [Page 343] any thing like this in this text spoken of him? Would not the Author be impudent­ly ridiculous, who should preface a History of David's life thus, In the beginning of the Israelitish Kingdom was David, for so he really had a being, as soon as ever Saul had any title to that kingdom; and David was with God, i. e. He was known only to him, for God had cut out his Prophet Samuel a way to anoint him King unknown to Saul, to pre­vent any jealousie in him of any such inten­ded Heir to his Crown, and Israel in ge­neral were as ignorant of his Unction to their government; and David was God, because he held the place of God, and in his room and by his appointment managed that people? You see the reason of beginning so would be the same which these Men assign to our Evangelist: but would you not look on such an Historian as an impious blasphe­mer, or could ever any, without the spirit of Prophecy, imagine, that by such ex­pressions any thing of this nature could be meant? It's true again, that God promis'd Moses, Exod. 4.16 c. 7.1. he should be instead of God to his bro­ther Aaron, that he should be a God to Pha­raoh King of Egypt, and what looks yet greater, that Aaron should be his Prophet; We would conclude that by these expressions God meant no more, than that Moses should interpret the Will of God, or make it known to Aaron, dictating always to him what He should say and do in the name of God: [Page 344] and that Pharaoh should shew a respect to him as to a Divine Person, and should be no more able to offer him violence or to do any injury to him, how angry so ever he might be, than if he had really been a God: and that, because of his slow speech, Aaron should deliver his mind and errand to Pha­raoh for him: this Interpretation is natural, and the sequel of the story confirms it; but would ever any Man, that desired to be so­berly understood, have said of Moses, even when he was upon the Mount, that Moses was with God, and that Moses was God? No Author sacred or prophane can afford us any parallel to this bold and impious asser­tion, that the Word was God, or that any Person was God, and yet no more than a meer Man. Socinus tells us, that certainly if God had designed that we should believe Jesus Christ was the most high God, he would have told us so in plain terms; Now had not Socinus himself and his Partners endeavour'd to have perswaded the world otherwise, all mankind would have concluded this expressi­on of the Evangelist such a plain passage as he required; and was the want of a single particle enough so to obscure the whole discourse of the Evangelist, that, without a 1000. fictitious stories added to him, he must become absolutely unintelligible? God in that expression, the Word was with God, and in that again, the same was in the be­ginning with God, is, by themselves under­stood [Page 345] to signifie the most high God, and why should it be otherwise interpreted in the middle sentence? But Schlicktingius here sets upon us with an absurd paraphrase of his own contrivance, the necessary conse­quence, of the current interpretation of the Evangelist, For, says he, it will amount to this as if the Evangelist had said,Schlicktin. in locum. In the beginning was that one God, and that one God was with that one God, and that one God was that one God, and that same one God was in the beginning with that one God, and that one God made all things by that one God: Absurd and ridiculous enough! but our own learned Dr. Hammond has furnished us with one of a more genuine and sensible complexion, thus, In the begin­ning of the World, before all time, before any thing was created, the Son of God had a real be­ing, and that Being with his Father, of whom he was begotten from all eternity, and was him­self eternal God, and being by his Father, in his eternal purpose, designed to be the Messias, who was among the Jews known by the title of the Word of God, and is here fitly express'd by that name, The Word, This eternal Word of God, I mean, by whom all things were at first created, He brought with him the Doctrine of life, &c. Here we have the meaning of the Catholick Church set down, and a full explication of the Evangelist, without any such nonsence or Tautology as Schlicktingius would amuse us with: But as if the Spirit [Page 346] of God had resolved to prevent the Socinian Cavils, the Evangelist, to make us more certain who this Word was, adds this to his Character,ver. 3. All things were made by him, and without him was not made any thing that was made; but to evade this they give us a new cast of their subtilty and boldness: For here the word, All things, must lose its sence, and be understood only of some particulars; for they recur to their [...], their original false principle, which is, that in the beginning is only in the begin­ning of the Gospel, and so by all things here are meant only such things as have a particu­lar respect to the promulgation of the Gospel, of all which things he was the Author; but their first principle is yet very far from be­ing made good, nay had our Evangelist ex­presly said, In the beginning of the Gospel was the Word, which yet neither was, nor could be his meaning, All things were made by him, could not admit of their restrained sence, the following words forbid it, with­out him was nothing made that was made: and for fear these words should be liable to any exception, the Apostle interprets their meaning by that, He was in the World, and the World was made by him, v. 10. and the World knew him not: But here (rather than not elude the force of the words) they will in one verse make the word [...] the World, to carry no fewer than three several sences, as it's three times repeated; for first by his [Page 347] being in the world is meant, his Conversing with all men in general, for there by the World is meant All men, by the World which was made by him is meant, all those who were created a-new in Christ to good works, they are those upon whom his Doctrine had its due effect;Schlicktin. in locum. Renovantur autem & restauran­tur homines per sermonem cum ad fidem in ipsum adducuntur, &c. Men are renewed and restored by the word, when they are brought to Faith in him, and draw a new Spirit, even the Spirit of Adoption, thro' him, whereby they mortifie the Flesh and the Works of the Flesh, from sinners and slaves to vice they are made Saints, and from persons condemn'd and lost, they are made certain of eternal life: Such persons then as these constitute the second World, that World which was made by him: but because it would sound very odly, that these new Creatures, Men thus renewed in the Spirit of their minds, should not know Him who had renewed or created them again, therefore they have thought of a third World, that World which did not know him, and that is the World of obstinate and contumacious Men, who would not listen to the Word, tho' speaking never so power­fully: nor could the Word work at all on them, tho' in it self of so efficacious a na­ture: those indeed are sometimes called the World, because they are men of earthly and degenerate minds, Men, who give them­selves [Page 348] wholly to mind earthly things; but never yet did any inspired Writer call Ho­ly Men, Men converted from the vanities of this World, from all the Lusts and Follies attending it, never did they call such by the name of Worldly Men: But is not this a very hard shift, to chop and change so often in so very short a sentence? Whereas if we believe, as we ought, that this Habitable World, and all things therein were created at first out of nothing by the Son of God, the sence will be easie enough, that God the Son was in this World, this World the Uni­versal fabrick of which his own hand had made, and yet the World, so far as capable of sence and knowledge, understood it not, or were not able to distinguish between the Creator and a meer Creature. That we should believe the Son of God made all things at first, the Scripture seems to take a great deal of care, for so S. Paul teaches us, that God created all things by Jesus Christ, Ephes. 3.9. but much more fully, Coloss. 1.15, 16. Where giving thanks to God the Father, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, he describes that Son thus, He is the image of the Invisible God, the first-born of every Creature, for by him were all things created, that were in Heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or Dominions, or Principalities or Powers, all things were created by him and for [Page 349] him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist, and the Author of the Epistle is acknowledged to apply that of the Psal­mist to our Saviour,Heb. 1.10. Thou Lord in the begin­ning hast laid the foundation of the Earth, and the Heavens are the works of thy hands: A man would be apt to think these Texts were very plain and positive; yet here too they'l make their impious attempts, for All things in heaven and in earth, must mean only An­gels and Men; be it so, how come the An­gels to be renewed by the Word? They will not say the fallen Angels were reduced to a state of Salvation, S. Jude will contradict them there, who tells us,Jude v. 6. The Angels which kept not their first state, but left their own ha­bitation, God hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day: They cannot say the Good Angels were so restored or renewed, for they were created absolutely happy, and they had not lost that happiness; and our Saviour himself asserts, that He came not to call the Righteous, but sinners to repentance, that the Whole need not a Physician, but those that are Sick: The words then are as they sound to us, they are general, and whereas the A­postle particularises in Thrones and Domi­nions, &c. after those general words, all things visible and invisible, it's only to sup­ply us with an argument à Majori ad Mi­nus, that if even those superiour happy Be­ings, who might seem almost to be above [Page 350] the rank of Creatures, if they yet ow'd their first originals to the hand of the Son of God, how much more may we conclude the visible or grosser parts of the Universe might owe their beginnings to his power?

Indeed the design of the Apostle is to set before our eyes in the beginning of his Go­spel, the wonderful Condescension of the Son of God on behalf of miserable sinners, so to work in us a due fence of what we owe to so infinite a goodness, and a forward readi­ness to accept Salvation from so all-suffici­ent a hand, upon the terms propounded, i. e. Faith and Obedience; but what Topic could the Holy Pen-Man better begin his design with, than from that of Christ's being God blessed for ever, or from all eternity, from his existing always in the glorious presence of his Almighty Father, and being infi­nitely blest in himself, as being One and equal with his Father, (for a compleat and every way perfect Ʋnion or Identity can on­ly be between equals.) The Evangelist proves this eternal Greatness by that suffici­ent argument of his being the great and sole Creator of all things. This God, this Creator of all things, appeared upon Earth, where, even those who were the Work of his hands, were grown to that Blindness through the greatness of their Sins, and the corruption of their natures, that tho' the whole Creation long'd for the glorious day of his appearance, Yet all the Worl'd [Page 351] seem'd utterly unable to discover him: this glorious and eternal Word yet assumed Hu­mane Nature, that he might be Visible to the eye of the World, and that he might be able to offer himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of the World, that he might atone his Father's just anger, and reconcile us to him by his own most precious blood: To this end He underwent all the inconveniences ordinarily attending Mankind, and it was a severe be­ginning of his debasement or humiliation for our sakes, that whereas he honour'd the Nation of the Jews by being born among them, and whereas, out of particular com­miseration for that poor lost people, he made himself first known among them, and Preach'd, and did Miracles, that they might the better understand him; yet, after all, he came to his own, but his own received him not, i. e. the generality of that Nation re­jected him, but those who did receive him were empower'd by him to become the Sons of God, they were so influenced, assisted, sup­ported, and dignified by his Sacred Spirit, that they attained the Spirit of Adoption, whereby they were able to cry Abba Fa­ther, or to call upon God with that con­fidence and security, which a dearly loved Son may have in an indulgent and well pleas­ed Father; He was such, because that Holy Lamb, to whom John the Baptist gave his testimony, did really take away the Sins of the World, and this Lamb whose nature and [Page 352] goodness was so little understood, appear'd yet (especially after his Resurrection, when their minds were opened) to his Disciples, full of Grace and Truth, they beholding his glory as the glory of the only Begotten Son of God; such lustre would appear in him to the true believers eyes through the thick veil of his flesh, and all the dismal clouds of his unparallel'd sufferings. Now this glory which the Apostles saw in Christ, must be somewhat capable of distinguishing him from others, he might have appear'd as a Son of God at large, in the same sense as all those who live piously are called the Sons of God: but that would not at all have answer'd to what the Evangelist tells us his Glory made him appear, i. e. the only begotten Son of God, begotten of God in such a manner as ne­ver any meer Creature could be, glorious in such a Manner as no meer Man was ever capable of; but if he could be no Creature, he could be nothing but God, there being no Intermedial Essence between the Creator and the Creature; If then it be the distin­guishing Character of the Almighty, that he has had a being from eternity, that he is God, that He has made all things, and that there is nothing made but what is made by him: that He has made the World, that He has created all things visible and invisible, whe­ther in heaven or in the earth, that He has founded the Earth, and the Heavens are the work of his hands: if all these things are the [Page 353] Characters of the most high God, Our Sa­viour justly wears them all. He was in the beginning before all things, He was then with God, He was God, all things were made by him, and nothing without him, He made the World, and all things in it whether visible or invisible, &c. therefore he was the most high God: notwithstanding which exalted nature, he was pleas'd to manifest himself in the flesh, or to become flesh, which could be no diminution of his eternal glory, infi­nity being absolutely incapable of any such lessening; The Godhead was not converted in­to flesh, as the Athanasian Creed expresses it, i. e. by taking our Nature, the Son of God did not cease to be God, but he took the man­hood into God, that which was limited and finite into that which was infinite. Thus have I very largely insisted on this beginning of S. John's Gospel, it being such a dis­course as asserts the Divine Nature of the Son with the greatest clearness and the most of circumstance of all others, and therefore the whole body of the Socinians level all their skill and strength against it, knowing very well, that a conquest here gain'd would go a great way to make them victorious in every quarter.

In the next place, Our Saviour dis­coursing with the Jews, who were always seeking occasion to quarrel both his words and actions, when we may assure our selves, that if he had but the discretion of an or­dinarily [Page 354] prudent Man, he would have spoken with the greatest caution in the World,Joh. 10.30 He then tells them, without any limitation or allay, I and my father are one. Schlicktin. in locum. Hoc Christi dictum ad essentiam trahere nugari est, says Schlicktingius roundly, It's perfect fooling to infer an essential unity be­tween the Father and the Son from these words of Christ: Mirum est hunc locum urgeri à qui­busdam, Enjed. in locum. & ex eo velle eandem Patris & Fi­lii essentiam colligere, says Enjedine, It's strange that some should urge this place, and conclude from it that the Essence of God the Father, and of God the Son is the same, and he alledges Beza and Calvin, and Bucer, as all declaring that it's no proof in the case; but it's not what Men of great names say, or boldly assert; but the reasons why they say so or so, that we much respect; and there­fore we cannot overpass this particular Text. The Jews, as we find in the verses before, came about our Saviour, and require he'd tell them plainly whether He were the Christ or not? The Question in it self was reasonable, and might merit a direct an­swer, and doubtless would have had it, had it been propounded with that ingenuity and sincerity which became those who were prepared to receive the Gospel: But our Saviour, who knew the malice of the Que­stion, refers them to what he had said be­fore, and the wonderful Works which he had done among them: They knew what the [Page 355] Prophets had foretold should be done by the Messias, They saw what He did, and They heard in whose name he pretended to do what he did, it was easie for them to com­pare his present actions with the antient Prophecies, and to find out whether there was any thing prejudicial to God's glory or Man's happiness, in all those miracles he had done among them: But they not being his Sheep, nor submitting themselves to his conduct, who was the Good Shepherd, they had not Honesty or Prudence enough to ex­amine and weigh things impartially, and therefore stumbled at noon day: They could not see how the Innocence of his life, where they could convince him of no Sin; how the purity of his Doctrine, which he uttered so as never Man did before him: how the greatness of his Miracles, which were un­questionable and extremely kind: did prove beyond contradiction of any, but those who were wilfully mad, that He could be no Im­postor, no Cheat as they imagin'd: Had they been his Sheep, they'd have listned to him, and have been safe, for all those were so who followed him, He would give them eternal life, and no man could take them out of his hand, for his Father who gave them him was greater than all, Therefore no man could pluck them out of his hand; but He and his Father were One, therefore none could pluck them out of his hand, therefore He too was greater than all. This would seem to [Page 356] the natural consequence of the Words; and it's certain the Jews thought it was so, for they presently took up stones to stone him, i. e. to give him that death which was the pecu­liar punishment of the Blasphemer; and such they took him for; for when Christ reproached their baseness,v. 33. and ask'd for which of his good works they stoned him, they readily answer, They stoned him, not for a good work, but for blasphemy, because that He being a Man made himself God: This they thought they concluded very reasonably, because he had said, I and my Father am One. Well, did our Saviour in his reply, tell them they were mistaken, that he meant no such thing by those words, that his meaning on­ly was, that He and his Father were both of one mind, exactly agreeing in that kind in­tention of preserving his Sheep from pe­rishing? did he make any such plea? Not at all; but he sharply reproves their folly in challenging him as a Blasphemer for those words, and takes up an argument against them from that passage of the Psalmist, I have said ye are gods. v. 34, 35, 36. If he call them gods to whom the word of God came, says our Lord, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of hi [...] whom the father hath sanctified and sent into the World, Thou blasphemest, because I sai [...] I am the Son of God, i. e. If earthly Princes deserve the name of Gods, because they are God's Vicegerents, or if Angels carry that name because they are the Ministers of God [...] [Page 357] glory, would not that title much more justly belong to the Son of God made flesh, sancti­fied from the womb of his mother, and sent from heaven to be the Saviour of the world? he must then by the very force of this ar­gument be greater than either the greatest of Men, or the holiest of Angels; but what middle Being is or can there be between An­gelick substances and the Deity, that should be above Angels, and yet not God? We'l allow then, that for Two to be One is often used for that unity or agreement of mind, which our adversaries speak of, but we may retort their question, and ask, Is it possible two should be exactly of one mind, and yet not both of one nature? I fear they'l find no instances of that: Friends may be said to be One, Husband and Wife to be One, Two People to be One, but are they not all of a mortal nature, and consequently capable of equal thoughts and apprehensions of things? if therefore God the Father and Jesus Christ be One in their sence, it must be by Identity of Ʋnderstanding, and Will, and Intention, which cannot be but between Persons of equal nature, therefore Christ must be par­taker of the Divine Nature, and therefore he must be God, and so, what he farther adds in his discourse with the Jews is easily in­telligible, and a strong confirmation of what we have laid down, If I do the works of my Father, believe not Me, but believe the Works, that ye may know and believe, that the Father [Page 358] is in me, and I in him: this passage if inter­preted of unity of Will, can be no where pa­rallel'd; and indeed it intimates a yet closer conjunction than that agreement: This Union takes as much of the Subject on one part as on the other, therefore if the father be every where, and more peculiarly in the Son, the Son is every where too, and as peculiarly in the Father, and therefore when Enjedine would make a shew of some parallel expres­sions of Christ's being in good Men and they in him, he unluckily, among other places, hits on that of S. Paul, where he speaks of Christ's dwelling in the heart by Faith, Eph. 3.17. which indeed explains all the rest; for Christ being a Meer Man, as the Socini­ans say, cannot any otherwise be united so to men, as to be said to be in them, but by Faith, nor can good Men, pious and holy Persons be in Christ otherwise than by Faith; but sure it was never thought of, that the Son of God, was in his Father or his Father in him by Faith: yet that must be said, be it never so absurd or blasphemous, if their appeal to that of our Saviour stand good, That they all may be one as thou Father art in me, Joh 17, 21, 22, 23. and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; here the unity be­tween Christians, or those who should be­lieve in Christ, must be that unity of mind, consisting in mutual Love and Charity, that [Page 359] Unity must be maintain'd by the vigour of their Faith; but cannot that Unity between the Father and the Son be maintain'd, with­out the same Faith? If the expressions must be explain'd all one way, it will then follow, That God loves those who believe in his Son, as well as he loves his Son, for so it fol­lows in the forecited place, That they may be made perfect in one, ver. 23. and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast lov'd them as thou hast loved me: but this would quite ruine all their pretences to an extra­ordinary reverence of the Person of Christ, whom they pretend to prefer, in all privi­leges, infinitely before the Holiest of other men. Indeed the Prayer of Christ imports only this, He begs of his Father that Chri­stians might be as closely united with re­spect to their mortal state, and in proportion to it, as he and his Father were in their im­mortal Nature; and that believers should enjoy his presence as effectually to their ad­vantage, by their Faith in him, as he en­joy'd the infinite glory and happiness of his Father, by his Identity or Coessentiality with him; and this is the greatest happi­ness they could wish for themselves, or Christ for them. The Jews then were not mistaken in the meaning of our Saviour, when in saying, He and his Father were one, they thought he made himself God: nor did they mistake him, when they sought to kill him before, because he said, God was his Father, Joh. 3.18. [Page 360] making himself equal with God. For Christ's permission of any to worship him was a bet­ter interpretation of his words, than all the glosses of the Socinians put together; and as reason commonly teaches us to understand, that the begetting Father, and the begotten Son, are both of one and the same Nature here, so the same reason taught the Jews to apprehend, that if Christ were the Son of God, he then must be of the same nature with his Father, which they who saw him in the form of a servant only, thought as absurd and impossible, as the Socinians do now: if the Jews committed a mistake in their ap­prehensions of Christ's words, nothing can possibly excuse either Christ himself, or his Apostles from extreme unkindness, since they would take no pains to rectifie a Mistake in all appearance involuntary, a Care, which might in probability have cured them of their unbelieving humour.

Let us then proceed farther to that Con­fession of the Apostle S. Thomas, when he called our Saviour his Lord and his God: Joh. 20.28 Where we may take some notice of the oc­casion of those words, which was this, Our Saviour to satisfie the world of his Resur­rection; and more particularly to satisfie his own Disciples in that point, had appear'd to them in that body in which he suffer'd for them, and all the World; when the Dis­ciples were assembled together, their doors shut with a great deal of privacy for fear [Page 361] of the Jews: there he blessed them, his pre­sence gave them an extraordinary occasion of joy, the transports of which being over, he blest them again, breathed upon them so effectually, as by that breath they received the Holy Ghost, and with that that Com­mission and power, which afterwards they were more particularly authorised to exert, for the management of the Church. During this gracious visit of his Master, Thomas one of the twelve was absent, afterwards returning to his company, they joyfully as­sure him they had seen the Lord; their words carry somewhat extraordinary in them, they tell him not, We have seen our Lord, or thy Lord, they use no limiting particle, but speak positively and generally, We have seen the Lord, so giving him that title by which the Septuagint translate the name [...] so that it seems here given to Christ, as elsewhere it is to him who by all is acknowledged to be the most high God, emphatically and exclusively of all other Lords whatsoever. But not to insist on this, The report of his brethren to Thomas seem'd ex­tremely incredible; the Doctrine of the Resurrection, tho' it was a thing which Jews had no reason to stumble at in general, nor had the Disciples in particular, (for they had seen their Master raise Lazarus, and the Son of the Widow of Naim, and they had doubtless seen those holy bodies, which arose from their graves upon the [Page 362] dreadful convulsion of nature, when Jesus gave up the Ghost upon the Cross) yet the memory of all these things, and the testi­mony of his own Companions, whose very looks and discourse, the evidences of un­wonted joy, carried a great deal of inno­cency and sincerity in them, could not pre­vail with him, but he positively declares, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, ver. 25. and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe; such an unreasonable infidelity, that seemed resolved neither to submit to the testimony of others, nor to his own sight, might justly have been left unsatis­fied: but our Saviour had a respect to the rest of the World to whom the Gospel should be preached, and the Resurrection be pro­pounded as necessary to be believ'd, there­fore he condescended to the Apostles weak­ness, and after eight days when the Dis­ciples were again together, and Thomas with them, he appears to them again, and with his usual blessing, applyes himself immedi­ately to his unbelieving Disciple, He shews himself the great Searcher of the heart and reins, and tells him, without the help of a teacher, how great a folly he had been guilty of, he commands him to do what he had be­fore desired, he by that means leaves him no opportunity of doubting any longer: He then, who had of all others been the most distrustful, to make somewhat of a publick [Page 363] compensation for his former dulness, breaks out into that earnest and emphatical con­fession, My Lord and my God! the words seem very plain and proper to express a man's acknowledgment of his Divinity to whom they should be applyed. Enjedine yet denyes it, His verbis quidem, Enjedine in locum. non Christum compellat, neque eum Dominum & Deum suum vocat, sed rem inusitatam & admirationem suam summam significat, In these words really, He does not speak to Christ, nor call him his Lord and his God, but only signifies his admiration of so very unusual a matter; yet the Text tells us plainly Thomas answered him and said unto him, that is, to him who bad him reach out his hand to him, in the precedent verse, that is, to Jesus Christ, My Lord and my God! He would have it signifie no more than what a frighted Papist would bless himself with, i. e. the outcry of Jesus Maria, or as we ordinarily say, Good God how strange a thing has hapned lately, &c. and for this conceit he alleges some such like passages in prophane Authors: a very strange me­thod and as little approved of by those of his own party. Wolzogenius utterly con­demns this fancy, and declares of them who first invented it, Nullo modo audiendi sunt, Wolzogen. in locum. they are no way at all to be listned to, and owns this the first place wherein the Disciples after his resurrection owned him to be God: Schlicktingius too declares against it, and [Page 364] tells us,Schlicktin. in locum. This passage proves, that upon our Saviour's reprimand, Thomas, fully convinc'd of the truth, quitted his former vitious incredulity, and believed, and therefore he calls Christ his God and Lord, as if he should have said, Agnosco te Do­minum meum & Deum meum esse, I acknow­ledge thee to be my Lord and my God; but he spoils all at last with this, that Christ after his own resurrection, was only, Deus fa­ctus, a made God, not the great God, not the eternal, not the most high God, not Maker of all things, by which names yet, and others of the same kind he's frequently call'd in Scripture: Socinus himself in an Epistle to Franciscus Davidis, another Anti­trinitarian, vindicates our common interpre­tation of these words, and will not admit of the others arguments, whereby he pre­tended to prove, that these words are no evidence of Christ's being call'd God: for, besides his alleging that all Copies read it as we have it at present, and that there's no instance in Scripture where such an ex­pression is only a proof of an extraordinary admiration: Socini Epi­stola ad Franc. Dav. p. 395. he shews farther, that where­as our Saviour in the following verse shews his approbation of Thomas's faith, there could be no reason of any such approbation, if Tho­mas by these words had only signified his won­derment of what had come to pass with respect to his resurrection; and to say truth, such an extravagant amazement would have argued [Page 365] some diffidence still remaining in him: but indeed here's no sign in the story of any such wondring at the thing, but only here's a plain confession made of what the Apostle's Faith now was, namely, that the blessed Je­sus was his Lord and his God, wherein too, he is the mouth of all the rest of the Apostles, and there was reason for this Confession: S. Thomas had heard his Master's disputes with the Jews, the evidences he had given of his being the Messias whom they looked for, or the Christ, he had heard him often call himself the Son of God, declare his equality with his Father, and that absolute and indissoluble unity which was between his father and himself, he had heard him de­clare what he was to suffer, and that he was to rise again the third day, the suffering he had seen, the Resurrection he was not so fully satisfied in, but when he saw him, and felt his wounds now, which he had known were really given him before, that extra­ordinary truth which appear'd in all the words and actions of the Son of God, open'd his Eyes to see and his Heart to confess, that this same Jesus, whom he had followed so long, was really his Lord and his God: Thus his Faith with respect to the Messias, was compleat, he had seen enough to prove him to be Man in all that time of converse with him before his passion: he had seen enough now to prove him to be God, not a finite God, or an holy Man Deisied; but the true, [Page 366] the eternal God: for tho' Kings or Magi­strates may be call'd Gods in Scripture, was it ever heard that any called Kings or any other created Being whatsoever My Lord and my God, without being charged with Idolatry? The Israelites when Aaron had made them a golden Calf,Exo. 32.4. cryed presently, These be thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, [...] these are thy gods, it's expressed there by that equi­vocal word, which the adversaries of our Faith have so often their recourse to: there­fore the Israelites might have pleaded for themselves, that they meant not by so say­ing, that the golden Calf was the most high God, and it's plain they did not, for they presently proclaim a feast to the true God, [...] of whom this Calf was only design'd to be a Symbol or memorial, but such a plea was not accepted, but for the crime the Israelites were look'd upon and punished as I [...]olaters. The Prophet Isay, setting out the practice of Idolaters, and the general original of Idol Images, among other things, tells us,Isa 44.17. He that had just made the golden Image, falls down and worships it, and prays unto it, and says, Deliver me, for thou art my God: Doubtless the Engraver and Car­ver, &c. would readily plead for them­selves, they look'd upon their Images but as Symbols of a real Deity, or places of re­sidence for more Spiritual Beings, or at most but as subordinate Gods: yet all this [Page 367] will not excuse them from the charge of Ido­latry; for God first, declaring of himself, that He is the true God, that He is the living God, and an everlasting king, Jer. 10.10, 11. at whose wrath the earth should tremble, and the nations should not be able to abide his indignation, adds farther, The Gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens: that's then the characteristick or the test of a true God, the making of the heavens and of the earth, on which reason begin we our Creed with that, I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth, and whosoever it is who has not made Heaven and earth, in that same sense in which the Prophet here speaks, He's an Idol, and all those are guilty of Idolatry who put any confidence in him.Vid Mar­tial. l. 5. Epig. 8. Suet. in Domit. c. 13. And such were Caligula and Domi­tian, those proud Emperours, who knew not how to sit down with an inferior title to that, Domini Deique nostri, of our Lord and our God: and very Heathens themselves thought this was assuming divine Honours to themselves, and such as were no way be­coming mortal men: But I know the Soci­nians allow those who are made Gods by Men to be Idols, but those who are made by Almighty God himself are not so. Ne­que enim unus ille deus falsos deos facit, homi­nes hoc faciunt, says Schlicktingius, for he who is the one supreme God, does not make false Gods, they are only Men who do so: hence, [Page 368] according to them, Kings and Princes are true Gods, because they are constituted by God himself to represent his own person to the world; but to this we answer, never King upon earth, but only such as those be­fore-named, Caligula or Domitian, preten­ded to such a name, nor were there ever any but sordid Parasites and flatterers, who offer'd to call them their Lords and their Gods: A­lexander the Great himself, tho' foolish and ambitious to be called the Son of Jupiter, yet could not but expose their baseness who complyed with his mad fancy, when he saw the blood trickling from a wound he had received, and ask'd them whether that were like the [...] which Homer made to fall from his Gods? They allege, on their own behalf, that passage in the Psalmist, Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever, Psal. 45.6. which say they is there spoken of Solomon, which we as posi­tively deny, and are assured they can never prove: God by his Prophets is not wont to tell downright falsehoods, as he must do, if this were to be so applyed; for which way shall we make it out that Solomon's Throne was everlasting, when all the glories of it sunk in his immediate Successor? which way shall the Sceptre of his kingdom be made a right Sceptre, whose immediate Successor, and several after him, have that character in Scripture, that they did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: What great and terrible things were those which were done [Page 369] by the sword of peaceable Solomon, who was to be no man of blood, no conqueror o [...] what worship do we ever read was paid by Pharaoh's daughter, or any other of his numerous wives and concubines to Solomon? and the Holy Ghost directly applies these words to Jesus Christ the Son of God, [...] with­out the least mention of Solomon. Beside this then, they have no Text which looks like any thing of ascribing those names, My Lord and my God, to any created being what­soever; and when they have said all they can, Christ himself must be an Idol to Tho­mas, and to all those who own him at any time to be their Lord and their God, if it be not He who has made the Heavens and the Earth according to the Letter: Princes may be Metaphorical Gods, but they are not set up for humane Adorations; Men and Angels are to adore the Son of God, therefore he's no Metaphorical God: and we need beg no pardon for saying, it's not in the power of an Almighty God to create or make a true or an eternal God, or another being Almighty as himself, it's Nonsence to talk of Monarchs subordinate one to another, or of Monarchs co-ordinate with one another in the same ter­ritory, and it's plain nonsence to tell us, Christ is a subordinate God to his Father, or that there can be two supreme Gods over all blessed for ever: Therefore when the Apostle calls his master, My God and my Lord, his meaning must be, that the Son of God is [Page 370] the true God, one God, coessential, co-eternal with his Father. From hence then we proceed to

Rom 9.5. Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is God over all, blessed for ever, Amen. The character here is very high, the Text plain, and it may justly be concluded those must adventure very boldly who can elude its force. If we look into the occasion of the words, we there find the Apostle ex­pressing an extraordinary affection to his Countrey-men, being willing to become a curse for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh; whose condition he commise­rates the more, because of those extraor­dinary privileges they had before enjoyed; for there is no greater aggravation of misery than to have made a great many fair steps towards happiness, and to have fallen short of it at last. These privileges they had en­joyed were extraordinary, they were Is­raelites, so God's proper or peculiar inhe­ritance, beyond all other nations whatso­ever: To them pertained the adoption, or they were adopted to be the Sons of God, and are called so in the Old Testament: to them appertain'd the glory of God's pe­culiar presence among them, owning them for his people, and delivering them gloriously, with a mighty hand and stretched out arm, from their cruel enemies: To them belonged the Covenants, the two Tables written with the Finger of God himself, the giving of [Page 371] the Law, that Law Moral, Political and Ce­remonial, which made their Religious Or­dinances, their Civil Government, and their Manners far superiour to those of all other Nations; to them belonged the service of God, the only true external form or method of worship; and the Promises, for all the Pro­phets, among those severe menaces they denounced against Israel for their Sins, yet always brought the Promises of a Messias, a Redeemer to come, to comfort them; their's were the Fathers, all those Men so eminent for their favour with God, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Da­vid, and all the rest of the Prophets: Of them came Jesus Christ according to the flesh; that particularising of his deduction from them according to the flesh, intimates plainly enough, that according to somewhat else he had another Original, he was not wholly of the Jews: This the Socinians are forced to own, because of that entire story of our Saviour's Conception by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the blessed Virgin. To shew how great this privilege was, the Apostle adds, that this Jesus Christ, who came of the Jews according to the flesh, was God over all blessed for ever, but that they might avoid the force of this Text, they would fain [...]ly to one of their ordinary shelters, a vari­ [...]us reading; but there's no such thing in any of the original Copies; and Versions (if there be any which intimate such a thing) [Page 372] are little to be regarded. Then they would fain alter the Pointing, which if allow'd, would do them little service; but there is no ground for allowing that.In locum. Enjedine pleads that the word [...] blessed, used by the Apostle here, is never applyed any where in Scripture to any but only God the Father, for this he alledges, that of the same Apostle concerning the Gentiles, that they worshipped the Creature more than the Crea­tor, Rom. 1.25. who is over all, blessed for ever: But if it be true, that Jesus Christ, as the eternal Son of God, was the Creator of all things, as it seems to be, his instance turns against himself; and methinks it follows as well, that if the title of God above all blessed for ever belongs only to the supreme God, (for that he means when he speaks of its belong­ing only to God the Father) then the Son of God, to whom it's given here, should be the supreme God; for it is no less than Sacrilege and Blasphemy to attribute a title so peculiar to the Sovereign, to any one who really and in his own Nature is not the Sovereign God. Others of the Socinian Tribe cannot see, or take no notice of this peculiar usage of the expression, as if it be­long'd only to God the Father, they acknow­ledge that Christ, as Made God, is above all Men and Angels, above all Principalities and Powers, nay above all things whatsoever, only,1 Cor. 15.27. He's not above him who put all things under him; This the Apostle asserts, This [Page 373] we own, but withal we assert, that our Sa­viour, as Man in that body in which he hum­bled himself to the Death of the Cross for Man, is thus exalted above all things, and thus as Man he is the head of his Church; as God, we say not that he's superiour to his Father, but that he is equal to him; he is of the same Nature with his Father, and therefore is God over all blessed for ever, as his Father is. Now, that He who is thus God over all blessed for ever, should conde­scend to take our Nature upon him, was an effect of infinite Love and pity to all man­kind, that he should condescend to take this humane Nature of any one of the Jewish Nation, was the greatest Honour that could possibly be done to that Nation: We see how Towns and Countreys strive for the Honour of being the birth-places of great Men, and they have been frequently not a little jealous of one another on that account; nay Scripture it self makes such a thing a considerable advantage; in that of the Pro­phet concerning the Messias, as alledged by the Chief Priests and Scribes to Herod, And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the Princes of Judah, Matt. 2.6. for out of thee shall come a Governour who shall rule my people Israel, the present Hebrew reads it, tho' thou be little among the thou­sands of Judah: The birth of such a one was enough to make the most inconsiderable place glorious; miserable people then were [Page 374] they, who had so great an honour confer'd on them, and yet at last deny'd him who conferr'd it on them.

S. Paul gives this advice to the Philippi­ans, Phil 2.5-1 [...]. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of Man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obe­dient to Death, even to the Death of the Cross, wherefore God also hath mightily exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We might refer the matter to any who had no acquaintance with Christianity, or with Scripture before, and such a Man, on read­ing these words, would certainly conclude, that he who carries here the name of Christ Jesus, was described as every way equal with God the Father, whosoever that might be; and that we may understand such a conclusion would be just and rational, we may look into the occasion of the words. The Apostle is perswading the Philippians here to Unity, Love and Peace, and parti­cularly to a mutual care and sollicitude for the good and happiness of one another, [Page 375] urging them not altogether to employ them­selves upon their own private or publick, inward or outward Interests, but to allow some charitable thoughts towards the Sal­vation of others,Gal. 6.2. to snatch them as fire­brands out of the fire, agreeably to what he elsewhere advises them to, i. e. that they should bear one anothers burdens; this kind care he urges them to, from the example of him in whom they believed, and whose ser­vants they profest themselves to be; Who tho' eternally and immutably blest in him­self, yet, out of that infinite love he had to perishing mankind, was pleased to take hu­mane nature upon him, that in that humane nature he might suffer, to atone his Father's displeasure against Sin and Sinners, and pro­cure everlasting Salvation for as many as should believe on him; that to be of this charitable temper would be much to our advantage he proves by this consideration: That God the Father was so highly pleas'd with this action of his Son, that he raised even that humane nature, in which he suf­fered, to the highest glories, and sanctified that very name, which his Son assumed as Man, and as the Messias, to be above every name, to be admired, reverenced, adored by all created beings whatsoever: which adorations could only be rendered just and reasonable by that intimate and indiss [...]luble union between that humane natu [...] [...] eternal God-head: If God then so exal [...] [...] sus [Page 376] Christ on account of his compassion and tenderness for us, he likewise will exalt us, if we be kind and tender hearted one towards another, if we endeavour to promote one anothers Salvation by all those means which by Providence are put into our hands. In this argument the Apostle makes use of such expressions, as stumble the enemies of the Divinity of the Son of God very much, and give them a great deal of pains to shift off and to evade; so the form of God, they de­termine to be nothing but a resemblance or representation of God in his Works; Christ was in the form of God when he did those many wonderful works during his converse upon earth, those Miracles importing some­what of a divine power; but what is there in this peculiar to our Saviour? Moses might as well have been said to have been in the form of God, since he too did a great ma­ny prodigious things, and the Skies, the Air, the Waters, the Earth, seemed all as obe­dient to him as to our Saviour afterwards: Elijah and Elisha might have receiv'd the same Character, and the Apostles much more, since Christ himself had promised them, that they should not only do the same, but greater miracles than he himself did: yet Scripture never talks of these at any such rate as their being in the form of God. If it be objected, that Moses, the Prophets men­tion'd, and the Disciples, after our Lord's Resurrection, did indeed many and great [Page 377] Miracles, but they were not done in their own names, we acknowledge it: but if our ad­versaries may be believed, our Saviour was in the same circumstances, for his Miracles were only done in the name of God, and so were the Mosaic and Prophetic Miracles done. If they'l own that our Saviour did his Miracles in His own name, they grant what they take so much pains to disprove, for none can do a Miracle in his own name, but he who has an inherent power in himself, commanding all the parts of the Creation, having no need of leave or assistance from any superiour Being; but such a power is and only can be inherent in the most high God, therefore if our Saviour had that power, he was and is the most high God, if he had not, he's in the same rank with other holy and good Men, and any of them might have been instanced in as patterns of as great conde­scension and love to Souls as himself. They criticise upon the word [...], the form of God, as if it signified only an outward shadow and appearance, and therefore not the real divine essence; and therefore, where­as the Apostle makes mention afterwards of the [...] the form of a Servant, they are under a necessity of denying that that signifies his assuming humane nature, tho' the words following are indeed an explica­tion of these, being in the form of a servant, and being found in likeness of men, are but explicatory one of another and so Schlick­tingius [Page 378] owns it; but (upon what reason we know not) upon that last phrase of being found in likeness of men, he writes thus, Fi­gurâ, i. e. non reipsâ sed apparenter & ex­ternâ specie tantum, in the form or figure of a Man, that is, not a Man indeed, but only to outward appearance, and to com­mon view; a Commentary to me unintel­ligible, since they own Christ to have been a real man, and nothing else; the reason of their niceness here is only this, They fear that if they own, the form of a Servant sig­nifies the humane nature of Christ, then the form of God must signifie the divine nature of the same person, which they cannot en­dure to hear of: but the Fathers with one current interpret it so, that the [...] is the [...], the essence of God, so Theo­doret on the place, Gregory Nyssen, Athana­sius, Chrysostome, Theophylact, &c. and the [...] is the [...], the nature of a servant, in the same sence, so Theodoret, Athanasius, Paedagog. l. 3. c. 1. Theophylact, and Clemens Alex­andrinus, who cannot well be suspected of partiality in the case; and this authority is much better than theirs, who only assert the contrary arbitrarily and without reason. That Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God, they would have to signifie only this, That he thought it not so great an advantage to be in the form of God, or like him, as to be obstinate in the reten­tion of that likeness, but would humbly [Page 379] quit it to be used and suffer like a servant; and for this Enjedine runs to some phrases in Heliodorus his Aethiopic Romance (where [...] rapina, signifies as much, if he in­terpret it rightly) but that's too modern an authority to interpret Scripture by, and too slight a work to teach us how to understand the dictates of God's Holy Spirit. After se­veral Cavils, they yield, that to be like to God, is to be equal to God, but equality must be between distinct beings, for none can be equal to himself; We own it, and say, the Fa­ther and the Son are distinct persons, but of one nature, as Father and Son must be, if their relation be real; but if God the Father and God the Son be of one and the same Na­ture, they must have one and the same Essence, because two infinite Essences are a contradicti­on; our Saviour being in the form of his Fa­ther, and equal to his Father, could not look on it as a crime, or think it any Sacrilege or robbery, to own that equality, as he did by his expressions of himself, and by those adorations he permitted to be paid to him­self. Here then was Love and Condescen­tion indeed, that He, who was God equal with his father, should assume to himself poor in­firm servile flesh and blood, and in that humble himself and be obedient to death, even that scandalous and painful death on the Cross, for our sakes: This Passion and this Obedi­ence was truly meritorious, it intrinsically and in its own real value, merited the re­demption [Page 380] of all mankind: it effectually and in its outward operation merited and procured the Salvation of all those that believe in him. As a reward for this Humility and Obedi­ence, God has highly exalted the Humane Nature of his Son, that's enclosed in, or sub­stantially united to the Divine Nature, and consequently partakes of all that bliss, that eternal glory and happiness which the Deity it self enjoys; by which means it comes to be lawful for Christians to worship Christ as Man, tho' not as meer Man, as well as, as he is God, a practice which could never be ex­cused from being the greatest Idolatry in the World, if there were no such union, as will hereafter be proved in course. For that exception to this Text, that Jesus is the name of Man, not of God, and Christ the name of an Office, it signifies the Anointed One, the Messias, and therefore cannot be­long to the most high God, it's extremely impertinent; they are not our Saviour's names as he is God, but as he is Man; but as none question his bearing the name of the Son of God, so every one knew that he bore the name of Jesus, and that it had been beyond contradiction prov'd that he was the Christ; his Relative name then, of the Son of God, his Humane name of Jesus, his Name of office as Christ, being all equally known, it was certainly free to the Apostle to speak of him by any of those names, and we see that those together with that of our [Page 381] Saviour, our High-Priest, our King, our Mediator, &c. are all indifferently used by the Apostles in their writings, without any kind of diminution of our Saviour's dignity, or detraction from his eternal divinity. Abundance more Texts might be added, but these are sufficient on this head.

3 We come now to the third Head pro­pounded, from whence to prove That the blessed Jesus was really God manifest in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3.16 comm. 2. God equal and co-essential with his fa­ther, and that is, from those Actions done by him during his own converse on Earth, or in his name after his Ascension into Heaven; where again we shall not be so curious as to ex­amine every particular, but only some of the more remarkable. The Socinians them­selves would have him be in the form of God, only on this account, because all the parts of nature seem'd to obey him as their Lord and Master: the Prophets too had comman­ded them before; but some things were done by our Saviour of so singular a nature, as the greatest of the Prophets could pre­tend to nothing of that kind. Thus when Jacob was afraid of Esau, he wrestled with God in Prayer, and God turn'd the heart of Esau towards his brother, and took off those barbarous and revengeful thoughts he had entertained before; so Jacob escaped his fury. Moses when terrified with the anger of the king of Aegypt, fled for it, [Page 382] and sav'd himself: and so Elijah himself was forced to flight that he might escape the feminine rage of Jezebel; and the rest of the Prophets, how great and considerable so­ever, had only flight or sufferings to prepare for. It was otherwise with our Saviour: for when he had enraged the people of Na­zareth by speaking what was true and necessa­ry to them, and they resolv'd to put an ef­fectual end to His preaching, who could flatter them no better, they thrust him out of the City, they lead him, to be sure, with Guard strong and numerous enough, to the brow of the Hill on which their City was built: their design was to cast him down headlong (not to perswade him to cast himself down,Luke 4.29, 30. as the Devil would have had him done, from the Pinacle of the Temple) they resolved to ease him of that trouble, and to do it violently and cruelly themselves: We read of no relenting among them, none who went about to perswade them to give over so bar­barous and unjust a design, but our Saviour in the open croud, past through the midst of them and went his way: there was no flight before, no calling fire down from heaven now, no other sudden consternation among them, but what appear'd in their countenances when they miss'd him, whom they thought they had held fast enough. We meet not with any interposition of Angels, no blindness laid upon them as a penalty, but He went from amongst them, they no more able to [Page 383] oppose his Motions, than a Man in a dream would be able to fight a Duel with a waking and terrible adversary; here then Almighty power shew'd it self even in the Man Christ Jesus, he shew'd his enemies how invisible, how every way indiscernible Humane Nature assumed into the Divine, must necessarily be. The Turks, perhaps taking their hint from this passage, tell us, that when our Saviour was led to be crucified, he vanished, in the same surprising manner, out of their hands, and left them only to exercise their rage upon one of his Judges, of whom they say, that he resembled Christ in an extraordinary manner. An humane body acted meerly by a rational soul, must of necessity be perceptible by those who compassed it round, and could they once have been sensible of his motions, it had been easie to have stayed him, but, where a divine Power interpos'd, it was impossible for any to observe, or at least to observe with a capacity to hinder his moving. Vir­gil tells us, how Venus wrapt her son Aeneas with his companion Achates in a misty robe, but he brings him on the stage of Carthage in the same invisible circumstances, and there­fore there were no offers to hinder him go­ing where he would, but when he was once seen, his Mother her self was not able to muffle him up so from humane eyes, as that he should fall into no danger: There­fore Homer makes both Mars and Venus, the last not visible at the time, to be wounded [Page 384] by Diomedes, when he was so very eager in pursuit of the Trojans: This then in our Saviour prov'd his rank yet higher than that of Man, his Power greater and more effectu­al, as working of it self, so upon humane Spirits, that either they could not discern him at all, or had no power to shew their displeasure, tho' never so violent and re­vengeful before; there needed no Angel here to stop the Lyons mouths, his Will with­out any outward expression of it was suffi­ent. And thus he shew'd a Power equally Di­vine, when meerly by asking the Officers who came with that Traitor Judas to take him, whom they sought? and telling them that He himself was the Person, John 18.5, 6. they went back­wards and fell to the ground: it must certain­ly be a strange and terrible power that from the mildest words could produce such ama­zing effects: Men bred up to blood and slaugh­ter are not wont to be affrighted with one anothers looks or words, but God even in the still small voice is to be fear'd. We must necessarily conclude that he who was the Son of God, who was his only Son, that Son to whom he gave so extraordinary a testi­mony that in him he was well pleased, we must conclude, that this Son would take all oc­casions to advance the honour of his Father; that He'd not only forbid others doing any thing that might detract from it, but he'd be above all things careful not to do any thing of so impious a complexion himself. [Page 385] As this was a duty incumbent upon every servant of God, so we find the Prophets al­ways careful in the case, and therefore pre­facing all those Miracles they wrought with solemn Prayers, and with the name of that God from whom all their miracle-working power was derived. Moses seems to have fail'd a little only in the point, when he was to bring water out of the rock for the Israe­lites, but Moses sin'd; nor could the rea­sonableness of his zeal excuse him from a se­vere punishment on that account. But, if we run over the general Histories of our Sa­viour's miracles, we find Him, for ought is upon record, not at all careful upon this matter; He does them frequently, too ma­ny to be registred, but all in his own name: He Wills this, and He Commands the other thing to be done, so the Winds, the Waves, the various Distempers afflicting Mankind, the Devils themselves tremble at and obey his Word; the Dead rise at the hearing of his Voice, every thing he speaks is powerful and authentick, yet no Praying before, no making use of his Father's name, no more notice taken of him in the operation, than as if the Father and the Son had stood in no kind of relation to one another. Nay, even in the case of Lazarus, which, if any, must carry the face of an exception; We see our Saviour praising his Father indeed for his readiness to hear him, yet expressing himself so only for their sakes that were by: Joh. 11.43. [Page 386] but afterwards speaking to him in the Man­datory stile, and only in his own name bid­ding him come forth. Now from this car­riage of our Saviour, we must either con­clude him to have been One with his Father, and so whatsoever honour came to himself, must also by so doing come to his Father; or else we must conclude him a careless, am­bitious, sacrilegious Person, one ready to rob God of his Honour, to take all opportuni­ties of assuming that to himself which be­long'd to God; for that's plain he did, be­cause he permitted those on whom he wrought Miracles to offer the same adora­tions to him which belong'd to the most high God, which never any Man, tho' ne­ver so holy, had admitted of before. Here then we are reduced to a necessity, either of saying with the blaspheming Jews, that He had a devil, and only by his power wrought all his miracles; and that Almighty God, ei­ther for want of power to hinder him, or out of design to have Mankind deluded and abus'd to their own ruine, permitted him to do so many wonderful works: Or else, that the blessed Jesus was really that holy, meek, just, eternal Son of the eternal God, that he assumed no more to himself, than what re­ally belong'd to him, therefore that he had really power in himself, and originated from himself, to do whatsoever he pleased, there­fore that he was God, the true, the most high God. That we may be the better assured [Page 387] that his Power was so innate and inherent, we may observe, that whereas his Apostles, after his ascent, did many miracles, and those of an extraordinary nature; so that Aprons and Handkerchiefs brought from the body of S. Paul, and the very shadow of S. Peter, car­ried a healing power with them, yet there was nothing in all that equal to what hap­ned to our Saviour upon the Woman's cure of her bloody Issue, who had but touched the hem of his garment: The Apostles utterly disown'd the working any cures by any power of their own, therein they acted mo­destly and piously; but on the contrary, our Saviour ascribes the miraculous cure done upon the woman, only to Himself; he takes notice of his garment, and, by it, of him­self being touch'd, and that at such a time as a croud of people thronged him, and he says, not that his Father's power, or the hand of God, or any thing of that nature, was gone out to cure her. But, says he,Luk. 8.46. somebody hath touch'd Me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me: and it's recorded of him before, that the whole multitude sought to touch him, Luk. 6.19. for there went virtue out of him and healed them all. Now tho' we know well enough that nothing but his humane nature, and the accidents attending that, were the ob­jects of common sense, yet we know withal that meer flesh and blood, tho' it be never so pure and innocent has no inherent power, by a distant or a mediate touch to cure any [Page 388] distempers, or to be sensible of such a cure wrought by any Passion in themselves: The Kings and Queens of England have often cured that disease, from thence, sencelesly named the Kings Evil, by a touch, the ef­fect is wonderful indeed, but we never heard of those Kings or Queens pretending they were sensible of any virtue passing out from them for the cure of the Patient, nor have any, that have pretended to the sanative faculty, yet dream'd of any such thing as a self-ori­ginated power in themselves to that purpose: the King, the Prophet, the Physician touches, but God only heals, this inherent Power then in Christ was derived from that Union betwixt his divine and humane Nature, that enabled him in every respect to bear our sins, and to carry our infirmities, so that from him, as from an inexhaustible fountain, all the health both of our bodies and souls is de­rived; but such a fountain can nothing but God be, therefore He is God.

We said, the Health of Souls is derived from Him as from its fountain or original: a meer Man may be an instrument in God's hand to help forward the salvation of a Soul, his Prudence, Learning, Industry, Charity may, by God's assistance, conduce in a great measure to that excellent end, but Man of himself can do nothing in the case: Our Saviour here makes that just Invitation to Mankind,Matt [...]1.28. as from himself, Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I [Page 389] will give you rest: it's not come to God, or come to my Father, but come to Me: but it would be intolerable Presumption, not to say Blasphemy, to use such an invitation, if coming to Christ were not an equivalent to coming to God and the Father; He that sees me, sees my Father, says our Lord, for I and my Father are one, he that comes to me comes to my Father, for my Father gives rest to Souls weary and heavy laden with sin, and so do I: My Father does so, not by any adventitious or precarious but by his own inherent and essential Power, and so do I. No Apostle, no Prophet ever used such lan­guage, only the Son of God and his blessed Father, and the Holy Ghost can say, as of himself, Come to me, I will give you rest: And well may He pretend to give rest to the labouring Soul, who can authoritatively from himself forgive sins, a thing which our Saviour frequently does in the Gospel. The mentioning of that action gives us a strange representation of the stubborn senceless ob­stinacy of the Jewish nation; our Saviour, when the Man sick of the Palsie was brought to him for cure, says to him,Matt. 9.2. Son be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee, and to Mary Magdalen, when at His feet,Luk 7.48. thy Sins are forgiven thee: We cannot doubt but this was spoken as for the good of the persons to whom they were applyed, so for the good of those who stood by; for these things were not spoken in a corner. Now the Pharisees [Page 390] stumbled upon a question proper enough on the occasion,v. 49. who is this that forgiveth sins also? So the Scribes on another occasion, push the question home,Mar. 2.7. Why doth this Man thus speak blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God only? The question was rational enough, and implyed a weighty Truth, that none has any inherent authority to forgive sins but God only; others may declare or pro­nounce it by a derivative authority, only God can do it by his own: but the reason of these Questionists left them presently; They saw Christ holding a strict Commu­nion with their Church as setled by the Mosaic Law, They could not convince him of any sin against that Communion, they heard him, of himself and in his own name, forgive sins, this was a plain publick claim to a Divine Authority, and they understood it so: They saw him with the very same breath work a prodigious cure, a cure not likely to be wrought by the influence of a Malignant Spirit, it was of too benign and advantagious a nature to the Patient, it must then be wrought by a Divine Power, but the Divine Power would not concur with a gross sinner, a notorious blasphemer, therefore Christ of necessity must be no sinner, if no sinner, then an extraordinary Person, for his mira­culous actions would admit of no middle state, then he could be no Impostor, no Deceiver; therefore, Forgiving sins and asserting his Power by an undeniable miracle, [Page 391] upon their own Principle, he must be God, the True God emphatically; for who can forgive sins but God, but the True God only? For they respected only the True God when they asked the Question.

It's a peculiar Attribute of the Supreme God to know the hearts of Men, he assumes that Power as his own due, in which none can be partakers with him, the heart is de­ceitful above all things, says he, and despe­rately wicked, who can know it? Jer. 17.9.10. I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins even to give every man according to his ways, and accor­ding to the fruit of his doings: The same title our Lord takes to himself,Rev. 2.23. All the Churches shall know that I am he which search­eth the reins and hearts, and I will give unto every one according to his works: it's true this was in his glorified state: but if Christ were a meer man before his Resurrection, he was no more afterwards, the giving him Honour, and Power, and Glory, could not alter his Nature, or make him any more than a Metaphorical God, but a bare Metaphor, applyed to a Man, will not make him imme­diately commence a God, or appropriate the most eminent of the divine Attributes to him. But not to insist on that, this par­ticular faculty of knowing mens hearts he really had, and sufficiently evidenced, be­fore his Ascension into Heaven; so in one of the before-mentioned instances, when Christ had said to the Man sick of the Palsie, [Page 392] Thy sins be forgiven thee, Mat. 8.24. the Scribes mur­mured or said in their hearts, this Man bla­sphemes: the Evangelist adds, Jesus know­ing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think you evil in your hearts? Mat. 12.25 Again, when Christ cast out the Devil out of one that was pos­sest, and the Pharisees, hearing of it, said he cast out devils by Beelzebub Prince of the devils: We are told, He knew their thoughts, and presently gave them a reproof suitable to their folly. The Disciples, as they were following their Master, fell into a dispute among themselves who should be greatest? Their Master when in the house, ask'd 'em of their dispute, their inward guilt shut their mouths, but he presently lets them know he was,Mar. 9.33, 34, 35, 36. without their information, Master of their mighty secret, and took an imme­diate occasion to teach them how to employ their time better, than in such dangerous and impertinent disputes. Our Lord was preaching in the Temple to a very captious Auditory, they admire his boldness, but ne­ver pitch upon his Office, which he had then undertaken; nay, they argue among them­selves the unlikelihood that he should be the Christ, We know, say they, this Man, whence he is, but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is: Our Saviour, as if he had been privy to all their discourse, in the midst of his doctrine tells them aloud, Ye both know me, John 7.27, 28. and ye know whence I am, &c. When the same blessed Jesus was in Jerusa­lem [Page 393] at the Passeover, on the Feast Day ma­ny believed in his Name when they saw the miracles which he did: John 2.23, 24, 25. but the Evangelist tells us plainly, Jesus did not commit himself to them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testifie of Man, for he knew what was in man; If he knew what was in Man, it must be either perfectly or exactly, or it must be imperfectly, if imperfectly, he might easily have been impos'd upon, the Prophets of the antient Jewish Church were often so; so Joshua and all Israel in the case of the Gibeonites: So Samuel in his opinion of the fitness of David's brethren for the kingdom of Israel: So the man of God by the old Prophet who dwelt at Bethel: The Apostles afterwards, tho' influenced fre­quently by the Spirit of God, were lyable to Error, Philip an Apostolical person, in ad­mitting Simon of Samaria to Christian Bap­tism; S. Peter in making a difficulty of preaching the Gospel to one that was Un­circumcised, in dissembling afterwards for fear of the Jews, &c. S. Paul in admitting false hearted Demas to the Pastoral Charge; but this we find no instance of in our Savi­our, none were able to deceive him, nay, not so much as to fasten a temptation on him; He chose indeed twelve Disciples, and one of them a Devil, Joh. 6.70. but he knew him to be such, and declared him such, tho' not by name, long before he betrayed him. So neither the treachery of his pretended friends, [Page 394] nor of his professed enemies, could take any place upon him. If Christ's knowledge of those things was perfect, it was as much as God's knowledge is: No Being can do more than know the heart of man perfectly, that heart which Man himself is so generally un­acquainted with. This is a Knowledge no way compatible with humane nature, That since the fall being defective in a thousand particulars, besides the necessity of Ʋbiquity attending a perfect universal knowledge of the thoughts of all, which a Body can never be capable of; If then the knowledge of Christ in reference to the Hearts of men, was equal with God's, if it were impossible for him to be deceived, if it was no Sacri­lege in him to ascribe to himself this peculiar Attribute of the most high God, He then must be equal with God, therefore he must be the True God.

If we reflect upon our Lord's behaviour after his Resurrection before his Ascent into Heaven, if he be no more than a meer man, it's wholly unaccountable. The Holy Ghost is by the Socinians denyed to be a Per­son, or to be God; yet it's allowed by them to be the power of God, a virtue flowing out of or from the Supreme Deity, under this No­tion we may rationally assert, that this Holy Spirit can be commanded no way but by the Supreme God himself, none else can pro­mise it, none can give it; for if the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets, [Page 395] much more certainly must the Spirit of God be subject to him, it subsisting wholly in him, and being according to our Adversaries, one of those qualifications necessarily in the Su­preme God: Granting all this, if our Sa­viour was a meer man, as they say, he could not possibly command this Sacred Spirit, this Spirit so much superiour to mankind, tho' considered as no more than a meer Appen­dage to the Almighty. Yet our Saviour seems to employ this Spirit as he will; that's no wonder, if the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost tho' three persons be all one God: That exact concurrence in their eternal wills taking away all difficulties: Thus when the Lord met with his Disciples, and shew'd them the necessity of things happen­ing with relation to himself, as they did, then He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures, Luk. 24.45 this opening their understandings, did not consist barely in explaining some particular Texts to them; they were yet but very dull and slow of understanding in themselves, and tho' they had heard a thousand Texts authenti­cally explain'd, they might have continued very inapprehensive still: Nor is it an usual manner of speech to say, when a man ex­plains any Author to others, that he opens their understandings; he may open the mean­ing of such or such Books, or Passages very well, yet those who hear him may not im­prove in their intellectuals; this opening [Page 396] their understandings therefore argued some force upon their minds, some extraordinary Energy of the Spirit within them, whereby their natural and inveterate Dulness went off, and they had more of spriteliness and vigour in their Souls than formerly: they seem'd as Slaves with their fetters knockt off, nimble and active, and therefore more capable of apprehending any thing offered to them than formerly. This was the first beginning to fit them for that great work they were in a few days to engage in, it was to make them capable of satisfying them­selves gradually in the Truth and Reason of those things which they were afterwards to preach to the world abroad, and which they were compleatly fitted for by the fol­lowing extraordinary effusions of that Holy Spirit upon them; The first operations of it upon them then were gentle and easie, but it was the operation of that Sacred Spirit only, and of that Spirit as ordered by the blessed Jesus, by which their understand­ings were thus opened. We may agree to this the more easily, if we consider that Pro­mise Christ makes to his Disciples after this, Behold I send the promise of my father upon you, Luk 24.49 but tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem un­till you be endued with power from on high: The Father promises it, but I send it. Now this uses not to be a task for a man, to make good the Promises of God, it's out of his power, especially if the Promise be to be [Page 397] made good in some particular wherein God has a more peculiar interest: Is my Spirit my breath? none then can give it to ano­ther, tho' my Spirit be not originally my own, but breathed into me by an Almighty Creator: Is the Holy Ghost, the Breath, the Spirit, the Influence of God? none then can dispose of it from him, and the rather because it is originated in him, and must be one with him; it was then a strange pre­sumption in our Lord, to take upon him the making good Gods Promises to others, since, if he were no more than a Man, He promised what was not in his power, and pretended to make up some defects in his veracity, who was the God of Truth, and Truth it self. But our Saviour went farther yet, for making a visit once to his Disciples after his Resurrection, His Blessing being bestowed, he gives them a Commission of an extraordinary nature, As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you, i. e. Job. 20.21. As my Fa­ther sent me to reform the World, so I send you to ca [...]ry on that same work, and as my Father's mission of me gave me a sufficient authority to do those things necessary to so great an end, so my sending you gives you as great and unquestionable authority in proportion to those things which are laid on you; this intimates, that Christ had power to send men to govern and manage his Church, as his Father had, and in the same degree; for if our Saviour was only his [Page 398] Father's Ambassador to them, and so infe­riour to him that sent him, this had been an extravagant vanity; it was never heard that an Ambassador from a King or Em­peror pretended to send another Envoy from himself, with such kind of expressions as these, As my master the King has sent me, so send I you, nor are Princes wont to entrust their Agents with any such Power, and the Credentials of such sub-ambassadors would appear very ridiculous to all those to whom they should be sent: But from this Com­mission our Lord proceeds, And when he had said this, He breathed on them, and said unto them, ver. 22. Receive ye the Holy Ghost, Spiritus Sanctus est virtus seu efficacia à Deo in homi­nes manans, iisque communicata quâ eos ab aliis segregat & suis usibus consecrat, say the Socinians in the Racovian Catechism, The Holy Spirit is a virtue or efficacy flowing from God upon men (from the True the Supreme God they mean) and communica­ted to them, by which he separates such men from others, and consecrat [...] them to his own use. If it be the efficacy or Power of the Supreme God, how comes one, whom they suppose to be a meer Man, to confer it with his breath? It was given afterwards by the laying on of the Apostles hands; they gave it not by any virtue inherent in them, but where they laid on their hands God sent it, and that in different manners and pro­portions, as he judged fit for the Receivers, [Page 399] whose fitness the Apostles knew nothing of: Our Saviour bestows it with his breath, It must therefore be his own, therefore he must be the Supreme God; for in this action our Saviour did not mock his Disciples, as Schlick­tingius confesses,Caetechismē Rac. sect. 6. c. 6. but he did certainly sepa­rate them, by this action, from the rest of the world, and consecrated them peculiarly to his own service, and this, at the appointed time, they engaged in, according to his orders. In the forementioned Catechism, when they ask what the gift of the Holy Spi­rit is? the answer is, Est ejusmodi Dei affla­tus, quo animi nostri vel uberiore rerum divi­narum notitiâ vel spe vitae eternae certiore, at­que adeo gaudio ac gustu quodam futurae feli­citatis aut singulari gloriae divinae, pietatisque ardore, complentur. It is such an influence of God, as by which our minds are fill'd either with a more plentiful knowledge of Divine things, or with a more certain hope of eternal life, and consequently with joy and a taste of future happiness, or a pecu­liar heat of divine glory and piety; this may look somewhat like cant, but how­ever it teaches us to ascribe this sacred in­fluence to the most high God, and to ascribe very great effects to this influence, but these effects the breathing of the blessed Jesus had, therefore there must either be two Holy Ghosts, one the influence and Power of a meer man, the other the influence or Power of the most high God, or else the Power and [Page 400] influence of the most high God, in its full force and vigor, must be at the disposal of Christ, and therefore he must be equal with the most high God, since he bestows the same Divine Gift with the same power and efficacy, and therefore he must be the most high God.

Thus have we animadverted on our Savi­viour's own Actions while conversant upon Earth, and have seen how far they contri­bute to the proof of his Divine Nature. We may read the same in the Actions of his A­postles after his Ascension. S. Peter makes his Speech before the feast of Pentecost to the Apostles and Brethren about filling that vacancy made in the Apostolical College by the miscarriage of Judas the Traytor. A suf­ficient evidence this, says Schlichtingius very truly, that He had indeed received the Holy Ghost with effect when his Master breathed, as before, on Him and his Companions: but there was yet a more plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them, to come; their Master had promis'd it, and he took occa­sion, on the most publick and solemn Occa­sion to fulfil it, namely, at the feast of Pen­tecost, when Jerusalem was extremely full of Strangers from all parts. The Apostles were no sooner endued with power from on high, but presently they employ the Heavenly Gift, and preach to purpose to the wondring mul­titude. S. Peter's discourse is particularly upon record, and in it, after a severe and plain recollection of their great sin in cruci­fying [Page 401] the Lord of life and glory, he gives them an account of their present miraculous gifts, which he derives, not from God the Father, but assures them, that Christ being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he, Acts 2.33. the same Christ, had himself shed forth that which they then saw and heard, thus the Holy Ghost proceeded equally from the Father and the Son, the first promis'd it, the last gave it: but this was not all, when the wounded multitude came to the Apostles with that weighty question, Men and Brethren what shall we do? Peter said unto them, v. 37, 38. repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Je­sus Christ: Was Jesus Christ then God, or was he a meer Man, or, what's the same, a meer Creature? We find no example of a meer man so honoured as that any should be baptised in his name: S. Paul indeed tells the Corinthians that the Fathers, the prede­cessors of Israel, were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 1 Cor. 10.2. meaning the Red Sea and that Cloud which parted them from the Aegyptians at first, and afterwards co­vered the Tabernacle: This is of the same import with that of being baptised into Christ, and both signifie,Gal. 3.27. being by virtue of a sacred Ordinance admitted into or made members of those Churches, of which Moses in the name of God founded the one, and Christ in his own name founded the other: But we never read of any Sacramental Institution, by virtue of [Page 402] which any should be baptised in the name of the Father, and of Moses, and of the Holy Ghost; nor do we find any footsteps of Mens being, circumcised in the name of Moses, nor were the Israelites ever call'd by the name of Moses; Christians yet bear the name of Christ to this day, and justly, since he did and suffered so much for them, and they are baptised in his name: 1 Cor. 1.13, it's the Apostles argu­ment against the dividing Corinthians. And the Apostle, tho' a chosen instrument in the hand of God, for the conversion of the Gentiles, tho' inferiour to none of the A­postles, and therefore as holy as the holiest of meer men, yet makes it a matter of sa­tisfaction to himself with respect to the Corinthians, that he had personally baptis'd so very few, v. 14, 15. lest any should have said he had baptis'd in his own name. What the Apostle there writes is worth our more serious con­sideration: That the Corinthians who be­lieved, were baptised in the name of Christ, we need not doubt, we see it was one of the first conditions of eternal Salvation propoun­ded by S. Peter, by Philip, by Paul in the Jaylors case, therefore not neglected here: Why then should S. Paul be so well pleas'd on this account, that He, in person, had not baptised them? it seems an enquiry thus only and truly to be answer'd: The Co­rinthians being naturally of a very fickle and dividing humour, were desirous to have some considerable persons to Head, and so to [Page 403] countenance their several Parties, this hu­mour made them catch so eagerly at the great names of Apollos and Cephas, as well as of S. Paul himself: this was very unhap­py: but when only Elders, or Deacons of a common reputation and inferiour rank, Vid. Cle­ment. Ep. ad Corinth. Coc. t. 1. p. 154. Edit▪ Lab. & Cos. ap­pear'd in the work of Baptising Converts, their names made none ambitious to be cal­led after them, nor would it ever enter into any man's head, that such should have bap­tised Christians in their own Names, as it might have done, had the principal Apostles been the general ministers of that Ordinance: so S. Paul is very fearful here, lest among a Capricious People, his name should seem to stand in competition with that of his Ma­ster the Lord Jesus Christ: He appears in this case, as tender of Sacrilege or robbing Christ of his, as he was of robbing the most high God of his Honour, when at Lystra he rent his clothes for grief at that levity and madness, whereby the Lystrians were moved to offer Sacrifices to him and Barnabas, as if they had been Gods; but there would not have been so great reason for this extraordi­nary sollicitude of the Apostle, if Christ him­self had not been of a Divine Nature, or robbing Him equal to robbing the supreme God of his Honour; and if it had been so great a crime for S. Paul an holy Man, to encroach upon God's Honour, by ascribing any thing of it to himself, it could be no less a crime in our Saviour, if he were but a meer Man, [Page 404] a created Being (tho' he were never so ho­ly) to appropriate any thing of that glory belonging to the supreme God, to himself. Yet, if he were a meer Man, we find him strangely guilty in this point; for as be­fore his Passion, he requires of his Disciples that they should believe in him, as after his Passion he joyns himself with the Father, and with the Holy Ghost, in the institution of Baptism without any difference at all, so after his Ascension into heaven, he seems to take all care possible, to confirm such an opinion in his Apostles and followers, as ac­cording to which they must treat him as the Supreme God; for when our Saviour bids his Disciples have Faith in God, Mat. 11.22. doubtless he would not lay that injunction upon them, if Faith, so placed, had not a sanctifying power for such Faith is sufficient to make men Holy and acceptable in the sight of that God with whom they have to do. But when the same Jesus appears to S. Paul in his journey to Damascus, he tells him, He had appear'd to make him a Minister and Witness of what he had seen, Acts 26.16, 17, 18. Delivering him from the people and from the Gentiles to whom he de­signed to send him, that he might open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and an in­heritance among them which were sanctified by Faith which was in Him. Here then, besides Christ's assuming to himself a sovereign and [Page 405] universal power of delivering his servants from all dangers, of Commissioning them for the most weighty Work in the World, of enabling them to open the Eyes of those that heard them, and to turn them from darkness to light, (all which are the effects of a power truely Divine only) He in plain terms asserts, that that Faith which is in him, sanctifies those that have it exclusively of all other Faith whatsoever; for by his words it appears, that forgiveness of sins, and an everlasting inheritance, are only attainable by that Faith: and again the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews reckons Faith in God, Heb. 6.1▪ among the fundamentals of our Religion; these things laid together, will oblige us to conclude, either that there are two kinds of justifying Faith, or such as may render men holy, and acceptable in the sight of God, or else, which is true, that Faith in the most high God and in Jesus Christ is one and the same thing, fixt upon one and the same inseparable Object, and so saving and sanctifying to all them that have it, and S. Paul, in the fore-cited Chapter of the Acts, having shew'd what help Christ promised him, in prosecution of his discourse, de­clares, he received his help from God, where­by he was enabled to bear that witness Christ had assured him He would help him in, therefore God and Christ were all One, or the Son of God and his Father were one Supreme God.

[Page 406]That there was this Identity of nature be­tween the Son of God and his Father, will appear farther, from that account S. Peter gives to the People of the Cure wrought upon the poor Criple at the beautiful gate of the Temple; where reproving them, and tel­ling them they had killed the Prince of life, a very strange title, by the way, to be given to a meer Man, and such as can be parallel'd in no Author Sacred or Profane, He adds, And his Name, Acts 3.15, 16. through Faith in his Name, has made this Man strong whom ye see and know, yea the Faith which is by him, has given him this perfect soundness, in the presence of you all: here again, the Name of Christ and Faith in his Name, are both set in the high­est rank, and whatsoever was before pro­fest to be done in the Name of the True God, was now done in the Name of Christ. Moses and the Prophets appeal'd still in all things to the name of the most high God (and I doubt if Gehazi, when he laid his staff upon the Shunamite's child's face, had commanded it in the name of his Master, to arise, or if his Master afterwards had done as much in his own name, they would both have lost their labours) the case was otherwise here, S. Pe­ter's word to the Criple was,ver. 6. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk: the Cure was immediately effected: the people wondered: They assert the glory of the Miracle only to the Name of Christ, Acts 4.9, [...]. and they repeat their assertion to the High [Page 407] Priest, and the rest of the Members of the Jewish Council. Had not the name of Christ been powerful enough to effect the greatest miracles, it had been a foolish presumption in them to have appeal'd to it: the Priests of Baal would not have appear'd more silly in their violent addresses to their paltry Idol, nor the Sons of Sceva in calling over those possest with evil Spirits, the name of Jesus whom Paul preached; Had their invoca­tion fail'd, it would have exposed all that Religion they pretended to advance, to the common scorn and contempt of all mankind; but that Sacred Name prevail'd, those Mi­racles which had formerly been perform'd in the name of the most high God, were now perform'd in the name of the Son of God; God did not and could not give his glory to ano­ther, for he had before declared he would not, therefore that Jesus, the Son of God, in whose name this astonishing Cure was wrought, was really the most high God: It may perhaps be objected, that All power was given to Christ after his Resurrection, by virtue of which, he could give his own name that virtue and authority by which such mighty Miracles as these might be per­formed: We answer to this, it's true, our Lord did tell his Apostles that all Power was given to him, in heaven and in earth, Mat. 28.18 and He told them so after his Resurrection, but it does not therefore follow that he was not possest of such an universal power before his [Page 408] body was rais'd from the grave; he adds no word intimating that this power was now invested in him and not sooner, for He might very well forbear to inform his Disciples of it, till he came to his state of exaltation, commencing from his being raised from the dead. But allowing what such Objectors would have, that there was no such Power given him, or that He never had such Power till his Resurrection, They and All know the Philosophical Axiome is of universal truth, Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad mo­dum recipientis, Whatsoever is received is received according to the capacity of the receiver: and Volkelius tells us in plain terms,De verâ Relig. l. 3. c. 20. p 106. that after his Resurrection the body of Christ was of mortal nature, and no other­wise partaker of immortality, than by the will of his Father: Now if this be true, tho' God Almighty be able of and from himself to give an universal Power, as having it in­herent originally in himself, yet it implyes an absolute contradiction, that he should be able to confer such an infinite Power upon a finite or a mortal Subject; for that would be to setle a double Almightiness in the world, of which one should not be Almighty: or, whereas Omnipotence is such an attribute, as where-ever it resides it must constitute a True and Supreme God, and whereas its such an attribute as cannot stand alone, without a concurrent-infinity in every respect, yet it may rest in a Subject neither God, nor yet [Page 409] Supreme, but in such a one as is still, tho' highly exalted, mortal in its own nature, and capable of destruction or annihilation: For if it depends only on God's Will, that Christ's Body, now exalted to the right hand of his Father, is no more lyable to Death, then, had it pleased God, he might have invested Mo­ses, or Elias, or Enoch with this same Omni­potence as well as our Saviour, and our Sa­viour is no more secure of the continuation of that Omnipotence he is at present possest of, in himself, than the good Angels are of continuing in their present state of bliss, i.e. so long as the supreme God upholds them they are safe; if He withdraw, but for one moment, they are as miserable as their fallen companions. But the very thought of these things are absurd and blasphemous, how­ever not to be avoided without acknowledg­ing the eternal Divinity of the Son of God.

4 For the farther evidence of this Truth we must look into the Faith of the Antient Church, and see how this Doctrine, that God was manifest in the flesh, or that, He who was manifest in the flesh was God, the True, the Supreme, the most High God, is asserted in it. This inquiry we make, not because we think Antiquity infallible, nor because we imagine every opinion, maintained by any Father of the Church, ought to be an authentick prescription to us. Where any of them have in any particular deviated from [Page 410] the sence of God's holy Word, we value not their opinions a-whit the more for their being antient. But this we must own, that those who lived nearest the times of our Sa­viour and his Apostles, had the best oppor­tunities of knowing what they meant, or how those, who personally converst with them understood them; as it's easier for me, who have seen and known my Father, to learn from him what were the thoughts of my Grandfather, or great Grandfather, both which it may be my Father may have seen and converst with, than to find out what particular Opinions were entertained by my Predecessors before the Conquest, and so upwards. Again, where Scripture, and Rea­son improved from thence, give us a full evi­dence of any truth, the concurrence and harmony of Antiquity with these evidences, is of great weight, and gives us a fair de­duction of divine and necessary Truths thro' all ages, and shews us how, in spite of all the oppositions and artifices made use of by the enemies of Truth, yet God has been pleased to preserve it entire, and to derive it by various chanels down to us, that we, embracing and asserting the same Holy Faith, may be partakers of the same eter­nal happiness with our predecessors, Pro­phets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, who have all dyed in the True Faith and fear of God; on this consideration we shall, by God's assistance, give you a short account [Page 411] of the Primitive Faith in this particular: Here then in due order of time

We begin with that Clement, remembred with Honour by S. Paul, Phil. 4.3. as one of those fellow labourers of his, whose names are in the book of life: This Clement was afterwards Bi­shop of the Church of God in Rome, on which account, and by reason of his great eminence in the Church of God, some of the Factors of that See, have endeavoured to fasten several spurious writings upon him: but the abuse was too gross to impose upon a learned world; However, of his we have one Authentick Epistle, written in the name of the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth, Conc. Gen. Lab. & Cossart. T. 1. p. 133. B. upon account of a violent Schism broken out in that Church, to the great scan­dal of the Christian Religion, and to the ob­struction of the progress of the Gospel: In this Epistle, (tho' nothing were purposely written on the subject we are now treating on) yet there are some not obscure eviden­ces of what opinion He, and the Church of Rome in whose name he wrote, had in those early days of our blessed Lord: He calls him [...], a name very great, and such as is no where given to any meer Man: it's designed here to illustrate the extraordinary dignity of our Saviour, for, by so setting him off, the Apostolical writer enforces his argument upon the Co­rinthians, to perswade them to Humility, which would be an excellent foundation for [Page 412] Charity, for, tho' our Lord Jesus Christ were so great, tho' he were the Scepter of the greatness of God, yet he came not, as he might, in an assuming and lofty manner, but with the greatest Humility, and this argu­ment, S. Hierome in his commentary on the 52 of Isaiah, and the three last verses, ac­cording to our translation, makes use of to the same purpose, owning Clement for his Author; but now, if the Argument of these great Men was good, it must necessarily fol­low, that our Saviour had a Being, and a glorious Being too, before he was born of the blessed Virgin, which Birth of his into a ca­lamitous World, has always been accounted one part of his Humiliation; this Humilia­tion could not have been thought so consi­derable had he not been very great and happy before, Christ could not have been so great and glorious, antecedently to his Birth, but He must have been God, and therefore the True the most high God: for there could be, even in a Socinians account, no more but One True God before the Incarnation of our Sa­viour; You see, my beloved people, says the good Man, what an example is set before you, and if our Lord so humbled himself, viz. if he descended from Heaven to earth for our sakes, how humble should those be who take upon them the yoke of his Gospel? Twice af­terwards, this same Holy Man concluding his period with Jesus Christ,p. 137. C. adds, To whom be glory and Majesty for ever and ever, Amen. [Page 413] The same expressions of praise he gives to God the Father several times,p. 156. B. p. 144. B. p. 148. C. p. 160. C.D and what can we conclude, from using such a Doxology indifferently to God the Father, and to Je­sus Christ his Son, But that He understood them to be of one and the same nature, both Infinitely Glorious, both one proper object of praise and adoration? And the same vene­rable Author, speaking of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, adds particular­ly of the last; that from him descended all those Priests and Levites who serve at God's altar, [...], &c. [...],p. 144. A. of him was Jesus Christ, so far as concerned his flesh, of him were the Kings, Princes and Leaders of Judah; where it's observable, that name­ing our Saviour, He says of him, that, He was of Jacob according to the flesh, by a par­ticular phrase [...], according to, or so for as concerned in the flesh; but of the Princes and Levites deduction from that Patriarch, he speaks only in the common way; now this particular way of expressing himself in relation to Christ, must have been very impertinent, had it not been designed to shew the difference there was between the manner of Christ's Descent and Theirs; for never was such a thing said of any meer Man, by any Writer in the world, that He was born of such and such Parents according to the flesh; as it would look ridiculously to say, David was the Son of Jesse according to [Page 414] the flesh, the very phrase intimates some dif­ferent origination, according to some other nature, Rom. 1.3, 4 whatever it be; and the Apostle uses the same expression, in the same distin­guishing sence. So elsewhere S. Clement calls our Lord [...]; the same word used by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and by us transla­ted,Heb. 1.3. the brightness of God's glory, properly enough, or it might be render'd, a beam from the body of his glory, from which ex­pressions the Antients generally collected, that Christ must be co-eternal with his Father; so S. Chrysostome tells us, the Son is call'd, the brightness of the glory of his Father, as al­ways existing in the Father, as brightness al­ways is in Light, for the light cannot be without brightness, nor brightness without light, so the Son cannot be without the Fa­ther, nor the Father without the Son, for he is begotten of his Essence before all time, and is always with him: to the same purpose, but more largely, speak Theodoret, Gregory Nyssen, Theophylact, &c. and S. Clement to shew his meaning to be the same with that of the Author to the Hebrews, proceeds in a large citation out of that Chapter, from whence we have before evidently prov'd the eternal Divinity of the Son of God: Be­sides, this unquestionable Epistle of Clement, which we have almost entire, there's a Frag­ment of another, written by the same ex­cellent person, to the same Corinthians, not [Page 415] so generally own'd indeed, but of very great antiquity, being taken notice of by S. Hie­rome, and before him by Eusebius; Conc. T. 1. p. 181. the very first words of which give us a full proof of the doctrine we now assert. Brethren, says the Writer, We ought to think concerning Jesus Christ as concerning God, as concerning the Judge both of the quick and the dead: If we must think of Christ as of God, we must think and believe that he is God, for so we think always of the Supreme Being: But these passages are sufficient from an Author of so great antiquity. From him we shall proceed to the next Greek Father,

Blessed Ignatius Bishop of Antioch, One who had seen Christ himself in the flesh, who is reported by some to have been that Child whom our Saviour took in his arms: Mark 9.36 who conversed frequently with the Apostles, He left several Epistles behind him, to se­veral Churches, full of excellent advices, and truly savouring of an Apostolical Spirit and temper. In Him we meet with many evidences of his belief, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was the real, the True God. So in the very first words of his first Epistle to the Church of Smyrna, He begins,Epist. ad Smyrn. E­dit. Voss. [...], I glorifie Jesus Christ who is God, he is with him, [...], the God, with an article, the want of which the So­cinians so frequently cavil at in Scripture, that Article is certainly exclusive of all other Gods. The Son he is the only True God, the [Page 416] Father is the same True God, not two Gods, but two persons and one God, or one Deity: this is a plain passage and needs no descant upon it. In the conclusion of his Letter to Polycarp, then Bishop of the Church of Smyr­na, (the same who is called the Angel of the Church of Smyrna by S. John in the Revela­tions, who dyed afterwards a Martyr for the truth) he gives Polycarp this salutation, I pray that Grace may be always with thee in Jesus Christ our God; Ad Polyc. he neither prefixes nor sub­joyns any thing to the words, that might allay the sence, or make it ambiguous, it is an entire sentence, and as clearly owns, that He thought Jesus Christ was God, and that he wrote to another, who had the same Faith, in that respect, with himself; So that the real Deity of the Son of God, was no strange Doctrine in those days. In the In­scription of his next Epistle to the Ephesians, He stiles that Church predestinated from the beginning, Ad Ephes. or before all worlds, to everlasting glory, according to the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ our God; where he plainly makes the Father and Jesus Christ one God, to which blessed Jesus he ascribes the same character, of an absolute Deity, with his Father. So again in the beginning of the Epistle it self, he tells the Ephesians, they bore an honourable reputation, and justly gain­ed by their Faith and Love, in Jesus Christ our Saviour, being imitators of God, and re­enflamed, or revived by the blood of God: [Page 417] An expression, like that of S. Paul to the Elders of the same Church, when he tells them, God had made them overseers of that Church, Act. 20.28 which he had purchased with his own blood; Now we cannot, with any propriety of speech, call any blood the blood of God, unless it be really his, and it cannot be his as he is God, therefore he must have as­sumed some such nature, as wherein his blood might be shed, which might, and did come to pass, by his taking our nature; but our Nature being substantially united to that which was before eternal and Divine, and so God and Man being but one Christ, when Christ, as Man, shed his most precious blood for our sakes, that blood was, properly and truely, called the blood of God, or God's own blood. But we meet with yet plainer evi­dence in the same Epistle: so I take those words of his to belong to Christ, Nothing lies hid from the Lord, (that is the common title of our Saviour, in all Apostolical wri­tings,) but even our most secret things are near to him: Let us then do all things, as if He lived in us, that we may be his Temples, and He may be God in us, which also he is and will appear before our faces, for which reasons we justly love him: I the more readily ap­ply this, which argues Omniscience, to Christ (and is no more than what Scripture openly ascribes to him, as I have formerly shew'd) because soon after he earnestly asks that Question, Wherefore then are not we all wise [Page 418] embracing the knowledge of God, which God is Jesus Christ? and presently after asking the Apostle's question, Where is the wise Man? where is the disputer? where is the glo­rying of those who were reputed men of Ʋnder­standing? He subjoyns, For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived of Mary according to divine order of the seed or line of David by the Holy Ghost: I durst now appeal to all Mankind, whether they would not conclude, that whosoever should speak of any Being whatsoever at this rate, would not be thought to account the Person he spoke of in such broad terms, Real God? and whe­ther a good rational Deist would not con­clude, that if He, so spoken of, were no more than a meer Creature, He who should so speak of him ought not to pass at least for a Borderer upon Idolatry? For it's ratio­nally expected that, in such weighty mat­ters, Mens Words should be the proper in­terpretation of their Thoughts, and not pester'd with dubious or uncertain, or un­intelligible phrases. In the same Epistle he calls our Lord [...], God appearing humanely, or, in the same man­ner as men do, clothed with flesh and blood, and endued with a rational soul; which is but an­other way of expressing the Text, God was manifest in the flesh. Would you then have his pre-existence as God, before he was con­ceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin? our Ignatius asserts that too, in his Epistle [Page 419] to the Magnesians, Ad Mag­nes. p. 33, 34. viz. That He was with his Father before all time, and in the end, or in the fulness of time, at last he appear'd, and afterwards, There is one God, who manifested himself by his Son Jesus Christ, who is his [...], his eternal word, agreeably to S. John in the beginning of his Gospel. Again in his Epistle to the Trallians; and twice in the Inscription of his Epistle to the Romans, He gives the title of God to our Saviour, nay of our God; and toward the end of that Epistle He begs of the Romans, that they would not go about to hinder his Martyrdom then at hand, no: Permit me, says he earnestly; to be an imitator of the sufferings of Christ my God, and again,Ad Roma­nos, p. 60. he calls him My God twice over in the subsequent two or three lines. The Prophets frequently reflect upon it as Idolatry to say to an Image thou art my God: and I am not yet convinced by any Socinian argument, that it is not Idolatry to say the same to any created Being whatsoever: At best, the Apostles themselves and those emi­nent Apostolical men, if our Lord be no more by nature than a meer man, must needs be condemned of extreme imprudence and uncharitableness; who when they might as well have express'd their minds otherwise, would yet make choice of such words as were [...]nly apt to deceive and impose upon Men, [...]o give them false notions of God and Jesus Christ, and either make them Idolaters at [...]st; or at least very near borderers upon it; [Page 420] Words that are figurative, may be easily mis­understood by very good Men, in ordinary cases, as we see his Companions concluded, S. John should never die, only from our Sa­viour's words to S. Peter, If I will that He tarry till I come, what is that to thee? How much more dangerous then must such Words be, especially when continually used in mat­ters of the greatest weight. It were easie to give more of the same nature from Igna­tius his Epistles, if we'd meddle with those spurious or interpolated, but we need no such precarious assistances.

The next of the Fathers of the Greek Church, in order of time, is Justine, com­monly stiled the Martyr, because he dy'd such, for his obedience to the Faith of Christ: He liv'd about one hundred and forty years after the birth of our Saviour: I shall not go about to prove the Divinity of our Savi­our, out of the [...], or the Ex­position of Faith, printed, as his, among his Works, tho' it would afford us a great deal, because the credit of it is doubtful, and learn­ed men think they have reason to believe our Justine was not the Author of it. I shall therefore only examine what's of unquesti­onable authority in him. In his Apology for the Christians, presented to the Roman Se­nate,Apolog. 1. p. 44. l. D. among other things, he tells them, The names of Father, and God, and Creator, and Lord, and Master, are not the proper names of God, but names derived from his Works, [Page 421] and those favours he has extended towards Men: but his Son, who alone is properly called his Son, the Word, who was with him and be­gotten of him, before all creatures, because in the beginning God created and adorned all things by him, was called Christ, he being anoin­ted, and God beautifying every thing by him: here then we have, what the Evangelist had taught us before, literally understood and confirmed, That the Word was in the begin­ning with God, and that by him all things were made: the holy Martyr thought of no figure or ambiguity in the discourse. The same Martyr in his second Apology for the Chri­stians presented to Antoninus Pius the Ro­man Emperour, in asserting the Justice and Reason of that Faith in Christ which He and his Christian brethren profest, lays down a clear proof of Christ's being God, and con­sequently of the reasonableness of their ser­vice to him, in giving an account of that burning Bush which Moses saw, and out of which he heard a voice; for at that time when Moses, as he was feeding his Father-in-law's sheep, was ordered to go into Egypt, and to bring out from thence the people of Israel, [...], Our Christ spoke to him out of the bush under the resemblance of fire, and bids him loose his shooes off his feet, and attend him; and receiving abundance of strength, and courage from that Christ, with whom he discours'd, He went down and (glo­rious [Page 422] and terrible with a thousand miracles) led that people from their bondage. Apolog. 2. p. [...]5. l. B. The Jews themselves confess, says he, that it was that God whose name was unknown or unutter­able, who then discoursed with Moses, but the Martyr himself says, it was our Christ, there­fore if the Martyr's opinion were true, Our Christ is the Lord Jehovah, the most high God. The Martyr urges his argument yet farther, with reflections upon the Jewish incredulity: That Angel which spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, said to him, I am that God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of thy Fathers, Go down therefore into Egypt and lead forth my people: A Socinian himself will own, that that Name was never due to any but to the most high God, (tho' they fly to figures there too) We urge this, says the Father, only that we may prove, that that Jesus Christ, in whom we believe, is the Son and Messenger of God, who being the Word before, had sometime ap­pear'd in the resemblance of fire, sometimes in the form of Angels, now at last, by the Will of God, was made Man, for the sake of mankind, and for their sakes suffered whatsoever Jewish cruelty and malice could inflict upon him; who while they own'd it was God the Creator and maker of all things, who spake to Moses in the bush, and yet He, that there spoke, was the Son, the Angel, the Messenger of God indeed, they laid themselves open to that just reproof of our Lord, that they neither knew the Father, nor [Page 423] the Son. We argue too from hence, that if it were our Christ, who appear'd to Moses in the Bush, as Justine affirms, and Scripture sufficiently evidences, if it were our Christ, what name soever he might be call'd by, he then was pre-existent, or had a real being be­fore he was conceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin; therefore he could be no meer Man, unless the Socinians can find out the way to satisfie the question of Nicode­mus by asserting positively, that a Man, a meer Man, may be born when he is old, that he may, literally, enter again into his mothers womb and be born a-new, and can prove it when they have asserted it. He could be no Angel, that's denyed in Scripture, the A­postle assures us,Heb. 2.16. He took not upon him the na­ture of Angels, a speech very idle, if he had been an Angel originally: if therefore he neither was a meer Man, nor a created Angel, he was and must be the supreme God. Again, the same Justine in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. p. 267. l. B. C. when Trypho urges him with his absurd assertion, That Christ was God before all ages, and yet had condescended to become Man; Justine answers him, The truth would not therefore be lost if he should fail in his proofs, that Christ was the Son of the world's Creator, and that he was God: because, how­ever, it had been foretold by the Prophets, that he should be so: but if I do not prove that He had a being before, and then condescended to become Man, and took flesh, according to his [Page 424] Father's design and determination, p. 275. & dcinceps, it's only proper to conclude that I am a weak disputant, not that he, who bore that Character, is not the Christ. When Trypho afterwards bids him prove, that there was or could be an­other God, besides the maker of the Uni­verse, the Martyr stumbles not at the pro­position, but proceeds to prove the thing by that instance of the Lord, before whom Abraham stood, when the two Angels went forwards towards Sodom; and falls again upon the forementioned instance of Christ speaking to Moses in the Bush, by both which he proves that the Son is God, as well as the Father is God, and yet he asserts not two Gods, but one God, because if two or three Beings are partakers of one divine Na­ture, they must of consequence be one God, the divine Nature being indivisible and in­capable of degrees or diminution. After a large discourse with the Jew, he tells him, that in the several arguments he had brought, he had sufficiently proved, that Christ was Lord and God, and the Son of God, who had ap­pear'd both as a Man, p. 357. D. and as an Angel, in the burning Bush, and at the destruction of Sodom: And Trypho all along looks upon him as en­gag'd in that design of proving Christ to be God, not by a figure, but in reality. He concludes the Scriptures were very express in their evidence, that that Christ, who had suffered so much at the Jews hands, was to be worshipped and was God; had he not prov'd [Page 425] the last well, that He was God, to have as­serted the first, that he ought to be worshipped, would have sounded very harshly in the ears of a Jew: But even Trypho himself, who thought it prodigious and incredible that God should be born and should con­descend to become Man, tho' none of the most tractable persons in the world, was brought to Agrippa's condition by the zea­lous Martyr, and almost perswaded to be a Christian.

About the same time lived S. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons in France, one who had been a Hearer of blessed Polycarp, who had been himself an Hearer of the Apostles; He had certainly the advantage of knowing what was sound and true Doctrine, with re­lation to our Saviour, and that from very authentick hands; his writings were origi­nally Greek, as himself was by Birth, tho' employed to preach the Gospel in the parts of France, but those Originals are almost all lost, and we must necessarily content our selves with their Translation: This excel­lent Father then tells us first, what the gene­ral Faith of the Church is, That the Church believes in one God, Iren. adv. Haer. l. 1. c. 2. the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, &c. and in one Jesus Christ the Son of God, incar­nate for our Salvation, and in the Holy Ghost, who among other things, has taught us that, according to the good pleasure of the invisible Father, every knee of things [Page 426] in Heaven, and of things on Earth, and of things under the Earth, should bow to Jesus Christ our Lord, our God, our Savi­our and our King, and that every tongue should confess to him; and this passage we have in the genuine original, and it seems satisfactory enough as to the Faith of the French Church in those days; and doubtless was look'd upon by him as the Faith gene­rally embraced by all the true professors of Christianity; C. 3. and indeed so he assures us, in the following chapter of the same book; That the Church spread through the whole world, diligently maintains this Faith, and observes it as exactly, as if they all inhabited in one house, they believe it, as if they had all one heart and one soul, and with a wonder­ful consent, preach it as it were with one mouth. We then are safe enough, while we believe Jesus Christ to be God, since holy Martyrs, nay the whole Church of God believed the same truth so long since; and making it a part of their publick Creed, declared their judgment, that so to believe was necessary to eternal Salvation. Having afterwards told us what the Apostles have preached, and how they have prov'd Him true, and that there was no falshood in him; he proceeds in the next chapter thus, Therefore neither our Lord himself, nor the Holy Ghost, nor the A­postles, would have called any one God, abso­lutely and definitively, unless he had really been true God, nor would they have called any [Page 427] one Lord, in his own person, l. 3. c. 6. but only Him who is Lord of all things, God the Father and his Son; and so he proceeds to enumerate seve­ral Texts, wherein the name of God and Lord, is indifferently given to both the Fa­ther and the Son: and elsewhere he teaches us,c. 18. That our Lord is called Immanuel by the Prophet, as cited by S. Matthew, or God with us, that we might not think he was Man only, but that we might know he was God too: If then Christ was God as well as Man, his Divine Nature being mentioned in contradistinction to his humane Nature: Irenaeus cannot mean that He who was really a Man, was only me­taphorically God, but that he was as really and essentially God as He was Man, which is what we believe.

With Irenaeus agrees Clemens of Alexan­dria, who thus teaches the Gentiles, in his Admonition to them; We are the rational Creatures of God the Word (so he calls our Saviour after the Evangelist S. John,)Admon. ad Gent. p. 5. l. D. by whom we pretend to Antiquity, because God the Word was in the beginning; but because the Word was from above, He was and is the divine original of all things: but since He has now taken upon him the name of Christ, a name suitable to his power, and which was sanctified of old, I call him a new song; (This refers to his former Allegorical discourse, wherein he endeavours to describe every thing, under terms proper to Harmony or Musick) [Page 428] This Word then, this Christ who was at first in God, was both the cause of our ori­ginal existence, and of our well-being: But now this Word himself, has made him­self manifest to men, who alone is both God and Man, the cause of all our good; by whom, we, being taught to live well, are sent from hence to eternal life; for ac­cording to that inspired Apostle of our Lord, the Grace of God hath appear'd to all men, teaching them, that denying all ungodli­ness and worldly lusts, we should live godly, righteously and soberly in this present world, looking for the glorious coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; This is the new song, that manifestation of God the Word, who was in the beginning and before all things, and now shines brightly. out to us; He ap­pear'd but lately, who was our Saviour be­fore. He who is, appear'd in him who is, because the Word was with God, and that Word, by which all things were made, makes his appearance as a Master; that Word, which, as a Creator, gave us life in our first formation, appearing now as a Ma­ster or Teacher, has taught us to live well, that hereafter, as God, he may bestow upon us eternal life: Thus far that very learned Father; and his whole discourse does so plainly teach us the Pre-existence of our Saviour, before his Conception in the Womb of the blessed Virgin, and conse­quently his Divine Nature, in his eternal [Page 429] being with the Father, that the most igno­rant person in the World, may plainly un­derstand what the Faith of this Writer was. Thus afterwards speaking of John Baptist, the forerunner of our Saviour, he tells them, John taught men to be prepared for the pre­sence [...], of God the Christ. After­wards, speaking of that care our Saviour took to have the Gospel preached, he adds, The Lord did not effect so great work in so short a time without a sacred care; He was despised in appearance, but adored in­deed; being a Purifyer, a Saviour, and extremely kind: The Divine Word be­ing really most manifest God, and put into an equal rank with the Lord of all things, for as much as he was his Son, and the Word was in God,Ibid. p. 68. l. D. he was neither disbe­lieved when he was first preached, nor was he unknown or unacknowledged, when as­suming the presence of a Man, and being made flesh, he managed the saving design of his assumed Humanity. Again speaking to those who are blind with sin and folly, un­der the person of Tiresias, that blind The­bane Wizzard, and inviting such to believe in Christ, he speaks thus, If thou wilt, thou too shalt be initiated into these My­steries, and join in the Choir of blessed An­gels about the unbegotten, the never to be destroyed, the only true God: God the Word, assisting in the same Hymn with us, He is eternal, the only Jesus or Saviour, [Page 430] the great High-priest of God, who is the Father,p. 70. L D. he intercedes for Men, and he per­swades them to goodness. I shall instance but in one passage more in his [...], where having cited that of the Psalmist, Who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place, &c. at large, He thus descants upon it: The Prophet, says He, in my opinion, here briefly describes the true Gnostick, or the man of true knowledge to us, and by the bye, David shews us, that our Saviour is God, for he calls him, the face of the God of Jacob, who brought us glad tidings, and taught us of, or concerning the Spirit, therefore the Apostle calls the Son, the Character of the glory of God, Him who taught the truth concerning God, and who represented to us that God and the Father was one only and Almighty, whom none could know but the Son,Stromat. l. 7. p. 733. C. and He to whom the Son shall reveal him: That God is but one appears by those who seek the face of the God of Jacob, whom our God and our Saviour characterises, as the only God and father of Good. Here then we have the Father true and real God, the Son true and real God, and yet but one God, and this is that Faith which we preach.

To Clemens, I shall only add his Scholar Origen for the Greek Church, a man of extra­ordinary eminence in his time, who in his third Book against Celsus, that great adver­sary [Page 431] of the Christian Religion, reflecting upon the vanity of Heathen Gods and their incapacity to help those that depend on them, he tells Celsus, that upon this very reason, because there is no help in false gods, it's a sure Rule among Christians, that no man should trust in any being as God, except only in Jesus Christ; and a little after, whereas Celsus objects against us so often, that we believe Jesus, consisting of a mortal body, to be God, and imagine our selves very pious in so thinking, he answers, Let those who accuse us know, that He whom we know and believe to be God of old, and to be the Son of God, he is of himself the Word, the Wisdom and the Truth; and that even that mortal body and reasonable Soul which he assumed by its Communica­tion, and Unity and Mixture with the Word, or with his divine nature, arose to so great a height, as to be God, i.e. his hu­mane and his divine nature make by a substan­tial or essential union, one God; and that I give no false interpretation to his words here, will appear by what I shall allege after­wards. It's all along the humour of Celsus, then when he speaks in the Person of a Jew, and when he speaks in his own Name and Person, to reproach the Christians with the irrationality of their Religion on that particu­lar account, that they owned Christ as God: Contra Celsum, l. 1. p. 30▪ so he objects, that Christ was educated in the dark, was hired a servant in Aegypt, that he there [Page 432] tryed their magick powers, and returning from thence, in confidence of his jugling tricks set up for a God. Origen vindicates him from the ma­licious imputation of being a Magician, but never pretends to deny that he was God, or that he assumed that title; nay he's so far from that, that he takes a great deal of pains to prove that He was God, particularly from those passages of the 45 Psalm cited by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in his first chapter, which I have clear'd before; and he adds, that we must here consider the Prophet speaking to that God, whose throne is everlasting, l. 1. p. 43. and that he asserts that God was anointed by God, who was His God, with the oyl of gladness above his fellows, which is the real sence of the words, and which, he tells us, he had formerly silenc'd an obstinate Jew with. In his second book, Celsus introduces a Jew speaking against Christ, and saying, they could not own him for God, who did not make good his word, who endeavoured poorly to avoid Death, and was at last betrayed by one of his own fol­lowers, &c. Origen answers, Christians did neither believe the body of Christ nor his soul to be God, but the [...], the Word, the Son of the God of all things, was God; that Christians justly condemn the Jews, who acknowledge not him to be God, whom their own Prophets so often give testimony to, as a powerful Being and as God, which he is by the witness of the great God and Fa­ther of all things himself: That when God [Page 433] in the beginning of the world said, Let us make Man in our Image, the [...], the Word, perform'd all that his Father com­manded, for if according to that of the Psal­mist, He said and they were made, l. 2. p. 6 [...]. he com­manded and all things were created, if at God's command, all the Creatures were framed, who, according to the meaning of the prophetical Spirit, was able to put in execution such his Father's command, but He who was the living Word and Truth it self? The Word then in the beginning of all things was with God, and the Word was God, and without him nothing was made that was made: It's the Doctrine of S. John and of O­rigen too: So far then we may know how the beginning of S. John's Gospel was under­stood in his days, and what they thought might conveniently be proved from thence. When the Jew afterwards is brought in ob­jecting, that Men who are partakers of the same Table, would not lye in wait for one ano­ther, much less would any one have treacherous designs upon God. p. 74. Origen might easily have an­swered that cavil by denying that He was God, and then by giving instances of Men false and treacherous to those who have ea­ten with them at the same Table: but He owns his Godhead, and only performs the latter. Celsus afterwards brings in his Jew objecting against the Divinity of Christ thus, Who ever heard of God coming down from hea­ven to earth on purpose to perswade Men, as [Page 434] they say Christ did, and failing in his design, especially when he was long expected and hoped for? a denyal of his Divinity had put a full stop to this objection too; but Origen, on the contrary, retorts upon them, That the Jews themselves were instance enough of the possibility of such a thing, since God had appear'd so remarkably to them, in bring­ing them up out of the land of Aegypt, and in giving them a Law from Sina, and yet they nor their Fathers could by that means be perswaded to obedience, or pre­vented from running presently into Idola­try.p. 106. After all this, Celsus, in his own person, makes use of this argument to prove that Christ could not be God; God, says He, is good, and pure, and happy, and in himself infi­nitely excellent, and lovely, if He should descend to be among Men, He must necessarily undergo a change, a change from good to bad, from pure to impure, from happiness to misery, and from the most excellent to the most sinful state, this God would never undergo: To this the Father answers, That it's true, God is in himsel [...] Immutable, nor did he suffer any change o [...] this account: But that which descended down to Men was in the form of God; but, out of his Love to mankind, he debased him­self so far, as that he might be born among them, but He suffer'd no change from ba [...] to good, for that He was without Sin, he ne­ver committed any; He was not chang'd from pure or clean, to foul or filthy, for H [...] [Page 435] did not so much as know Sin; nor did he fall from happiness to misery; He humbled him­self indeed, but was not a whit the less hap­py, even when he stoop'd the lowest for the good of mankind: nor did he fall from the best to the most sinful state, because what he did, proceeded from Love and Charity to us: by being among whom, He, that was the great Physician of Souls, could be no more altered for the worse, than a Physician for the body is, by conversing with those that are sick and full of diseases. But, says he, if Celsus think, that because the immor­tal God the Word, assumed a mortal body, and an humane Soul, that therefore He suf­fered an alteration or a change; Let him know, that the Word, essentially continuing the Word still, suffers by none of those things which happen either to the body or the Soul: but that He condescends to be­come flesh, and to speak in a Body,l. 4. p. 169, 170. for the sake of those who are not able to behold the eradiations and brightness of his Divinity, so long, till He, who receives him, being in a short time rais'd to a greater understand­ing by the Word, may be able to contem­plate his original nature. And finally in his sixth book against the same Celsus, he speaks [...]hus excellently, If then Celsus enquire how we think to know God, and to be saved with him, We will answer him, That He, who is the word of God, being in them who seek him, or who wait for his appearance, is [Page 436] sufficient to make known and to reveal the Father, who was not to be seen before His appearance; for who else can save the Soul of Man, and guide us in every thing to God, but only God the Word? who being in the beginning with God, for the sake of those who are confin'd to flesh became flesh, that he might be comprehended by those who were not able to see him as He was the Word, and as He was with God, and as He was God;l. 6. p. 322. and appearing in flesh, and speak­ing in the body, He calls those, who are in the flesh, to himself, that first he might make them like to the Word, which was made flesh, and afterwards might raise them to see himself indeed, and what He was be­fore He was made flesh.

The passages are enow and plain enough to shew us what Origen thought true Doctrine concerning the Son of God our Saviour. Up­on the whole, what a silly and impertinent ad­versary was Celsus throughout a large dis­course, written only to expose Christianity to contempt and hatred, to make a continual noise about the impossibility of our Saviour's being God? and what a shallow and ignorant advocate was Origen for Christianity, to write so many books, principally to prove the Faith of Christians rational in this point, when in the mean time, if we may believe our Socinian Adversaries, the Christians, in those early ages, believed no such thing, nor ever dream'd of Christ's being any more [Page 437] than a meer Man? Men who intend to do any service to the cause they undertake, or to procure themselves any reputation by their writings, use to consider what and who it is they write for or against; but it's meer childs play, for a Man to set himself up a thing of clouts, that he may throw stones at it to knock it down, while another takes as much pains to keep it standing. Certainly Celsus knew better what he oppos'd, and was sufficiently convinced, that the Christi­ans did really believe Christ was God. We saw before that the Author of the Dialogue, called Philopatris, among Lucian's, understood the Christians so; and Pliny (who liv'd before either of our Disputants, who had by his office of Proconsul great opportunities of knowing what tenets the Christians main­tain'd, who had often examined them with tortures, and punish'd them with Death it self, for their supposed obstinacy in their errors.) He, too, understood the Christians in the same manner, and therefore in that account he gives the Emperor Trajane of them, among other things, he takes notice of their Coetus antelucani, their meetings be­fore day-break (which they were forc'd to, for the better securing themselves from the Pagan furies) in which meetings among the rest of their religious rites, they did Car­men Christo ut Deo canere, They presented their Prayers or sung Hymns to Christ as God: but this Heathens themselves would [Page 438] have accounted a bold mocking heaven, had not they believed he was God indeed whom they so worshipped as God; from which Ger­rhard Vossius, in his Commentary on that Epistle of Pliny, as also Rittershusius, con­clude,Vià. ad Calcem E­pistolarum Pliniana­rum Edit. Hackianae That tho' the Heathen world looked upon our Lord as a Sophister only, and a cheat, yet the Christians always acknowledged him to be God: Vossius tells us the very name of Hymns intimates that they belonged to God, for so he says, [...] a hymn is [...], a Psalm to God, and never used otherwise, except once or twice in poeti­cal writings, and refers us to Eusebius, who from a nameless Author,Historiae Eccles. l. 5. c. 27. but about the Age wherein Irenaeus liv'd, takes notice of ma­ny Psalms and Hymns composed from the beginning, by Faithful Brethren, who in those compositions declared Christ the Word of God to be God: Thus the Writings of Hea­thens themselves, and of such who have been the greatest enemies of Christianity, have been, by Divine Providence, preserved to give unanswerable evidence to those truths, which some false pretenders to Chri­stianity, have endeavoured to explode, and to satisfie us of our consent with those an­tient Saints and Martyrs in the most weigh­ty particulars of our Holy Religion.