I '■:s:5V)fS 3S3KJO02). THE HISTORY OF RELIGION, A RATIONAL ACCOUNT OP THE TRUE RELIGION. BY JOHN EYELYN, AUTHOR OF " SYLVA," ETC. NOW FIRST PUBLISHED, BY PERMISSION OF W. J. EVELYN, ESQ., M.P., FROM THE ORIGINAL MS. IN THE LIBRARY AT WOTTON. " Be ready always lo give an answer to every man. that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." — I Pet., iii., 15. " I am vsrily persuaded that errors shall not he imputed to them as sin, who nse such measures of iiidustry in finding Truth, as human prudence and ordinary dis- cretion (their abilities and opportunities, their distractions and hindrances, and all other things considered) shall advise them to." — Chillinoworth. EDITED, WITH NOTES, BY THE KEVEREND R. M. EYANSON, B.A., RECTOR OF LANSOY, MONMOUTHSHIRE. IN TWO volum: VOL. LONDO HENRY COLBURN, P GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1850. THE HISTORY OF RELIGION, A RATIONAL ACCOUNT OP THE TRUE RELIGION* BY JOHN EYELYN, AUTHOR OF " SYLVA," ETC. NOW FIRST PUBLISHED, BY PERMISSION OF W. J. EVELYN, ESQ., M.P., FROM THE ORIGINAL MS. IN THE LIBRARY AT WOTTON. " Be ready always to give an answer to every man, that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in yon, with meekness and fear." — I Pet,, iii., 15. " T am verily persuaded that errors shall not be imputed to them as sin, who nse such measures of industry in finding Truth, as human prudence and ordinary dis- cretion (their abilities and opportunities, their distractions and hindrances, and all other things considered) shall advise them to." — Chillinowokth. EDITED, WITH NOTES, BY THE KEVEREND E. M. EVANSON, B.A., RECTOR OF LANSOY, MONMOUTHSHIRE. IN TWO VOL VOL. LONDO HENRY COLBURN, Pl^BLISHER, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1850. F. Slioberl, Jun , I'rintci to H.K.H. Prince Albert, Rupert Street, II»yinarbe4 TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, THESE VOLUMES, FROM THE PEN OF AN ILLUSTRIOUS WRITER, IN TOKEN OF ESTEEM, AKE, WITH HIS GRACE's PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY HIS OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, THE EDITOR. EDITOE'S PEEFACE. "He, being dead, yet speaketh." After a peaceful slumber of nearly two cen- turies in the Wotton Library, the original manu- script from which this work is printed was last year brought into light and notice by the pub- lication of the " Life of Mrs. Godolphin," from the pen of the same Author. This circum- stance directed fresh attention to the collection of manuscripts still in the possession of his representative, W. J. Evelyn, Esq., M.P., at the family-seat in Surrey, by whose permission the fruit of his literary labours, in a new and most important department, is now, for the first time, given to the world. It is but due to the Publisher to relate, that it was mainly owing to his suggestions that the manuscript was carefully examined; and though, perhaps from its bulk, the grave theological character of Tl its contents, and the exceeding minuteness of the writing, it seems to have possessed few charms for the eyes of those who hitherto have been permitted to inspect the Wotton manu- scripts, yet, upon patient investigation, it proved to be a work of considerable learning and re- search ; and, being partly devoted to the exami- nation of doctrines then current or opposed, was thought not ill adapted to a controversial age — nay, in some measure, calculated to soften the peculiar prejudices of our times ; to lead men to f allow that all catholicity of mind is not Ko- I manism; nor attachment to the pure teaching of \ the English Church incompatible with unqua- lified rejection of Romish error; nor Christian charity of necessity violated by a calm and fear- less exhibition and condemnation of the fallacies of dissent. To this end, the well-known piety of the Author, coupled with the trying times in which he lived, must greatly contribute. Himself a layman, he is free from suspicion of priestcraft. His religious attachment to the Church of his Baptism is no fair-weather conformity in her editor's preface. Tli sunny hours, but is manifested by firm allegiance in her days of darkness and distress, when he who owned his Spiritual Mother was not exempt from danger of proscription, imprisonment, or even exile. At such a period of her history, John Evelyn, a gentleman of fortune, with many dear ties to warp his judgment astray, showed rare strength and rectitude of principle, in choosing rather, at all hazard, through faith in her Divine mission, to heed the pure light of an obscured and persecuted Church, (unlike some who would desert her in the hour of peril) than to bask with the many in the wild red glare of fana- ticism wherewith the land was overspread. Nor was his fidelity without its reward, so to speak ; for he lived to see her restored, if not to the fulness of her rays, at least to her former elevated position, whence she might engage once more, under accumulated difficulties, it is true, in dispelling either the mists of infidelity that followed by re-action the gross hypocrisy of the Interregnum, or the chilling indifference to " things unseen" so largely caught up from the pernicious example of a dissolute Court. Vin EDITOR S PREFACE. In confirmation of these remarks, we have only to extract a few passages from his Diary of the time. In a foot-note to the title-page of the manuscript, we are informed that this work was "begun in the year 1657, when the Church of England was in persecution;" and about that date are the following entries : — " 3rd August (1656). I went to London to receive the Blessed Sacrament, the first time the Church of England was reduced to a Chamber and Conventicle, so sharp was the persecution. The Parish Churches were filled with sectaries of all sorts^ blasphemous and ignorant mechanics usurping the pulpits every where.*"* In the following year he writes under date December 25th, " Christmas-day. I went to London with my wife, to ce- lebrate Christmas-day, Mr. Gunning preaching in Exeter Chapel, on Micah, vii., 3. Sermon ended, as he was giving us the Holy Sacrament, the chapel was surrounded with soldiers, and all the communicants and assembly surprised and kept prisoners by them, some in the house, others carried away. It fell to my share to be confined to a room in the house, where yet I was permitted to dine with the master of it, the Countess of Dorset, Lady Hatton, and some others of quality who invited me. In the afternoon came Colonel Whalley, Goff'e, and others, from Whitehall, to examine us one by one ; some they * Evelyn's Diary, new edition, vol. i., p. 31^. IX committed to the Marshal, some to prison. When I came before them, they took my name and abode ; exa- mined me why, contrary to the ordinance made that none should any longer observe the superstitious time of the Nativity, (so esteemed by them) I durst offend, and particularly be at Common Prayers, which they told me was but the Mass in English, and particularly pray for Charles Stuart, for which we had no Scripture. I told them we did not pray for Charles Stuart, but for all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governors. They replied, In so doing we prayed for the King of Spain too, who was their enemy and a Papist ; with other frivolous and ensnaring questions and much threatening ; and, finding no colour to detain me, they dismissed me with much pity of my ignorance. These were men of high flight, and above ordinances, and spake spiteful things of our Lord's Nativity. As we went up to receive the Sacra- ment, the miscreants held their muskets against us, as if they would have shot us at the Altar, but yet suffering us to finish the office of Communion, as perhaps not having instructions what to do in case they found us in that action."^ Again, after the Restoration and the return of the Church, of England from her captivity, his mind is so impressed with the overpowering bad example of the Court, and the general corruption that followed thereupon, that he does not hesi- tate to assign it as the chief cause of those signal ^ Evelyn's Diary, new edition, vol. i., p. 323. visitations, the Great Plague and Fire of London, thus recorded in the Diary : — ^ "October 10 (1666). This day was ordered a general fast through the nation, to humble us on the late dread- ful conflagration, added to the plague and war, the most dismal judgments that could be inflicted ; but which in- deed we highly deserved, for our prodigious ingratitude, burning lusts, dissolute Court, profane and abominable lives ; under such dispensations of God's continued favour in restoring Church, Prince, and People, from our late intestine calamities, of which we were altogether un- mindful, even to astonishment." The result of such, or rather similar feelings, was, in 1657, the commencement of the present work, the scope and design whereof, as well as the motives that led to the undertaking, are told most strikingly in the Author's Preface, to which the Reader is especially referred. In the earlier chapter of the First Volume there will be found coincidences of thought, and even expression, with writers who have subsequently handled the same topics ; as, for instance, when treating of the moral government of the world, passages occur closely resembling the arguments of Bishop Butler, in his Analogy of Religion, who wrote, ^ Evelyn's Diary, new edition, vol. ii., p. 17. EDITOR S PEEFACE. XI it need hardly be said, in the following century. In arguing, also, from Natural to Revealed Reli- gion, Mr. Evelyn's illustrations are frequently identical with those of the modern Paley. It is not, of course, pretended that such subjects are handled in the same masterly way as by those eminent writers, who concentrated their mental forces upon, perhaps, a single branch of the many topics of this comprehensive Treatise; they are merely alluded to as further evidence, if any were wanted, of the versatility and originality of the Author's intellectual powers. In the Second Volume, wherein he professes to explain the true doctrines of Holy Scripture, and of the Church of England, the chief interest attaching to it will be found to consist in its value as an impartial interpretation of her Articles and Liturgy ; conveyed, too, in a manner which shows he was not propounding new views, but merely stating them as understood by her members in his time. The inferences that may be drawn from the perusal of this portion of the work are too palpable to need comment here. It remains only to give a brief description of xii editor's preface. the manuscript itself, in order to explain how far its integrity has been preserved, in preparing it for the press. From the remarkable accuracy of the writing, as well as from portions of the rough draft being found with it, it appears to be a second copy, and by the Author himself, with a view to publication ultimately. This is partly corroborated by the close of his Preface, where, alluding to his " Adversaria," or collection of extracts from different authors (in the previous page termed his " Controversial Chapter), he says that " they [i,e.^ the Extracts] were entered promiscuously, and without that care I should have used, had I then designed them for this Treatise, or ever to appear in public." This " Adversaria," stitched up with the MS., and sufficient to fill a volume in itself, it was not deemed advisable to publish, as forming no integral part of the work, and consisting, with few exceptions, of quotations from authors now in the hands of all. Two extracts, however, have been given in the form of an Appendix, being to all appearance in his own language, and on important topics. After this second copy EDITOR S PREFACE. XUl was completed, the margin furnishes proof of its revision by the Author himself, correcting even trifling orthographical errors, and, to judge from the different colour of the ink, at different periods of his life. On a separate paper among the Wotton manuscripts the following memo- randum certainly occurs — " Things I would write out fair, and reform ;" and " A Kational Account of the True ReHgion, or a History of it, with a packet of Notes belonging to it," forms one of the list.^ But this probably refers to the fresh ideas, inserted during revision, in the mar- gin, which, doubtless, had it been published in his lifetime, he would have embodied in the work, but, in the hands of another unwilling to do violence to the text, must be suffered to descend into the notes. It appears, also, from the original title-page of the manuscript, that the Author was in doubt about what name he should give it. Evae^eia first, and this is scratched out ; next Qpr^aKela occurs, after the words " His- tory of Religion." It should be mentioned, also, that lower down on the page he inserts, after the ^ This " packet of notes" cannot be found. xlv editor's preface. last title, " A Rational Account of the True Reli- gion," the following summary of its contents: — Asserting The most ancient to be the only Trae and Best : The Jewish, why, and how changed ? Why not that of the Gentile ? or Mahometan, but the Christian ? Why not any of the Christian Sects, but the Catholic Eeformed ? Collected for the Settling and Establishment of my own Choice. The remainder is as given in the title-page of these volumes. Thus it will be seen that the integrity of the work has been preserved in all material points, the " Adversaria" alone being omitted, and of course palpable repetitions, not unfrequent, as might be supposed, in a manu- script which seems to have occupied the last thirty years of an active and well-employed life.^ Occasionally, too, some trifling orthographical errors have been corrected, the very long para- graphs subdivided, and the titles of the sections, where omitted, gathered from the subject and prefixed. At the request of the Publisher, the ^ 1657 is the date of its commencement, and 1683 is written on the manuscript as the current year, in order to verify one of the Author's dates, during the progress of the work. EDITOK'S PKEFACE. XV spelling has been changed (it being uncertain, and the work sufficiently abstruse), and a few notes added for the convenience of the general reader, with translations, when not given in sub- stance in the text, for the benefit of those unac- quainted with the languages in which the quota- tions occur ; such foreign matter being invariably distinguished from what belongs to the Author by inverted commas and brackets: whence it appears that little has been demanded of the Editor beyond patient transcription of the MS. ; Avhile, in order to ensure its integrity, even this labour has been shared by an able amanuensis, Mr. Hook, whose co-operation proved most ser- viceable, especially in collation, and deciphering passages that would have puzzled any eyes but those well versed in such work.^ In conclusion, it is earnestly hoped that good may result from presenting these volumes to the world; that His Name may be hallowed whose truth they uphold; and that they may find their way to the hearts of all who give them ^ A strong magnifying-glass was in constant requisition for the marginal notes. xvi editor's preface. perusal. And if the spirits of the departed (to speak with all reverence) are at all cognizant of human affairs, we may conceive it not un- pleasing to their Author, after a lapse of two centuries, to return, as it were, for a season, unfettered by " the body of this death," to in- struct and admonish " them that are alive ;" to be instrumental, it may be, with the Divine blessing, in adding fresh numbers to the " great cloud of witnesses, the spirits of just men made perfect" above. The Editor. June, 1850. AUTHOE'S PREFACE. Living in an age wherein religion, pietj, and even common honesty were made to subserve the ends and interests of dominion and ambition, or "the advantages of some private party, and by men of all persuasions aiFecting empire, there was nothing left unattempted to support their avarice and pride. Fundamental laws and esta- blishments being subverted; princes (who should protect them) murdered ; the most solemn oaths violated; churches robbed; and the afflictions which the most innocent suffered of spoil, evil, imprisonment, and death itself, cried up as the effects of the zeal of a godly party. Ignorance and enthusiasm, hypocrisy and treason, uni- versally reigning, and that whosoever did not receive this mark in his forehead, and not pros- titute himself, soul and body, to propagate the interests of the most sacrilegious and unrighte- ous acquisitions, (that ever a rebelKous and disobedient people maliciously and wantonly un- VOL. I. b xvm dertook) were looked upon as traitors, declared or clandestine enemies to the public weal. That men of all religions (or fancies, rather), Jews, Socinians, Anabaptists, Antinomians, Independ- ents, Quakers, Pagans, and (what is worse) Atheists, and a thousand new sects and denomi- nations, were protected and encouraged under, notion of New Lights, Perfectionists, a Godly Party, and persons above ordinances, freely preaching, printing, and promoting their extra- vagant doctrines, and had advocates to plead for them ; that, whilst the waters were troubled, the crafty fishers might cast in their hooks, and satiate themselves with spoil and booty : when I perceived the soberest pretenders coimter- mined one the other for the Supreme Power; that even the very sanctions and laws of Nature as well as of nations were violated; perjury justified and rewarded; Christian churches, and the folds of the true flock, made draught houses, and stables of horses and dens of wild beasts ; the " calves" set up, and the hierarchy usurped by every blind leader; Scripture profaned and perverted; the tribunals and seats of justice corrupted; the aged dishonoured; that there were no commandments, no creed, no liturgy, no XIX baptism, no catechism, no sacraments, no legal marriages, no discipline^in the Church ; that the schools were interdicted, the universities clouded and threatened ; Christian feasts abolished ; bishops and priest pronounced Antichristian ; in sum, "when there was no king in Israel, but every one did what was right in his own eyes." And when I saw that for all this everything prospered which these men did, and that any religion was good but the old Christian, which taught men obedience to princes, reverence to antiquity, order and discipline in the Church, frequent communion, orthodox doctrine, accord- ing to the undoubted tenor of Sacred Scripture and universal consent of the purest ages ; and that all reason and learning was not carnal ; nor all decency, superstition; nor all candour, and fidelity, and innocency of life, the effect of moral conscience only, but the power of God, and the result of a gracious education. When, on the other side, again, I considered that, after God had restored the laws, and brought back the captivity in so stupendous a manner, as next to that of the Jews from Ba- bylon, there is not to be found in history, sacred or profane, a more wonderful deliverance of a b2 XX author's preface. nation in any age; and that, after all these mercies (yea, even miratles) and signal revolu- tions, people (though with less hypocrisy) grew more ungrateful and impiously atheistical, sen- sual, revengeful, and not so much as regarding a form of religion ; that the princes and great men, who ought to have been examples of virtue to others, were abandoned to all manner of luxury, open and avowed adulteries ; the clergy despised, the prelates uiider, afraid of denouncing against these enormities; the gentry dissolute, theatres profane, the people libertine, and that, indeed, there was no face of sincere religion v^ amongst us: when, I say, I beheld aU this, and that ill ()tli(T matters men ascribed JSQ_much to natm^e, senseless matter, craft and force; that, hi a word (as the great Apostle expresses it of the heathen),^ "as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mmd, to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteous- ness, fornication," &c. For all this, to my great sorrow, I was witness of: when, I say, I beheld all this, "my feet were almost gone, my tread- ings had well nigh slipped,^ and I began seriously 1 Rom., i., 28r32. ^ Pgalm, Ixxiii., 2. AUTHOR S PREFACE. XXI to consider some time with myself, whether, in truth, all that which had been taught us con- cerning God, and religion, and honour, and con- science, were not mere chimeras and impostures contrived by our forefathers, crafty men in their generation, and but now again resumed by as subtle a race as they, to amuse the credulous, superstitious, or less discerning people; whilst the great and polite ones of the world believed nothing at all of it, whose actions had so little affinity with their pretensions, and all that they yet held forth of the greatest and most refined sanctity. These thoughts put me at last upon a serious resolution of a more accurate and sedulous in- quiry, and now no longer to acquiesce in what I had taken in by education, and other general notions concerning religion, which, by many and dangerous errors, I suspected, might be propa- gated to posterity, and which (the more I sought) I found had not only prevailed with, and per- verted wise and learned men, persons of all ages, sexes, and professions, but even whole nations and countries, of which some were wicked and barbarous, as not only do their own histories make out, but the present idolatry, superstition, xxii author's preface. fanaticism, and brutishness, which do still obtain in divers parts of the world to this period. The thing, therefore, which in order hereto I thought myself first concerned to examine, was not with so much expectation of investigating many new arguments of what I was in search, or to divert others with fine disputes and specu- lations ; but so to discipline and reduce the scat- tered notions an? materials which books and discourses, and the reason and moment of the thing, had from time to time furnished me withal (but which had till now lain confusedly about me), into some kind of method; that, upon im- partial view of their strength, and summing up their force and evidence, I might judge and de- termine of the issue, and accordingly consult what party to take, and resolve once for all what course to pursue for the future, and so to settle my fluctuating thoughts, the best and most pru- dently I could, in the generation I was to serve, and, as far as I was able, not be wanting to my- self for the obtaining that felicity we all aspire after, if, at least, any such thing there were;^ ^ " Si enim post-mortem nihil sumus, profecto stultissimi est hominis non huic vitae consulere ut sit quam divina et commodis omnibus plena." — Lactaniius. AUTHOE S PEEFACE. XXlll and if not, that I might extricate my spirit from those perplexities, and at once emancipate myself from the doubts and emotions which the belief of an eternal being hereafter, designed to infinite happiness, or doomed to endless and intolerable misery, did continually expose us to ; either of which, if I were able to accomplish (by laying education, custom, superstition, par- ties, and prejudices aside, and dealing clearly and ingenuously with myself), I then concluded I might pass my life with less regret and better resolution for the future, as long as nature and my constitution would suffer me, whatever other circumstances happened, which I was to encoun- ter or conciliate with the best prudence I could, and with this satisfaction to sit down and ac- quiesce.^ In pursuance, therefore, of this weighty enter- prise, I first set myself to examine what argu- ment seemed with the greatest probability to evince the notion of a Supreme Being : in sum, whether there were indeed any such thing as a God at all ! For, when that should be well ^ Such a design I find mentioned by the learned and eloquent Dr. Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, and to have been reflected on by that incomparable wit. and excellent person, Mr. Cowley (whilst he lived), my most worthy friend. xxiv author's preface. cleared up in the affirmative, whether he took any further cognizance of us, or not, I began soon to be convinced that He was to be adored of His creatures, and served after His own ap- >^ointment. And, supposing this should j;et be uncertain, that nevertheless it was not only reasonable, but the highest prudence to do it; since, if a God, He must needs be just, and do righteously; which, consisting in rewards and punishments to those who deserve them, the living a virtuous and pious life must needs be transcendently preferable to a vicious and dis- orderly; since, whether there were a Deity or no, it were but what a wise man would choose for the ease and feHcity of it : religion being so grave, serious, and so useful a thing, and of so vast importance, that, if it be not true, all man- kind have reason to wish it were; and in case there be such a God (besides the baseness and inconvenience of vicious habits here), to hazard His displeasure and appendant deserved misery, and put it to adventure, were madness, and alto- gether intolerable. ^,J^ A God, therefore, being found out. His attri- butes would of necessity follow ; and I was next to inquire after what manner He would be XXV served, what worship and rites He expected; which being once so happy as to attain, my search (I concluded) was at an end, and all that depended upon it; matters of necessary belief being, I supposed, much easier than practice: for it is not the being christened, reckoned a Protestant, or denominated of a party, that will save one, as if it worked as a charm or spell, we know not how, or why, whether minding it or no, but by our improvement and exercise of what we possess; there being no word in the whole Scriptures more certain than that without holiness no one shall see God. Most will tell us they believe the gospel for a most certain truth, nay, profess they would even die for it, till they meet with something that crosses them, or goes against their interest, and then they secretly hope it is not so. Christ's death (as one says) seems to serve, not to de- stroy sin out of the world, but Christianity itself; when the Scripture teUs us plainly, that He is become the author' of salvation to them^ onhj who obey Him^ and that He will come in flaming fire to render vengeance on them who obey Him not. What should then induce any one to believe that he shall be saved, whether he believes or serves xxvi author's preface. Him not? So that a necessity of living well, I saw, was consequent to truth; and this. .fista- blished, what ~~was to he superstructed, J[_saw, would not 1)0 difficult ; there being in the world, and^ especially the Scriptures, and other authen- tics (the veracity whereof would fall in with my fomier disquisitions), such plentiful materials, so much light, so clear decisions, so many and preg- nant instances, as were sufficient to guide any humble, sober, and rational person, who was not blinded with avarice or ambition, perverted with pleasure and sensuality, impatience, sloth, super- stition, or the like prejudices and prepossessions, from which I so earnestly laboured to vindicate and redeem myself; or, if possibly I should not always hit upon the right (holding the founda- tion), I could not but think, and indeed conclude, that, if there were a God, He must be full of goodness and pity, and therefore pardon all in- vincible mistakes in searching after truth, when they were not made invincible by our own negli- gence. Now, that this might not be my fault, I drew the plan of my designed inquiry, as ample and comprehensive as I was able (as will be seen by the many topics I have handled and traced from AUTHOR S PREFACE. XXVll divines, philosophers, philologers, historians, and others), to evince the truth of what I was in quest of; and therefore could not avoid repeat- ing what others have done before me on this subject, though not after the same method: and if I have appeared somewhat prolix in asserting the immortality of the soul, it was what I deemed of greatest consequence, and my drift all along, to discuss the nature of that principle, how in man it differs from the animal and sensual, and to give myself a frdler survey of men's opinions concerning that so momentous and abstruse a point; since upon that alone depended the whole stress of this inquiry, and in truth of all "ve have of precious and worthy our solicitude in this umbratile and transitory passage. In the mean time, I was glad to find that in- famous book, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus^ so handsomely perstringed ; it being certainly the product of an author very far from any sense of religion, and a wretched obstacle to the searchers of holy truth. But he is not alone; we have others nearer home (besides Spinosa, Bruno, Cardan, &c.), deifying the power of matter and the laws of Nature as divine decrees, to invali- date (as much as in them lies) the veneration xxviii author's preface. of Scripture, upon the pretence of the uncertainty of those oracles, the supernatural inspirations, visions, and favours ; and that the prophets and great men of those times might possibly be en- thusiasts, or delirious and mistaken, and so, what they deliver down to us doubtful or pre- carious : in sum, making religion a mere figment, and that (as well as man himself) but an engine, and by discarding all natural justice, goodness, and charity, and resolve it into brutish force. This, as to the laws of empire, is the language which a man of great name,^ lately come amongst us, teaches his disciples, and perhaps what thes€ bold heroes would have published, yet in plainer terms, if they durst speak out, who have already debauched and ruined a great many of the vola- tile and less wary sort. But they are all so abundantly baffled, that none, save the raw and fantastical wits, and those who have read little and thought less of ancient and golid learning, and are disposed to embrace the pleasures oi sense and affect singularity, can possibly suffer themselves to be perverted, without being miser- ; ably depraved and shattered in their understand- ing. For the Christian religion, and the base it ^ Hobbs. author's peeface. xxix stands upon, seems to me so perspicuous, and their reasonings so . Mse^ tliat there is no merit in believing it. So as^ none, save those deter- mined Atheists who maliciously shut their eyes to the light, can avoid it. But the world is now come to that pa^s,o^^ rather to that profaneness, as to religion, that as it is a reproach not to be called a Christian, so it is a greater to he one. Our heaux and esprits forts make a mockery of the most ve- nerable truths, and deride all piety, to save their reputation. It is enough to have religion in our creed, not in our hearts. In the mean time, there is nothing which these triflers have offered, or the impostors whom they follow, but what the old Heresiarchs and most pestilent of the Atheists have long since broached ; as is abundantly seen in Irenseus, Arnobius, St. Au- gustine (a wit infinitely superior to the most pretending of these), Justin Martyr, TertuUian, &c., and of later times ; and since the same poi- son has diffused itself in this age (as forerunners of great confusion), by the incomparable Gro- tius. Bishop Andrews, Drs. Hammond, Jackson, StiUingfleet, Barrow, &c., in express treatises and other works of inestimable value, not omitting XXX those elaborate pieces (printing since the writing hereof) of Drs. Cudworth, Cumberland, Patrick, Parker, &c., and of those abroad, the learned Huetius, Johannes Batalerius, and innumerable others. I It is when one has thoroughly read and well indigested the ancient and later writers whom 1 have named, and who have obtained the suf I frages of sixteen hundred years, that one shall j be fit to encounter and pronounce concerning these impudent sophisters, who deny matter oj fact with so steeled a front : men they are, who upon pride of their wit, and boldness of speaking things profanely, (in a most abandoned age) arc held in estimation amongst those drolls^ ignorani and slavish sycophants, who catch at everything that may serve to charm the serpent of natura" conscience that is perpetually stinging and lash ing their profligate lives and ugly crimes witl something which makes vice and sensuality un easy to them, when they chance to give them selves the seldom leisure of thinking seriously and as they would wish they had, when the} come to die. But put the case that there were nojsucl thing, at last, as reward for virtue, or p unish XXXI nient for vice, a man shall lose nothing for believing there^ls;" ah and judgment, as it implies imperfection, tliat is, all im- perfection, peccability, or the least appearance of real change.^ He is ever pleased with the same, who can delight in nothing but what is best. Nothing can diminish His power or liberty : nothing but His own natural perfection can dispose Him to any thing. In sum, nothing which already is consummately excellent can change to better, nor any wise being for a worse. All change proceeding from ignorance and folly, weak- ness and lassitude, and change would impair our love,_ confidence, and even fear of God Himself. To con- clude, God being infinite in power, can do all things ; and of infinite wisdom best disposes of all things, and has appointed to everything its limit, or left them a dispositive ability of their own concerns. And some- things He will have governed by a law of necessity, others of contingency, at least in respect of our under- standing how things happen. For nothing of all this falls out, but He foresees it and has decreed it, and therefore it is no derogation of His power. Nor yet is all this by distinct acts, or peculiar attributes, in re- ference to God, but only in relation to our capacity. Nor discovers it the least mutability in the Divine counsels. For His prescience is not the necessary cause of contingency or necessity ; but therefore God foreknows them, because they shall so happen. Nor by this is His power restrained, that is, by either neces- sity or contingency, seeing whatever He determined ^ Statuerunt quaa non mutajunt, nee unquam primi consilii Deos poenitet. — Sen. de Ben. Jfll8 THE TRUE RELIGION. was and is, so as nothing can be more just, or more ex- cellent. And being still a free agent. He can and does alter things as to our understanding, though himself remain unsteady and unmoved. When God alters His dealings with men, according as they persist or fall, and defect from their duty, it is not from His muta- bility, but rather from His unchangeable justice and wisdom, which are ever the same. Having asserted all these incommunicable perfections in the Godhead, I shall not need to mention any dis- tinct one of His holinesSi they being all of them so many parts of it, so as the nearer we come to any one of them, in conformity of our life, that is, imitating His justice, charity, wisdom, goodness, and truth, and all other Divine virtues, the more we shall resemble His holiness, who has said. Be ye holy, for I am holy, and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord.^ PART II. — TRINITY. Now, as to the mystery of the sacred trinity, whereby God is by us Christians acknowledged to be One in essence, and of Three Persons, of which more in its proper place. The sun in the firmament is but one, and yet the fountain of light and heat ; three distinct things, yet operating all at the same instant. The rational soul has three distinct powers — memory, under- standing, will. Why may not there be three Hypos- tases in three Subsistences ? They are indeed obscure ^ I. Pet. 1., 16; Heb., xii, 14. THE TPwtTE RELIGION. 119 resemblances, inasmuch as heat, light, memory, &c., are not the same thing with the sun or soul, but only ema- nations from them. But as these subjects are Divine, the manner is wholly incomprehensible. And if we be not capable of understanding things belonging to our- selves, as men, (such as is the union of our soul and body) how shall we ever hope to comprehend a mystery of so sublime a nature ? Indeed, though it be unintel- ligible, Reason cannot pronounce it impossible ; seeing that the Divine essence is not of the same nature as created substances. For though in the whole work of God there be no instance like to it, but that one and the same nature is always united in one substance ; yet it is not consequent that the Divine nature may not subsist in three persons, however inconceivable to us, as not indeed falling under our sense. That though the Divinity be as to His nature One in essence, yet that He is Three in Hypostasis we be- lieve, not from anything our reason dictates, but from the word of God ; and therefore by an act of pure faitlL: nor discovered to the world by any light of nature, but supernaturally revealed in time, and necessarily since revealed, to be believed. \ As to those explanations of councils and creeds, they have been piously set forth, and endeavoured to unfold, rather for peace-sake, and to silence all nice and eternal controversies, the falling into errors, as of those who held three Gods, or totally denied a Trinity of persons, than out of any confidence of being able to describe the mystery in all its profound dimensions. That which is therefore to be believed 120 THE TRUE RELIGION. ^ and professed by us, is that God the Father, God the , Son, and God the Holy Ghost, is but 07ie God; so as the i Son is not the Father, nor the Spirit the Son, but dis- tinct persons, through a certain propriety, competent to no being else. Farther than this, we are not able to inquire, but humbly, modestly, and soberly, acquiesce ! in what God has sealed up, and will have kept a secret. This order yet we may find, that the Father is first ; secondly, of Him, the Son ; thirdly, the Holy Ghost of both ; as being so in order of Nature. The Father be- getting; the Son begotten; the Holy Ghost proceed- ing, to use the terms of Scripture:^ Where, notwith- standing, we sometimes find one of the Persons proposed before the other upon occasion. But nowhere is the Sacred Trinity so conspicuously set forth as at the Baptism ^ of the Son. Moreover, the Holy Scriptures distinguish the Persons (not essentially, indeed, but hypothetically) as we have already observed; where the Holy Spirit's proceeding is not to be understood as produced, as some have pretended, but so as God the Father is of Himself, the Son is of the Father, and the Holy Ghost from Father and Son, co-equal, and co- eternal. To the Father is attributed the work of Crea- tion ; to the Son, the work of redemption ; to the Holy Ghost, Sanctification. Not as if these three distinct offices did aught detract from the Deity ; but for our better comprehension of their several parts, or opera- * See I. Cor., xii., 4, 5, 6; 11. Cor., xiii., 14; Gal., i., 3. ' S. Luke, iii., 21. THE TEUE PwELIGION. 121 tions.* For all is from the Father, who made the world by His Son, the Spirit of both co-operating. Farther than this is rashness to go. We must admire and adore, but cannot hope to comprehend. It is a depth into which councils, and fathers, and churches, and the greatest wits, have fallen, and even lost themselves. God will be believed, not examined. It is, besides, a mystery, which no ways falls under the criterion of our senses even the most sagacious ; whilst of no corporeal substance, (of which we may presume to judge, and are enjoined to do so, before we give assent) we are to re- serve it for that blessed time, when we shall see God face to face, and as He is. It is sufficient, that here we know Him by His works in the Creation, His Word in Holy Scripture, in our souls and consciences by the light of nature and reason. But, as for this of the Holy Trinity and work of our redemption, and how He operates in the hearts of the faithful, their vocation, regeneration, justification, &c., we know nothing, but by the light of grace. It is enough as to the mystery, that whatsoever is predicated of God is God. Why should we pry into what the angels dare not look into, but cover their modest faces, whilst they sing Thrice Holy to the Thrice Holy Trinity ? The Apostles asked not Christ ; the Son has not revealed it ; the Father con- ceals it, because we could not in this imperfect state comprehend it. We behold the majesty ; we see not into the mystery. We know that God is, and what He is, namely, that He is a spirit, holy, just, good, wise, Hebr., L, 2 ; S. John, x., 30. 122 THE TRUE RELIGION. omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, immutable, and eternal; but we know not His substance.^ By the Christian Trinity we mean not the mere names, or a Trinity of words and logical notions only, but of persons, apposita, and Hypostases, The Un- created, One True God, Blessed for ever, whose attri- butes of Incorporiety, Spirituality, Invisibility, Imma- teriality, Simplicity, Infinity, Eternity, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, Wisdom, Knowledge, Jus- tice, Veracity, Immutability, Providence, and univer- sal Perfections, are all but one simple, formal Act in God, distinguished thus for our comprehension only, some whereof are communicable in an inferior manner to the Creature, others wholly incommunicable, proper to God alone. And this is what we are allowed to look into and to gather of the existence and nature of God, both from His works and out of His Word, where we are taught to adore His Divine perfections in other mysteries, without dispute, which had all men learned, and done in simplicity, they had been more knowing and more happy ; whilst there is nothing more be- coming our Christian profession, or, indeed, as we are men, than an humble acknowledgment of our imbecility ^ The Platonists had an obscure notion of a certain universal Psyche, or Holy Spirit, as S. Cyprian thought. The Chaldeans taught something of a Trinity. Plato also held that the Monas was the universal principle, which produced the duality, or matter for it to work upon. What the ancient poets and the philosophers Zoroaster, Trisraegistus, &c., intimated by their Trias, may be seen in Origen against Celsus. THE TRUE EELIGIOX. 12o and limited faculties, to grapple with such stupendous mysteries. We are likewise cautioned not to conceive of the Divine properties and attributes as proceeding by way of emanation out of one another, as frequently we understand some of them in the creature ; but, as we have all along suggested, that whatever is said of them, as of God, are God Himself, one pure act, without con- fusion, or relation to time, flux, successive proceeding. But whether we consider them negatively removing impotence, imperfection, plurality, causes, accidents, &c., or positively, by the works God has made, we must conclude Him to be the most transcendently perfect and noble Being, and acknowledge that we can never reach an intuition of His being, which is imperveati- gable and past finding out. We may celebrate His praises, and do Him homage, and best speak of his ex- cellencies, by our silent admiration, since no words of man or angel can worthily express Him.^ He cannot be seen by our bodily eyes, or fathomed and compre- hended by our weak conceptions. In a word, who thinks to comprehend the majesty of God, diminishes it, and shall be oppressed with its glory. More useful, therefore, and profitable were it for us to know how to live well, and please this great and in- finite God, than over-curlously to pry into these pro- found abysses, lest, our heads growing giddy, we fall, and drop into amazing depths, and be reproved. Let us look upon His works, and into His Word, and labour ^ Min. Felix Octav. 124) THE TRUE RELIGION. to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is more necessary to skill how to plough and sow, to eat and drink, than to know by what secret of nature and secret operations corn grows, and food does nourish us. He who fancies he can unriddle the Divine mystery, under- values it ; and he that would not undervalue it, must acknowledge it exceeds his comprehension. To con- clude, then, after all we have said of God's attributes, we are not to receive them as names of essences, but of actions. Nor as if His existence were compounded of divers ingredients, things, or quahties : those which are attributed by way of negation, are real attributes; whilst affirmative properties are not applicable. We may better say what they are not, than what positively they be; but as to their quiddity, our knowledge is ignorance, and so unsafe it is to multiply affirmative attributes, that, as Maimonides says, we should stay till one of the Great Synagogue take the chair, and (as Evagrius) be tender of definitions, which, being con- versant about things concrete only, have nothing to do with things abstracted. To sum up all: though Almighty God be but one, yet are all our faculties too narrow to contain it; none but His own uncreated nature, which is incomprehensible, can comprehend it. We see and know Him only by reflected light ; where- fore, the more humble our contemplations of Him are, the nearer we shall come to Him ; and the nearer we approach Him, the more shall we discern, and be amazed at. His endless perfections. For His ways are 'unsearchable, and His glorious essence past finding out. THE TRUE RELIGION. 125 And yet, though we cannot attain this desirable knowledge of Him here, there is so much to be learned, as is of infinite use, and absolutely necessary to our everlasting happiness, and preferable to all other sciences whatsoever. There is a congenite and connatural re- lation between the object of a Deity and a created intellect; and even between this incommensurable Being and our souls, which discovers its excellency, and from whence it is derived. For some knowledge of God is so essential to our felicity, that, albeit we cannot comprehend and know Him in His transcendent and incommunicable perfections, yet has He been gra- ciously pleased to unfold so much of Himself as it is fit for us to know, and as we can possibly contain through the veil of our flesh, lest, by a more immediate intui- tion, we should be struck blind, and oppressed with its brightness. And highly it concerns us to know Him, because He is our Creator, Father, Benefactor, and Saviour — our Supreme Good, and Ultimate End ; from whom we re- ceive all we know, all we have, and all we hope for. By Him it is we expect a glorious and eternal being hereafter. And these. His excellencies, none can know and seriously consider, but it must create and excite in him (though a Heathen) a moral necessity of loving, adoring, imitating, and serving Him, by all those virtuous habits and capacities which may render him most like to the Divine Being, whom so to know is life eternal and consummate happiness. 126 THE TRUE RELIGION. SECTION II. OF ANGELS AND MINISTERING SPIRITS, I. THEIR NATURE. Come we to what is next in the order of beings, namely, Angels and Spirits, and to souls intellectual; all of them separate substances, different from matter, and objects of our senses; the nearest both in exist- ence and attributes, honour, and alliance to God, the first and most excellent of beings. We begin with Angels and Spirits, created and sent forth to attend on the God who created them,^ and to minister to His other works, especially to man, who is in the next rank of His creatures, and though inferior to the excellency of their nature, is no way so by the dignity of his relation, as we shall come to show, when we speak of the man, Christ Jesus, who took^ not the nature of angels on Him, but the seed of Abraham, and was and is Incar- nate God, Angels are Spirits, and immaterial substances, made to glorify God and perform His service, both in heaven, their mansions above, and in the inferior world. That such there are is not to^be denied. For, if whatever appears besides the nature of corporeal beings, be not the actions and effects of separate souls, it must of ne- cessity be of some other spirits, which did never animate bodies ; by the ancients called Intelligences, for their excellent knowledge ; creatures of a higher class and degree than those who have animated bodies, such as the souls of men. Nor is it to be doubted but that ^ Hebr., i., 14, « Hebr. ii., 16. THE TKUE KELIGION. 127 there are degrees in the rank of beings, which, border- ing on the extremes of some middle natures, compose that harmony in the Universe :^ showing that there are no abrupt and precipitant transitions from one extreme to another, but by sweet and intermediate degrees, as may be instanced in all the elements and things of nature. Thus, we find even some stones in a manner vegetable, and plants after a sort sensible, and, as it were, animal ; and some animals among the brutes ap- proaching very nearly to man himself, so extraordinary is their instinct, as to partake of reason; and among men, some are of those rare and incomparable endow- ments, as seem on the confines of Spirits. All of them participating of two natures, that above, and that be- neath, taking hands, as it were. And thus does Man stand between Body and Spirit ; Angels, between the souls and spirits of men, and some Being superior to their own nature, which is the God who created them. As there are, then, bodies without spirits, so are there certain Spirits without bodies, which, though not seen by outward eyes, are yet sufficiently manifest by their effects ; not like human s^uls, according to nature, but sometimes even contrary to it. Intellectual, pure, immaterial minds, who see and are not seen, hear and are not heard, feel, and are not perceived, rejoice, and are (haply) grieved with the sons of men, and in this come near our rational natures. They are not gene- ^ Atque his quidem gradibus, a prasstantissimus ad infima paulatim pervenit natura, ordinequp descendit. Max, Tyr. Diss. 14: DeDeo Soc. 128 THE TRUE RELIGION. rated, nor do tliey multiply, yet are innumerable. They die not, nor do they change, because their essence is indissipable, their substance incorporeal, as is evident by their penetrative faculty, endowed with wonderful strength, agility, knowledge, and vast experience. Great, yet not infinite ; powerful, not omnipotent ; intelligent, not omniscient; nor know they God's decrees, nor future contingencies, no, nor the thoughts of our hearts, nor of one another, farther than what is revealed ; nor, though exceedingly glorious, (I speak of the good angels, for there are also bad angels, who have lost some of these privileges) yet not so pure and transcend- ently bright, but that they veil their faces at His pre- sence, whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the meridian sun. That they discourse with one another is no doubt : how they do it, school-men are not agreed. The Apostle speaks of the tongue of angels,^ and in his rapt,2 that he heard things unutterable. They sang glory to God, and on earth peace, good-will, towards men, at our Saviour's birth. But by what organs, or intuition, rather, they converse, is too subtle for us to find : though that they do discourse, none, I think, do question. For had they not some way to understand one another, they should not have those perfections which are suitable to their natures. That they see and know all things in God, is but conjecture, nor is it much material to our subject ; whilst the curious may ' I. Cor., xiii., 1. 2 11. Cor., xii., 4. THE TRUE RELIGION. 129 consult the learned, who have largely handled this dif- ficulty.^ We have mentioned the probable opinion of interme- diate substances, not as anything new, or of Divine revelation; but as comparing superior with inferior things in mutual concatenation. Xor has this been un- thought of by not only Plato and his followers, but asserted by divers learned among the Christian writers.^ The Prince of the Peripatetics, Aristotle, speaks^ plainly of their several natures. But, as we are taught in Christian philosophy, the angels, having been educed out of nothing, are reducible to it again by the power which raised them, though, doubtless, that power shall never be put into act. In the mean time, and once for all, whenever we call God a Spirit, it is to signify by that name that He is no body, magnitude, or matter, but the Omnipotent Creator of both body and spirit, to do with them as He pleases, who is of a nature in- conceivably above all beings — a pure and simple act. And therefore angels, though sj)irits, are from that, and have many other defects, so infinitely short of the nature and essence of God, that albeit, in respect of man, they ^ Consult Aquinas ; Prosper Epist. ad Demet. ; and of the Fathers, Ambrose, Theodoret, Chrys., Horn. 22, &c. ^ M. Felix, Tertullian, Lactantius, &c. ^ As, firstly, things invisible, viz,, intelligences, of the upper rank. Secondly, things visible, viz., all the furniture of the aspectable world. Thirdly, substances participating of both : cer- tain incorporeal existences, perdurable and impassive principles, as to common mortality. VOL. I. K 130 THE TRUE RELIGION. ure truly spirits, in comparison of God, they may be paid to be but bodies. Whether these glorious creatures, refined as they are, are totally devoid of matter, has been so great a question, that Origen will have nothing to exist without it, save God alone ; and yet affirms not that angels are bodies, but in body ; nor does the great St. Augustine speak much otherwise, not to say Tertullian, who had so slender comprehension, how anything could be alto- gether incorporeal, as hardly to exempt the Deity itself. They generally held that, at the Resurrection, the Saints should be qualified as the bodies of angels, whilst the Sadducees would not admit of any substance between the Deity and sensible matter;^ and by consequence that none of the Prophets and holy men were divinely inspired, accounting their writings merely the produc- tions of human wisdom. II. OF THEIR NAME.' Of the name, dignity, office, and abode, something yet remains, as well as of their creation ; which most divines have assigned to the fourth day's work ; making them coevous with the eldest daughter of the Almighty fiat, Light, when all the sons of God shouted for joy, and the morning stars sung their Creator's hymn. Others deduce it (not improbably) some time before even the ' Thus Origen is said to have made the Deity corporeal, with the Anthropomorphites ; but it was a calumny, and is refuted in his book iTfpi dpx^v^ and in the eight contra Celsum. ' See Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. xi., c. 9 ; Psalm civ., 4 ; Col., i., 16. THE TRUE RELIGION. 181 Genesis of the world; but of this, opinions are so various, that to recite them would be tedious. The name, seldom or rarely used in Heathen authors till they conversed with Christians, includes its office, and has in sacred writings several acceptations ; some- times for created, sometimes for uncreated beings, espe- cially in the Old Testament, where we have not only the son of God, but the whole Trinity ^ entertained as angels; not to speak of such^ as have been sent to preach the Word of God, but of those who (as their names implied) have been despatched immediately from Heaven upon errands of high importance ; such as ap- peared to David, Daniel, the Blessed Yirgin, St. Peter, and other holy persons, commonly in the shape of young and beautiful men; seldom or never in hideous and brutish forms. For we speak not here of devils, who, though spirits of darkness, do often change themselves into angels of light, by God's permission. Of their nature, we have already spoken, where we have showed them to be intuitive spirits, immaterial, profoundly knowing, powerful, and Immortal, as void of all physical composition. The name and notion of in- telligences we have from Aristotle ; Daimones from their deep intuition, at least of natural things and their effects. In a word, (says Minutlus) Poetce^ sciunt phi- ^ Conf. Heb., xiii., 2 ; Gen., xviii., 3 ; xix., 2. * As the angels and bishops of the churches, Rev., i., 20. ' " Poets pretend to know, philosophers disagree, Socrates knew personally, and either shunned or sought things, at the beck and will of a Dairaon constantly attending him." k2 132 THE TRUE RELIGION. losophi differunt^ Socrates novit, qui ad nutum et arhi- trium assidentis sibi dmmonis^ vel declinahat negotia^ vel petehat. Wliilst every man was thought to have his tutelar, his good or bad angel : Hermes, of old, Lac- tantius,* and others, asserting the protection of one good spirit to the good, and that in no wise did an evil spirit attend the good man; and that it was a good spirit which so constantly accompanied Socrates, as in our times Cardan, and haply friend Boyle.^ III. DIGNITY. Touching the rank and dignity of this bright hierarchy, Dionysius makes three classes, and to every one as many. 1. Cherubim, seraphim, thrones; 2. Domina- tions, powers, virtues; 3. Principalities, archangels, angels. But of these, since none are certain from an uncertain and suspected author, we may suspend our belief, whilst we find not above four reckoned by the apostle;"^ and whether they signified different orders, St. Augustine * confesses himself to be ignorant. In the mean time, those of the seven first the Rabbins have named Oculos Dei, the eyes of God, from their extraordinary sagacity ; * and we argue a distinction ^ Lact. de Orig. Error. ^ For what the ancients held on this, the curious may consult Ilierocles, Max. Tyr., Proclus, Plotinus, Platonists, &c. » Col. i., 16; Eph., i., 21. * S. Aug. in Enchir : " Fateor me ista ignorare." 6 Conf. Gen. iii., 24: Isaiah, vi., 2; 1 Thess., iv., 16; Rom., viii., 38 ; I. Cor., xv., 40. THE TKUE RELIGION. 133 from that expression, "above all principality, ^^^ &c., taken, doubtless, from the names of dignities of the Persian empire, accommodated to their degrees. IV. ABODE. As to their abode, being spirits, it is imcircumscribed. Philo places not only Evil, but the Blessed Spirits, among the elements. There are, says he, in the aer an holy company of unbodied souls, called angels, not con- fined to any definite place, filling sometimes a larger, sometimes a lesser space ; nothing remaining empty which God has made. And some of these they will have of a fiery, others of aerial substance ; and have, accordingly the names of cherubim, seraphim, &c., fitted to their ministry of governing orbs, constellations, ele- ments, kingdoms, plants, animals, especially man, by those Beoii TraSias Koi (pikovs, the SOUS and friends of God, as Maximus Tyrius calls them. They attributed the fierce and fiery nature to the archangel Michael; to Gabriel the watery, as the more gentle and benign. That the first flies with but one wing, slowly, the other with both, to note God's unwillingness to punish, and readiness to pardon. These are rabbinical fancies : whilst the Gnostics held that most diseases were infernal spi- rits, and only curable by charms, and incantations, and downright blows ; for so, we are told,^ ApoUonius Thy- angeus caused a miserable old beggar to be stoned to death, at Ephesus, persuaded by that impudent im- postor that the poor creature was the demon who 1 Eph., i., 21. 2 PhUod. Vit. ApoU. 134 THE TRUE RELIGION. acattered the plague about that famous city, then in- fected with it. Indeed, two learned physicians, Sen- nertus and Fernelius,^ believed they acted on human bodies, especially in lunacies, agues, and the falling sickness, and that they might be of different species, according to their operations and assignments; some appointed to protect, others to chastise. For it was not from the Jews only that every man had his guardian, as we showed the universal belief. And we have it from our Blessed Lord,^ that even children had them, too. Satan could apply a text of Scripture to the same sense, though with malicious purpose, when he would have had our Saviour precipitate Himself from a pin- nacle of the Temple, upon that presumption. V. OFFICE. Doubtless, their office is to stand before the throne, singing Tris-hagion — Thrice-Holy — to their glorious Maker, Head, and Establisher, the Holy Jesus. So to execute His commands, they pitch their tents about us ; they are a wall of fire around us ; they ascend and de- scend continually for us, either to carry up our prayers to God, or bring down blessings from Him ; and with unseen but efficacious help defend us from innumerable mischiefs. By these was Hagar comforted, Abraham directed, Isaac saved from sacrifice, Jacob conducted. ^ [Daniel Sennertus introduced the study of chemistry into the university of Wittenberg, (A.D. 1598) held that the souls of brutes were not material. — John Fernelius, Physician to Henry II., King of France, born towards the close of the fifteenth century.] ^ St. Matt., xviii., 10. THE TRUE EELIGION. 185 By these was Lot rescued from the conflagration of filthy Sodom ; by these were the children of Israel de- livered out of Egypt; Elias protected; Sennacherib's mighty host slain. By these He protects whole empires, withstands false prophets, guards our persons, delivers out of prisons. They repel the rage of fire ; they shut the mouths of lions ; warn us of dangers ; guide us in our ways ; are witnesses of our actions ; contribute to and rejoice at our conversion ; and do us a thousand good ofiices. What shall I say more, O, Blessed Spirits ! For the time would fail to mention and to celebrate the services we receive from you, who desert us not in perils, nor forsake us in death itself, transferring our souls into Abraham's bosom. Happy, thrice happy spirits, ambassadors of the happiest message that was ever brought from Heaven to earth, " Glory to God on high, on earth peace, good will towards men ;" when ye came with those blessed tidings, " Behold a Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name EmmanueW'' which, being interpreted, is, God with us ; and if God be with us, who can be against us ? or if any be, who can hurt us ? Hail, then, all hail, ye glorious beings, angels of light and bliss, who, persisting in your original perfection and unstained loyalty, have been ever faithful to your King ; who, always beholding His resplendent face, de- light to do His will ; who, wrestling with us for bles- sings, suffer yourselves to be overcome ;^ who descending ^ See Gen., xix., 16 — xxxii. 1 ; Ps. xci., 11, 12; S. Luke, xvi., 22— XV., 7; Heb., i., 14; S. John, v., 4. 136 THE TRUE RELIGION. into the troubled waters, render them salutary, and make all our affections conformable. With infinite satisfaction do you behold us poor creatures strive to imitate your obedience, and, for the love ye bear to the honour of our common Creator, cheerfully submit to the meanest charge, taking even little children into your protection. Celestial courtiers. Divine heralds, how are we obliged to you! You annunciated that sweet name ; you ministered to the fainting Saviour in the Wilderness ; you comforted the agonizing Jesus in the garden; you proclaimed the Resurrection; you carry our souls into rest, and shall, at the Last Day, gather our scattered dust from the four corners of the earth;* when the trumpet shall sound, and the graves shall open, and the dead arise, and the voice of the Archangel shall be heard to sing " Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory ! To Thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens, and all the powers therein: to Thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry," and we Thy poor creatures with them, under their feet. They to praise and glorify Thee for Thy glory and benefits : we to adore and pray unto Thee for ourselves, that we, their fellow-servants, may be happy with them, behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and worship in His Holy Temple. They are present, says St. Ber- nard, non modo tecum sed etiam pro te, not only with Thee, but for Thee ; delegated and sent forth to take care of such as shall be heirs of salvation ; intimated by * I. Thess., iv., 14-16; Ps. cxlviii., 2. THE TRUE RELIGION. . 1,S7 their ascending and descending on Jacob's ladder, to denote the continual Providence of God. But what the Almighty's especial vigilance is over the greater societies of men, kingdoms, and common- wealths, yea, and over whole nature, rolling the wheels of their destiny, see (amongst others) Clemens, Alex- andrinus, Tertullian,^ and Origen.^ In short, so con- stantly were they employed, that the ancient Jews affirmed that God never spake to mortals (Moses only excepted) but by the voice of angels. Not that God employs these powerful ministers, as if the government of the world were a molestation, or any drudgery to His omnipotent and omnipresent nature; but for the glory of His majesty, and to communicate to His crea- tures of His goodness and bounty, by intermediate beings, who continually behold His face, contemplate and adore those perfections, which he diffuses on us by them. Not to multiply beings, therefore; that there are such beings and spirits we nothing doubt, seeing none of those other beings among the creatures are able to effect any thing of great and illustrious, but what con- cerns the body and the preservation of themselves. They know not many things belonging to their own in- terior functions, involuntary actions, and the like, (I speak here of man, the nearest in knowledge and per- fection to angels) much less can they command the elements, inflict diseases, change the seasons, and by unseen hands protect their friends, or shield themselves ^ TertuU. de Baptis. ^ Orig. Horn., 82, in Gen. 138 THE TRUE RELIGION. from a thousand accidents. Nothing but some supreme virtue, above all matter, and of a higher orb, could do any thing of this ; though, when all is done, they can do no more than is given them from some being superior even to them, who in respect to Him are as nothing. Something or other is deficient in all beings to make them perfect : therefore, there is a being above them, consummate, and wanting nothing. All numbers com- mence at one — all effects proceed from One, who is the prime and first cause, the spring and fountain of all other subordinate causes and effects, and has therefore right to command and govern all, both angels and men. But, further, as to the natures of these immortal spirits. The angels were all, at first, created good; but some there were who persisted not in their original state. So as all of them had need of grace to preserve them from defection ; and this they had, not from their nature, which we see was lapsable, but from the grace and favour of God, who, foreseeing their perseverance, elected them in Christ,^ whom he constituted to be the head and mediator, both of angels and men : and by whom they are now confirmed, so as never to fall from this grace, or lose their innocence. Before, it was pos- sible they might have done this, having nothing to compel their will, which was free and unconstrained. I know there are who dispute this, as if this confirmation of their liberty to persist in goodness were a diminution of it ; that the angels merited this happiness. But this ^ Coloss., i., 16-20. THE TRUE RELIGION. lo9 reward preceding their obedience, takes oiF all objec- tions.^ Of these, that is some (from among the whole host of immaterial spirits) persisting not in their original per- fection, but abusing their excellent faculties, were cast down from their lofty habitations. But upon what oc- casion, is not so clearly manifest, nor is it absolutely necessary we should know. Some think it was for malice, that God should exalt the nature of man in Christ above them ; but their lapse being before that of man, this could not be it. Others, that they sinned against the Holy Ghost ; others for disobedience to some certain law peculiar to them, and the like :^ while the Scriptures seem rather to show us it was their pride and ambition,^ whether in thought, or act, or both, arrogantly affecting the throne of the Most Highest. Nor was this conspiracy of a few, but of innumerable, who enjoyed, perhaps, their happy state long before this apostacy; nay, and might persist in a course of dis- obedience and impiety. For, indeed, the lapsed angels could not be tempted to evil by any above themselves, and therefore was their deflection merely from themselves. It is likely they beheld their natures to be so glorious, so powerful, sublime, knowing, and perfect, that, priding themselves in their own accomplishments and combined strength, they would now no longer depend on their Creator, but envying His omnipotence, made some effort to de- ^ Thorn. Scotus. ^ Gen., iii., 5 ; S. Matt., iv., 9. 3 I. Tim., iii., 6. See St Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. xi., c. 14. 140 THE TRUE RELIGION. throne the Almighty. For this ingratitude they were precipitated into the burning lake,^ confined to their dismal prisons, and bound in chains of darkness. ^ And that these were not a few, nor of the inferior ranks, we conjecture from the various names of them we find in Scripture: Beelzehuh, their Prince, Satan, the Devil, the accuser of the brethren. Prince of the World, gods and princes of the age ; the Roaring Lion ; the Great Dragon, the Serpent, Abaddon, ApoUyon, Murderer from the beginning, &c. Of another class are the Demons, Rulers of Darkness, spirits of wickedness, the Tempter, all of them names expressing their nature and monstrous pravity. And as the corruption of the best is always the worst, so these, from the most pure, pious, and excellent, became the most unclean, impious, and execrably wicked. The Manicheans, indeed, held that some angels were created evil, and some of the school- men, that they fell of necessity, from that text before quoted, which says that the devil was a murderer from the beginning; 3 but which by no means signifies to that sense, but to the beginning of man's being in the world, not to the creation of angels. Their not stand- ing in their integrity plainly intimating that they were once in it, and stood unshaken for a time. But, though they lost their happy station, and many other perfec- tions, yet did they not their essence, power, and natural faculties altogether ; that they might be God's execu- tioners, to revenge himself upon the wickedness of men, ^ S. Luke, X., 18 ; H. Pet., ii., 4. ^ g^ j^j^^ g^ " St. John, viii., 44. THE TEUE RELIGION. 141 who follow their example, and for trial of good men, who resist the devil's temptations, and live uprightly. In the mean time, this power of theirs, though very great in the inferior world, where they are sometimes permitted to range and roar about, is so limited, that they cannot so much as enter into a herd of swine, nor create the most despicable vermin, without the express permission of Almighty God, much less do mischief to any man, without His leave. ^ A se ipso, says Gregory, lihidinem nocendi habet^ sed a Domino potestatem.^ The miracles which he seems to do, are lying ones, wonders, not true miracles. He may effect some things besides the order of some particular nature, through his great experience and knowledge of actives and passives, but nothing besides the order of universal nature, established in the Creation. He has, indeed, craft to seduce; is the father of lies and calumnies ; exerts his malice, and seeks, with all his might, to bring men into the same condemnation ; and, since he cannot invade the throne of God, levels all his spite against his creatures, and would confound the whole Creation at once, were it in his power. 3 And, therefore, that he may provoke God against mankind, he sets upon us with all his arts and stratagems, injecting the horridest suggestions, blinding men's eyes, enkindling lusts, provoking to wrath, mur- ders, theft, and all manner of abominations leading to » Job., 1. * " Of himself he hath the desire to harm us, but from God the power." ^ Eev., xii., 9. 142 THE TRUE RELIGION. perdition. Being themselves without hope, they would drive all others to despair, employing all their force and serpentine craft, by temptations to pride, ambition, re- venge and hypocrisy, sins which cast themselves out of heaven, deceiving the world with their impudent oracles, false prophets, impostures, and abominable idol- atry. He exerts his devilish power by sometimes in- flicting diseases, poisoning the air, raising tempests, subverting and submerging houses, cities, and whole countries — blasting the fruits and product of the earth ; and sometimes, again, for his ends, may, perhaps, by his magic spells, and to create an opinion in men of his power and virtue, prescribe a healing medicine, direct to hidden treasure, or take it from another man, to en- rich his worshipper; nay, tell some truths, not for truth's sake, but to gain himself credit, when he tells a lie.^ For so he can change himself into the shape of an angel of light, exquisitely qualified to do mischief either way ; nor this in vain, from the fruit of his first fatal and crafty suggestions, ruining (as far as in him lay) the whole race of mankind, and having been the author of all those evils and calamities the world has groaned under ever since. The effects of these insinuations have created an opinion in some men, that the nature of these spirits is not altogether immaterial, but that there are an inferior sort, who, though they lived many ages, did in tract of time decay and cease. Famous, we know, is the story of the dead Pan, about the time of the silence of the 1 II. Cor., xi., 14. THE TRUE RELIGION. 143 Delphic oracle :^ and some from that text in Jude, men- tioning the " first estate " which the angels lost, fancy that with it they also lost their celestial natures, as well as habitations; and becoming more incrassated, were thereby passible, obnoxious to a kind of disso- lution, and penetrable by that fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Thus being between mortal and immortal, they held that they enticed men, stirring up the humours of the body, the irascible and concupiscible appetites, to pervert their morals ; the vices of the mind following the constitution of the body, where grace and the special goodness of God does not prevent it. We have showed how they seduced the world by their pretended oracles, uttering voices and dark re- sponses, by their enthusiast priestesses and Tripods; sometimes by the entrails of animals, the flight of birds, &c. These were the lemures, satyrs, elfs, lares, nymphs, the manes and inferige of the seduced Pagan world, and who were to be appeased by bloody and beastly sacri fices. Such the Empusw,^ that of old appeared at ^ [Plutarch relates this story (llepi ratv eKkeXonroTcov XPV^'O- The substance of it is as follows : An Egyptian pilot, passing the Echinades Islands, was hailed by a voice from the shore, bidding him announce the death of the mighty Pan, at Palodes : and on his uttering the words, as commanded, a prodigious groaning was heard. Demetrius also states that the inhabitants of one of the small islands off Britain told him (about the same time) that great commotion of the elements, pestilence, &c., was occasioned by the death of mighty spirits, whose existence, like a burning lamp, gave no annoyance, but their extinction much.] ^ ^EfiTTova-a, a horrible spectre, that changes its shape every mo- ment. See Aristoph. Ranae., 290. 144 THE TRUE RELIGION. funeral obsequies, as Suidas mentions; their hellish pranks attested by innumerable instances out of profane histories of undoubted credit. Of this sort might be the spectre at the Rubicon, Caesar hesitating that tra- jection; and also what appeared to Brutus the night before his being slain, with other prestigious feats of sorcerers in all ages, assisted, as those deluded creatures are, by those accursed spirits' insight into the secrets and power of matter and natural things ; which they abuse in contempt of God, striving to erect a kingdom here, and affecting to be served as gods on earth, who have been cast from Heaven. Desperate and hardened are they against all that is good, nor capable of repent- ance, because (as we have said) they had full liberty to have stood, vast experience to have known, and, in their intuition, had all that was to happen, before their eyes ; whereas, man, whom they maliciously drew into the crime, knew only by degrees, is frail by nature, nor of so peremptory and determined will. These are the spirits Euripides,^ (from what tradition is obscure) calls ovpavoTr^rels, that fell from Heaven ; and which Pherecydes, the Syrian, names a generation of serpents. Verily, Trismegistus and Hierocles speak extremely to the sense of Holy Scripture about the lapse of man. Nor is it to be slighted what we read of the Persians, observing an anniversary holy-day, to ' [Empedocles? Plutarch, speakingof the restlessness of debtors, says — TrXd^ovrai KadaTrep oi ovpavoTTfTels tov E/xTTf 8n/tXeouy 8atp.ov€S — "they roam about like those spirits of Empedocles, /cr//ew /rom Heaven J'*'} THE TRUE RELIGION. 145 humble and afflict themselves for the death and destruc- tion of vice ; wherein the remarkable ceremony was the killing of serpents, in which figure, it seems, the devil had frequently appeared amongst them. And at this present time, most of the idols and prodigious statues of both the Indian and Chinese temples are repre- sented in the shapes of dreadful serpents and winged dragons. Now, though we never read of any good angel putting on the shape of beast, or other deformed creature, yet God Almighty Himself (the Second Person in the Sacred Trinity) did sometimes honour angels and an- gelic men (those lineaments of Deity, as some have styled it) in human forms, and as such were worshipped by Abraham, Jacob, Manoah, Gideon, David, and others, before the Incarnation. But when the na- ture of man was indeed exalted in Christ, who was constituted the Lord of Angels, they then became our fellow-servants, and we are forbid their adoration.^ Now, in whatever dismal recesses these unhappy spirits properly dwell, we know it is no longer in Heaven. Doubtless, in some caliginous receptacles, detained in chains of darkness, though sometimes loosed, under per- petual check. Some will have them banished into the northern mists and foggy regions of either pole, from that expression in St. Peter :^ others condemn them to the centre of the earth, and, if not there, to the vortices and prisons of Hell itself, near its confines, expecting with trembling their last and dreadful doom. Whilst ' Col., ii., 18. ^ II. Pet., ii., 4. VOL. 1. L 146 THE TRUE RELIGION. the Scripture styles them Princes of the Air, to be per- haps hereafter totally deprived of light, when the sun shall be darkened, and time shall be no more. In a word, somewhere without that Divine influence, that joy and light they once possessed. For where God's presence is not, there is Hell, and consummate misery. We have shown how the good angels encamp about us, and that their office is to protect his creatures. Origen supposes that God acts to the interior dispo- sition of man, and forms His decrees as He foresees he will use the freedom of his wilL To such a one, (says he) namely, to one who resolves constantly to proceed in the paths of virtue, He sends a guardian angel to co-operate and be always with him ; and to one who yet lives better He appoints an angel of a superior order, for his attendant ; but takes away this aid from those w^ho, having begun to live a holy life, fall back from their integrity. AVTiat the number of angels may be is uncertain.^ But that there are many, nay, multitudes, is indis- putable. They encamped about Jacob,^ and were a flery army against the Syrians. ^ Daniel saw thousand thousands ministering before the ancient of days."* And as their number is great, so neither is less their power. Consider we but what they did, not only in the camps we spake of, but the mortal slaughter of the Egyptian First-bom,* the seventy thousand slain for David's * See Euseb. Praep. Evang., Kb. vii., c. 4. ' Gen., xxxii., 2. • ' 2 Kings, vii., 6 — xix., 35. * Dan., vii., 11. ^ Exod., xii., 29. THE TRUE RELIGION. 147 pride. ^ But though the evil angels are thus strong, and so malicious — though the devil be come down, having great indignation, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time, and therefore denounces per- petual hostility to the seed of the woman which bruised his head — yet is there a power above him, at the thought of whom the devils tremble,^ and to whose iron sceptre they all submit; so that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,' nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to hurt those who flee to God for succour, who has promised not to suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will also with the temptation make a way to escape.* And if evil angels beset us, the angels of the Lord encompass round about them that fear Him, and deliver them. For the chariots of Grod are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels ; and more are they who are for us than those who are against us. The use we are, then, to make of this, will lead us to the contemplation of that Infinite Being, whose minis- tering spirits these angels are. Secondly, that since such glorious and mighty spirits fell, we take not only heed to our footsteps, but praise our gracious Maker, who, when we fall, lifts us up again, so we fall uot pre- sumptuously and finally. Thirdly, that since they pro- tect and serve us with such readiness, who are so much ^ Sam., xxiv. ^ S. James, ii., 19. ^ Col., ii., 15 ; Rom., viii., 38, 39 ; Heb., ii., viii. * I. Cor., X., 13. L 2 148 THE TRUE RELIGION. inferior to them, we as cheerfully serve and assist one another. Lastly, that, considering the malice of Satan, our own frailty, the presence of so great a God, who spies out all our thoughts, as well as actions, instead of re- joicing the holy angels at our conversion, we grieve them not by our perversion ; which that we may always remember, let us take the advice of a holy person,^ In omni loco^ in omni angulo, reterentiam exhibe tuo angelo ; neque ills prwsente facias^ quod me prwsente eruhesces.^ Revere thyself, and put on the navoTrXiav, the whole armour of the Apostle, that we may be able to resist, yea, and overcome him. He flies at all, nor spared he our Blessed Lord. Nor is it sin to be tempted, but not to resist it, is the fault. To suffer temptation is indeed a misery ; but to set upon its mortification, an occasion of virtue. In a word, not to be tempted happens to none alive. Freedom from temptation has in it more safety, but less honour, if we resist, and from such he flie8.8 SECTION III. OF THE INTELLECTUAL SOUL. We have already spoken so copiously on this subject, that the soul and thinking part of man is not contradis- tinct, but absolutely diverse, from that of other animals, * S. Bernard. * "In every place, in every comer, show reverence to thy angel, and do nothing in his presence, that would shame you in mine." ' He that would see more concerning angels, their Establish- ment and Fall, may read the 11th and 12th books of St. Aug. De Civ. Dei. THE TRUE RELIGION. 149 or material principles, and that there is such a peculiar substance belonging to man alone, that we shall not need farther to enlarge upon it, than briefly to set down what does chiefly occur concerning its original and pro- duction, with a short repetition of some arguments for- merly touched. A learned Father ^ was of opinion, that all the souls which were ever put into bodies were created at once and altogether from the beginning, and ever since re- served in store by God, to be from time to time (in their turns) infused into them, as man's production and successive matter require. The Egyptians, and from them Pythagoras, held that, there being only such a definite number of souls created, they transmigrated into other bodies of men, or other animals, when any body died. A third sort would have the soul of man (as of other living creatures) to be propagated by the seminal tra- duction of the natural parents successively, from the first person and womb that ever conceived : this virtue, nevertheless, to be first ex nihilo created and infused. And lastly, (with St. Augustine) others, especially the modern divines, that this intellectual particle was not only so created, and infused in our first parents, and so transmitted, but by an every-day's, yea, every moment's new creation and infusion, was immediately, divinely, and miraculously poured into each individual concep- tion, which came to life and animal motion. Indeed, the two first of these have been generally ^ Origen. 150 THE TRUE RELIGION. exploded, and therefore deserve not to be insisted upon ; the two latter warmly controverted, and, for aught I can perceive, with no unequal probability. In the mean time, that man consisted of three parts, or prin- ciples,^ spirit, soul, and body, St. Paul has somewhere not obscurely intimated ; or, as Plotinus, vovs, the mind only was attributed to man, as immediately infused — as created de novo and ea; nihilo, upon every quickened conception ; or, as others taught, seminally traduced by the parents ; whilst the two other were common to ua and brutes. Nor doubt we but that body is the pro- duct of body, together with the animal soul and life, consisting of a subtile, ethereal spirit, or flammula, whose centre is the heart and vehicle the blood ; dis- persed through the whole body by innumerable pas- sages, to give it life and motion, and which, through its exceeding volatility, as it exhausts itself, is continually supplied and repaired again by constant aliment, elabo- rated in proper vessels and divers circulations ; whereby the animal life is maintained, (as the flame of a lamp by the supplies of oil) and all the faculties belonging to a sensitive creature kept in motion. But this by the way ; for it is not here we intend to dilate upon the mere animal life, but that intellectual principle which does, somewhere or other, reside in man alone. That it is diffused, and takes up the entire body, has been the wrangle and altercation of those who have confounded all the world with their inextricable jargon ^ 1 Thess., v., 23 ; Genes., ii., 7; Eccles., xii., 7; Job, xxxi., 15 — xxxiii., 4; Isai., xxix., 24; Zech., xii., 1 ; Acts, xvii., 25. THE TRUE RELIGION. 151 and definitions. If, indeed, we did judge and reason at the extremities of our fingers or toes, or, that any other remote and external member being cut off, the intellect were prejudiced, there were some appearance for the assertion : but, so long as the more noble organs remain untouched, it proves otherwise. Why, then, should it be rather assigned to the sensible and tactile faculty, where the understanding does not at all exert itselfj than where it so conspicuously does, and from whence it universally irradiates all the rest, namely, from the head? Nor yet, as confined, but as the Sun in the Firmament ; ^ not, I say, in loco, but huhitudine, as logicians speak ; nor as in brutes, co-extended with the body, so as but part in a part, the whole in the whole, but as impartible — all in every part — filling the recep- tacle, yet taking up no place of it ; nor as co-augment- ing with the growth of the body, only beginning there to be, where before she was not, and ceasing to be where she lately was. So that, of all created beings, she alone is the most resplendent mirror, image, and epitome of her Creator, since, as God, she is invisible ; as God, a spirit, though not such a spirit : she fills the body, or microcosm, as He the universe ; neither occu- pying place, nor being comprehended by place, whilst she is yet All in every place. And thus, when a new creature is produced, then God begins to be ; yet with- out local motion to facilitate his admission ; and when that ceases to be, God neither ceases, nor is diminished, but only ceases to be there, without change of place. ^ See Lactant. De Opif. Dei, cap. 16. 162 THE TRUE RELIGION. In these, indeed, God and the intellectual soul seem to agree, but in Him with infinite more eminency, since the Almighty governs and disposes of the Soul, as the Soul does of the Body; which yet she cannot do, were she not the form which denominates the man, whilst God is not made the soul or form of anything He pro- duces ; or as if of Him, and all that He has made, any third substance should emerge, who is the Universal All, Omnipotent, Intellectual, moderating, disposing, and moving all, without being moved at all. And, whilst the human Soul is properly but in the living and animate organs, God is all in all things absolutely, and that not in bodies alone, but in spirits. Nor does any thing exclude Him : for where He is not, nothing can be. The Soul is, then, so in the body, as she serves herself of the body, to perform her functions ; whilst yirtually, essentially, and communicatively, she is in the whole and in every part, but more eminently in the superior part, as is evident from the notorious interrup- tion of her intellectual operations, when the head or brain is vitiated : not that the Workman has lost skill, but because his tools and instruments are broken or dull, he cannot use them to any effect: nor that the Soul were subject to the head or brain alone, or to any other particular residence ; but for the reasons pro- duced. Their assigning its place to be the pineal glan- dule is nothing but a conjecture, because anatomists know not perhaps what other use to put it to, since the same is found in the head of beasts as well as in man's. — - The human soul is, therefore, a substance altogether THE TRUE RELIGION. 153 independent of the body, or any part of it ; and conse- quently, as a spirit, needs no such organ for its domi- cile. Though she makes use of all, she dwells in none, but as she adoperates and serves herself of the body and its more eminent parts,* where the reason and in- tellectual powers are, as it were, set on a watch-tower, from whence she speculates, sends out her parties and emissary senses, to discover and make report of what they find ; in a word, all forms and motions, upon whose relations she proceeds to judge and determine freely ; which, if more apparently from the head, is by rea- son of its being the principal mansion, where the sen- sible species and ideas make their deepest impressions : not after the manner of corporeal impulses, (a certain recognition of the impulse) but rather a spiritual intui- tion, the Soul herself moving and perceiving, and not the body properly, which is all this while but a dead piece of organized matter, and no more ; tuned, indeed, and fitted with strings, but making no harmony without this skilful artist. The Soul exercises, indeed, her functions more conspicuously in the head; and it is also for its structure and eminence the more adapted instrument, nay, the Basilick, where the Great Creator seems chiefly to have seated her, and from which the intellectual operations issue and discover their eiFects. For, though we perceive and feel our other parts affected by the several passions, still the perturbation sensibly proceeds from the head, where the fancy and will follow the dictates of the practical intellect. * 1. eV uKpc^ra (ra)/ian. 154 THE TRUE RELIGION. Now, since everything in Nature requires place, and a dwelling to reside in, and that spirits, and (as we have showed) even angels, both immaterial, cannot move beyond the universal body of matter, which is doubtless their place — this Soul of ours, one would think, should not be destitute of some figure and dimen- sion, too. But of this we have no measures. Its nature and excellencies so transcend our deepest inquiry as to this particular, that we quite lose ourselves, and our conceptions vanish into figures and analogies, when we would describe it. It is enough we are assured that, whilst the Soul comprehends the Body, she her- self is incomprehensible. Wherefore, though we assign her place, and cannot but believe her moveable too in time, we prescribe no limits, set her no bounds, nor can we effigiate or draw the profile. He, He only, who formed her, can describe her, and to Him we submis- sively resign this impervestigable research: so true is that of an excellent poet:^ — -Divinum est opus Animam creare, proximum huic ostendere. Nor with less difiiculty shall we be able so much as to conceive the manner of the Soul's act of understand- ing — that an incorporeal substance should produce a corporeal intellect, or, mce versa, how from corporeal ideas there should result incorporeal perception; un- ^ [Dr. Bathurst, a friend of the Author's, Dean of Wells, and President of Trin. Coll., Oxford. See his " Life and Literary Remains," by Thomas Warton.] THE TRUE RELIGION. 155 less, with some of the Fathers, we allowed her to be of such a contexture as were indissoluble, without being totally incorporeal ; at least, of some middle nature, apt to connect the animal soul without local mixture ; like the union of steel and magnet : I say, to conceive how she should act without some such concession, is hard. For, though the soul may possibly exist without cor- poreal organs, and perform some actions of life, yet, being so adjusted to the body as she is, though she may comprehend and contemplate intellectual notions and reflect upon herself — nay, as a kind of Hypostatic self- existent Ens, or being, subsist, as she acts in sleep (which is the image of death) — how she should locally move, see, and hear, and exercise other senses, without the instruments of those senses, increases the admira- tion. That the soul was not, therefore, of altogether so metaphysical a nature, was the opinion of many great and holy men, besides philosophers ; for such were S. Athanasius, Origen, TertuUian, Damascene, S. Basil, S. Jerome, and divers others; but intending, I sup- pose, the pure and simple essence of God, to which all other substances are but thick and gross, in compari- son; and then, it was also to encounter the Gnostics and Manichees, Priscilianists, and other heretics, who held the human soul to be a part of the Deity itself, even as to its very substance, which is, we know, the only unconfined infinite and (ab origine) incommuni- cable Eternal Existence. But to solve these difficulties, of communicating her operations so uncontrollably through such inactive mat- 156 THE TRUE RELIGION. ter as she dally passes, some have attempted to fix her delicate substance in the fancy, and her ideas, without any commerce with the lower functions; and so to speculate those ideas, as to produce other ideas and images more sublime, consonant to the acts of the un- derstanding, the will remaining free. Indeed, this con- cession would solve a mighty difficulty, were it as intelligible as it is the contrary : or that they could tell us how to unite an unelementated substance with cor- poreal matter, how diluted and defecated soever, airy, or fiery; since still it is a mixture of things incom- patible. 'Wherefore, the Cartesians are resolved to admit of no substantial life anywhere, save in matter, making the intellectual and rational soul but a sublimer modifica- tion of it ; and that men differ from brute animals only in the more curious organization, the use of speech, and the like ; but do not in the least satisfy us how thought, which is altogether incorporeal, and often conversant with spirits, and metaphysical notions that have no manner of relation to matter, should be produced by it. If any life or thought may be thus factitious and gene- rable, out of lifeless matter, so may everything else in nature; which to affirm, were both nonsense and Atheism. Indeed, the material soul does likely give that motion and activity to the engine body by sensation from the external stroke — motion from the internal impulse of objects, as we have showed : but how it comes to per- form not only such actions as are of custom and purely THE TRUE RELIGION. 157 necessary, but also to discern others more difficult and progressive, and notions never derived from our senses, does utterly exceed the capacity of matter, however modified or refined ; namely, that life and sense, under- standing and reason, should be merely local motion! Wherefore, both Aristotle and Anaxagoras, finding themselves at a loss about this mechanic fabric, (how- ever fortunate the modern wits fancy themselves, and brag of what feats they can do with their puppet) were glad, it seems, to call in a mental cause to their aid ; which is more than these gentlemen will allow and con- descend to, after their machine has received its first im- pression of motion; whilst we have sufficiently made appear, that no body or magnitude could ever possibly move itself, but by the motion of some other agent ; and therefore some other substance there is, which is not body : and to say that anything of this nature is effiscted by forms or qualities, is a mark of great stu- pidity. Were the intellectual soul a material substance, sensible and material things would improve it, which it is plain they do not. Men can speculate with shut eyes, and that more profoundly ; and all material facul- ties and conversation with sensual objects quite lose their energy by their vehemency, whilst the intellectual soul becomes more vigorous and enlarged, and can, and often does, resist corporeal pleasure ; this she would not do, were she herself corporeal. She is the same in sickness as in health ; nor does age impair her, because there are in her no repugnant principles. 158 THE TEUE RELIGION. We have abundantly showed that, though the human Boul be lodged in human bodies, which receive life, animal motion, growth, and activity from the animal life, yet this life is not capable of excogitation, or of di- verting and improving any act or science, how old by experience soever; nor can it deliberate, judge, and determine rationally of things above the possibility of sensual objects, common to us with brutes, who are only concerned about things present, and such as belong to the maintenance of the body, its nutriment, propaga- tion, preservation, and pleasure. And, though amongst some of them there may be found certain offers and ap- proaches to reason, as in horses, elephants, foxes, dogs, &c., yet they are but misty, obscure, and imperfect strictures of it, and are still the same, nor advance they farther than to instinct and repetition. We have showed that, in all other creatures living, the sense and appetite govern the body ; whereas, the soul of man governs both the body and its senses, and often contradicts and resists them both ; and that some^ times even to death itself and cruel torments; and upon occasion rectifies the mistakes and hallucinations they are obnoxious to. So unlike are the sentiments of these two principles, the operations of the mind, and those of the body, that there is no proportion between them : for were their perfections any way propagable by nature, one wise man would always beget another wise man, which very seldom they do : Solomon begat a fool, and some fools have been the fathers of wise and illustrious persons. We have also made it evident, how THE TRUE EELIGION. 159 the intellectual Soul is conversant about things totally separate from sense and matter — speculates things in- visible and abstracted — understands the nature of affec- tions, of numbers, and mathematical figures — penetrates into causes and effects — and is capable of taking into its contemplation the whole aspectable world, passing in a moment from pole to pole, and diving into the profoundest abysses. Brutes have sense, and memory, and fancy, in weak degrees, and are susceptible of divers passions and affections, as well as men; but comprehend nothing above matter, and what is immediately before them. They can be taught to imitate some particular things, but they know not why, nor what they do, much less have they any notions of religion, or the moral virtues, nor know they any thing of spiritual and infinite, be- cause all material operations are confined and limited, and rise no higher than the spring of matter. Where- fore, the intellectual Soul is a substance so transcend- ently pure and sublime, as can proceed from none but God, who created it; but whether immediately pro- duced, without any progenial traduction or radiation, as Tertulhan, ApoUinaris, and others hold, and many still assert, with no contemptible arguments, is, as we said, the dispute. St. Augustine and his followers were for a perpetual creation and instantaneous efiyJAvxcoo-is, or animation^ by way of infusion : whilst those of the school of Plato sup- plied it out of a pre-existent magazine, immortal and sepa- rate from body; fancying that the species of all things 1 60 THE TRUE RELIGION. in nature were concreated together with our souls, which, after their descent, (no more remembering what they did or where they passed their time before they came into bodies) learn arid agitate here, by degrees, not as fresh and new notions never known before, but as things recovered by way of reminiscence and recollec- tion, as the bodily organs grow more vigorous and capable. It seems, by this conceit, as if some heinous guilt, contracted in a former state, were by this to be expiated; seeing, if in their new mansions and province they had governed wisely and better, they were in time to be delivered from their Ergastulum,^ and restored to their pristine happiness. Nor was it only the opinion of the Platonists and Academics, lamblicus, Plotinus, and their Disciples, but of the great Hermes, and even Aris- totle himself; of the Pythagoreans, and many of the Jewish Rabbies : established on that of Wisdom,^ "For I was a witty child, and had a good spirit. Yea, rather, being good, I came into a body defiled. "^ And there- upon they have condemned some to do their penance in despicable insects, as well as in the greater and more generous animals, nay, in trees and plants, exposed to wind and weather, and even reduced some of them to annihilation. Nor was it, I say, the notion of these ^ " House of Correction.'* * Wisd., viii., 19, 20. ' Eram puer bonam indolem sortitus, immo bonus cum essem, corpus contaminatum reperi. [Some editions of the vulgate read incoinquinatunij which is followed in the authorized version.] THE TRUE RELIGION. 161 alone, but of divers christians likewise, and amongst tlie Fathers, Origen,^ against which St. Augustine some- where declaims; and it sounds prettily indeed in alle- gory, and would better pass, did we not by daily expe- rience find how unwilling this imprisoned soul of ours is to depart and leave its confinement, as punitive and miserable as they pretended it to be. It is on this account, they tell us, how this noble and divine substance finds herself distressed, at her first descent into the body, through the weakness of infant organs ; as under durance, chains, and weights, till, with the more mature and cultivated body, she arrives in time to be able to exert her power — recover herself — and, by illustrious notions, to discover whence she came, and whither she aspires, and what a glorious thing she was in her quondam state of separation ; though now again assigned to an unhonourable or perhaps mean apart- ment, for probation and exercise of her virtue. But, whilst we are describing these extravagancies, Maimonides, I remember, tells us of a sect that held the Soul, and all things else in nature, to be but only accidents : and that all our knowledge is in perpetual flux, and not the same to-day as it was yesterday, but that there is an eternal creation : and so a man must have ten thousand souls every moment, and for every motion and modality, whether he sits or walks, reads or performs any other action or motion, as so many accidents are souls created in the instruments perform- ^ Origen, Uepl dpx-, 1- 3, c. 3 and 4, c. 4 ; S. Aug., Ep. 27. VOL. I. M 162 THE TRUE RELIGION. ing them ! But of these perhaps more than enough ; whilst that of traduction (for being asserted by cham- pions of no mean account, nor without support of equal argument) may deserve a paragraph in the chapter; especially since it is conceived it may be evinced without any pre-existence in the platonic notion, or the least violence to other truths, and solve its immortal and indivisive nature; nor stands in need of new fabrics and creations to attend every human conception. Nor is it (say they) cogent, when they reckon from the sacred text ^ that God did absolutely cease from all His works, to admit its only signifying His making greater worlds, and not these microcosm terrellas : or from that of S. John, " my Father worketh hitherto, and I work," 2 if He be continually busied in new creations ; when it may as naturally import His work of providence in blessing and supporting what He has made with His Father ; and, what is more, the work of grace. If, as it appears, and no Christian doubts, the Al- mighty breathed into man the breath of life, by which he became a living soul, what should hinder but the same celestial inflation should be as apt to kindle into millions, as the most actual flame first warms and then heats and inflames the nearest disposed matter, without any division or diminution whatsoever ?^ This allusion » Gen. ii., 2. 2 g j^h^^ ^^ ^7^ ' Integra luceraa, Integra manet, licet altera de 1114 accen- datur. — S. Augustine. — " The light of a lamp remains entire and the same, though another be kindled from it." THE TEUE RELIGION. 1 63 Qf the Soul to flame and light having, as Plutarch thinks, so near a cognation to the Soul : and so the poet, Igneus est ollis vigor, et caelestis origo Seminihus.^ Sufficient, say they, was that blessing, " Increase and multiply," given and spoken by the great Creator to the first couple ; not as a well-wilier only, but as pro- moting and perfecting both the general and particular act and power of His concurrence, with procreation, to produce that potential being, the human Soul : and so God, secondarily to His original benediction, may be said to create or inform, but not out of nothing, (as in proper sense it signifies) which were wholly repugnant to His resting the seventh day, and to the positive sense of the text. For, when God created Nature, it was by a proper action and supernatural re-creation, educing out of a chaos (in which were latent principles and simple essences of all things) whatsoever he did create : and doubtless established all her seminal powers, to specify and produce all that she was ever to bring forth, so as never to stand in need of any more and immediate supplies: thereby illustrating His incom- parable Wisdom and Providence, that, in so many thou- sand years as the world has been created, nothing should be defective, nothing desiderate, nothing impaired, no- thing redundant or that needed any after better excogi- tation, or second thoughts, to render this universe more ^ "Th' ethereal vigour is in all the same : And every soul is filled with equal flame." Dryden — ^Yirg., vi., 730. m2 164 THE TRUE EELIGION. complete, or to carry on the succession of things to the end, with this work of propagation, not only as to the rest of animals in a life of sense, created before man, (and whose souls God is not said to have in-breathed) but to whole mankind, by a more peculiar and special Grace, in a life inspired with reason. Nay, how could man have multiplied in that manner, without this prin- ciple, since, without it, it had not been to multiply his own species, but a body only, without a Soul ; and such as must have been free of all original taint ? Besides, what necessity that all who derive her from the first spark set in motion by the Divine Breath ^ should stand more in need of a new creation, than for men (Prometheus-like) to fetch fire from Heaven by an extraordinary process and so many seeming absurdities, so long as it is flaming in every hearth ? I am very sensible how many great and worthy per- sons (by far superior in name and number) dispute against all this ; and, therefore, only repeat their argu- ments, who tell us that their opponents might perad- venture not look so far back, as was necessary to conclude so dogmatically for daily and instantaneous creations and infusions. Nor do they pretend as if any Soul, springing from traduction, should be less from God's immediate handy-work ; and may therefore be called creation, seeing he had no assistant but the Holy Trinity ; and so may still be said truly to give souls every moment, by His general blessing on propagation, * Theodoret, Ambrose, Hilary, Hierome, CalviD, Beza, BuUin- ger, Ursinus. THE TRUE RELIGION. 1 65 from the first virgin soul infused into Adam; whom accordingly we find called by the Evangelist, the Son of God — the rest of mankind his progeny only. As to those other Scripture arguments, a late revered Doctor, * amongst others, has showed that the Soul in Sacred Writ is used with so great variety of sense, as that little material can thence be fetched to the disad- vantage of traduction — the very notion of the Soul's regeneration premising a generation. Nor can it (some think) be safely made out how that secret contagion of all the sons of Adam should be derived from the body only ; since it were with Pelagius to deny the soul's being the subject not only of that, but of all other sin whatsoever,^ as accidens in suhjecto. They fancy it very difficult to conceive how this deadly spot should adhere 80 pertinaciously without some traditative emanation, seeing the body does not defile the Soul, but the will, fancy, and understanding, which are the rational facul- ties, and should govern all the rest.^ Indeed, the senses intromit the objects of temptation, but it is the other who makes the choice, and determines them to act ; and it is the heart * which is the source of our corruptions. For, how should pure and uncontaminate spirits, never before in being (without recurring to .pre-existence, and charging the souls with former guilt) come thus pol- luted into bodies, nay, (and as some almost say) ere the ^ Porter. 2 S. Augustine, Epist., 157. 3 Mens enim est profecto, quae peccat. — Lactantius. * S. Matt.,xii., 34, 35; Ephes., iv., 18, 19, 20; Jam., i., 13, 14. 166 THE TRUE RELIGION. recipients had done good or evil, without injuring the infinitely Divine benignity, purity, and justice ? Nay, how could Seth be procreated in the image of his father, (as all Divines agree) stained with the contamination derived from Adam, but through the leprosy of his Soul ; which never signifies the entire person, and denominates the essential man? For, were it otherwise, the lapse were but personal, and would have determined in him : whilst pollution is only chargeable upon the Soul's ac- count, whose vassal is the body, moved and directed by nerves, as by reins the rider does his horse. To this they oppose the Soul of our blessed Lord ; but I opine that it does not at all enter into these cir- cumstances ; and, besides, it is a secret reserved for another state, when we shall know as we are known, not as now, in part, but even this high mystery in aU the comprehensions of an exalted nature : nor, in the mean time, is our ignorance reproachable. Excellent, there- fore, is that advice of Tertullian (however in other matters not so consistent) Prwstat per Deum nescire, quia non revelaverit, quam per hominem scire quia ipse prwsumserit.^ It is suflficient to believe, as to this, that the Holy Spirit sanctified the substance of the blessed Virgin, from whom Christ assumed His sacred person : and as it is not the Soul, but the concupiscent circumstances of procreation, that induce the fatal taint, our blessed Lord ^ "It is better to be ignorant through God, because he hath not revealed, than to know through man, because he hath presumed." — TertuU. De Anima, c. 1. THE TRUE RELIGION. 167 was not so produced : all was miracle ; all was mys- terious : all pure, divine, and supernatural ; and " Who shall declare his generation ?" — Even He alone who in- fused the Soul of the first Adam, and so might do of the second. The only remaining difficulty of importance, then, seems to be, how but a single Soul should be produced, which, being by nature indissoluble, simple, and inca- pable of mixture, could receive no further perfection from conjunction. To this it is offered, that the Soul traduced is from the woman only ; neither is it less the Soul of man, forasmuch as she was taken out of man : nor do we read of two different inflations, or that there were any other Souls created separate from her, but what she received from Adam ; nor any other human body framed from the earth, save only his. Nor are they lastly, without as pious and learned suffragans, when amongst them we find Cyril, Apollinaris, the judicious and great Melancthon, Keckerman, Magirus, Horslius, &;c. ; and that the opinion was almost as uni- versal as mankind through all the Western Churches, as St. Jerome himself acknowledges.^ Nor is Tertul- lian to be slighted because the devout man fell into some errors afterwards ; for, as much as the great St. Augustine himself does hesitate and did not care to deliver anything peremptorily against it ; nay, inge- nuously confesses that he knew not what to pronounce, which may serve one that should incline to it for 1 TertuU. de Anim., c' 27, 40 ; Jerome Paulin., Epist., 2 ; St. Augustine, Epist., 28, 157, and Serm. de Orig. Anim. 1C8 THE TRUE RELIGION. apology ; and that he also, as well as others, has been as much puzzled with his " Creando infunditur et infun" dendo creatur^ &c. — whether created or infused by one inseparable act, or by infusion created ; in proportion to the perfection and growth of the elemental principles, and when the palace should be fitted to entertain the royal guest; or, whether not all infused, till all was finished, or (as the Stoics) not till after birth, at the first ingression of air, &c. ; which all are abstrusities as entangling and mysterious as Entelechia itself.* In the mean time, some there are who thought it a diminution to the human Soul, that what has been held to dfcrive its existence from the immediate infusion of the great Creator, should spring but from parental tra- duction, as other animals do. Whilst others esteem it to exalt its extraction, and do honour to her Maker, whose divine power they do not necessitate and engage to wait on every promiscuous blending ; some whereof are highly unsuitable to His pure and Holy Nature.^ But, even in illegitimate commixtures, God blesses nature, though not the perversion of it ; and thus, man has will and strength to do many evil things by abusing his faculties. This I speak with all deference and sub- mission to that late pious and excellent person. I say I do not see how it can dishonour the Divine Author, or * *Ein-fXcx«a — [a name given to the Soul by Aristotle; it has given rise to much discussion (see Donaldson's N. Crat.) : now sup- posed to signify that by which the body actually w.— Liddell and Scott's Lex.'] ^ Sir Matt. Hale's Prim. Origin of Man. THE TRUE RELIGION. 169 His creature, to derive the Soul from a stock so ancient — a pedigree of such a series — whose root is immediately from the Almighty in the primary creation and infusion, before the fatal lapse, and still resembling Him, when purified by virtue and true piety, which restores her to her primitive beauteous image : for, though with some" we make her not a goddess, nor with Philo and the Manichees, any part of that which is impartible — though not with Empedocles, plainly a god, yet with Lactan- tius, Deo Similem.^ Whatever, therefore, it be, this controversy is so finely sifted, solidly and so fairly disputed on both sides, that men will not find it easy to determine who is in the right or has the better ; whilst man, consisting (as we noted) of spirit, soul, and hody,^ the two latter may be propagated, the first created, correspondent both to the Platonic and divine notion. We have showed how the Conciliators, from their twofold production — the natural power of the creature, and the absolute power of the Creator — have educed the Soul out of some obsequious and obediential matter, so as the new soul, sprung from Adam, may become tainted, (as all of us are) though it should be immediately pro- duced of God:^ by which there does not appear any necessity of taking from God the honour of His original creation of the Soul, who gave life and soul, and bid it increase and multiply. ^ Lanctan. De Opif. Dei, c. 17. 2 I. Thess., v., 23. ^ Eccles., xii, 7 ; Job, xxxiii., 4. 170 THE TRUE RELIGION. But to proceed : even the favourers of immediate cre- ation and infusion, whilst the immaterial Soul exists in God, (whose Providence alone is that inexhaustible magazine of all intellectual beings) do allow traduction to the elemental pre-existent matter of all sensitive spirits whatsoever, which specify ^ by virtue of the fabric and composure of their generator. Now, (say these) as the sensitive and material Soul is propagated by gen4- ration, the immaterial is by creation. And first, for that no ignoble cause, out of its own sphere of activity, can produce a noble effect, (supposing a body to pro- duce a soul) seeing the operations of the Soul are so in- finitely superior to those of the body, as is manifest by the manner of those operations; and that her objects need no intercedent organ or medium between it and the faculty, educing also those operations from within by elicit and immediate acts, and such reflex ones as are totally foreign to the comprehension of other animals, perfecting the understanding by the most sublime and abstracted contemplations, and qualifying it to pene- trate into causes and matter supernatural — nay, and even some out of the body, as ecstacies, rapts, visions, introversions, acts of volition, intuitive knowledge, and, above all, the Spirit of Grace — that she is likewise indi- visible, as not having her being of form, that is, remain- ing uncompounded, immortal, and if not infinite (as God alone is infinite) yet, in a sort, indefinite, since nothing can fill and satisfy her which is less than infinity. Moreover, she does not see, hear, touch, or, indeed, THE TRUE EELIGION. 1 71 exercise any sensual faculty, as the body does, things adequate and congruous to its senses, and yet she per- ceives intellectual notions, and what spirits and separate beings are, nay, and universal notions and things which have no real existence at all in nature. All which the assertors of traduction do, in no sort, detract from, whilst (as we have showed) they recur to a propagation of the primitive soul infused into the first man, and as capable of kindling others like it, as one torch to light a thousand, without diminution of its own light, heat, substance, or any other qualities; and this also in a manner much more spiritual than any thing material it can be resembled to: so as a body does not beget a Soul, but the Soul a Soul, and the body a body only. And why one Soul should not propagate another, as animal does animal, or as divers sorts of fruits are yielded by the same tree, without any transfusion or decision of parts, no con^dncing argument seems to ap- pear. Nay, even as to division, no mortal can know how far spirits are indivisible, or whether they have no seminal excrescences, as a late Doctor * has noted : Men may be too much in the dark to determine ; nor why the one should not propagate another as well as bodies do, are (say they) altogether as precarious and conjectural. Wherefore, to conclude this controversy with that text of Saint John, " The wind bloweth where it listeth,"2 &c. Maldonatus hath this excellent note :^ ^ Dr. Parker, on the Pre-existence of Souls. ^ John, v., 8. ^ Anima ubi vult spirat, id est, quae vult, animat corpora, et vocem ejus audit, nempe hominem loquentem, equum hiunientem, 172 THE TRUE RELIGION. " The Soul animates the body as it pleases God, and we hear its voice in man speaking, in horses neighing, (and in other creatures by their different cries and noises) by which we are assured they live ; but whence it pro- ceeds and is propagated, how it informs the body, whi- ther it goes, in what it ends, or how it vanishes and deserts the body, we are wholly ignorant of." To which let me add what is most certain, even from the light of nature — Animorum nulla in terris origo inveniri potest — nee intenietur unde ad hominem venire possint, nisi a Deo,' In the mean time, (not as the Manichees, who held there was a good and evil principle or soul in every in- dividual body) it must be acknowledged, that we have all of us a corruptible, mortal, (and if I may be allowed so to speak) a caduce and bodily soul, frail as the vessel which contains it, as well as that immaterial principle which we have been describing. For as to the multiplication of forms, as waiting the same matter, the objection is solved by the subordination of the one to the other, so as, whilst one is extinguished, the other survives as supreme. The sum of all is, that, whilst (the rational soul is not immersed in matter, nor using &c. : nnde scis eos vivere, nescis tamen unde veniat, id est, unde gignatur, quomodo corpus ingrediatur, aut quo vadat, in quod de- sinat, quando egrediatur e corpora, &c. — Com. in Evang. ad locum. ' " The origin of the human soul is not discoverable upon earth : nor shall we find the source whence it could come to man, unless it be from God."-— Cic, Tusc, lib. 1. THE TRUE RELIGION. 173 any organ, but is altogether conversant with things supernatural and from another state, there is a sensitive inferior reason, or passive intellect, which communi- cates with the first, but is of itself a plain and empty- field, till influenced by a superior principle: that, as sensible and perceptive only, it has faculties in common like other animals ; but, as it discourses, abstracts, and logically distinguishes, has relation to the intellectual soul. This latter is universally enlightened and com- prehensive of all that knowledge, of which the other has no notions, namely, connate principles, concerning the existence of a Deity — that religion is due to it — that there is such a thing as conscience, natural justice, &c., besides other mathematical truths and peculiar compre- hensions proper to man only, though his soul cannot draw geometrical schemes of them, without artificial aids and institution.JIt is by one of these man becomes a living, seiisible creq-ture; by the other a rational,, in- tellectual one; whether of yesterday's creation, pre- existence, or tradition, is left to men's judgments, but such a one, as needing no corporeal instrument to exert her faculties, as the animal hfe does; but by traducing that hfe as a medium uniting them, not as a form with matter, but by way of accidental essence. Nor is this co-existence with any mixturous confusion, or change of substance incompetent to actives and passive, con- natural and reciprocal ; but as an immaterial substance, suffers no composition, but remains separate from matter altogether: indeed, it moves, orders, and directs this matter, (as we have showed) but is not what it moves 174 THE TRUE RELIGION. and governs any more, than (to use Plato*s expression) the pilot is the ship or vessel he steers. In a word, she is the body's essential form, making but one indivisible Hypostasis, which gives it life, and sense, and motion ; and, therefore, neither is the Soul in the body, as a fish is in the water, or a bird in the air, so as not to live and breathe without it, but being that which only has the motive power and activity, is certainly superior and altogether independent to what it moves and acts upon. To dismiss, then, these difficult researches, either what the Soul is, or how she descends into the body, whilst we should rather be solicitous how she goes out of it, there being more piety required than science in this dispute — it is sufficiently evident that the human Soul is a quite diiferent substance from that of any other living creatures, by prerogatives vastly superior, per- forming actions worthy the dignity she challenges and the rank she holds ; for, as one says, we must not think that the man begins, when he can feed himself and walk alone, when he can fight and beget his like, (for so can a camel and a boar) but he is first a man when he arrives at a certain steady use of reason ; and to this some are early called, some later, some never, and they live like goats, and die like asses. These things concern us infinitely more than the profoundest speculations of the Soul's essence and all our past inquiries. Therefore, we cannot but acknow- ledge how difficult a province he undertakes, who thinks to seize the royal and towering game, by dog- matizing and over peremptory assertions ; when, to de- THE TRUE RELIGION. 175 base the pride of mortals, it proves (we see) so hard to assign any certain and ineluctable demonstration of the nature of the Soul's production and utmost comprehen- sions, to that degree as to force assent from Atheists, and even vicious persons, and such as will not give faith to any thing which contradicts their sensuality. But to those whose minds are defecate, and exercised in contemplations worthy the character of reasonable men, and look after other worlds, there's nothing more conspicuous and certain than the existence of this im- material principle, (to which we shall add, because it comes next to be spoken of) capable of immortality. 1 76 THE TRUE RELIGION. CHAPTER III. SECTION I. THAT THE INTELLECTUAL SOUL IS IMMORTAL. SECTION U. THAT SHE SHALL RISE AGAIN, AND RE-UNITE WITH THE BODY. SECTION UI. A FUTURE STATE, AFTER THIS LIFE. SECTION IV. AN ACCOUNT TO BE GIVEN OF HER ACTIONS IN IT SECTION V. FOE A JUST RETRIBUTION. SECTION I. THAT THE INTELLECTUAL SOUL IS IMMORTAL. God dwells only in Himself: the plurality of all things and beings, therefore, proceeds from Him alone. All essence and super-essence, and if any thing be im- mortal, it is only by Him who is eternal and immortal, was always what He is, and always shall be. We have hitherto endeavoured to clear the nature of a human Soul as a distinct substance from the animal life, both of mankind and all other his fellow-creatures, by several illustrious prerogatives. There remains yet one, which, shining above all the rest, entitles him to the dignity of yet a more near resemblance to his Divine Maker, and that is, his Immortality. It is observed, in the Mosaic history of the Creation, that brute animals were all made and completed at once ; whereas, man, being first composed of dust, God THE TRUE RELIGION. 177 did afterwards, by, as it were, a second and more solemn act, breathe into him the breath of life, by which he became a living Soul; by which the wise King dis- tinguishes him from the brutes,^ and that, when the body and earthly part crumbles into its original matter, the Soul takes wing, and mounts to the place whence it also came. And, therefore, have all holy persons re- commended their spirits to the hands of Him from whose breath they received it, and from whence they deduce a proof of its state of immortality. Solomon, indeed, has a passage, that seems to make her equal with the souls of beasts ; but does he not, even in the same book, reverse it all again? Let us hear the text : — " I said in mine heart, concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts: for, that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts ; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath ; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast : for all is vanity : All go to one place ; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. ^ Wherefore, I perceive that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice,"^ &:c. To which we might add from another (though less authentic) book, imputed to the same Wise King: — * " Man is born at all adventure, and shall be hereafter as though he had never been: for the breath in his ^ Eccles., xii., 7. ^ Ibid., iii., 17—20. 3 Ibid., V. 21. * Wisd., ii., 2, 3, &c. VOL. I. N 1 78 THE TRUE RELIGION. nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of the heart, which being extinguished, the body shall be turned into ashes, and the spirit shall vanish in the soft air, fcc Come on, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present .... let us fill ourselves with wine ; let us crown ourselves with rose-buds : let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness : let us oppress the poor righteous man, nor spare the widow, nor reverence the aged,"^ &c Thus much and more we might repeat out of that rhetorical chapter; than which there is nothing a plainer contradiction of that impious deduction, which libertines, and those who would be glad there were neither God to reward, nor justice to punish, thence pretend to derive. The truth is, Man being in honour indeed, (as David shows^) namely, the first man, before the fatal lapse, by it degraded himself of that dignity ; so that he became like the beasts that perish ; not that he was thereby really turned into a beast, but extremely like one.^ For, whereas before he should not have died as beasts, (though, indeed, his body were of the same dissipable principles) but being translated into a more happy state, after a long and sweet fruition of the animal life below, he was, thenceforth, condemned to imdergo the same fate of dissolution, as to his body and sensitive soul, which he has in common with beasts and other animals. The violation of that pact between God and man did subject him to a mortal condition as to his ^ Wisd., 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. ^ pg^jj^ ^y^^ 20. ' Eadeni feritatis imago. — Ovid, M. i. THE TRUE RELIGION. 179 inferior soul ; but that which he received by the Divine infusion is incorruptible (naturally speaking) and im- mortal. But it is not here we are as yet to bring, for proof, texts out of Scripture,^ which abundantly assert the Soul's immortality, (as will appear upon consulting the margin) but to show that neither is it repugnant to nature. The rational Soul is a self-subsisting being — has no mixture or corruptible element in its composition. The Soul is a complete and perfect substance ; no divinity or philosophy has hitherto made it out, that its being is relative or incomplete. But, supposing it so, it does not, therefore, follow that it cannot live in separation, seeing the very flame of every candle gives light suffi- cient to this inquiry, which we find can and does sub- sist or consist, though the matter be extinct: not to instance in Licetus's lamp, or that said to have been found in Tullia's sepulchre,^ though, if it wasted any matter, it would long since have been put out : and if ^ Gen. iv., 20— v., 24— xv., 15— xlix., 33; S. Matt., x., 28; S. Luke, xvi., 22 ; 11. Cor., v., 10, 1— xv., 19 ; Phil., ii., 16 ; I. Pet., iii., 19. ; Rev., iv., 10. ' ^ [The author, in his diary, thus relates the story — " In one of these monuments, PanciroUus tells us, that in the time of Paul III. there was found the body of a lady, swimming in a kind of bath of precious oil, or liquor, fresh and entire, as if she had been living ; neither her face discoloured, nor her hair disordered ; at her feet burnt a lamp, which suddenly expired, at the opening of the vault ; having flamed, as was computed, 150.0 years, by the con- jecture that she was TuUiola, the daughter of Cicero, whose body was thus found, and as th^ inscription testified."] — Evelyn's n2 180 THE TRUE RELIGION. it spends no matter, it is all one as if it had none ; for what need of it, if no use of it ? and what use of it, if no feeding of the flame, but by spending itself. But the reason why the flame goes out, when the matter is exhausted, is, for that the minute particles of fire are soon overcome by the circumstant air, and dissipated rather than extinct, since it wants matter to keep it in union and society. But then, as the flame continues not, with respect to a candle's flame, when the matter is spent ; yet fire can abide without matter to nourish it, for itself is doubtless matter and a substance, as well as motion : and so is the Soul of man. And, as the element or principle of fire, and the celestial bodies of fire, eat nothing, but live and subsist of themselves, so can the Soul, when divested of its relative body, and so would the flame of a lamp, or candle, could it mount to the regions of fire, as do the Souls to that of Spirits. That the Apostle,^ preaching to the Athenians, of the Resurrection, said nothing of the Soul's immor- tality, was, doubtless, because the onej of consequence, included the other ; and, if it had not, yet were there no need to press that which in the learned Academy was almost universally believed ; I say, unhersally, and so convincingly, that Cleombrotus was so satisfied in it by reading Plato only, that he precipitated himself into the sea, (for experiment sake) as no longer questioning Memoirs^ vol. i., p. 135. Montfau9on (" L'Antiquite Expliquee," v., 208) reviews carefully all the evidence in support of lampes perpetuelles^ and condemns this story as fabulous.] ^ Acts, xvii., 15, &c. THE TEUE KELIGION. 181 the truth : and him young Cato followed, and sundry- others, who never would have resisted corporeal plea- sure and the present fruitions of this life, had the Soul been corporeal and capable of those pleasures. Never would there still be such hostilities between the rational, the sensual, and concupiscible appetites. Indeed, Epicurus and his tribe seem to have other) notions of the human Soul ; but so had not that great and noble philosopher, Trismegistus, of Egypt, the Gymhosophists of India, Job, the Chaldaean, and his friends in the East. It is confessed by Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Thales, Milesius, and even by Aristotle himself, as the Council of Vienna, under Clement the First, and the Lateran, under Leo the Tenth, have determined, asserting that philosopher's opinion. Of the Latins, we have the incomparable Cicero, besides the whole Christian school every where : nor ought we reckon for nothing St. Paul's rapture, who purposely and with design adds — " whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell;"^ plainly intimating, that it was no ways improbable that this elapse was not ecstatic and wholly out of the body, and so agreeable to the nature of the Soul, to operate in separation from it. Besides, God creating man after his own image, can have no other meaning than that of his being immor- tal ; for else, what resemblance to our exterior figure and that of Grod, which has no shape ? Moreover, and as to the Resurrection, (of which anon) our Saviour proves it by his being Grod of the living, ^ II. Cor., xii., 3. 182 THE TRUE RELIGION. not of the dead.* Nor is, indeed, the death of the Soul to be defined at all, there being no death of spirits, but annihilation, none, at least, that we know of or can pos- sibly understand. For, if ceasing from operation be death, then it often dies before the body, as it frequently ceases to exert any of its nobler functions ; as when we sleep, and neither feel nor understand. If it be replied that then it yet animates the body, (a sufficient indica- tion of life) it is answered, that if one single act be enough to show the Soul to be alive, then the Soul is immortal : for, in Philosophy, it is a maxim, that the Soul desires nothing more than re-union. Now that which is already dead has no desire. Add to this, that the Soul can understand without the body ; this is evi- dent from her acts of reflection, such as, a desire to desire, a will to will, a remembering what she did remember, &c. So that, (as we said) if one act be suf- ficient to prove the Soul to be alive, the state of separa- tion cannot be a state of death to the Soul, because she can then desire to be reunited to the body ; and she can also understand, forasmuch as nothing can hinder her from performing those actions which depend not upon the body, in which the operations of the Soul are not organical. Again, the Soul does not depend upon the body, but the body on the soul. She gives life to the body, re- ceives none from it, but rules and governs the body as she pleases ; and can ratiocinate and act vigorously when weak and even expiring, when the Soul (as we say) sits upon the body's very lip, ready to take flight. Be- ^ S. Matt., xxii., 32 ; S. Mark, xii., 26. THE TRUE RELIGION. 183 sides, having no repugnant principles, it is indissipable otherwise than by a total annihilation : which we cannot reasonably think, since we do not find that Almighty God did ever yet put out of being any species which He ever created ; much less is it likely that He should the noblest of His creatures. In a word, God, even with a word, can extinguish this glorious spark; but that, I say. He ever will,^ is no where to be gathered; and therefore Grotius doubts not to affirm, velle Deum ut extinguatur animus, nullo potest probari argumento. Wherefore the Soul, as she actuates the body, is a spiritual essence — as she sur- vives the body, an immortal. Nor is that prince of phi- losophers to be otherwise understood, though heedfully attended, where he speaks of its separation from matter ;^ the Soul's conjunction with the body being so incon- siderable and accidental, in respect of its separation and eternity. Nor did Aristotle dispute it otherwise than by way of problem, whilst he names it immortal and eternal. Indeed, one of them we find who denied there was any such thing as a Soul at all — Aristoxenus ^ was this prodigy. But so averse were the rest from believ- ing the Soul could die, that they rather held a transmi- gration. Nor is any man so apprehensive of the body's corrup- * Exod., iii., 6 ; S. Luke, xxiii., 46 ; Acts, vii., 5, 9 ; Kev., vi., 9, 10. ^ Aristotle de Gen. An., 1. ii., c. 3 ; lib., iii., c. v. ^ [A philosopher and musician, first writer on music (about B.C. 320) : taught that the Soul was merely the Jiarmony of the nerves and muscles. — Cic. Tusc, 1 ; Lact.de Vit. Beat., c. 13.] 184? THE TRUE RELIGION. tion and the dispersion of its materials after death, as of his losing his being, sense, and knowledge, which being no part of body or matter, but quite of another kind, shows that we ourselves imagine strangely of some exist- ence after life. Our very wondering and admiration at any great and unusual thing, told, read, or fancied by us, shows something to be in us of more great and noble ; and that, however small and inconsiderable in bulk and stature, we comprehend such immense and stupendous magnitudes — ^bringing in all nature — all we see and all we do not see, even the interminable space itself — spirits, intelligences, and all we have hitherto enumerated, of high and abstracted, and that enter not under the cri- terion of our senses — ^in a word, this Soul of ours raises herself into the horizon of the intellectual world, ob- serves the motions, magnitudes, distances, and influxes of the celestial bodies, visiting and pervading the uni- versal phenomena. Add to this the inconceivable per- nicity of thought, passing (as we said) from the centre of the goodly machine to the sublimest star in a mo- ment's time, and can penetrate the adamantine doors of the Empyreal.^ Another argument may be, men's desire of per- petuating their name, families, and works — continual thought of the future, and natural apprehension of an- other state, and of conscience, though under no awe of human eye or notice (of which more in due place) — that * Tantae celeritatis, ut uno temporis puncto coelum omne collus- tret, et, si velit, maria pervolet, terras ac urbes peragret, &c. — Lact. De Opif. Dei, c. 16. THE TRUE RELIGION. 185 the Soul is qualified to take cognizance not only of a few scattered particulars and finite notions, but of the uni- versal* cyc/ojo^J^, the sublimities of logic, physics, meta- physics, the acroamatic and profounder mysteries of philosophy, explicating things by their respective causes. She apprehends compound and abstracted mathematics, with all her apodictical canons and speculations, and from postulata, petitiones, and a long series of premises and a train of causes, solves theorems, problems, angles, and intricate figures of geometry — the stupendous effects of numbers and algebraical supputations — can form axioms, and comprehend first principles, and is certain she does do all this, think, and exist, without the aid of corporeal species. She comprehends what is truth, what vice, moral and religious things, has a sense of her own excellency, the amazing notices of eternity and of God himself. Which all are things unelementary, incorporeal, and consequently immortal. In sum, no obscurity of the darkest dark, no profundity of the deepest abyss, no thickness, height, or depth, time, or place, obstructs the vast imagination of the human Soul, which passes, penetrates all things, et extra Processit longe flammantia moenia mundi. ^ We might now proceed to those many stupendous inventions by words, languages, ciphers, letters, figures, pictures, hieroglyphics, the daily excogitations of artful ^ " Thus did he with his vigorous wit transpierce The flaming limits of the universe." Lucretius, book 1, translated by the Author. 186 THE TRUE RELIGION. productions in printing, shipping, gunpowder, clocks, mills, machines, and other automata ; edifices, works in metal, glass, harmonious instruments, and a thousand other ingenios for use and pleasure — to name only the political sagacity of institutions in government, laws, poetry, rhetoric, &c., which, though noble and becoming, are yet inferior to what we have enumerated. All these, I say, the rational Soul of man brings and reduces into an atom ; and all that moves, into that which is of itself immoveable, and never stirs from her place. It is, in earnest, a surprising thing to behold a com- prehension so vast, so obsequious yet to the laws of a matter so limited ! A being so noble, espoused to the interests of a frail and wretched body, that has no rela^ tion to her, no proportion to one so narrow and confined ! Wherefore, the difference is no less infinite between their natures : for, ^/the Soul be mortal, she must be material, which all we have said proves it not to be : and {/"composed of atoms, those motions and different configurations must also produce the noblest and most exalted thoughts ; and if these particles chance to alter their course, so must our notions likewise. And thus, all false principles become false and erroneous rules, misleading us in all the researches we have so indus- triously made, not only of a Deity, but of all things else in nature whatsoever ; so as two and two would no more be four ; all would be uncertain, absurd, and extrava- gant : so necessary it is well to establish the immortality of our Soul and her prerogative, by all possible instances, and as we have, by irrefrag^able and undeniable ones. THE TEUE RELIGION. 187 As to the text ^ we named, wherein the fate of animals was made the same, man's indeed resembles that of brutes, as he gives reins to his brutish appetites, obnox- ious as he is to the same accidents and events, the same infirmities and diseases : both descend into the earth, the common mother : so as, if one were to judge from the external face of things, and the promiscuous con- tingencies that happen to beasts and men, only by the force of our own ratiocination from external appear- ances, it would be somewhat difficult to determine what became of human Souls. But it is evident as the meridian Sun, that the penitential King (to whom the libertines, those hardly rational cattle, appeal) speaks only in the person of impious and wicked men, judging from such fallacious phenomena, and does not in all that passage so much as touch the intellectual soul ; which he reserves to another place, namely, to chapter xii. And therefore, Theodorus ^ (who rejected this divine book) foully mistook the matter; for here the wise king, resuming the person of a religious man, tells us quite another story, namely, that at death dust shall return to dust and earth, as it was before, but the spirit to God, who gave it.^ He spake before of our natural bodies dissoluble into the common principles, the sensi- ble life vanishing into the same air ; but here of a higher flight: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth;""* than which antipodes are not more opposite. ^ Eccles., iii., 17, &c. ^ M. Vitus Theod. Sum. Cap. Vet. Test. ^ Eccles., xii., 7. * lb., iii., 21. 188 THE TRUE RELIGION. As to the text in Wisdom,^ cited also by us, wliat more perspicuous than the author speaking in the per- son of debauched and abandoned epicures, who, set upon mischief, violence, and injustice, were resolved to take their fill of sensual fruitions, without regard to any- future state ? He tells us that God created man to be immortal, and made him to be the image of his own eternity, plainly affirming the spirits of the righteous are in the hands of God, where no torment shall approach them. In the mean time, admitting the rational Soul to be of a pure, subtile, and ethereal nature — I say, sup- posing it not totally immaterial — [bodies by human art and conditure having been made resist putrefaction thousands of years, and subsist without a soul, as we find Egyptian mummies and the like to have done] I can see no reason why a Soul, separated from the body, may not by divine art be preserved, freed as it is from the more gross and corruptible elements ; the same infi- nite power being able to render it as indissoluble and iromortal as the more immaterial spirit, and as He cer- tainly will do at the resurrection. But there are so many cogent arguments to convince men that, when all is said, there is no place left for a considering person to doubt of the Soul's both present and future existence, even from arguments rationally deduced; seeing that which is destitute of bulk and quantity, and to which no necessary is deficient, must needs be imperishable ; because it has not the power of ^ Wisd., ii., 3. THE TRUE RELIGION. 189 past existence ; nor can that be destroyed or corrupted, which, being insectile, has nothing to divide or oppose it. It is separate from all extensible matter and motion from another, and is therefore a self-mover, invulnerable, impassible, immortal; an act, not a virtue or power only ; and, being an act, is incomposed, and, could she die, would be annihilated, and something become no- thing, and nothing something, by some natural power : whereas, nature teaches that whatsoever enjoys its own existence, will remain so till a greater force expel it. And the Soul, thus indivisible, excluding all parts of quantity, no rarefaction or condensation, alteration of temperament, heat, cold, fire, or water ; nor tyranny, of whatever quality, or power less than His who made her can dissolve her. Moreover, as we showed, such a substance as performs its operations without the body, subsists without it ; and / so does the Soul, as oft as it is in real extacy and rapts, I and she conceives things abstracted and universal, soj^ that she needs no other proof* for immortality. The essence of things is defined by their operations, and the understanding and the will take place here : were that a perishable or material thing, perishable, sensible, and material things would improve them, which we find they do not. Material faculties lose their energy by the vehemence of their objects, while the Soul grows more vigorous and enlarged by contem- plation, acting and re-acting beyond all organic power. All material operations are, as we have showed, con- fined, so as our sensitive faculties can rise no hio:her 1 L 190 THE TEUE RELIGION. than the spring of matter : but so can the Soul, not only understanding and receiving all coi-poreal sub- stances, which corporeal faculties cannot do (for the organ must be clear and colourless to receive coloured objects); but comprehends spiritual things, and sees within the veil Whence it is evident that, as princi- ples are in themselves incorruptible, so is the Soul ; and that what is essentially life to others does never die or grow old ; for, whilst corporeal things impair with time, our intellectuals improve. It is, therefore, a noble and highly necessary belief, that the human Soul is immortal. Could we else ima- gine that Curtius, Regulus, and those other heroic per- sons, even amongst the Pagans, would so generously have hazarded and cast away their lives for their coun- try, parents, friends, had they not some glimmerings and hopes of immortality, and not altogether for glory, and empty fame, which they know in time would vanish? But, as it was the universal voice of all nations, it was doubtless also implanted in them by Nature herself. Thus, to the sense of Solomon : TTvevfia fiev irpbs alBepa, TO (rci)fia d*els yTJv} It shall go from whence it came, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, the Soul to Heaven. We might fill a first volume out of the writings of those famous men on this immortal subject. And he that shall turn over Cicero and Seneca alone ^ may be * Eurip. Supp,, v., 533. ' Cicero in Cato Maj., de Somn, Scip. Seneca passim. THE TRUE RELIGIOX. 191 stored with variety of suffrages to make our modern atheists blush. That the Soul returns to Heaven, whence she descended, was the firm persuasion of that excellent heathen, and another honest stoic, ^ " Death is not an evil ; it is the nativity of eternity ; we are all allied to God, from whom we came, and to whom again we go, let us once shake off the pressures which bear us down." And what if I should extort as much out of a professed epicure himself: Denique caelesti sumus semine oriundi ; Omnibus ille idem pater est.'^ Thus, too, Manilius,^ to the same effect : — An dubium est habitare Deum sub pectore nostro, In caelumque redire animas, caeloque venire ? Whence Seneca doubts not to call the Soul a God ;'* so as Livy tells us the Romans consecrated a temple in the Capitol, by the name of Mentis uEdes : and, though she be no God, she is His image, and that image im- ported not so much His exterior figure as His immortal nature. To this purpose, Plutarch,* citing a verse from Pindar, doubts not to bring the Soxil's descent fi-om ^ Epictetus. ^ " Lastly, we all from seed celestial rise, Which Heaven, our common parent, still supplies." Lucretius, lib. ii., 990. ^ Lib. iv., 886. See Yirg., Georg., lib. ii. 325. * Sen. Ep., 120. 5 " Our bodies shrink to dust by death's decree ; The Soul survives, and fills eternity." Dryden's Plutarch, Life of Rom. 192 THE TRUE RELIGION. God, and that she returns to Him again, after separa- tion and j)urification from the earthly dross which liin- ders her ascent Whence that of Heraclitus, anima sicca sapientior,^ dry things being less clogged and more disposed to take wing. So fixed was this good man in the belief of the Soul's survivance, that he thinks the spirits of virtuous and religious men are not only trans- mitted out of brave and worthy persons into heroes, but, passing through those demi-gods, become deified, and even Gods themselves. But, to render this notion safe and accommodate: though the human Soul be said not only by these ex- traordinary enlightened Heathen, but by the Sacred /iDracle itself, to participate of the Divine nature, it is inot to be understood of the communication of the / Divine substance, but for similitude of properties and (Divine gifts ; which, though resembling, are yet . but faint shadows and umbrations of that sublime nature^ and so, verily, good and excellent men. are rather the offspring and sons of God, nay, one spirit with Him 5 not, I say again, by essential propagation, but a certain virtual inhabitation. ^ And, if tliis be not suflScient, turn over Plato, in his PhoedOf introducing Socrates dialogizing with his friends, a little before he drank the fatal bane — than which there is nothing more to be wished to assert this article, even from the voice of a mere natural man, and to demon- ^ ["A dry soul is the wisest" — quoted by Plutarch, (Trepl (rapKo<^.') in a similar sense.] * S. John, i. 13— viii., 17 ; I. Cor., vii., 17, &c.; n. Pet., i., 13. THE TRUE KELIGION. V 19S strate that he is not a mere piece of organized matter, or prettily contrived puppet only, but a vessel contain- ing a sublime and immortal substance. Thus, though with TertuUian^ we find, indeed, that the Soul's exist- ence after death is not to be learned from the schools of philosophers, but from God Himself; yet the light which these men had was consonant to the truth, and haply at first derived from the holy prophets them- selves ; so generally they spoke their sense. And, as we aflSrmed, even Aristotle himself ^ (whatever some pretend) where he distinguishes of the vegetable, sensi- tive, and intellectual Soul, acknowledges the last, not only not to proceed from matter, (or using any organ) but to be plainly divine, that the agent intellectual is separate from matter, and immortal:^ and the ques- tion he makes in that first of Morals to Nicomachus, Whether the dead have any perception, sense, or con- cern for their surviving friends, he concludes with the affirmative, which could not be, unless their souls were in being. In good earnest, so poorly is man gratified with sensual objects, that the whole world is not large enough to satisfy so much as one poor sense, the eye, single as it is, and but an organ of the body only ; and, if whilst in the body we cannot attain what we long after, we shall certainly out of the body ; since God has given no inclination to His creatures but what is pro- fitable and necessary : and, therefore, shall either now ^ De Anim., c. 4. De Gen. An., c. 3, and De Anim., 1. 3, c. 5. ' Metaphys., I. 12, c. 3. VOL. I. O 194 THE TRUE RELIGION. or hereafter be satisfied: otherwise, they should be made in vain. Now, there is nothing the Soul of man so much de- sires as immortality, and a future happy existence. Besides, it is natural for us to believe and hope it, and hardly possible for us to think or believe that a time will come, when we shall cease to be. What, there- fore, is natural, is certainly true ; for, were immortality supernatural, we could have no comprehension or notion of it, nor fancy what it were ; which yet we can and do easily conceive. These impressions were not given to abuse mankind, seeing God created all His works in perfection, and made not that to be mortal, which he has capacitated to become immortal ; or given him such impetuous desires, noble ideas, and an industrious pur- suit of virtue, in hopes of attaining felicity without effect. We have already spoken of his secret desire of per- petuating his being and succession, his insatiable thirst after fame and glory, his ambition of leaving some per- manent memorial behind him, &c; and that not so much to satisfy others, as out of a secret hope and ima- gination at least, that the good he does here will turn to his account hereafter ; not forgetting the inexpres- sible dread of wicked and profligate men, in affliction, and their last agonies, betraying their apprehensions and fears of a future state, in spite of all their hectoring it in prosperity. So wretched a thing it is, so to have lived, as to have no refuge from anxiety and torment, but annihilation. It was, therefore, the brave conside- THE TRUE RELIGIOJT. 19e5 ration of Cyrus in Xenophon, and of Cicero and So- crates, the nobler Greeks and Romans, to wish that their souls might survive, and the best and wisest of them believed it too.^ So confident were the very Heathen world, and yet is, of a being after this life, that it is reported of the Chinese, and those of Japan, that they give letters of credence and exchange, and make provision for their friends and relations in the other world. What was else the meaning of their funebral pomps, their killing slaves and cattle, nay, the combustion of the Indian wives at the funeral-pile of their deceased husbands, and the burying of so much treasure with them ? But of this we shall have further occasion to enlarge, when we come to show that, as this principle and soul of man survives the body, so is she in expectation of a due re- ward and a just remuneration in another state ; wherein since the body as well as the soul shall both participate, having both been assisting to each other whilst united, that body shall likewise be joined to it again, never more to separate, after a miraculous Resuri'ection, ^ Si in hoc erro, quod animos hominum immortales esse cre- dam, libenter erro: nee mihi hunc errorem, quo delector, duni vivo, extorqueri volo ; sin mortuus, ut quidam minuti philosophi censent, nihil sentiam ; non vereor ne hunc errorem meura mortui philosophi derideant. (Cic. Cato Maj.) "If I err in believing the souls of men to be immortal, I err gladly : nor do I wish this pleasing delusion to be rooted out, while I live; and if, when dead, I lose all feeling, as certain petty philosophers determine, I have no fear that after death they will laugh at my mistake." 196 THE TRUE RELIGION. SECTION II. RESURRECTION. But, indeed, the belief and demonstration of this was 80 incredible and new a doctrine to the wisest of Heathens, that when the great apostle of the Gentiles began but to mention it among the learned Athenians,^ some mocked, what will this babbler sayf others, more curious, desired to hear it again^ taking it for some strange and unheard-of God ; whilst his business was to let them understand that the God, whom they did not know, and yet erected an altar to, commanded all men every where to repent, after his so long connivance at their ignorance and superstition; forasmuch. He had appointed a day in which He would judge the world in righteousness. And where, indeed, is the difficulty to those who subject all things to the omnipotence of God, and that are daily spectators of so many strange things in nature, not only illustrating, but some of them even demon- strating, the possibility of the Eesurrection ? The day succeeds the night, in which it is, as it were, dead : and the sun sets as buried under the earth, and rises in the morning ; we sleep and die in the nearest representation of death, and awake in a resuscitation, every time we take our natural repose ; and though our bodies be not then dissolved, a thousand less corruptible are that die, and are buried, and re-flourish again after a tedious period ; during which the hardest seeds corrupt and are turned to mucilage and rottenness, mortified with frosts ^ Acts, xviL THE TRUE RELIGION. 197 and covered with snow as with a winding-sheet — yet rise again, in the spring, from squalor and putrefaction, a solid substance — from dissolution of parts and sad de- formity, to such vigour, beauty, and perfection, as even Solomon in all his glory was not clad like a lily of the common field. This St. Paul held so convincing an argument, as he fears not to call him fool that seemed but to question it. For, from what inglorious and dirty rudiments do those daily miracles of the parterre result, whilst divers of their principles are so invisible, for a time, at least, that they seem utterly to be lost ! Thus, the corn which feeds our bodies, and whose paste, or dough, of all things, most resembles our flesh, revives and multiplies ; and he who sows, sows in hope ; and after many a nip- ping frost and severe winter, it springs afresh. But that which was sowed is not quickened, except it first die;^ nor is it the body it shall be: but bare grain, sown in corruption, raised in incorruption ; and so shall our bodies be sown in dishonour, raised in glory ; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality, and death itself be swallowed up in victory. Consult we nature again, and we find several birds and beasts and innumerable insects pass, not only vulgar changes, but the silkworm, whose death, tomb, and resurrection, are plainly stupendous. And if thus in the works of nature, why should we doubt but the ^ I. Cor., XV., 36, 38, &c. li)8 THE TRUE RELIGION. God of nature, who framed us out of nothing, should even from nothing restore and make us something? It being so much the more difficult to give that a new being which had none, than to bring it into a second being, which has matter prepared for it before. It is a known maxim in philosophy, and of unques- tionable event, that the corruption of one thing is the generation of another. And can we believe that man, who is lord of all God's creatures, should expire and perish, and produce nothing but worms and silly ver- min? Is it probable, or, indeed, imaginable, that God should thus restore all things to men, and not man to himself? Were there no other consideration but that of the principles of human nature, of the liberty and remunerations of human actions, and of the mutual revolutions and resuscitations of other creatures, it were abundantly sufficient to render the resurrection of the body almost demonstrable. Besides, howsoever the body's outward frame fall in pieces and to dust, the principles remain in the element ; and, though our dis- solved particles be scattered and hid from us, as to the places where they lie neglected. He who made them knows where to find them, and where to collect every individual atom, and how to re-unite them, not only in the same, but in a much more beautiful form. The matter, I say, remaining, is still as capable of resuming the pristine specific form and shape. Nor is it yet a new-created body, but the same that dies,* the same that worshipped God, that died and ^ Job, xix., 25, 26. THE TRUE RELIGION. 199 suffered for him. And why should not the same soul resume the same body, and not a brute's, as the Druids and Pythagoreans held ? Since, otherwise, it were no resurrection, but a renovation, or recreation, rather, and be such as never was before, and so not rewardable, with justice, for merit, or punished for crimes.^ The same numerical person shall, therefore, rise the same in identity, seeing, properly, nothing dies, or is raised, but the body ; for the Soul never dies, or is buried ; and all who were raised by Christ on earth, rose in the same body. But the change to be made shall not be alto- gether of this nature and substance only, but of the same condition and quality. We behold how chymists resuscitate the forms of things, to all appearance, out of real corruption and confused chaos : what more wonderful than the process on crude mercury ? now fixed, then volatile ; now quite altered, anon reduced again through a thousand meta- morphoses and changes. Things visible are made in- visible, and visible again by the art of fermentation, circulation, putrefaction, cribration, and even recinera- tion, raised from dust and ashes, defecated of their former dross. Does man go thus far by his skill in pyrotechny, and shall not God do more, who is the Cosmotect ? Now, in what body St. Paul above has taught us, and St. Augustine,^ that we shall rise in a flourishing and mature age ; not only men, but little infants, even 1 See TertuU. Apol., c. 42. 2 DeCiv.Dei,lib.iv., c. 14, 15. 200 THE TRUE RELIGION. to the stature that Christ, our Head, attained, and that in substance, not deformity; forasmuch as infancy is imperfection, age, corruption.* Wherefore, the body shall be a glorious body, endued with all spiritual qua- lities of illumination, agility, and aptitude to ascend and pass regions of infinite distance and variety ; and that as well women as men. Those who first published our Lord's resurrection, shall doubtless also partake of it." Verily, were it not for this hope and assurance, how disconsolable would be the loss of friends and relations ! This comforts us in afflictions, encourages in suffer- ings, incites to glorious actions, and even to die for our country and the public good. If the opinion of a metempsychosis, or empty fame, which is but the breath of ambitious man, engage him to so many brave and heroic exploits, what should not these glorious considerations ! Felices errore suo, quos ille timorum Maximus, baud urget lethi metus ; inde ruendi In ferrum mens prona viris, anima3que capaces Mortis, et ignavum est rediturae parcere vitae.^ * De Civ. Dei, lib. xxii., c. 13, &c. ' " Et qui utrumque sexum instituit, utrumque restituet." (S. Aug. De Civ. Dei, lib. xxiii., c. 17.) — " He who appointed both shall restore both." ' " Thrice happy they beneath their northern skies, Who that worst fear, the fear of death, despise ; Hence they no cares for this frail being feel. But rush undaunted on the pointed steel ; Provoke approaching fate, and bravely scorn To spare that life, which must so soon return." Rowe's Lucan. THE TRUE RELIGION. 201 In a word, if God be Almighty, as He certainly is, and knows what is to be done, as he also does, and has power and skill to do as He pleases — to Him nothing is impossible. He who knows every atom, every single dust, tomb, and grave, and looks into the darkest abysses and the most secret receptacles, where men are sleeping in their dissolved causes, can fetch and sum- mon every minute particle, and join them together as before, and give them new life, and raise them up ; and the man who once was dust, become man again ; seeing whatever we lose in death is not lost to God: and, though our parts be dissolved, yet they perish not, but are reposited, and in safe hands. _ Let us examine history and matter of fact. We have I the resurrection of One, who had no less than five hun- dred testimonies of it. Christ, the first fruits and head, being raised,^ needs must the members follow. The holy Apostles touched his body, heard him speak, saw him eat, nay, conversed with him, not for a day or two, but during the space of forty, and then beheld him ascend above the clouds. And, though Felix accounted St. Paul a madman for afiirming it, the evidence was so full and undeniable, that it obtained credit, and pre- vailed in spite of all contradiction, not of credulous and easy men, but of the most learned, sober, and inquisitive persons in the world, and such as joined the most maliciously to detect the imposture, had there been the least prevarication in it. Therefore, to disbelieve this ^ I. Cor., XV., 6. 202 THE TRUE RELIGION. truth 18 not to discredit Scripture ^ only, but all good history, ancient and undoubted records of the most L concurrent and disinterested testimony that ever was, as in due place we shall come to prove. In the mean time, we find holy Job ^ so early of this faith, and so peremptorily asserting it, as that St. Jerome tells us, no man ever since our Saviour's real resurrec- tion could speak more expressly concerning it. It is doubtless, if not altogether, the most ancient record ex- tant in the world. Nor sooner hear we of the death and dissolution of mankind, but we have news of his reviving, and this by a Gentile, too, to show that they, as well as the Jews, were to enjoy the fruit and benefit of it But though Pliny, indeed, and some philosophers, esteemed it impossible even for God Himself to raise the dead, the same they held of a Creation ex nihilo. And, I know, Socinus, the Quakers, and some other sectaries and fanatics, have applied those words of Job to a temporal restitution of health and reparation of his losses: but the interpretation is forced, wrested, and plainly absurd, and contrary to the whole stream of ancient church, the clear sense of the sacred text, and the title he has given of a Redeemer, which shows he understood it of none but Christ That it was revealed, likewise, under the Law, we learn the Sadducees to have erred, because they knew not the Scriptures, nor ^ Exod., vi., 4; Psalm xc, 3; Isaiah, xxvi., 19; Dan., xii., 2; Matt., xxii., 31. ^ Job., xix., 25. THE TRUE RELIGION. 203 the power of God, whilst the Pharisees maintained both ; that is, the being of separate spirits, and belief of the Resurrection. Hence that extreme care and so- licitude, and cost of embalming, and funebral rights, as well among Pagans as Jews, having respect to a future state after this life.^ SECTION III. A FUTUEE STATE, AFTER THIS LIFE. We read not of any so barbarous and ignorant, but who had, at one time or other, notions of good and evil, felicity and misery, reward and punishment, according to demerits ; for such there were ever amongst the most savage of the New World, who never (that we can tell) had any traffic or commerce with the Old ; and who- ever has but a suspicion of this, does consequently fear or virtually acknowledge a supreme justice. But of this hereafter. The natural appetite which all men have to know- ledge, and the complacency we take in contemplation, the restless and never satisfied eye and heart, with riches, possessions, beauty, honour, learning, power, and whatever else this world is able to afford, whilst all other creatures are contented with food and natural things, teU us aloud, that there is something still behind the curtain of more perfect and consummate wanting, to fill our capacities and complete our happiness. I say, besides the sentences of wise men and divines, our natural sentiments of eternity and another state, our immense desires of lasting fame and of leaving some- ^ TertuU. ApoL, c. 42. 204 THE TRUE RELIGION. tiling of memorable behind us, and, above all, the remorse, the harrowings and strokes of conscience, or approbation and satisfaction, upon the doing of worthy or wicked actions, accusing or excusing, according to the obliquity or rectitude : and that wliich we appre- hend and would reconcile, when in imminent peril and near dissolution, not to be bribed or any ways pacified with all the delights and charms of this world, not to be put off by the most potent monarch — are all of them demonstrations of a future state. Besides, all things here are in continual flux and vicissitude, nothing per- manent ; no prince, no private person, nor state of life, assured one moment. It must be, therefore, some- where, and the perfection not of a single endowment only, but of our entire nature, which can make us happy, and which, not to be found in this, must in another state. If there be anything desirable beyond this life, and what this world affords, as we all confess and find there is, it is certain it exists and is in being somewhere ; seeing God has created no appetite but what He has provided something adequate to satisfy and fill. Had any mortal man been the first inventor of the opinion that there was another state of things, and a life to succeed this, he would most undoubtedly have been named, and assumed it to himself that he was so owned, and gloried in it ; so that it is impossible so vast a sect should have no known master among men. This makes it certain, then, that it came from none but God, and could be no otherwise derived than from Heaven. THE TRUE RELIGION. 205 What can be the reason of the universality of this be- lief, but our fears and doubtings, or rather our un- doubted apprehension of a being, when all our actions shall be scanned, approved, or condemned ? Was there nothing to remain after this umbratile life, why are men, above all other creatures, so solicitous for nothing ? Whence proceeded the notion so early, so generally? Why all this dispute among both learned and unlearned, barbarous and civil ? And why, in our most decrepit age, is the Soul most vivid and quick, and most greedy of knowledge, and less and less satisfied with material speculations. The truth is, without this there could be no living in the world, no government, no society. Paradise and Hell, reward and punishment, as the Rabbies wisely say, are the two pillars that support and bear up the world ; and God Almighty saw it, and not the politics of men, as Atheists would make us believe.^ Hence the adoration of departed heroes and apothe- oses among the ancients, believing them to survive their body; hence their reports of the Elysian Fields and Infernal Shades, of Minos and Rhadamanthus, Furies and hellish companions, and all that they have spoken of retributions, which both philosophers and poets either believed or feared. They tell us of the Stygian Lake, ^ Non leve momentum apud nos habet consensus omnium, aut timentium inferos, aut colentium. (Seneca, Epist. 17.) "The uni- versal consent of mankind has with me no little weight, whether it be of those who fear, or those who fondly dwell upon a future state." 206 THE TRUE RELIGION. dark and gloomy recesses, of Ixion wheels, tantalizing and horrible torments, and vultures feeding on the liver, intimating the restless stings of conscience; -ZEtnas, Vesuviuses, Heclas, and other volcanoes, and perennial burnings, showing the possibility of eternal fire — a true and real fire,* whose smoke ascends for ever — the never- dying worm, anguish of mind — the killing thought of eternity and despair. Oh, inexpressible misery! no release till the last mite be paid, which can never be ; there being no repentance wrought in those flames, no purgation of sin, no sanctification of nature, no justifica- tion of person, and, therefore, no salvation, without the mediation of a Saviour, who will then have given up and resigned that oflfice ; and so no remedy for ever.* The Socinians, indeed, pretend, and would fain have, that the eternal death, threatened in Scripture, signifies annihilation only, but know not how to avoid that ex- pression of everlasting fire.^ The Jews believed a second death; though more obscurely then intimated than afterwards. The weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, was by our Blessed Saviour frequently spoken of to them upon several occasions ; as also the Apostles of our Lord, of a mist of darkness, by St. Basil termed, an obscure fire, tormenting and heating, without the least * Isai., xxxiv., 10. ^ "Nulla major et pejor est mors, quS,m ubi non moritur mors. (S. Aug. De Civ. Dei, 1. vi., c. 12) — "No death is so terrible, as that state where death never dies." ^ S. Matt., xviii., 8— iii., 15; Deut., xiii., 5; Isai., xxii., Ixv., 6. THE TRUE RELIGION. 207 cheerful light. And this did the Heathen call Tartarus, (so Anacreon, the debauched poet, fearing to die, lest he should be condemned to it) for they feigned the place a dismal, uncomfortable den, in the bowels of the earth, and called it the Ahyss, the Infernal Lake,^ Hades, (which Plutarch says is a dark pit) and so SheoVs^ name also men- tioned in Scripture, and the Lake, a fiery gulf,'' whither, likewise, the devils were sent. The valley of Hinnon was a type of hell, for the cruelty of the idolatrous Jews offering their children and human sacrifices to Saturn; it was a deep bottom, where they flung all their carrion, as described by the Prophets:* enough and sufficient to prove, that they all believed a state after this life, and that there is an account to be given of our actions. SECTION IV. THERE IS AN ACCOUNT TO BE GIVEN OF OUR ACTIONS. But, because sentence is not immediately executed against evil men, therefore, their hearts are fully set and bent to do wickedly ; they wonder that some ghosts ^ Job., xxvi., 6 ; Isaiah, v. 14 — xiv., 9. ^ [Sheol, a Hebrew word, signifies " The Invisible state of the Dead," in general. (Dr. Parkhurst's Heb. Lex.) The seventy translate it by adr)s, (Hades) which, Dr. Campbell thinks, should never be rendered Hell in the New Testament, as it is now under- stood ; though in its primitive signification it answers to Sheol. — See Dr. Camp., Prel. Diss., vi., p. 82.] 3 S. Matt., viii., 29 ; II. Pet., ii., 4. * Isai., XXX., 33; Matt, iv., 1 ; Matt., xiii., 50; Luke, xvi., 24; Rev., XX., 10. 208 THE TRUE RELIGION. are not sent from the other world, to give them warn- ing and assurance of the being of such a place ; and men would prescribe to the Great Arbiter of things what we fancy and would have. He must humour every one's curiosity, not his reason only : we will have our senses satisfied j and, though that were insupport- able to flesh and blood, should they be taken at their word, they call for they know not what, and will only trust their own eyes before the God who made them ! We see not, indeed, these things, yet plainly perceive them; and innumerable most powerful operations are there, even in God's creatures, which, to our senses, are invisible as the wind : and the sun itself, which makes all visible, does almost put out our eyes with its lustre, nor can we perceive our own souls, the only nearest and most considerable portion of us! What thanks, or re- ward, then, can those pretend for their faith and virtue, who will credit nothing save what they see and touch ? What exercise of worth or goodness, when those who were every day witnesses of so many wonders and real miracles did not profit by them ? We also daily be- hold them in the continued economy of nature, yet slight and pass them by ; so that, should one rise from the dead, some would yet not believe. If the excellent things proposed and expected, and the punishments of the other state to those who do well and ill, were not incitements to govern ourselves ac- cordingly, what were the merits of faith, justice, charity, patience, and other virtues ? Had goodness and virtue no other remuneration but itself, (which the philoso- THE TRUE RELIGION. 209 phers hold sufficient) they must often act against their present interest, and what can that^ felicity be ? And, therefore, virtue is not that happiness, but the way leading to it. Nature prompts to acts of virtue, and to preserve herself, but always on account of retribution ; and God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him ; there being no sign of universal justice in this world ; and if there be such a thing as justice and goodness in the Divine nature, (as there certainly is) then must there be a reward for those who obey Him, and a punishment for those who do otherwise. The distribu- tion is somewhere and at some time ; for either there is a Judge of our actions, or there is none ; and in case there be. He must be just ; and then there is a trial to be expected, there being here no equal distribution at present, where for the most part wicked and ungodly men prosper. For man, being a free agent, capable of doing good, or evil, and consequently obnoxious to re- ward or punishment, and capable of another state in which to receive it; seeing, also, that in this life, not only good men pass unrewarded ; and that some, again, are so notoriously wicked, as no punishment here is sufficient to chastise and reform them, such as pirates and sea-robbers, who cast so many innocents overboard, and spoil the labours of honest men; murderers, and persecutors, and haughty tyrants, that make invasions on their quiet neighbours, and begin unjust wars ; that pursue men with malice, secret backbitings, and use devilish arts, perjury, and stick at no wickedness to compass their ends ; and that many such are placed out VOL. I. p 210 THE TRUE RELIGION. of the reach of common justice, such as those mighty ones, whose ambition and pride, lust and avarice, de- stroy whole nations, churches, and whatsoever is sacred. I say, seeing justice is so unequally distributed amongst these wicked men here, there must, of congruity and natural necessity, be a future calling to account. For Almighty God, being also a free agent, is not obliged to exercise either punishment or reward, seeing that would make Him a necessary agent ; but as He has decreed and declared Himself, not in His Word only, but in the opinions and confessions of all rational creatures, Heathen, and others, who knew not the Scripture. And, though God might make this appear by examples in this life. He is pleased awhile to suspend it, having given mankind sufficient reason to guide himself by. The discrimination here (all things happening alike to all) is very invisible as to good and evil events ; which still renders it most agreeable to reason and justice, that there will be an after-reckoning; seeing the greatest punishment and most consummate happi- ness is neither sufficient to deter men from vice, nor to render good and righteous men perfectly happy and completely satisfied. AU is here perpetually changing ; nor prince, nor private person, nor state of life, affi)rd one moment's repose. It must, therefore, be the per- fection not of any single endowment, but of our entire nature, which can render us happy ; and that is not to be hoped for in this life. Jews, Pagans, Christians, believing that all things which had beginning should have a period, expected an THE TRUE RELIGION. 211 universal conflagration ; the stoics, and divers philoso- phers, were of that faith — Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes, Laertius — that He who made the world was able to un- make and destroy it again. So the Poet : " Una dies dabit exitio, multosque per annos Sustentata ruet moles et machina mundi." ^ And all this generally by fire, as may abundantly ap- pear by the writings of Seneca,^ Cicero, Pliny, Ovid, Lucan, the Sybils, from some tradition, most likely from the people of God. They held a general assizes, to which all should be summoned, and had serious ap- prehensions both of the power of natural conscience and exactness of Divine justice; whence it follows that there was to be a just retribution. SECTION V. JUST RETRIBUTION. At this Felix trembled, on S. Paul preaching of right- eousness, temperance, and judgment to come,^ and that by reason of things of which he was notoriously guilty ; which, being himself a Heathen, he would never have had any sense of, had he not both believed and feared the consequence. Wherefore, though the Athenian Phi- losophers derided the Apostle's doctrine concerning the ^ " One fatal hour must ruin all : This glorious frame, that stood so long, must fall:" Creech — Lucret., 1. v., 96. ^ Seneca, Ep. 71; Nat. Qusest., 1. iii., c. 28; Lucan, Phars., lib. i., V. 73 ; Ovid, Met. xv. ^ Acts, xxiv., 25. p2 212 THE TRUE RELIGION. Resurrection, they did not in the least contradict his denouncing a judgment to evil-doers, and the telling them there was a day in which God would judge the world,* because it was a principle of their own before, and 80 rational a one to those who had a notion of God. Wherefore, Justin Martyr^ speaks of this as their uni- versal creed, and so does Tertullian, &c., from their frequent expressions to that effect, upon occasion of any wrong or injury. ^ But Plato surpasses them all, as cited largely by Eusebius* and Theodore t.* And the barbarous islanders concluded that vengeance had seized on S. Paul's hand, as thinking him some faci- norous person, though he had escaped the shipwreck. Were there not some dreadful expectation to come. Death would not be the King of Terrors : for it is the fear of dying after death which creates this fear. This it was that caused the wise Socrates to acknowledge that nothing would be so frightful to him as death, were he not assured of going to a great and wise God, from whom he expected to be transformed into some daimon, or god-like spirit, and speaks as divinely of the seclu- sion of profane and impious wretches^ from future hap- piness, as any Christian can do. Nor only Socrates, ^ Acts, xvii., 31. ' Apology. ^ Deus videt, Deus reddet, &c. * Euseb. Praep. Evang., 1. xi., c. 38 — 1. xxii., c. 6. 5 Serm. de fin. et Jud. : on as uKpi^as eniarfvev 6 HXdroiv els TO €v adov KpiTT]piov. — " Plato bclievcd firmly in a judgment to come." * Plato's Cratylus and Theaetetus. THE TRUE RELIGION. 213 but Socratlc Cicero, Plutarch, and others, more than obscurely hinting at a notion of a right and left hand. And, indeed, the common proportion and usages in this world suggest some remuneration to men as they de- serve; however, they too often miss of it, through the iniquity and injustice of men. They did (as the patriarchs of old) confess that they were but strangers and pilgrims belonging to another country ;^ for to this sense do both Trismegistus and Pythagoras, Jamblicus, the Greek satirists and poets, universally give suffrage more than once ; it being, as we said, the catholic belief of the wiser Heathen. The expressions of Zoroaster are wonderful ; so in the golden verses of Pythagoras, Epicharmus, &:c. Let us hear Cicero for all : " Cerium esse ac definitum locum in coelo, uhi heatiwm sempiterno fruantur.'''"^ What can be plainer? The translation of Enoch, the rapt of Elias, &c., might possibly give hints to such as may have heard of these miracles, or lighted on the Old Testament \^ even among the Heathen, many of the curious, both of the Greeks and Romans, happening upon its translation into the learned tongue by the care and command of Ptolemy. And as for the Patriarchs, it is evident they did not at all reckon upon the transitory enjoyment of this life ; which is very convincing, both against Papists and Anabaptists, in their exposition on the creed, &c. ; as if ^ Hebr. xi., 13. ^ " There is a sure and fixed place in Heaven, where the blessed enjoy life everlasting." — Somn. Scip. 3. ^ Gen., XV., 1 ; Job., xix., 29; Ps. xxvii., 13. 214 THE TRUE RELIGION. those holy persons had not some promises in the Old Testament, and most perspicuous ones in the New; besides what we find in the Maccabees,* the mother encouraging her seven children to undergo their mar- tyrdom. Let, therefore, these passages be consulted by the doubtful, and Mr. Thorndike's Epilogue.^ In a word, God, who has enjoined a law and duty, that duty performed and law observed, at the price of so much suffering and contradiction of evil men, infers a necessity of a future remuneration, for that which he suffers or falls short of here : because He, who is the fountain of justice, will maintain His character: " shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" Yes, yes; there will come a time, when all such as are in the grave shall hear the Judge's voice, and come forth, as Lazarus did, they that have done good to the resurrec- tion of life, and they who have committed evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.^ And, though the heathen had no revelation of this article, their revolution of souls for animadversion and punition — their canonization and apotheosis of excellent and deserving persons — their belief that there was above a place not subject to alteration, where they lived and ^ S. Matt., XXV., 5, 46 ; S. John, iii., 6— xii., 25 ; I. Tim., vi., 14 ; Titus, iii., 7 ; II. Cor., v., 1 ; I. Pet., v. 3, 4 ; II. Tim., iv., 8 ; James, i., 12; Heb., xii., 22, 29; 2 Mace, vii. 2 Book iii., ch. xxvi., &c. [An Epilogue on the Tragedy of the Church of England, by Herbert Thorndike. Published in 1659, and originally sold at the sign of the Bell, St. Paul's Churchyard.] 3 John, v., 24, 29. THE TRUE RELIGION. 215 enjoyed perfect tranquillity — shows what they thought of hereafter. There were in Yarro's time no fewer than two hundred and eighty eight opinions concerning the Sovereign Good, both what and where it was. The Epicureans placed it in sensual pleasure here ; the Stoics, in morality ; the Peripatetics, in philosophy and know- ledge of nature, policy, and contemplation ; the Aca- demics, and Plato, who nearest approached the truth, in being united to the life of the Deity, abstracted from earthly and mundane things. And he was certainly in the right ; for happiness consummate is that which comes nearest to the fountain of happiness, which is God. For this the bodies of holy and just persons, as well as souls, being spiritualized and made incorruptible, shall be adapted when once they come into the world and region of spirits, and that all our parts and faculties are raised to their utmost enlargement and capacity ; our wills perfected with absolute and indefective sanc- tity^ in exact conformity to God's will, and full liberty from the servitude of sin, no more perplexed about its choice, but enjoying a radical and fundamental emanci- pation, shall entirely embrace that consummate good ! When all our affections shall be regulated unalterably, and our whole man happy in all the complements of solid fruition ! ^Vlien we shall enjoy an absolute ex- emption from pain, sickness, want, labour, possibility of sinning — unspeakable complacency flowing from all these perfections, and fruition of the Sovereign Being, ^ John, v., 24; I. Cor., xiii., 12; xv., 49; II. Cor., v., 4, 8. 216 THE TRUE RELIGION. the vision of God to continue eternally, as to their duration, in a standing calm, without any flux and suc- cession of time!* When we shall enjoy, see, and feel such glorious things, and hear words which are unutter- able !« These contemplations are profitable to deter us from sin, and provoke us to holiness; since "without holiness no man shall see God." They breed, and will nourish in us filial fear and caution, seeing we have to do with a great and just judge, one who will not be mocked — with a jealous God, a consuming fire — a powerful God, from whom none can deliver : and with all this, a benign and merciful God, ready to pardon those who return to ■virtue and sober counsels. The contemplation of a future life and happy eternity will excite our conten- tion to enter into this happy state, and serve to wean our affections and inclinations from sensual pleasures, and to place them above with God, at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore — in sum, to take up the Cross, if it lie in our way, and to despise whatever obstacle we may meet withal, for the illustrious things which are set before us, and proposed to those brave and heroic souls that overcome. The faculties of the human soul capacitate us for a more excellent and sublime condition than our fellow- creatures. Man looks upward, whilst they grovel and pore upon the ground on which they tread. His thoughts are of things abstracted, and meditate on the Divine Nature and attributes of God, disposing him to ' Heb., v., 9; ix., 15; xiii., 14, 21. ^ H. Cor., xii., 4. THE TRUE EELIGION. 21 7 religion and piety, and to notions and sentiments of nature totally different from things that perish. Men could not so universally value goodness, and, when in sober thoughts, abhor villany, did not some- thing imprinted within leave those characters. For no man thinks well another should do him injury ; and there is such a thing as repose and satisfaction after a good and honourable, that is, after an honest and worthy, action. And all virtue has certainly a suitable- ness to some natural principle in us ; as, on the contrary, the conscience of vicious men is a confirmation of it. Besides, every sensible being has an innate and insite love and friendship to Itself, and so cannot but desire its eternal good and preservation in a state and condition most perfect ; and man being composed of soul and body, both must be gratified in some place and circumstance adequate to their constitution and nature. This notion of an after-being and retribution is still a corroboration of what we have all along been asserting, namely, of the existence and nature of God, prompting our due and solemn addresses to what is worthy of Him ; else. It were a dishonour to oifer Him any worship. But when we find a Being so transcendently perfect, as that it depends on nothing, and everything depends on it, this challenges our utmost veneration, and invites our love and service. We need, therefore, no compulsion to engage our affections, and to the belief of these things; seeing the light of nature leads us to them, whatever prejudices ill education, institution, or other averse accidents may have produced — through the 218 THE TRUE RELIGION. malice of seducing spirits — the ignorance and impiety of others ; whilst even the idolatry and superstition they have introduced to obliterate and blot out of our minds the belief of a future state, were argument enough to convince men that there is one. Egregious, then, is the madness of those who run the hazard, whether there be a life to come or not ; since, if none, the rules and precepts required to attain the supposed bliss, are only such as a wise, and even natural man, would prefer, for the excellency and benefit of them in this present world ; and so did Epictetus, So- crates, Antoninus, Seneca, Trajan, Severus, and several brave and virtuous heathen. But, in case it should fall out that there be another state and appendant retri- butions, what can be more deplorably miserable, than not to have lived well ? And if this be not an unde- niable demonstration, how counsellable it is to resolve upon a course of virtuous living, nothing in nature is. To conclude, this doctrine is not only from the Scrip- ture oracles, which we are yet to prove divine and infal- lible, but the dictates of nature and of nations ; the Druids, Egyptians, Persians, Indians, of the old world, and those of the new.^ In a word, the end of man is here, (and from all we have asserted) to lead a life pro- portionable to his worthy nature — in the knowledge of his Maker and His works — sense of the divine love, favour, protection, beneficence, and future well-being. We see, then, the universal suffrage of the Pagan world : and should not we rather believe who besides ^ Homer, Diog. Laertius. Plutarch Lucan. THE TRUE RELIGION. 219 all this have the Divine Eevelation, (the wisest, most knowing, and best of men in all ages unanimously agreeing) than be carried away with a few fool-hardy and abandoned wretches, ignorant and debauched fops, who tremble to die in unbelief, though they seem to live in that magnificent and daring infidelity. There can be no rational, sedate, deliberate bravery and real courage indeed, but in such as have good and solid hopes of a future state and rewards for well doing : since, with Plato, ^ death were an insupportable evil, without hopes of a better life, in almost the words of St. Paul,^ Verily, we do not think nor dare we trust it, the proudest of us all, that we shall one day be nothing, or happy if we continue wicked; for separated souls do undoubtedly survive, by virtue either of their spiritual and immortal nature, or by some Almighty Power pre- serving them from being dissolved, and are as really in some place, if not circumscriptively, as proper bodies are, yet determinately and really present somewhere, and not elsewhere. In this state it is she also exercises her intellectual powers ; when in death, passing by a real motion from body to such other receptacle her just Creator shall assign her, according as she is qualified for bliss or misery. Certainly, that substance which can and does exist without the body, and think, too, what she pleases, notwithstanding the frailties of the body, has a being after body ; and the mere capacity of the soul to appre- hend these notions sufficiently evinces that there is an 1 Phsedo. 2 I Cor., xv., 19. 220 THL TRUE RELIGION. extra-mundane^ posthume state and condition yet to come, all which gives presage of its sempiternal existence ; and that, whilst the soul, having emanant acts not belonging to the body, even whilst she remains within it, can exist without it. And if no substantial entity can be anni- hilated, it must remain for ever. In vain were else all those ceremonies, and ablutions to lustrate, purify, and prepare the soul, which even the very Pagans used, directed only by the light of nature ; so that this death of ours is, as Heraclitus truly said, the soul's life, and our life her death. ^ These, (albeit there are many certain truths, which are incapable of proof from natural appearances, and discoveries cognoscible by us) to me are irrefragable and convincing demonstrations of something still in expect- ance, of more accomplished and consummate of our nature, which this inextinguishable inclination and per- petually thinking substance aspires and breathes after ; and of which we become the more assured as we im- prove our reason and our virtue — grow more religious and abstracted from the animal world. And that the essential man, the Soul, approaches nearer her restitu- tion, by a thorough purgation from corporeal taints and impurities, and lives nobly under the power of godlike dispositions, and as becomes the dignity of his nature ; preparing himself for that Dei-form, angelical, and bright condition, when all these impediments, that charge and clog us here, being shaken off and left be- hind, we shall be invested with the celestial robes, and ^ Plato, Phaed. Porphyr. de Antro Nymph. THE TRUE RELIGION. 221 by an union more intimate and mysterious, derive new life and knowledge from the fountain, or rather ocean- sea of all perfection. For thus the Supreme bounty delights to diffuse itself on the creature, without any diminution of his own immensity, or essential proper- ties, which alone are intransient and incommunicable. That God has provided so glorious mansions for wor- thy and holy souls, sufficiently declares how precious that substance is, and how dear to Him, which we, whom it most concerns, take so little care of. For, what shall I call that eeov fiolpav ? ^ not to say part of the god-like essence, with the Manichees, who dreamt that, when it left the body, it reverted to the Divine original; Sive hunc divino semine fecit Ille Opifex rerum.^ but, with St. Paul, a particle of His goodness and won- drous bounty, qualifying her to partake of the Divine nature.^ Still, as the image is ever inferior to the pro- totype, so is the Soul in respect to her Maker. She is, therefore, a similitude of Him rather, a divine rivulet or emanation, a beam of His splendour, like that of the sun, which makes day, without diminution of his glo- rious body. She is, doubtless, the most charming cha- racter of His image. "* Could we with mortal eyes ^ Macrobius Somn. Scip., 1. i., Plato. Critias. ^ " Whether with particles of heavenly fire The God of Nature did his soul inspire." Picart's version of Ab. Bannier. — Ovid, Met., lib. i., 80. ^ Zach., xii., 8. * Ad divinam iraaginem propius accedit humana virtus, quani figura. — Cic. de Nat. Dear. " The divine image finds a closer likeness in human virtue, than in human form." 222 THE TRUE RELIGION. behold the Soul of some excellent and righteous man, how (like the Philosopher's naked virtue) would it charm us with admiration I And it is that which truly exalts our nature, and carries it up to those supernal mansions, and brings it into an assimilation of our resplendent Maker, and to an internal sensation of His infinite perfections. It is for this, and the life to come, BO many brave souls have despised the delights and sweets of life and ease here, to embrace tortures, fire, racks, and gibbets, and even Phalaris's bull. Man is the only creature that goes erect and looks up to heaven,* as if he had nothing to do on earth but to set his foot upon it. His native country is above ;2 his nature does not acquiesce in any terrene elementary thing ; something there is he is still in want of, how- ever, in the midst of fulness ; for, wherever nature has left a capacity of receiving an increase of perfection from some other thing, there she has planted an appetite to enjoy it. And what can this be but an immortal and imperishable condition, which, not being to be found below, must somewhere be above? God has made nothing in vain ; but so has suited objects to the nature of all, that there is nothing left us to desire which is not somewhere to be had. There will come a time when what here we know but in part shall be entire and consummate. Faith and sanctity and other divine and passive graces and perfec- tions, which lead to happiness and are things spiritual, are not imparted to us for no end, as they would be, ^ Ovid. Met., i., ver. 85, &c. * Diog. Laert. in Anaxag. THE TRUE RELIGION. 223 were there no future expectation. We cannot, there- fore, reasonably imagine that the human Soul was sent into us with these infinitely abstracted comprehensions, without proportionable objects to fill all its powers, and leave no capacity unsatisfied one day, where the under- standing shall be exalted to its highest pitch, and that, with an absolute and indefective plenitude, large as our capacity, and permanent as our being. There is in every one of us a certain innate aspira- tion to live for ever; and, as Cicero expresses it,^ a kind of natural augury of a future existence, and that we are but, as it were, in a stranger's home. Were our dwelling only in this world, we could have no idea or desire of any other being or satisfaction; so as that cannot in justice be wanting to the most excellent crea- ture, which is not to the most inferior of them. Doth God care for oxen 9 Have not all their senses, that which even gluts them, whilst the rational Soul is no more contented than was Alexander with all the world. Other creatures are carried regularly and by instinct to the end they seek, but so is not man : he finds not his sovereign good here. So true is that of St. Augustine, " Fecisti nos ad Te, et inquietum est cor nostrum, donee requiescat in Te." ^ It is the weight of this body of ours, depressing and sinking the soul into matter, makes it so difficult to emerge ; but then she is illustrious, when, withdrawing 1 Tuscul. ^ "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and restless is our heart until it find rest in Thee." Confessions, lib. i., c. i. 224 THE TRUE RELIGION. herself from this low converse, she shakes her fetters off, abdicates the senses, and, by a kind of anticipation, quits the lump of body before their natural dissolution ; and she returns to her own substance when she returns to virtue. This recess, and how to profit by it — ah, how de- licious ! how charming ! When I consider the sacred pledge of a soul, concredited, as she is, by God to every man, and who expects he should return her Him again, pure and immaculate as He gave it her ! What shall we say, when he finds her so deformed, so ugly, un- clean, and unlike what she was, as to profess He knows her not ? What excuse for the unfaithfulness of our trust, the vices contracted, and that from so noble and generous a stock, so celestial a race ? That this daughter of God and sister of angels, capable of infinite happi- ness, should lose her birthright, be ejected from her native country, and made miserable to eternity ! How has such a soul cause to reproach one, that, being of so free and ingenuous a nature, we should confine her to a sordid dungeon ; bring her into such abandoned com- pany, and never give her breath, or suffer her to act like herself, to trim and prune her wings ! Contemplate from whence she came, and whither she should go! How may she not execrate and curse the flesh, that made her such a drudge ; and that, when marriageable to an empire bigger than all the world, she has been betrayed to a poor and wretched lazar !^ When she ^ Of this vassalage of the soul, see Plato's Phado, and Dr. Stil- lingfleet {Orio^. Sac, 1. iii, c. 3., § 17). THE TRUE RELIGION. 225 might have been learned, knowing, pure, and full of light, we have brought her up in ignorance, and put out her very eyes I When she was designed the hap- piest of all created beings, we have reduced her to this misery ! But thus the lovely bride, this innocent and spotless virgin, is no sooner born, but see how she is bestowed ! The living is bound to the dead ; the clean and pure to a sordid and ulcerous companion ! For, why else so low-spirited, so soon in wrath at every trifle; so fearful, jealous, and diffident, proud and covetous, voluptuous and vain ? In a word, why do we lie in all this ordure and inactive sloth, when there is a kingdom before us, mansions of bliss, and the journey yet so short, so easy, so delightful? But from this, and a thousand deaths besides, she only can be freed by breaking her prison-doors ; not of the body, those walls of flesh, that environ her, but of the vices she has cAitracted, which is the Centaur that detains her in the labyrinth. On the other side, if so she have behaved herself, as by resisting the violence offered her, to recover her native freedom, and, emanci- pated from the tyranny she had been under, resume her virtue, she is immediately joined in second nuptials to a choice and glorious condition, where she now dwells no longer under subjection ; but, being arbitress of her own happiness, and reinforced with uncontrollable powers, is able to vanquish all assaults, allay and charm those perturbations, that the slavish and mutinous pas- sions at any time insolently raise against her. She controls inclinations, composes the lower appetites, VOL. I. Q 226 THE TRUE RELIGION. withdraws incentives, moderates and coerces whatever she finds exorbitant, and acts the part of a wise and sovereign princess, and sits like a queen indeed: Et prccstb est Domina omnium et Begina ratio, as the orator has described her.* In a word, her government is natural and easy, and she becomes as happy, even in this life, as is consistent with the exercise of the noblest graces ; presiding, as she does, like a supreme and universal monarch; and she steadily guides the reins, and enjoys a sweet and peaceful dominion, unless she suffer herself to be again corrupted by the fatal charms of a wanton prosperity, become remiss, slack her Jiand, and let fall the sceptre out of it ; or that she meanly resign, make faint resist- ance, betray her trust, and, basely surrendering her title, consent to her own deposition. So true is that, FaciU domahit cuncta, qui menti imperat.^ But the rules and arcana of th?fe polity ^ are not to be learned from the trivial usages and institutions of men, but from the Divine Oracles, and the mysteries of religion, the aids of reason, our conversation with prac- tical virtue, (not feigned and theatrical) the exercises of habitual graces, and a purgative life. And thus a soul, by careful discipline, recovers herself, by original justice, inflexible honesty, and by what is true and really good ; upon which there succeeds a certain heroical celsitude ^ See this incomparably described in Cicero, Tusc, 1. ' " He vrill subdue all things easily, who has the mastery of self." See Prov., xvi., 32. ^ Tertull. de Anim., c. 4. THE TKUE RELIGION. 227 and serenity of mind, joys intellectual, and, in sum, a felicity the most consummate attainable in this life, be- cause it is the life of God, and an antepast of Heaven. And this, the upper man, and noble soul, may attain to here; but then he must be vigilant, go continually armed, and be ready to encounter every thought and imagination of reluctant sense, and the first prolusions of the enemy. He must stand upon the guard, and ex- amine all that passes, and, finding himself too weak at any time, call for aid from above. Let us hear the de- vout Simplicius,^ though a Heathen : " Oh, blessed fountain of light and immortality ! who, to form us after thine own image, hast impressed on us that glorious character, an immortal soul ; whose descent, being from Thee, has no superior but Thee, and is en- riched with such transcendent faculties to think, dis- cern, resolve, and, by thine Omnipotent aid and our endeavours, to pursue that which is best and most agreeable to the dignity of our being : let, oh ! let not that emanation from Thee, given to be the conductress of our life, and guide to supernal mansions, be so im- mersed in sensual and brutish appetites, as, by yielding to the least of them, to sully that bright and illustrious mirror, which is the reflection of Thy resplendent face, or lose the prerogative with which we are invested. Clear, more and more, the entanglements of our under- standing : dissipate the mists which our depraved affec- tions benight us in ; emancipate us of those weights which depress the nobler faculties, that, delivered from this ^ Simplic. Comm. in Epictet. Enchir., cap. Ixxix. Q2 228 THE TRUE RELIGION. prison, freed of these ponderous chains, we may no more lie under the tyranny of our deadly enemies, the preju- dices of custom, superstition, popular delusion, the love of pleasure, and the fugitive satisfactions of sense : but discerning the bright and glorious beam, from whence tlie soul enkindled aspires to be re-united, we may ascend the celestial tower, and cast down these usurpers, scatter the impostures, and at once shake off those im- pediments, which, through our sad and deplorable weak- nesses, have hitherto prevented us ; and the resplendent virtues of peace, justice, humility, charity, all the virtues, all the graces, with an inflamed zeal be again revived in souls devoted to Thy service." It is the lower man, which, seeking to gratify and indulge its ally, the sense, is perpetually caressing it with objects which fascinate and deprave it ; as more agreeable to it than what reason suggests, because the senses are gross and palpable. It is this which inter- I)oses the enmity between the flesh and the spirit, the brute and the man in us — disturbs the government, and mars the image of God's vicegerent, or rather the little Deity within us. Let us hear the devout Granada,* resembling the human soul to her Divine Creator in substance, essence, understanding, and operation. " She neither eats," says he, " nor drinks, sleeps, nor is visible; she is immaterial, and in every individual simple and but one : God is a spirit — so is the soul ; invisible — the ' "El Amor de Dios" — a Dominican, one of the greatest ascetic writers of Spain, born in 1505. See Nicolas, Bihliothec. Hisp, Biog, XJniver, THE TRUE EELIGION. 229 soul Is SO ; immortal — so is she : God is an Intellectual Spirit — so is the soul ; has freedom of will — she has the like : God is holy, just, and good, and so would the soul be, too, but for the Tempter ; nor is she, for all this, without some footsteps and traces of those virtues. And as to her essence and operations, God is simple, indivisible, and so is the soul : He is all in all, gives being to all, and, being but one, operates in all. In like manner, is the soul but one, simple, indivisible, and spiritual, working aU those different motions in the little world, our bodies ; giving form, being, life, to all the functions, senses, organs, in ten thousand different offices; so as, albeit angels may more peculiarly re- semble their Maker, because, being peculiarly spiritual, they have no commerce with bodies; yet, considering the several operations of the soul in the body, she seems, in truth, to be more like Him than are those glorious messengers themselves, and is His only representative here below." Indeed, God alone is infinite and eternal in all accep- tations, having neither beginning nor end of days ; but so is not the soul, unless as to its capacities of duration, and manner of understanding; forasmuch as there is nothing capable to fill and satiate her but God Himself, in whom only is all fulness ; and she still desires to know and to learn more ; so that in the soul of man there is an infinite faculty, which would have no end or limit even in this life, did not death interpose, and put a period to her external operations : the internal never die. 230 THE TRUE RELIGION. CONTINUATION. Thus, is the soul the type and lively character of her blessed Maker; not as rational only, or of mutual faculties and substance, in which many vile and profli- gate men, who pervert their faculties, dedecorate and pollute themselves, (becoming rather so many images of the devil) frequently exceed the best of men ; but in her rectitude and pursuit of virtue, justice, fortitude, temperance, meekness, charity, and as she is superna- turally enlightened.^ So, indeed, the understanding, will, conscience, or intellectual recorder, renders us, like our Creator, symbolical of a kind of Trinity. " She will deserve eternal life," says Lactantius, " if she betray not the succours which reason offers, and which God has reserved to assist her ; she can and may vindicate lier dominion, maintain her empire, and oft has freed herself from those usurpers, escaped the inescations of sense, and reduced her vassals to obedience.^" And yet these dangerous enemies, the objects of our senses, and consequently of our passions and affections, are not alto- gether to be abandoned and quite obliterated. They should not, I say, be quite extinguished, but are hugely ^ Gal., v., 13-26; Ephes., iv., 24; James, iii., 17, 18. 2 " Qui si delicatus magis ac tener in hac vita fuerit, quam ratio ejus exposcit; si, virtute coDtempta, desideriis se carius addixerit, cadet et premetur in terram. Sin autem, ut debet, statum suum, quem rectum sortitus est, promte constanterque defenderit; si, terra?, quam calcare ac vincere debet, non servierit ; vitam mere- bitur sempitemam. — Lactant. De Opif. Dei, c. 19. THE TKUE RELIGION. 231 useful to exercise and prove us ; yea, and may be qua- lified, as far as is necessary, for the support of life and the comfortable fruitions of it ; since, being no other than the motions of the soul herself, inciting us to laud- able and worthy actions, they come to be perverted only by being too much caressed and indulged. We are not, therefore, to blame our appetites, or passions, which God has ordained to be the scenes of our obe- dience, and as being but the natural effects of that animal spirit in our bodies from external objects ; but strive and endeavour that we do not over-cherish their emotions and solicitudes, in our wills and fancies, till they become exorbitant and unreasonable, or judge and determine of things through those false and delusory optics. For the soul does not so necessarily sympathize with the body, as that she cannot forbear these in- dulgences. No passion can compel the will, without our own consent. The immediate obsequiousness of the body to the will shows, rather, that the motions of the mind are no way mechanical, but a more noble, dis- tinct, and incorporeal principle. The power of the un- derstanding over the will, is to regulate only ; nor can the will, refractory and mutinous as it often is, or our ' passions, rebellious as they are, knowingly and sedately wish for what is destructive of their good ; unless our present impatience of being satisfied for the time de- prave our natures, and men obstinately stop their ears, connive and shut their eyes, and will not seriously con- sider, nor act like understanding and reasonable crea- tures, to examine and discuss things impartially, curb 232 THE TRUE RELIGION. and moderate, yea, crucify their inclinations. For the human Soul acts as the will disposes, and that^ as the understanding prompts. Wherefore, our care must be to rectify the intel- lectual faculty, and that it resign not to appetite ; that perverse will become not vicious, and the vice, custom, and that induce necessity : that, as the wise man ad- vises,' we give the water no passage, that evil enter not the first door of sense, eye, or ear, touch, or taste ; nor the second one, of fancy ; nor the third, of under- standing; nor the fourth, of the will; lest it break forth into act, and one act produce two, and that a third, and it become habitual, and double to infinite ; and, in fine, obliterate the very principles of nature, and debase us below the vilest animal. We may be angry, provided we sin not, nor let more of the passion loose than what is just, and adequate to the offence : but it should never be such as to proceed to rage, and irreconcileable reproaches, or let the sun go down upon our wrath : that, as we are advised, our fears be- tray not the succour which reason offers, or by render- ing us too remiss, when upon a good and brave occasion it imports us to bear up. And so of the rest of the irascible and concupiscibles, reason and religion should hold the reins. Remember this, and show ourselves men ;^ that is, do manly things, and not to let our passions loose, like untamed beasts; not be lions in our own houses, furious, morose, peevish, snarling and worrying ^ Ecclus., XXV., 25. . ' Isaiah, xlvi., 8. THE TRUE EELIGION. 233 upon any slight occasion ; nor be thorns and briars to all that come near us, and thwart our inclinations. The mind, says our noble Verulam,^ has that empire over the body which the Lord has over his vassals ; but our reason over our passions, that command which a magistrate has over citizens, which should be gentle, benign, easy, and discreet. St. Augustine,^ I remem- ber, strangely wonders at the folly of men, so desirous of knowing other things, before they learn to know themselves. What pride, what passion, what envy and malice, lust and avarice, in a word, what dens of wild and unclean beasts should we discover in our own bosoms ! Verily, passions always are and ever wiU be in us, and so they should ; but it is not convenient they shall always be in action, though always in a readiness : like well-disciplined soldiers, they should always stand in their ranks and files, and know how to handle their arms, but he content with their pay, and do violence to no man, till led on by an experienced commander, and when the cause is just ; and then they are for defence, and to guard, not to injure ourselves or others. They are subjects, not sovereigns, and must be kept in obe- dience, lest they dethrone their superior; and when they rise in tumult, they are to be suppressed and re- duced to order again. Thus regulated and employed on worldly objects, there is not a passion but is highly useful. When, for instance, our love is placed on virtue, and the sovereign Good, which is God, our hatred and aversion against base ^ Bacon's Instaur. Magna, 1. 5. ^ Confess., lib. 10. 234 THE TRUE RELIGION. and unworthy tilings, our grief and regret for our own defects and follies, and so of the rest. For a wise man should not be without his passions, but above them. Our great Example was so; and those who will be happy must be so, when they feel them stirring, hold in the bit, and never suffer the beast to ride away with the man, but keep a steady hand, regulated and free from excess; for so did our Lord and Master; and therefore have divines called them propassions. He bounded them with reason, and suffered them hardly to go a little forward, when He scourged the sacrilegious profaners of the Temple.^ For passions, which with the Pathomyotomists are, as it were, the muscles of the soul, are like the winds ; they serve to swell and fill the sails, and urge and move us forwards. Nothing more useful, while they gently breathe, nothing more benign : but, when once they estuate, grow high and impetuous, they raise the billows into mountains, toss and submerge the vessel. An angry man shall never want woe ; like fire and water, they are excellent ser- vants, but cruel masters. Nothing is more profitable, whilst kept within the chimney and the channel ; but, when once they grow too big for the one, or bear down the banks of the other, and get dominion, they take hold of the house, and overflow the country, and a dreadful conflagration and ruin follows. Nor are we, for all this, to complain of nature, as if dealing hardly and unkindly with us, in rendering us susceptible of these impressions, and obnoxious to the * S. John, ii., 13. THE TKUE EELIGION". 235 rage of such unruly monsters, the dangers and errors to which we are exposed : since, as we showed, all our corporeal motions are sensated by the soul, and she can give check or liberty, control and curb them at pleasure ; which is to me a kind of demonstration of her inde- pendence from the body, and a manifest conviction that God has inspired it, and furnished us with such aids against their rude and sudden incursions, as needs no- thing save our own endeavours and resolutions, co-ope- rating with a grace which is always ready to assist us ; but without which all the right reason the Socinians and others glory in will hardly entitle us to what we have lost, or take out the spot which has tainted us : so im- petuously are we hurried to our own destruction, and to coveting the forbidden fruit. Besides, He has placed her in this station, that man being a voluntary and intellectual agent and arbiter of his actions, when we shall have given proof and argu- ment of virtue. He may remunerate with the more noble reward: and pronouncing us capable of higher felicity, communicate to us Himself, which is the sum of happiness. For upon this account the great Apostle* describes to us what pleasure he took in infirmities, in necessities, and distresses, and that when he was weak, then he was strong, as having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, &c. It is for this we are bid to love our enemies, to bless them who curse us, pray for those who persecute us; to turn the other cheek, go the * n. Cor,, xu,, 6, 10. 236 THE TRUE RELIGION. other furlong : in a word, not to render evil for evil, but to overcome evil with good. What an important and highly necessary thing, then, it is, that man should know himself, and the dignity of that heaven-bom inmate, his immortal soul! When the wise man said, " Know thyself," (says Cicero) he bid thee know thy soul.* And the Poet — Ne te qusesiveris extra. Seek not thyself without thyself. It is like travelling other countries and foreign kingdoms, before we have seen any thing of our own. Man is the whole world's compendium : and though his body be elementary, kneaded of a handful of re- fined dust, his soul is ethereal, incorruptible, and immortal. He is nature's great miracle, the divine epitome of the creation, and the richest furniture of both worlds, this and that to come : fitted and prepared for the highest favours, to converse with angels, and, being purified by virtue, to be taken into the bosom of his Maker,2 freed from error, ignorance, impetuous loves, human passions, and infirmities, and that all his delights are chaste, rational, godlike, endless. What, oh, what shall I call thee, O, illustrious par- ticle, but a ray of the Divine Light itself! divinae particulam aurae ;' * Cum igitur dicit, nosce te, hoc dicit, nosce animum tuum. — Cic. Tusc, 1. ' OvTOi fjL€v €;^oii(ra, ds to oixoiou avrfj to de'iov aTrepxtTai, t6 Odov Tf Koi dddvaTov, kol (j)povifiov. — Plato's Phcddo. 3 Hor., Sat., lib. ii., 79. iinnimi or \ 3ert; but, l I — perfec- j signature J THE TRUE RELIGION. 237 (not to say a decision from the godlike substance, as Philo platonizes a little too boldly) all but a spark of His incommunicable essence. For so the orator, and, with becoming veneration, Humanus animus, decerptus ex mente dwind cum alio nullo, nisi cum ipso Deo (si fas est dictu) comparari potest.^ Not by any substantial or real emanation, which were indeed bold to assert as she is immortal, spiritual, and intellectual- tions in God transcendent, in man by way of and idea only ; or, as the Apostle liimself,^ as well as the poet of near alliance with him — Tov yap koX yevos eafxev. " For we are his offspring." And hadst thou been, my soul, of meaner extraction, how couldst thou have been the object of such a Saviour, and such a love ? As, rather than He would not make thee happy, when He saw thee so miserable, betrayed and captivated by thy senses, would Himself descend, become incarnate, palpable, and obvious to our sense. And this body and this nature (of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting) has He exalted, that, being lifted up. He might draw all men to Him. But, alas ! when all is done, in such a dungeon does this precious jewel of ours lie, that she neither discerns nor is sensible of her own operations ; no, nor how the body itself, her domicile here, is built. She knows not ^ "The human soul, as it is an emanation from the Divine mind, can be compared with nothing else (I speak reverently) hut with God Himself." — Cic, Tusc, lib. v, ^ Acts, xvii., 28 ; Aratus. 238 THE TRUE RELIGION. what gave tlie first motion to the first moved, the heart; and whether now we move by the spirits in the inter- current nerves, the heart, or bloOd, or by what other family. In short, " that a soul we have we know, but what, where, whence she is, we cannot tell."^ And though we only live by breath, we neither know how nor why we breathe ; so as after two of the most saga- cious persons of our age* (or perhaps of any other) have spent volumes on the subject, treating of the use of respiration only, they have ingenuously acknowledged it a hopeless search I^ Pro superi, quantum mortalia pectora caecse Noctis habent * We know not the very principles by which we live, nor where we dwell, nor what we do, nor are. But, when we shall be freed from these impediments, it is then we shall be happy, indeed ;* it is then the soul shall ^ Animum habere nos scimus ; quid sit animus, ubi sit, qualis sit, et unde, nescimus. — Sen., Ep., 121. ^ [He names only one ; the other, probably, is his friend, the celebrated Boyle, in one of whose works {Physico-Mechan., E. x.) there is an article upon the use and process of Respiration, which concludes with the following quotation from St. Augustine — " Magis eligo cautam ignorantiam confiteri, quam falsam scientiam profiteri.] ^ Advocent in consilium omnes ingenii vires, quotquot sese na- turae consultos arbitrantur, sudabunt scio plus satis, priusquam verum respirationis usum invenerint. — Dr. Ent. Antid., De usu. Resp., p. 143. * "Ye Gods! What thick, involving darkness blinds The stupid faculties of mortal minds!" — Picart. Ovid, Met., Ub. iv., 472. ^ Cic. Tusc, lib. 1. THE TRUE RELIGION. 239 know and be known; and whether the seeds of all sciences, knowledge, and reason, were inherent in pre- existency, which are now excited and stirred up to act, by the suggestion, ministry, and retrievement of the senses; and whether we now recal things only to memory, which we knew before : it being more than probable, that the soul in separation, and departing hence, carries away aU her innate and acquired notions, and it is certain, receives also higher and more sublime ones, REFLECTIONS. We shall then contemplate the universe in its arche-M type ; namely, the intellectual world, in the Divine 1 mind ; in which dwell all the forms and exemplars of all \ that has been, is, or shall be, in the angelical, elementary, ^| great, and little world; the substance, quiddity, and; essence of everything ; the prime and proximate matter ^^ of all the species and kinds of beings, together with the fomi and principle of motion in everything. Nay, (and in comparison of which, all this knowledge is yet but ignorance) even to the full of our most enlarged desires, the Divine decrees themselves, immortality and infinity; the unexplicable, adorable Trinity, and hypostatical union, ^ and other recondite mysteries of our most holy; J religion. There it is (to speak with a devout person, )2 the records of eternity shall be exposed to view ; when we shall discover upon what apt junctures and admi- rable dependences of things so perplexed, cross, and mysterious to our shallow reasonings, the designs of ^ See Pet. du Moulin. De Cognit. Dei. ^ Mr. Howe. 240 THE TRUE RELIGION. them were laid: when in that mirror, that Speculum ^ternitatis, we shall see all that truth, the knowledge whereof can be any ways grateful to our nature ; and in his light see light; and by that light all those vast treasures of knowledge and wisdom shall lie open, with- out enclosure, and the most voluptuous epicurism, in reference to it, become innocent. Where there shall be neither lust, nor forbidden fruit; no prohibition of de- sirable knowledge, no aflPectation of undesirable. When we shall trace all those rivulets which successively pass by us here in petty streams, to the wide ocean, and the glimmering beams of light to the fountain of light itself. In sum, when the pleasure of speculation shall be with- out the toil, and that maxim eternally antiquated, that " Increase of knowledge increases sorrow." Oh, how charming a scene will it be to behold whence the vast frame of all nature sprung! what stretched out the interminable expanse, planted the pillars of the poised earth, and turned the mighty wheels of Providence through all succession of time! What that arm, which holds the spirits of darkness in adamantine chains, and checks the rage of tyrannous princes, and the tumults of restless and ungovernable multitudes, that the few virtuous and dear to Heaven be not made a prey ! How delightful will be the con- templation of comprehending all the possible effects of the Supreme Power, as far as a glorified creature can dive, or desire to dive into infinity ! To have a pro- spect of the innumerable creatures in the creative power of. the Almighty ! Nor less to consider what has re- THE TRUE RELIGION. 241 Strained its full exertion, and that uncontrolled justice, that it did not at once avenge itself on the contuma- cious, and turn the whole world of sinners into ruin and desolation. What a happy state, when all our doubts shall be solved, all our infirmities healed, all our senses unbound, all our faculties inspirited with new vigour ! A scene of love and fruitions opened all about us, and letting us into the heart, where the noble thoughts of that love dwelt from eternity, which made the great and consummately happy God become a man of sorrows, and the Deity to be clad in human flesh ! Eternity to become the birth of time, and the Son of the Most High to pitch his tabernacle among mortal men ! In a word, (O, stupendous !) to teach, reduce, and restore sinful creatures, and conduct them to supernal happiness ; redeem lost and miserable dust with the blood of God ! And that God to embrace a painful and shameful cross ; become a victim to In- censed justice — a spectacle to angels and men ! Nor all this by transient and superficial knowledge, figures, and umbrations, but immediate and intuitive notices ; nor longer by mediation of species, nor con- fusedly in universals ; but distinctly, properly, and by their essential definitions. Our knowledge will then, I say, be perfect, without need of art and reasoning ; as being itself a perpetual ratiocination, such as that of God and holy angels ; penetrating at once the universal nature of things, and beholding in their causes things which cannot be known but by exercise and habits, ex- perience, comparing, time, succession, and by degrees ; VOL. I. R 2i2 THE TRUE RELIGION. and, after all this labour, but imperfectly ; wliicli are lall defects separated souls are exempt of. In the life to come, when the capacity of every sense and faculty shall be improved to the utmost, and no object to interpose or present itself, but such as is capable to aiFord an entire and distinct satisfaction and complacency. It is then that, cleared of all suffusion, we shall contemplate that fulness, which can only satiate without satiety. Finally, it is there (and verily, for which I more ardently thirst after it) that we shall be restored to the enjoyment of our departed friends, holy and excellent persons, whom as our lives we have loved. The contemplation of this made the orator, in the person of Cato, profess that, old as he was, he would not accept of longer life, and become young again, in assurance of shortly seeing and enjoying the delights of another world. ^ If thus a Heathen was so transported with hopes of seeing again those heroes and worthy men, famous for their noble actions and moral virtues, and of which they had yet but conjectures only ; how should we Chris- tians languish after the fruition of that blessed state, the vision of God himself, the glorified body of our lovely Jesus, the city of the living God, the celestial Jerusalem ; the innumerable host of angels, spirits of ^ Oh ! prseclarum diem, cum ad illud divinum animorum con- cilium caetumque proficiscar, et cum ex hac turba et colluvione discedam. (Cic. De Sen.) — *' O, glorious day, when I shall set out to join that goodly council and assemblage of spirits, and quit for ever this grovelling scene of turmoil and defilement !" THE TRUE RELIGION. 243 just men made perfect ;^ all our excellent friends, dear children, relations, and acquaintances ; all those great and admirable persons, of whom the world was not worthy, and we have heard such glorious things, joining with Moses in his Song, with David in his Psalms, with all the saints and celestial hierarchy, in perpetual jubi- lation and hallelujahs ! O ! happy day, when, divested into spirit, and set on shore in that invisible continent, we shall repose in the sedate and tranquil ether ; see through the curtains of matter new and surprising scenes and ideas, beyond the limits of finite beings. Why, then, do we any longer perplex and betoil our- selves in macerating studies, and labour in the fire about any thing but this one thing needful to put us into this happy state, and conduct us into the peaceful har- bour ! Methinks, with Cleombrotus, (reading Plato's Phsedo) we should almost be impatient of life; or, rather, with the apostle, (who had been rapt into the third heaven, saw and heard what he could not describe and utter) desire to he dissolved,^ which were best of all ; and, in the mean time, be daily advancing in virtue, till we are in some degree refined from the dross and sulliage ^ of our former lives' incursions, and gotten as near the top of Olympus as we can do in the circum- stances of this mortal condition. Who would not with a glorious ambition aspire to this perfection, and strive to qualify himself for this apotheosis, this advantageous exchange, where, enlarged ' Heb. xii., 22, 23. 2 Phil., i., 23. = Cic. Tusc. R 2 244) THE TRUE RELIGION. from her narrow confinement, our souls shall no longer remain obnoxious to her treacherous flesh and rebellious passions, nor ratiocinate and grow knowing by little parcels and pittances, tedious elucubrations, the auxilia- ries of erroneous senses and material images : but, (as Seneca ^ introduces the father of Marcia, showing her deceased son, Metellus, the singularities of the other world) the soul shall emerge as out of sleep, and break forth of this dismal cloud ; intuitively, nakedly, purely, in one instant, be put into full possession of all that the Soul can desire ; ^ and know, and comprehend herself entirely ; which, whilst from her we derive all we know, or comprehend of all things else, is the only thing that she herself nor knows nor comprehends. O, wonder of wonders, that the soul should be light, and nothing more common, more perspicuous than light; yet nothing more obscure, more dark ! And that that which shows us all things else, should conceal herself I That which is within, without, and all about us, should be invisible \^ so as we see not what we see ! Who that has a spark of generous emulation, I say, would endure that the most evident of things, and the most important, too, should continue thus dark and concealed ? That that by which we see, move, discourse, and perform all our actions — nay, by which we are and exist — we shouM ^ Consolat. ad Marciam., c. xxv. ^ TertuU. de Anim., c. 53. ** "Avrq be fiovt) ovt€ Trapovaa, ovre aTTtovcra opaxai. — Xetioph, Cyrop., 1. 8. " Animus autem solus, nee quum adest, nee quum diseedit, ap- paiet." — Cic. de Senect. THE TRUE RELIGION. 245 be stark blind to, and Ignorant of? But so It has pleased our Maker, to mortify our pride and vanity, whilst grovelling here below, and Immersed In sensual pleasures, we tread not the paths of those virtues and dispositions which lead us to It, and neglect to know ourselves. Ah ! my soul, how fain would I be once acquainted with thee, with whom I thus continually converse, yet neither see, nor know, nor hear ; whilst yet I feel, and hear, and see thee by effects ! That I might know but what thou art, by whom I am, for whom I live, and where thou dwellest, who art so near, and yet so far from me ! ^ Shortly, shortly the curtain will be drawn, the mist be dissipated, and day appear ; Then shall the glorious scene be opened, the Bride descend,^ when I shall see ^ and know Thee fully, and enjoy thee for ever, and Him who made thee, and gave thee to me ! Methinks I behold (as the eloquent Father'* describes It) how the soul, finding herself unfettered and at large, she trims and spreads her plumes for the celestial flight, and wondering at her escape, as awakened out of a dis- mal dream, and delivered rather from a hideous tem- pest, she finds herself on the banks of Elysium, feels a new spring of life within her, an unconfined light about her, new comprehensions and capacities ; and for a while admiring from whence she came, what she Is, ravished at her own felicity, and overcome with joy, dissolves 1 Lactant. De Opif. Dei, c. 6. ^ Rev., xxi., 2. 2 I. Cor., xiii., 12. * Tertull. de Anim., c. 53. 246 THE TRUE RELIGION. into the praises of her Liberator ! Would not seriously the imagination almost transport one ? O, Thou, most high, prime, and super-excellent nature, who art All things, and in All ; by whom all things live, move, and have their existence ; whose instruments all agents are — wherever Thou art, who everywhere art. Thou art all things, and canst do all things. If Thou art anything at all, and not rather the Cause and Being of all, if at all Thou be a Cause. Whatever Thou art. Thou art Infallible ; and we know not what name to give Thee but Perfection and Goodness. And Thou who art good, art all good, and all things are good in Thee. Thou art Thine own wisdom. Thine own power. Thine own consummate happiness! Thou, O Thou, who art all this, teach us to comprehend Thee beyond those speculations, and intellectual gazings on Thine astonishing perfections, by such influxes, as filling us with divine and supernal qualities, may exalt our facul- ties beyond their natural power, and bring them into an assimilation and conformity to the most accomplished idea of Thy goodness, together with an inward sensation of their effects. O, Thou, who canst do all this, and more than we can comprehend, ask, or think, enter into us, illustrate our understanding, instruct our ignorance, and teach us to know Thee, and by Thee, ourselves. For it is not enough for a brave and heroic mind to live so as to merit no reproof of others, or of ourselves ; but that we strive to add more lustre, brightness, and THE TRUE RELIGION. 247 perfection to the soul ; that we purify, and render it fit for its reception into the superior mansions and friend- ship of heaven, by acts, I say, of virtue, and extraordi- nary gallantry. I tell you, (says Seneca) betwixt God and good men, there is a friendship — friendship, do I call it ? yea, an intimate acquaintance. ^ In this interim, then, we should sometimes withdraw and ananchorize ourselves ^ to enjoy those pure and abstracted delights.^ There is no climbing up to the knowledge of God, or of ourselves, but by contempla- tion of what most resembles Him, and is nearest to Him — our immortal souls, purified by a holy life, whicli is the God within us. We should take off our affections from union and adhesion to false appearances, cement and fasten them to solid and worthy things, from whence our appetites and violent passions may have broken them off. Verily, the recess is highly neces- sary, and that we now and then, I say, suspend our cogitations from sensual and material objects,'* check and recall our thoughts, and, directed by the light within, introvert our contemplations, act with freedom : and we may ask her counsel and assistance, and hear her speak, without disturbance and impertinent avoca- tions. ^ Inter bonos viros ac Deum amicitia est ; amicitiam dico ? imo etiam necessitudo. — De pruden., cap. 21. " Magni est autem ingenii revocare mentem a sensibus. — Cic. Tusc, 1. 1. ^ Apices animae. * See this excellently described by Plotinus, 1. 6, c. 5. 248 THE TRUE RELIGION. This, this alone is the only way to know our souls, and ourselves, and how we difler from other creatures. By this we shall be able to discover that the body is scarce an essential part of man, and that the material and perishing substance can never comprehend ' what is iuunaterial and perdurable. She will sweetly charm all the perturbations that surround us here, transport and carry us beyond the sphere of sense, and entertain us, not with these Socratic discourses, but with new Illapses and discoveries of indeed another world, nearer hand, yet richer than Peru and both the Indies. And, though she be still encompassed with this dusky cloud, so as we yet see but through a glass darkly, we may perceive some glimmerings of light, how bright and charming she is within, and what a paradisian day is purpling the hills, which even through this tinsel veil of flesh shall shortly be removed, and the horizon cleared — when the sensible powers shall be refined and spirit- ualized, and the soul be on the wing to the mansions of repose and bliss. ^ It is a noble contemplation, and sign of a great and heroic mind to be breathing after the separate state. Lord, to behold Thee in glory, is to be transformed into it ; to contemplate Thy divine excel- lency, is to become Thy illustrious image; to know Thee by distinct perception, and Thy works by irradia- tion of Thy brightness, will then be imparted to us, when we shall at once become wise, holy, vastly knowing, * See St. Augustine's description of The City of God, 1. 22, c. 30. Erit ergo illius civitatis^ &c. ^ See Seneca, Consol. ad Marc, c. 24. THE TEUE RELIGION. 249 self-satisfied, and perfect beyond the perfection of crea- tures in their highest excellency ! In union with Thee we shall have nothing to wish, nothing to seek, or fur- ther to desire ! Our services of Thee will be still new pleasure, and such tides of fresh additions to our satis- factions and intellectual joys, as at once will actuate us with a vigour able to converse with Deity itself, and enlarge our capacities to comprehend Him, who is In- comprehensible. Let us hear the excellent stoic : "Through the inter- val of infancy and age, as from another womb, we hasten and speed away to another Birth and Original. Another state of things expects us."^ And, a little after, " Shortly, very shortly Thou shalt behold all the mysteries of nature, this darkness shall be discussed, and Thou encircled with a glorious lustre," &c.^ These are real things, and great, to which the most sagacious and intelHgent brutes pretend not. Their impressions come altogether from without, are fluid and transient, and therefore quickly vanish : nor can they recollect or think abstractedly, and of this future state of retribution, intellectual life and glory ; on which is founded all that can render our condition considerably different from, or better than that of beasts ; environed, as we are, with such restless passions, unsatisfiable appe- tites, the accidents and anxieties of an umbratile life : * Per hoc spatium quod ab infantia patet in senectutem, in alium maturescimus partum. Aha origo nos expectat, alius rerum status,&c. ^ Aliquando naturae tibi arcana retegentur; discutietur ista caligo, et lux undique clara percutiet. — Sen.^ Ep., 102. 250 THE TRUE RELIGION. 80 as, if in this alone we have all our hopes, we are indeed of all creatures the most miserable'. " For to what purpose was I born at all, and should rejoice to have been among the number of the living ? What! to be a passage for our meat and drink? — to cram this frail and fluid carcase, which must shortly perish (unless it every foot be gorged), and live a slave to sickness, and the dread of death, to which we are all obnoxious? Take once from life but this inestimable good, and it is not worth the sweat and labour we bestow upon it. Oh ! how contemptible a thing is man, unless he raise himself above humanity !" So Seneca.* " If thy soul, whatever she is, perish and dissolve with the body, I cannot see in what they are to be esteemed blessed, who, having never attained any reward of their virtue, haply, have even perished for virtue's sake." ^ In sad earnest, if we have no farther prospect than this miserable being here, whatever circumstances of health, youth, riches, fame, beauty, and the inferior pleasures of brutish sense, may seem to alleviate the hastening and fatal period ; or that there be no life and * I. Cor., XV. 19. ^ Quid enim erat cur in numero viventium me positum esse gauderem ? An ut cibos et potum percolarem ? ut hoc corpus casurum ac fluidum periturumque, nisi subinde impleatur, sar- cirem, et viverem aegri minister ? ut mortem timerem, cui omnes nascimur ? Detrahe box inestimable bonum ; non est vita tanti, ut sudem, ut ajstuera. Oh! quam contempta res est homo, nisi supra humana se erexerit I Sen. Nat. Quaest., 1. i., Prajf. 'Et fi€v afia To7s a-oifiaa-i diaXvofievois, Koi to ttJs '^vxrjs, OTtbrjiroTe ea-Tiv, iKiivo (rvv8idKv€Tai, &c. — Dion. Halicar. Aul. Rom., 1. 8. THE TEUE RELIGION. 251 retributions hereafter, nor no soul worth looking after, but that which is common to other creatures ; — I must confess (with Dr. More) ^ it seems almost indifferent whether any creature he^ or no. Nor should I (with dying Plato) thank my Genius for being a man, for my country, birth, education, fortune, or that I was born when so many wise men flourished. For, what is it to have lived seventy years, wherein we have been dead, or worse than dead, above two-third parts of them ? Sleep, youth, age, and diseases, with a number of poor and contemptible employments, swallow up at least so great a portion, that as good, if not better is he, that never was, than he that is, that hath but such a grace or glimpse of passing Hfe to mock him. There can, therefore, be in God no design in making of this world, which wiU prove worthy of so excellent a goodness and wisdom, but the trial and probation of man's immortal soul, which seems the deepest reach of His counsel in the Creation ; and the life of this world but a prelude to one of longer duration, and larger cir- cumference hereafter. And surely, as we have showed, it is nothing else but the heavy load of this body ^ that weighs down the mind from reaching to those supernal hopes, that we may not say from a certain sense and perception of that undisturbed state of Immortality. But if a man's soul be once sunk by evil fate or de- merit from a sense of this high and eternal truth into that cold conceit, that the Original of All things does lie either in shuffling chance, or in the stark roots of ^ Philos. Poem Interp. Gen. 43-5. ^ wrjsd., ix., 15. 252 THE TRUE RELIGION". unknowing nature and brute necessity ; and that there is notliing of extraordinary and divine, which discriminates men from other creatures, besides their mechanism; all the subtile chords of Reason, without the timely recovery of that Divine touch within the hidden spirit of man, will never be able to reduce and pull him back out of that dreadful pit of Atheism and Infidelity. So much better is innocence and piety, than subtle argu- ment, and earnest and sincere devotion, than curious disputes. Da Pater augustam menti conscendere sedem. Da fontem lustrare boni, da luce repertd In Te conspicuos animi defigere visus : Discute terrenaj nebulas et pondera molis, Atque tuo splendore mica : Tu namque Serenum ; Tu requies tranquilla piis : Te cernere Finis, Principium, Victor, Dux, Semita, Terminus idem.^ Grant, then. Great God, our thoughts may reach thy throne, Grant we the Fountain of all good may see ; Grant that this blissful Light to us once known. We may for ever fix our eyes on Thee : Dispel this darkness, and these clogs remove. And let Thy beams appear. For Thou art light ; Thou art true rest, to those who do Thee love, Beginning, End, both Way and Guide ; the sight Of Thee is all Thy creatures can desire, 'Tis this alone to which our souls aspire. ^ Boeth., lib. iii.. Met. 9. THE TRUE RELIGION, 253 CHAPTER IV. SECTION I. That if there be a god and sovereign being, who created all things, he is to be adored and obeyed by his crea- TURES (especially BY MAN THE INTELLECTUAL) WITH RELI- GIOUS WORSHIP ; NOT ONLY AS HIS DUTY, BUT IN ORDER TO HIS FUTURE STATE AND FELICITY. That we have in the former chapters hitherto ex- tended our discourse so prolixly, none ought to wonder who shall duly consider the great importance of the subjects, The Existence of God, and His Works ; espe- cially as it more nearly concerns us, the immortal souls of man, for whose use and contemplation they were created in reference to his Maker's glory and His creatures' well-being. Since, that foundation steadily laid, the superstruction and consequences must un- doubtedly stand, and remain unshaken; namely, that, since we can have no rational notion of The Deity, without supposing Him to be of absolute perfection ; that He is benign, loving, bountiful, just, powerful, wise, holy, and transcendently all this. He is and ought to be adored, and absolutely obeyed by all His crea- tures, especially by man, whom He has more eminently endowed with reason and conscience of his duty, and 254 THE TRUE RELIGION. capacitated to understand the benefits and happiness which will accrue to him by it. For all perfections, such as are in Almighty God, must needs challenge the highest reverence and veneration. It is certainly the greatest argument in the world that those who receive being from another should sin- cerely honour, serve, and obey that Being. Divine adorations and recognition must, of necessity, and from parity of reason, and nature of the thing, follow such high obligations. And therefore it is not enough to speak only of, and to know. His Godlike perfections, and be sensible of His goodness, and other attributes ; but to consider what our duty is, and to express it in acts of obedience, worship, and gratitude for them. This is so natural and just, as even the very Heathen universally give their suffrages for it. Socrates, Plato, Gato, Cicero, Seneca, all the philosophers, are Chris- tians in this point without dispute. Si Deus est animus, est pur& mente colendus,^ even for the dignity of His nature, much more in regard of our relation to Him as His creatures. Let us hear how they speak the very sense, yea, the very words of the Scripture. If God be a Father, we must obey Him ; if our Master, serve Him. Plato calls this in plain terms Religion towards God.^ And so the Holy Prophet, If I be a Father, where is mine honour, &c. * " KGod is a Spirit, we must worship Him with a pure mind." 2 Let any man read his Epinomis^ Alexander Aphrodiseus to the same sense, and also Jarablicus, and generally all the Academics with their Master. THE TRUE RELIGION. 255 It were to swell a volume but to cite part even of their sentences upon this topic. ^ Histories of all na- tions, civil or barbarous, agreeing in this matter, who, for the worship of their gods, have built, endowed, and consecrated places, times, persons, altars, temples, and sacred rites, as not only books, but the yet remaining ruins of their many temples, and statues, inscriptions, and places of worship, proclaim ; where they sometimes invoked their deities, sacrificed, prayed, performed their vows, deprecated punishments, returned thanks for benefits received, inquired after the will of their gods, and the responses of their oracles. For, if we believe that God is a rewarder of those who serve and obey Him (as we have proved He is, from the nature and effects of His attributes), the very love of ourselves would prompt us to implore the continuance of His favours and kindness to us, even in this life! And being convinced that it is in His power, not only to bless us here, but make us happy hereafter, would render us more devout, and solicitous to serve and please Him, and to give Him the worship of reasonable and intellectual creatures. Fruition and the Supreme Good is doubtless the end of every wise and considering person. And our true felicity consisting in the favour of God, who is the bountiful Giver of all good, what should we not do to obtain the bliss and felicity He is able to bestow upon ^ Quis non timeat omnia providentem et cogitantem, et ani- madvertentem, et omnia ad se pertinere putantem, curiosum et plenum negotii Deum ? 256 THE TRUE RELIGION. His worshippers ? And this not only for reward merely, or to avoid His displeasure, but in contemplation of His Divine perfections, wherein is contained all that is lovely and desirable, namely, the whole Creation itself ; all Events and Providences; in a word, all that can perfect and consummate our natures, and make us accepted. The worship and contemplation of God will certainly be the most ravishing and delightful part of our future and everlasting blessedness. Antoninus has said many excellent things upon this head, which may be brought for the conviction and reproof of all negligent and indifferent people. Join to him Epictetus and others, where they show the love, veneration, resignation, passive and active obedience, which such excellencies, as are in the Deity, must needs produce ; and what returns of service, love, and affec- tion in us, the worshippers of Him ; striving to come as near as we can to the Exemplar, in all those virtues which any way contribute to His service ; and by en- deavouring to understand His will, with all devotion, sincerity, and exactness, because of His all-seeing nature, and indefectible justice, to punish and reward. The Gentile World, who but groped after this, thought it so reasonable, that they esteemed nothing precious enough, no pains, no charge, nothing busy enough (though even to success and superstition) to demonstrate their devotion, and the sense of this duty. For this end did they offer so many expensive and bloody victims, gums, and incense; and some even themselves, and dearest relations ; not only to propitiate THE TRUE RELIGION. 257 for them, but to testify their gratitude : as we may read of Jephtha, or Iphigenia of the heathen, the King of Moab, the rites of Saturn, and innumerable other in- stances. To these oblations they added prayers and Eucahristical hymns, and what other expressions of thankful hearts they could devise. Nor owe we less to that Being, in whom we live and move. God being the God of All, all are obliged to serve and adore Him. We owe ourselves to Him, who lends us ourselves to ourselves, and those faculties which He requires the service of, namely, our reason, nay, our very lives. , These are not institutions and arts of policy, but Nature's dictates, and therefore delivered and con- firmed by the impressions of reverence, which all men feel and perceive within them, and with satisfaction, when they perform their duties; uneasinesses, and secret regret, when they neglect them. In short, all the world is so convinced, in this universal practice, that God is to be the object of our worship ; that, as we have shown, it has been always proner to excess and superstition, idolatry and unlawful worship, than to atheism, or neglect of it. And if any there be who seem to worship none, they are no more to be reckoned among the number of human creatures, but of ill- shapen monsters, and lumps of deformity, who neither know how to reason, or reflect on what they should, and draw consequences like men of reason ; or, lastly, make no use of their reason, which is worse, Epictetus, whom we named, is so convinced of this, that he prescribes set offices, as it were ; and tells us VOL. I. s 258 THE TRUE RELIGION. that prayers and praises, psalms and hymns, become all our actions. For such we find especially among the poets, though to their false deities, whose favour and assistance they invoked at the entrance of most of their works and undertakings. Jamblicus calls the oblations of a sincere and pure mind the most acceptable wor- ship; and so does Hierocles.* And though all this was, we acknowledge, directed to false gods, yet it denotes the reasonableness of it, and how universal and natural. And hence we read, or hear, of no people or nation, even to the last and utmost discoveries of the habitable world, but what pay some regard and worship to a superior being, whom they either love and invoke for good things, or deprecate for evil. God Almighty seeming rather to connive at their superstition than suffer them to neglect a duty so reasonable and so natural. They worshipped, though they knew not what ; nor do we find them so much reproved for the duty as for their ignorance and blindness in not direct* ing it to the right object, and in a right manner. Wherefore, " if God," says Plato, " be to be worshipped and served, let us make our addresses to God, and inquire how He will be served." How much more, then, are Christians obliged to this duty, and to that of gratitude, whom God has prevented with the knowledge and understanding of His will in this par- ticular ! ^ See Proclus's excellent Treatise, the devout ejaculations of Simplicius, the behaviour of dying Socrates, recommending his expiring soul, with other virtuous and illustrious heathen. THE TKUE RELIGION. 259 Here, then, we conclude this chapter; the conse- quences of the titles being so perspicuous, that, if there be such a God and Sovereign Being as we have de- scribed, who has created, sustained, and provides for all ; and that, in order to a future, more happy or un- happy state. He is to be revered by all, with all humble, religious, and sincere worship. And what that is will be our next inquiry. s2 260 THE TRUE RELIGION. CHAPTER V. SECTION I. RELIGION. SECTION II. RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. SECTION III. NATURAL RELIGION. SECTION IV. CONSCIENCE. SECTION V. THEISTS. SECTION VI. ATHEISTS. SECTION I. RELIGION. Keligion, as being the highest reason, is that alone which makes mankind to differ from brute animals ; because it renders him like his great Creator, rectifying the depravity of his nature, which, if uncultivated by religion, becomes fierce and sensuaL But religion and the sense of a deity, or some transcendently excellent being, purifies the soul, and refines our nature by virtue of its precepts ; there being no creature besides that can actually and intentionally address its powers and faculties to God. Wherefore, to be religious is more truly the formal distinction between men and beasts, tlian all that the philosophers have furnished to its definition ;^ and, therefore, more adequate to his cha- racter than either polity, society, risibility, without ^ Animal Religionis capax. THE TRUE RELIGION. 261 Avhich he were no reasonable creature, but a mere brute, the very worst of the kind. There is, indeed, among brute animals, some imperfect traces of all the perfections and qualities of man,, excepting that of religion. But, with all this, they apprehend neither Grod, angel, or intelligence. And, therefore, Gesner, I remember, concludes that pigmies (those diminutive people, or sort of apes or satyrs, so much resembling the little men storied under that name), are, therefore, not of human race, because they have no religion. It is true that all entities and beings whatsoever love that which is good, and does them good. And, as David says, there is none good hut God ; and, therefore, those who love good do, consequently, love God, meta- physically speaking ; and the love of God being the sum of all religion, all who love that which is good are religious. But, if this love of good flows not from an intellectual principle, it is not properly religion, which is among all nations and people competent only to man- kind;^ that is, such an impression as enables him to offer the Deity a rational and spiritual worship. ** We know," says that excellent person,^ " much of the courage and boldness of lions, horses, and other animals ; but we hear nothing of their justice, equity, and beneficence, and the rest of the moral virtues. And why? They are void of reason ;" and, therefore, pre- tend not to that sublime and radiant beam of an intel- ^ Ex tot generibus nullum esse animal praster hominem, quod habeat notitiam aliquam Dei. — Cic. de Leg. i. ^ Cicero de Offic, lib. i. 262 THE TRUE RELIGION. lectual agent to qualify them for contemplation and notions abstracted from matter, and to reflect and pro- ceed analytically from effects to causes, and, therefore, are incapable of science (the product of ratiocination), and of the consequences resulting from the premises by inference of the conclusion, induction from universals to particulars, genus, species, and other dialectical notions and methods. The prayers and ejaculations which parrots have been taught to utter, nay, to recite whole psalms, creeds, and litanies (as did that of Cardinal Ascanio,* and others were used to do) is all but impertinent prate, without relation to time or place ; and what they say, fantastical and wholly inconsistent, such as they learn by rote, by drops and little fragments, ^ working on their airy fancies ; nor springs it from any perennial fountain of their own, and, therefore, stops and soon becomes dry. The like may be affirmed of those other creatures, who have been made to curse and bless (as they term it) themselves ; to kneel, and use other reve- rent gesticulations (of which, above all other, popish legends abound). They are not to be reckoned for acts of religion, but the effects of pure art, and of their masters and instructors. They do not proceed from any interior principle, as they do in man. But I needed not, perhaps, so long to have insisted on this. ^ Rhodog., 1. 3, c. 32. ' Neque quid dicunt scientes, neque ea quae dicunt, temporibus locisve accommodate dicentes; sed linguam duntaxat ad praestitutum numerum agitantes. — ApoUon., 1. i. THE TRUE RELIGION. 263 Wherefore, we return to show what religion is: namely, the most immediate tie between God and His creature, obliging to a certain law and rule, for the government of his life and actions. Wherefore, Plu- tarch calls it the very cement of society, the foundation of all legislation ; and that a city had better be without houses, inhabitants, and walls, as without religion ; it being generally observed, that those countries and com- monwealths have been most flourishing and happy which have been the most religious ; as was the Roman empire whilst religiously observing their simple rites of piety, the duties of justice, fidelity, and other moral virtues ;^ whereas, the ruin and decadence of kingdoms and dominions followed, as they degenerated by atheism, profaneness, sensuality, injustice, and other vices. The same is remarkable of particular persons and families. ** Take away religion," says Tully, " and truth, fidelity, justice, and all commerce between man and mankind will come to nothing." And, therefore, religion and the service of God is the main and important business of our life. For so the wise king, after he had made experiments and considered all things, concludes that this is the whole duty of man.^ Eeligion is the intercourse between heaven and earth, God and man, by which he is pleased to manifest Himself more especially to us, both for His glory and our good ; as we find by the * Under the heathen emperors, for instance, Hadrian, Severus, Antoninus, M. Aurelius ; under the Christian, Constantine, Theo- dosius, &c. - Eccles., xii., 13. 2G4< THE TRUE RELIGION. gracious effects of His continual bounty. The prin- cipal end in rational beings consisting in communion with, and conformity to, the Sovereign Good, which is God ; and that communion no otherwise obtained and preserved but by religion only, should, above all things, be our chiefest aim. In a word, religion consists in our piety to God, sobriety to ourselves, justice and righteous- ness to our neighbour ; or, as St. James, more excel- lently, "Pure religion and undefiled is to visit the fatherless and widow;" that is,- by acts of charity and mercy, to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Thus, religion qualifies the Christian, and enlarges the understanding, enabling us to discern beyond the narrow confines and scantling of brutish sense and stupid ignorance; to behold and contemplate things invisible and supernatural. And this creates an habi- tual reverence to some Superior Being, more excellent than ourselves, and incites us to such devotion and services as we apprehend to be most agreeable to His nature. And this, since it cannot be performed without some rites and solemnities, lies in a system of all those mysteries, which concern the knowledge and service of the Deity to be worshipped, and in that manner and way alone He prescribes. And that,' being under the necessity of a future state, and sensible of the present needs, we may thereby conciliate the Divine favour, for the continuance of His protection and prosperity. Maximus Tyrius makes this difference betwixt reli- gion and superstition, that the religious person has access to God without servile fear, opposed to filial THE TRUE RELIGION. 265 reverence, which is mingled with love ; and calls the pious man, the Friend of God, and the superstitious, a mere flatterer of Him. And indeed those pagans wor- shipped their deities in horror and cruel dread; and, therefore, sought all possible ways to pacify them, by flattering, and pompous shows, processions, and carrying about their images, washings, purifications, corporal severities, whippings, burnings, and cuttings of their flesh ; prostituting their wives and daughters, and cruelly sacrificing their children oftentimes, with a thousand prodigious impieties and troublesome methods. This was not religion in the true notion, but super- stition ; or, if you will, false religion, as hereafter we shall come to show. Religion amongst the wiser heathen was far from this. It was to do nothing un- becoming a reasonable nature, or molest the civil powers; and to restrain all exorbitant passions and appetites ; though, indeed, it did not give those checks to the mind, and form in the best of them those noble qualities and perfections, which the true religion only teaches, and enables her votaries to do. SECTION II. EELIGIOUS WOESHIP. What it is, we have partly shown in the former sec- tion, namely, the worship and adoration of the Deity, operating practically and sincerely; that we believe and rely on what we worship as our sovereign good, from whom we expect both present and future happi- ness ; or, as others, it is an awful regard of God, as a 266 THE TRUE RELIGION. punisher of vice, and rewarder of virtue; whose perfections produce the love and imitation of His worshipper. Wherefore all religion and its worship consists in these two things ; 1. Crede)ida, 2. Facienda.^ The first respects the true knowledge of God : the second, how He is to be worshipped and served. The one has regard to the law, the other to the gospel, as faith, prayer, good works. Then, as to credenda of the being of God, &c., we have at large made out: the facienda will follow in its due place. ^ Now, though none, save man, do worship God after an intellectual manner, yet do all creatures, yea, even the most insensible and inanimate, speak the praises of the Deity, in their operations, virtue, power, and several courses. And, therefore, holy David calls upon them all to magnify Him for ever. But, to speak more par- ticularly, religious worship is the duty and service which the creature, particularly man, pays to the Superior Power, be it by prayer, confession, praises, thanksgiving, sacrifices, kneeling, prostrations, humilia- tions, for the obtaining or preserving some good thing, or deprecating evil. And the rites and ceremonies of these are so many and various, that what should be natural, solemn, and rational, is, through the corruption ^ " Matters of Belief." " Matters of Practice." ' Chapters vii., viii., x., xii. THE TKUE KELIGION. 267 of our nature, and the cunning of Satan, and his lying spirits, turned in most places to superstition. Not that all ceremonious worship is evil, when the heart accom- panies the action, seeing some rites and outward usages are highly necessary for the exciting and stirring up our inward devotions. But where they make the outward ceremonies of worship the main of the religious service, as seeking to conciliate the Deity, and expiate sins by virtue of the work done. It were endless to enumerate the several manners of the worship which the blinded world paid to their gods, idols, and heroes ; their sacri- fices, libations, aspersions, festivities; and after what impious and ridiculous sort they performed abundance of their religious services, as they occur to us in Dio- dorus, the Sicilian, and other profane histories. And indeed it would be hard to find any sort of people who pretended any religion, but took care of some external solemnities, and the decent circumstance of its worship ; and therefore we find so many temples, oratories, altars, and groves, — so many statues and shrines, set up in the world, — so many dedicated persons of both sexes, priests, priestesses, vestal nuns, flamens, augurs, and the like, to manage their devotions. SECTION III. NATURAL RELIGION, OR THEOLOGY. Now, since the soul of man is sensible how she governs and informs the body, she cannot but resolve, that some Spirit or Being it is which rules the universe, and, consequently, the Soul herself: and, therefore. 268 THE TRUE RELIGION. that Being ought to be regarded, worshipped, and obeyed. And this, certainly, from a natural and in- delible, as well as rational, principle, partly written in our hearts, together with those necessary dictates, without which there can be no religion, or rule of living in the world; such as the equity of doing to others what we would have done to ourselves, reverence to our parents and elders, affection to our children, grati- tude to benefactors, and the like. To these add the accusations of conscience upon the committing of some unnatural crime, or injustice, &c., whereby those natural duties are violated. Not to insist at present on the Divine laws, Mosaical or Christian, but on those which are moral and immutable ; namely, such duties and actions as proceed from a rational creature, voluntarily and freely teaching us to adore our Maker and Bene- factor. It is this moral or natural religion which the very heathen thought worthy of them, as men, to be paid to the Divinity : and that the offenders against it should be punished with the severest evils. Murder, adul- teries, perjury, and the like crimes were amongst them all detested; and, consequently, humanity, chastity, temperance, sincerity, and other virtues, were to be cherished and rewarded. Piety to the gods, and sacri- fice, were of the same estimation. In a word, the entire Decalogue seems to be the law and religion of Nature herself, not one commandment of either table excepted. Nor this without the wonderful and special Providence of the Great God; since, without some THE TEUE RELIGION. 269 inward and natural law of right and wrong, good and evil, the state even of Nature itself (as it concerns mankind) had long since lapsed, and sunk into con- fusion. Had there been no justice to punish, and reward, — no inward coercion of the magistrate to re- strain exorbitances, how could any government have subsisted ? Wherefore, mankind was always under a law ; even before God made any extraordinary promul- gation of a law, man was a law to himself. His duty was written on his mind, that God might judge the world in righteousness, since where there is no law there is no transgression.^ The main duties of piety towards God, and justice towards man, &c., being duties inscribed on the tables of our very hearts. And we feel a secret obligation to them within ourselves, ap- proving or condemning what we do. And this is what I call Natural Religion, or the Light of Nature. Not that it is not as much the law and ordinance of God, as what He has revealed ; nor does Divine Revelation at all extinguish the light of Nature, which is Reason : but approves and gives sanction to it. Now, the nature of man consists in four degrees of perfection : 1. Of being. 2. OfHving. 3. Ofanimality. 4. Of rationality. Of all which, the last alone concerns the supreme and sovereign good of man. For, supposing him put ^ Eom., iv., 15. 270 THE TRUE RELIGION. into the world to exist, and only be in it, what needed he any other life than that of a stone or tree ? If only to live, what necessity of understanding? And if to exercise its animal functions, what need of reason ? To what, then, can the nature of man be ordained (all other beings in the world attaining their perfec- tions and utmost end), than to exercise his reason upon such objects as are proper to it? And, seeing it does not consist in vain and speculative studies, gratifying the sensual part and brutish passions, it must be in studying to know himself, and to acknowledge, that He who made him, and endowed him with such advantages above the other creatures, and on whom all things de- pend, is worthy of his service and obedience, by living soberly, justly, and charitably, and by imitating those perfections which bring him to the nearest similitude of liis Maker. Religion, therefore, is the ultimate and most natural scope, to which mankind is ordained by God. And that this is implanted in him by Nature, the consequences evince ; since it is so natural to love and acknowledge those who love and do us good. And if so in man to man, much more from man to God, our bountiful Patron and Benefactor. Man is made for society, that in society he may serve and worship God ; and then, if interest unite, the benefits all perpetually receive from Heaven should unite and tie us faster to Him. If fear (according to the Hobbian doctrine) should be the only object of our service, whom should we serve but God, since He is only to be feared? Man is not considered as a mere THE TRUE RELIGION. 271 engine of polity, as that bold assertor would pretend, discarding all religion, natural justice, and charity, and giving the Supreme Deity no other dominion over, or title to, his creature, but power and tyranny! The love and service we call religion is what proceeds from an ingenuous and free agent, governed by the highest reason. Some have believed the law of Nature so strong and efficacious, as to oblige us, though there were no such being as God. But we have abundantly proved there is a God, Author of Nature, and of all things else, though there were at all no law of Nature. Hobbs, indeed (as we said) puts all mankind into a state of hos- tility, and affirms that there is nothing naturally just or unjust at all; which utterly vacates and abolishes all Deity at once ; and then is all law but the constitution of man, nature having nothing to do in the legislation. But mutual peace, kindness, love, and gratitude, being certainly the intention of the lawgiver, for the preser- vation of community, sufficiently overthrow the bold pseudo-philosopher's new suggestion, and necessarily infer a virtuous and religious life, separate from his state of war and rapine. If we allow a law of nature, we must acknowledge Him that made that law. Suppose a poor deserted infant, born and abandoned in some desert place, nourished (as they feign of Romu- lus and Cyrus) by some savage beast, this child, grown a man, would have some religion, some fear or appre- hension of another Being. For, first, as a man, he would love society, and join to others like him, though 272 THE TRUE RELIGION. he never saw man before, as naturally disposed to love his like. Naturally also he would love his own child, if he had one; would be pleased with a good and friendly turn ; and, though all these good dispositions were obscured for a while, for want of objects to exer- cise them on, yet would they manifest and exert them- selves, so soon as he came into company. The same we may affirm of natural religion. Such a person would, perhaps, have little conscience of remorse, be- cause he never had occasion of hurting any body, or opportunity of doing good. The maxims of justice, and other virtues, would not appear, for the same defect of occasion. Nay, perhaps, he would be so stupid as to reflect on nothing, yet it is certain he would have some religion, as soon as his common sense began to revive, and to be cultivated; for he would then naturally reason that the objects and things he daily saw did not make themselves, and that what did not so was some great power and virtue. Thus Nature herself teaches us there is a God : and we invoke His help in distress and adversities. Men, naturally, (savage as some nations are) lift their hands and eyes to Heaven, to implore relief from thence. Nor does diversity of religions destroy all this uniform and general principle, which disposes to religion. And even superstition itself supposes a natural reverence to some God, else it could not subsist ; for superstition is no other than na- tural religion applied to a false and erroneous object. The confession of a God is natural to man, not as he is a living creature, but a rational creature. And it is t. THE TRUE RELIGION. -273 not from blind matter, but evidence of reason, and the dictates of conscience, which tells us, however we may- attempt to suppress it, that certain actions are in them- selves essentially evil, and that evil deserves punish- ment, and that the inflicting of punishment appertains to Grod only, because He best knows the degrees and obliquity of our faults. And hence results fear of being reproved for them. Of this nature are disobedience to parents, treachery to friends, blasphemy, ingratitude, and other crimes worthy chastisement: and this nature, not education, as some fondly imagine, teaches. Educa- tion may indeed direct our natural inclinations, and passions, even to unnatural objects ; but can no more make them new, than it can make a new soul. We may possibly excite some seemingly new inclination or passion, which, for lying still and dormant before, appears to be new, because, till now, perhaps we had no sense of it. But to put wholly any such new passion in us were to create new powers and faculties in our souls, which is not to be done. Now there is none so strong and invincible as man's inclination to religion, and the worshipping something as God. Natural inclinations operate necessarily, and it is to that we owe the universal consent of owning some Deity. But, in a state of nature, mankind was to receive its directions concerning the true object and nature of their religious worship from natural reason ; which, if they made good use of, would certainly direct to the worship of one God. Again, though we have all this reason and evidence VOL. 1. T 274 THE TEUE RELIGION. to prove religious duties to be natural, we liave yet divers passions in us repugnant to our reason. But he who shall afltai we have no natural obligation to obey the guidance of our reason, being reasonable creatures, were to argue like a fooL Now, since the righteous God cannot be author of those evil passions and incli- nations in us, as being contrary to His holy nature, many crimes coromitted here, and good things done, whilst neither of them be punished or rewarded here, natural reason teUs us that there is a judgment to come hereafter, which will reward every one according to his merits. That there are crimes against the light of Nature (whatever some pretend upon the score of education, and political laws, to keep men in subjection) such as sacrilege, adultery, parricide, blasphemy, preposterous lusts, and the like enormous villanies, we find all men and nations universally agree, as in principles of nature, and not of custom and education. For man being born for society and mutual help, such crimes would cer- tainly destroy it ; and being obliged to follow reason, that reason forbids such wickednesses as are destructive to it, and, consequently, to man's nature. There is therefore a prime and fundamental law enjoining every man, namely, Reason, which naturally distinguishes betwixt good and evil, as the basis of all government, and discipline whatsoever. These are eternal princi- ples natural and true, and never alter, nor ever was there a time when they were not so. Justice, temperance, natural affection, sincerity, gratitude, and the like, need THE TRUE RELIGION. !i< D not the help of education to recommend them to all mankind. Nor need we be taught that we should suffer a small and trifling loss, for the obtaining a greater benefit. Self-preservation, and the love of ourselves, prompt us to these with no other mistress than Nature. The same teaches that drunkenness and intemperance is a shameful \ace, that ingratitude is base, that we ought to revere our parents, love our wives and chil- dren, reward the labourer and those who do us cour- tesies — in a word, do as we would be done by. And when we do the contrary, something there is within, which flies in our faces, and we fear the Divine Nemesis^ or Revenge^ which proves a natural atrocity in such like actions, and does not proceed from those customary prejudices, from which some pretend they spring. The universal custom of sacrificing^ throughout the world, in all times and generations, was an actual con- fession that sin deserved death, and that the Divine jus- tice required punishment or satisfaction. Nor is it to be shown that it ever proceeded from any Divine reve- lation or connnand, but from a very principle of Nature, as it were; though indeed the rites and ceremonies about it were prescribed afterwards to the Jews. And something there is in it of extraordinary, that the very heathen should think that the offended gods should be pleased or appeased by the death of an innocent crea- ture's blood, and doubtless the reason of Holocausts, and other sacrifices by fire, did signify that no expiation could be without combustion of the whole or part ; T 2 276 THE TRUE RELIGION. since one man, offending another, was commonly the object of revenge, even amongst men. Naturally, they worshipped such beings and things, as either they received most good and benefit from, or were most in fear of. And hence sprung their worship and adoration of the Sun, Moon, Heavenly Orbs and Constellations; Jupiter for Rain, Ceres for Corn, Bacchus for Wine, Esculapius for health, and the rest. The Egyptian and Grecian theology was a kind of astrological magic, founded on the hypothesis of their demons, and the heavens, which they thought they governed. Not that they believed the slum wrought any such stupendous effects, or impregnated their talismans, by their proper virtue; but as they were intelligences themselves, or divinely influenced, and directed by the spirits residing in them, and ruling part of the inferior world. They fancied the sun a kind of archangel, and some called it the organ or in- strument of God, the Divine harp, whose harmony set in motion the rest of the celestial bodies. Nor naturally did they worship their idols, at first, as true gods, but as symbols only, and representations of such as they loved, and esteemed themselves obliged to. For it was not possible he who carved a piece of stupid wood, or the like inactive material, into the figure of a man, should believe that could help him in time of adversity, which, being set in a niche or hole, could not preserve itself from rotting, being burned, or stolen away. But it was process of time, and false principles, which (as we have showed) depraved and corrupted the THE TRUE RELIGION. 277 after age. From venerating the pictures and images of their fathers and benefactors, they fell to deifying of them, and then was there no end of their supersti- tion. But this was the corruption of natural religion, which induced men to worship the great Creator, from the contemplation of the fabric of the aspectable world, the regular course of the heavenly bodies, and the goodly economy of the universe. And certainly this was of all other the most rational and natural, and, being accompanied with a sincere and moral life, did come the nearest to the true motive of worship. But how far one may go in religion, by natural light only, is by no means to be relied on, though the Avise and virtuous Pagans were charitably thought of by some even of the Christian Fathers (before their hot disputes against the Pelagians) and the modern Jews. Doubtless, so far, as to rise in judgment against those, who have had the full meridian light to guide them, and have obstinately shut their eyes, because they loved darkness more than light. Wherefore we leave them to their own master. How God may deal with these delirious Heathen, we are not to judge, only this is certain, that none are saved but through the merits of Jesus. ^ From all that has been said, it is evident that reli- gion is so necessary, and so natural to the well-being of the world, and so rational, that even a false religion, conscientiously practised, were better than none ; and that such as have been the most pious and religious ^ See a Treatise on Pagan Philosophy, by Francis de la Mothe. 278 THE TRUE RELIGION. have been blessed with many temporal things, and the contemners of even the false gods, and holy things de- dicated to them, never prospered, as may appear by innumerable instances of sacrilege and profaneness, perjury, &c., which have been signally punished. Besides that, religion, above all, conduces to the en- larging and regulating our faculties, and rendering us invariably happy and tranquil. And that it really gives a man a kind of participation of the Divine Nature, exalting the understanding, regulating the will, cohibit- ing and restraining the passions, governing our appetites, and producing a self-satisfaction unspeakable, makes us easy to ourselves and others, fills the soul with joy at its present condition, and contemplation of the future, gives him a steady assurance, and serenity of mind, what- soever happens of change or vicissitude in this world. In a word, religion is all kind of felicity. It renders a man debonair, gentle, patient, charitable, and easily reconcileable — top-full of inward joy and complacency. vSo true is that of the philosopher. True joy consists not in raillery and loud laughter, but in a placid and sober cheerfulness.^ SECTION IV. CONSCIENCE. Conscience, as a part of natural religion, is God's su- preme tribunal, erected in every man's breast, and is that little consistory of the Soul, as Philo calls it; and, as Anto- ninus,2 the voice of God, the domestic deity ; where He ^ On this, see the most excellent and pious Dr. Barrow. ' "'E.voi.Kos Of OS. — Anton., lib. iii. THE TRtTE RELIGION. 279 keeps a perpetual sessions — where, as God's Vicegerent in the minor world, he accuses, judges, executes, to punish, reward, and crown, according to our deserts. It is His spy and intelligencer — monitor and recorder, and a thousand witnesses, from whom none can abscond himself, none can fly. She is the very image by which man represented his Maker in innocence ; and so abso- lutely necessary for the conduct of our lives, and main- taining the dignity of our nature, that without her we should degenerate below that of brutes — ^be more savage and indomitable. In a word, conscience is the supreme reason — the highest act of the practical intellect, and may be said as much to constitute the definition of man, as any thing which distinguishes him from the beasts that perish. Not that it implies any distinct faculty in the soul, by which we comprehend those natural notions concerning good and evil, by a com- pound act of reason ; but that which seems to be a cer- tain innate habit, or active principle, radicated in the very being and constitution of things themselves, with- out any dependence on custom, positive laws, and sanc- tions ; namely, a law written on our hearts, to which not only all our actions but all our thoughts are ac- countable.^ She is an intellectual memory of what our reason dictates ; and does accordingly elect, examine, accuse, convict, excuse, absolve, or determine absolutely, and without partiality. She is still the same in soli- tude or in company, at home and abroad, by night and by day ; she goes abroad with us, returns home with ^ Rom., ii., 15. 280 THE TRUE RELIGION. US. She thrusts herself into all societies, all business ; is privy to our most secret recesses and designs, pries into our closets. There is no charm, no bribe, no chain able to bind her ; no sense of the body so nicely tender. She is the very eye of the rational soul ; the least mote or dust grieves and offends her; nor is she ever at peace till it be cast out. And to this most absolute despot on earth was all mankind obliged, even before there was made any external revelation, or promulga- tion of other law. Nor to any creature was it else pre- scribed, because man only was endowed with reason and self-reflectipn. The characters inscribed in conscience are indelible ; no tyrant could ever silence her. She is the boldest thing in nature ; clamorous to eternity, till she be heard and satisfied : nor lies there any just appeal from her tribunal. And though she may sometimes possibly err, and be misguided, sometimes clouded, and, for a time, in a kind of slumber, the least noise awakes her, and then she barks afresh, and stings like a thousand scor- pions. In sum. Conscience, as TertuUian,^ truly calls her, is the most irrefragable and convincing argument that there is a just and righteous God, whom we are religiously to worship ; and that, however Atheists and wicked men may hector it for the time, and seem to bear it out, the wound remains. "Manet alta mente repostum."^^ God Almighty never bestowed a more divine and ex- ^ De Anima. ^ " Deep graven in her heart the wound remains." Dryden's Virgil. THE TRUE RELIGION. 281 cellent gift on mortal man:^ not only In the sense of Christian men, but by the suifrages of the wisest Heathen, as, besides others,^ Cicero, above all the rest, has shown in that incomparable piece, his Offices, which I hold to be one of the best books of Cases of Conscience that was ever published, after the sacred Scriptures. Would that our young gentlemen did study well that book ! (to say nothing of Seneca, Antoninus, Epictetus, Plutarch, &c.) it might show them there was such a thing as religion and natural conscience, directing men to the virtues of piety and justice, before there was any revelation, as is made manifest to us by a singular and peculiar grace. For St. Paul has intimated as much as tliis to the proselyte Romans — " Because" (speaking of the Pagan world) " that which may be known of God is manifested in them, for God has showed it to them : namely, things invisible by things visible, the creation of the world manifesting His power and Deity, so that they are without excuse. ^ For when the Gentiles, which have not the positive law," (as the Jews had, by extraordinary revelation) "do by nature the things con- tained in the law, these having not the law, are a law, or religion to themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts ; their conscience also bear- ing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.""* ^ Nihil homini dedit Deus ipse divinius. Lact. De Ver. Cult., 1. ii., c. 24. "^ Euripides, Seneca, Plutarch. Cic. Offic, 1. 3 ; Juv. Sat. 13. 3 liom., i., 19, 20. * Rom., ii., 14-16. 282 THE TEUE RELIGION. To conclude : the law of Nature is as much the law of God as wliat is revealed ; seeing it teaches us those virtues and religious precepts, without which no re- ligion will bring us to happiness; inasmuch (as we showed) even some of the more charitable Fathers and devout men, as Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, St. Chrysostom, and others, had favourable thoughts of the salvation even of some virtuous Pagans, living according to the light of nature. Let us leave them to the infinite mercies of God, whose ways are in the dark abyss, and who will have mercy, on whom He will have mercy ; though upon none without the influence and merit of a Saviour ; nor to us is there any other name given under Heaven by which we may be saved, as we shall come to show in due place. Waving, then, all revelation for the present, let us hear the Theist. SECTION V. THEISTS. Many, to whom all religions are alike, are forced, from the invincible power of natural reason, to confess that there is a God, and that he is to be worshipped with rational adoration. Something, of necessity, must be first and eternal ; otherwise, never could any thing have been which is. And He who made all could have no matter which He did not make : for, if any thing was made, which He did not make, then He did not make all. But something did make all : nor can any thing make itself, for then it must be before itself, which were absurd. If there had ever been nothing, or no cause, nothing could ever have been : something, there- THE TEUE RELIGIOT^. 283 fore, must be, that never was made — some dvT6(})ves self- originated, and eternal ; and, therefore, whatever diffi- culties there may be in the notion of an Eternal Being, something eternal must be acknowledged. And much more obvious and rational is the notion of a First Cause, than to constitute either matter, or the universe itself, eternal. To say that Nature made all things, is to say that God did make all. Nature is, otherwise, a thing that does not know, but acts by the direction and appoint- ment of something which does; and, therefore, our Hobbists and new philosophers are pleased, or rather forced, to allow God an understanding, perceptive ex- istence, though, withal, that He does all things arbi- trarily, without any rule or nature of goodness, justice, and the like. Indeed, God does not all things imme- diately in the productions which we daily behold, but He governs the motion of matter, and what we call Nature, to the form designed. And though that Nature do no more comprehend the reason of what it does, nor the end wherefore, yet she acts regularly to that end, guided, as she is, by a mental causality. The Cartesians tell us that there is no such thing as 1 substantial life any where ; and that even human vo- r lition is mechanically produced from certain effluma and / exuvious membranes, as it were. They will not endure! any scale or degree of entities, lest they should find a \ link or chain which should bring them to a First Being.-^ In the mean time, to imagine that a gross body — tossed and jumbled up and down, and beaten to an in- 284 THE TRUE RELIGION. visible dust, should be pounded and sifted into ration- ality, wisdom, a vastly understanding soul, and invent such arts and sciences, performing such admirable effects — were to debase mankind to the utmost degree of credulous folly. That chance, which never yet com- posed any thing, should make the most admirable of all the works of God! Socrates, Plato, Cicero, and the rest, believed that God created the world, though hold- ing matter to be eternal; supposing three things in God, matter, idea, and the divine conception. But matter, doubtless, as w ell as what was educed out of it, was made by God; and He who created spirits and substances immaterial (for out of what pre-existent matter could He make them ?) could certainly create matter out of nothing — nothing, at least, which we see or can conceive, nor out of any thing which He did not make ; as our blessed Saviour effected miracles by a word only, without any dependence on matter. Nothing is made of nothing, therefore, as to our sensible compre- hensions ; which yet may be understood by abstracted notions of reason, seeing we are ignorant of infinite possible powers and possibilites. We daily see and con- template works of His power, not how He operates. Opera ipsius mdentur oculis ; quomodo illafecerit ne mente quidem mdentur, as Lactantius elegantly. Matter, therefore, doubtless, as well as the things made out of matter, was created by God, who, in making matter, made all things: seeing the things made are only through the modification of matter, but not by for- tuitous and epicurean chance. This established, safely THE TEUE RELIGION. 285 might the first philosophers affirm nothing ready made but matter. * Wherefore, says St. Basil, God was not only the inventor of the scheme and figure, but Maker of Nature herself ^ Again, what the artificer is to the work of art, the same is the Creator of all things to the universal works of nature ; though, by the same means, which are the testimonies of the creature, we are led to that inde- pendent Being which made and maintains them. This is a prime notion of a God ; not from the ratiocination of a few illuminated ones, but the sense and argument of those who subdued all the then discovered world, namely, the Romans, who are reported to have found no atheists among all their conquered nations. So that, if any of them there were who professed no religion, it does not follow they own no god ; though perhaps they denied His providence, as did the Epicureans. And, if any others there be, they are so very few and incon- siderable, as cannot amount to the least prejudice of the truth. And whether at some time or other they appre- hend nothing, is very doubtful, or rather, there is no doubt at all but they do, the principle of a deity being so universally obvious. To approach still nearer the light, whether of nature or obscure revelation, we find the most cautious of the heathen philosophers, Hermes himself, naming one God, Father, Principle, Creator of all things, ascribing eter- nity to Him, and divers other Divine attributes ; for ^ Arist. Phys., i., 8 ; Metaph., I. ' S. Basil. Hexam, 1. ii., c. 1. 286 THE TRUE RELIGION. which he acknowledges all worship due to Him. To the same effect, also, Zoroaster, out of whom some would produce no obscure glimmerings of an early- notion, among the heathen, of a Trinity. And such expressions are so clear and frequent in Trismeglstus, that one would be astonished at the spirit and majesty / of his writings, especially when he treats of the nature \and works of God.^ And the sect of the Pythagorean Gymnosophists, as the Brahmins of this day, retain abundance of this. Likely it is, I confess, that Pytha- goras might leam something from the Jews, among < whom he so long conversed ; but certainly he could not 'have that of three Deities, which was the religion of his particular sect. And yet, such a notion it seems they had, though in another place he owns but one, whom he styles All in All, Origo^ Mens, Vita, &c.^ Nor is it only among these we have a Deity plainly acknowledged, but His Divine attributes also. He is called Father of the world, the only Essential Being, with other scriptural expressions. The like we meet with in Jamblicus, speaking of the unity and power, whence he derives an argument for the silent and spi- ritual adoration due to God; as both Proclus, Simplicius, and even Porphyry himself acknowledge; especially ^ It is true that this work is suspected to be of a much later date ; but, for my part, I never could find the man who challenged it from him, and it is questionless so ancient, as we hardly guess when it was written. * To this accord Parmenidas, Empedocles, Xenophon, Hierocles, Thales, Anaxagoras, Timajus, and many others. THE TRUE RELIGION. 287 Plotinus, and generally those of the Academy. When- ever, says Plato, I mention but one God only, take what I say for good earnest.^ This, it seems, was the test in those days. And it is observable how he advises his disciples to search after the MomSa, which Pythagoras calls the prime. And, indeed, they did not familiarly name more, whatever, out of depraved custom and popular use, they now and then spake with the vulgar. Yiet, as TertuUian affirms, even in their ordinary dis- course and communication, they seldom named above one God, always looking up to heaven. But it were a superfluous undertaking, in an age so well acquainted with their writings, to recite all that might be collected out of these Deists, especially the Platonists, of whom was the great Socrates, reported to have suffered martyrdom for his opinion of the unity of God. But indeed it was not only his, but the confes- sion of all the rest ; all of them agreeing in ascribing power, beneficence, purity, omniscience, eternity, and the rest of the divine and incommunicable attributes to Him. 2 Wherefore Maximus Tyrius exhorts men not to set their affections here below, but to contemplate God, and penetrate, even beyond this aspectable world, to the invisible nature. In a word, it is impossible to show that God cannot exist, and therefore plain madness to believe he does not. And, therefore, when a thing is ^ See his Epistle to Dionysius. ' Cic. de Divin., l.i. ; Seneca Ep., 41, 44, 76; Anton., 1. 2 ; see S. Aug. de Cic. Dei, lib. xi., c. 22. 288 THE TRUE RELIGION. not by institution, law, or custom, but universal suffrage, it must certainly be true, and consequently a God.* SECTION VI. ATHEISTS.* Atheists are properly those who derive all from sense- less matter. These are called our new philosophers, ^ men of high thought, Esprits forts, who yet ascend no ' farther than this dunghill earth ; (^ as they will have God contribute nothing more to the fabric of the uni- verse than his whirling about the vortices of matter, globose and striate particles, from whose casual motions, according to certain catholic laws of nature and matter, all things, animate and inanimate, proceed; without the conduct, forsooth, of any mind, wisdom, or providence whatsoeverr^But we have already overthrown these \ impertinences, no ways averse to the Corpuscularian opinion and mechanism of nature, as the sole contrivance \ of the most wise and powerful God, for His own glory, / and to lead us to the contemplation of His perfections. Take the whole world together, and there is nothing (however things may appear to us singly) but what is worthy of God, and contributes to the use, beauty, and harmony of the whole, and of each particular. And if any evil there be in them, it is not from God, but our- selves. So true is that of St. Augustine, Malw tolun- tatis efficiens est nihil, namely, evil has no cause besides itself, and has therefore no nature ; so as it is the loss of good that has given it name. * On this head see the foregoing chapters i. and ii. ' Consult the two first sermons of Dr. Tillotson, part 1. THE TRUE RELIGION. 289 Because they cavil that there is so much mischief among wicked men, and that all things are not calm alike ; whereas it is argument of a greater providence that men are of several inclinations and tempers for the maintaining of peace and order, — that some command and others obey, — some teach and others learn, — since, but for these seeming contrarieties and subordinations, all would be competitors for the same thing, and there could be no living, no government, no polity ; and the same extends to all things else in nature, for the benefit of all. Nor is there any music grateful but has its dis- cords. Thus, the needs of some produce commerce, acquaintance, industry, and show us the use of passions and affections, namely, to exercise our virtue. Others we find displeased at the structure and fabric of the world. Let its parts be compared together with the whole, and we shall also find nothing but harmony and beauty in it, displaying a variety, and constant in all its revolutions and seasons, which are useful and necessary, not only for us, but for all other creatures : so that what perhaps may be noxious to one is health and medicine to another. For to think so highly of ourselves, as if nothing else were to share with us, were insupportable arrogance.^ Indeed, when a religious person looks up to heaven, and humbly casts his eyes upon the inferior world, con- templating how many more of God's creatures were ordained to make his life and being here agreeable, he cannot but with holy David break into ecstasy,^ and find ^ Seneca, de Ira. ^ Psalm viii. VOL. L TJ 290 THE TRUE RELIGION. himself obliged to more grateful returns, because, in addition to all this, he is qualified with an intellectual soul, and capacities to make the best use of what he receives ; and, unless he obstinately shut his eyes, must acknowledge God in all he sees. For, to require other demonstration, and to believe nothing save what they see, as it is absurd, so it is not possible any rational creature should be so stupid. To think all things demonstrable, takes away demonstration itself: nor is C there any Atheist of them all but believes innumerable C things which he never sees. Besides, all religion con- sists in objects which could not be and exist if they were visible. Thus, we see not the past, nor future, nor arc our very hearts and souls to be seen, without our own destruction ; yet, both exist, or else we could not live. We should therefore take estimate of the powers from the effects, and not the contrary. We wonder how the soul survives the body, when we should more admire how a spirit should unite with matter. The union of the soul and body is more stupendous than their separa- tion. Who can comprehend the alliance of a substance extended, and that takes up place, has bounds to con- tain it, and only acts at present upon other subjects, with a thing that has no figure, extension, colour, fluidity, or solidity ; and yet which is everywhere, whilst destitute of parts? We admire at the mention of a Creator and His providence in preserving all things, when we should rather wonder how we have lived so long in the world, for what purpose, whence we came, and what will become of us. O, the depths of the wis- THE TRUE RELIGION. 291 dom of God ! How inscrutable are all His ways ! But of this see Chapter X, where we have more at large shown the absurdity of requiring demonstration and miracles to obtain belief of things which prove them- selves. Incredulity here is the most foolish and dan- gerous ; for its consequences are affected ignorance, pride, singularity, disingenuity, obstinacy, uncharitable- ness, suspicion, laziness, (what shall I call it ?) monstrous ill-nature, and worse, near the sin against the Holy Ghost. There is nothing which Atheists and half philosophers (unworthy of that name) do more ridicule than the punishment and fire of hell : that, being a thing ma- terial, it should operate on immaterials ; not considering that the holy scriptures make use of divers such images, as are known by every one, to represent what is other- wise inconceivable ; and therefore borrows that of fire and brimstone, storm and tempest, the never-dying worm, outward darkness, &c., (such as the Egyptians felt) the valley of Hinnom, and the like, because there is nothing more tormenting and aifrightful than those pains in which fire and these ingredients are used among cruel men. And the same may be said of heaven and the abodes of the blessed — the description of the celestial city drawn by St. John ;^ which all indeed fall short, if literally taken. But that, which they represent, is infi- nitely greater than the highest ideas can produce to resemble them by ; but yet such as best convey their ^ Rev., xxii. U2 292 THE TRUE RELIGION. meaning to all the world ; there being nothing here on earth, which can better affect us, and our imagination, to comprehend the dreadfulness of the damned recep- tacles, and the glories of a Heavenly Paradise. Were they any other ways described, and as they are in them- selves, we should not understand them while we are in this frail and mortal state. They exceed our utmost capacities at present, but may sufficiently stir us up to avoid the one, and strive for the other. The like may be said of the solemnity of the Last Judgment, by resembling it to the circumstances of our earthly tribunals, and assizes, where criminals are tried, ac- quitted, or condemned. And with similar images has our blessed Lord represented several sublime and real mysteries, as of the Spouse, the Virgin, the Marriage of the Lamb, the Master and Servants, the Shepherd and his Flock, Tares and the "Wheat, the Kich Man and Lazarus. The like quarrel have they to that of the soul's im- mortality, though the very Heathen have been per- suaded of it from the beginning.^ Aristotle^ confesses the 80ul to be diradfjs, diiiyrjs, dirKovsy impassible, pure, simple, and consequently not subject to corruption. And what means his 'EvTeX^x^ia, but a divine principle ? But I shall need pursue this no farther, having already done it so copiously in Chapter III. In the mean time, that which seems to have led men into these later absurdities may have been the schools, fancy- ^ Seneca, Ep. 65-117; Cicero, De Amicit. TuscuL, ii. ' De Anima. THE TRUE RELIGION. 293 ing real entities, and substantive qualities of matter, distinct from the modifications of bodies, and yet ge- nerable out of them, and conceptible into them. Whereas, though all life of a compound nature be indeed dissipable, our souls and real entities remain entire, when divested of this gross and material flesh. Then, as to other spirits, apparitions, and miracles, which Atheists deride, though there are (it is confessed) many impostors and cheats for secular interests, yet true ones have been so attested, in all histories and ages, by matters of fact, laws, and other authentic records, that it were impudence to disbelieve them, as we shall come hereafter to show. Finally, predictions have been asserted, also, by the gravest philosophers.^ Why, then, should we call into question what the heathen made no doubt of, who have a more sure word of prophecy ; for their oracles often told them lies — the Scriptures of God never. Many of them were acknowledged by the Pagans themselves, as that of Daniel, by Porphyry, and others; of which in our Eighth Chapter. They had, also, imperfect notions of the Fall of Man, and of his having been once in a more happy state. A fragment of Cicero gives us no obscure hint, where he says, as if some prophet or expounder of the Divine mind had said, Nos oh scelera suscepta in mtd superiore, 1 See the learned Cicero's book, De Divinatione, where he tells us of a discourse written by Chrysippus, and that many of them came to pass, doubtless, by God's permission. 294 THE TRUE RELIGION". pamarum ineundarum causa, natos esse,^ The poets sing of the golden age 5 and Hesiod's fancy of man's misery, through the curiosity of a woman opening Pandora's box, is not to be passed over no more than Plato's, *A.vhp6yvvos, or woman cleft out of man. The im- pudence of the old heroes and the gigantic rebellion has authority among the heathen. So the story of the -/Flood. And their general assent, that all the world shall one day perish by fire, that it also had beginning out of chaos, and that night begat the day. They held two principles, Deus and Dcemon — one good, the other evil. And Homer feigns an invisible power, which walked about the world, inspecting the actions of men, and of God's special residence in some higher orb. In a word, these opinions were not only taken up by the vulgar and ignorant alone, but asserted by the most knowing among them, and it begat venera- tion in them to their deities. And they oftentimes ap- pealed to them and to the judgment to come, as Cle- mens Alexandrinus abundantly proves. Nor was this ineffectual for the conduct of their lives. They ab- horred incest, had solemn laws of matrimony, they took care of their parents, decently interred their dead, prac- tised both distributive and commutative justice, and for other moral virtues exceeded many Christians. These, and sundry more religious particulars, whether coming to the rest of the world from the Chaldaeans, Phenicians, or Egyptians, by books or tradition, from ^ "We are born to undergo punishment for crimes committed in a former life." THE TRUE RELIGION. 295 where the first letters and more useful arts proceeded ; and from places nearer the terrestrial paradise, and derived to us from the most ancient historians, have great weight with considering men. As Aristotle well conjectures, that though the greatest truths might, in tract of time, be much corrupted, yet those which came from the earliest times carry, evidently, marks of sin- cerity. Their descriptions of the infernal regions, and punition of evil-doers there ; the placing their virtuous heroes and benefactors among the gods, where they enjoyed light and perpetual repose, were not the fictions of poets only, since we find Socrates discoursing of his migration and departure to a mansion where the gods inhabited. Were there no prospect beyond the present pheno- mena, conscience would not be so clamorous and un- quiet after the committing some facinorous crime. Nor would the stoutest persons, as some we read of (and others we have known), fear the dark, like children, and the burying-places of the dead. The boldest Atheist has dreaded thunder. And if there be no God or account to be given after this frail life, why, of all others, are they, of all others, unwilling to die, though ever so miserable and ill at ease here ? They object the common calamity which befalls the godly, as well as impious, many times in this life ; but take not the pains to observe how infinite numbers more, who led debauched lives, and are as without God in the world, come to more fatal ends. Whilst the signal disasters of profligate men are remarkable in more frequent and 296 THE TRUE RELIGION. fearful judgments, they overwhelm them suddenly, and all ages have taken notice of the circumstances. Thus tyrants, oppressors, persecutors, murderers, adul- terers, perjurers, sacrilegious persons, traitors, profane and atheistical men seldom escape vengeance in this life. Witness Alexander, Caesar, Nero, Domitian, Judas, Absalom, Abimelech, and innumerable others of elder times. To whom we may add, of nearer to us — Kichard the Third, Pope Alexander the Sixth, and most of those who lately acted that inhuman tragedy among us, whose carcases came, by the gibbet, to infamous ends. And we see a secret moth consuming private families for sacrilege, oppression, rapine, injustice, bastardy, and the like. The strange detection of murders would fill volumes to recount them, and the cruel persecutors of God's people rarely came to their graves in peace, of which see that excellent plea of Lactantius, newly come to light.* Solomon^ tells us a bird of the air shall dis- cover treason. And seldom do we find notorious vil- lanies and bloody persecutors pass unpunished even in this life. On the contrary, the rewards of virtuous and religious persons are as conspicuous, if not in worldly riches and external splendour, yet in inward comforts, contentedness, and acquiescence, cheerful and healthy lives, patience in sickness, and ravishing hopes of future joys when they come to die. To conclude : — things future are so above our com- prehension, that the wisest men are but good guessers. None but the Maker of all things, and who gave His * Pe Mortibus persecutorum. 2 Eccles., x., 20. THE TRUE EELIGION. 297 creatures faculty to work, and who rules and directs their operations to their several ends, can possibly see the effects depending upon those causes. And, there- fore, by what means we may be assured of a prophecy, by the same we may be of a Deity. For, unless all records of the world were forged, and all notices of his- tory designed on purpose to put a cheat on posterity, and abuse their own children, whom all parents in all ages have cherished and wished happy, there can be no pretence to suspect the being of a God. All the works of nature are uniform, and there is a certain sphere of every creature's power and activity. If, then, any action be performed, which is not within the compass of the power of any natural agent; if anything wrought by the intervention of a body that bears no proportion to it, or have no natural aptitude so to work, it must, of necessity, be ascribed to some cause transcending all natural causes, and universally disposing them. Thus, every miracle proves its author to be God, and every act of omnipotency is a demonstration against the Atheists. Our own consciences within us find comfort and ap- probation in virtuous and honest actions, and remorse for wicked and base ones. The most obdurate Atheist and pagan have (as we showed) acknowledged it. Nor is it to be obliterated by any possible means. Consider we Caligula, who, though a professed Atheist, yet hid his head under a bed at the thunder and lightning, upon consideration of his guilt ; so that, what in his obstinacy and wilfulness he denied, he, by that involuntary action. 298 THE TRUE RELIGIOX. confessed. When, therefore, this truth will not be con- fessed, it shall be extorted at one time or other. How unhappy, then, he who denies a God to himself, and proves it to another! And what a madness not to acknowledge Him, of whom it is impossible to be igno- rant ! Though some ungracious children may be so wicked as not to honour their parents, we never heard of any one who denied they had them. For man being the only nature capable of religion, that is, of appre- hending a Deity, and expecting future rewards and punishments, no endeavour could utterly suppress it. * They deny it in the day, says Seneca, but confess it at night. God is the principle of the knowledge we have of His existence, both by His works, without in the visible world, and in the impressions He has en- graved in our souls. And if any be who deny this truth, they are to be looked upon and treated rather as monsters than as men. Indeed, custom and education do, for the most part, sway men more than serious re- flections on the reasonableness of believing a Deity. But that proceeds from their desire of gratifying a pre- sent, sensual, and inordinate passion. They give them- selves no leisure to recollect, and make use of their reason, which would certainly lead them to be religious. It is not, therefore, any prejudice of education conducts us to the belief of a God, and that He ought to be wor- ^ Cic. de Legibus. Ex tot generibus nullum est animal, quod non habeat notitiam aliquam Dei; ipsisque in hominibus nulla gens est, neque tarn iramansueta, neque tam fera, quae non, etiamsi ignoret, qualem habere deum debeat, tamen habendum sciat. THE TRUE RELIGION. 299 shipped by us, but a necessary consequence of all they see in the creation. No effect of education or custom forces us to believe all the wisdom, power, goodness, and perfection of God ; that He loves, provides for, and expects His creatures should love, acknowledge, and adore Him, and condemns all impiety, and such actions as are destructive to our well being ; that God should be so good and merciful to impious men here, and virtue go unrewarded, if there were not a just and cer- tain dispensation to come. These truths, not our education, but common sense and natural reason evinces. To affirm that God ap- proves and loves all men and actions alike, good and bad, were to make the fountain of justice and virtue wicked and imperfect ; which were to render Him no God, or one at least who takes no notice of our actions. If it be objected that God, of His Omnipotent power, being absolutely free to do as He will, may voluntarily lay aside all thought and concern for us, it is answered, that God must needs know himself, and, if so, all beings that ever issued from Him ; and, contemplating His own beneficence, cannot but regard those objects for whose sake His goodness and bounty is communicated. For God's perfections being infinite, nothing can be pain, or molestance to Him. The Atheist, then, is grievously perplexed betwixt these two truths : — the One, that certain actions are wicked, because their own reason, conscience, universal consent, natural law, and every thing else enforce it ; the other, that wicked actions ought not to be attri- 300 THE TRUE RELIGION. buted (as to their principle) to that God who condemns them, and has imprinted in our souls the same senti* ments by the light of Nature and our reason. But supposing, with some learned men, who are yet far from being Atheists, that the knowledge of a Deity be not connatural to our souls, for that the Soul has rather (say they) no in-bred knowledge at all, or of any thing from the beginning, but is a rasa tabula, without the least character of knowledge imprinted in her, unless we were assured of her pre-existence. For this cause, God never charges any with their ignorance of Him upon that account ; so that men cannot ground their knowledge of God's existence upon self-evidence ; for whosoever shall deny it, can (say some) by no means be convinced; it being irrational to tell one who is in doubt of it that he must believe it because it is evident, when he knows that he only doubts because it is not evident to him, at least. But, though this were so, yet that God is, will be apparent to us so soon as reason exerts herself by its connexion to other truths ; as the dependency of inferior beings leads us, whether we will or no, to the Superior Independent Being, or nature of in- finite perfection, potential and causative of all other beings.^ To conclude, then : it is a most dangerous thing to be an Atheist ; or, if men be not such, to live like * Deus est Suum Esse ; sed quia nos non scimus de Deo, quid est, non est nobis per se notus ; sed indiget demonstrari per ea, quae sunt magis nota, quoad nos, et miniis nota quoad naturum, scilicet per effectus. — Aquinas. THE TRUE RELIGION. 301 Atheists. For, whatever becomes of those who are of a false religion (which we next come to treat of), he that is of none is sure to perish. If the one be upon an uncertainty, the other is upon an impossibility, of being saved. It is, therefore, better by far uncertainly to err than certainly to perish. The weakest hopes are better than utter despair. But the thing they fancy is an absolute annihilation, which is but a very melancholy meditation ; and, whatever they pretend, the dread and horror of death perplexes them ; but why so if there be not something after death which they fear and doubt of? The frights and torments of a guilty conscience and of revenge, even in the heathen, put this out of the question. There may be, indeed, numbers of practical Atheists, as daily, indeed, we find too many ; yet it is hard to believe it possible there should be any speculative Atheist. There are many other most convincing argu- ments and naotives from the creation of the universe, the great and lesser world, man, and the Providence of God, in preserving and governing them, which we have abundantly produced in most of the foregoing Chapters, to evince the being of a Deity, and confound the Atheist ; and, therefore, we will here shut up the present. 302 THE TRUE RELIGION. CHAPTEK VI. OF THE FALSE, PAGAN, AND GENTILE EELIGION. SECTION I. RISE OF IDOLATRY. SECTION II. IMAGE WORSHIP. SECTION III. PAGAN PHILOSOPHY. Primus sapientiae gradus est falsa intelligere. Lactantius. SECTION I. RISE OF IDOLATRY. The false and Pagan religion sprung from the cor- ruption of the natural, which was first itself corrupted by the Fall of Man, who only had it in perfection till he lost his innocency. So those impaired remainders of it, which some of his immediate posterity retained, were well nigh lost, and extremely adulterated, by tract of time, from the posterity of Cain. And this corruption was so universal, that the Deluge, wliich swept away the whole world, excepting eight persons only, did not so cleanse the race of mankind, but that, soon after the flood. Idolatry and Superstition perverted it again in the grossest manner ; turning religion, and the worship of the true God, into all manner of licen- tiousness and superstition. Satan, the god of this THE TRUE RELIGION. 303 lower world, blinding their eyes, the religion they pro- fessed was such as their own imaginations had set up, worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator, who is God blessed for ever.^ Now, what their religion was before that general cataclysm, which swept away things as well as men, is no where described for us by any human author of credit. Their sins and wickedness was it, which brought upon them that swift destruction we have in Genesis. Men, multiplying in the earth, were given so to luxury, that God, seeing their wickedness was great, and every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts evil continually, repented that He had made man. Nor doubt we but, amongst other their sins, idolatry had spread itself, even in those early days, through the subtlety of that old and malicious serpent, who seduced our first parents from the service of the true God ; whose worship, consisting chiefly in speculation upon the works of Creation, they celebrated in sacrifices and oblations from the beginning, clothing themselves with the skins of the beasts they offered. But the first objects of their early worship, after the flood, and perhaps too before it (I mean, of those who were of the more wicked race, and who had forgotten that of the true God), might, most likely, as the most natural, have been of the Heavenly fires, the sun, and moon, and host of Heaven (as among the Egyptians, under the names of Osiris, or Serapis and Isis), from the benefits received by their influence; those bright ^ Gen., iv. 304 THE TRUE EELIGION. constellations being reputed to be nearest the seats and mansions of the gods ; and therefore named e«ot,^ from their perpetual motions; and chose high places and mountains to sacrifice on, as nearest those constellations. They deemed the Sun a kind of archangel, and called liim the organ or divine harp of the Deity, whose har- mony charmed the rest of the universe into order ; as that of Orpheus did the stones into the city of Thebes. rAnd upon this conceited hypothesis was founded the J astrological magic of the Persians and Egyptians, with I their Demons and Intelligences, who governed their ^ revolutions, and influenced their superstitious talismans. Most probably it is that Cham, the profane son of Noah, and his descendants, having, as we said, quite lost the knowledge of the true God, and, choosing Egypt for their country, set on foot this worship, which, as Maimonides observes, was so general, that the notice of any other god was rarely known ; ascribing all events to the operations of the Heavens, whom they also in- voked upon all occasions, holding up their hands, and lifting up their eyes to them in distress. And this, seconded perhaps by revelations, pretended at least, as Origen thinks, might be allowed by God Himself, wink- ing at their ignorance, before the promulgation of the law, to keep the world from yet that grosser idolatry into which it afterwards felL But the good father is single in this fancy ; though, as it was the most natural and tolerable worship, whilst men received the benefit of their light and influences,^ they might haply address ^ Geof, from 6dvy to run. ' Wisd., xiii., 2, 3. THE TKUE RELIGION. 305 to them as mediators ; yet, when they added sacrifices, burnt incense, and performed other rites, and actions of Divine adoration also, it turned to flat idolatry, taking the creature for the Creator. For it seems they stayed not here, nor were they content with these appearances. The Author of "Wisdom ^ informs us at large that the devising of idols was the beginning of spiritual fornication, and the invention of them the corruption of life. Not that it should be so for ever, but as these mighty tyrants (giants as they were called) and vain- glory of men introduced them, so in time those things, which were nothing (for an idol is nothing in the world), should in time come to nothing. A Father, says that author, afflicted with untimely mourning, when he had made an image of his deceased child, soon taken away, now honoured him as a god, who was then but a dead man, and delivered to those who were under him cere- monies and sacrifices. For many of the Pagan gods were only the souls of dead men, called by the Greeks heroes, or by the Latins, Manes; such as Hercules, ^sculapius, &c. And thus, in process of time, an im- pious custom, grown strong, was observed as a law ; and graven images were worshipped by the command- ment of kings. For men could not know them in presence, because they dwelt far off; so thus made an express image of a king, that they might flatter the absent. Thus, the multitude, allured by the grace of the artificer's work, took him for a god. And, likely it is, that (as we noted) the Devil, by pretended appa- 2 Wisd., xiv., 14, 27. VOL. I. X 306 THE TRUE RELIGION. ritions, revelations, false miracles, and tricks, done in and about those statues, persuaded a belief of the presence of the imaginary deities Avhich they represented. And this was the occasion to deceive the world, — men under their calamity or tyranny ascribing unto stones and stocks the Incommunicable Name. Nor was this all; for, whilst they erred in the knowledge of God, they devised other gods, slaying their very children in sacrifice, and used secret ceremonies, revelllngs, and abominable rites, — the worship of images, not to be named, being the beginning, the cause, and the end of all evil. Thus the race of cursed Cham, not caring to retain God in their knowledge ; nor, when they knew him, glorifying Him as God, He gave them over to a repro- bate mind ; and, becoming vain in their imaginations, they changed the glory of the Incorruptible God into an image, made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things ; changing the truth of God into a lie ; ^ and to what shameful, obscene, and unspeakable villanies, St. Paul gives us the catalogue at large. Thus, at the beginning, some fond parent, doating on his dead child, might cause his image to be made and worshipped. Not that it was the first idolatry, but the first relating to the deifying or apotheosis of the dead, to honour the memory of some illustrious person, or such as were inventors of useful arts, — men of extra- ordinary ingenuity, — also conquerors, and captains, for ^ Horn., i., 21, &c. THE TRUE RELIGION. S07 fear, or love ; and such godlike heroes, as did thein good, by defending their persons and country, and enacting wholesome laws. Thus Ninus, in honour of his father, Belus, erected his statue, and made it an asylum.^ But, leaving off this Velamen, they grossly made the figures of brute animals to represent the heavenly bodies and constellations. Not that the wiser amongst them really believed any such peculiar or divine virtue to reside in those representations, but as intimating the several attributes, effects, and powers of one Deity, under various names. For, not knowing what God's proper name was, they invoked Him by innumerable names. Still, the Magna Mater, or Terra^ was esteemed mother of all the rest, for her plenty and exuberance.'^ Nay, Serapis's oracle to a Cyprian king declared him- self to be the universe itself; that the stellated canopy was his head, the sea his belly, the earth his body, and the sun his eye. So that under the names of Ceres, Liber, Janus, Vulcan, Minerva, &c., they celebrated the justice, liberality, and knowledge of several useful arts and profitable inventions, which they were famous for. 3 We have the mention of some of them in Holy Scripture, for the invention of tents, minerals, and ^ August. De Civit. Dei, 1. 1. Amongst these was Saturn of the Phenicians ; Astarte, who was worshipped in the planet Venus, Osiris, and sometimes a Phoenix, in the sun. Isis, and sometimes Apis, in the moon. For Mercury, Sirius, Noah in Janus, &c. ^ hominum Divumque ajterna Creatrix. Statius. Thebaid, ^ Cic. De Nat. Deorum. See Lactant. De falsa Rel., c. 22. X2 308 THE TRUE RELIGION. works in iron, without which metal no other work could well be done ; culture of ground, and husbandry, and the first mention of a liberal science, music, which, comprehending number and proportion, is of large ex- tent And these before the Flood. Thus Horace to Augustus,^ Komulus, et Liber Pater, et cum Castore Pollux Post ingentia facta, Deorum in templa recepti. To these add such as had skill in simples, drugs, and the Materia Medica ; inventors of letters and hierogly- phics, astrology, and navigation. And because no art almost but uses fire and water, they worshipped Tubal- Cain or Vulcan, Neptune or Noah, &c., communicated, it is probable, with their religious rites, by the Egyp- tians to the Persians, Indians, Greeks; who had all from the Egyptians (however arrogating all these things to themselves) and the Romans, one after another. SECTION II. IMAGE WORSHIP. Now, as to images, in these early times, it is possible that idolatry was more ancient than even the worship of images themselves ; which, some think, came not in till the deifying of dead men. For the Romans (as appears by Varro) were a hundred and seventy years before they had any such things amongst them. So that images did rather propagate idolatry than begin it. Nay, perhaps it was before painting or sculpture itself were celebrated arts; which, I suppose, were 1 Ep., lib. ii., i. 5. THE TRUE EELIGION. S09 cultivated to advance and adorn it: it being so rude and bungling at first, that Pausanius tells us the Greeks did only worship great stones, made pointed at the top. Indeed, the pyramids and obelisks, as dedicated to the sun, and representing his rays, point to that Heliolatria we have been speaking of as so early in the world. And the learned Scaliger says, the Phenicians had the like custom of worshipping rude stones : ^ though, per- haps, from Jacob pouring oil on the column at Bethel, as a record of the true God, who is the Rock of Ages. To these ceremonies the Romans added chaplets and crowns of flowers, and unction also; and thus might idolatry be more ancient than imagery. But whether for that cause Adrian built so many temples, without any images, I determine not. Some thought he in- tended to erect in them the statue of Christ, others his own effigy, either of which would yet have made it flat idolatry. But to proceed : to whom they set up sta- tues and built temples, they soon added altars, sacri- fices, flamens, priests, vestals, and other sacred officers. Nor were their gods of the same rank and dignity. They had their select deities, or Dii Majorum Gentium^ who had ascendancy over the rest, which the wiser heathen did not take for several gods, but for their various offices and eflects.^ And indeed the Stoics, who held even the gods themselves to be mortals, affirmed that, when after many myriads of years they died, they went all into Jupiter. And some Platonists would have ^ Emendation. 2 g^ ^ug., De Civ. Dei, 1. iv., c. 11. 310 THE TRUE RELIGION. every idea a god, and, if so, every idea of sin must be so too. In a word, tot monstra^ quot Jovis nomina.^ But, besides these major deities, the Pagan theolo- gists, affirming their inferior or lesser gods, who derived all their power from the greater, and were under their correction, had amongst them certain heroes, or conse- crated souls and spirits, naturally separated from matter, whose office it was to mediate for mortals to the supe- rior gods, and execute their orders. These had like- wise both their temples, images, and altars. The greater were called Dii Superi, or Coelestes; the Iq&qqt Dwmoiies, which Plato affirms were those middle spirits, that united mortals to the immortals, by putting up their prayers. And this doctrine they had from the Magi, Zoroaster, or haply from the Thracian Orpheus, Egypt, or Phrygia. Doubtless the same with those who now- a-days rank their saints and mediators among the lower deities. For so their Dim and Dwce come into the catalogue. And these Pagan Daemons were the mes- sengers and interpreters of the gods.^ In the mean time, Hesiod seems author of the first apotheosis. He tells us, that by a consult of Jupiter, the heroes, and famous persons of old, were, after death, or translation, rather, canonized and made the guardians and patrons of mortal men, and those they left behind — whose actions and lives they constantly inspected. ^ ^ Arnob., 7. ' See Apuleius De Deo Socratis. Jamblicus De Mysteriis, and instar omnium St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, lib. 8. 2 Euseb. De Praep., lib. xiii., c. 9. THE TRUE RELIGION. Sll Thus the Platonists also would that every man had his Gustos. To these they instituted feasts, which they called Inferice, Parentalia, Parentationes, Novendialia, &c., and sometimes the temples and altars of their heroes were their graves and sepulchres. But, as was said, besides deified men and women, (for by this time godheads were so cheap, and men, not having where to choose better, deified one another) there was hardly a beast, cat or dog, fowl or fish, worm or reptile, tree or plant, which the Pagans did not abuse to superstition. The rivers and floods, woods and rocks and mountains, had their dryads, nymphs, satyrs. Pans, Naiades. Nilus and Ganges were worshipped by the Brachmins, fire by the Persians, as well as drought, air, and even all the elements. I say not only Jupiter, but every object they met with, (like the Indian Fetishes at this day) were, by some or other, made their God. And doubtless the ignorant sort of these infatuated souls believed them real deities. For what is it super- stition cannot effect ? We see it in some even at this day, who would be thought very wise and knowing. How was it else possible to conceive the Egyptians should be afraid of those grovelling plants, which they themselves planted, sowed, and cultivated in their gar- dens, and trod on in the fields ? or of the stump of a fig-tree, or piece of an old gallows, or something molten out of a rusty kettle, cast and new hammered, a thing that might rot, be burnt, or melted again, be meta- morphosed from a man to a mouse, or turned into any vessel for the vilest use, according to the artist's fancy ! 312 THE TRUE RELIGION. A stock or head, into whose mouth a toad might creep, and spiders weave their webs, and worms consume ! They knew from what dirty pit and quarry they had been hewn and dug, and yet implored help from that, which (as the Prophet most elegantly described) could not help itself, or move out of its place, to preserve itself from burning, or a thief. ^ They nailed or chained them to their stations, and yet feared them as omnipre- sent and almighty. Nay, they erected altars to dis- eases, to vicious passions, Fear, Envy, and Discord ; as did both the Greeks, and those of Egypt. Of all which, see the excellent Minutius Octavius, deducing their pedigrees, several genealogies, and places of birth, burials, and epitaphs, and that even of their great Jupiter himself, father of all the rest: as well as of their impotency, and sordid vices, of which St. Augus- tine in his city of God.^ Juno, who should have been the most exemplary to the rest of her sex, was spitefxil and jealous. Her hus- band, Jupiter, an adulterer and ravisher. Hercules grew frantic and burnt himself. Fortune vras incon- stant. They quarrel among themselves, they fight, nay, receive wounds, and bleed. Add to this, that some of them were calamitous. Saturn is laden with chains, Apollo lost his mistress, Ceres her daughter, Isis her son, Vulcan brake his thigh. In a word, such absurd actions, childish and foolish tricks, are recorded of them by their own wittiest poets, ^ Isaiah, xl., 19. ^ Lib. 4., c. 5, and 1. xviii., c. 13. Arnob., lib. iv. THE TRUE RELIGION. 313 satirists, and some great historians, as plainly betray their ridiculous worship.^ So as it is to be wondered how such impertinences should prevail, as they did, in the world ; or that wise and sober men should counte- nance it, and princes be at such cost to canonize and deify such base, lewd, and infamous debauchees, with divine honours, as so many gods and goddesses. But thus had the god of this world blinded and in- fatuated men's eyes and minds, insulting over the image of the true God, to promote his own devilish worship. For though, as the apostle tells us, an idol is nothing, (namely, a thing which has no real existence) yet Satan, stepping into God's place, and usurping what belongs to no creature whatever, especially to so vile a one, makes every act of such worship, idolatry. So as those, who sacrificed to any of these representations, sacrificed not to God, but to devils. It is possible Aaron^ did intend no such thing, when he set up the Golden Calf, as the worshipping it for the true God, but rather as under that similitude only, it being the figure of the cherub, which afterwards shadowed the Propitiatory. No more doubtless did Jeroboam ; but merely to give the revolters a visible sign of God's pre- sence, as described by Ezekiel's Vision. But this could be no excuse ; the crime proceeding from their making any image whatever, to adore and worship it ; though the worshipper esteem it but a senseless idol, a mere vanity. ^ Diodor. Sic, 1. i., 2, 4. * Levit., xvii., 7; Deut., xxxiii., 17 ; I. Cor., x., 19, 20, 21. 314 TlHE TRUE RELIGION. God is a jealous God, and will have none to share in an honour, which is alone due to Him, and to no other. Nor yet that all images were unlaw^ful, but the wor- shipping of the true God under an image ; representing Him as a creature, which corrupts the imagination, and makes the superstition endless, and the rites so abo- minable, as there was no vice or villany, which was not practised in some of them.^ Add to these their ridiculous auguries, auspices, raking into the entrails of beasts, and observing the flying and chirping of birds for the event of every enterprise. Their theatres and spectacles were always ushered in with processions of idols, displaying their banners, and crowning their figures with garlands, and the Temple- porches with fruits, festoons, and pompous shows; very much resembling what a Church does at this day imi- tate, which takes it ill to be charged with a gross super- stition, as any of the Heathens. Let any one behold and consider the multitude of their shrines, statues, altars, pageants, temples, aspersions, bloody scourg- ings, and disciplines, lamps and candles at noon-day ; their pompous vestments, apish and ridiculous gestures, dirges, dismal tone, and other innumerable fopperies copied from Pagan rites, and savouring more of the theatre, than of the sober and solenm and rational wor- ship of the great God. I cannot sufficiently, I say, wonder that the learned and knowing men of the Church of Rome should take ^ S. August., De Civ. Dei, 1. vii., c. 26. THE TRUE RELIGION". Si 5 such pains and write such volumes to propagate these impertinences, in an age so enlightened, and to the scandal not only of all good Christians, but even of Turks and Infidels. But the craftsmen have their living from these Dianas, and these have more than one goddess — they are innumerable; interceding not only for men and women only, but for pigs and poultry ; invoked, censed, vowed, and pilgrimaged too, as the Heathen did. They had likewise nuns and vestals, who looked after the sacred fire.^ See their office described by Diony- sius Halicarnassus, and their being permitted to marry after thirty years.^ The first we read of that brought images to Rome, was the superstitious Numa, as Cadmus into Greece. Varro confesses cities were before them, but, after that, so apprehensive were they of not having enough, that the statues of them were almost as many as of men. And lest the Greeks might disoblige some of the num- ber through ignorance, the Athenians, we read, erected an altar to the God Unknown. That they worshipped evil spirits in all this, many of themselves confess; and the Greeks called them Caco- dwmones^ the Persians Arimanes, and the Yejoves, and Averruncans of the Latins. ^ And, therefore, their ^ Alex, ab Alexan.,1. 5., c. 12; PlutarchinCamillo. Strabo.,1. 6. ' The difference between these and the Christian virgins, see elegantly described by S. Ambrose in his answer to Symmachus, who wrote in their behalf to Valentinian and Theodosius. ^ See Aul. Gell. Noc. Att., lib. v., c. 17. 316 THE TRUE RELIGION. oracles were no other than certain impure spirits, who, having been precipitated from their own glorious station into the darker regions, for their insolence, giving them- selves to desperate malice, and the perdition of seduced man, sought, it is likely, to alleviate their calamitous condition, by bringing others into the same condemna- tion ; suggesting whatever might contribute to it, by all possible allurements. For this eiFect, he who had before made use of the subtle serpent to seduce our first parents, makes use of images and idols now, to pervert their posterity. In these he sometimes uttered dubious responses ; and, sometimes, as he endeavoured to tempt our blessed Saviour by texts of Scripture, and the undoubted oracles, so he now and then, to purchase reputation, spake truth, but such as mostly tended to mislead his devotees. And these were managed by crafty priests and priestesses, charms and enthusiasms, raising and kindling passions, diabolical lusts, and abo- minable actions. The Python lurking sometimes in the images themselves, and not seldom in his ministers. Of these most renowned was the Delphic oracle, yet doubtful, uncertain, and for the most part so utterly false in his predictions, that u^nomanus, a famous phi- losopher and votary of their own, had written an ex- press volume of their forgeries and impostures. And though they had been compelled to confess they were but devils, and no gods, which, as the light of a better religion arose, ceased and were put to silence; yet wizards and soothsayers undertook the trade, abusing credulous people, as yet they continue to do among the THE TRUE RELIGION. 317 blinded pagans, where the sun of righteousness has not yet appeared. Plainly St. Augustine tells them that devils possessed their idols. ^ And Leon, the Egyptian Archflamen, confessed as much in private to Alexander Magnus long before. Nor with less ingenuity Por- phyry himself that their responses were in his time not only full of mistakes, but subject to lying. In the mean time, never did Satan more discover the depth of his malice than by his pretended oracles, to which deluded men came from the farthest parts of the world. They frequently, as we noted, spake of the sublimest matters, wrapped up in mysterious expres- sions ; and, to gain authority and reputation, would sometimes command the fear and love of the Deity, duty to parents, acts of justice, and the like.^ It was not then by the powers or blessings of their gods, but (as the impostor Mahomet) by their sword, barbarous sacrilege, and villanies, from the first foun- dation of their empire, that they conquered the world. Romulus laid the first stone of their city's walls in the blood of his own brother, and peopled it by a rape. All their riches and grandeur were but the product of their insatiable avarice, unjust invasions, and ambition. For ^ S. Aug. De Civ. Dei, 1. 8, c. 23. ^ As to their predictions, people did not so much take notice of things, which did not come to pass, as of what succeeded, though they were as false, and seldom as their miracles. Consult Lactan- tius, comparing their pretended feats with what jugglers and hocus-pocuses performed, surpassing all the tricks of their Serapis, yea^ and even of their Accius Naevius, and Claudia. 318 THE TRUE RELIGION. how could just Gods consent to aid and help them, whom they captived and dragged in chains after their triumph and chariots ! But, granting that they some- times were permitted to do a strange and unusual thing, for the further hardening and punition of their abominable idolatries and superstition, it was but just in God so to punish this stupid or affected ignorance, since they could not but condemn themselves, had they made use of that reason which distinguished them from beasts.' SECTION III. PAGAN PHILOSOPHY. Let us now then enquire what the philosophers' and wiser heathens' religion was, and what they further thought of all this folly. It is confessed, that there are many things in Plato, Seneca, Epictetus, and others, which some would reduce to rules of life, nay, beyond morality, even to principles of our Christian faith ; as particularly concerning the Holy Trinity. But this was all tradition, derived from Pythagoras, by the familiarity he had with deceiving spirits, seeking to refine the Gentile idolatry and superstition into a more subtle way of adoring the Devil. And this being imitated by Simon Magus, ApoUonius Thyaneus, and such impostors, produced that adoration of angels ^ It is evident that neither Aristotle, Epicurus, Cicero, Seneca, nor any of the thinking sort (unless either to amuse the vulgar, or for political respects) believed what they professed. Cicero, treating of the nature of the gods, sufficiently shows the vanity of their numbers. THE TRUE RELIGION. SI 9 which the Scripture so often condemns.^ And hence we shall find that even those excellent things, which the wiser Greeks and Romans have written of, our duty to God and men, proceeded from their being instructed, as best might serve the craft and purposes of Satan, to detain them in their other errors ; the rest of what they published and taught being tainted with such positions and gross mistakes as cannot consist with the worship of the true God. Let us take a short survey of the heathen sacrifices, and how nearly they imitated the Mosaical rites, that so the subtle spirit might draw away the people of God, under a show of no less sanctity and devotion. No sooner had the priest led the victim to the altar, but he took hold of the stone, and, standing, prayed first to Janus and Yesta, who were still the principal numens in these rites, to make way for the higher powers.2 Then was Jupiter called on with the rest. Then, lest anything should be omitted, there attended certain custodes, or monitors, who imposed silence to the company, and pipes were sounded, lest anything that was indecent, or of ill abode, might be heard.^ The priest now begins the immolation, which was either some fruit, or a lump of meal, sprinkled with salt, and some grains of incense, which was laid on the head of the beast. After this, was poured wine out of an ewer. This they called delihation, and never omitted, first sprinkling, then casting it into the fire. This done, the ^ Col., ii., 8. 23. 2 Yai. j^jax., 1. i., c. 1. ^ Panvinius De Fastis, and in 2 de Repub. 320 THE TRUE RELIGION. priest commands the victims, and other officers attending, to knock down and cut the throat of the creature; receiving the blood into vessels. Then they flayed oft' the skin, washed the flesh, and laid the fire in order. After this, the aruspex flamen and priest, raking the entrails, to see if anything were defective or redundant there. A portion of every member being cut off* for prelibation^ and rolled in flour, was burnt ; which being consumed, the priests ate the rest with their jolly com- panions dancing about, and singing the praises of their gods to the noise of cymbals and other fantastic in- struments. Now, how these ceremonies answered the Levitical may be gathered from the ritual chapters of the Penta- teuch.^ Here we see how Satan, aping the Deity, did strive to imitate the prescribed sacrifices. So were they taught that the Divine justice was not to be appeased without the shedding of blood, prayers, and prostrations; erring only in the application to a false object, and mixing their devotions with unwarrantable rites and fancies of their own. They farther held that, for the sin of man, man was to die. Hence Caesar tells us the Grauls sacrificed their children, as those of Africa a Man to Saturn, after a more cruel manner. And so, of later times, what we read of Montezuma's idol in Mexico. Not that the wicked spirit induced his votaries to this unnatural superstition, in relation to the sacrifice of Christ, but, as we said, that he might place himself in his Father's ^ Numbers, xv., xxviii. Deut., xxxii., &c. THE TRUE RELIGION. 821 throne, for which he was thrown down to Hell. For, as to this, or any other sort of sacrifice, did we well contemplate the idea of God, one could not easily be persuaded that the blood of beasts should reconcile us to His favour, or even that He had commanded such a service, till the Christian religion drew the curtains, and showed the reason of its typifying the offering of that Immaculate Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. In the mean time, it is the opinion of St. Augus- tine ^ that, since Almighty God would be honoured by sacrifice. He would have a sacrifice worthy of Him, and therefore of the most worthy of his creatures, man. That even in Paradise itself, as a Divine worship, so a sacrifice; namely, man himself, in innocence, offered himself, — that is, was ready and willing to have done it, as thinking nothing too precious for his Benefactor. But, after the Fall, there was no man worthy to be offered to him; but man himself stood in need of a pure victim, that might be sacrificed for him, and re- concile His justice. And, indeed, all the Jewish rites and ceremonies were but a continual prophecy of that which was afterwards to be done in the church ; ^ and, therefore, were there so many sacrifices enjoined them, which signified only that Lamb of God, the great and pure oblation without spot. To show what other adumbrations, or rather glimmer* ings, the heathen world had of the truth, in the midst of ^ De Civ. Dei, 1. x., c. 29. * As we shall hereafter show, chapter xii. VOL. I. Y 322 THE TRUE RELIGION. 80 much error, is it not admirable to hear them discoursing of the depravedness of the human nature, the shame and misery of its condition? That man, contrary to all other creatures, had rather be covered with the skins and spoils of beasts, than expose his own naked- ness ! That the soul had once wings from Heaven, but had broken them ! ^ The Orphean verses mention two Tables of a Deca- logue ; though, indeed, the two first commands of the first, and last of the second, were not known to them. To this add the wide spreading of circumcision, and opinion of the world's conflagration, to precede its inun- dation. That which Justin mentions of the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt, — Solinus, Diodorus, and others, of the destruction of Sodom, and several other Scripture passages, — their reverence to a kind of sabbath, or number seven. Our learned Andrews shows how all their best and most rational ceremonies flowed from the people of God ; whilst tapers at noon- day, and funeral obsequies, and worship of idols, were pagan customs ; and even temples themselves were but sepulchres, whither people used to assemble, to call upon the memory of the dead. So the pontificate came to be translated from emperor to pope. They used imposition of hands, as in the ordinances of Numa. Their linigeri were a kind of surplices. We have an excommunication in Virgil. Nay, they had exhorta- ^ So Plato, Trismegistus, and Hierocles, speak of the lapse of human kmd, which Plotinus calls an impious rebellion. THE TRUE RELIGION. S23 tlons and preaching in their assemblies. ^ They cano- nized renowned persons. They had their ambavcalia, or processions, in which they bore their images about, as prevalent for the averting of great calamities, and used the hyrie eleeson in their Litanies.^ They ob- served Lents ; dedicated first fruits, paid tithes to Apollo, had lustrations, holy water, and baptism. Tingit et ipse fideles suos, as TertuUian, speaking of the unclean spirits. Further yet, the heathen had notices of the insup- portable discord in man's upper faculties, and lower appetites, though they comprehended not from whence it proceeded. The more refined among them abhorred immoral actions, and taught that a pure and defecate mind was the best and most agreeable sacrifice. In what raptures of devotion they expressed themselves, Simplicius ^ has given a specimen.^ Thus God left not Himself in any age without tes- timony, nor man without a law, written in his heart, besides what he might every day have read in the Book of Nature. And, accordingly, some of them by this alone, and by observing the miseries their own depraved- ness brought them to, taught and lived excellently; ^ See Valerius Maximus and Suetonius, who makes it a wonder that Tiberius Caesar should offer sacrifice without it. ^ Arrian. ^ Com. in Epict.. ^ Plato (in Eep.) sa3^s that the proof of a virtuous and just man appears in his sufferings — not merely being reviled, and stripped of all, but gibbeted and murdered ignominiously ; and that such would be happy hereafter. y2 o24 THE TRUE RELIGION. and had, as we all along have showed, profound and glorious notions of the Deity.* But, having all this by guess, or as fragments collected from the Hebrews, or patriarchal saints (amongst whom it is not unlikely they might converse as well before as after their descent into Egypt) they never had, or could have, any certainty of what they so took up. Nor did this arrive at any uniformity, or institution of established principles and worship ; though Jamblicus has called it so, with the epithet of divine, pretending to revelation, where he says, " We know nothing of ourselves ;" whilst he knew not when, or whence, neither agreeing in time, place, or testimony. They groped still in the dark, but could not find it by any light they had from above. And even Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and others of their most penetrating philosophers, lost themselves when they spake of another world. And though they held future rewards, punishments, and receptacles of im- mortality (if we may believe their books, deriding the follies of the vulgar), and certainly went as far into the search of truth as human nature, wit, and industry, are capable of, unassisted by revelation, and immediate light from Heaven; yet they did sacrifice with the people, and mingled in all their superstitions. The I See the admirable piece of Tully in his Offices, Tusculans, and other grave discourses ; with what Seneca, Plutarch, Xenophon, Plato, Epictetus, Antoninus, Maxunus Tyrius, and other of the heathen have left behind, to condemn the more enlightened world who believe less, and live worse, than heathens. Of all which, Eusebius de Prasp. Evang. THE TRUE RELIGION. 325 strictest sects among them, and even Socrates himself, used to be intemperately angry. Cato would be drunk at night : Seneca was extremely covetous : and some used secret and abominable lusts. War, force, and blood, were the effects of the much celebrated constitu- tion among the Lacedemonians. They punished single murders, but desolated whole countries with the sword. And Aristotle asserts the lawfulness of killing bar- barians. Eome itself came to its grandeur by bloodshed and rapine, unjust and causeless wars, as against Cyprus and Sardinia, by their own confession. Kevenge they esteemed a virtue, and fed themselves with the fights of gladiators, cutting and mangling one another with the greatest cruelty, as a most delightful spectacle. The same notions among the Egyptians and Spartans per- mitted and encouraged thefts ; and the Romans grew so great by it, that Cicero confesses, should they have restored what they wrongfully got, their state must return to their ruder cottages again. The disputes they had about the summum honum, the end and object they aspired to, Varro tells us amounted to no less than three hundred controversies; some placing it in the sensual pleasures of the present life, as the Epicureans ; others in a sullen and feigned in- dolency, as Zeno and the stoics, which even stocks and stones may, after a sort, be said to enjoy as well as they. Others placed it in the knowledge of natural causes, contemplation, and polity, as the peripatetics ; or, as Plato, in the union and conjunction with the Deity, without any terrene adherence. Nor, indeed, was it 326 THE TEUE RELIGION. Plato's alone ; but even Aristotle himself, as he grew older and wiser, acknowledges, as we read he did, that God was the beginning, middle, and end of all — the alpha and omega. Thus, some among the Gentiles came so near the truth, as it cannot be denied they served the True God in such virtuous lives, that our Blessed Lord tells his disciples, he found not greater faith, no, not in Israel. Such was the devout Cornelius, and another centurion ; and the more honest stoics and Platonists. Nor this by chance or constitution only, but by cultivating such principles as produced in them virtuous habits and actions; in imitation of those perfections, which, by the light of nature, they acknowledge to be in the God of Nature. The Prince of the Peripatetics tells us the supreme good consisted in an active life, conforming to the rules of virtue. And it is affirmed, that his last words were an option that the causa causarum would have mercy on him ; so as some divines of great note have conceived great hopes of the salvation of this learned philosopher, besides many others.^ And though other less charitable reckoned all heroical virtues, with- out an actual sanctifying grace, but as splendida peccata (for so St. Augustine calls them) ; yet have divers, before this father, thought otherwise. God's especial grace co-operating with the light of nature, by which they might possibly be conducted to those virtues and * Zuinglius and the knowing Erasmus were of that opinion. The learned Junius extends the salvation of Christ even to heathen infants. See his Treatise de Naturd et Gratia. THE TRUE RELIGION. S27 good things, which were illustrious in them. Of this number, doubtless, we may count Job, Eahab, Ruth, &c., who were Gentiles. Nor do we find that God did wholly confine His gifts and favours to one people absolutely, or that He might not inwardly sanctify them, even at the last period. For as to that* of St. Peter, of there being no other name under Heaven given to men whereby they might be saved than that of Christ, it was spoken in relation to the times of the gospel, when our Blessed Lord, having broken down the partition-wall, the Gentiles were freely admitted ;^ and the gospel, being afterwards universally promul- gated, the case was altered, and the very Jews, as well as heathen and Gentiles, left without excuse ; God no longer winking at their former blindness and obstinacy, but expressly commanding men every where now to repent, as St. Paul tells the Athenians.^ Besides, whoever among the more religious Gentiles did attain this grace, we are to understand it as an emanation of the merits of Christ ; though those who received it might not so clearly comprehend from whom, nor why: as neither do infants, the unbaptized, nor idiots. It is evident that the Jews and all the world were, about this time of our Blessed Saviour's coming into the world, so monstrously wicked, malicious, un- grateful, and universally perverted, that they had, doubtless, been swept away w^ith some universal cala- mity, had not the Holy Jesus come at tliis fulness of time, when they were so ripe for destruction, to make ^ Acts, iv., 12. * Acts, X., 14. ' Acts, xvii., 30, S28 THE TEUE RELIGION. propitiation ; and by His doctrine, example, and mira- cles, reform the depraved age. Add to this the Gen- tiles, as well as others, lying under an obligation of using certain means. Some of them were pious and devout persons, full of love to God ; and it is hard to judge that any such should perish for the sin of Adam merely, or their not being exactly conformable to the first law ; but for refusing or abusing some mercy pur- chased by Christ. It is, however, certain that the grace of Christ is absolutely necessary to repentance and sanctity, whatever the necessity of the knowledge of His incarnation, and other mysteries of His institu- tion be. Nor all this while was the merciful God wanting, I say, even to the farthest heathen world ; so as to keep from them the knowledge of doing as much as He ex- pected from them in their present state ;^ and as to the rendering them capable of some inferior strictures and degrees of happiness to come. Since to whom little is given, of them little will be required. ^ They had all the laws of Nature written in their hearts, though they could not guess at the method God used, to bring them to the true religion. And that the Pagan world had these assistances, TertuUian proves out of their own confessions ; so that most who perished might accuse their own wilfulness. They had, besides, no obscure hints from the sybils' prophesying, in divers places, among the heathen ; if, at least, there were such 1 Acts, xiv., 17. Rom., ii., U, 15 — i., 18. ^ Luke, xii., 48. THE TRUE RELIGION. S29 early glimmerings ; though, I confess, few of the an- cient philosophers had seen their writings, so carefully reserved by the Romans in the archives of the capital, as Lactantius tells us.* CONCLUSION. We have showed how infirm the religion of the heathen was, and how far short it came of perfection ; supported, as best it was, by Pythagoras and his fol- lowers : neither did any other sect attain to any solid truth beyond conjecture. They who thought they came nearest, held that God, or some sublime being, which they called the mind, pervaded all the parts of matter, as the soul the body, — and so made the universe a kind of rational animal. By this philosopher, every fly and insect must be divine, as they were parts of matter. Some of them were so senseless as to think the fortuitous motion of senseless matter should proceed to a habit of acting so wisely and regularly as to produce this goodly system. That man is no other than a dismal, forlorn creature, composed of the same nonsense matter, without pro- vidence, — and that there was nothing framed for use, but as things and consequences happened ; — that the plastic nature, or soul of the world, or (as Parmenides calls it) Love, as a secondary created Deity, before whose production necessity reigned, — that is, in better ' L. i., c, 6. 330 THE TRUE RELIGION. theology, before the Spirit of God moved on the chaos, and educed this orderly system, — unguided by any order or providence necessitated that motion of matter which produced the world. Nor was the crime of Socrates, as it is commonly re- ported, his asserting the unity of the Deity (for he held all the constellations to be gods), but for reproaching his countrymen for making them authors of such pro- digious lusts, intemperance, parricide, and other abomi- nable actions. There was, in truth, nothing almost in nature which they did not ascribe Divine power to; no, not so much as a wish or imagination ; so far had wild and endless superstition prevailed upon mankind. Thus, Symmachus took mighty pains and made orations to have persuaded that excellent emperor, Theodosius, to erect a pompous altar to Victory — using this for argument, that none should refuse to worship what he wished for. Thus, it has abundantly been shown how far remote they were from any satisfactory and settled opinions, either about God, or the world. And, consequently, their , religion was the same. Nor find we any of the most zealous abettors of the Orphean and Gentile philology. Porphyry, Hierocles, Celsus, and the rest, who could produce any valid reply to Origen, Justin Martyr, Arnobius, Minutius, and those other Christian apolo- gists who contended with them. As for Julian, his fantastic singularities were out of monstrous pride and opinion of his own pedantic learn- ing ; being, at last, become so very insupportably inso- THE TKUE RELIGION. SSI lent, as to fancy himself the great Alexander, by a transmigration of that hero's soul into him. Celsus was an Epicurean atheist, and it angered him to the heart there should appear a doctrine which should overthrow the security of being exempt from all im- punity after a flagitious life. Whilst, after all, I find not one of them who either did or could deny the miracles ascribed to our Blessed Saviour, or that there was such a person. But, whenever they were pinched upon those undeniable matters of fact, they said it was his skill in magic, and I know not what. To conclude — The religion of the Gentiles was, as we have showed, either taught or framed to volup- tuousness, flattery, uncleanness, cruelty, poetic fictions, to fear and passion, ambition, pride, pomp, and vain- glory, and to support their tyranny (for which men, whose breath is in their nostrils, would be reputed gods), or to curiosity, vain philosophy, and gnosticism. Specu- lative men were fond of their opinions ; and politicians had secular ends to serve, as well as the crafty and avaricious priests, who governed the ignorant, managed the oracles, and abused them all. And though some- thing they did to advance morality, it was but amongst the few, and but for human, variable, and vain-glorious ends. This we find in the best of them — Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, full of excellent precepts and docu- ments as they are ; yet betraying self-conceit, praise, and affectation. Plato, who approached nearest to the truth, durst communicate his sentiments to a few only of his intimates; and Socrates, dying, knew not whi- 332 THE TRUE RELIGION. ther he went. The most sublime of Epictetus's reli- gious discourses tend only to render their wise man con- summate in the moral virtues, to which yet the most perfect of them could not attain. Besides, the very best of these sapient men pretended no virtue from their gods, who were proved to be more wicked than men. And, therefore, had recourse to Virtue, which they celebrated not as a goddess, but for her own self. This was still but a kind of idolatry ; seeing God being the only great and sublime principle of our duty and obligation, real virtue is not communi- cable, but as it relates to His perfections and commands alone, — and not for the sake of any other whatsoever. With all this, the Gentile religion had little or no in- spection into the heart, nor took cognizance of thoughts, speculative lusts, and other crimes, which they did not put into the catalogue of sins. Nor esteemed they humility a virtue ; vain-glory and the praise of men was the utmost end of all their labour, as Cicero ingenuously confesses.^ And so, Aristotle places all felicity in the perfections of the mind and body, but this only as it respects man in his present state. And were it true, yet were it not obtainable here, since there is no single person who could possibly expect such an entire union of all just perfections in himself, as are not to be found in all men altogether. They prayed the gods for health of their bodies, but not to better their minds, and make them virtuous : that they affirmed that they could do of themselves, without him. * Pro Archia Poeta. THE TRUE RELIGION. S33 As to the stoical happy man upon the rack, and in Phalaris's bull, with all his exalted virtue, what more ridiculous? Heaven and Hell by this are made the same indolency and stupid senselessness with cruciating pain: but, who can dwell with everlasting burnings? Verily, the notion is quite against humanity, since the union of the natural good is absolutely requisite to the moral ; but the knowledge of this is, as we have shown, clouded with doubts. Epicurus' sensual pleasure was exploded, as relating only to this present life, and what is so can neither be true felicity nor true religion. It is, therefore, no longer strange, that so many wise and learned philosophers, with all their deep speculations and reasonings, could not lead one city to the knowledge of the true God ; or so much as gather a few disciples to embrace and practise the virtues which they taught. Plotinus, with all the favour of the empire (Galienus and his empress having a project of founding a Plato- polis, where all the laws of that philosopher should be taught and professed), could never effect what yet our blessed Lord did, not only without all human aid and assistance, but against the greatest contradictions, dis- couragement, and opposition imaginable, both of learned and unlearned adversaries, — men and devils, — establish- ing His holy religion in so short a time, with such mean and unlikely instruments ; and so universally, as all those great geniuses, with all their pretences to virtue, could never accomplish. So great is the truth, and it will prevail. Thus was philosophy, the religion of the wiser 334« THE TRUE RELIGION. Gentiles, as the law of the Decalogue to the Jews. But God's law had been sufficient to render both happy ; nor would their precepts, we see, with all their acquired learning, lead them to the perfection and sovereign good, which they so earnestly sought. We do not yet, as we have said, pronounce peremptorily concerning the absolute evil state of those who amongst them endeavoured to live up to the principles of the moral virtues ; it being certain it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah ; much more for those honest heathen, than for wicked and dissolute Christians. Besides, we find not that all, even under the Mosaic dispensation, had faith in the death and merits of Christ for the remission of sins. The disciples of our blessed Lord themselves had none, till after His resurrection from the dead. The Jews themselves, rigid as they were, had charitable thoughts of the proselytes of the gate, and those who observed the seven precepts of the sons of Noah. And, above all, the gracious God has ways and methods of salvation that we know not of, and which are past finding out. Add to this, that there was very little concerning the attributes of God, His creation, government of the world, &c., contained now in the Old Testament, believed by Abraham and the patriarchs, but what we have shown to have been owned and acknowledged by the virtuous and learned Gentiles. Nor is there any excellency in whatever the Greeks, Romans, and other nations, wits and philo- sophers, have written, but what is contained and infi- nitely refined and improved in the Christian doctrine. THE TRUE EELIGION. 385 In all events, God is just and infinitely good to all ; and the merits of Christ of as infinite extent, and His mercies over all His works. How deficient the heathen were in all the parts of the true worship, — ^how full of superstition and idolatry, pride and vanity, and incon- stancy, this chapter has sufficiently declared. Whereas, the true religion is ever the same, invariable, and like itself in every part, — speaks only of God, — regards nothing but God, — receives all from God alone, attri- butes all to God, namely, body, soul, words, yea, even our thoughts, actions, passions, yea, life itself; all its revelations tending only to His glory. Moreover, the true religion does not flatter, is not sensual, but curbs and contradicts our vicious and most endeared appetites and inclinations, — roots up injus- tice, avarice, pride, and passion, and the rest of our corruptions, — does not nourish vain curiosity, polity, or worldly craft, — ^but, being pure and simple, loves and embraces virtue for the love of God. The books and oracles that teach us the true reli- I gion, in a long and ample consequence of holy authors, writing and living in such distance of time, yet leave us no trace of human passion or interest, but such as breathe of piety and all the evangelical graces: and yet, speaking with the highest authority and assurance, have no end but the glory of God. Their writings are not affected, nor set off, and refined with rhetorical flourishes, — ^her rites are not pompous, nor service theatrical, to allure ; but simple, vulgar, and adapted to the meanest capacity, in things of most necessary con- 336 THE TRUE RELIGION. /cern ; and yet none more sublime, none more grave and Imajestical. Now, since it was not possible the heathen, learned as they were, yet blinded by such gross superstition, should ever have emerged out of those prejudices, with- out some brighter light than that of mere nature, — without some supernatural means, — Almighty God, who would not altogether abandon His poor creatures to Satan's implacable malice, as appears by His con- tinued kindnesses, to glorify the riches of His grace, and lest the world should be totally corrupted, and for the accomplishment of His own most wise and eternal purpose, was pleased to reveal His mind, show us the way to the true and sovereign good, by giving the world a more clear and bright idea of Himself, with rules by which to govern ourselves in all capacities, and in doctrine, agreeable to the dictates of reason, and the dignity of our nature. And this doctrine He has confirmed by miracles, and other convincing circum- stances, as we are now come to show in the following chapter. That we have mentioned little of the Gentiles of this day, spread over divers parts of the known, and uni- versally over the unknown world, has been, for that we find hardly any of their superstitions and opinions of the Deity more extravagant than that of the ancient pagans ; all alike irrational and inconsistent with the worship of the true God. The Mahometan Impostor has mixed divers Christian tenets with the Jew and Gentile ; and though worshipping but one God, yet the THE TRUE RELIGION. 337 laws of that religion are a rhapsody of egregious non- sense — that of the Brachmins, in Persia and Mogul country, fragments of the ancient Pythagorean. The rest are purely Gentile, or, more plainly, barbarous, — even the most civilized among them, as the Chinese, Incas of Peru, and some other. And of the merely Ethnic, their religions are so various and extravagant that, not being worthy the consideration of rational men, we have not thought it necessary to enlarge upon them. Such we reckon the savages of Brazil, and other parts of America, Samojetia, Indian, Japonian, Siamese, inward Africa, Arabia, &c.^ Only it is observable, that most religions believed that suffering and difficulties were necessary to obtain happiness. Witness the chains, uneasy postures, cruel sacrifices, fasts, severe lives of the Indians, Turks, &c., — lancings, burnings, pulling out of their own eyes, on sight of Mecca ! — How gentle the Christian religion, which teaches only to bear afflictions when sent us ! Not to force them on our- selves, unless such as are useful as medicines and remedies to keep exorbitances under, our sabbaths spiritual, and the like. Veritatem religio qucerit.'^ To conclude with the Collect for Good Friday : *' Oh, merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that Thou hast made, nor wouldest the ^ Those who are curious, may read of these in the relations of Paul Venetus, Leo, Parchas, Gage, Hackluyt, Kircher, Shirley, . Tavernier, Thevenot, Sandys, M. Jardin, Tachard, and divers others. ^ " The end and aim of religion is truth." VOL. I. Z 338 THE TRUE RELIGION. death of a sinner ; but rather that he should be con- verted and live; have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of Thy word ; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to Thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen !" THE TRUE RELIGION. 839 CHAPTER VII. OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES AND ORACLES OP GOD, WHICH SHOW US THE TRUE SUPERNATURAL RELIGION AND SOVEREIGN GOOD. SECTION I. I. WHAT IS MEANT BY SCRIPTURES? 2. WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF THEM ? 3. WHO WERE THE PENMEN AND WRITERS OF THEM? SECTION II. THEY WERE ASSERTED TO BE THE ORACLES OF GOD. 1. BY THE PROPHETS. 2. BY MIRACLES. 3. BY THEIR WONDERFUL PRESERVATION. 4. BY THE STYLE. 5. BY THEIR HARMONY AND COHERENCE. 6. BY THE MATTER AND SUBJECT. 7. BY THE EFFECTS AND DESIGN. 8. BY THEIR TESTIMONY. 9. BY THEIR ANTIQUITY, AND SUFFRAGE OF HIS- TORIANS. 10. BY TRADITION. SECTION III. 1. OF THE BOOKS. 2. COPIES. 3. EDITIONS. 4. TRANSLATIONS. SECTION IV. 1 . INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 2. RULE OF FAITH. SECTION I.' If there be a God, a world created by Him, rational creatures, and souls immortal in it; an all-disposing ^ Consult Judge Hale's Chief End of Man. Thesis., ii.. p. 20. Contemplations, Part II. z2 ^40 THE TRUE RELIGION. Providence that governs ; if there be a future state after this life, an account to be given how men have behaved themselves in the present state ; if there be rewards to the good, and punishments for the wicked, and that to this great God is due religious worship, and among the many pretences to this worship, but one true and acceptable way, the next thing to be enquired after, is by whom, where, and how, we may come to the cer- tain knowledge of it. In a word, to know how this God will be served, and what that law and those commands are, which His creature is to observe and obey, as a rule to walk by, and his real interest so to do. Now, natural religion, as we have shown, teaching us that there is a God, who is a just, holy, eternal, wise, and Omnipotent Being, that after this short race of ours there is a life to come, where all our actions will be severely examined, and rewards accordingly distri- buted, nay, that the whole mass of mankind being de- praved and indisposed to the end, for which, as rational creatures, we were put into the world ; namely, to glorify God by our conformity to His perfections, as the Supreme and Sovereign God, but which Nature only so depraved cannot lead us to, it follows, that there is then a further supernatural religion, and reve- lation necessary, whereby we may come to the know- ledge of the Divine pleasure: and how, by guiding and governing our actions, we may arrive nearer that original rectitude, and, consequently, nearer to that happy and desirable condition and Sovereign Good we aspire to. THE TRUE RELIGION. S41 Now that Is the only true and supernatural religion, which is able to work in our natures such graces as qualify us for that blessed state. And to find out this has ever been, and yet is, the grand inquiry, and con- troversy of the world. Though, in the mean time, so infi- nitely merciful has the Creator been to His creature, that, as Moses tells the Israelites, this word and will of His is neither hid, nor far from any of us ; not in Heathen, that we should say. Who shall go up thither, to bring it down to us, that we may hear and do it ? Neither is it beyond the sea, that we should say. Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us ? But the Word is very nigh unto us, even in our mouth and heart.^ To the same eifect St. Paul^ speaking, not of the law (as did Moses) which concerned the Jews only, but of the righteous- ness of faith, or religion, which the Apostles preached ; and is that word of life, that Divine revelation, whiclTj is not repugnant to the light of Nature, but which per- j fects and supplies its defects : since though by that alone we may come to the knowledge that there is a God, and therefore to be worshipped, yet does it not teach us how, and in what manner. He is to be adored and served ; which only the Scriptures do. It is then our great concern seriously to examine the truth of those Divine records, and accurately to search them ; seeing in them it is we hope to have eternal life : these are they which testify of God, as dictated alone by the Spirit of God; and therefore, lest we should be imposed on, by believing pretended spirits, ^ Deut., XXX., 11, 12, 13, 14. ^ ^^^^ ^^ g^ 7^ 342 THE TRUE RELIGION. we are to try the spirits, whether they be of God. For (tos St. John^ has warned us) there are many deceivers gone out into the world, such false Apostles,^ and de- ceitful workers, and other impostors; whereas, if an angel from Heaven itself should teach any other reli- gion than what the Scriptures teach, so far from being received or hearkened to, he is to be accursed. ^ I. SCRIPTURES. By the Scripture we understand those Sacred Volumes, which contain those lively oracles, immedi- ately received from God, the great Legislator ; contain- ing the several treaties and contracts that have been made between God and man ; and teach the true prin- ciples of that faith and supernatural religion which leads to eternal happiness. The Scriptures, I say, are those writings which declare the whole will of God and the mysteries of salvation."* It is called the Word of God, because they were first ( spoken by Him ; and Scriptures, as being written by those who heard it. Nor this by the will and contriv- ance of man, cunningly devised for secular purposes and worldly interest, but as holy men spake and writ what they heard, or as was agreeable to what they heard, or as moved and inspired by the Holy Ghost.* For God, who at sundry times and in divers places, speaking in times past unto the Fathers by the Pro- 1 I. John, iv., 1. 2 S. Matt., xxiv., 11-15; 11. Cor., xi., 13. 3 Qal., i., 8. * I. Tim., iii., 16. ' n.Pet., i., 16-21 ; II. Tim., iii., 16. THE TRUE RELIGION. 343 phets, has in these latter times spoken unto us by His Son.i Hence we learn 2. Who is the Author of them, namely, the Eternal God, by Him whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He (that is, God the Father) made the worlds.^ Who is the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power^. And what this Author spake has been confirmed by those who heard him, namely : 3. The Holy Penmen. ^ To these God also bore witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will. By these various manners may safely be understood the ministry of holy angels, the pro- phets, voices, urim and thummim, dreams, visions, and the like. These were the means by which it pleased God to reveal His mind; especially after the time of Moses, who is said to hear God speak face to face"*) that is familiarly not in dreams, or by other me- diation); since, before this, the long-lived patriarchs might not only receive the oracles of God by tradition from their ancestors, and so had no need of committing them to writing. But, when men's lives were abbre- viated for their passing them so wickedly ; and, conse- quently, their memory impaired, and generations spread and separated, and that governors and governments 1 Heb., i., 1 ; Luke, i., 70. ^ jjg^,^ ^^ 1.4^ ^ 'Ayioypd^ot. * Exod., xxxiii., 11 ; Num., vii., 89; xii. 8. 344 THE TRUE RELIGION. were changed, which must needs corrupt former tradi- tion, and likewise to prevent the impostures of atheists and heretics, it pleased God to order, that both the his- tory of the creation, church, and laws, should be com- mitted to writing. Some of it, namely, the Decalogue, He wrote with His own finger upon tables of stone ; then by the Hagiographi, Moses, and the Prophets ; and, lastly, by the Theodidacti, the Apostles, and Evan- gelists, from the mouth of Christ Himself, and the in- spiration and impulse of His Holy Spirit. For that it should be from any other ; or, that the doctrine con- tained in the Sacred Volumes was propagated upon the score of any secular interest of the penmen, (whatso- ever opportunities they may have had to do it) will be sufficiently disproved if we consider the persons and characters of even the greatest and most conspicuous of them, Moses, Samuel, Elias, Jeremiah, and the rest, of whom we read in the Old Testament. The first from an adopted prince, reputed son of Pharaoh's daughter, educated in that great court, abandons ik all, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season.* What his troubles and difficulties were, to manage the charge God had imposed on him, among a stiff-necked and most perverse people, we may read at large in the histories of Exodus, Numbers, &c. Samuel had like- wise to deal with the same discontented nation. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and most of the rest, after all the difficulties they went through for warning the princes * Heb., xi, 24, 25, 26. THE TRUE RELIGIO^^ 345 and people of their sins, were either persecuted, impri- soned, or murdered. And then for the penmen of the New Testament, the Holy Apostles and Evangelists, we find not above one of them all who came to a na- tural death. And (to use the words of the author to the Hebrews) others had trial of cruel mockings, and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments ; they were stoned, they were sawn in sunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.^ And those, of whom the world was not worthy for their exemplary virtue and piety, St. Paul tells us, in another place, were counted as the filth and ofFscouring of the world, suffered the loss of all things, in stripes, tumults, labours, watchings, fastings. 2 And, indeed, both for their callings, as well as per- sons, they were most of them poor herdsmen, or igno- rant fishermen ; and who were to teach and profess a religion, which they were sure was so little advan- tageous to their worldly interest, that (as was foretold them) it would not only expose them to the loss of the little they had, but of their lives, and all that could be dear to them in this world. In short, they were counted so many madmen, that in such circumstances (for besides this they were very illiterate and simple, many of them) they should hope to plant a religion, which spake of nothing but suffering, contempt, and 1 Heb., xi., 36, 37, 38. « I. Cor., iv., 10-13 ; 11. Cor., xi., 23-33. 346 THE TRUE RELIGION. 8Com, that should prevail over a voluptuous and aban- doned age. But thus they preached through countries, cities, courts, not sparing kings themselves. "What impostor could write such a book ? What a madness were it to imagine that the most admirable writings, and designed to persuade to the love of God and our neighbours, to inspire zeal and goodness, should be supported by impostors, without any design of in- terest to the authors ! Consider we, then, that all they writ savoured of the greatest innocency and candour imaginable, breathing of piety, zeal, and holiness; dis- sembling nothing, but confessing and recording even their own faults and weaknesses, with all their lessening circumstances ; and distinguishing the dictates of their own reasonings from that of the sacred spirit;^ leaving several instances of their sincerity, as may be farther seen in the life of Moses, Daniel, Jeremiah, St. Paul, and others. Besides, it seems not only very unlikely, but almost wholly impossible, that so many humble, holy, and un- concerned men, living at such distances of times and places, should universally agree to deceive both them- selves and all their relations, posterity, and all ages since, for no manner of advantage, but to the manifest endangering of their own lives and liberties, had not the authors been both divinely inspired and assisted. That they pretended no worldly consideration, is farther manifest, not only by what they suffered, while their Divine Master was conversant amongst them; but ^ I. Cor., vii., 6. THE TRUE RELIGION. 347 by their persisting to propagate His doctrine, after He was departed from them : and all their hopes and ex- pectations of earthly felicity vanished with Him, whilst they fancied it had been He who should have redeemed Israel, and restored it to its former splendour. ^ Far from this. He tells them they must look for no such matter here, but, on the contrary, that they should be scorned, plundered, enslaved, betrayed by their nearest relations, put to death and persecuted with that exceed- ing rage; and men should think they did God good service to kill and murder them.^ For all this they desisted not preaching and publishing what they writ. What could be more ingenuous, more disinterested, with greater proof of the unparalleled sincerity of the writers, and of the truth of what they taught ? Lastly, who is it that doubts that Aristotle, Cassar, 7 , Gicero, Livy, Plutarch, and the rest of those famous men, were authors and writers of those books which go under their names ; whilst none of them can show such ample testimony as the Scriptures that they were penned by those whose titles they bear ? And whether they were the works of those persons, in every para- graph, does not so nearly concern mankind as those Holy Oracles do, namely, the eternal salvation of our souls. And therefore it is they have been so diligently kept and examined. There are controversies about profane authors and books, yet of whom have we heard that would suffer martyrdom to assert them. Had any of the books of Scripture been supposititious, how comes ^ Luke, xxiv., 21. ' Acts, xxvi., 10, 11, 12. 348 THE TRUE RELIGION. it that no such doubt appeared from any living in their author's time, or soon after ? [That two or three epistles of the New Testament raise some scruple, is an evident proof of the authenticity of all the rest. It is certain they were penned before the destruction of Jerusalem. And in all the disputes of the orthodox against the heresies of the Gnostics, Millenarians, Arians, the con- troversy about Easter, which so sadly divided the Church, and appeared so early, none of them yet ques- tioned a book of Holy Scriptures ; nor could any hav0 corrupted them, but we should have heard of it by their adversaries. And, lastly, supposing mistakes of ( scribes, and various readings, yet so has the Providence I of God conducted it that no essential part of religion is weakened by them. Yea, put case all the copies were lost, yet have we most, if not all, entirely recited by one or other of the Fathers, and critical writers, citing them upon occasion. Thus, for the persons of the penmen. The next argument of the veracity of the Sacred Books is in prophecy. SECTION II. THE SCRIPTURES ASSERTED TO BE THE ORACLES OF GOD. L BY PROPHECIES. We do not intend hj prophecy here the means whereby revealed truth has been conveyed and revealed to us : * ^ The learned Mr. Smith has copiously treated of this in his Discourses out of the Rabbins, in thirteen chapters. Lu THE TRUE RELIGION. S49 nor mean we only what St. Peter calls a more sure word of prophecy ;'^ but the wonderful fulfilling and accomplishment of what the Scriptures have foretold should come to pass ; and which, for having punctually so happened, is another pregnant and undeniable proof of its being celestial and divine. Thus, to Adam, Abraham, Israel, and many more, was promised the Messias. Consider, too, with what consideration the divided land was prepared with laws and constitutions so many years before they entered Canaan, and then with how high a hand and what success; and what happened to Jacob's offspring according to the predic- tions, ^ — what, also, after Moses befel them for idolatry.^ Here will come in the re-building of Jericho.'* The naming of Josias three hundred years before he was born.* And that Cyrus should deliver captived Israel,^ and re-build the demolished Temple, against all appear- ance, at the very period of seventy years,7 a hundred before that prince appeared. In like manner, the famous prophecy of Daniel concerning the Persian, Greek, and Roman monarchies, with other predictions of what should happen in the later times, yet every day fulfilling. Not to insist on Hosea, Zachariah, and the rest of the minor prophets — That the glory of the latter Temple should he greater than the former^ and fulfilled in the Messias.^ What action happened in our Blessed * IT. Pet., i., 19. ' Gen., xlix. ' Deut., xxxii. * Josh, iv., 26. Compare 1. Kings, xvi., 34. ^ I. Kings, xiii., 2. c Isaiah, xlv., 1. ' Jer., XXV., 12. ^ Hagg., ii., 9. ' Luke, ii., 22. 350 THE TRUE RELIGION. Saviour's life on earth which was not foretold by David, Isaiah, Zacharias, Daniel, and other prophets ; together with the cutting off the Gentiles, rejection of the Jewish Temple, metropolis, nation, in so stupendous a manner as to continue an execration to this very day.* Lastly, that so many prophets should rise amongst them, till Christ, who was to be the scope and end of all that went before, should come ; and not so much as one should ever since appear to give them any hope or consolation — now almost seventeen hundred years. All which, computed and happening since the canon of the Scriptures has been finished, are irrefragable proofs of its being the word of God. From these, we come to that of Miracles, 2. MIRACLES. Miracles, the event of prophecies, were performed, not only by the Almighty Author, but by his ministers, penmen, and prophets. Our Blessed Lord wrought more in one year (and, I think, in one day) than did all who went before or ever since. By these such multi- tudes were converted, churches gathered, many years before any Scriptures were extant, as now they are; the Christian religion was asserted, and also by the sud- den ceasing of Satan's oracles, and silence of his lying spirits; the conversion of whole nations to the faith, * Eusebius has so fully treated of those innumerable texts, through all the prophets, in his second book, "De Dem. Evang.," that there is nothing more evident. THE TRUE RELIGION. 351 effected without any external force of arms, eloquence, or human wisdom, but by plain words and the foolish- ness of preaching (as esteemed), and the most con- trary means to attain any thing men aim at, that can be imagined ; the greatest empires were subdued ; princes' sceptres made to stoop to the ignominious cross ; and all the pompous Pagan rites, that had reigned so many ages, and prevailed upon the blinded world, crumbled to nothing in a moment, as it were, after our Blessed Saviour's Ascension. The little stone hewn out of the mountain without hands, the doctrine of the despised Jesus, and of a dozen poor fishermen, — suiFering mar- tyrs, and constant confessors, — without weapon, or what the world calls wit, overthrew the politics of statesmen, the subtlety of philosophers, and all the wisdom of the wise. Consider the prodigious change this word of God, these holy books, made in the world, when it pleased Him to call the Gentiles to the knowledge of them. In all countries, in all ages, sexes, and conditions of men, it gave courage and strength to the weak and fearful ; so as little children and tender virgins have braved the most exquisite tortures, rather than depart a little from the faith. It was no sooner published than it fermented like the leaven our Saviour speaks of in the lump. The seed was no sooner sown but it sprung up like com in a hundredfold, and of a small grain, as of mustard-seed, became a tree, spreading its branches over the whole earth. It pierced, like lightning, both for swiftness and irresistible force, so as, TertuHian tells us, it en- 352 THE TRUE RELIGION. tered castles, cities, camps, palaces, senates, schools, and private houses, like the sunbeams, and nothing was hid from the heat thereof, its light and operation. This powerful and Divine Word healed diseases, raised the dead, enlightened the blind, cleansed the leper, in- fused supernatural knowledge, gave gifts to men, gifts of strange tongues, whereby it was propagated through all nations ; gifts of interpretation of tongues, gifts of working miracles, of discerning spirits, of casting out devils. In a word, it reformed the most obstinate and incre- dulous sinners ; raised the humble and dejected, for- tified the faint and weak, pulled down the mighty ; and that which was supported by laws and edicts, the heathen superstition, though fortified by arms, cemented by interest, and maintained by subtle arguments of human wisdom, and all the cunning of the devil, which, for so many thousand years, had taken pos* session, fell, like Dagon before the ark, to flatness and nothing. For the word of God is sharp as a two-edged sword, to the dividing in sunder of the soul and spirit, the joints and the marrow, discerning the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. ^ Finally, it is to those who duly receive it the power of God to salvation. Now, as to this extraordinary gift of miracles by vir- tue of this Word, and those who propagated the faith, we read of many whom our Blessed Lord and His apostles had healed and raised from the dead, who lived ' Heb., iv., 12. THE TBUE RELIGION. S53 to confirm it to them, till near Trajan's reign.* And even the story of Agbarus of Edessa, as related by Eusebius, that our Blessed Saviour, being addressed by letter, sent Thaddeus to cure him, (though not so ex- pressly named in the Gospel) has nothing in it which can justly be reproved ; that grave Author affirming that he found the passage in a record at Edessa, in the Syrian tongue, and translated it into Greek. This is likewise attested by St. Ephrem, and so abundantly cleared to be a truth by the learned Valesius, and others, as ad- mits of no further doubt. And such miraculous and supernatural gifts remained long after among the faith- ful, as long as it was necessary ; namely, till the Gospel had become universally planted and received ; its sound going into all lands. Justin Martyr, who suiFered 165 years after Christ, » and Irenaeus (a.d. 206) assure us that the gifts of pro- phecy, tongues, and healing remained even to their times ; mentioning, also, the ejection of devils, and the raising of the dead. As to their since being ceased or j very rare, a plain and full reason is given by an apostle j himself, where he tells us that miracles are for them who f do not believe, not for those who do, and are already con-J verted. Nor is it reasonable that the universal laws and ordinances of Nature, and in their course, should, without great and urgent cause, be changed for the humour of every petulant sceptic, when there is already sufficient * So Quadratus (a. d. 127), a disciple of the Apostles, affirms in his Apology to the Emperor Adrian, which stopped the perse- cution against the Christians. VOL. I. A A / 354 THE TRUE RELIGION. evidence to oblige our belief. Were it otherwise, every individual person, to the end of the world, must have, forsooth, the miracle shown, to gain his assent to what all his forefathers, for so long a tract of time, had believed. This were to make cheap the wonderful works of God, and they would cease to be miracles. Besides, as for miracles ruining the truth of things, they are still but extrinsical, and would be invalid without that self-evident impression of the same Divine power, wisdom, and goodness of God, intrin- sically effecting a holy life. Besides, whatever doc- trine or religion consists in believing things future, absent, and invisible, is to be known and maintained by faith in Divine Revelation, and not altogether by imme- diate and sensible evidence only, or mere discourse. In the mean while, all true Christians have a kind of in- ternal knowledge, from the faithfulness of the truth and purity of the Gospel, and their more illuminated, quick- ened, and sanctified souls, to attest the Divine Truth. Indeed, to prove the Scripture by this alone, one cannot avoid the circle ; since they who would assert truth by testimony of the Holy Scriptures cannot prove the Trinity but by the Scripture. How should infidels be converted, who have not the means to attain these proofs? Therefore, to convince them has God ordained miracles. Notwithstanding, as to us, such a degree of faith as powerfully operates on our lives is to be im- puted by us, no less than by them, to the grace of God alone, and to His Holy Spirit ; though not as working always and immediately, but in rendering the means THE TRUE RELIGION. 355 effective. And if this be only human faith, proceeding from natural certainty, what can be divine ? — since man can but certainly believe a thing to be truth, and so believe as to live accordingly. If there be a moral be- lief, let men show a more convincing. A third assertion of the undoubted truth of Scrip- tures is their wonderful preservation. S. PRESERVATION. The Jews would die a thousand deaths rather than depart one jot or tittle from their law. And the whole body of the Levites were, therefore, the guardians of the Holy Books, which were no less than seven times read over, yearly ; an express injunction prohibiting any the least addition or dimunition, notwithstanding the changes, divisions, separations, captivities, sects, schisms, and other disturbances among them, during so long a tract of time. They carried them wherever they went, distributed innumerable copies, most accurately exa- mined (even to the number of the very letters and their places, how oft soever they occurred), so as it is not imaginable they should be universally corrupted. Nay, so careful has been the Divine Author to preserve those sacred fountains pure (a drop of which is never to fail or pass away), that Providence so ordered it, that the Jews themselves, who were so long their depositories, have not perverted so much as one of those texts, which so plainly speak of the coming of the Messiah, whom their fathers crucified.^ ^ See Mr. Thorndike's Epilogue. A a2 S56 THE TRUE RELIGION. How is it to be imagined that a people, so dispersed, errant, without leader, country, priest, or prophet (nay, without distinction of tribes, and almost without know- ing of themselves), should so exactly have conserved the Mosaic law, and other holy writings, but that they beheld the Land of Promise as their own, and had title to it, only by the Scriptures, which were their evidence ?-^I say, how is it imaginable they should neglect the care of preserving those records ? Both prince and people were, to this end, among others, commanded universally to read and meditate on them day and night, abroad and at hojne ; so as it was impossible they should forget them. They were often, indeed, reproved for their traditions, but never suspected of corrupting the Scrip- tures. And, as to the New Testament, many authentic copies, Tertullian assures us, were extant even in his time. Thus have the Holy Writings been preserved, in spite of all the malice and purposes of wicked men, and even of the profanest potentates, who have had it in their power to suppress what they pleased. But neither the rage of tyrants (industriously set on it, as Julian and others), nor the flames of fire, nor long tract of time, could make any impression on the Scriptures, or extinguish their light, because it came from God. The world shall pass away, but the Word of God shall endure for ever; ^ though men and devils conspire to destroy it. The Jews as to the New Testament, the heretics ^ Luke, xxi., 33. THE TKUE RELIGION. S57 both to New and Old, have showed their calumny and spite. Herod, by his cruelty to murder the author ; Satan, by his temptations ; and the Roman Emperors, by their ten bloody persecutions to extirpate His dis- ciples, so as books never met with greater contradic- tions ; and that, because it came to destroy the king- dom of the prince of this world, and set up that of Christ. Thus we read that, in one single province in Egypt only, when Dioclesian would have burnt all their Bibles, seven thousand rather chose to die and sutFer martyrdom than give them up. It was by a no less signal providence that, to prepare the Gentiles for its reception, and as the coming of the Messiah, according to the prophecies drew near, it pleased God to stir up that learned prince Ptolemy Philadelphus, to have those glorious Oracles (till now peculiar to the Jews) translated into Greek, which was then the only learned, and universal language; and that, by the persuasion of Demetrius Phalereus, to enrich that prince's famous library at Alexandria, whereof he was keeper.^ Another notable means of preserving the sacred text has been the Masora, or critique, so called, deliver- ing the genuine writing and reading ; a work of admi- rable use, as containing all the minutiae of verses, sen- tences, points, accents, even to a single iota, to prevent ^ The history of this work we have related by Eusebius (De Praep. Evang.), Philo, and Josephus ; and the exceptions against the suspected part of it (as legendary) in Scaliger's Notes on Eusebius, and Bishop Usher on the Septuagint. 368 THE TRUE RELIGION. all addition or subtraction, so as to have numbered how many times the same letter occurs in the Old Testa- ment. This traditional critique they hold to have been as ancient as Moses himself, and thence continued to the later prophets. But however this be suspected, it is likely it might be about the time of Esdras, or soon after ; or rather near the Maccabees, about which time the sect of the Pharisees sprung up, and who have since filled the Masora with a world of trifles. As for the New Testament, besides innumerable editions and translations, that one Concordance of Buxtorf is worth all the Mazorites of the old. To this add Keri and Kelib, which are, likewise, criticisms about letters, consonants, and words, as what are to be read, written, passed over, and neither read nor written ; famed also to be from Moses, though, in truth, not more ancient than Talmud. Besides these, there are the critiques of Ben Ascher and Ben Napthali. Moreover, the Cabala is of kin to the Masora, dividing the law into Scriptam, Traditam, and Oralem. There are also the Mishna and Gemarah, both of much more use than the Cabala, which deliver to us innumerable toys, fables, and many ridiculous and superstitious mysteries ; yet all of them serving to preserve the Holy Text, at one time or other. 4. THE STYLE. The style of the sacred pen-men, had they no other characters to entitle them to their Divine Author, were enough to show they could be dictated by no other than the spirit of God, because there is nothing of human in THE TRUE EELIGION. 359 it, and wholly different from all other compositions of men pretending to eloquence or sophistry, — things which recommend other writings. These, often for- getting what they mentioned before, or omitting some- thing they forgot, are forced to recall, or add ; which the Scriptures never do. The expressions are natural and simple, without flourish or studied elaborate periods, and flattering titles and invitations, to gain credit ; but indited with that honest plainness that, if any other history should imitate, it would be rejected and despised by such as mind only to please the fancy and dehght the ear.i ^^d yet are there parts of it so sublime, and outshining the most celebrated profane authors, that no s human eloquence approaches them. ""' There are in Scripture depths in which the elephant may swim, as well as the lamb may wade. Our Blessed Saviour speaks in an easy, familiar style ; his similes and parables are natural, and incomparably pertinent, to the reproof of forced expressions and criticisms, for which ostentatious wits value themselves. And though not always according to the nicer rules of orators, yet is the Sacred style no less majestical. Who amongst them all has reached the rapturous attitudes of the prophet Isaiah? the first of St. John's Gospel, the Psalms of David, the Songs of Moses and Deborah, Job, Canticles, and several of the Sacred Hymns, which, however they may seem in the vulgar trans- lation, are, in their originals, not only comparable to, but far transcending, the Heathen poesies. And, as ^ See St. Aug., De C. Dei, 1. 12. 360 THE TRUE RELIGION. to the loftiness of style, breathing of so divine and majestical, that Longinus, the sophist, himself is in ad- miration at that imperious word, God said. Let there be light, and there was light ! * The matter is not made tedious by formal argument, yet it is convincing and irresistible. Nor do the repe- titions (as in other writings) leave a nausea, but still the same relish and veneration. What can move the affections more than the histories of Joseph, the story of Ruth, the sacrifice of Jephtha's daughter, the friend- ship between Jonathan and David ? What more asto- nishing than the narration of the Levite's concubine being abused ? What more passionate, and fuller set with rhetorical transitions, than the Lamentations of Jeremiah? What more moving and tender than the conduct of Mary Magdalene, the prayer of our departing Jesus, and the like ? As to variety of readings, transpositions, terms, synonyms, punctuations, they show an unaffected rich- ness without studied art. And such a magazine are the Scriptures upon all topics and subjects,* as all the Platos, Ciceros, Senecas, historians, philosophers, and philologists, furnish nothing more plentiful, more use- ful, and that fall into juster and more shining periods, upon all occasions whatever ; ^ adapted to convince, redargue, persuade, and instruct; not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit, and in power ; ^ not in choice phrases and ^ Gen., i., 3. 'Matt., v., vi., vii. 3 II. Tim., iii., 17. * I. Cor., ii., 4. THE TRUE EELIGION. 361 elaborated methods, and structure of words, but with such light of conviction, depth of speculation, and, in the midst of all this plainness, such energy of operation, such sublimity of matter as nothing can resist it. There is in Holy Scriptures such access to the weak and feeble, comfort to the sorrowful, strong meat for men, milk for babes ; such elevation and grandeur of mind, advancing the humanity of men to the height of bliss ; in a word, it is what manna was to the Israel- ites, — food delicious and accommodated to every man's taste. It is a deep well for depth, celestial for height. As it speaks of God, nothing is so sublime, — as of men, nothing so humble, — it is a bridle to restrain, a spur to incite, a sword to penetrate, salt to season, a lantern to our feet, and a light to our paths. Critique and\ grammar have too often prejudiced the meaning of the true and genuine text. Men dare not cavil the laws and ordinances of princes, if they are so clear as to be understood, whilst the laws of God are a thousand times more perspicuous. And, were it otherwise, men could not be religious, till they understood the learned tongues. But, since God has called all men to the knowledge of the truth, and, therefore, not many wise, not many learned, but the industriously humble, as well as the i extraordinarily knowing.^ Had we heard the Apostles themselves preaching the Mysteries of Christ, should we have been in doubt ^ Verba coelestis oraculi non sunt restringenda ad regulas Donati ; et melius est ut nos reprehendant grammatici, quam ut non intelli- gant populi. — S. Augustine. 362 THE TRUE RELIGION. of their meaning, because haply there might occur some difficulty, or equivocal term, some syllable misplaced? Certainly, the words which they spake are the same they left us in writing, and sufficient to make us Chris- tians, and order our conversation ; and to promote the design of God, which was not to charm the world by the magic of words, but by the weight and honesty of the matter ; and, accordingly, it succeeded beyond all the oratory and rhetoric of the Gentile schools, and cunning of sophists. We do not all this while understand, by the style of Scripture, as if all the words and expressions were immediately dictated by an audible voice ; I say all, without exception; for that the Decalogue, or Ten Coromandments, was first written by the finger of God, and the Tables so inscribed delivered to Moses in the Mount, and afterwards, being broken, were by the same God renewed,* we make no question. And so were several laws and ordinances, by immediate dictate, as well in the New as Old Testament; namely, the notice of our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation, first to the Blessed Virgin, then to the Shepherds, to the Baptist, to the Apostles, to St. Paul, at his conversion, and at other times. But this was not always, and upon all occasions, as to the phraseology and style ; but they all spake and writ as they were moved and inspired in- wardly by the Holy Ghost, sometimes by visions, other- whiles by dreams, Urim and Thummim ; whether illus- trating the component letters engraven on the pectoral, * Exod., XX.; xxxi., 18. Deut, ix., 10,- x., 4. THE TRUE RELIGION. 365 fio as to make up the response,^ or by a terapMm, in- serted in the ephod offering a voice, is by the learned disputed. Sufficient it is, that the matter was dictated, leaving the wording of it to the holy men, who received the impulse, not as a habit residing at all times in them, but upon especial occasions, as God saw fitting, and by im- mediate irradiation, as sometimes happened. There were divers things delivered to the Prophets and Apostles, in images and symbols, in their several visions. And many things and actions they speak of as having done, which they did no otherwise than in prophetic vision and scenical imagery ; such as Jeremiah's carrying the cup and the yokes to the several near and distant nations,^ Ezekiel's besieging Jerusalem, lying above a year on his left side, preparing his food with dung, eating the bitter roU,^ Hosea marrying a common harlot, rending of his hair, and the like."* These doubtless were not real transactions, but things im- pressed, and represented in their fancies only, and dramatically acted there, not before the people; for this would not only have been ridiculous to them, but unlawful. These and the like were things of type only, though described by the Prophets as really acted ; and were so set down in writing, and published as they themselves conceived them, so as men who dream might do. Though I do not say the Prophecies were only dreams, * See chapter ix. * Jer., xxv., 15; xxvii. ^ Ezek., iv. ; iii., 2. * Hos., ill., 1. 364 THE TRUE RELIGION. but Kving visions — as the burning bush of Moses, the vision of Ezekiel, and the like, which made deeper im- pressions on the fancy. Such was the drama showed to St. John, through all the Book of Kevelations. For we do not here enlarge on the ministry of angels to this purpose, frequent in the Scripture ; nor more imme- diate inspiration, by which, haply, David and other holy persons, perceiving the usual temper of their minds extraordinarily transported, poured out those holy rap- tures, hymns, and sentences, as moved by the Holy Spirit ; but with this difference from the Pagan oracles, that it was in a pacate way, not in a furious transport, and raving, such as possessed their priestesses, &c.: though sometimes, even in God's Prophets, with more extending zeal and fervour. For, as to the immediate voice of God,^ it was more especially imparted to Moses, that great Prophet, so extraordinarily familiar with God,2 because he was to be the basis and original of all the future prophecies ; and doubtless he set down the very words he heard in the Mount. As to the rest, they made use of their own style and abilities, as appears by their various writings and phra- seology. Isaiah, a courtier, writes in a more sublime and lofty style than Amos, who was only a herdsman of Tekoa ; and most evidently in the Books of the New Testament, particularly the Evangelist St. Luke, and the Epistles of St. Paul, — though both of them very learned men, yet the one writing purer Greek, the other ^ This the Habbms called Gradus Mosaicus. * Numb., xii., 7, 8. THE TKUE KELIGION. 365 falling often into Hebraisms, — and so of the rest, less versed in the language. For it is not thought that the Apostles had at all times the gift of tongues ; but at such periods, and on such occasions only, when it was needful for the conversion of strange and foreign nations and people ; so that, according to their acquired parts and faculties, their style appeared; yet still in that wonderful manner, for its peculiar plainness, innoeency, and, withal, a secret energy, as no writings could ever imitate to those divine effects. The Holy Spirit dictated the matter, leaving the narrative to the Prophet : but at no time did He ever make use of idiots or fools to reveal His will to ; but those whose intellectuals were entire, though some- times rapt with a holy enthusiasm. Besides, we find both our Blessed Lord and Apostles not always citing the Scriptures verbatim, but varying and paraphrasing. This they would not have done, had the very words (as was the Pentateuch) been divinely dictated. Lastly, when we find anything seemingly incon- sistent, we are not to examine it by logical and arti*- ficial methods, and systems of human science ; for all these are things below Divine Inspiration. And, there- fore, Cicero doubts of the syhilline acrostics, arguing elaborate and affected diligence in the composition. So true is it that, lumen propheticum est lumen abruptum ; and that other maxim of the Rabbins, non est prius et posterius in lege ; many things of different kinds being contracted in the same vision, as St. Jerome has observed in the Eleventh of Daniel : for here we find a passing S66 THE TRUE RELIGION. over of divers inter-reigning princes between Cyrus and Alexander, and the like in Jeremiah, &c. Besides, it is notorious tliat the scribes of the Temple writ most of the prophetic sayings as the authors happened to pro- phesy daily ; and thence comes it to pass, that chap- ters, sayings, &c., both in the Prophets, Proverbs, and Psalms, now treating of Christ, then of the captivity, now of one subject, then of another, seem so incon- sistent, as not digested artificially, but as the Spirit gave occasion. 5. THEIR CONSENT AND HARMONY. The consent and harmony of the Holy Scriptures, — how the parts cohere ; so as the most seeming contra- dictions and passages are found to agree in sweet and mutual consent and union (the New Testament with the Old), indicates a wonderful Providence, in answering all the prophecies and expectations of it. First, as to the consent of Versions, we are to note that, when the gift of tongues (necessary for the first planting of the church) ceased, then began they to translate the Scriptures into vulgar languages. So that Theodoret* affirms that in his time the holy books appeared in all languages, and so St. Jerome, who put it into his country's language, the Dalmatic; as St. Chrysostom, the Armenian ; St. Augustine (some of it) into the Punic ; Cyril or Methodius into the Sclavonic ; into the Gothic Ulphilus ; Bede into the Saxon ; Michael Adamus into the German, which he writ in * Lib. 5, de Concord. Graec.et Heb. THE TRUE EELIGION. 367 Hebrew characters, being a Jew ; Jacobus de Veragine translated it into the Italian ; Hieronymas Leopoldus into the Polonian ; Charles the Fifth, King of France, into the French ; Cassiodorus into Spanish ; Wickliffe first into English. And by the piety of my noble friend Mr. Boyle, procured to be translated not only into Irish, but into the Indian also ; and, through a late collection, through all this our nation, it has been endeavoured, and I think accomplished, in the Lithuanian tongue, Krinokrainsky being their commissioner to collect the charities in order to it. And the tongues which now are called learned were indeed vernacular, when first the Scriptures were written in them ; namely, both the Greek and Hebrew, as were also the offices of divine service. But that which intro- duces their enumeration here is their wonderful har- mony and consent in all things that are necessary to faith and salvation ; all the various lections and diffi- culties being in minutiorihus only. And this it was morally impossible to avoid in so divers versions and languages ; for so has the providence of God invigilated^ that the Faith has suffered nothing ; no, not from the malicious Jews. Thus much concerning the consent of translations, of which we shall speak more at the last Section of this Chapter. We observe a most wonderful consent, also, in the types and figures of both Testaments, as that the first Adam was a figure of Christ ; the second Adam, though to a contrary effect, of life by his death ; assuming our flesh, to be Lord of all things in it, as the first Adam 368 THE TRUE RELIGION. had dominion over all creatures.^ So Noah and the Deluge figure the church by baptism.* And, indeed, whatever else befel the patriarchs, prophets, and mar- tjrrs in the Old Testament were types of what Chris- tians should suffer under the Gospel, as at large in the eleventh of Hebrews.^ In like sort, their pilgrimages, the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt, diffi- culties in the wilderness, are figures of the afflictions and persecutions which the saints were to go through before they could come to heaven.* In a word, it is considerable that whereas so many other writers of the same sect or profession, be it of human or divine matters, historians, lawyers, and philo- sophers, frequently differ even among themselves, these holy writers deliver the very same doctrine and history, without any discrepancy ; and, whenever they but seem to do otherwise, the differences are not only small, but easily reconciled by other parts. 6. THE MATTER AND SUBJECT. The matter and subject, or rather history of the Holy Scriptures, does certainly exceed all the writings and histories in the world. For as it begins, so as never history did, from the Creation, so it proceeds to show what shall be the end. First, as to the historical part ; it tells us how the Almighty fiat created and * Romans, v., 12-14. I. Cor., xv., 22, 45, &c. 2 LPeter, iii., 21. ' See Mr. Thorndike's Epilogue, book i., c. 5. * I. Cor., X., 1, 11. Heb., iii., 19; iv., 11. THE TRUE RELIGION-. ^^, * ^ SW/ ^ ^] educed, out of no pre-existent matter, a conm^Q^^aQS ;v ^^:^^ and out of that, this aspectable universe, with all its furniture. How man, being endued with an immortal soul, was placed in a garden, or country, of all natural delights and satisfactions ; under an easy and reasonable prohibition, for probation of his gratitude and obe- dience to his Creator and Benefactor, lapsed from that blessed state, by his disobedience, and by hearkening to the temptations of an Accursed Spirit. And how, by the infinite pity of a gracious God, he had re-admission to favour and grace, by virtue of a second covenant ; which, performed in this life (after a temporary disso- lution and refinement), he should be reinstated in a happier condition than that which he lost, through the mediation of a Saviour; prescribing to him and his posterity, tainted and weakened by his fall, a new law of ordinance, which, being accepted, should make him happy. Thus have we, in the old covenant, an account of the world before the Flood ; how, for the sins of the world, a flood swept away the whole race of mankind, except one family, by whom the earth was re-peopled. Then follow the lives of the postdiluvian Patriarchs, and among them the effect of Abraham's faith, for which was revealed to him the promised Messiah. How his posterity was, in the mean time, to be grievously op- pressed ; with what signs and wonders to be delivered ; how and by what ordinances to be governed under leaders, judges, and kings. How warned by Prophets ; whom, disobeying, they were carried captives into Babylon, did seventy years' penance, and thence again VOL. L B B 370 THE TRUE RELIGION. were delivered. And in what condition they con- tinued till the fullness of the time, when Christ, the Lord and true Messiah, conceived and born of a pure Virgin, did, without sin, suffer for our sins in His body- on the Cross ; thereby paying our debt, and making our peace with His justly-incensed Father. We have there, also, full directions and instructions for the regu- lation of our lives, nay, of our very thoughts, as well as words and actions, qualifying us for eternal life and glory. In these holy books, we also learn how this blessed and sacred person, God and Man, qualified to eifect this stupendous work of our redemption, was ungrate- fully rejected, notwithstanding the holiness of His life, the purity of His doctrine, and the wonderful miracles He performed; and what befell those who crucified Him with that hellish spite. Not that God the Father was pleased with the sin of those who executed it, but with Him who, for our sakes, offered His interposition with that love and tender compassion ; and for the re- pairing of His Father's glory by bringing many, through imputed righteousness, to eternal life, triumphing over death and hell. This leads us, to the calling of the Gentiles out of their superstitious darkness, to embrace the Gospel; and teaches the Jews a more perfect and evangelical law, till now veiled under busy types and ceremonies, figures of the things to come. And this was through the preaching, first of our Saviour, then of His apostles, disciples, and evangelists, by the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost ; enabling them, by the gift of tongues THE TRUE KELIGION. 871 and miracles, to plant and propogate those mysteries among all nations ; and which was to continue (namely, the doctrine which they taught) till the consummation and end of the world. These particulars, together with many prophecies and other events, through all these sacred books, show what they contain, and how neces- sary it is we should be acquainted with them, and assured of their truth. They show, as in a map, the condition of the Church, under all its dispensations; that there is a God, His attributes, such a thing as religion, and what this religion is, how different from all other worships. In a word, the Scriptures contain the whole Will of God, as far as He is pleased to reveal Himself, which is as far as is necessary for our salvation. This is the his- tory of the subject matter, teaching us the mystery of godliness — mysteries, indeed, and which the very angels desired to pry into, namely, the Incarnation of the Son, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Trinity of Per- sons, the Hypostatical Union. How we are called and how sanctified, justified, and saved. Here we are directed in the way to the Sovereign Good, which those great and learned philosophers have striven to find, but in a way wholly repugnant to the means of ever find- ing it, without this direction. For where meet we with such holy and perfect precepts, just lives, and examples among the wise men, and disputers of the world ? Such a faith as that of Abraham, faith against hope, in which all our happiness lies. Such miracles as our Blessed Saviour performed ) — such mysteries as are contained in the Incarnation of Christ. In sum : — where, amons: B B 2 i S72 THE TRUE RELIGION, all the institutions and religions of the heathen, so holy a doctrine, consummate of all perfection, as the Chris- tian, worthy of a great and intellectual nature, an im- mortal soul? That His followers should, in contem- plation of things invisible, lose their fortunes and lives here, to live and be happy hereafter ! — to overcome by suffering, and believe against appearance ! — that abne- gation, self-denial, repugning natural inclinations, humi- lity, taking up the cross, suffering infamy and perse-^ cution with joy, loss of goods without murmuring, doing good for evil, forgiving injuries, forgiving and even dying for enemies, and for the faith, through exquisite and cruel torments, for an invisible good. Search all the laws, religions, morals, precepts, or examples of our greatest pretenders, and we shall find nothing, or very little, of all this, even among the most refined and sublime of their wise and famous men. They knew not such a thing as self-denial, purity of thought, or that speculative vices are abominable. Policy or vain- glory runs through all their writings. Here, on the other hand, the glory is totally attributed to God ; and what was planted in persecution, and watered with their blood, grew up and prospered against all the malice of men and devils. 7. THE EFFECTS AND DESIGN. In order to the end, what is more sublime and noble than the worship and adoration of the Glorious Creator ? He rewards the creature with all the felicity a rational soul is capable of, namely, with the vision and fruition pf that perfect Being, who at once consummates our THE TRUE RELIGION. - o7S happiness to the utmost capacity of the soul. This is the design, and this the effect of the Holy Scriptures, their doctrine and precepts, ennobling and improving the superior man ; enabling him to repel the temptations of seducing spirits. Our Blessed Lord did but say. It is written^ and all the powers of Hell were not able to resist it. Their design is, to teach us the duties required to render our worship of the Deity acceptable ; that it be humble, substantial, significant, spiritual, decent Tvith- out superstition, as recommending sanctity and inward purity, even to thought and imagination. It requires a righteous and worthy conversation ; that the devout be adorned with all the divine and moral virtues (as far as is attainable and consistent with the unavoidable frail- ties of human nature), namely, justice, mercy, integrity, beneficence, gratitude, patience, love, temperance, forti- tude, prudence, peace, and complacency: thus refining nature to a god-like temper, and preparing it for the life above, when it shall receive its full consummation. For the design and intention of the Holy Spirit of Go3~7 (by whose effusion at Pentecost we continue Christians to this day) was not to gratify men's curiosity or secular designs, and therefore not dressed up in a rhetorical style, in exact and logical method, like other human sciences and philosophical notions ; but to be the rule of our faith and practice, and to communicate to us what is necessary for our salvation, by sanctification and grace. Other matters are only touched in general, and as they appear to common sense. And, therefore, Moses shows us the final causes of things, as proposed by God 374 THE TEUE BELIGION. to man, to incite and stir up his gratitude ; not pre- tending to teach academical learning, or natural philo- sophy by physical causes, farther than may lead us to Y th e admiration of the God of Nature. Thus is the Scripture (as St. Chrysostom calls it) • Ostium ad Christum, — the way, the truth, and the life. And we find more admirable and saveable matter in one only Sermon of Jesus upon the Mount, than in all the morals of the philosophers; so that Porphyry himself confesses that no sect of those famous men has been able to show how the great God was to be served and propitiated. Cjn a word, the Scriptures are Avritten for our learning, containing the whole counsel of God,^ the whole duty of man ; and, therefore, must nothing now be added to, nothing detracted from, them^ Hence that of TertuUian, — A doro plenititudinem Scripturw. It is a magazine of all necessary truths, come we but with minds prepared. I say, they contain all necessary cre- denda and faciendaf — all pertaining to faith or manners, either by express word and precept, or necessary con- sequences ; and tending to good order, edification, and discipline. There is sufficient for all our wants, if we come with hearts to believe ; but not enough to solve all our doubts, if we will dispute. It is the canon or rule by which to try just inquiries and controversies, / not our impertinent and endless cavils. Such powerful effects have the Scriptures, that (as we noted) they took root, not only in all places^ but pierced the very hearts and souls of believers; and thousands lost their lives to save their Bibles, when the ^ Acts, XX., 27. THE TRUE RELIGION. 375 traitors delivered them to be burnt. For what book, or history, in the world besides, would men be mar- tyred, after all their idolizing of Homer, Virgil, Cicero, and the rest, that the learned doat on ? That which no institution, or philosophic precept, among all their volu- minous works, could eifect in so many ages, was, by the doctrine and efficacy of Holy Scriptures, accomplished like a charm, in a moment, as it were ; immediately operating, stilling the passions, mortifying our corrup- tions, debasing our pride, allaying envy and avarice, captivating our very thoughts and imaginations, and teaching us to live soberly, righteously, and godly, subduing our worldly lusts and pleasures. Thus was St. Augustine converted, by reading (as he tells us) but one period, but one single verse of Scripture : ^ so soon it finds its way to the most intimate recesses of the heart, beating down its strongest hold, and bringing into subjection every imagination to the empire of Christ. St. Augustine was scandalized at the simplicity of the style of the Scriptures, before his eyes were opened, and then how did he change his mind ! How deplore his blindness! How admire the Sacred Books! He calls the Scriptures profunditas, an inexhaustible store- house ; and therefore we are to search them, says ano- ther Father, by digging, as in a mine, for hidden treasure. 2 Holy Scriptures being, then, thus designed, namely, that by the knowledge and practice of the doctrine and ^ [See Eomans, xiii., 13, 14. S. Aug. Confess., lib. viji., c. 29.] ' S. Chrysostom. Horn. 40. 376 THE TRUE RELIGION. rules contained in them, we may attain such happiness ; t every soul is obliged to search, read, and meditate \ them with all diligence, earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the Saints. This was so strictly required, and enjoined so universally in the Old Testa- ment, and so recommended to us in the New, that there can lie no reasonable prohibition to the contrary ; what- ever a certain Church of great name, out of secular respects, may pretend, and to keep men still in igno- rance, lest they should discover, among other errors of it, this monstrous sacrilege ; so as well might that [re- mark] of the learned Grotius be here applied, Meritb sus^ pecta merx est, quce Jidc lege obtruditur, nee inspici possit.^ But so tyrannically have they deterred men from this necessary duty, that we read of a poor Friar among them who thought himself damned for reading six lines only of St. John's Gospel, in the vulgar trans- lation. So benign has God been in enjoining us laws so vreasonable, as, not contradicting the common notions of J human nature (such as the heathens themselves cele- / brated), were such as are highly perfective of our well- l^being in this life, as well as that to come. For such are all the precepts of the Gospel rationally considered; , nor, in saying this, do we level it only with natural reli- gion, since, besides the things to be done (in which the false religion consisted), there are many things to be (believed, as only revealed to Christians, besides the I supernatural assistance which they wanted ; above all, ^ " Those wares which are thrust upon us, without the privilege of inspection, are justly held in suspicion." THE TRUE RELIGION. 377 the gift of the Lord Jesus, for example, and to expiate sin, and save our souls, — His working in us an internal principle of sanctity, if we reject it not. Lastly, as to all other effects, it has communicated the most stupendous gifts, — converted the whole world, learned and pagan, — and subdued it without force of arms, money, or human policy, which shows it to be from none but Him, who is the Omnipotent. Moreover, we have, besides all these, the confirmation of undeniable testimony. 8. TESTIMONY. The things and actions recorded in Scripture were 1 not done in a corner, but were visible and audible. That which we have heard, seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life, we declare unto you.^ The Scripture imposes not any miracles on the faith of those, among whom they were done, against common sense and reason (as those who would fetch transuhstantiation out of it), though many of. them above our finding out, as being spiritual, and not corporeal. But whatever was the object of sense (as all bodily substances are), visible, and palpable, were done before all the people ; and that either by our Saviour Himself, or His Prophets or Apostles, persons well known, and in the face of the sun. They acted and preached publicly, in a well known part of the world, full of the most learned and inqui- sitive men, teaching also a doctrine threatening eternal damnation against all impostors, deceitful and lying ^ I. John, i., 1. 378 THE TRUE RELIGION. miraclesM They always appealed to the senses, and to the Searcher of Hearts. Besides, the things reported to be done were the most liable to examination and de- tection, had they been false. Those of the Old Testa- ment were done by Moses and several of the Prophets, in the face of the whole nation, and before kings and princes; nor has ever any historian since denied the matters of fact. And for the New Testament ; as to John the Baptist's birth, his father and mother were of the most eminent persons among the Jews. Then, for his preaching, about the fifteenth year of Tiberius, — the Governors of Judea are named and punctually set down,2 Annas and Caiaphas being High-priests ; so the occasion of his beheading for Herodias' sake.^ So the Nativity of Christ, — what can be more particular than what St. Luke has recorded ? * When all the known world or Roman empire was in profound peace (as it was in the reign of Augustus), at the time of the uni- versal census, and when Cyrenius was governor of Syria; he was born in a common inn of Bethlehem, the Blessed Virgin-Mother falling in travail, as she was on a journey ; He was laid in a manger for want of another room. All these are particulars which were most easy to have been examined; and so his being baptized about the thirtieth year of his age. His preach- ing; the miracle at the marriage-feast in Cana of Galilee ; His healing the Centurion's servant, a public officer in the army ; ejecting the legion of evil spirits, and drowning so great a herd of swine; His raising ^ Acts, iv., 14, 16 ; X., 39. * Luke, iii., 1. ^ Matt., xiv. * Luke, ii., 17. THE TRUE RELIGION. 379 Jairus's daughter, and resuscitation of Lazarus before so many envious, as well as curious spectators. And, above all, that of His own trial, death, and suffering at Jerusalem, and in so notorious a time as the Passover, when the whole nation of the Jews was in the city ; before so great a concourse of strangers, which used to come to that metropolis from all countries. To this add the rending of the veil, or partition-wall, of the Sanc- tuary, the splitting of the rocks, the graves of the dead opening, and the eye of Heaven, as it were, put out at noon-day, by a miraculous eclipse. Then, as to His Resurrection, there is the testimony not only of the pious women and disciples, but of the very guards of His sepulchre ; His being seen by above five hundred at once, besides His appearing to St. Paul. All these particulars were so publicly notorious, and have been so exactly recorded, as never any history whatsoever, in any age, can produce like testimony ; for the matter of fact is abundant enough to brave and put to silence all contradiction. The like may be affirmed of the rest of the Acts of the Apostles: as how Herod, Pilate, pro-consuls and presidents, scribes and doctors, Pharisees and High- priests, Sanhedrim, all of them most malicious and bitter enemies to these proceedings, never once denying the facts ; and which were set down in writing, whilst men's memories (who were spectators) were recent: for the Gospel of St. Matthew was written within seven years after; Mark, within eleven; St. Luke's, about twenty-nine years after Christ's Ascension ; the Epistles of St. Paul and St. Peter, within thirty ; and 380 THE TRUE RELIGION. all the rest within nearly the compass of sixty years ; never yet convicted of forgery. And the entire volume of Scriptures has been generally received by all Chris- tians, before any General Council, or convocation of Clergy, or Imperial edict, was so much as heard of. So great is truth, aiid it will prevail. Thus is the credit of Holy Scriptures proved, by no , less than ocular demonstration from matter of undeniable \ fact, and also its propagation, — marks so evident of its ' veracity, as, next to the contrivance of man's Redemp- tion, nothing is more wonderful, nothing more stu- pendous. f-^Now, besides all these, as for self-evidence (if these be not sufficient), on pretence of such a light in Holy \ Scriptures, as should immediately operate on the soul, las natural objects act upon our senses (and at this dis- tance of time since these things were performed), it is unreasonable to require it. And yet, though our intel- ' lectuals cannot discern the verity of things by imme- ) diate intuition, yet, by discourse, and evicting means, \ it may ; namely, that power, by which men are enabled to draw perspicuous inferences from clear and plain principles. There are such evident ones in the Scriptures, as clearly infer that they ought to be believed and obeyed, though God has not been pleased to declare His mind concerning them in so many unde- Jniable instances, as we see He has done, abundantly. But of this we shall say something in the summing- up of this chapter, speaking of the Interpretation of Scripture. THE TEUE EELIGION. 381 9. THEIR ANTIQUITY, AND THE SUFFEAGE OF HISTORIANS. And, first, the Books of the Old Testament are, un- doubtedly, of the most venerable and deep antiquity of any writings that we know or ever heard of; for, whether letters were invented before the Flood, we have no authentic records : ^ whereas, the books of Moses we find older than Orpheus, Linus, Musaius, or any, not only of the Pagan poets (who are esteemed the most ancient writers among them), but even of their very Gods — Jove, Janus, Bacchus, &c. This, without any great labour, may be proved to have been derived from the Mosaic writings ; so that if, quod antiquum est, verum est, the Scriptures must needs be true, as well as ancient. Nay, so ancient, that even the very last writers of the Hebrew canon — Esdras, Haggai, Zacha- riah, and Malachi, lived and wrote (most of them) before the most ancient heathen authors. ^ Besides, the Scriptures' indisputable precedency to all other writings, we find not* questioned by any author whatsoever; whereas, we meet with so many eminent passages and persons mentioned by profane writers, as Japhet, Abraham, Moses, &c. ; the Creation and Genesis of the world, the universal Cataclysm, the concurrent opinion of its future conflagration, the * Joseph. Antiq. 2 This testimony Appian gives, though an enemy of the Jews, speaking of Moses. So Justin, Juvenal, Plinj, Tacitus, Longinus, Porphyry, and Julian himself. Nor is it improbable but that, amongst other precious gifts, with which the Queen of Sheba was presented by King Solomon, those holy books, the fountain of all wisdom, were presented to her. 382 THE TRUE RELIGION. Tower of Babel, the dispersion, and the overthrow of Sennacherib. Nay, and that they were written by Divine Revela- tion, too, and ever so esteemed, we have not only the testimony of all the grave and learned among the Christians of all ages, long before the Council of Lao- dicea, which first collected the canon ; but the suffrage of both Jews and Gentiles, who lived about that time. Nor had any thing to the contrary been called in ques- tion, till the pride and itch of later critics have erected their impious creeds against some testimonies never before suspected, nor by them overthrown with so much as any show of sound reason. But, in spite of the malice and subtlety of the old and envious Serpent, those sacred records have, by a most signal Providence of the Almighty Author, triumphed over both men and devils, in the hands of those who lived so much nearer the times of their writing than Vaninus, Spinosa, Hobbs, and other audacious monsters, transported with the pride of showing their learning and ridiculous singu- larity, though at the price of the most evident and saving truths. But we leave these to their deserved doom. As to that of the Evangelical History, the New Testament, Josephus (no Christian) goes parallel with it, mentioning all along the same persons and things, as of John the Baptist, Herod, Pilate, Gamaliel, Felix, and Festus ; the succession of the high-priests, of St, James ; yea, and gives a character of Christ himself, of which, I doubt not, Josephus must have heard ; and could not reasonably omit, whatever doubt some have made of that illustrious passage. To proceed, then, with the Heathen and human testi- THE TRUE EELIGION. S83 monies. Not as if we at all needed them, or built our faith thereon (having already produced such a cloud of witnesses), but to silence all gainsayers. We have from Suetonius, Tacitus, Pliny the nephew, that there was such a person as Christ, the Author of Christianity ; and the history of their sufferings, who professed it in all ages after, to confirm it. We have, also, the testi- mony of Phlegon, about the miraculous eclipse, exactly agreeing with Scripture story, both as to the year, day, and very hour. So the time and place of our Blessed Saviour's nativity were extant in the Archives, even till St. Chrysostom's time, from the Census under Augustus, and agreeable with the public records, from Pilate's information. To this add the opinion of Tibe- rius concerning Christ, upon the information he had, of his miracles and person, out of Judea ; for which he would have had him inscribed among the gods, had not a flattering Senate opposed it out of compliment to that emperor, for whom they would reserve that highest honour. This history was so authentic, that Tertullian, who lived near that time, provokes all the world to contra- dict it, if they could : being a thing so public and upon record in his days. And Justin Martyr also appeals to the known acts of Pilate about this passage, requesting the emperor (to whom he dictates his Apology) to search their own records for what he so confidently affirms. The governors of all the Roman provinces being (it seems) obliged to keep exact diaries and registers, and to give the emperors account of all considerable pas- sages happening under and during their ministry ; and these, it appears, were extant in the time of this Apo- 384 THE TRUE RELIGION. legist. Nor has it been so much as once questioned as to the truth. Indeed, Porphyry, revolting from Chris- tianity to Platonism, did all he could to disparage Scripture, but was so fully evicted by Lactantius, Eusebius, Apollinaris, and even in later days by Socinus himself, and that so incomparably (though in other weighty matters sorely erring), as never was victory against a Pagan more complete. Moreover, as to the Old Testament, and the Creation out of chaos, &c. : Hesiod and divers of the ancients agree that it was requisite, that, for the perfecting of ai'ts and useful inventions, men's lives should have been pro- tracted at the beginning. The story of the Flood is very frequent under the disguises of Deucalion, Ogyges, &c. Nay, they have a tradition of it in the New World among the savages, which shows it was not a partial but total inundation. Alexander Polyhistor speaks expressly of the ark, from which, among all sorts of animals, a dove was sent forth, to examine the temper of the earth. Who more commonly mentioned by writers than Japhet ? The same author (as we noted) speaks of the Babylonish enormous building and division of tongues. Strabo mentions Sodom. The column of salt remained in Josephus's time, and haply does to this day. Eupo- lemus mentions Abraham as inventor of astronomy, and his migration into Phoenicia ; as also his victory over the five kings, for the rescue of his nephew, with other particulars. And Polyhistor is so express, that there is hardly a passage in all Genesis unrecited. Many of these agree with Nicholas Damascene, Theodotus, Aristaius, especially that of holy Job ; which (if any) haply might have been written even before Moses. THE TRUE RELIGION. S85 Manetho and Justin record the descent of the Israelites into Egypt as shepherds, the dividing of the sea, and the overthrow of Pharaoh ; their abode in the desert, and their being nourished with a certain snow. The same is almost the entire story of Moses, though with some intermixtures of their own, especially in the book of Artahanus touching the Jews ; where, also, is men- tion of the Egyptian plagues.^ The same is mentioned by Demetrius and Eupolemus. And, though they pre- tend that Moses did all those wonders by his skill in magic, yet they record them, and have a tradition of his rod. 2 And as Origen hints, did thence use them in their conjurations, with the name of the God of Israel. Tacitus speaks of the Passover ; Justin of the wars of Joshua, and the inscription of his beating out the old Canaanites, which some affirm was found not long since about old Tangier ; as also of the building of the Temple, in which the fore-mentioned heathen have par- ticularized many things, not forgetting the basso-relievo of the candlestick, and other vessels, as described in Leviticus, and which are still extant on the arch trium- phal of Titus, at Rome ; which I myself have seen, and caused an accurate draught to be then made upon the place. In sum, we have in these authors the mention of the captivity, the history of Sennacherib, recited by Hero- dotus, the most ancient of all the heathen historians. In a word, so many are the testimonies of the truth of Scripture relations, as there do not appear the like in favour of any other history whatsoever. For, were the ^ The Phoenician annals mention David and Solomon, and their leagues with Tyre. ^ Confer. Cels., 1. 4. VOL. I. CO S86 THE TEUE RELIGION. tradition of the Scriptures' antiquity and veracity not enough, that very reason, which leads us to the belief of any moral thing, were abundantly sufficient. Sine(\ if we will only credit immediate demonstration, how should any know they were born from such parents, whose children they are reputed ? Surely, such doubts would be very impertinent. We have for these sacred (oracles as mUch assurance as of the work of any author, of which we make no question ; and he who should not negociate into the Indies before he had seen them, must resolve never to see them. And what common interest can the world have so to deceive, and be de- ceived ? Much less could the Mosaic law, least of all the Gospel, have found credit (the one imposing such an end- less morosity of precepts to observe, and the other the Cross of Christ), had it not been originally manifest that such things were done to evidence that and this. ~^y the same means that all records of learning are conveyed to us, are the Scriptures evidenced to be matter of historical faith ; but, inasmuch as the matter of them had never been received but by the work of God, in that respect they become matter of superna- tural faith, in regard of the reason, moving in the nature of an object to believe, as well in respect of God's grace, moving in the nature of an effective cause, unless we saw ourselves what was written;, which were im- possible to every individual man, that either has been \ or is to be born. What can be more a demonstration ? And, therefore, we meet no adversaries, even the most captious and profane, who deny the authors transmitted to us. Besides, it is not any prejudice to our faith, as some fondly imagine, that one should, for all this, be- THE TRUE RELIGION. 88T lieve the Scriptures for reason, which tells us God cannot lie or deceive ; for, if they tell us we rmist believe them, because they are the Word of God, they say more than that we must believe them for the strongest reason in the world. And those who pretend the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God,^ are abused by the English translation, as if natural there imported only the rational, which, in truth, signifies Animalis homo, a carnal, sensual person, the most averse from rational that can possibly be ; and such a man, indeed, receives not the things of the Spirit of God. Let men be first convinced by any means — call it reason or moral persuasion, immediate light, or whatever, that there is a God, and Holy Scriptures His Word, and they cannot but believe Him absolutely perfect, and so no longer dispute His will. 10. TRADITION. Tradition is either divine or human ; the first either dogmatical, touching faith and manners ; or, secondly, historical, relating to the actions and lives of the patri- archs, prophets, Christ and His Apostles, and others empowered by them; thirdly, ritual, respecting cere- monies and forms of worship. As touching dogmatical traditions. Till Moses's time, what was received, the Church had from God imme- diately; nor during the longevity of the patriarchs needed there any writing of things so fresh in memory, and which passed through so few hands. For Enoch, the third from Adam, might have delivered it to Noah, and Noah to Abraham ; or if that be thought scanty, ^ I. Cor., ii., 14. C C 2 ) 388 THE TRUE EELIGION. Arphaxad, who Kved before the death of Noah, above 400 years, died not till Abraham was eighty-six years of age. And then Moses, being born within 250 years of Abraham, and his grandchildren, especially Levi, the son of Jacob (who died in Egypt, a.m. 2385) and grandfather to Moses and Aaron, but 148 years distant, might very reasonably be thought to have received the worship and religion of the patriarchs from his father, without any need of writing or record. But when men's lives began to be exceedingly abbreviated, it pleased God that what they had then by tradition only, (as the seven precepts delivered to the sons of Noah, &c.) should be consigned to writing ; especially when God also thought fit to add so many other laws and ordinances, prophecies, and the like, as He did from Moses to the coming of ^e Messiah ; who, abrogating the ceremonial dispensation, introduced that of the Gospel, which was to continue to the end of the world, and be the norma and rule, by which the Church was to be governed and instructed to everlasting salvatiSm) Not that, for all this, she does refuse the testimony of tradition, for the asserting the truth of the Scriptures being the same, which had been received from the pen- men, under whose names they bear the titles j or by any other holy men collecting those materials, and inscrib- ing the first authors' names, as is also usual in other writings. But she gratefully accepts it as God's great and signal Providence, to the exclusion of spurious writings, which the emissaries of Satan would have obtruded on the world, and made to pass for genuine and divine; receiving for doctrines divine the traditions of men, which our Blessed Lord bids us beware of. THE TRUE RELIGIOK* 889 In the mean time, when we speak of the tradition of the Church, it is not understood as if either that or the decrees of Councils, or expositions of Fathers, made them to be Scriptures, or had any faculty so to do, (as a late conventicle at Trent arrogates to the Pope) but we believe the Scriptures, from all the topics we have mentioned in this Chapter, and especially from their energy and effects upon the lives of men, by which they show themselves to be avTOTrloroi, and to be em- braced jorojo^^r se, by those who come prepared to receive them : of which anon. Scriptures being then received as Divine, cannot^^ wholly depend on the sentences of the Church as judges; since an authority sacred and solemnly de- clared is required in a judge ; and this no judge can so much as pretend to, but from the Scripture. For we are to judge and know the Church by her faith and doctrine, not her faith and doctrine by the Church; which were to run the circle of that of Eome, pretend- ing to prove her own authority by the Scriptures, and the Scriptures by her authority. Wherefore it is not, I say, the authority of the Church alone, which induces our assent ; forasmuch as the Scriptures were the Word of God, before they were written, true and salutary, before they came to us, and precedent to the Church. Because the being of a church, supposing the profession of that religion the Scriptures teach, as sent from God, and the credit of those Sacred Writings necessary to the being of a church, necessarily proves them more ancient than the Church. So as, in order of reason, the Holy Scriptures (namely, the doctrine i r- 390 THE TRUE RELIGION. contained in them) must be precedent to the Church, as Mr. Thorndike learnedly makes appear;^ where he also clears that saying of St. Augustine against the Manichees. Ego Evangelium non crederem, nisi me Ec- clesioe Catholicw moveret auctoritas, to be plainly not as meant of a church, as a corporation qualified to oblige its members, but of all Christians, persons of common sense, asserting the truth of Scriptures from such evidences as we have brought, namely, the consent of all people and nations; by that authority which miracles began, hope nourished, charity increased, suc- cession of time has settled ; conversion of Gentiles, ViDredictions of prophets, and the like. All these con- stitute the Catliolic Church and its unity, and are what the father intended by this famous sentence ; and is as much as to say, that if there were any word in Scrip- ture which could be brought to prove what the Mani- chees taught, he would suspend his belief of that Gospel, that should assert it. For if the reason, for which he once believed the Church, that the Scripture is true, should be supposed false, there could be no rea- son obliging us to believe it true. Indeed, in a case of •doubt or doctrine, it were more discretion to consult the Church, and take the reason of it, from what the universal Church teaches, than from particular Chris- Itians, who cannot be presumed to understand it so well. And this is nothing to our present case : we are speak- ing here of what is suflficient to induce our belief, with- out the authority of the Church, which some so much insist on, as the only reason of our belief, having made ^ Epilogue, Prin. of the Truth, &c. THE TEUE RELIGION. 891 it evident that her authority can be supported from no other than the truth of Scriptures, appearing so both to our reason and senses. Now, the same reason which governs controversies in any point of religion ought to determine here. For the same Holy Ghost which effectually moves us to be- lieve, supposes sufficient reason, moving in the nature of some object proposed to be believed. Therefore neither the truth of Christianity, nor Scripture itself, is admitted on the dictate of God's spirit, but pre- supposes the reasons convincing us that they are to be admitted. And, of consequence, the gift of the Holy Ghost, enabling the believer to continue in the profes- sion and exercise of Christianity, supposes a belief of that religion which we sincerely profess ; and by conse- quence the reason why we believe, which will not fail to infer the belief of Scripture. To Infidels, therefore, such reasons are to be alleged as may first convince them, without pressing the truth, till it first appear to be true; and then whatever moves a man to be a Christian will force him to be a Christian. Miracles, done by them from whom we receive the faith, are the only motive to show their Divine Author: and therefore we are obliged to believe and receive what they assert ; yet not merely for the wonders, but the sanctity and excellency of the matter, justified by the light of nature, and harmony of both Testaments, justifying one another by the events. Now, that such miracles were performed, we have the concurrent testi- mony and tradition of the universal Church, taking here the Church for all believers. And though they S92 THE TRUE RELIGION. (lid or do not all behold them with their eyes, their ears may well supply that sense ; and common sense jshows that those things which all the world agree in are no less evident and certain (morally) than what we see with our quickest sense ; especially when there can be no common interest to deceive, or be deceived. Upon this account it is, that men believe such places, cities, and countries really to be, which they perhaps never Lsaw, but only heard of. And learned men are confi- 3ent, upon the same reason, that there were such his- Uorians, orators, and poets, as go under the name of iHerodotus, Livy, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Cicero, [Homer, Virgil, &c. But as to those of Holy Scripture, there is yet a far stronger reason to believe they came from God alone, because the law and religion they teach and enjoin propose and exact such difficulties and contradictions to flesh and blood, by the morose- ness of that of Moses, and sharpness of the Cross of Christ, as, had it not been originally manifest, and evi- denced bright as the meridian sun, that such things were done as they relate, the world would never have em- braced them. And since all cannot be eye-witnesses of what is passed, let it suffice that we have the I suffrage, of all who are gone before us, and which I common reason makes to be as authentic evidence, as \ are our other senses. For, by the same means that all records of learning are transmitted to us, are the Scrip- Ltures proved to be matter of historical faith. And in- asmuch as the subject of them had never been received but by the extraordinary work of God, in that regard, they become matter of supernatural faith. The Church is no more in comparison of the Scrip- THE TKUE RELIGION. 893 ture, to the pretence of being the only cause of our belief, than was the Samaritaness in comparison of Christ, our Lord Himself. We believe not because of thy saying; for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. ^ The reasons for which our Blessed Saviour tells us Himself that we are to believe, are contained in the Scriptures. Lastly, as to the testimony of the Spirit, we can have no assurance even from that, but by our first believing, upon the reasons and induce- ments above alleged ; seeing none can know that he has the spirit of God, without knowing he is a sincere Christian, and worshipper of God, which supposes the truth of Scripture. These things were highly necessary to be premised, and cleared from all possible doubt, because nothing can be necessary to salvation, till it appear that the Scrip- tures are the truth of God, and to be our rule, by con- sequence of that which God has given us to judge and determine the truth of things by — namely, reason. SECTION III. 1. OF THE BOOKS. The Holy Writings, which, by way of eminence and for their high importance, we call the Scriptures and the Bible, are certain books containing two Testaments, the Old to the Jews, His peculiar people, and Church be- fore the coming of the Messiah ; and the New Testa- ment left by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah now come, and pertaining to both Jew and Gentile, prose- lyted to Christ's religion, and by which we have title ^ John, iv., 42. 39 -t THE TRUE RELIGION. to salvation, and inheritance of the life everlasting. These Sacred Volumes, namely, the matter contained in them, delivered from God the Father, and His Son Jesus, by the Holy Ghost ; first to the patriarchs, then to Moses and the prophets ; after that, to the apostles, and from them to their successors down to the present age we live in, (as we shall make appear) contain the undoubted oracles of God, and the mysteries of our salvation. For after the voice of the Lord Jesus, who is the Bridegroom, Pastor, and Bishop of our souls, the Church, His Spouse, is to be heard ; and She it is who has been the keeper and preserver of this celestial deposltum, not as the Mother, but the Nurse; not the foundation, but the angular stone ; not the fountain, but the stream, which has from hand to hand conveyed to us this precious and inestimable treasure. The Holy Scriptures, delivered by Divine Kevela- tion. Inspiration, Voices, Visions, &c., are either, \. Historical ; 2. Legal,' or Ritual ; 3. Prophetical;^ 4. Sapiential, or Doctrinal. As to the time they were first written and published, we have already proved them the most ancient, some before the Captivity, namely, from Moses to Zepha- niah ; some during the Captivity, as Ezekiel, Daniel, &c. ; and some after, as Haggai, Zacharias, Malachi ; of which more in this Chapter. • Those of the New Testament consist likewise of — \, History ; 2. Doctrine; and, ^.Prophecy: First, the Four Evangelists, with the Acts of the Apostles, who planted the Christian Faith immediately after the Descent of the Holy Ghost, enabling them by an e:j^* ^ n. Pet., i., 19, 20, 21. THE TEUE RELIGION. S95 traordinary gift of tongues, and opening their minds, to understand the Scriptures, to publish it among all na- tions. 2. Then the Epistles, written by the Apostles to the Churches they had converted. S. The Apocalypse, or Revelation of things recondite and of unknown event, importing prophecies of things to come. These being all the genuine and undoubted books of Hoty Scripture, this last shuts up the Canon, and they are reckoned in this series : SCRIPTURES. OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. OF THE NEW. ^ "Psalms. „. TMatthew. i - IfGenesis. ^ iSlExodus. r% Proverbs. 3 Mark. | James. Ecclesiastes ^Canticles. . |<| Luke. < 1 John, written J I. Peter. II. Peter. -- 'Leviticus. "Isaiah. ^ 1^ ina°. 97. |< I. John. .^ J Numbers. Jeremiah. Acts, by St. 1 II. John. "^1 Deutero- .| L nomy. I^ Lamenta- Luke 1 \ III. John. tions. ■The Romans. | | Jude. ■«i! Ezekiel. .Daniel. I. Corinthians, g- L "Joshua. 11. Corinthians. Apocalypse.'^ Judges. "Hosea. Galatians. Euth. Joel. 1 Ephesians. 1. Samuel. ^ Amos. I Philippians. II. SamueL f Obadiah. 02 Colossians. 'i I. Kings. (£ Jonah. o« to I. Thessalonians. i< 11. Kings. 1 Micaiah. i 11. Thessalonians. I. Chronicles.ii* Nahum. I. Timothy. 11. Chronicles. Habakkuk II. Timothy. Ezra. Zephaniah Titus. Nehemiah. Haggai. Philemon. Esther. Zechariah. Hebrews. [Job. Malachi.^ * His Prophecy reaches to John the Baptist, and so unites both Testaments. ^ Written (circ. A. D. 94) to the Churches of Asia. It seals the Canon. Rev. xxii., 18. "If one add or take from a rule, it ceases to be a rule." S. Chrysos. Hom. 12, in Phil. 3. 396 THE TRUE RELIGION. APOCRYPHAL BOOKS J /Not received as Canonical Scriptures, but containing, \ besides many excellent moral sentences and instruc- Itions, the history of what happened from the Captivity, and last of the Prophets (Anno Mundi 3589, to the year 3875), approaching the coming of the Messiah, Anno 4000. They are fourteen in number. I. Esdras. Banich (with Jeremiah's Epistle II. Esdras. to the Captives). Tobit. Song of the Three Children. Judith. Susanna ; Bel and the Dragon. Esther (a fragment). Manasseh's Prayer in captivity. Wisdom. I. Maccabees. Ecclesiastes. II. Maccabees. \ WMch yet the Church (as St. Jerome affirms) does I allow to be read, for example and instruction ; but J neither proves nor pretends to establish any doctrine (upon them.i So that whatever books have been imposed since the \ Canon, as containing necessary doctrine, and saving ' truth, we are in nowise to receive them as such. Now, the means to distinguish them is, amongst other marks, to trace the tradition ; and if we find the doctrine delivered to have taken beginning any time since the Sacred Canon was fixed, we are to reject them as spurious. This well observed pares off innu- merable superadditions from that Church, which has such an interest to advance her own traditions, not only as equal, but above the Holy Scriptures. Ejm enim Pontificis auctoritas major est, qttctm Scripturw,^ » Jerom. Proleg. in Lib. Solom : ad Cromat. et Heliod. * Silvest. Dial-adver. Luth., &c. Gregory, vii., Diet. 16, Con. Koman. THE TRUE RELIGION. 39 7 On the contrary, when, in tracing a tradition, we dis- cover no footsteps, when it was not used, we may pre- sume it to be, though haply not jure divino, yet jure Apostolico. Such are the order of Bishops in the Chris- tian Church, immediately succeeding the Apostles, In- fant baptism, Confirmation, the more solemn Fasts, and Preparations before the anniversaries of our Lord's Passion, and the like. And those who hold the Scrip- tures clear in all things necessary to salvation, have no reason to exclude the tradition of the Church in these things. We now, then, proceed to the Testimonies, which prove the Canonical Scriptures only to have been in all ages of the Church the same which we at this day receive, and for such acknowledge them. And for this we need go no farther than to that excellent history of the late Bishop of Durham,^ my intimate acquaintance, compiled when, by his Majesty King Charles the First's command, he officiated in my father-in-law's ^ chapel at Paris, during that horrid rebellion which banished his present Majesty and many of his loyal subjects out of England ; endeavouring to destroy the Church thereof, and consequently the most primitive under the cope of Heaven. But God Almighty, who first reformed this Church, and so signally restored it, will, I trust, still maintain and preserve it to the end of the world. It is from this Treatise that we shall assert this Article ; and first show why the Books of Holy Scrip- ^ Dr. Cosin's " Scholastical History of the Canon of Holy Scripture." ^ Sir Richard Browne, Resident for his Majesty there, from 1641 to 1660. 398 THE TRUE RELIGION. ture are called Canonical. They are named Canonical^ as being the rule by which we are to square all our actions, and are, therefore, by the Fathers, called Sta- teram Trutinam^ by which we are to weigh, as well as square, measure, and examine our faith and belief. Now, although the Jews counted no more in their jCanon than do the Reformed Churches at present, yet they ranged them not into so many classes ; for they made three only. In the first of these was only the Pentateuch : 2. All the Prophets : S. Sacred Writers, as they called them, distinguished from the Prophets, for that they had not the mission of Prophets, though in- spired by the same spirit of truth. Of the first rank, were Moses' five Books ; of the second, four of the first Prophets, and four of the latter ; and then, thirdly, the Hagiographi, nine; making up in all twenty-two, ac- cording to the number of the Hebrew Letters ; as being all of them written in that tongue (then vulgar), except Daniel and Ezra, in the Chaldean, which they best understood. But in this recension Ruth is but an ap- pendix to Judges, as Lamentations are to Jeremiah. Nor are Samuel and Kings accounted more than two Books. Then, the twelve minor Prophets, but as one Book, and thence called the Book of the Prophets.^ And so, both the Chronicles were reckoned but as one, as also Ezra and Nehemiah, The reason why they set the Book of Chronicles in the last place was, for their containing, as it were, an epitome of all former pas- sages, from Adam to their reduction from captivity, and so closed up the entire Bible. All these Books are generally thought to have been ^ Acts, yii., 42. Conf. Amos, v., 25, 26. THE TRUE RELIGION. S99 thus digested, examined, and revised, by Ezra, the priest, after their return from Babylon, and so delivered to posterity. Nor did our Blessed Saviour speak of any other Scriptures but Moses and the Prophets, no more than did His Apostles after him.^ Thus the same number of Books and Authors stood the first cen- tury ; and, in the second, as appears by the Apostolical Constitutions and Canons, where they have not been interpolated ; also, by Dionysius, the Areopagite, Mel- lito, anno 160, Justin Martyr; in the third century, as witness Origen, Julius Africanus, Tertullian, St. Cy- prian ; in the fourth, Eusebius, the first General Coun- cil of Nice, St. Athanasius, St. Hilarius, St. Cyril, the Council of Laodicea, St. Epiphanius, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Chrysostom, and, above all of this century, St. Jerome, Buffinus. In the fifth cen- tury, by the great St. Augustine, Innocent the First, the Councils of Carthage and Chalcedon ; in the sixth, Cassiodorus, Primasius, Anastasius, Leontius, Yicto- rinus ; in the seventh, St. Gregory the Great, Isidore, the sixth Council of Constantinople in Trulla. In the eighth century, Damascenus, the venerable Bede ; in the ninth, Alcuinus, Nicephorus, Strabus, &c. ; in the tenth and eleventh, Badulphus Flaviacensis, Hermanns, Giselbertus. In the twelfth century, Zonaras, Ruper- tus, Honorius, Hugo de Sanct. Victore, Philip Sali- tarius, Gratianus, Petrus Comestor, Johannes Salis- buriensis, Balsamer. In the thirteenth century, Hugo Cardinalis, Thomas Aquinas, and the Schoolmen, the ^ Luke, xxiv., 27, 44, 45 ; Acts, xxvi., 22 — xxiv., 14 — xxviii., 23 ; Hebr., i., 1 ; II. Tim., ill. 16. 400 THE TRUE RELIGION*. Glossers on the Bible ; in the fourteenth, Nicephorus Callistus, Johannes Columna, Brito, Nicholas Lira. In the fifteenth century, Thomas Anglicus, Thomas Waldensis, Paulus Burgensis, Alphonso Tolatas, Dio- nysius Carthusianus. In the fourteenth and last, being just before the present century, Francis Ximenes, J. Picus Mirandula, Jacob Faber Stapalensis, Ludo- vicus Vives, Erasmus, Cajetanus, the famous Trans- lators of all the Bibles hitherto ; all these being either Greek or Latin Fathers, Martyrs, Confessors, Bishops, Divines, and the most renowned persons for sanctity and learning of both Eastern and Western Churches, men of undoubted credit. The whole stream of the Catholic Church thus hands down to us the Canon of the Sacred Scriptures, with one voice, from all the famous countries and churches in the Christian world, till, by a new (and never till then heard of) Decree of a packed Assembly at Trent,* against all the above-mentioned authorities, are adopted the Apocryphal Books into the Canon, damning all people who receive them not pari auctoritate with the undoubted Oracles of God. And that only and visibly to support certain corrupt dogmas and dangerous errors in religion, for the advantage of the Court of Rome, and the tyranny, pride, and covetousness of an interested party, as may at large be seen in the author ^ of the history of that pretended Council, contrary to the suf- frages of the most learned and religious amongst them, and of all the Princes and other Potentates who sent their ambassadors. The Protestants, however, who came, and such as came with any intention to reform 1 Sess., iv. 2 sieiden. THE TRUE RELIGION. 401 errors and abuses, were not admitted, which would have made it a free and Ecumenical Council. Thus, to gratify the Roman Pontiff against the uni- versal testimony of Scripture, Councils, Fathers, School- men, Doctors, and learned Divines, of all former and subsequent ages, do they advance their new and un- written traditions, as sacred and canonical, and to be received with the same filial affection and reverence. The reverend Council, who stamped their Canon to represent the whole Christian Church, was composed of about forty Bishops, of whom many were, only titular and pensioners to his Holiness, and some without any learning. Of the Greek Church, they had not one Bishop, but one from England, none from Germany, Helvetian, or Northern countries; two from France and Spain. 1 Behold the goodly -Ecumenical Council, which durst equal those Books with the aU-sacred and venerable Scriptures — books which had been rejected and excluded by such a cloud of witnesses as we have produced. And that to establish doctrines totally repugnant to the Christian truth, deUvered by our Blessed Lord, as ^ Thus writes the ingenuous historian, who himself was pre- sent. Audax inceptum videbatur, quinque Cardinales et quadra- ginta et octo Episcopos auctoritatem Canonicam libris antea incer- tis et apoeryphis dare. In his taraen prassulibus non temere re- periri aliquem prsecellentis doctrinae, laude insignum ; Leguleios esse aliquot, in juris professione forte doctos, sed religionis non admodtim intelligentes, paucos Theologos, eosqueeruditione intra vulgus Theologorum, plerosque Aulicos ; ex iis aliquos titulares tanttim, et Episcopos magnam partem Civitatum adeo minutarum, ut si quisque Clerum et populum, cui praesit, referat, vix omnes millesi- mam orbis Christiani partem repraesentent. Hist. Con. Trent., lib. ii, VOL. I. D D 402 THE TRUE RELIGION. we shall come at large to show in the eleventh chapter of this Treatise. But this is that Church which has presumed to make new Articles of Faith, and to ana- thematize and curse all those who receive them not for Gospel, thereby condemning, with unheard-of insolence, all those ages. Fathers, and Writers, who have faith- fully adhered to primitive truth. In the mean time, as to the Apocryphal Books, — though we acknowledge them useful, both for the his- torical and instructive part (as are many other excel- lent books not divine), yet were they never admitted for authentic Scripture ; nor were they written in the Holy tongue, no, nor so much as translated by the Septuagint ; but they were first written by the Helle- nist dispersed Jews in Persia and Egypt, never owned by the ancient Hebrews, or once cited by our Blessed Saviour or the Apostles ; nor were they used of old to be read in churches, and, when permitted, with the caution, not as to establish any new doctrine or faith upon them ; nor were they read by the Bishop there, but by some inferior minister, in a lower part of the Assembly.^ For there had been, from time to time, divers vagrant pieces (to which we do by no means compare the Apocrypha, which, after those of the un- doubted Canon, we esteem preciously), endeavoured to be vended and imposed upon the world for authentic and divine. ^ Non tutb cuivis est credendum libro, Qui venerandum nomen S. Scripturae praeferat, or, Qui Biblici praenomen augustum ferat. Amphiloc. Ep. ad Seleucum. THE TEUE KELIGION. 403 Plato tells us of certain agyrtw and impostors of his time, who went about with such ware under the names of Musseus and Orpheus;^ that under such splendid and famous titles they might allure men to buy their books. The argument of these were divers forms of expiations for the most prodigious and horrid impieties ; at the bare recital of which conjurations they were absolved. 2 About P. Gelasius's time there was a world of supposititious writings vended and received by the heretics. <±Iow long has that spurious Hermes Tris- megistus cheated the people ? Pastor, Dionysius the Areopagite, Epistle of St. Bernard, Enoch's prophe- cies, &c. ? Liturgies ascribed to the Apostles, Sybil- line Oracles, Christ's Letter to Agbarus, the Gospel of St. James, and that of Nicodemus, &c., most of which are very happily now lost.\ Indeed, divers of the Fathers did often cite these Apocryphal books under a venerable name, as also they sometimes did the Fourth of Esdras, the prophecy of Enoch, &c., under the title of Scripture, as in a large and popular sense, but not as canonical and divine, but only to distinguish them from mere profane and common. In sum, it is enough to determine this, that there is neither Bible, manuscript or printed, which has any catalogue set before it, to decree what books were canonical; but the known and universally-received Prologue of St. Jerome, distinguishing the canon from the Apocryphal, both particularly and exactly, as all the ages, since his time to this, agree, that of the Synod of Trent excepted, which is of no validity. To this add ^ '2€krjvqs Koi Movo-coi/ cKyoviov. "' For these see Dr. Wake. D D 2 404 THE TRUE RELIGION. the testimony of Josephus,* as cited by Eusebius,* above all we have named. As to those Books of the New Testament, which some critical persons made some scruple about, as St. Paul to the Hebrews, St. Jame»s EpisUey the Second Epistle of Peter, the Second and Tliird of St. John, Jude, and the Revelation of St. John, attri- buted to Cerinthus, the heretic ; it can never be made out that they were rejected by any entire Church, Council, or sober author : but of this anon. Some- of the Sapiential books, and others, not re- ceived into the canon, were (as we have showed) per- mitted to be read to the people for instruction and encouragement, for their many wise sentences and moral lessons contained in them ; and for the examples of constancy of some excellent persons ; and because they continue the thread of Sacred History of the Old to the near approach of the New Testament; but were still accounted Apocryphal and out of the list. Indeed, St. Paul, writing to the Romans, and Corin- thians at Athens, cites Aratus, the poet Menander, a comedian, and Epimenides, or, as some will have it, Callimachus ; and so also Jannes and Jamhres are names not found in the canon, but likely out of some Talmud or record. So St. Jude^ mentions a passage from Enoch not extant. But then the things are both cer- tainly true, and such as give greater light to the sub- ject treated on. And to such Apocrypha we have still great veneration. But that any thing suspicious could be foisted, or creep, into the Holy Text, seems morally impossible ; so many, that is to say, no less ^ Joseph, cont. Apion., 1. 1. ^ Eccles. Hist., 1. 3, c. 9. 2 Jude, 14. THE TRUE RELIGION. 405 than twelve copies being delivered to every tribe, and so many again by them to every particular Synagogue ; while the originals were kept in the ark with all imagi- nable care;^ as they were afterwards by the Christian Church, and translated into so many languages. And this by persons of different countries and religions too, yet all agreeing in most material points. For, as to the various lections, they are not at all considerable, in prejudice to any point of doctrine or history ; and, therefore, we do not condemn the study of good letters, tongues, and other helps of human learning, but em- brace and encourage them. The small differences occasioned by their criticisms are no way capable of shaking the foundation of the faith contained in them ; not to pass over that where there are really any diffi- culties, they are still useful to humble us, and defend us from the superstition of the simple letter, and doat- ing upon terms. It has been said by some,^ that the Pentateuch were but collections of certain ancient Jews, rather prescribed by Moses than compiled by him. And, as to the Book of Job, that it was written by Moses, or (as some think) before him, and is, therefore, the most ancient of books ; that though the ground of the history be true, yet that the dialogue with his friends is amplified and adorned, to make the narration the more useful and agreeable ; nothing of which invalidates any thing of their being divine, ^ These were dispersed through all the world when the Jews were scattered, so as they could never come together to forge or contrive any thing to corrupt the sacred books. ^ Spinosa, &c. 406 THE TRUE RELIGION. Now, whether the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by St. Paul, Luke, Barnabas, or Clement, is as little material, since we find him to have taken out several passages, word for word, from his Divine Epistles ; and, as to the rest of the chapters, the accu- rate examination of so many learned, great, and holy persons, acknowledging them for genuine ; we have, in particular, the suffrages of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Ignatius and Polycarp — men who lived so near the time of the Apostles, as to have some of them conversed themselves with them. Nor were they yet admitted into the Sacred Canon without the utmost caution, accurate sifting, and examination. That they were at all questioned proceeded from their being directed and addressed to particular Churches, and not to all ; which subjected them to the proof, and that, doubtless, by pro- ducing the originals themselves (for many such there were in Tertullian's time), to the entire satisfaction of the Churches ; as that of St. Mark's Gospel is affirmed to be yet extant at Venice. And since we have men- tioned this Evangelist, it is noted that the last chapter of that Gospel was found but in some few copies, and, therefore, indeed, rejected by some, but for no approved reason. That St. John writ his is thought to be, for that the other three had related the history of but one year only of our Blessed Saviour's life, namely, from St. John the Baptist's imprisonment to our Lord's death. Esther was left out of the Jewish canon, as some affirm; and, indeed, the six last chapters are not in the Hebrew, but seem to have been added by some Hel- lenistic Jews. Now, as to the objection that there was not always THE TRUE RELIGION. 407 an universal assent as to these and other books more lately received into the canon, it lasted but a little while, namely, till things and circumstances (as we said) could be duly examined, and nothing imposed and obtruded on the world but what was genuine and authentic ; it being soon found that the books we now own for such were owned and received by the Church ; and that such as were at all questioned retained no- thing which concerned the faith, or any morals disso- nant from those books, which never were called in ques- tion. And for those which were as above mentioned,' supposing (but not granted) them not to have been so immediately dictated by the Holy Ghost, the Christian Doctrine was able to defend itself without them. The controversy relates not to their antiquity and truth, but to the writers ; all of them being acknowledged to have been penned by Apostolic men in the Apostolic age. Daniel of the Old Testament was, it seems, one of the last received by the Jews, for fear (it is believed) of pro- voking those tyrannical princes whom these prophecies concerned ; and the like is conceived o^St. Johri's Betela- tions, who was the last of the Christian Prophets. Not that it did yet utterly expire in him, since we find the gift unto Justin Martyr's time, who lived 150 years after Christ ; but, however it might be given to any, it was not 80 as to add any thing to the Scripture, though many admirable virtues of the Holy Spirit did manifest them- selves by them. The like may, haply, be safely affirmed of that Second Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians, breathing of an Apostolic spirit ; the first especially, as thought to have been written before the canon was fixed, ^ See Pole's Synopsis Crit. in Apocal. Vol. ult., 1659, &c. 408 THE TRUE RELIGION. and has, after a thousand years that it lay hidden, been pronounced truly authentic. We have a no less ancient copy of it in His Majesty's St. Hecla's Bible at St. James's. To tliis might I add the Epistle of Folycarp to the Philippians, and those seven of St. Ignatius, pub- lished by the learned Isaac Vossius from a Florentine manuscript, as our late Bishop Usher had done before. To return, then, to the Old Testament. It is certain that the later Prophets ceased in Malachi, about the reign of King Darius, to the end that they might expect that New Dispensation of the Messiah now approaching, and prophecied of by Joel. * Of this St. Peter makes use, to take off the admiration of the Jews, when, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost was so plentifully effused. Whence St. John the Evangelist^ calls it the Testimony of Jesus ; and St. Paul, his imparting gifts of men.^ 2. COPIES. We shall now say something concerning the Copies of the Sacred Oracles, and what more we find doubted of and rejected by the Church. Such were those we to this day esteem Apocrypha. For, though St. Jerome says he had seen Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, and the Eirst of Maccabees in the holy tongue, yet he brings them not into the canon, no more than Wisdom^ Baruch^ the addi- tions to Esther and Daniel, which that learned Father would not meddle withal. That the Book of Wisdom, attributed to Solomon, was composed by some Hellenistic Jew (probably Philo), in imitation of that wise king, is universally conjectured. Indeed, Ecclesiasticus is cited by Josephus against Appion, ^ Joel, ii., 28. ^ -^^^ ^ ^j^^ jq a Ephes., iv., 8. THE TRUE RELIGION. 409 as if it had been canonical ; but it is plain that it has been since added to Josephus's text, and is not to be found in the ancient version of Ruffinus. St. Jerome utterly rejects Baruch in his Preface to Jeremiah, as also Tohlt, Judith ; and the Books of the Maccabees are, by Eusebius, put in the rank of Josephus and Africanus. And, therefore, we are not to account them Divine ; for that we sometimes (as was noted) find the Fathers, now and then, in their writings under a divine epithet, since it is evident Origen, St. Jerome, and St. Hilary, who cite them, enlist them among the Apocrypha, and, as Pope Gregory^ acknowledges, were published only for the edification of the Church. It is, indeed, pretended that the Maccabees, and some other of those books, were adopted into the canon by the Council of Carthage, about four hundred years after Christ ; but this is a false report, nor had they any such character till the Council of Trent ; and it is enough to read the two last verses of the second of Maccabees quite to uncanonize them. There is a Latin version of St. Barnaby's Epistles, | and a good part of the Greek original, believed to be his, as making use of the same passages which Clemens j Alexandrinus, Origen, Eusebius, and St. Jerome cite ; i but we find it full of fables and allegories, not at all J becoming the Apostolic spirit. The Liturgies of the Apostles are likewise rejected ; and, indeed, those sym- • bols and creeds, which pass under their names, although containing the most solid and material articles and rules of our faith, are only believed to have been composed by the Apostles ; Buffinus being the very first of the ^ Gregor., 1. ^2, Moral. 410 THE TRUE RELIGION. fifth century who affirms it, yet but as a popular tradi-^ tion. Of the same credit (for author) are their canons and constitutions, as appears by the mention of temples, catechumens, festival days, and some absurd and fabulous tilings ; as the permitting female slaves to be corrupted by their masters, with the like.^ For the Constitutions, are but of the third age, and have, from time to time, been much changed, augmented, and corrupted. But besides the Creeds attributed to the Apostles, three more, namely, that of Aquileia, the Oriental, and the Boman considerable differ ; the Articles of Catholic Church, Communion of Saints, and Eternal Life, being left out and wanting. Lastly, the Acts of the passion of >S^^. Andrew are of the same credit, and also the Books of the Sybils ; it being neither agreed on what their names or numbers were. Those which the Fathers have cited were thought only what some Christians have invented; those good men not so critically sifting out matters as other learned persons since have done, but taking much on trust. Accordingly, they cited, now and then, Hys- taspes, Trismegistus, and others of great name in those early times ; for it was hard to find when their prophe- cies were written ; nor indeed, made they much noise before Antoninus's time. I shall say nothing as to that passage in Josephus* concerning our Blessed Saviour, it being yet thought a pious fraud inserted. Of the Book of the Pastor, called Hermas, a disciple of the Apostles, we have already spoken, and it was re- ceived by divers churches, and is cited both by Irenaeus, ^ L. 3, c. 1, and 1. 8, c. 32. ^ ^ntiq., 1. 18., c. 4. THE TRUE RELIGION. 411 Origen, &c. ; but, it being so full of visions, it has lost its credit. Let us, then, hear St. Augustine:* " So dangerous is it in matters of religion hastily to believe every pretended spirit, and greedily to swallow whatever has the show of piety, without considering whether it be truth." Let those, then, who embrace the Council of Trent's decree, take heed lest they fall into this specious snare. Wherefore, as to these books we have mentioned, and others of that rank, if they be not written by the dictate of the Holy Spirit, let us with Tertullian^ fear the woe denounced to such as shall offer to add to or detract from the Sacred Word, which St. Athanasius^ assures us are self-sufficient. Believe, says he, what is written ; what is not, seek not. It is a manifest apos- tacy from the faith, and an argument of arrogancy, either to reject any of those things which are, or in- troduce such as are not written : Ut discatis in 'cerbis, supra id quod scriptum est, non sapere.^ In the mean time, we derogate nothing from any of those excellent Writings, recommended to be read to the Catechumens of old, both wisely and piously, as books which set forth (besides the historical part) the resurrection and happy state of the righteous after this life.5 And there are worthy lessons in the Books of ^ Nonfitreligio nostra in phantasmatibus nostris; melius est enim qualecunque verum, quam omne quicquid pro arbitrio fingi potest ; melior est vera stipula, quam lux inani cogitatione pro sus- picantis voluntate formata. — ^De Ver. Rel., c. 55» 2 Tertull. contr. Hermog., c. 22. ^ Orat. ad Gent. De vera ac pia fide. * Basil. Hom., 9 ; Deut., iv., 12 ; Gal., 1, 8. 5 See n. Mace, ii., 7 ; Esdras, iv., 41, 42. 412 THE TRUE RELIGION. Wisdom^ Ecclesiasticus, and others, recommending the law of God to the Gentiles, and showing Atheists and persecutors of the saints that there is a state after death. So the Song of the Three Children^ &c. All preparatory to usher in the Gospel, which more plainly taught those things, and refined the law. The Jews (as we have noted) were by St, Augustine acknowledged the keepers of the Sacred Depositum^^ and that, certainly, with all imaginable care ; not only before, but all along during, their captivity ; at what time they settled in a deep resolution to detest all idols^ and to teach and observe the law with all sincerity for the future. There is a copy of Genesis in Sir Robert Cotton's library, thought to be of very great antiquity. ^ The Gospel of St. Matthew, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, were believed to be written in Hebrew for the Jews of the Circumcision ; but it rather appears to have been in the Hierosolymitan Chaldee, as in the Targum, and only penned with the Hebrew character. 8. EDITIONS. The first editions of the Books of Scripture after Moses were doubtless that of Esdras, whom the Jews called the second Moses,^ and of the great Sanhedrim, after their return from Babylon. They collected the several books from several places, and reduced them into one entire volume, correcting what was amiss, and constituting the Canon of the Old Testament ; and all by Divine authority, there being then amongst them ' Capsarios Ecclesiae. ' [Since deposited in the British Museum.] ^ Alterum Mosem. THE TRUE religion: 413 divers of the prophets surviving, as Haggai, Zacharias, Malachi, and, as some believe, Daniel himself. This book had, besides, sundry other editions, after Christ's Ascension, as well by Jews as Christians. Of these the more celebrated was the Tiberius Masoreth, who added the points for the more easily reading the text, about A.D. 500. Since that, it has all been exa- mined by divers famous Rabbins from several copies, though, indeed, we have few so ancient as the Greek, because, after the Masoreth critics and punctuation, the Jews esteemed no books that were not conformed to theirs ; so that all others were neglected. 4. TRANSLATIONS. Now, when the Gift of Tongues ceased, necessary ^ - for the first founding of the Church, holy and learned men began to translate the Scriptures into the vulgar languages, never intending to conceal their sacred knowledge from the people. The very first and most famous was that of the Seventy, called the Septuagint. This it was, that almost all that followed, took for their original, as used not only by the most ancient Fathers, but by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and the Apostles ; albeit some- times seeming to be different from the Hebrew text, as Irenseus proves.^ The story of this renowned version is related by Aristasus, a Jew, and favourite of the Prince's. That Ptolemy^ Philadelphus, sending a solemn ' ^ Iren., 1. 3, c. 25. ^ [B. C, 284. The richest prince of his age. During his reign, Alexandria was the asylum of learned men, — he greatly augmented the famous library there, which was afterwards de- stroyed by fire.] 414 THE TRUE RELIGION. embassy to Eleazar, the high priest, son of Onias, brother to Simon the Just, desired the high priest to send him a copy of the Holy Books, which he did, with seventy-two learned doctors, six of every tribe, skilful in both tongues, Hebrew and Greek. These, having a quiet place assigned them in a certain island near the city, finished the whole translation in seventy days, and, bringing their works to be compared, (for they All had their several cells apart) found a punctual agreement throughout, without the least difference, to a tittle. For which they were not only royally re- warded, and sent back with rich presents to the high priest, but had granted them the freedom of a hundred thousand Jewish slaves. • But this celebrated translation is thought to have been lost in the wars of Julius Caesar, when that glori- ous library was burnt, and in it seven hundred thousand volumes. Some yet affirm that the copy escaped the flames, and was to be seen at Scrapie, in the time of St. Chrysostom. And, indeed, it is that Father who has named it the forerunner of Christ, to prepare for the reception of the Gospel by the Gentiles, — which was before a sealed fountain. And so envious grew the Jews afterwards, and so enraged at it, that the Heathen should be thereby brought into the Church, that they instituted a fast annually, to deplore the occa- sion of it. For this having been published 277 years before our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation, was, by the especial Providence of the Almighty, a preparatory to their more ready conversion ; the Greek tongue being at that time almost the universal language. The particulars of this story, though strongly con- THE TEUE RELIGION. 415 tested, is yet affirmed by Josephus, Philo, TertuUian, Cyprian, Eusebius, and St. Jerome, who lived much nearer those times than any who have since questioned it. Indeed, as to their translating a part in so many several cells, it is not very likely, since they must there have been furnished with as many several copies; whereas, we read of not above one which they brought with them, in great ceremony, from Jerusalem. Be- sides, the diversity of style shows no small discordance, and makes it rather probable that every one took his portion ; and so, they might easily finish it within the time. And yet, though it differ in some words, it does not in sense. It is likewise questioned by some, whether they translated more than the Pentateuch, other Helle- nistic Jews doing the rest. But neither of these is at all material, there being indeed many Jews about this time in Egypt and Alexandria, who enjoyed great pri- vileges under the first Ptolemy, a lover of learning, whilst they neglected their own language for their affection to the Greek. In the mean time, we do not insist upon Aristgeus's credit for every circumstance of the story, ^ whilst the version is of that universal credit, as never to have been called in question, till the new Council of Trent damned it, and all other but their Vulgate, contrary to the suffrages of the most learned men even among themselves. Indeed, as to antiquity, the Samaritan Pentateuch was brought them by those priests, who were sent to instruct those schismatics, after their being infested by ^ Those who contradict Aristseus's story may consult the learned Joseph Scaliger, in his Notes upon Eusebius. 416 THE TRUE RELIGION. lions ; and it is doubted whether tliat of the Seventy- was the first version out of the Hebrew, or rather that of the Chaldean before Esdras. Nor is it unlikely that at least some part thereof might have been done before ; since both poets and historians, even amongst the Heathen, mention so many things in their stories and fictions, which they could no where have learnt but from some of those Holy Books. So that from hence it is, that St. Cyril calls Plato and Aristotle thieves and robbers ,- but, as we formerly noted, they concealed their thefts, because the Jews were so despised a nation. But to proceed with translations and editions, which were in Theodore t's time, as he affirms, almost innu- merable. The next after the Greek might be the Syriac, (a tongue so near to the Hebrew as sometimes to be called Hebrew) not long since discovered, and of most excellent use by the universal suffrage of learned men, as being thought to be as ancient as the Apostles' time, before the Canon was settled ; for it has not the Epistle of St. Peter, nor St. John's story of the adul- teress, nor the Apocalypse. It is also held to come nearest the Original of any version, and therefore the most uncorrupted. It was likewise consecrated (as it were) by our Saviour and the Apostles, who preached in that tongue, and which, though at this day by the Turks introducing Arabic words, not so purely spoken in those countries, was then vernacular, and is yet used by all the Christians in sacred offices, and divers learned books on all subjects are still written in it. There is, likewise, of the Oriental versions, that of the Arabic, and very ancient, it being even at this day THE TRUE RELIGION. 417 the most universal language in the whole world, as well as the most elegant and copious. They have not the Doxology, at the end of the Lord's Prayer, which, being wont to be set in the margins, did, it seems, creep into the text. There are also left out the seventh and eighth verses of I. John, 5, which is likewise a mark of the antiquity of that translation ; those verses being added (as is believed) after the condemnation of Arius, as found in very few copies before. The Abyssinians and Ethiopians have had all the Holy Scriptures from the Seventy, which doubtless was delivered to them by the Apostles, after the conversion of the Eunuch by Philip. It was left out of our Wal- tovLS Polyglott, because it could not be procured since the Queen of Sweden, who once had it, lost it out of her famous library. The Persians have, moreover, the Holy Books in their tongue ; but by whom translated is not known. The language is much corrupted from the ancient Per- sian ; and what this was we are in the dark. Some of their words yet remain in the Book of Esther, Daniel, Nehemiah, Esdras.^ In the mean while, the Pentateuch having been translated into that language by a Jew, out of the Hebrew, for the use of his countrymen among that na- tion, does wonderfully illustrate that passage of Jacob's prophecy concerning the Messiah. We have a very ancient copy of the Gospels out of the Syriac text, which corroborates the esteem of that ancient version. Other versions there were, as that of Aquila, a Jew (a. d. 128), Theodosian, and Symmachus, which the ^ Wheelock published the Persian Gospel. VOL. I. E E 418 THE TRUE RELIGION. learned Origen disposed into his famous and elaborate Hexapla (called the Adamantine, for the pains he took in collecting them), adding a fifth and sixth, and so made it an Octapla. But the three first revolting from the Church to Judaism were soon rejected by it, and their versions happily lost, as being very corrupt ; that, therefore, of the Septuagint has continued its esteem, as doubtless the very best ; nor did the Greek Church use any other. It is confessed that it seems, in many places, to have paraphrased rather than actually and accurately translated, but so that neither our Blessed Saviour nor His Apostles ever altered it, citing any text ; and it being translated long before our Lord's Incar- nation, takes away all pretence of its having been in- terpolated by the Christians since. Besides, the Apo- cryphal Books omitted by them is a good evidence against their canonization, though, it must be confessed, that some of those pieces were not then extant. Come we now to the Latin. And, first of the Vul- gate, or Vetus, as thought almost as ancient as the Apostles' time ; (and, indeed, how could they be without it, that language being so widely spread through all the Roman world ?) translated from the Septuagint. Wlio was the author is not known. That also called the Itala was mended by St. Jerome out of the Hebrew. He indeed translated the Bible out of the Hebrew and Greek twice ; of both which is the Vulgate now in use. And, though there is nothing in it against the Faith, yet never esteemed authentic, till they made it so at Trent. Nor do we refuse the Vulgate^ but use and prefer it for its author, who was chiefly this learned Doctor. Not because that Council said he was divinely assisted THE TRUE RELIGION. 419 (whilst he arrogates no such thing himself), but because he follows the Hebrew text ad verhum,^ where the Sep- tuagint has rather paraphrased. This seeming some- what to depreciate that renowned version, made his friend St. Augustine so concerned and angry, that, as not being qualified with that public authority, it was hardly at last, after many years, and a tacit consent, made public use of; and then the old version was laid by, till restored now again of late in this age of ours.^ St. Jerome's version, therefore, was but a private work, done at his famous Recess at Bethlehem, by the assistance of his Hebrew master, Barabanus. What he did upon the New Testament was but mending and comparing certain places with the Greek ; what on the Old (as we showed), disliked at first, and not received till after his decease. And, indeed, though he made many Prologues and Apologies for attempting to put the Holy Books into Latin (it having been done so well in the Vulgate before), yet came his also to be called the Vulgar, for its after so frequent use. Thus, after St. Jerome, were few or no more attempts ; till about A. T>. 1500, or 1600, Lyranus and Burgensis corrected, and Isodorus Clarus translated it ; but not from the Hebrew text, till Pagninus, in 1623. After that, the Compliitensian, being that of Nobilius, and, from the ancient text de now, Sebastian Munster, ^ See Esdras, xvi. "- IvTote, that the Psalms remained yet in the Vulgate, and are not St. Jerome's, but were left as he found them in the Vetus, because the people had them so perfectly by heart ; and so, with the rest of those Books which the Jews received not into the Canon, he meddled not — a good argument against the Apocrypha. Ee2 420 THE TRUE RELIGIOX. Osiander, the elegant Castalio, the Tigurin, Vatablus, Junius, and some others. But now comes Sextus Quintus, with his new edition of it, which he pronounces so exact, as made it anathema once to doubt of its perfection above all other. And yet, Clement the Seventh produces yet a new one, detecting the errors of his predecessors, and denouncing the same curse on those who did not submit to his translation, above all that went before ; so as to leave the ancient Churches, who never had the Latin, nor have as yet, nor, if they had, do not understand it, in a sad condition. So charitable a Mother is the Roman Lady ! Besides the version mentioned, St. Jerome translated the Scriptures into the Dalmatian, his country's lan- guage ; St. Chrysostom, into the Armenian ; St. Au- gustine, into Punic ; St. Cyril, or Methodius, into the Sclavonian ; Ulphilus, into Gothic ; Venerable Bede, into the Saxon ; into the German, Melchior Adam ; John, Bishop of Seville, into the Arabic ; Jacobus de Vara- gine, into the old Italian; Leopoldus, into the Polo- nian ; into old French, Charles the Fifth, their king. Of later days, the Doctors at Douay published their Bible, with a Comment fuU of trasL Erasmus, the Greek Testament. Amongst the Protestants, the most received was that of Tremelins, a converted Jew, compared with the Hebrew text, and that of Junius. But the most ele- gant New Testament, that of Theodore Beza, carries the voice among the foreign Reformed Churches, who yet is thought sometimes to have taken too great liberty, as in St. Luke, ix., 48, 53, and L Cor., xv., 6b. THE TRUE RELIGION. 421 Since these, there are, in the vulgar tongues, that of John Diodati, in Italian, whose both translation and notes, upon the difficult places, are worthily esteemed ; as is also the paraphrase of our learned and pious Dr. Hammond, There was an old translation into English, done by the holy martyr Tyndal ; and, in Queen Elizabeth's time, another after the Genoa Bible, with Notes and ample Concordance. But that which was afterwards published and reformed, by command of King James the First, is thought to be one of the very best of the modern, yet capable of improvement. There is one of nearly four hundred years since, extant in the St. James's Library. I think most of the Bible and all the New Testament has been translated very elegantly by the Jansenists, into French, called the Testament Port-Royal. It has also been translated into Welsh, or ancient Gaul, by order of our pious princes, and into Irish and Turkish, by Mr. Seaman. And thus went out their sound into all the world. Now, as touching the several editions, briefly: the Venetian is the Aldine. Another is the Roman, from the Vatican copy, a very ancient MS., by Cardinal CarafFa, which is much esteemed. Jay published his pompous Paris Edition, the very worst of all, and most expensive. Lastly, that of the learned and laborious Dr. Walton, late Bishop of Chester, from the Alexandrian Manu- script, sent by Sir Thomas Roe to the blessed martyr, King Charles the First, from Cyril Leucaris, who brought it from Alexandria, when he was translated 422 THE TRUE RELIGION. thence Patriarch to Constantinople, and is now in his Majesty's library at St. James's ; ^ all written in capi- tals, upon parchment, without distinction of chapter, verse, or even words, excepting now and then a section. This speaks it of very great antiquity ; and it is said to have been written by Tecla, a noble lady, about 1300 years since, or a little after the first Nicene Council, altogether equal, if not superior, to that so celebrated one of the Vatican. But, first I should have mentioned the Hebrew text, with the Masorite punctuation and Latin version ver- hatim. Then the Samaritan Pentateuch, in the ancient Hebrew character, common both to Jews and Samari- tans, before Esdras altered it for the Chaldee, because the long-captived Jews had forgotten their own language. Then is placed the Septuagint, and, next it, the above- mentioned TeclcCs, After this, the Yetm Vulgate^ in Latin, from the Seventy, promiscuously used (as we have shown) with St. Jerome's, till Gregory the Great ; from both wliich sprung the Vulgate Hodierna, cor- rected by Popes Sextus V. and Clement VIIL Then follows the Chaldee paraphrase, the Hiero- solymitan Pentateuch ; that of Jonathan and the Per- sian paraphrase ; the Ethiopic Psalter, and New Testa- ment ; the Syriac version of the Old Testament ; the Arabic and Greek of Robert Stephens ; all interlined with the Latin, and so accommodated as, at one view, one is master of them all, to the wonderful ease of the reader. In this the painful compiler has outdone the * [This extensive and costly library of MSS. was transferred, as a gift to the public, to the British Museum, by the munificence of George II.] THE TRUE RELIGION-. 423 famous attempt of the learned Origen's Octapla ; and all that have come after to this day. ^ SECTION IV. 1. INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. I'he consent of all these laborious and famous ver- sions, which is admirable, considering the several dia- lects, idioms, phrases, and other innumerable circum- stances, is an undeniable argument of the truth in all necessaries to salvation. And this, notwithstanding all those various lections, whose differences are only in more minute points, almost impossible to have been avoided in so many translations and transcribers, whom j God did not think fit to make infallible ; in order to excite the study and diligence of the faithful, by pre- serving copies, comparing and searching the Scriptures, whilst the sense and text remained entire which most_ J concerned them ; so that all Morini's and Simon's ob- jections fall to the ground. The learned Louis Capel- lus ^ shows how these divers readings have, by a won- derful Providence, preserved rather the Holy text, in such places as are most important; and many great and pious Divines, instead of impediments, have found them helps ; whilst in any difficulty they have recourse to the analogy of faith, ancient versions, writings of the Fathers, and the like collations for that reading which consents with antecedent, consequent, and parallel places, with the argument of other copies, &c. Besides, the certainty of the text may be gathered by any of the novel helps of points and accents, as it is ^ Capell. Crit. Sacra, 1. vi., c. 5. 424 THE TRUE RELIGION. both in the Syrian, Arabian, Persian, &c., and in cases of ambiguity^ by the help above-said. For, as to 4:hat of Cainan's slipping into the text of Luke, in our Saviour's genealogy, it is likely it was from the imper- tinence of the transcriber, who, seeing it in the margin, put it into the text; for ancient copies have it not J This being so, we are not concerned at the cavils of Rushworth, who, in his Dialogues, would invalidate the Holy Scriptures, to advance his tradition; upon evidence (as he pretends it) of common sense, that they, being so full of doubts as to the genuine translations and transcripts even of the Originals, fiUed with such numberless errata^ and men's skill in those languages being so imperfect ; with other prejudices of that sort, it seemed as evident to common sense that the Scrip- tures produce no distinctresolutionof controversy, though otherwise indeed useful for instruction in virtue, and so tending to discover the truth in matters of faith in gross only ; and being read rather to know what is in it than to judge by it ; but expecting from tradition what is definite and certain, and so maintain the infalli- bility of the present Roman Church. ^ To this is answered that, if such uncertainty be in either original or version,^ then are we as uncertain whe- ther ever God made any such covenant as we read of with Abraham, or gave Moses such a law, or at all spake so by the Prophets. For, according to these, all this is uncertain ; and so is let in a place for Atheists, which already believe nothing of this. ^ See Spamheim, in his Dub. Evangel. Disput. ^ To the same sense, the late Richard Simon, in his " Critical Hist, of Old and New Testament." * Mr. Thorndike. THE TRUE RELIGION. 425 If the Scriptures deceive us, which are written Records, how much more obnoxious are we to oral tradition ! If there be such difficulties in expression of our minds, when we deliberate about what we write, how much more subject are we to mistake in speaking ! Verbal reports we experimentally find so very incon- stant and apt to err, and misrepresent things, done even in our own time and very neighbourhood, either by concealing the truth of narrations, or adding to them ; and of this, indeed, common sense is a proper judge. Nay, why (if this be otherwise) do men take such won- drous care about their deeds and legal evidences, which concern their temporal estates only, if writing be not more certain and less apt to err than words ? Where- fore, whatsoever is taught in Christianity is to be proved by Scripture, whether tradition or laws of the Church, though the evidence may depend on common sense. Now, whatever can be pretended to come from the Apostles must first have been delivered by them in the Hebrew or Syriac; at least, in that language they spake, and which was so very near the Hebrew of the Old Testament, that in the New it is called by that name. From this being translated into Greek or Latin, it must have come afterwards into the now modem and vulgar languages. Now, can the meaning of the Apostles' words be more certain than the meaning of the written word ? Let common sense judge. And if this be not so, to what purpose were the Israelites en- joined to read and teach them to their children in the written law ? Why did Christ our Lord bid us search the Scriptures ? Why are the Bereans so celebrated 246 THE TRUE RELIGION. for doing it, to find the truth of what was preached to them ? In a word, wherefore is Dives sent to Moses and the Prophets? And why is it said that "all things written in Scripture are for our learning that, through patience and comfort of the Scripture, we might have hope ?" and that all Scripture, inspired by God, is pro- fitable for so many occasions ? And, lastly, wherefore did the Fathers, who wrote so many volumes against the heretics, allege Scripture continually against them ? Shall we say they had not common sense? It is a monstrous assertion, that nothing but probable truths can be made out by Scripture ; peremptory and infal- lible ones by tradition. Then, as for Copies. It is very rare that the same error falls out in most Copies ; and, if not, then is there little danger of perverting the sense, there being so many Copies to correct the peccant. In sum, unless it be what the Socinian takes hold of from three or four questionable texts about the Holy Trinity, in other matters (notwithstanding the divers readings so much talked of), there are none of any consequence, there being evidence besides sufficient to preponderate all that seems to interrupt. Then, as to Languages. Certainly, those who spake those learned tongues understood what they spake, and heard others speak or write. The Books having been preserved so carefully among the Jews some ages even after Christ's Ascension, and how capable of ex- pressing any the most abstruse matter, let what Maimo- nides has written convince the doubter. As for the Greek, the writings of the Apostles and citations of our Blessed Saviour sufficiently manifest THE TEUE EELIGION. 427 that the versions were agreeable even in the most diffi- cult places of the Old Testament. Add to this the translations of the Scriptures into so many languages from the original, preventing the errors in the Copies, and fixes the true reading, as the comparing of them does their meaning and genuine sense. There have, indeed, been attempts, from time to time, to corrupt the Copies of the Holy Scriptures, to make them speak to the sense of men's opinions ; some by Inserting words and periods, others by paraphrase, and some again pre- tending to put them into better Greek. Of this an instance is in that MS. (Greek and Latin), given by Beza to the University of Cambridge. Of which he says, Tantam in Lucoe prwsertim Evangelio repertam esse, inter hunc Codicem et coeteros quantumvis veteres, discre- pantiam, ut, xitandce quorundam offensionis asservan- dum, potiusquam puhlicandiim existimdrit. But, since these petulancies have little or no effect as to the since- rity of faith, and that there remain so many other in- contestable helps to discern the true reading, we shall need say no more upon this article. We have further, for assistance of reading and un- derstanding of difficulties, (besides the many modern helps) the Paraphrastical version, in the Chaldean tongue, which was written about the time of Jonathan and Onkelos, and which the Jews esteemed so sacred, that they reported that, if but a silly fly lighted upon it, it was immediately consumed by fire from heaven, with other wondrous stories. However this be even idolized, the Targum of Inachar is of great use, as being written before our Saviour's time, who, according with it, cited that of the twenty-second Psalm. It likewise attri- 428 THE TRUE RELIGION. butes creation to the Word, as to a distinct person, and as often mention of the Messiah coming, to be born of a Virgin. It is written in the Chaldaso-Syriac, which was (as it is said) the vernacular of our Lord ; the pure Hebrew having long before been corrupted in the captivity. It is very true that the Hebrew tongue, having very few, that is to say, about 1022 roots, the rest being derivative, occasions the using of the same words to express several things, and may, now and then, occa- sion mistake. But this, happening chiefly in the appel- lation of things, makes little to the prejudice of the main ; the names of plants, stones, animals, colours, habits, &c., the Hebrews had but few of those known to us. And so of proper names hard to turn into other languages, as Chaffai (Heb.), Eve in Greek; Tor for Tyrus ; and divers things are expressed by tropes and figures, as God's appearances, angels, &c.^ Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are put for the whole Israelitish people. The words rendered " for ever and ever" do not always signify absolute duration. Sometimes, the whole is by Synecdoche put for the part, as when Christ is said to be three days in the grave ; whereas, it was but one whole day, namely, Saturday, and part of Friday and Sunday. Blood is also often used for homi- cide. And, in the Prophetic style, time and ti7neSf and half a time, for three years and a half. The river for Euphrates ; Babylon for Rome ; salt, by metaphor, for incorruption. Frequent ironies occur, as in the third * There are various acceptations of the word spirit^ &c., about which Spinosa heaps so many instances to little purpose, besides ostentation of being skilled in the Hebrew. :1 THE TRUE RELIGION. 429 of Genesis ;^ and the last of the twenty-first of John's Gospel is spoken by hyperbole. Vessel is put for the body; Itorn for power; the rock for Christ and the Church. Women and daughters for cities and countries. HypallagSf He set his tabernacle in the sun ; and by Anthropopathia^ the members and senses of men. Sometimes, again, symbols, hieroglyphics, &c., are made use of; but, whilst taking and observing these rules, the genuine sense is no way difficult in material points. For, where the words of Holy Scripture may properly be understood without wresting, we are to take them as they lie before us, without trope or figure, but na- tural construction ; unless, by doing so, any absurdity / follow, which is easily perceived. If any obscurer passage be met with, we shall find it as plain, and in some more perspicuous, and then take the latter. Mag- nified (says St. Augustine) et salubriter Spiritus Sanctus ita Scripturas modificavit, ut locis apertiorihus fami occur- reret, ohscuriorihus fastigia detegeret. Nihil enimfer^ de illis ohscuritatihus eruitur, quod non pianissimo dictum alibi reperiatur,^ (To the same sense Clemens :^ " There is no darkness in the Word." > To this so universal are the voices of the Fathers as would fill a volume to repeat, showing how plain they \ are to the very ignorant; and yet, how mysterious I soever, discoverable to those who studiously mind them. / " The Holy Scriptures declare all things clearly,"^ says ^ " Behold, the man is become one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live for ever :" ver. 22. ^ De doct. Christ., xi., 6. 3 q-^^^ -^^ Protrept. At ayiat. ypd(f)ai travra aacpas diaXeyovrai. 4. so THE TRUE RELIGION. Athanasius, speaking of the Deity of the Holy Ghost. And to the same purpose Epiphanius, and many others. What, then, can more encourage us to the searching of those Scriptures, in which lie the treasures of eternal life? But to proceed with the rest of those rules, which holy and exercised men have recommended for direction of the greater diflficulties, *^ things hard to be under- stood ;" and of such there are not a few. In obscure passages, we take the minimum, as uncertain how much is meant ; for, if it mean the most, it is certain that the least is included in it. In ambiguities, it is safest to take both senses ; and, in controversies, where strong arguments are produced for both opinions, to follow that which includes the most, lest the truth escape us. V The Thomists and Monks fancy, as if every indi- I vidual text had an exposition analogical, historical, and moral, a mere Jewish fancy. Where, therefore, Scrip- tures are dubious, and have a latitude, though we mis- understand them, it is no crime, provided we do our best not to be deceived. For our understandings are not free, as are our wills ; and this is a solid argument to me, that if our Blessed Lord had laid such stress (as too many now do upon such things), and had consti- tuted an infallible understanding, an indispensable con- dition of our salvation. He who bore that infinite love to mankind would never have left things necessary to salvation obscure and dubious, much less insuperable. His only design being to save those who believed in Him. Nor will a single error, not contracted through our own fault, destroy us. God will, questionless, allow and make abatement for natural and invincible THE TRUE RELIGIOK. 431 infirmities, and other circumstances of constitution, education, &c., by which any may be fatally inclined to such and such persuasion. Nor will He suffer any pious person, who humbly and devoutly seeks to know His will, and resolves to live thereafter, to perish for want of sufficient direction to do his duty, though there may be many places of which he does not attain the true meaning, and wliich yet are necessary to be known upon other occasions and purposes, at one time or other, by those who are more enlightened. He who seeks the Scripture, with all the faith of the Church for his rule, shall find the truth ; understanding by this faith what he was taught at his baptism and after-instruction, as I motives of his faith. But we are yet farther to mark likewise the scope, intention, and coherence of the authors ; since bare \ Scripture-letter is not the word of God, but the sense I and meaning of the Scripture. Wherefore, places are to be compared according to analogy of faith, universal tradition (I say unimrsal, according to Lirinensis' com- prehension) with what Councils have established. Fathers, pious and learned men have written, but by no means, and for reverence to any of these, taking any sense in opposition to any Article of the Creed, by all « the ancients called the rule and standard of faith. With this caution we are also to enquire at the | priest's lips ; for no prophecy is of private interpreta- \ tion.^ To this add, skill in the original tongues and idioms, with all other moral helps. For the interpre- tation of Holy Scriptures, how evident soever, is cer- tainly a great mystery, considered as to its end. We ^ Mai., ii., 7 ; II. Pet., i., 20. 432 THE TRUE RELIGION. should, therefore, address ourselves with great modesty and veneration, imploring assistance from the Lamb of the tribe of Judah, who opens and no man shuts, and shuts, and no man opens; even He who has the Key of David, the Son of David, Christ the Word Himself. Besides, C the greatest difficulties lie in the Old Testament, which li3 rather a sealed book, than the New. And yet, through the great and extraordinary care of the Jews, the variety of readings were not nearly so many, or material, as those in the New. But then, neither are we without mighty helps from the most learned Com- mentators, amongst whom the incomparable Grotius has deserved the highest esteem of the Church, and may indeed serve instar omnium. Now, when we say all things necessary to salvation I are (after all these difficulties, and qualifications to their I right understanding) plain in Scripture,^ it is not meant as if all were evident by the plain and literal words of the text only, which is necessary for every Christian to believe, without any other help ; or that an extraordi- nary spirit directed, without first believing all things ne- cessary to salvation ; but that there is any danger in not conceiving alike of aU things in Scripture ; but the not believing all things true from its Author. Since there are many things in Scripture, which are not Articles of Faith ; and though it be necessary to salvation to believe all ^ As from these texts : Deut., iv., 2, 29 ; Rev., xi., 18, 19 ; Gal. i., 8, 9; John, xx., 30, 31 ; Ps., xix., cxix.; Isa., lix., 12, 13 ; Jer., xxjd., 32 ; Matt., xi., 28, 29 ; John, i., 14, &c. Besides that famous passage of the Father : In eis quae aperte in Scripturis posita sunt, inveniuntur ilia omnia, quae continent fidem, mores vivendi ; as intending and persuading to sanctify of life. (Aug. De Doct. Christ, ii., c. 9.) And so, in St. Chrysostom. Horn., iii., ad II. Thess. THE TRUE RELIGION. 433 that the Scripture says, to be true, yet it is not neces- sary to know all the Scripture contains^ Origen (in Levit., Horn., 5) shows, that some things there are in Scripture, reserved to the knowledge of God alone; nay, says Irenaeus (ii., 47) even for the world to come, that men may always learn, and God may teach. In the mean time, true believers have the Spirit of God, by which they try and examine what things and inter- pretations agree with, or dissent from, the common Christianity. This is the Unction from abqve mentioned by St. John, not because the gifts of the Holy Ghost impart a ; promise of understanding all truths, but because it sup- poses the knowledge of what is necessary to salvation,! namely, the common Christianity. That extraordinary grace which the Apostles had of expounding Scripture, and which Justin Martyr^ affirms, continued in the Church to his time, was imparted on consideration of their professing the faith of Christ ; and tended only to discover those grounds, on which the Church still proceeds, in the use of ordinary reason, to expound the Word, that is, besides the letter of the text, the uni-j versal consent of the Church. Thus the author^ of the Commonitorium confesses the Canon of Scripture to be every way perfect, and sufficient, with the tradition of the Church, for the understanding of it. And yet, though a man may be obliged to believe that which is not in the Scripture to have been instituted even by the Apostles, yet he is not obliged to observe it, but upon that reason which Scripture delivers. Nor is it j necessary, as some pretend of late, that we have express \ ^ Dialog. Tryph. ^ Vincent. Ljrinenss. VOT.. T. F T^ 434 THE TRUE RELIGION. Scripture for every thing we do or speak, ^ but that the reason of all we do and say be derived from the doc- trine which the Scripture declares^ /All is plain in Scripture, supposing the rule of faith received from the Church to limit the sense and exposition of it ; as in the Doctrine of the Trinity, Christ^s Real Presence in the Sacrament, &c. ^JVe must carry ever the faith of the Church with us,' and then we cannot err. Scriptures are hidden to them, who neglect this rule ; w^hence that of Origen -.^ " the ignorant profit by reading Scripture, after they are initiated, catechized, and instructed in the faith beforehand ;" for so they were at baptism. There is nothing necessary to salvation in Scrip- ture, but what may be manifest by the use and application of such means as the Scripture directs; for, otherwise, that which should dissolve all doubts ought itself to be most clear, w^hich we see it is not; nor were all the Scriptures written when St. Paul^ alleged that, being inspired by God, it was profitable to qualify the man of God to preach Christianity to others ; divers parts of the New Testament being not then penned ; and St. John anathematizes those who should falsify or corrupt any part of the Scripture or the sense of it. But the Apostle's meaning was, that there was in the Old Testament then extant what shadowed and typified the New, the right understanding whereof directed to the understanding of the Gospel ; and, con- sequently, furnishing the man of God to propagate it. And thus did our Blessed Savour mean, when he ' Orane quod loquimur, debemus affirmare ex Scripturis Sanc- tis. St. Jerome, in Psal. 98. 2 Contra Cdsum. ^ jj Yuh., iii., 16, 17. THE TRUE RELIGION. 485 opened the understandings of His disciples, (after his resurrection) that they might comprehend the Scrip- tures ; and by these books did the Bereans compare and examine the doctrine they taught. It is certainly sufficient, and of God's infinite good- ness, says the learned Thorndyke, and agreeable to those means whereby He convinces the world of the truth of that religion we contend for, that He gives those whom it concerns such means to discern the truth of things as, being rightly applied, are of themselves enough to create a resolution as certain as the weight of any controversy shall require. For such is the Scripture, containing the sense of it, within those bounds, which the rule of faith and the laws given the Church by our Lord and His Apostles do limit. For \ what is plainer than to discern what the whole body of I the Church has agreed in ? what not ? What is mani- festly consequent to the same? what not? What is agreeable to the ground and end of those laws, which the Church first received from our Lord and His Apostles ? what not ? That no interpretation of the Scriptures, repugnant] to the consent of the Fathers, ought to be alleged, is a prudent injunction, which, had it been observed (I mean, the Fathers of the five first centuries) well had it been for all the Church and the Christian world ; the infallibility pretended by the present Roman, and tra- ditions of the Universal Church being infinitely wide anl inconsistent with Scripture ; as, on the other side, the trying by Scripture alone, without bringing the consent of all the Catholic Church into consequence./- Witness the Socinian. ---"^ 436 THE TRUE RELIGION. / With these directions, cautions, and limitations, are \the Scriptures truly self-sufficient,^ (as St. Athanasius calls them) as to necessaries to salvation, not as always needing all those helps, but corroborated by them. For, as to the rules of faith, what can Fathers, what Coun- cils do, or any other aid, than determine that, expressly and distinctly, which has been simply held and asserted from the beginning ? 2. RULE OF FAITH. Now the principal end of man being his eternal feli- city, and, conse'quently, to know and rightly understand the proper means to attain that end, infinitely it con- cerns us to inquire it out. And, though all Christians acknowledge that the law and service of the Almighty God, laid down and revealed in Scripture, is that means; yet are many learned and other zealous men not agreed how to understand and interpret it, partly through pride of their own opinion and other human prejudices ;2 I say, these prejudices and disagreements cast away many holy and excellent persons in great difficulties and doubts, to the great disturbance of the world, and ruin of one of the most necessary graces — Christian Charity. To come to a steady resolution, then, and acquiescency in this particular, after all we have hitherto said, and with which we shall conclude this tedious though im- portant Chapter, will best be done, by inquiring, once ^ AvrdpKeis. Orat. ad Gent. ' An instance of this we have in Maldonat, (a Spanish Jesuit) who, though highly approving an explanation, confessed indeed it was the very best, but, because it was Calvin's, he would reject it. THE TRUE RELIGION. 437 for all, wliich is the Rule of Faith, and whether there is \ any more moral certitude of such a thing. By Rule I of Faith, we mean all the Articles or Doctrines of they Christian Faith, necessary to salvation. Papists will have it in a General Council, confirmed by the Pope, defining what the rule is ; some in the Council alone, some in the Pope ; some in oral tradition, or living voice of the Church: all these without de- pendance on Scripture. Further, that, this being the ground and foundation, these are the interpreters and definers to conclude and declare the meaning and sense of the infallibility, by promise of the Holy Ghost's assistance. To this we find, in the first place, that a Greneral Council confirmed by Popes have erred in faith ; there- fore, that cannot be the Bule of Faith ; for Popes have been heretics, and have taught heresy, by Papists' own confession, Gratian, Gerson, and Bellarmine himself. Now, though' some affirm that the Pope cannot err as universal pastor, yet we know he can, and has erred ; and the Catholic Church was confirmed in all neces- sary truths, hundreds of years before any General Council was. To the second : That a free General Council, without the Pope, by their skill in theology and scholastical learning, may define this rule without erring is uncer- tain ; because still they can, by all they know, only do their best endeavour, there being no certain evident revelation that they are in the right, farther than pro- bability. For though the Holy Spirit's assistance is promised in the due use of the means, yet, unless they certainly know they have rightly made use of that 438 THE TRUE RELIGION. means, they cannot be infallible. Now, to know that is impossible, unless the means made use of do evidently discover it, for whatever is not the pure word is fal- lacious. To the third : Oral tradition'^ which Papists affirm to have been ever the same, down to our age, without in- terruption, so that these, finding the infirmity of the two former, build on this as the surest footing. This is bai a late assertion, and therefore cannot be the rule, seeing rT was not always so believed so to be, but one of the two above, and therefore had interruption, as in the Arian heresy. The Council of Trent also did not rely upon it,^ wherein saintly and apostolical tradition are contradistinguished. And, besides, it is known abun- dantly, divers of the new articles of faith, purgatory, transubstantiation, &c., had their beginning but of late, and were not delivered as such articles. So that, after all, the Rule of Faith is certainly the Holy Scripture \ only, as being clear in all things necessary to all illumi- \ nated Christians. Others there be who hold that all these truths are evident to.every understanding; so that, laccording to both. Holy Scripture is still the rule. Now, the former made use of tradition as historically asserting them to be the Books of Scripture, not upon account of tradition, but for its own cause, safe light, and spirituality. /The enthusiasts hold Divine inspira- tion their guide for interpreting them ; others, the light within them, as independent of Scripture, and so pre- tend what they please, but without any miracle to confirm it, as the Apostles had: so that these new guides cannot exclude a former established Divine law, * Decree I, Sess. 4. » THE TRUE RELIGION. 439 as did our Blessed Saviour, when he abrogated that of Moses, y As to those who affirm the rule and necessary funda- 1 mentals of faith evident to every understanding ex- ' plicitly, it is very unlikely that mechanics, labourers, women, &;c., though they can read, should arrive at it without the Church's sense ; since, if otherwise, many heresies would be maintained by Scripture. Some, then, were undoubtedly entrusted to show their mean- ing, weigh the circumstances of every place, compare places, distinguish what are most material truths, and/ what opposite, and thence to draw inferencesv The result of all appears, then, to be this : 'the Church Catholic diffusive cannot err in fundamentals ;> but she cannot immediately declare her thoughts to every par- ticular individual member, as to what she holds points of Faith, deducible from Scripture ; but, by employing her pastors and ministers, either by letter, writing, or votes in council, to make it known to every person. Now, such places of Scripture are as plainly to be un-. derstood as they are in any such teaching, writing, or definition of council ; sUch may be as certainly learned ; out of Scripture as by the traditions of the Church ; | and those traditions and definitions, being compared with j Scripture, appearing plainly to be the meaning, are \ then indeed, and not till then, to be embraced as the \ true meaning. If oral tradition can be made plain to be truth by \ parallel texts of Scripture, tradition in that case is I good. But, when no testimonies aver the same thing, if one be of divine, the other of human authority, the former ought to have pre-eminence. Seeing, then, the 440 THE TRUE RELIGION. testimony of Scripture is divine (as being confessed the Word of God), and tradition but human, as delivered in various expressions of pastors, parents, tutors, masters of families, nurses, &c., it is most reasonable Faith should be resolved into Scripture, as its rule, and not tradition, ^ay, though tradition may, perhaps, in some things be thought more plain than Scripture (as in ex- plaining that of Christ's Divinity in the Nicene Creed), yet should Scripture still be esteemed the text, and tradition but its best comment. And so, doubtless, the disciples of the Apostles, after the New Testament was published, did confirm what they had been taught orally by the Apostles, out of the Written Word; because the sayings of Christ himself and divinely inspired Apostles must needs be thought of greater authority than their own, though believed ever so cer- ' tainly true by those they taught. From all these premises we then conclude, the Holy . Scripture, that is, such places as contain necessary Ipoints for belief and practice, is the true and only true (Rule of Faith ; yet so as that, without the help of tra- dition, it cannot be known to berthe Word of God un- corrupt ; nor those necessarily manifest so to be, with- out a continued miracle and immediate revelation. For, were it otherwise, every body would have under- stood it, and held it, even before the Scripture was written in the several languages of the people, who yet became good Christians. Nor could ignorant and un- lettered persons read, and know assuredly it was rightly translated and uncorrupt, nor have judgment to select and cull out those which were fundamental from other texts less necessary. Wherefore, of necessity, they THE TRUE RELIGION. 441 must fly to and trust other men qualified, namely, to ly the Ecclesia Docens, which are the Bishops, pastors, ^nd spiritual guides, to whom the Depositum is entrusted, yet not but that the laity may and must search the Scriptures, to encourage and edify, so as they oppose not their judgment to that of their teachers, whose office and calling it is, and who have studied all those qualifications required to fit them, and are called to the unction by mission successively derived from Christ and His Apostles, and are acquainted with whatever has all along been the faith of the Christian Church to this day ; especially considering that God has, in the economy of the world, provided and placed men, skilled and expert in several things, without which all would turn to disorder and confusion. Wherefore, we con- ^rclude, with St. Augustine,^ Scriptura doctrince nostrcB regulam jigit ; or that, rather, of its Blessed Author : " This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased : hear ye Him." ^ Thus have we all that a rational man can modestly, or even immodestly, require for the truth that any his- tory is capable of, both internally, from the nature of credibility and sensibility of the objects, knowledge, and integrity of the writers, eye-witnesses ; the way, man- ner, and style of writing ; and, externally, from its re- ception and entertainment in the world, universal con- sent and concurrence, and that even of strangers as others; nay, even the confessions of adversaries, the testimony of prophecies, miracles, preservation, har- mony, sublime matter and effects ; antiquity, tradition, and all those other topics we have produced. These ^ De bono Viduitatis. ^ See Matt., xvii., 5. 442 THE TRUE RELIGION. have asserted the books, copies, versions, and inter- pretations of Holy Scripture to be the Word of God, and derivable from it ; I say, so asserted, as no other history in the world has ever showed the like, to jus- tify any matter of fact whatsoever. The sum, then, of all this is, that God would have the mysteries of our salvation and holy faith conveyed to us by writing, after the Apostles had now immediately preached them ; and both these in a time when they could not be sup- posed to be corrupted, whilst they were received by infinite numbers of proselytes ; cited by a cloud of wit- nessess, learned Fathers, and Doctors ; preserved in a thousand places, wherever the persecutions had driven the professors. They write, as they speak, with all plainness ; and the Greek version was known and used by all, without criticizing, or defect found, or blamed by the Apostles, nay, or by our Blessed Saviour him- self; they having more regard to what the Scripture taught and proved, than to the placing of words or manner of expression. And it is a mercy and signal Providence that, for all those cavils and pretences that difficult men contend so much about, there are so few to the number of the places which contain the funda- mental truths and rules necessary to salvation. They left, in the mean time, the composing of the canon to their disciples, not as containing perhaps all that the Apostles might write, but as much as was necessary ; and, for the various readings, it is apparent they change nothing material to its prejudice ; the substance of our religion and rule of faith being so effectually twisted and interwoven, through all the Sacred Volumes, as ia sufficient to characterize them the pure and undoubted THE TRUE EELIGION. 443 word of God ; and that, above all other writings, they are to sanctify the hearts of those who meditate on them, and to dispose us to all manner of virtue and holy living. It is not, therefore, from the decrees of Popes and determination of Councils, or the dictate of private spirits, (with the enthusiasts) or interpretations, nor the laws and edicts of Princes (which our Esprits forts, mere pretenders to reason and philosophy, would main- tain, and are the engines by which sectaries have pre- vailed, to impose upon the world, both in former days and now of late in ours) whereby the Scriptures are proved to be the only truth divinely inspired, and to be embraced ; but by the force and cogency of the reasons and arguments we have alleged, accompanied with the most authentic human testimony that was ever yet produced, which compels us to assent that the Canonical Books of Scripture are the undoubted Oracles of God ; the pillar and ground of our faith. ^ It was, therefore, most highly important and needful to weigh and well consider this matter; since upon this ground and pillar the whole superstructure stands ; and upon the strength of which we adventure the eternal interest of our most precious souls. ^ I. Tim., iii., 15. END OF VOL. I. F. Shoberl, Jun., Printer to H.R.H. Prince Albert, Rupert Street, Haymarket. THE HISTORY OF EELIGIOK A RATIONAL ACCOUNT OF THE TRUE RELIGION. BY JOim EVELYN, AUTHOR OF " SYLVA," ETC. NOW FIRST PDBMSHED, BY PERMISSION OF W. J. EVELYN, ESQ., M.P., FROM THE ORIGINAL MS. IN THE LIBRARY AT WOTTON. " Be ready always to give an answer to every man, that asketh yo«i a reason of the liope that is in you, with meekness and fear." — I. Pet., iii., 15. " I am verily persuaded that errors shall not be imputed to them as sin, who use such measures of industry in finding Truth, as human i)rudenee and ordinary dis- cr-tiou (their abilities and opportunities, their distractions and hindrances, and all other things considered) shall advise them to." — Chillinoworth, EDITED, WITH NOTES, BY THE REVEREND R. M. EVANSON, B.A., RECTOR OF LANSOY, MONMOUTHSHIRE. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. IL LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1850. F. Shoberl, Jun., Printer to H.R.H. Prince Albert, Rnpert Street, Haymarket. CONTENTS OP THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE Section I. Of the True and Supernatural Religion de- duced from Scripture .... 1 n. Of the Patriarchal Antediluvian Religion . 14 III. Of the Postdiluvian Religion, till the Mosaic Law 23 CHAPTER IX. Of the Jewish, Mosaical Law, Ritual and Typical Religion. Section I. Of Sacrifices and Holy Seasons . . .28 n. Of the Priestly Family and Functions . . 37 JU. Of the Jewish Sects.— 1. Pharisees. — 2. Sad- ducees. — 3. Karaans. — 4. Essenes. — 5. He- rodians. — 6. Samaritans. — 7. Zealots . 45 rV. Of the Jewish Discipline and its Austerity . 52 V. Of the Typical Character of the Jewish Reli- gion 56 CHAPTER X. Of the Christian and Evangelical Religion, typified in the Jewish. Section I. Introduction 65 IV CONTENTS. PAGE Section II. That the Jewish Dispensation, being but tem- porary and typical, had its final accomplish- ment in the Messiah . . . .71 m. That Jesus Christ was the true Messiah, proved: — 1. By fulfilled Prophecy. — 2. By the Testimony of Miracles. — 3. By the Won- derful Progress of the Gospel. — 4. By the excellency of its Doctrine . . .91 IV. Christianity contrasted with other Religions : 1. Superiority over the Pagan Religion. — 2. Philosophic Religion. — 3. The Jewish Religion. — 4. The Mahometan. — 5. Scep- ticism considered. — 6. Atheism . .168 CHAPTER XI. Of the Decadence and Corruption of Religion ; the Christian Religion especially. Section I. Of the Gradual Corruption of Religion, from the Creation to the giving of the Law, and thence till Christ 213 n. Of the Decadence of the Christian Religion, from its institution by Christ and his Apos- tles to the Sixteenth Century. — 1. Heresies and Sects of the First to the Fifteenth Cen- tury 222 III. Heresies and Sects, from the Reformation to the present time. — 1 . Of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century .... 247 rV. Of the Corruptions of the Romish Church : 1. Holy Scripture not the rule of Faith ; Legends; Image Worship; Relics; Sham Miracles ; Jubilees ; Indulgences and Par- dons ; Purgatory ; Monastic Orders. — 2. Er- roneous Doctrines of the Church of Rome ; CONTENTS. V PAGE False Sacraments ; Transubstantiation ; that the intention of the Priest consecrating is necessary; Denial of the Cup to the Laity ; Deification of the Virgin Mary. —3. The Papacy 272 CHAPTER XII. Of the Christian Keligion, reformed from its Corruptions, and restored to its Primitive Purity, especially in the Church of England. Section I. Definition of Church Catholic : 1. Church — 2. Catholic 315 II. Fundamental Doctrines, or Creed . . 325 III. Tenets of the Church of England: 1. Ori- nal Sin ; Free Will ; Justification by Faith ; Christ alone our Propitiation ; of Sin after Baptism — 2. Confession; Predestination; Councils; Sacraments; Marriage lawful for the Clergy ; Authority of the Church and her Orders ; Civil Supremacy of the State. — 3. The Church of England contrasted with the Church of Rome ; Conclusion . . 333 APPENDIX. On Baptism 381 Episcopacy and Church Government . . . 384 ERRATA vol.. II. Page 254, note ; for " Bramwell" read Bramhall. Page 278 ; for " invitation" read imitation. Page 333 ; for " unregenerate" read regenerate. THE TRUE RELIGION. CHAPTER VIII. SECTION I. OP THE TRUE AND SUPERNATURAL RELIGION, DEDUCED FROM SCRIPTURE. SECTION n. OF THE PATRIARCHAL ANTEDILUVIAN RELIGION. SECTION III. OF THE POSTDILUVIAN, TILL THE MOSAIC LAW. SECTION I. OF THE TRUE AND SUPERNATURAL RELIGION, DEDUCED FROM SCRIPTURE. It is not sufficient what religion one be of, nor is it the Law of Nature, nor the command of the magistrate (according to the Hobbian system), which ought to de- termine our choice and obedience ; but, as we have shown, what God has revealed in Holy Scriptures. For, without a peculiar grace, never could mankind have arrived to the knowledge of the True Religion, and the way to the worship of the True Grod, who was to be Vv^orshipped in spirit and in truth ; but which all their reason and natural light, and sagacity in other things, enabled them only to grope after, as that igno- VOL. II. B S TRl TRUl RILIOXOM. mnt inioripti(ut iiupliod, t)u)ugl\ of thd mo«t loAmed AthoniunH. i > i > iiogethor lupernAturftl. It irt in tluM , liMpuM, tiicriDfbrtti that we thiUl luf- fioiontly jnaK.' < \l«lont by Boripturo (whlok wo Imvo iihtimliintlN • • i I i>> l>o theWordof Ood)» that there \!^ iM.lr ii'MM. iiui.' i- i.ni on(> God, who li the Creator, I'l'iu.i.iri. .nui i:. h'u I .'i allthingM. For Oodi though >)i I Nv • <, ii not yot so ibnd an to be pleeied witii winurMM vr> ;^ v\<11 meant, M with what He expreialy oouuuiui > . I < Njiocte, forthe great reward proposed. All) (I. I. Ik it ii not 10 indiflbrent a tUng what fytb > • I • i> I > n . luM <,Aothoybeiealouiinit»aiiome .ii.>iirnii i\ .iiiiiiM ( i(ul, who oitfM'mi* f>hodicnoe better ill. Ill .1. 1 ill. .•. w ill It . 1 \c,i 111 I ii ,.\\ 11. not in our way. In. I. •.•.!. N.iiiii.ii L'rii.'i.Mi ;'.u M, great wayi oon- viittMiip; UH (lint (luu t. a (m.,1. .md iliorofbre to be worMlupjUMl, lm< 1< nndi.i .m, not < \ • I (lul, ihow how >vo nhonld M'lvt- 1 1 nil. iirvci .iii\ 111.111 ii.iNiiig known (Itr iiiiii.i ..r ( i.'.i. hii II.' Nv .1 iiiiir rir |>i. .1 . .1 ;>> Toveal ii. Alui ror|)ii\i\ ii.i 111", iiiii-ii i\ ...111. . i.U (lull' «lll(>(-(l(M) herdn^ nOtliiii;- i m.-i.- \:iiii. m.M.- ul.|.-.-( (.. .I.Iil-ioii and n^UtivKi'. l'~..i. ili..ii;-ii Mim-iiiN t..-.! .Ii.I.mik- timc« iUnmtniii< . ii nn p. i ..u ( \(i.t.>i(linimly, li w > UMUally :u't"on»p:nii. .1 willi iiiu .i.iiloUM nt U».s(m.( Itvu mm (o OXtraoniinMiy cllc.l , hll i- i . . .il.K« to \\h Holy Word. Tho Holy So.nptui*' . di. i.i.'i.'. mi! i i..-, .m.l .ii-i», tlio Tiir, 1 i;i I i;i iJcnoN. U only iafc and ('(>rltiln |Lruli:ul(\ which iiii|'<..' iiol liin^ of Jlbno- liilt iir., i1\.Imii 'I.:!! Mild iiuporlMJildofhiiK : oi' liiilh Mild .iii(lil\. w ill. li ;il(> mII nrrH|)i(MI<»ll ;I\ drscrilx.'d (luir. N.M i\or/. llu- Tnic i»(li:'i(iii ((Ui, i.l iii ;iii\ iiu-» plicil hdirl. |>r( sni|)ri(.n,s|t(>cnhition, ])(»nii), miporetition, and }:;illldy hIiows, hiil m |>l,iiii, cm n , mid : iiu* re [losi- lioiiM Mud riilcM, (lull nvv n:n rcMMc (»• kmsou, or, ;ii IcmsI, II..1 iviMi 11 Hit, to it, tliough 8omotimo8 ivbovo it, ami J Huporuatnnd. The Truo licli{4;i(>n \h wluil in most uncicnt : wc nvv. then liin* led to iiKiuiro Tor the giuul old wny, and to walk t herein.' 'IMio Tnn' Mild SiiprniiiturMl ludi'-ion. or l*':iilli, d<' livorrtl iVoiu S< ripdnc. nr(|iiMinl ii . .\\\A ir^^wwyi us tc lioliovo, (luit lli(> (JrcMl Mild I'drniMl (iod. exerting JliM .Ahnighiy |)o\v( i mlo mcI. (Ud in linK" (n iic MMltcr. (IIimI ih, !i (^h'lo . ) iii!in,Jitt(,1ii Mild MiinpU . niil ol nolliinnr \n\ r\i. Uiil, l>y llir -ole xirliic nl llus oiimi|)olrnl llul; ' Jcr., vi., 10. 4 THE TRUE RELIGION. and mediately^ out of that, was educed this aspectable world, or mundane system, — man, and all created beings, — to manifest His divine wisdom, power, good- ness, and other attributes, diffused over his Creation, for His own glory,* and to the end we might serve and adore Him as our Benefactor and Supreme Good. That, in a secondary relation, all this seems, in some part or other, and subordinately, to have been so made for the use and benefit of mankind ; as food, clothing, refreshment, medicine, defence, and ornament; which, though He could have effected in an instant of time, and as some think did (especially the preparatory Matter, or Chaos, out of which emerged all that was made) ; yet did He it rather successively in six days, to teach us deliberation in all our rational undertakings. And this, ^rst, by the spirit's incubation ; whether meaning the ihird person in the Sacred Trinity, or any created 4)irit, spirit of nature, or, as some call it, mundane ipirit, ordained by God to digest, inspire, and commu- Ijiicate a pregnant activity to the confused mass, we list faot^ seriously to inquire. The earth emerged out of the water, and the obscurity which enwrapped it ; and next the light, even before the sun, to show that it sprung not from that planet, or any other natural cause, but that light inaccessible. Secondly, the air, fire, or liquid ether, expanding the immense space, and separating the inferior waters from the superior clouds. Thirdly, the collection of the waters into their several channels, seas, t^prings, rivers, lakes, that the dry land might afford ^ Ps., xix. 1. THE TRUE EELIGION. 5 stability and firmness to what was to grow out of and stand upon its bosom, as trees, plants, and vegetables, for the food and sustenance of both man and beast. On this day, it is reasonably concluded that He also created the glorious angels, those ministering spirits, sent forth to do His messages, and be our guardians.^ Fourthly, the sun, moon, and stars, by which His glorious works were cherished, made conspicuous and visible. Fifthly, the fishes, fowls, reptiles, and insects furnished the waters and air to feed one another. Sixthly, the large cattle and savage brutes, to replenish the earth. And, lastly, man, to command, use, and govern, dress and cultivate all these, and contemplate and celebrate the works of the Creator, in praise and adoration. Man, therefore. He especially created (having pro- vided and furnished so plentifully for all his needs) by a more solemn consult of the Holy Trinity ; infusing or insufflating (besides the animal and temporary life common with other creatures) a rational soul, capable of immortality, and by which he was qualified to un- derstand, contemplate, and enjoy all the creatures sub- ject to him. And, lastly, out of his rib, whilst in a pro- found sleep or ecstasy, the woman. Eve, was built, and given to be a companion meet for him, not finding, among all those other living creatures, any of them fitting to converse with him in all this abundance of other things. Finally, upon the seventh day, that is, when God had desisted from all His operations, creations of various ^ Coloss., i., 16. 6 THE TRUE RELIGION. species, He is said to repose ; that is, to create no more ; and to command us to rest from all our servile works and labours, in memory of His stupendous operations, and employ ourselves in contemplating and praising the Universal Maker. ^ Man being therefore thus created, and, as Grod's vice- gerent, to govern the rest, was placed in a most happy Paradise, under a most agreeable diversion of culti- vating only his garden (for God would not have him idle, even in his most pleasant state), and, for acknow- ledging the Author of his felicity, was promised the long continuance of this happiness, even to a far better, upon an easy and very reasonable injunction of obe- dience to a slight prohibition, namely, that amidst all the variety and abundance, he should abstain from eat- ing the fruit of a certain tree, under penalty of utterly losing not only the enjoyment of his present state and liappiness, but of both his natural life and that of his immortal soul ; the consequence whereof would be, the ruin of his whole posterity. But so it was, that an innumerable host of those glorious and happy spirits, whom God had before created, proudly rebelHng in Heaven against the Most Highest, their omnipotent Maker, were preci- pitated, for this insolence, from those blessed abodes, and now envying the happy condition of mankind, a leader of those wicked spirits transforming himself into ^ Whether on this day was their more solemn worship or no, is not clear, till Moses' dispensation, but some day of the time they doubtless used for their more public devotion. THE TRUE RELIGION. 7 the shape of a serpent, or probably into some more lively creature, yet of a subtle and serpentine nature, tempted the man, by his more feeble inclination the woman, and, under a false appearance and suggestion (as if their Maker had forbidden them the eating of a fruit whose property it was to make them gods, and endow them with transcendent qualities like their Creator's), per- suaded her to eat of the prohibited fatal tree ; and she immediately her too fond husband. But all these specious eiFects utterly failing, — the Covenant broken by which they enjoyed all these pri- vileges and blessings, — this foul and ungrateful lapse cost them the loss of God's favour, ejection out of Para- dise, and the felicity they enjoyed in that delicious abode. Thus became they obnoxious to death, sick- ness, and dissolution of body, their understandings weakened and abased in faults, losing withal his sove- reignty with the principles of his moral rectitude, and much doubtless of the beauty and vigour of his body, — reparable, in part only, by much study, labour, and anxiety in a toilsome life, — his spiritual and immortal state, irrecoverably also lost, and, but by special grace and mercy, in a second Covenant re- covered. Besides all this, by the corruption and taint of sin, their descendants thereby universally became liable to the same condemnation, and all those evils the whole race of mankind has lain under ever since. For man, as the immediate work of God, must needs have come pure and immaculate out of His sacred hands. But 8 THE TRUE RELIGION. thus he shamefully fell, not without due warning or ability to have resisted all temptation, endowed, as he was, both with great understanding and liberty of election, which aggravated his fault. Now, whether the Devil borrowed the painted and curiously-coloured serpent's organs, to insinuate this fatal exploit, or by whatever other means, so it was, that the pravity of their imagination, the effect of this transgression, corrupting the members of their own body, transfused the venom to their posterity, which, like a filthy leprosy, has ever since been lurking ; and, becoming hereditary, has been propagated, and broken out in all manner of wickedness, forgetfulness of God, inclination to all evil, and irregular appetites. For the root being thus corrupted, the branches must needs be unsound, and the fruit as bad. The obligation and ingratitude of Adam, that first of men, was so much greater, inasmuch as he was created a person of such singular majesty, beauty, strength, and other abilities, and, next, (of all earthly creatures) in perfection to the Divine Intelligences, — in consummate fruition of all good suitable to his nature and constitution, — and, capable of continuance in his happy state, with power and dominion over all the world, over all his own facul- ties also, concredited to him by his bounteous Maker. He was, as we said, created with a clear and bright understanding, freedom of will, and, as the rest of God's creatures, perfectly good, but indeed not immutable, as left in the counsel of his own hands ; and therefore the more obliged. Nor had the angels any higher perfection THE TRUE EELIGION. 9 as to liberty and in condition, as Justin Martyr tells us.^ The station wherein he was placed was a garden of delight, furnished with all that the eye or ear could wish, with absolute faculty of enjoying, of all this, whatever he pleased, one only tree excepted, for trial and probation of his obedience, dependency, and recog- nition, for all that infinite variety ; and guarded by a severe and most deserved commination. Nor less than this could God have enjoined him, without discharging him entirely of aU duty and allegiance whatsoever, and without rendering him wholly independent of his Maker and Benefactor ; so as the trivialness of the thing com- manded, as it made the law the most easy, so the in- fraction of it rendered the offence the greater. There are who have wantonly presumed to think it severe, that for so small a matter man should be made so miserable. But these bold men do not consider the Majesty offended, the presumption and obligation of the creature offending, the command so easy, the disobe- dience so much greater ; and therefore should no more censure the Almighty proceeding, than (as one says) one ignorant in mathematics, a world of things and truths he does not comprehend; but which yet are certain and indubitable. We can no more investigate and trace out these arcana^ than we can the virtues of the magnet, and things beyond our understanding. And such are also even divers Articles of Faith, the Avre^ovcriov yap Koi twv dyyeXSiv yevos, Koi to dvBpa)Tra>v 6 Oeos €7roLr](r€V. ) 10 THE TRUE RELIGION. Trinity, Incarnation, and Hypostatical Union — myste- ries above our reasoning ; but they are real, and such as we shall one day find to have been done, upon account of the greatest wisdom and justice. This was not so much one single and trite command- ment, but the only one remaining of the whole Deca- logue, by which the Almighty could have proved their obedience. For as yet there was neither parent, rela- tion, magistrate, nor neighbour to offend against ; mur- der they could not do, but by killing themselves (which, indeed, they sadly did, and all their race too, in the event, but this not through wrath or vengeance.) They could not dishonour earthly parents, for they had none, nor break the Sabbath; for as yet it was not enjoined. Nor could they commit adultery, for there was but one wife and husband in the whole world ; nor steal, since there was none to take from ; nor bear false witness against a neighbour, who had none ; nor, lastly, covet, who wanted nothing, who had already all the world. So that there seemed to remain this only trial of their obedience to express their gratitude and obsequiousness, through all the circle of God's commands; so that, whether out of infidelity, pride, ambition, or compliance with his wife, his fault was without excuse, and to the ruin of both soul and body. The soul, which is the form, and denominates the man, was in this trans- gression as well as the body; since, through its faculties, the inferior body was brought to yield in the first place. Thus, all mankind being in the first man, as in the THE TKUE RELIGION. 11 stock and root, was liable to the same offence ; having received that precious depositum, his soul, both for him- self and all his posterity ; and, consequently, what he lost, he also lost for them. The foundation being im- pure, the stream must needs be polluted, as a prodigal father impoverishes himself and unborn child, as a traitor to his Prince and Sovereign derives the taint to all his blood. Thus, we have showed how Adam could not have sinned against any injunction in the whole Moral Law, save in this only instance, which was so great as ren- dered him guilty against both the Tables of it, in its fatal consequences. Whether it were concupiscence that first appeared, (after his tasting the forbidden fruit, of quality to provoke disorderly and immodest motions) or whatever else which they sought to covet, conscious of the guilt ; the taint was so contagious as, had not God, of infinite mercy, taken pity, and a Saviour in- tervened, weakened and abandoned as Adam was, no flesh could have been saved ; God's justice must have taken place, and condemned all. For though God, con- sidered in His absolute power, could have pardoned the sin of man at first, yet, considered in that decree He made from all eternity to punish sin, and as a Governor, bound to maintain it. He was not to exercise that power; nor could any creature, angel, or man, reverse that decree, or satisfy Divine Justice. There was, there- fore, something of infinitely greater value and quali- fication required to free man from the punishment of having offended against this Covenant of Works by 12 THE TRUE RELIGION. entering into a new one, upon new terms and upon renewed obedience, before His justice took place. And, accordingly, Almighty God, in pity to our frailty (and that man was not his own tempter, but falling by a malicious spirit), rescued him from this destruction, by entering into a second treaty, or covenant, not of works, like the first, but of faith and future holiness, in ex- pectation and virtue of a champion ;i who, proceeding from the woman, should bruise and break the cursed Serpent's head (wherein all his power and venom lay ;) triumph over the deadly foe, be a Mediator and Saviour of him and all mankind, and thereby restore them and their obedient race to greater happiness than what they lost.2 This seems the method of God's election ; for, though there be neither prius nor posterius in God's will, who sees and contemplates all things at once and together, as if already done (as to our weak and infirm capacity, who cannot conceive of actions but by time and suc- cession), and did foreknow to what unhappy period man would come, by abusing his liberty and choice ; He pro- vided a sovereign panacea and remedy to restore His collapsed creatures. God did not decree man's fall, or so much as permit it in a strict sense, as allowing or tolerating it (for then it might carry some excuse per- haps), but so permit it only, as the prodigal father in the parable suffered his curious younger son to travel strange countries, and try, as it were, his fortune ; the ill employment whereof was none of the father's fault, * G€n. iii., 15. - John, iii., 15, 16. THE TRUE RELIGION. 13 or SO much as any part of his will or purpose, much less His irreversible decree. Only it gave the father such an opportunity, as the Fall of Man did the Almighty, of showing mercy on him, and pitying his sad case ; yea, and of meeting his returning and repent- ing child. God returns to man, offers him a Saviour, and a means of restitution, and entering into grace. In the mean time, it is confessed that, supposing God had not created man in a capacity of attaining supernatural felicity (for man, at first, was only in a state of natural felicity, consisting in the fruition of this life, had he persisted in innocency), he might, notwith- standing, have created him in a state of immortality, though still in Paradise. The Tree of Life, which was also in the same garden, might, probably, have been propagated by both Adam and his posterity, wherever they came ; making all the world, in time, a Paradise, where innocent people dwelt. This to preserve them in health and life (not as Josephus thinks, a very long time only), but for ever, even here, or till God should have translated them to a better world. Nor does this opinion exclude any purpose of calling man to a place of supernatural grace, capacitating him for glory in heaven. And some there are who think that God proposed to exercise him first in this inferior state, and, finding him faithful and obedient on this probation, to have called him to a higher. And that this calling was to be by the Word of God, which, being afterwards incarnate, is our Lord Christ, who should have appeared in the flesh to perform this mercy, though 14 THE TRUE RELIGION. Adam had not lapsed. This is assigned for a reason why afterwards the Law given to Moses did stipulate only for the happiness of this life alone, though covertly, that those who obeyed that Law should be blessed with a more happy life ; God intending to set on foot, in time, a treaty of evangelical righteousness by Christ, on terms of which that happiness should be obtained. And thus, proceeding by degrees, should man have been prepared for the Gospel and coming of Christ by the discipline of the Law ; and as if God would hereby try how inveterate and great the disease was by the failing of the cure thereof by the Law, before the Grand Physician, as the Son of God, should come in person to perfect and do the cure. But, to leave this supposition, for it is no more, and return to where we left. Till this fatal lapse of Adam, there was no faith required for justification but in God alone, His benignity and bounty. Yet faith there must be, seeing, without it, it is impossible to please God.^ Nor could man love and obey one in whom he did not believe ; and, before sin, there was neither needs of a Saviour or faith in Christ. But, after the Fall, man had another object of his faith, namely, the pro- mised deliverance by the seed of the woman ; and that God would certainly make good His word. SECTION II. OF THE PATRIARCHAL ANTEDILUVIAN RELIGION. In this general faith Adam's and the antediluvian Patriarchs' penitent and religious posterity passed their ^ Hebr., xi., 6. THE TRUE RELIGION. 15 time, without other extraordinary revelation that we read of, though they, doubtless, might have confirmation of it from time to time ; such as Enoch, who walked with God, Noah, Melchisedeck, and other holy persons, till Abraham, to whom it was first declared, from whose loins this promise should be made good — in him all the nations of the earth should be blessed. But this was very obscurely discovered as yet, as sometimes by dreams and visions, till the postdiluvian and more pro- phetic days ; and so with greater light and evidence, as the bright day-star of Jacob was approaching and ready to rise. For all the saints and holy men of old had but a general and very misty sight of Christ the Saviour, or, as one may say, of the Christian religion. The differ- ence was, that their faith was of things to come and in expectance; ours of the present, past, and future. Thus was Christ promised to Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob ; Moses, David, and all the prophets mentioned him, as we shall come to show in the chapter following. Now, as to the exterior service, how early sacrifices were, both for Eucharist (before he sinned) and for ex- patiation afterwards, is apparent by that of Abel's and Cain's.^ But, during the time of their standing in Paradise,^ the religion, as is most natural, was eucha- ristical; was the praising and magnifying their Creator's works. Nor was Adam, doubtless, even after his Fall, ^ De Civ. Dei, 1. 10, c. 4. See St. Chrysost. Horn., 18 in Genes. ^ Some think it was hardly a full day — at least, a very short time ; but some more competent space may well be imagined, had it been but for the contemplation and naming of the creatures. 16 THE TRUE RELIGION, actually deprived of aU his habitual knowledge, though his inclinations and appetites were so perverted that the truth which enlightened his mind took no effect on his actions no more than it still does upon all his pos- terity, till grace supervene ; I say, though his soul was in this disorder, yet could he not so utterly forget the offence he had committed as not to see and bewail his condition, and might be taught that, there being no remission without shedding of blood, God would accept of a sacrifice of his own appointment, as He did that of Abel. But neither did he nor any of the Antediluvian Patriarchs offer any thing, save Holocausts and whole burnt-offerings for expiation; because, as yet, they were not to eat flesh, much less any part of their sacri- fice ; but feed on fruits and plants, till God gave per- mission to the sons of Noah, offering peace-offerings, of which part was burnt, and the rest eaten, with praise, festivity, and rejoicing, in token of God's being well pleased ; as they did after their coming forth of the ark. The same service we also find continued afterwards by Abraham with invocations, prostration, and prayers, and, as some believe, in a public form ; and that the Patriarchs, the school of Methusalem, taught men religion by way of preaching and per- suading ; not pretending that God spake to them before Moses. ^ Then, as to the Sabbath — the memory of the creation, ^ St. Peter says expressly that Noah preached to them whilst he was preparing the ark, which, if during the whole time of its fabric, was no less than a hundred years. THE TRUE RELIGION. 17 the sanctifying of it, was doubtless before the Mosaic Law ; and, being of Divine institution, the seventh day from the creation, positively obliged all mankind, so that the very heathen honoured it. The Jews, indeed, call this period the age of empti- ness,^ even to the promulgation of their Law, there being, as yet, no other than that of Nature — namely, those innate sentiments, and such other principles, as, even at first sight, exact assent. The Church, as yet, and the children of God, had not that only, but some positive laws also. Now, the natural law does not derive its force from any arbitrary power, constitution, or any external revelation, but from the moral and in- trinsic virtue of the things themselves. And, yet, even this law is implanted and impressed by God, showing what is good, just, and profitable ; what evil, dishonest, intolerable, and inconsistent with natural life and government. And this was the religion which pre- vailed for nearly 2,000 years, without any more sublime, unless we take in what We mentioned, and what the Jews assert, concerning the seven precepts of the sons of Noah. Six of these they pretend to have been de- rived from Adam himself and his descendants : namely, first, prohibition against strange worship, explained in the two first of the Decalogue — at least, something like them; secondly, about blessing, or, rather, not blas- pheming the tremendous name of God ; thirdly, against effusion of innocent blood, which was also renewed after the Flood; fourthly, against adultery and unclean- ^ M. Ben. Isr. De Resurrect., 1. iii., c. 3. VOL. II. C 18 THE TRUE RELIGION. ness ; the fifth, forbidding theft ; the sixth, concern- ing judges and magistrates, for the distribution of common justice; and, lastly, the prohibition against eating blood. AU these, holy Job,* who lived long ere Moses, does, in some places or other of his book, seem not obscurely to point out, the last only excepted, as forbidding all the cruelties, as human sacrifices and other barbarous rites, which the Heathen practised in their amphi- theatres and spectacles; God Almighty having designed and set apart the blood of creatures, (as containing the spirituous part or life of the creature) for an instrument of expiation only, and for a type of what His Son was to shed. The rest of those ordinances being approved by Him, as seeming to be in the very texture and consti- tution of our nature, so that the Jews themselves (as much addicted to their rites as they were) made no scruple of receiving those moral Heathen as proselytes who observed them, without obliging them to their other ceremonies — ^no, not to Circumcision itself. Nor was more enjoined them at their reception afterwards into the Christian Church, besides baptism. These seem, as it were, to have been imperial con- stitutions enjoined from their very first Father,^ being good and profitable of their own nature, as without which mankind could not live and be safe. But they ^ Job. i., 6; xxiv., 2, 3, 4; xxxi., 9, 10, 11, &c. See R. B. Maimon., c. 7. ^ Uaa-Lv dvdpaynrois ofioias Xwo-treXeorarot, /cat irpos Kakoyadlav Koivbv anaa-i. — Josephus. THE TRUE RELIGION. 19 had with these, upon extraordinary emergencies, some, though rarely, revelation by visions and dreams, and sometimes God's immediate voice, as that to Noah, Abraham, &c. ; and the Covenant of Circumcision, after the Flood, and when God thought to select a more pe- culiar Church out of the rest of the depraved and more idolatrous world, in order to His great purpose of giving it a Saviour, the promised seed. It is likewise affirmed, in this ante and postdiluvian religion, they were not to make matrimonial contracts with the impious and more wicked people of the nations ; and, as to other matters of religion, men took care to instruct their children and domestics in the fear of God, as we see by the example of Abraham and his household, the father of the family being now both prince and priest, officiating with prayer and sacra- ments, (for such was Circumcision) with invocations and sacrifices. And that this was early, we have mentioned in that, of Abel, &c. To these add external adoration and worship^ of bowing the body, prostrations, &c. As for oblations, Cain and Abel brought their first- lings as a dedicated present due to God, and they were, • as we said, eucharistical and expiatory, naturally the primitiw and product of His blessing on their honest labour, as they would have done in Paradise, for what they received without it. Till sin exposing them to the wrath of God, by the blood and death of some Innocent creature, they acknowledged the position due to the offender, in whose stead it was offered and accepted. ^ Gen., xviii., 2. c2 20 THE TRUE RELIGION. And this is more than probably, from some positive early institution, enjoined to Adam himself, whom, now sadly degenerated to animal life, we find, a little after the Fall, to be clad in skins of beasts, such as likely had been sacrificed ; the flesh (as we have shown) was not then permitted to be eaten. They killed them, therefore, at first for these sacrifices only ; the sign of their acceptance being fire from heaven descending to consume it. For doubt I but they had likewise places devoted and consecrated, or set apart for the more solemn service of God. For they had altars^ in groves, high places, and silent recesses, separate from vulgar re- sorts, as more fitted to fix and compose their thoughts, though afterwards abased to idolatry and superstition, as by the ancient Druids, and others. And they had seasons more especially appointed for their sacred offices, which some think was on the Sabbath, though it be not so clearly made out, from any positive text, till the Mosaic Dispensation. However, doubtless, the place at Bethel, where Jacob anointed the column, and had his vision, and where Abraham before him more often sacrificed, as at Beersheba,^ &c., might have been such places as were not afterwards profaned to common uses. As to the person daily administering and directing the devotion, it was (as we said) the first-born, in whom the priesthood was invested from the beginning ; and so, the eldest of the family or tribe, descending on him .by right of inheritance. The rest derived from this * Gen., viii., 20; xii., 7, 8; xiii., 4, 18. ^ Gen., xxi., 33. THE TEUE EELIGION. 21 first or high-priest, as families increased and were con- strained to separate, and enlarge their dwellings. And so, even a younger son, either marrying or being sepa- rated into a family of his own, became also priest, as well as his elder brother ; and so any child, though his grandfather was living, as it is apparent Shem, the patriarch, was even in the time of Abraham; and Abraham, though a younger brother, was priest in his family ; and so, even Esau, till he sold his birthright, that is, as some think, his priesthood, and those gar- ments Rebecca put on Jacob, his sacerdotal vestment ; but it was stiU the primogenital right, till a family separated. Thus we read of holy Job's offering sacrifices both for his children and relations, upon their feasting ; and 80 it continued till the Levitical sacerdocy was fixed and confined to Aaron and his posterity. It was such an honour as made Jacob so desirous of the blessing which his elder brother Esau sold, and lost his right by despising it, as Reuben did afterwards, for his bold incest.^ In this religion and observance lived those Fathers both before and after the universal Cataclysm. From Adam it came to Seth, who is said to have been the inventor of letters, astronomy, and other useful arts, and (as is probable) separated his family from the wicked posterity and race of Cain. This was propa- gated to Enoch, in whose line religion was so public and famous, that his descendants were called, by way ' . ^ Gen., xlLx., 3. 22 THE TRUE RELIGION. of eminence, the Sons of God, to distinguish them from the rest, (now multiplied and exceedingly profane) till, matching with their daughters^ — a thing it seems pro- hibited, because these were idolaters, and conversing amongst them — they at length became also so degene- rate, as moved God utterly to destroy all mankind from off the face of the earth, by an universal flood of waters. Long was it yet that His patience waited for their reformation. For Cainan, Mahaleel, Jared, &;c., in whose line the (until now) holy posterity, mingling with the vicious and profane Cainites, corrupted with their sensuality, there sprang up a race of giants, or men of extraordinary stature, insolent and cruel tyrants. Some few yet there were who forsook not the True God, among whom was holy Enoch, translated to a better world,^ to show there was a reward for the righteous, and another state after this life. Methusalah, his son, the longest liver of mortal men, died not till the fatal year was come, which brought the Deluge on all flesh that had corrupted its way. This happened under his grandchild, Noah, the only righteous person then remaining in all the earth ; so universally was the whole world depraved. He, finding grace and favour with God, was, with his three sons, his, and their wives, saved by the Ark (a figure of the Church.) This, having been preparing no less than 120 years before, gave time for repentance, which the holy architect of it ceased not to preach unto them, nor they to disregard ^ Gen., vi., 3, 4. ' Gen.,v„24; Heb., xi., 8. THE TRUE religion; 23 it, till on a sudden a dismal flood came and swept them all away. SECTION III. OF THE POSTDILUVIAN RP:LIGI0N, TILL THE MOSAIC LAW. Noah and his family, which was all the visible Church now left in the whole world, was alone saved from destruction. A full year they continued in the floating vessel, when, being called forth by their mer- ciful Preserver, the waters abated ; and the earth now dry,* they erected an altar, worshipped and invoked God ; by praises, prayer, and sacrifices appeasing His displeasure; so that He promises never more to destroy the world in that sort, but that revived nature should resume her wonted course, and proceed in her annual revolutions, as before. It was now also that Almighty God renewed to man his former title of sovereignty and dominion over the creatures, (the species of all ani- mals belonging to the earth and air having been pre- served in the Ark during the Flood) promulgating laws against murder, homicide, and cruelty, by which man- kind had so lately incensed Him. Of this holy patriarch's posterity were Shem, Ham, and Japhet, in whom their father (sensible of their reverence to him when overtaken with wine, the force whereof he had not before proved) predicted the voca- tion of the Gentiles, and consequently of the Messiah. These two sons, piously educated both by their father, * Concerning the alteration of the earth by the Flood, see Dr. Burnet's Theory. 24 THE TRUE RELIGION. great-grandfather, grandfather, Lamech and Methu- salah, who for many hundred of years conversed with Adam, had the less need of written laws or books to direct them, oral tradition being so freshly conveyed to them from the fountain. From hence the Church went on to Heber, in whose days (though himself a gracious person) idolatry began to spread exceedingly, propa- gated by their erecting images of their ancestors, through which the devil used to give responses. From this, Heber was the original of the Jewish na- tion ; Peleg succeeding him, a numerous rabble of pro- fane men, who, combining under the conduct of the tyrant Nimrod, began to erect a tower of enormous height, thinking thereby to brave any future deluge or destruction by fire or water, making it also a citadel to protect their rapines and oppressions; till God, incensed at their foolish and bold attempt, so confounded their speech as, not being able any longer to understand each other, they were forced to desist from working, and, separating into several bands, became as many colonies. Thus, roaming about those eastern countries, they peopled divers places, according as they happened to understand one another's jargon and confounded speech; for, till this judgment, all mankind were of one lip, ^Hebrew being the universal languagc^j From some of these sprang the predecessor of the patriarch Abraham, whose parents, though of holy race, conversing with these idolaters, he was himself also tainted. Upon this, his second son, succeeding in the patriarchal line, namely, Abraham having been extraordinarily called by ^;^-^5 THE TRUE RELIGION. X^'*-, ^^ God, left his father's house and idols, that* he might' entirely devote himself to His worship and service. And this he did to that height of affection and confi- dence in God, as readily and cheerfully to make him an immolation of that his only son, so miraculously born to him in his old age, and in whom both himself and all the world had the promise of the greatest blessing that could ever be bestowed. This generous action, and as miraculous a faith and hope, so pleased the Almighty, that, though He accepted the will for the deed, as he did also his abandoning his friends, coun- try, estate, and all other secular interests, and his rea- dily submitting, and that at his great age, to the painful covenant of Circumcision, (which God required as a federal character of distinction from the Heathen world^) that He not only prospered him in his person with health, riches, and all earthly felicity, but gave him richer promises of possessions to his seed and pos- terity for ever. Thus in Abraham's family was virtue and religion professed, and with him the Covenant again renewed. He it was who so carefully trained his domestics in the true faith, and propagated it to his posterity .^ So gra- cious was this holy and hospitable man with God, as frequently conversing with his Divine Majesty, he was honoured with the glorious title of the Friend of God ; blessed with His promised protection, and that he should be the father of many princes and nations, and of a numerous progeny. This, the Divine promise, was ^ Gen., xvii., 10. ^ Gen., xviii., 19. 26 THE TRUE RELIGION. confirmed by solemn path, and ratified by that federal sacrament of Circumcision, by which his descendants became God's peculiar people. Neither yet did Almighty God altogether abandon the rest of mankind, some among the Heathen, Job and his friends and children, especially Melchisedech, who was both a king and priest, and had doubtless holy and peaceable subjects under him. Some there are who think him Shem, who lived seventy years after the Patriarch's coming into Canaan. This is yet but con- jecture. Whoever therefore tliis great person was, he was certainly a type (even amidst those nations) of the clerical and royal pristhood of Him who was both King, Priest, and Prophet,^ the Lord Christ; and therefore neither his original nor end so much as mentioned, though it was superior to any of the Levitical priests succeeding him. But to return to Abraham. The true worship of God, transferred from him to his religious son Isaac and grandson Jacob, descended to the twelve patriarchs. After the descent of Jacob and his sons into Egypt, called thither by Joseph, and living there in great pro- sperity till cruelly oppressed by another prince, who knew not that great favourite, (to show they were not to set up all their rest in this life only, nor yet that God was unmindful of His promise) they were after 420 long years of cruel servitude miraculously delivered, and brought into the land of Canaan. There, having extirpated, by the miraculous assistance of God, seven ' Heb., vii. THE TRUE RELIGION* 27 Wicked and abominable nations, they flourished under a theocracy, governed by God Himself alone, not so much in form of a republic as a monarchy under his Vicegerent Moses, who was king in Jeshurun, and that by a code of positive laws and written ordinances. For the lives of men since the Flood being exceedingly ab- breviated, it became now absolutely necessary that the saving knowledge of God should no longer be trusted to the tradition of short-lived people, but written and recorded in sacred books. In this manner was primitive religion propagated among the holy race, and among some extraordinary persons in the Heathen world. We instanced the pious Job and friends; and doubtless more there were, ex- amples of justice, temperance, charity, and the most signal patience that ever was, our Blessed Saviour only excepted. For, till now, was religion and the worship of God sincere, pure, simple, natural, and most agree- able to the notions and sentiments of honest minds, right and well consulted reason, as without which the world could not have subsisted. That this, therefore, might be kept up, and now no longer be obnoxious to those hitherto ambulatory interruptions of unsettled abodes, it pleased Almighty God to fix His Church, and select people, under a more steady dispensation of pe- culiar and positive laws and rites; of which in the Chapter following. 28 THE TRUE RELIGION. CHAPTER IX. OF THE JEWISH MOSAICAL LAW, RITUAL, AND TYPICAL RELIGION. SECTION I. OF SACRIFICES AND HOLY SEASONS. SECTION II. OF THE PRIESTLY FAMILY AND FUNCTIONS. SECTION III. OP THE JEWISH SECTS. SECTION IV. OF THE JEWISH DISCIPLINE AND ITS AUSTERITY. SECTION V. OP THE TYPICAL CHARACTER OF THE JEWISH RELIGION. SECTION I. OF SACRIFICES AND HOLY SEASONS. The Church of God, being now become, from a pri- vate family, as it were, to a great and numerous nation, delivered from Egyptian slavery by a mighty Hand, from their oppression, and disciplined, by a tedious passage in the Wilderness, to the Land of Promise, where they were to settle, till the full accomplishment of the great promise of the Messiah, and to supply the now abbreviated lives of men subject to be corrupted by tradition, and running into superstition. Almighty God thought fit to give them written laws and ordinances, by which they were to govern themselves, and obey THE TKUE RELIGION. 29 those whom He should appoint over them. And this He did under the Mosaic Dispensation first, and then by preaching and ministry of Priests and Prophets, in nothing repugnant to, but asserting the laws of nature, which are eternal. This He did, in tremendous circumstances, on Mount Sinai, promulgated by the voice of the Eternal God in the audience of the whole nation, namely, the Deca- logue, or Moral Law, miraculously engraven on tablets of stone by their Divine Legislator. The rest (con- taining the Ritual, Ceremonial, Typical, Ecclesiastical, Municipal, Political), was that part of the worship and government delivered to Moses only, and by him re- corded in writing. And this Digest, or Summary of their Moral Statute Law, contained the whole duty of man, as far as concerned the present capacity of that people; calculated (I say) to the state of things, in order to a future and more perfect and consummate. There was nothing among these precepts but what seemed to be of absolute necessity, as to the moral part, for the imiversal benefit of mankind ; that of the Sab- bath only superadded, which, whether typical and cere- monial only, was necessary for the setting of some par- ticular part of time for God's more solemn worship. Indeed, the observance of the seventh day had a pecu- liar respect to the Israelites, as a sign of the Covenants made with them, when they were delivered from the Egyptian bondage ; since, in its own nature, it carried no obligation by any light of nature at least, as the other Commandments do, deduced from the reason of 30 THE TRUE RELIGION. the things. Justin Martyr ^ thinks that it enjoined the Jews especially, and with that strictness, as being a people naturally too worldly and intent upon gain, and consequently too severe to poor servants, cattle, &c. ; being, as they were, a perverse nation, impatient of God's service, which would else have wholly been in danger of being neglected. ^ Nor was yet either this, or I any other ceremonial, altogether external, without ana- l logy and relation to something more internal and spi- (jitual; such as circumcision enjoined to Abraham, which signified mortification of concupiscence ; the Sab- bath under Moses, for the contemplation and worship of the Creator. Neither of these were ah initio; for, according to Irenajus, " Abraham believed God without circumcision, and observance of the Sabbath." And therefore had it a peculiar regard to the Jews, and was of high value, as it was said to weigh against all the other Commandments. But it had also a further pro- spect, St. Augustine tells us. Inter omnia dicem prce- cepta, solum ibi quod de Sabhato positum est, fyurath observandum prcecipitur : ^ as well as the rest of those Feasts in the Levitical Code. And this appears by their being absolutely abrogated by our Saviour.* All days are esteemed alike to Christians,* as grounded on a Law Divine, and therefore not at all aiFecting that Christian liberty. And, as it had no injunction till * Dial, contr. Tryph. * Isai., Iviii., 3, 13. ^ S. Aug., Ep. 119. * Coloss., ii., 16, 17. ' Rom., xiv., 5. THE TRUE RELIGION. 81 Moses, ^ SO after Christ it had as little, that is, no farther than, as it was thought, a fit occasion of reminding us of spiritual duties, of mercy and relaxation to those em- ployed by us, and for religious meditation on the Works of God ; but especially for our deliverance and redemp- tion from the slavery of our sins and Satan, and, in a manner, our re-creation. These required some varia- tion from secular business and distractions; that also those under our charge may have leisure to do the like ; and for the works of charity to our servants, and mercy even to our very beasts. Now, though there was no public office, that we read of, enjoined for public prayer and exhortation on the Jewish Sabbath, yet the very reason of the thing natu- rally led them to it, and accordingly they practised both in their Synagogue ; nor were they ever reproved, but commended for it : which may be a document of our obedience to the reasonable injunction of our superiors in the like cases, and especially as to solemn times, places, and offices, as they who are set over us think necessary ; not repugnant to, but highly advancing the worship and honour of God. Proceed we next to Sacrifices, which, being very bloody, were ordained for the punishment and expia- tion of sin. And these had all their accomplishment in the sacrifice of Christ upon the bloody cross, as symbols and shadows of better things to come. These were holocausts, burnt-offerings, and trespass-offerings, 1 'Atto 'A/3paa/i rjp^aTo irepiroiMfj , koX otto Moxrc'cos "^d^^arov. Justin Martyr. 32 THE TRUE RELIGION. for the expiation of the most heinous crimes ; the rest for frailties, for peace and reconciliation, for mercies and benefits received, which were accordingly accom- panied with prayers and praises ; and these latter were of things inanimate, as fruits and products of the earth. As to the other great Sacrament, ^ the Passover, it was to be a lamb without blemish, in annual memory, likewise, of their deliverance from Egypt, and more particularly God's remarkable sparing of their nation, when He smote the first-born there of their tyrants and subjects. It typified the benefit both which they were to receive by the passion of the Lamb of God, without spot, to be offered for all mankind ; abolishing all the sacrifices of the law, which, without this, never could have freed us from the captivity and tyranny under sin and Satan. The Jews, till fully possessed and settled in Canaan, from the pattern delivered to Moses in the Mount, had a Tabernacle, or ambulatory Temple ; agreeable in all its divisions and furniture with that glorious structure of Solomon, in which, as a designed place, and on certain days, they were to worship God in public. In this was the Sanctum Sanctorum, or an interior, awful, and glorious closet, typifying Heaven itself. And in this was the Ark of the Covenant, as representing the Mediator of it. In this precious cabinet were kept the Tables of the Decalogue, written by the finger of God ; the pot of manna, signifying the True Bread, which comes down from Heaven for the food of the Faithful, ^ Of Circumcision we have already spoken. THE TRUE RELIGION. S3 till their entry into Heaven, the heavenly true Canaan and Land of Promise; the rod of Aaron, which budded, and figured the branch, which in the Messiah was to spring from the root of Jesse. ^ This Repository was covered with a Propitiatory, or Mercy-seat, sha- dowed with the wings of cherubim, regarding each other as importing the extraordinary care, power, and presence of Grod. From hence proceeded the Divine Oracles ; the hovering angels prefiguring our Blessed Saviour's mediation. In this place did the High Priest alone enter, and that but once a year, with an extra- ordinary train of pomp and ceremonies, with the blood of sprinkling, and making atonement within the veil, as well to present the people's prayer on earth as to re- present the intercession of Christ in Heaven, where He was first to enter, and is now making intercession for us. Next was the Sanctuary, or Holy Place,^ furnished with the Table of Shew-bread, which was always to be fresh and daily renewed, figuring the Bread of Life and Word of Grod. There was, likewise, the Golden Candlestick, with its seven branches, snuffers, and other instruments, representing Christ, the Light of the World, and his Seven Spirits of God.^ And here was the Censer, ^ Heb., ix., 4, &c. ^ Note, that this furniture of the most Holy Place, together with the miraculously kindled fire always burning on the Great Altar, were wanting in the Second Temple, at least, at the death of Malachi, after whom no Prophet wrote, till the coming of Christ. ^ Rev., iv., 5. VOL. II. D S4} THE TRUE RELIGION. typifying also the merits and intercession of our Lord. On the Golden Altar were burnt incense and perfunies, morning and evening, showing Christ to be the True Altar, ^ who sanctifies all our devotions, and renders them acceptable. Into this part of the Tabernacle did the inferior priests enter, to perform the daily ministry, in trimming the lights, furnishing the table, &c. A third enclosure of this noble tent was, with the Court before it, the place where the people came to offer their sacrifices and devotions. That of the daily unintermitted service was the oblation of the Lamb, morning and evening. This was called the continual burnt-offering, with flour, oil, and wine, which the revenues of the Temple maintained. Here, also, on the Great Brazen Altar, on which the Sacred Fire was kindled from Heaven, and was always kept burning, denoting continual zeal, were consumed the holocausts, or sin-offerings, as likewise those of trespass. Also, the meat-offering of things inanimate and without life, as the fruits of the earth, &c. Peace- offerings, upon vows and the like occasions, in which the fat only being God's part, the rest was for the priest. Lastly, the Eucharistical, for praise and thanksgiving, which, being a free-will offering, might be a living creature, or productions of the earth. To mention only those other Oblations of Tenths, first- fruits and first-born, and for ceremonial impurities. For we have already spoken of the Paschal Lamb, which was to be an unblemished male, with whose * Psal. cxli., 2. THE TRUE RELIGION. 35 blood the lintels of the door were sprinkled, as figuring the blood of the. Lamb, which protects us from destruc- tion. This lamb was bound, its throat cut, and then roasted whole, as foreshowing the barbarous usage and cruel pains our Saviour endured for us. None but those who were clean and were in covenant of circum- cision, might eat. The salad was of bitter herbs, and with unleavened bread, intimating the purity and holi- ness of those who were to have benefit by Christ, and were prepared by repentance, and faithful resolution to go through all difficulty in his service, without the leaven of pride, malice, and hypocrisy; lastly,^ with their loins girt, staves in their hands, and in a travelling posture, as ready to follow our Saviour and Deliverer. So that there was not a tittle of the whole ceremonial law, but which (though for a time to them veiled under ritual clouds) had relation to something solid, which was afterwards revealed in substance, as having relation to the mystery of the Gospel, when all these figures and objections vanished. To the outward court Solomon afterwards added a very large one for the proselyte Gentiles, who, believing in their gods, observing the precepts of the sons of Noah, came to worship; prefiguring the universal call of nations, who should one day be admitted among the true Israelites. Here was also the place where the Jews, who were accidentally polluted, might presume to come, till they were legally cleansed. ^ I, Cor., v., 7, 8. d2 36 THE TRUE RELIGION. It 18, therefore, to be noted, that before the other court were placed the layers, wherein the priests and people also washed their hands and feet before they ministered, and went to offer, according to that of David :^ ^* I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I compass thine altar." There were, likewise, in this court the corban and treasure. Besides the Sabbaths (as we noted), they had several stated times, both annual and periodical, for more solemn services ; for they had also their monthly at every moon, welcomed by sound of trumpets, in token of joy and thanks for their monthly blessings. The ordinary annual was the Paschal, on the fourteenth of March, or first month. Then that of weeks, or Pente- cost, fifty days after the other, in memory of the Law given at Mount Sinai ; and Eucharistical, for the har- vest, about this season. The third was that of Tabernacles, on the fifteenth of September, which lasted a week, in which they feasted and rejoiced under fresh and verdant arbours, calling to mind their sojourning in tents in their passage out of Egypt; and typifying the transitory and fading pil- grimage of our lives in these earthly tabernacles in our passage to the heavenly country. On these three great solemnities were all the males obliged to appear at Jerusalem, the capital city, where was the Temple. Nor came they empty to do their homage to God, who dwelt there by His more special presence. The greater holy periods were the Sab- batical years, during which their land lay uncultivated ; ^ Psal. XX vi., 6. THE TRUE RELIGION. 37 not only that they might depend on God's Providence for their sustenance, but to typify the eternal Sabbath, more especially prefigured in the year of Jubilee, every fiftieth year. For at this period, aU servants, debts, and mortgages being discharged, they reverted to their owners ; shadowing out the state of the Gospel, when Christ was sent to preach good tidings to the meek, bind up the broken-hearted, preach liberty to the cap- tives, and the opening of the prisons to them that were bound ; in a word, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, &c.^ SECTION II. OF THE PRIESTLY FAMILY AND FUNCTIONS. The functions of the Holy Place were performed by consecrated persons of a particular tribe and family ; amongst whom the High Priest, typifying Christ, was to offer for the people, as our Saviour, for the whole world; of which, at that time, they bare the figure. The business of the inferior orders (and whose garments and consecration differed much from the glorious High Priest's) was to pray and offer sacrifice, instruct and bless the congregation ; to judge in cases of leprosy and other impurities. They themselves in ordination being chosen before the people, were washed, sprinkled, shaven, anointed, and initiated with sacrifice, and were afterwards paid tithes for maintenance. Subordinate to these were the Levites, who assisted the Priests about the sacrifices, cleansing and ranging ^ Isaia., Ixi., 1, 2 ; Luke, iv., 16-19. 38 THE TRUE RELIGION. the several utensils; they took care of the several courts and apartments of the Temple, kept the watches by turns, sang hymns with musical instruments, &c. ; thus, serving from the age of thirty to their fiftieth year, they were after that dispensed with and rewarded. Great and many were the qualifications of a High Priest above the Levites ; for, as he was to be of the lineage of Aaron, so was he to be of a most comely entire person, as typifying that of Christ, in whom was no defect. It was the High Priest alone, who, upon all great emergencies, consulted the Holy Oracles, the Urim and Thummim.* What the first was is not easy to determine, some conjecturing it to have been a con- spicuous shining or coruscation of so many letters (in the Pectoral, which the High Priest wore) one after ano- ther, which, being put together, composed the response of the inquiry ; and that the universal belief of this continued till the destruction of the first Temple, is a very great evidence of that miracle to be true ; others, that upon the putting on of this breast-plate, the holy man became inspired ; others, again, that it was a small Teraphim, carved like a little genius of humaln form, inserted in some notch of the Pectoral, which, through the ministry of an angel, spake and gave answers. This is the opinion of many grave and learned divines, as the most probable, but of no sound proof, especially as to its puppet form ; from the so universally prevailing manner of the Gentiles placing little images in their shrines and temples, whence they had oracular voices ; ^ Elxod., xxviii., 30; Numb., xxvii., 21. THE TRUE EELIGION. S9 and, perhaps, to wean them from the Heathen impure rights, it might please God to indulge them with this Teraphim, as it was of so frequent use among other na- tions. For so that people, by God's permission, and to comply with their infant weakness, as it were, did sanctify and adopt divers of the Gentile rites to His service for a time ; as did afterwards the Christians also ; several ceremonies of theirs remaining, though reformed, to our times. Thus, Maimonides acknowledges that God, abo- lishing the cult of Gentile idols, reduced it to His own service, of which see amply in our learned Spencer.^ But these extraordinary concessions, like that of cir- cumcision, remaining some time after our blessed Saviour's Incarnation, lasted no longer than to the first Temple and the captivity. All which, together with the spirit of prophecy, and several excellent and rare privileges, expired by degrees, as they provoked God, and grew dissolute and unmindful of Him and His messengers, the Prophets, even to the Advent of Christ, in whom the true Prophetic spirit was revived, and given without measure, as we shall show in the follow- ing chapter. In the mean time, it is by the Jews themselves con- fessed that, forty years before their Temple was de- stroyed, the scarlet ribbon, tied on the goats, grew no more white ; which change was a sign of God's accept- ance ; the evening lamp was extinguished, though full * [Dr. John Spencer, a very ingenious and learned divine and critic, born 1630 ; died 1695. His greatest and most famous work is " De Legibus Hebrseorum Ritualibus et earum rationibus."] 40 THE TRUE RELIGION. of oil; and the gates of their Temple opened spon- taneously ; and what happened to the Partition-wall is recorded, when their sacrifices also began to fail. But to proceed a little farther with their constitu- tions. Sundry and most burdensome were the laws about meats and drinks, clean and unclean animals, their apparel, trial of jealousy concerning wives and hus- bands, slaves, servants, masters, contracts, possessions, magistrates, punishments, witches, impostors, blas- phemy, perjury, murder, manslaughter, most of them judicial and political, calculated for that people and country, and therefore determinable with them. We might add as to places of worship ; their Syna- gogues, or parochial meeting-places, as it were, as also schools and colleges in their several cities. In the Syna- gogues, the Priests and Levites preached to, and taught the people. In the schools, the Doctors and Masters read their lecture, as in Universities. These seem to have been first erected and instituted by Samuel, and in these was Elisha president, as before him his tutor Elias.^ Their pupils were called sons of the Prophets. Those who were extraordinarily called to be Prophets, were so upon very extraordinary occasions; as was Amos, the son of a herdsman. Now, the ofiice of the Prophets was, not only to reclaim the people from idolatry, but (as we said) to instruct them ; wherein consisted that civil and outward obser- vation of the laws, which promised a temporal reward, as the spiritual and inward obedience to God, which ^ II. Kings, vi., 1. THE TRUE RELIGION. 41 might have given them a title to the happiness of the world to come. In this respect, some of the later Prophets were preparatory of the Evangelical doctrine, knowing the great consent and harmony between the two Covenants of the Law and of the Gospel. Indeed, they had but very misty as well as mystical notions of the other life, under the Mosaical dispensation, till Christ.* The Elders and superior Judges of Israel, Prophets, and Teachers of several ages, of whom we read,^ being acquainted with the mystery, were yet to acquaint the people but sparingly and by degrees, as God, in His secret wisdom, appointed. For by the Law and Covenant between God and Israel, by the mediation of Moses, was the Land of Promise given them, on condition of embracing those ordinances. Yet that the life to come was a reward also to those who obeyed the Law, is manifest by that of our Blessed Saviour. ^ " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," namely, the Moral Law, as containing all the duties of Chris- tianity ; for, doubtless, the immortality of the soul and retributions after death were not altogether hidden from them, even before the very Law was promulged. How should otherwise the holy Patriarchs be saved? It being evident by Scripture that the same conversation, which was preached by Christ and His Apostles, was extant and conspicuous in their lives and conversa- tions before the Law of Moses. So were the Fathers of the. Church wont to convince the Jews that, even ^ 11. Cor., iii., 13, 14, 15. * Heb., xl. ^ jyjij^^t., xix., 17. 42 THE TRUE RELIGION. amongst them, Christianity was more ancient than Judaism.^ Christ came to make a new Covenant, and to show that He was the consummation of the old, and all its types. In a word, why should all these excellent per- sons, enumerated by the author of the Hebrews, have suffered such things, if they had promises of this life's enjoyments only, which was to end with the lives they should fling away ? Daniel, and Job, and Isaiah, and Ezekiel, show their confidence of a Resurrection \^ and David's seeing the unrighteous in such afiluence and prosperity in this life, argues a better and more happy life to come ;^ though these were secrets, and applied, for the most part, to their being delivered out of worldly calamities. The better and clearer hope of the world to come was reserved for the coming of Christ. And, accordingly, Moses's Tabernacle was, therefore, called a worldly sanctuary only, as a copy of that to be erected and revealed in the fulness of time.* But to proceed. In this state continued the Jewish typical religion, from Moses to David and Solomon (when it was in its height of purity and prosperity), the most splendid type of both the king and kingdom of peace ; till Solomon, in his latter days, and afterwards his posterity, defecting, and stopping their ears at the * See Eusebius, De Demonstrat. Evang., 1. i. * Dan., xii., 2 ; Job, xix., 25 ; Isai., xxvi., 19; Ezek., xxxiii. ' Psalm Ixxiii. * See in Hebrews, viii., how all this is shown to typify Christ, the Gospel dispensation, and the celestial Canaan. THE TRUE RELIGION. 43 message God frequently sent them by His Prophets to reform them, He was at last provoked to deliver, first, the Ten Tribes to captivity, who never returned more, and after them, the incorrigible two remaining. These, after the demolition of their glorious Temple and Holy City, (typifying the body of Christ, which should be destroyed, rise, and be re-built again) were restored after a captivity of seventy years, interpreted by Daniel seventy weeks, to signify 490 years, at which period Avas prophesied the advent of the expected Messiah, which should put an end to the Levitical and Mosaic rites, and introduce a law of everlasting righteousness, and restore the true freedom of the whole world from the Satanical captivity, as it exactly fell out. Observ- able here was the conduct of Alexander the Great to Jaddeus, the High Priest ; and that one of the Ptole- mies, after his conquest over Syria, should sacrifice at Jerusalem, and acknowledge that God, when, as yet, the Jews remained in captivity; and that Augustus should send annual oblations ; so that it wore out all the religions in the world, save the Christian only. At the return of the first captivity from Babylon was erected, as we said, the .second temple, in this more glorious than the first, not indeed as to outward pomp and show, or costly materials, but inward sanctity, splendour, and glory, inasmuch as the Lord of Glory Himself vouchsafed His presence in it, according as was predicted. But when, after this honour done to the Jewish nation and temple, they corrupted them- selves more than their forefathers, profaning the holy 44 THE TRUE RELIGION. place, and grown exceedingly dissolute, full of pride, covetousness, and all manner of vice and hypocrisy, and the high priesthood interrupted, their liberties were first invaded, the whole government was subverted, first by Antiochus Epiphanes, then by Pompey, Crassus, and others, the first of these tyrants having cruelly per- secuted and outraged the nation, thrust out Onias, the high-priest, substituting his impious brother Jason, when Matthias, a priest of the Asmonean family, stood up to vindicate his country with all his sons, the brave Judas Maccabseus and the rest. Till subsequently the subtle Herod, flattering Augustus and bribing the Roman Senate, obtained the sovereignty of those coun- tries, wholly abrogating the Asmonean family, and pro- moting to the office strangers for seven or eight suc- cessors unto Joager, under whose pontificate was born the only true high-priest of our profession, the Lord Jesus. Seventy years after this, the nation and people still waxing worse and worse, the wrath of God, not forgetting the sins and provocations of their wicked ancestors, who murdered Zacharias the son of Jehoiada, and conspired against Jeremiah, persecuted Micaiah, Elias, and others,^ was, poured forth on them to the utmost. Herod indeed, to ingratiate himself with the people, pulling quite down the decayed old fabric, built a sumptuous pile at great charge ; but withal, to flatter his patrons, he set up a vast eagle of gold (the ensign of the Romans) over the principal entrance of that ^ Luke, xiii., 34. THE TKUE EELIGION. 45 holy place, expressly against the law, which prohibited all sorts of images. And so he maintained it, till, being on his death-bed, the tumultuous people pulled it down. And now this sacred enclosure was turned into an ex- change full of shops of bankers and usurers, and pro- faned into a den of thieves; rites of mere human invention were substituted in place of the Divine wor- ship ; the priesthood was sold to strange, ignorant, and vicious men, all things degenerating into corruption of manner, doctrine, tyranny, and parties. SECTION III. OF THE JEWISH SECTS. The Scribes and Pharisees, Essenes, Herodians, Zea- lots, and other sects and enthusiasts, had put false glosses on the law, teaching the people that it required only formal and external righteousness, palliating all manner of crimes, oppression, malice, disobedience to parents, adultery of the heart, and speculative lusts, rigorous and revengeful retaliation of injuries, abuse of oaths, furious passions, under pretence of zeal, and the Hke. They preferred oral tradition (as we know who have done since among Christians) before the written Word. This they pretend to have been delivered to Moses in the Mount, as explanatory of the Decalogue, and transmitted from father to son, by word of mouth, for many generations, to the priests, prophets, people, even to the Great Synagogue ; and from them till after their destruction and excision, and a long while after, when, about the reign of Antoninus, they were collected and 46 ' THE TRUE RELIGION. committed to writing, for the use of the dispersed, by Rabbi Jeruda, in his Mishnaioth, or Book of Repetitions. This again was commented on by the Rabbins of Ba- bylon, with innumerable cases and controversies, with a word of truth added, and the resolutions compiled in the Gemarah, a work comprehending the whole body of the Babylonish Talmud, which they extol even to blas- phemy, and affirm the study of it to be more necessary than Scripture itself, which they extremely vilify, in comparison of the Mishna and their doctors' expositions. How this corruption was improved in our Blessed Saviour's time, we are told by St. Matthew and St. Mark,^ in whose time all God's worship was turned into external and hypocritical forms of godliness, boastings, and outward cleansings, whilst they were, within, full of all manner of wickedness. Scrupulously nice were they of little things, and lightly passed by the greater duties. So a child pretending he had devoted his estate to some holy use, might be excused, though his parents starved for want of relief; the Corhan vow, or, as it was named, vow of Interdict, whether they performed it or not, was enough to justify them (as they held) from doing their duty to parents, or neighbours the least kindness.^ 1. THE PHARISEES. These and the like were the doctrines and supra- additions of the Scribes and Pharisees, ^ or, as this name imports, the Separatists (a sect springing up about the V Matt., XV., 7 ; Mark, vii., 2, 3, 7. ^ Mark, vii., 11. * See Joseph. Antiq. Jud., 1. xviii. De Bello Jud., 1. ii. THE TRUE RELIGION. 47 time of the Maccabees). The latter, for their seeming zeal and strictness, obtained a wonderful veneration amongst the ignorant, while there was not upon the whole earth a more haughty, oppressive, malicious, se- ditious, sour, peevish, and unmerciful sort of men, yet pretendingly zealous of the traditions of the Fathers. And though they held both spirits and the immortality of the soul, or rather the transmigration of the pious, the rest they condemned to subterranean caverns ; and that all were under a fatal necessity, y^t had liberty of will. 2. THE SADDUCEES. Opposite to these was the other sect, the Sadducees, who held neither spirits nor angels, nor survivance of the soul — a sect appearing almost 300 years before our Lord's Nativity ; a dissolute sort of men agreeably to their principles, which yet from their first institutor, one Antigonus, are reported to have been very good. They held that God was to be served by us. His crea- tures, ingenuously, and for His own perfection's sake, though there were neither future reward nor punish- ment. This last part being mis-stated by two of His choice disciples, as if there was nothing after this life, was the original of all those false and sensual conse- quences which followed, without dependence upon any Divine Providence. For, with the Epicureans, they believed the actions of men to be below the in- spection of the Almighty, that He took no notice of this inferior world. In sum, they were a sort of Atheists, though very formal, and pretending to much 48 THE TRUE RELIGION. justice, keeping themselves to the letter of the law, re- jecting traditions, and so far not to be blamed, had all things else been answerable. There were not such swarms as these as of the other, it being for the most part spread among the gentlemen, courtiers, and great persons of the nation, as giving most liberty to loose- ness and pleasure, which made them fond of peace and quiet, that they might enjoy the world. 3. THE KARAANS. There was yet a more moderate sect of these, called the KaraanSf who rejected all their extravagant fancies and errors, adhering to Scripture, as the rule, and re- jecting all the glosses of the Talmudists, so as not so much as to admit the points to the Hebrew Bible, as counting them parts of oral traditions. And this sect is frequent in the Levant to this day. 4. ESSENES. About the same period sprang up another more phi- losophic sect, that of the Essenes, who, being driven into deserts and solitary places, about the persecution under Antiochus, e.ver after affected those recesses, casting themselves into societies, and leading contemplative lives in celibacy, of ascetic diet, living on the culture of herbs and fruits in common.^ They revered the Temple, but seldom or never came near it, keeping to their own rites and ceremonies. Their doctrine was very enig- matical, contemplative, and sublime, but they were of ^ See Plin. Nat. Hist., 1. v., c. 17. THE TRUE RELIGION. 49 very moral, innocent, and innocuous lives, ^ especially those of Egypt, so excellently described by Philo, that Eusebius thinks them to have been Christians of St. Mark's conversion ; but this is doubted. They were great fasters, and given to high speculations, as, amongst other things, the names and mysteries of angels, though men of exceeding modesty and humility as to outward behaviour. This makes some think St. Paul had reflec- tions upon this sect,2 where he perstringes the adoration of those spirits and the superstitious niceties of this society. Touch not, taste not, handle not, &c. ; this austere institution prohibiting divers meats and things more strictly than other sects. 5. HERODIANS. There remain the Herodians, whom some think to have been but a part of that tyrant's guard, or other of his courtiers, who, to ingratiate themselves with him, affirmed Herod to be the long and now expected Mes- siah ; for, indeed, they seem to have been courtiers, who egregiously flattered him with this high title. Mighty active they were to promote his magnificence, by ex- acting tribute to Cwsar.^ By such their master main- tained his credit at Rome ; for being an usurper in Judaea, as he had obtained the government by their power, so he was to procure the continuance of his patron's favour. They were (it seems) Sadducees as to their opinions, though styled by the Evangelists'* the ^ Joseph. Antiq., 1. xviii., c. 2. ^ Col., ii., 18-21. 3 Matt., xxii., 16. * Matt., xvi., 6. VOL. IL E 50 THE TRUE RELIGION. leaven of Herod; those Sadducean principles'" being most accommodated to his intent, who, as we said, was but an usurper. 6. SAMARITANS. What the Samaritans were, the story tells us to have been the descendants of those who were sent back from the captivity of the Ten Tribes, being a mixture of Jews and Heathen, to people the wasted country about that city. They embraced the Five Books of Moses only, and worshipped at Mount Gerizim ; were averse to strangers, and nicely affecting outward purity. 7. ZEALOTS. Lastly, the Zealots, a kind of fifth monarchists, a most fierce and truculent sect, (as described by Josephus to the life) who, under pretence of extraordinary zeal for the law, perpetrated most astonishing barbarities, and these with the rest became at last so insolent and rebellious, as provoked the Romans to repress their sedition, abolishing their great Sanhedrim and Council. They put the Temple under tribute and a garrison, repealed many of their laws and privileges, and stripped them of their authority, that they had no power in capital offences. Under these animadversions still con- tinuing mutinous, their intestine confusions brought the Roman armies to invest their city, and to lay both it and their glorious Temple in ashes, after an obstinate resistance; and such a siege, as for the calamities brought upon them by their divisions within it, the history of no age has recorded anything so astonishing. There THE TRUE RELIGION. 61 were no less than eleven hundred thousand Jews who perished in the city by famine and pestilence, such as was never heard of since the Creation, the several sects falling out within the city, and murdering one another ; ninety-seven thousands were slain, thirty were sold for a trifling piece of money ; they crucified so many, that there were not trees enough to nail them to ; and seven hundred thousands were put to death afterwards in Egypt, by an edict of the Emperor Adrian, forbidding any of that nation, on pain of death, so much as to presume to look towards Jerusalem, their fondling and desired city, which was now razed to the ground, not one stone left upon another, according to our Blessed Lord's prediction. And when it was attempted to be re- built, fire issued from the earth and overthrew the foundations, as Ammianus Marcellinus, a Pagan him- self, reports. In a word, the whole nation was so dispersed and scattered, as they could never since unite, but have been as vagabonds over all countries, a curse and execration for almost seventeen hundred years, without one portion of land, without laws, prince, people, temple, altar, or God in the world, to regard them; the like never having happened to any race of mankind from the be- ginning of the Creation to this day. So that now was the Sceptre, according to Jacob's prophecy, departed indeed from Judah, and the Lawgiver from between his feet; the Sacrifice and Oblation ceasing, as was foretold by Daniel, the Messiah, the great Sacrifice, being cut off, who came to finish and make an end of trans- E 2 52 THE TRUE RELIGION. gression, reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in the everlasting righteousness of the Gospel.* Thus, for the murder of their Redeemer, and aver- sion to his doctrine, which would have reformed them from their hypocrisy and wickedness, were they brought to ruin, their holy city trodden under foot of the Gen- tiles, and so still remains, whilst the city of God is built up in its stead, not in Jerusalem, but in all places where the Gospel is spread, because its builder and master is God — not with hands, but to be eternal in the Heavens. SECTION IV. OF THE JEWISH DISCIPLINE, AND ITS AUSTERITY. Thus have we shown the imperfection of the Jewish and Mosaic religion ; that it consisted chiefly in rites and ceremonies,^ which, being typical only, were there- fore never intended to be of perpetual obligation. For it would doubtless then have been as universal and general, as it was particular and national, calculated for the Jews only, and hardly so much as known and taken notice of by any, till the conquests of the great Alex- ander, they living in a remote, narrow, and obscure comer of the world, who neither married, traded, nor conversed out of their own country, but among them- selves ; so that they were severed from the rest of man- kind, as by a wall of partition ; and had (as we have ' Dan,, ix., 24-26, ^ q^I., m., 2L THE TRUE RELIGION. 53 shown) divers laws quite different from other nations, and that by a particular pact and covenant struck be- tween God and them; fitted to their morose, harsh, surly, and perverse dispositions ; for which reason God, perhaps, did not think those laws so fit for the rest of mankind.^ These constitutions chiefly concerned the outward observance ;2 and, accordingly, the reward consisted in the afiluence of terrene things: higher matters were out of their ken as yet. They believed such as were aflSicted with any cala- mity to be enemies of God, smitten by Him and in His disfavour ; nay, esteemed them as accursed. And thus riches and outward prosperity were marks of piety, and so necessary, that one could never be a pro- phet, or dignified with that sublime calling, unless he were opulent : and that a religious man must needs be happy in this life. This opinion was so rooted in them, that our Blessed Saviour, coming in those mean cir- cumstances, was a scandal and offence to them who looked for the Messiah to appear in all worldly pomp and greatness ; such as never potentate had the like.^ The moral virtues and precepts of humanity, laws more proportionable to the dignity of man's nature, were but sparingly taught among them. Their jealousy, use of polygamy, inhospitableness to those who were not of their religion, and other rigorous ordinances — some permitted for the hardness of their hearts — made ^ Moses novos ritus contrariosque caeteris mortalibus indidit. Tacitus, 1. iv., and so Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 2 Gal., iv., 9. ^ See Grotius, De jure Belli et pacis, 1. xi., 9, 15. 54 THE TRUE RELIGION. them strangers to charity, chastity, forgiveness of inju- ries, &c. ; as they themselves had no pardon for pre- sumptuous sins, their law a dead letter, and their rewards but temporal, were unapt to produce that un- sinning obedience required under the Gospel. Besides that, the soul's immortality was so obscurely hinted to them, that the very Heathen round about them, espe- cially the learned, seemed to have had more clear notions of it by the light of nature only. Neither does this detract from the wisdom and goodness of God, who best knows His time, and does by degrees, and as seems to Him good, manifest His holy will. To see the sun at once, without a twilight, oppresses the organ. God proceeds by little and little, as we are able to bear and receive. This nation were a reproachfully slothful, dull, untractable, stiff-necked people, and therefore to be curbed only by rigorous methods. Wherefore, upon occasions extraordinary. He raised prophets among them, who taught them how little God delighted in ceremonies and operose worship, with obedience, which was better than sacrifice and the fat of rams. He also encouraged them with promises of mercy, upon their repentance and turning to Him with their hearts. But this was rarely, and still by degrees, which showed He had some farther and more sublime intentions to be revealed in time to others, as well as to themselves ; and therefore, us the Apostle ^ shows, it did not become them to pride themselves in their boasted peculiarity. The whole Bible of the Old Testament describes their 1 Eom., ii. THE TRUE RELIGION. 55 prodigious wealth, idolatry, superstition, and other wickedness ; * and we see, by sad consequence, that all those denunciations of Prophets, miracles done among them, captivity, plagues, and other judgments, made little impression on them; they still grew worse and worse, even to the crucifying of Him who came to save them ; so that God was provoked to reject them alto- gether. For, since the law made nothing partial, nor with all its rigour was able to bring men to Him, it was necessary to introduce a more consummate righte- ousness, an Evangelical and easy law. And that it was His holy purpose to demolish the partition-wall we have argument from Malachi, iii., 1, 3, by raising up a nobler Prophet and greater Legislator than Moses ; and make a new and more gracious Covenant, to sup- ply the defects of the first ; another priesthood,^ &c., by which He should gather all nations,^ yea, create new Heavens ; "* and send His own Son to effect and accomplish all these glorious things,^ as we see it came to pass, verifying the unprofitableness and weakness of the former disciplization. And thus have we made it plain, how the constitution of the Jewish discipline was maintained by a sej unction and separation from all other people of the earth. They were, indeed, the only nation under heaven that worshipped the one true God and no other ; and such, * Jer., V. ; Ezek., xx. ; Isai., i., 4, 5, 6. ^ Ps. ex. 4. ' Isai., Ixvi., 12, 19. * Isai., Ixv., 17. ^ Ibid., lix., 20 ; Jer., xxiii., 5, 6 ; Hagg., ii., 7. 56 THE TEUE RELIGION. for the true religion, did the very Heathen acknow- ledge ; for Varro, having run over the whole catalogue of the Pagan Deities, concludes that to be the true God who was adored without an image ; and expressly mentions the Jews ; nay, and that it had been well to have followed them in it. We see how happy they were whilst they held themselves to this. From the very moment that Abraham forsook his father's idol family, he was blessed with a peculiar promise of a seed, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed, and united into one religion, as in effect it was shortly after our Saviour's coming in the flesh, so wonderfully did His holy doctrine obtain. SECTION V. THE TYPICAL CHARACTER OF THE JEWISH RELIGION. Now, the ministry of the Mosaical Religion consist- ing of Priests, Prophets, and Kings, let us consider how all these high qualifications were accordingly united in the mission and person of Christ. For then was this separation from all other nations to cease ; for so it did. The temporal Sceptre (as we have shown) departing from Judah, he being both Priest and Sacri- ficer too, their sacerdocy and sacrifice were brought to an end ; and being Prophet by mission and commission, after Him were no more prophets; and, by ancient tradition of the Jews themselves, whoever was the Messiah, implied royalty, and carried a king in the very name. Now, had not Christ our Lord been a THE TRUE RELIGION. 57 Prophet, He could not have revealed to us His Father's will. Had He not been Priest, He could not have offered sacrifice; and, were He not a King, never could He have saved His people from their sins, and given them those royal privileges, promised to His faith- ful subjects, of reigning one day with Him; nay, appointing and calling them to kingdoms also, not of this world, but in the world to come, which was the rock they split upon. Nor was Almighty God less merciful to the sinful world ; for, when mankind had universally gone astray and defected. He designed a Saviour, qualified to ap- pease and reconcile us to His Divine justice, without reproach, calling and rescuing many out of ignorance and superstition, as the patriarch before mentioned, with others; the Jewish Religion becoming conspi- cuous to all the nations round about them, as being first planted in Syria, the most proper to be dispersed through all the world, and first inhabited after the universal Flood. Now, though the only ordinary sal- vation was offered to the Jews,^ by which they had mighty advantages over the Gentiles, having also the Law and the Prophets, yea, and Synagogues in divers places, even after they were subjugated by the Romans ; yet were not the Gentiles altogether neglected, a star miraculously appearing to them at the Messiah's na- tivity, a portentous eclipse at His crucifixion. They had likewise the prophecies of the Sybils, to which divers of the Pagan authors gave testimony. ^ Rom., ix., 4, 5. 58 THE TRUE RELIGION. But however it fared with the virtuous Gentiles be- fore the Incarnation, after His coming, and when the Jews had learnt and seen in how mean circumstances He appeared; both of them startled at the Cross, ^ counting the Wisdom of God but foolishness, in com- parison with their high-flown fancies and expectations, rejecting His counsel against themselves. Thus He came to His own, and His own received Him not ; ^ though both saw the miracles He did, and heard the blessed Doctrine He preached; nay, and were evi- dently convinced beyond all contradiction; yet would they neither hear nor see, whilst those who did receive Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God. And those who, before His coming, knew nothing of the mystery, were yet saved by His coming, and the propitiation He was to make f God being pleased by way of anticipation to forbear, till the fulness and amplitude of time ; in the interval graciously accepting the sacri- fices which were offered, and the types of this all-suf- ficient oblation. That this was, in the mean time, the true and only veritable religion, before our Saviour came, and how it may still so appear, (the Christian Faith being but the same they professed, spiritualized) we shall show. For, as to what the Jews at present profess, it is but a mean carcase and corruption of the ancient Synagogue, min- gled with innumerable vain and fabulous traditions, horrid blasphemies, and extravagancies beyond all that ' I. Cor., i., 23. 2 john,i., 11. ^ Sanguis Christi profuit, antequ^m fuit. THE TRUE RELIGION. 59 one meets with among the most ignorant Pagans. We have, in part, already shown the rise and progress of the Jewish religion, by what a special grace and favour it pleased God at first to take unto Himself a people from among the Heathen world. For, when ignorance, superstition, mysterious impurities, tyranny, and all manner of licentiousness, had perverted the nations, — that vicious men were deified, brute animals adored for gods, and the natural principles of religion universally depraved,— a certain poor, despicable people, in an ob- scure corner of the world, emerged with the noblest sentiments of piety and severe virtue, representing the Divinity as an Eternal Being, Infinite, Omnipotent, Om- niscient, Wise, Holy, independent and self-happy: Him a certain family of their forefathers worshipped, observing His laws, and renouncing the wicked customs of the age they lived in ; forsook all they had, to adore and serve Him. These, growing into multitudes, and for many years partly sojourning, and partly detained under cruel ser- vitude, became not only of slavish tempers and very despicable, but such as, in all likelihood, had perverted their religion among those idolatrous Egyptians, where they were in bondage, as, by their continual proneness to idol worship, may be presumed. So that, far from being like their Patriarchal ancestors, these were, of all other, the most unpolished, stupid, and averse to all good — obstinate and stiff-necked, as God does frequently complain. Indeed, the Israelites and Idumaeans had the same grandfather, nor, doubtless, wanted they the 60 THE TRUE RELIGION. good and holy instructions of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, &c., as well as the rest. Yet these it pleased God, of His special grace and favour, to select and make His peculiar people, under (as we have shown) a peculiar govern- ment and law, which, being by them observed, though with divers interruptions, for two thousand years, manifestly showed the faith, which they professed, could have its original from no other than Almighty God ; not, I say, as now corrupted, but as at first re- vealed and received: this the Holy Scriptures per- spicuously make out. In the mean time, stupendous it is to consider, how a people in possession of a country, laws, and religion, for so many ages, should at once be brought to such calamities as never happened to any nation under the cope of heaven ; the malediction, for almost as many thousand ages since, altogether astonishing ; whilst all their former captivities and calamities amounted to but one hundred and sixty-two years, the last has con- tinued for nearly seventeen hundred years, without any relaxation or bettering their condition, notwith- standing all efforts and revolutions of other nations, and their since exceeding caution of offending God any more by those gross idolatries ; for which before they had been so severely punished. The Babylonish servitude had, long before our Saviour's incarnation, reformed them of that sin, to which they usually imputed all their former sufferings. Something, therefore, extraordinary must needs be the cause ; some horrid, exterminating crime, that should so long have detained them under so THE TKUE RELIGION. 61 execrable a judgment. Never read we of any nation so universally ruined, dispersed, and despised, and who have not a foot of earth more than what covers their wretched carcases when they fall; they, who were once the happiest people under heaven, the favourites of, and dear to Grod. They have now neither country, home, cities, temple, priests, altars, king, nor governor ; but are vagrants over all the earth, without God in the world, and ahens from the commonwealth of Israel ; and all this most demonstrably, because they crucified the Lord of Glory, putting to an opprobious and mali- cious death the Great Messias, who came with such love and compassion to redeem them not only from the difficulties of the ceremonial law, and the pre- judices they lay under by those corruptions which had so generally defiled it, but from all their sins and offences. Nor for all this is their hatred at all extinguished ; they still blaspheme that glorious Saviour, deny His mission ; and, though they cannot but acknowledge the miracles He wrought among them, they say He was a magician, and affected them by the power of Beelzebub. To this St. Augustine gives answer that, if He were such. He was so before He was born ; for He, whom they blasphemously thus accuse, sends them to their own prophets and predictions ; so that it appears He knew the successes of every thing before He had a human being. And for the other, our Blessed Saviour Himself convinces them how unreasonable it was to fancy that Satan should cast out Satan, and the strong 62 THE TRUE RELIGION. man eject himself. Of these and the like nonsensical blasphemies their Talmud is full, and tells us God Almighty was so sorry He had violated His oath concern- ing the captivity of their nation, that He condescended to ask pardon of Rhabbas, son of Ehabana ; and that, desiring to be absolved from His word, the Rabbi said aloud, Lordi I absolve thee. With these and the like prodigious dreams, is their present religion stuffed. The veil is still before their eyes as thick as ever, which God, of His infinite mercy, hastens to take away, that they may at last look on Him whom they have pierced, and be saved among the true Israelites ; that the blood they have brought on themselves and children may be done away by the precious blood which was shed for them. For, though the sacrifice of the son of God was always pleasing to His Father for the wonderful con- descension of His love and charity, yet most hateful was the sin of those who sacrificed Him. Let us yet consider the providential ends concurring to this mystery, namely, the death of our Lord ; Caiaphas and his cabal persecuted Him for reasons of state, and to maintain their places ; the Devils, for our Saviour's casting them out of their usurped possessions by whole legions, and because they knew that, in mur- dering and bringing Him to death, God would dis- possess and reject that people, who should be guilty of so impious ingratitude, and so abandon those whom He had so signally preserved from perdition.^ ^ Whereas, through all their other wickedness and captivity, He still heard, forgave, and restored them (Deut., xxx. ; Nehem., i., 8, 9) THE TRUE RELIGION. 63 The chief priests would destroy Him, with the Scribes and Pharisees, because He thwarted and contradicted their false doctrine, hypocrisy, and covetousness. Thus it pleased God the Father to leave His only begotten and beloved Son to their implacable rage, that He might suffer and expiate for our sins. Thus, I say, out of all these contradictory designs and particular in- terests. He wrought his own most blessed ends and our salvation; for by this, Satan, crafty as he was, was himself ejected from his dominions over the blinded and abused world. The Jews, who crucified our Lord, to reconcile the jealous Romans and preserve their nation, were utterly destroyed by them, and the empire of Christ established for ever. And those who by all wicked means thought to free themselves, for thus re- jecting their Messiah, were made miserable slaves and a people so undone, that, (as one truly observes) wher- ever we meet a Jew, we see a stone of the demolished Temple, and a ruin of Jerusalem never to be rebuilt, for a monument of their prodigious ingratitude. Many good works did He amongst them ; He healed their diseases, fed their hunger, instructed their igno- rance, raised their dead. For which of all these did they use Him thus barbarously ? For this, then, came — though since, and now still, they are the most averse from idolatry, &c., for which they formerly were so signally punished, and that now they fast and pray ; yet do they suffer by an exile of 1700 years; — no prophet appears; they still are under the curse, and their religion is so corrupted, that they are daily more and more blind. 64 THE TRUE RELIGION. the vengeance of Heaven upon them within forty years to the utmost, the time He proved their forefathers in the wilderness, for so long was the Lord pleased to spare them, that they might repent. But, being har- dened in all impiety, after they had slain the Shepherd and murdered the Heir, they worry the flock and per- secute His disciples, till their own iniquities brought upon them a swift destruction, a calamity so exceedingly great, that Titus himself, who was God's instrument to inflict it, refused the triumphal crown and pompous ceremony due to his conquest — so sanglant and be- yond all description lamentable was the catastrophe of those he had overcome. Their own blood and malicious factions hastened their destruction within Jerusalem, as much as the Roman armies without. Thus did Providence order it, showing that He alone was the invisible Emperor and Conductor in that famous expedition, according to the predicted curses threatened two thousand years before,^ and that of our Lord Himself, deploring and weeping over that once beloved city.^ Lastly, let us consider what infinite and universal good the same wise and merciful God brought out of all this evil, according to His impervestigable ways and eternal purpose of grace. ^ Deut., xxviii. * Matt., xxiii., 37, 39. THE TRUE RELIGION. 65 CHAPTER X. OF THE CHRISTIAN AND EVANGELICAL RELIGION, TYPIFIED IN THE JEWISH. SECTION I. INTRODUCTION. SECTION II. THAT THE JEWISH DISPENSATION, BEING BUT TEM- PORARY AND TYPICAL, HAD ITS FINAL ACCOM- PLISHMENT IN THE MESSIAH. SECTION III. THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS THE TRUE MESSIAH. SECTION IV. CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED WITH OTHER RELIGIONS. SECTION I. INTRODUCTION. When neither natural religion, ritual, nor positive laws, under all the former dispensations, were able to recommend and bring us to God, through the weakness and imperfection both of them and the whole race of man, fallen as he was from the light which should guide and conduct him, as yet but groping after the way, it pleased the same God, in the fulness of time, mindful of His merciful promise to our forefathers, no more to keep His people under types and shadows, the peda- gogy of ceremonies and material sacrifices, which could not make the comers thereunto perfect, after the many and unsuccessful messages, prophets, and teachers — it pleased God, I say, to send His own and only Son, the long-exr. footed Messiah, the Lord Jesus, who should VOi.. 11. F 66 THE TRUE RELIGION. teach us a more living spiritual law and rule, should give us more mighty aids to subdue our aversion, and illuminate our understanding in the knowledge of those saving truths which, till now, lay undiscovered for ages, and were hidden under the veil to the Jews, but to the Gentiles under a cloud of midnight darkness. In a word, to show the glad tidings of salvation, that evangelical religion, the everlasting Gospel, which was to put an end not only to the Jewish but to all other worship ; namely, as weU to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, as to be the glory of His people Israel, and to continue so to the end and consummation of the world. And though, as nearer approaching the happy period, the day began to break, and prophecies became more perspicuous, yet was the age then so universally cor- rupted, that, had not the Sun of Righteousness appeared, darkness, confusion, and atheism, had involved the whole world. It was now, then, that the Messiah, according to the prophecy going before concerning Him, being ineffably conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of a Virgin,^ was born perfect God and perfect man, and in all things subject to our infirmities, (sin only ex- cepted) to be a Saviour as well of that miserable and ungrateful people the Jews, (who, though about this period earnestly expecting, rejected Him) as He pro- mised to their forefathers, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, as to the whole race of mankind, strangers to the Covenant, and without God in the world. ^ * Isaiah, vii., 14. - The miserable state the whole world was in, and how aban- THE TRUE RELIGION. 67 All these He came to rescue from the darkness of Atheism, ignorance, and superstition of the Heathen ; the ineffectual and burdensome ceremonies of the Jews, to the participation of His infinite grace, and by His unsinning obedience fulfilling the law in a more divine, rational, and spiritual way, dignifying our imperfect services by His most perfect righteousness. For God would now no longer connive at the universal ignorance even of the Heathen world, (as the Apostle tells the Athenians) nor permit Satan to delude mankind,^ though all this while He left not himself without a witness, nor the very Gentiles without means suflftcient to convince them of their gross errors and supersti- tions. For, besides the aspectable works of Creation, natural light and reason, they had at this time some glimmerings and expectations, as well as the Jews, whose prophets spake more feelingly towards the dawn- ing of the Gospel. It being at that time the common report, as Suetonius tells us, that out of the East should rise the universal Monarch ;2 and this Pliny seems to say should be ushered in by an extraordinary star, as a lucky omen of some great benefit to mankind. In order to this, about seventy years before the final destruction of the Jews, according to the prediction of ]Malachi,3 God sent His messenger, the great precursor, John the Baptist, whose miraculous birth and other circumstances showed how great a person he should doned at this period to all manner of abomination and vice, we find described by Eusebius, De Demonstrat. Evang., 1. viii., in Praefat. ^ Acts, xvii. "^ Suet. Vespas., c. 4. ^ Mai., iii., 1. F 2 68 THE TRUE RELIGION. prove. In order that, by his preaching repentance and reformation, he might qualify men for the approach of the Messiah, and the glad tidings of the Gospel.^ That he himself not being whom they expected,^ was yet com- missioned to preach and prepare them for His coming, and to let them know they were no longer to flatter themselves with their former privileges, as being the pos- terity of Abraham ; but that, if they did not now amend and bear better fruit, the axe would be laid to the root, and they cut down like barren and unfruitful trees. Those who generally embraced this doctrine, he initiated by baptism, which was a ceremony the Jews themselves used at the receiving of new prose- lytes. Men, says Maimonides, w^ere circumcised and washed also; women only baptized, with a peace- ofFering, during the standing of the Temple ; and the rite was of such antiquity, as to have been practised before the law itself,^ (baptism being always understood by washing of their clothes ;) so that it appears they entered not into the first Covenant without it. Hence St. Paul'* speaks of baptism not as a ceremony, but doctrine. They did not, therefore, wonder at this ac- tion of St. John. Besides, they held that their Mes- siah was to be introduced with that ablution, as may be gathered from the history. Whilst John was about this office, receiving all that came, publicans, sinners, and soldiers, and men of all conditions, to show that ^ In the !N'ew Testament called the Kingdom of Heaven^ as being the only means leading to it. 2 John, i., 25. ^ Exod., xix., 10. * Heb., vi., 2. THE TRUE RELIGION. 69 God was no respecter of persons, he told them he was neither that Elias, whom they also had a tradition should come before their Messiah, nor himself that illus- trious person, yet he plainly showed him to the multi- tude; when, having the honour to baptize his own Saviour, he saw the heavens open, and the dove-like Sacred spirit descending on him, heard that heavenly voice. This is 7ny helomd Son, in whom I am well pleased^. Thus attested by the Father, came the holy Jesus to be baptized ; not that He needed cleansing, who was to wash away the sins of others, but that, being pleased to assume our nature, He was in our stead to fulfil all righteousness. This happening about the thirtieth year of our Saviour's birth,^ (for John had begun to preach the year before) our Blessed Lord, who till now had lived a humble and obscure life, began to manifest him- self and own His mission, first to his countrymen, (after the flesh) the Jews, and to preach his excellent and spiritual doctrine, and to confirm what He taught with such miracles, as nothing could have produced but the Divine power. He sharply reproves their horrible cor- ruptions ; what doctrines and glosses they had super- induced and put upon the law, shows them why they were to worship no longer at Jerusalem alone, and con- fine religion to particular places, or fancy and pride themselves as the only people of God, whilst they made 1 S. John, i. 33-4. 2 Our Lord was born on December 25th, in the forty-third year of Augustus's reign, C. Jul. Caesar Vipsanianus and L. iErai- lius Paulus being consuls. 70 THE TRUE RELIGION. such outward professions of holiness, hypocrites as they Avere within. But this plain dealing and discovery of their errors, perstringing their covetousness, formality, malice, and spiritual pride, excited such a hatred against Him, not- withstanding all the miracles and good works wrought amongst them, having done more among them in three days, than had been done under all their various dis- pensations for a thousand years, they never desisted persecuting Him, till they had put Him to a most cruel and ignominious death. And albeit, after this. He con- firmed and asserted His mission and divine character by His stupendous resurrection from the dead, and the derivation of His miraculous gifts on His disciples, yet did they not believe on Him to be the Christ. They rejected His testimony and counsel against themselves, blaspheming His sacred name, and endeavoured with all the spite which malice could infuse, to obstruct the pro- gress of His doctrine. When, therefore, having given charge to His apostles and their successors to proselyte all nations to His religion. He after forty days ascended visibly into heaven, confirming and enabling them by the miraculous gift of tongues to divulge that saving Gospel for the conversion of the world ; the wonderful success whereof, together with its incomparable purity and perfection above all other religions, and conse- quently asserting it to be the only truth, is what we shall make out beyond all possible contradiction. THE TRUE RELIGION. 71 SECTION II. THAT THE JEWISH DISPENSATION BEING BUT TEMPORARY AND TYPICAL, HAD ITS FINAL ACCOMPLISHMENT IN THE MESSIAH. That religion and religious worship are due to God, we have learnt from the law of nature, and that there is a future reward (of congruity at least) established for those who live according to it. We have showed the utter impossibility of attaining that reward by a false religion, and asserted the Scriptures, which direct us, to be true. We come now to the spiritual and evangelical, of which the ritual and temporal was but the figure and adumbration, namely, the Christian Religion, as that which was the first in intention of Almighty God, the Great Legislator and Arbiter of His own worship : and in relation to which alone, whatsoever agreeable service former religions might possibly pretend to, was accepted. We have in the former chapter shown to how sad a period both the Jewish nation and religion came, and how that enclosure and partition wall was taken away, to admit Gentiles into the Church, and by a gracious Providence, to succeed it. For it is evident that the first Covenant and Alliance did not extend to all, (the promises of which could respect only a single and pe- culiar people) nor indeed was it intended it should, for- asmuch as all the world could not have dwelt and been contained in the same country, especially in Jewry, (being one of the least of Asia) nor under the same 72 THE TRUE RELIGION. Temple, which, how ample and capacious soever, could not have been sufficient for all those to have worshipped, and have done their devotions in, to whom the joyful sound of the Gospel come. Besides, had Circumcision been universal, it could have been no sacrament of dis- tinction. And there must needs have been another Covenant, essentially differing from the first, (according to that of the prophet Jeremiah^) far more perfect. But yet this was not to last but for a time, as a mystical signification of the circumcision of the heart, not to be required of the Jews only, but of all the world in the New Covenant, which entitles Christians to a spiritual and better Canaan than what that rite did promise.^ The law had once no less than four advantages, dis- criminating the Jews from all the world ; which were then marks of the true religion : first, the knowledge of the true Deity ; second, the Sacerdocy, or Priest- hood, and, consequently, the only right to sacrifice ; third, their government under a Theocracy, God being their invisible King; their visible, one of a particular tribe; and, lastly, the gift of Prophecy. None of which- prerogatives they have at present, nor have had for many ages, whereby to discriminate themselves to be the only people of God; but such character and evident signs to the contrary, that no nation or people under Heaven are in so sad condition. The knowledge * Jer , xxxi., 31, 33, 37. * Gen., xvii., 7. Salvation was not absolutely tied to that sign, since Abraham pleased God before he received it, and it was omitted for no less than forty years in the Wilderness. THE TRUE EELIGION. 73 of the True God is now in a manner universal. Their sacrifices are now quite abolished, as being annexed to their Temple only, long since destroyed and burnt. Nor have they priest or Levite to sacrifice, all their genealogies being confounded. Nor have they king or prince amongst them ; the whole nation, who should be his subjects, being long since miserably dispersed, de- stroyed, and enslaved. In a word, the spirit of pro- phecy has ceased among them, which was the prime and most conspicuous sign of their election, and being so near to God. The external religion, therefore, of the Jews could be no other than typical, relating to something which j was to succeed it, and become universal. For instance, the faithful and elect people were prefigured some- times by the people of Israel, sometimes by the primo- geniture, by the Levites, &c., so that there is nothing more exact than the proportion between the Christian and Jewish Church. The Israelites were separated from all other nations and people; so the Christian, from all other religions: the Israelites were abhorred by all other nations ; so the Christian, by all the wicked world : the Israelites were under oppression and servi- tude for a long time; the Church of Christ, hated, persecuted, and cruelly martyred from time to time: the Israelites had no other guide and leader than God, no light but His fiery pillar, no protection during all their tedious wanderings in the desert, but God's wonder- ful protecting Hand, no bread but what rained from Heaven ; and the Christian Church may say the same. 74 THE TRUE RELIGION. And, as God was in Israel, and would erect there only His Tabernacle and Temple, the faithful Christian only is both His Temple and Tabernacle. Their divine service prefigured the spiritual: the Levites, all the faithful, who in God's account are princes : the white garments and ministers of the Tabernacle, the innocence and sanctity of those who follow the Lamb and approach to God : the purity of the body, that of the heart : so the blood of goats and lambs, the blood of Christ : the waters of purification, which cleansed the stains of the body, prefigured the ablution of baptism, accompanied with the spiritual grace which sanctifies our souls : by Abraham's two wives, that of Sarah, the evangelical covenant ; by that of Hagar, the law of bondage, namely, the Jewish cere- monies: to Mount Sinai, oppose Mount Sion: in the sound of the trumpet, the voice of the Gospel, which goes out into all the world. In a word, to Moses, the mediator of the law and Old Testament, Christ, the Mediator of the New and better Testament. Again : the different states of the church are figured by the diflferent states of the people of Israel ; our spi- ritual servitude, by their temporal ; our deliverance, by their return out of captivity, and the like. So just and natural are the identities and resemblances, that Holy Scriptures do not unfrequently blend and mingle them together in the same chapter ; that which concerns the temporal of the one, the spiritual of the other ; and this in almost all occurrences and events ; remarks obvious, yet so important, that, without observing them, it is not THE TKUE RELIGION. 75 possible to understand the Old Testament, or with them, to be ignorant of it. In short, whatever happened under the New Testa- ment, was shadowed in the Old, even from the very be- ginning of time, even from the first Adam to the second : the tree of life in Paradise was to be eaten as a figure of Christ, who calls himself a tree in divers Scriptures ; and this typical tree and fruit were only to preserve a natural and worldly life ; Christ eaten by faith, an eternal life. But of the typical tree our first parents did never yet eat, because, being in a state of innocence, they had no need of it. The tree of which they might have eaten, they neglected ; of that which they were prohibited to eat, of that they eat. The Tree of Life was Christ ; the Tree of Knowledge, the law.^ The Tree of Life symbolized Christ with all his graces evangelical ; the eating of it, the union of mankind in Him. The Tree of Knowledge implied the law in all its rigour, and the prohibition of eating it, that we were not to obtain justification by the works of the law ; and, therefore, to depend on, and nourish our hope and faith in Christ alone, the true and real Arbor mtw. Thus, as eating manna figured the real union of that food with the bodies and faith of the Israelites, so was it a type of our union with Christ in the Holy Sacrament. And, in like manner, the Paschal Lamb, and all those other legal sacrifices, were types of that Great One offered upon the Cross. And divers of these sacrifices were to be eaten, to intimate man's * Lex, data Adas et Evae, est quasi matrix omnium praeceptorum Dei, quae pullularunt postea data per Mosen. — TerluU. ad vers. Jud. 76 THE TRUE RELIGION. union and coalescence (as it were) with Christ the antitype, by the spiritual manducation of His sacred Body in the consecrated elements. In sum, Jesus the Lamb, being slain from the begin- ning of the world (in designation), all sacrifices and atone- ments from that period were effectual only by His blood. Nor was Almighty God ever reconciled to any sinner before, under, or since the law of Jewish Ordinances, but by virtue, regard to, and intuition of the Blessed blood of Jesus ! Though they who were so long under the law and Mosaical Dispensation, they knew it not but rarely, and under types and shadows, till the Messiah, the substance, appeared, and removed the veil. On this, then, may we depend, that all sins whatsoever are remitted us in baptism, and all committed after baptism remissible ; and the person committing them shall re- ceive remission, upon true repentance, at any time, according to the tenor of the Gospel. For sin, after illumination, through frailty committed, we are taught by Christ daily to ask forgiveness.^ Then are we firmly to believe that comfortable article, '^ forgive- ness of sins," as an undoubted truth, exciting us to thankfulness, to love, and future care. Again : wicked Cain was a type of Christ's enemies ; Esau's despising his primogeniture, a type of the profane renouncing the inheritance of Heaven, for the present enjoyments and sensual satisfaction of this life ; Lot's wife, of such as having escaped sin by God's grace, fall back and apostatize again. The action of Sampson over the Philistines, of David over Goliah, are types of the vic- ^ Acts, ii., 38. THE TRUE RELIGION. 77 tones and triumphs of Jesus Christ. The presence of God in the Tabernacle figured the Incarnation of the Word, which dwells,^ as in a tabernacle, in the faithful. The writings of Moses were the canon and rule of all the Pro- phets ; and therefore Isaiah, Malachi, and even our Blessed Lord himself, send their auditors for these things to Moses; and it is said that his last Epicedium ^ comprehends the sum of all the prophecies which respect the Church. Thus the religion which we now call Christian is , (as St. Augustine says) but still the old religion,^ which 1 began with mankind, though it has not been called I Christian but since the coming of Christ. Our Lord did j not affect the bringing in of novelties, so that many of His Parables we find to have been taken out of the ancient Jewish Doctors,'* as that of the Labourers in the Vine- ^ Deut., xxxii,, xxxiii. ^ 'Eo-K^i/oo-f. St. John, i., 14. 2 Eusebius (Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 4) shows that the Christian religion is the same with the Patriarchal, even before Moses, which he proves by many instances. * [The following passage, from the pen of the learned Mr. Hart^ well Home, contradicts this assertion. Speaking of the Parables of the New Testament, he says, " These compositions of Christ were all original. Dr. Lightfoot and others have shown that Jesus often borrowed proverbs and phrases from the Jews. But an In- spired Teacher would not surely propose whole parables., that were in common use, for his own. Nor does it appear that any body used the parables of Christ before His time. For instance, the parable of the Householder and the Labourers, (of the Ten Vir- gins, and many others) which is extant in the Jerusalem Gemara, was written an age and a half at least after the destruction of the Temple. It is more probable, therefore, that it was written in imitation of Christ, than borrowed from any ancient tradition. Introd. Crit. Stud. H. Script., vol. ii., part ii., chap, v., sect. 6.] 78 THE TRUE RELIGION. yard ; the rich glutton ; the Wise and Foolish Virgins. "We have shown already, how Baptism and the Holy Eucharist had their spring ftom the Jewish purifications and Passover. The Schelikkim^ Nehym, and Khakhamim, answered to the Apostles, Doctors, pastors of the primitive Church; the Niddui and Cherem to their excommunication ; and so of sundry more. For thus it pleased the Divine Wisdom, by innu- merable types and figures, to inculcate the perfection, excellency, functions, and ministry of our great re- demption. To proceed yet a little farther : Isaac, conceived in the womb of a barren mother, the sole delight and only son of an indulgent father, and the foundation of that mighty promise to Abraham and his seed for ever, was offered in figure on a mount, even by the hand of his tender father, and raised (as it were) from death under the fatal knife, to be the source of a posterity like the stars of Heaven for number. See, on the other hand, our Blessed Lord Jesus, the Messiah, in whom alone his Father was well pleased; our Isaac, the spring of all our blessings and promises infinitely exceeding those of God to Abraham, conceived in the womb of a pure virgin, was offered a real and bloody sacrifice for us on Mount Calvary, was miraculously raised from the dead, and became father of a posterity more numerous than the stars of Heaven, and the sands of the sea for multitude. Joseph is sold by his unkind brethren, out of envy, accused falsely, and condemned, because he would not sin against God with a wanton adultress. See him delivered from prison, advanced and honoured by the THE TRUE RELIGION. 79 prince, representing our Jesus, sold and delivered to the wicked Jews, his brethren, for envy ; condemned and put to death, because He resisted the corrupted and adulterated Synagogue. See him, / say^ freed from the prison of the grave, and advanced to sit at the right hand of the King of Kings. Moses, the mediator of the old and legal covenant, preserved from the cruel Pharaoh, exposed upon the water, saved from perishing in it, that he might save and rescue the people and Church of God, repre- sented Christ, who came into the world, the Mediator of a New Covenant, rescued from the murderous Herod, that He might be the Saviour of the world. Jonas, swallowed by a monstrous fish, to appease the raging tempest, is cast upon the shore about the third day after ; so Christ, devoured by the cruel grave, on the third day emerges from its jaws. David, from a poor and humble shepherd, advanced to be a monarch, was the most remarkable type and figure of that great Shepherd of the flock, and Bishop of our souls, who, after all His exinanition, and the things He suffered for us, is become the Monarch of both worlds, the dominion of whose kingdom shall en- dure for ever. Thus, Moses and the Law give the light to Christ' — Christ to Moses. ^ That sacrifices were but types, consult Isai., i., 11 — Iviii. ; Jer., vii., 21, 23; Micah, vi., 6, 7 ; Malachi, i., &c. Some even of their own Rabbins confess that they were all to cease, save those of praise and thanksgiving, in the days of the Messiah. Thus, 80 THE TRUE RELIGION. Now, all mankind being polluted with sins, no sacri- fice from among them could possibly expiate those sins ; and therefore God the Son, who was God and Man without sin, undertook it for him. The miracle, then, or rather mystery, of the Christian religion, consists in this — that He to whom sacrifice is offered is God ; the victim offered to Him is God ; and the Priest who offers it is God ; and He who is offered is God and Man, that so to Him Man might be offered for the sin of man ; the Lord Jesus being the Invisible Priest ; the Priest, the visible Jesus. Therefore, the sacrifice of His Son is and always was pleasing to God the Father, but not the sin of those who so maliciously sacrificed Him. To proceed, then, as to types and shadows, the Jewish religion was yet, during all that dispensation, certainly divine and true.^ Witness the miracles, the sublimity of its morals, disinterestedness of its doctrine, as to holi- ness of life and accomplishment of its prophecies, though with all these exceedingly defective, and in divers things very weak and extravagant, but as they related to things and persons more sublime and perfect. For who can else comprehend or imagine that the great and infinitely Holy God should be God of but one small and despicable people and nation only ? that the Divi- nity should be confined ( as it were) to a material chest or little cabinet of wood ? Him, whom the Heaven of Heavens could not contain, should dwell in a moving Rabbi Hadurson (on Gen., xlii. — xlix.) ; and that in His days there should be no more distinction of beasts ; Christ fulfilling the Law in a most perfect manner. ^ I. Cor., x. THE TRUE RELIGION. 81 tent or temple made with hands ? or that the external purity of the body should be so much insisted on by Him who is the Father of Spirits; that he should de- light in the bloody sacrifices of innocent beasts, in com- mutation for the sins of wicked men ? All these were mean, poor, and (as the Apostle calls them) beggarly elements.^ He who is the God of Glory, before whom the angels veil their faces, and who dwells in the light inac- cessible, should please Himself with mundane pomp and busy ceremonies of man ? What possible proportion have all these to the infinite glory and wisdom of God ? But, when we worthily consider what was to follow and succeed all this preparation, and the analogy these things had to those to come, we shall find them to represent an economy and service highly becoming the wisdom and providence of God in a most admirable manner. For to begin with Abraham, for instance. Had not this faithful person quitted Ur of the Chaldees, his native and idolatrous country, he had continued an idolater, as were his parents. ^ Nor could he have pre- served his posterity in the true religion and service of God ; and so had his descendants failed of the promised blessing to all nations. In like manner had Jacob sojourned still with Laban, his children had likewise ' Gal., iv., 9. 2 [That Abraham was an idolater before his call is plain from Holy Scriptures, though Josephus seems to intimate the contrary. Hence Joshua (xxiv., ii.) " said unto all the people. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abram, and the father of Nachen ; and they served other g-ods''] VOL. II. G 82 THE TRUE RELIGION. been corrupted, as their uncle Esau's were, mingling with strangers ; the holy race had been confounded, and consequently the genealogy of the glorious Messiah, who was, according to the flesh, to descend from a peculiar line and tribe of that stock, disordered. It was, therefore, by signal Providence that all this was prevented, as was also even His sending the Pa- triarchs into Egypt, there to live by themselves, and afterwards his delivering them from servitude, and bringing them forth, to plant them where He did; since their alliances, hopes, promises, manners, inclina- tions, laws, ceremonies, and religion, were singularly and totally different from all other people and nations under heaven. For this effect, it was first necessary that God alone should be their King and Sovereign Magistrate. They were, indeed, for their frequent rebellions and departure from His laws, sometimes sorely afflicted, and seemingly abandoned under tedious and sharp captivities; yet did none of them last above seventy years, till they were freed again ; lest, being deserted a longer time, they should utterly have lost and forgotten their religion. His praises, and that they were God's peculiar people, designed to be under this economy, till the Messiah, their true deliverer, should come. In order to this, was first discovered to Abraham the knowledge of the true God, when all the rest of the world had forgotten Him, lying in ignorance and gross idolatry. To him was enjoined the covenant of circum- cision, to be made in the concupiscential flesh, as a token of distinction from the impure nations ; nor was THE TKUE RELIGION. 83 it, therefore, on any other account or natural cause or impediment (as some have profanely fancied), since men are far from using to receive such painful and difficult rites, and so averse to the tenderness of parents (as we may well conclude from the behaviour of Zipporah), though it had not also (as it has) something of indecent and opprobrious in it. And this rite must needs prove that the Author of their religion was God ; it being ridiculous to conceive that human reason would have chosen an institution so painful and burdened with so many costly sacrifices, and ceremonies besides. Then, the assigning them the land of Canaan (pos- sessed by the first Patriarchs, for a short time), fixed their affections and longings after it, that they might not defile themselves with other nations, or be dispersed among them. And so strongly were they assured of it to their posterity, as that they would never be other than sojourners in other places, wherever they came, all their lives long. Hence, such as died in Egypt during this tedious interval took care that their bones might be transported to the Land of Promise, when God was pleased to deliver them, both to manifest their faith, and to oblige their posterity to set their hearts and expectations upon it ; teaching us Christians how we ought to set our affections on the heavenly Canaan, looking on this world but as a transitory passage to a better. And that that country (full of notorious sin- ners, the seven nations whom God had cast out) should not pervert His chosen people. He ordered their utter extermination ; such as out of indulgence they spared, g2 8^ THE TRUE RELIGION. becoming snares and perpetual mischief to them : as do likewise all those darling sins of ours, which, as so many Canaanites, we spare, and do not utterly extirpate. The Tabernacle first, and afterwards the Temple, which God would have the centre of His service and material oblations, was fixed and confined to a certain place, that His people might not wander and stray from the true religion and the place where the Messiah was to be born. In a word, it was for this that the Law itself was also such as obliged the Jews to such an aversion to all other nations, as to look on them with contempt and abhorrence ; and the like detestation had the Heathen for the Jews, seeing them sacrifice divers animals which the Gentiles worshipped and esteemed as gods ; and that they, on the contrary, used to eat swine's flesh and other things the most abominable to them. So that the exterior purity of the body, pre- scribed by the Levitical Law, prohibited them all man- ner of converse with other people, whom they looked upon as profane. Nor was this all ; for God did also separate one whole tribe from all their brethren, namely, that of Judah, out of which the oracle, pronounced by their grandfather Jacob, foretold the sceptre should not depart, nor the Law given from between his feet, till Shiloh, that is the Messiah, (as the Chaldee, &c., ex- pounds it) should come, who should no longer separate, but gather all nations into one. Lastly, out of this royal tribe a peculiar family was set apart, namely, that of David, upon whose throne He promised his posterity should sit for ever and ever ; which had been evidently false, were it not accomplished THE TRUE RELIGIOK. 85 in Christ, the Prince of everlasting peace, of whose kingdom there is no end. These and the like were God's designs for the bring- ing about man's redemption, according to His Divine and secret purpose ; but which He thought not good to execute at once, but by types and figures, and by gra- dual preparation, discovering some by glimpses to par- ticular and favoured persons only, such as the holy Patriarchs — Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel, and other of the Prophets, whereof some were harbingers and forerunners ; though all this while involved in types, and mostly in shadows, which, as the Sun of Righteousness approached, so they by degrees dispersed. For, as we have shown, they had all respect to the times of the Gospel, and even unto ours, upon whom the ends of the world are come. They were wrapped in clouds, not only to conciliate our greater reverence, but to exercise our understand- ing and diligence ; to stir up our devotion, render us humble, incite us to study and search the Scriptures, and, perhaps, were as necessary to bring about His great design ; since, had men known what the events would have been, the Apostle tells us,^ they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. It was expedient, therefore (as God had before de- termined), at that time to conceal his purpose, that so many things should be shaded under types and symbols, to be hereafter explained and accomplished. We find divers high and glorious things veiled under figures, and mystically described by the Prophets, attributed to ^ Acts, iii., 17. 86 THE TRUE RELIGION. the reign of Christ, which never happen to the Jewish Church, or to those holy men according to the letter. David speaks many things of himself, which were never accomplished in his days, and these St. Peter interprets very plainly.^ Nay, the Jews themselves were not ig- norant of it, and, therefore, were so studious of the hid- k den sense of Scripture, as carried them to excess in ij their laborious critiques. ^*'*The brazen Serpent, the persecutions of David and other holy men, were types of our Blessed Saviour's sufferings ; Solomon of His spiritual kingdom and glory ; and those remarkable chapters of Isaiah^ show us, as in a table, all the famous passages of His whole life and passion, and issue of it. To this add those plentiful passages sprinkled through all the Psalter, &c. For thus it is written, and thus it ought to be, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, and that He might be the exemplar of holiness, charity, meekness, and all other divine virtues, which He could not have shown, had He been born great, high, and rich in worldly circumstances. The more poor* and mean He appeared, the more won- derful and illustrious His might, works, and miracles. Besides, He was to expiate by His sufferings for our sins, to intercede for us, to bless us, and all to secure our faith and salvation. Nor by these events alone did God prepare the Jews to embrace the true Messiah, but by imposing the heavy yoke of the Law, burdened with innumerable ceremonies, busy and chargeable ; that, groaning under ^ Acts, ii., 27. * Isai., viii., 14 ; 1., 6 ; lii., liii. ; Dan., ix. ; Zech., ix., xii. THE TEUE RELIGION. 87 a pressure wliich neither they nor their fathers were able to endure (as under sin, for the Law came in be- cause of sin), they might long for Him, who, by ful- filling that Law at once, should break their ponderous yoke, and change it into a Law of liberty, to that of Christ, whose yoke is easy and burden light, and exer- cise their thoughts and minds about those important and sublime mysteries, whereof those busy ceremonies were but types and shadows. The former dispensation had nothing greater than carnal motives, temporal and fading blessings, which could never satisfy the souls of men designed for immortality and a more noble state, as is plain from several passages of Holy Scripture, especially the Psalms of David and the Prophets, the nearer they approached the dawning of that day, when this Star, or rather Sun of Righteousness, was to rise. Thus, we are led to behold the infinite wisdom of Almighty God through all this dark economy. In the mean time, as to that inquiry how their forefathers were saved, and what the Patriarchal faith was, before and since the Mosaical institution (an account whereof I have already partly given), we may not suppose that either they or the Jews were obliged to believe every article of the Christian faith, as that the Messiah was to be born of the Virgin Mary, or suffer under Pontius Pilate, be crucified, die, be buried, descend to Hades, rise the third day, &c. Nor was all this creed believed at first by our Saviour's own disciples, till He had run through all these periods, and was actually risen from his grave. Nor understood they the mystery of the Sacred Trinity as we do, and many other recondite 88 THE TRUE RELIGION. secrets. But a more general belief in the Messiah was accepted, without a full knowledge of His Divine office. They were (as we have shown), all this while, under the schoolmaster, clouded with types and figures, so that even the Apostles, when they came to know that He was the Christ, were for a time forbidden to divulge it ; because the grand evidences of His calling and high character, the descent of the Holy Ghost and resurrec- tion, were not yet accomplished ; by which His mission and doctrine were evidenced and asserted beyond all possible contradiction. But though this secret mystery was at first thus clouded, as it pleased God the Father, mindful of His promise to our fathers, a glimmering light was seen, at least, by some more illuminated amongst the holy Pa- triarchs and Prophets. Abraham, our Saviour tells us, rejoiced to see His day;^ Jacob, Job, David, the divine and (as a Father calls him) the Evangelical Isaiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Anna, and the good old Simeon, we may safely reckon among these happy souls. The rest certainly expected some signal Deli- verer, though they comprehended not the types ; nor haply the Prophets themselves so explicitly, even what they prophesied; nor any else, till their predictions were come to pass. Those mysteries St. Paul tells us not being made known to the ages past.^ Nor was such explicit faith actually required, farther than what is set down in the Epistle to the Hebrews — faith in God's general promise. Nor seem they, till the Messiah ^ John, viii., 56. 2 Ephes., iii., 4, 5 ; Heb., xi. THE TRUE RELIGION. 89 Indeed was come, obliged to any other act of faith for justification, but such an universal belief, one time or other, without any intuitive cognizance of circumstances, as is required of Christians. And though, unless Christ had come and suffered according to the Scriptures, no flesh could have been saved, because all sacrificial rites and ceremonies, with all their best services, were im- perfect and faulty, and, consequently, unacceptable without Christ, who, by fulfilling the Law, accom- plished all ; yet they knew it not, or very darkly ; whereas, since the Gospel shone, we have a full, explicit, and distinct faith in our Messiah and all its mysteries, containing the substance of all those types and shadows, which were to have their completion when this Pro- pitiatory had finished His mission. E-epentance yet was, doubtless, required of all, as well as faith. This is evident through all the Scrip- ture ; the exhortations to it we have in all the Pro- phets. And the beholding so many innocent creatures daily immolated and dying for their trespasses, as every sacrifice for sin presented them, could not but intimate to them what themselves deserved: though, perhaps, they might not so distinctly apply all this to the sacri- fice and merits of Christ yet to come ; whilst so they were reputed in the mind and purpose of God (for else, they must for ever have been abominable, and no de- light to Him, namely, those bloody offerings, who looked upon a broken and contrite heart above all those costly ceremonies) ; and, though natural religion, reason, and God's aspectable works, easily lead men to acknowledge 90 THE TRUE RELIGION. and revere a Deity, and many to live virtuously, yet even the very wisest and deepest of them could never guess at the method by which God would bring them to salvation. In the covenant of works, God required of every soul entire obedience to the Law, which, per- fectly observed, had, doubtless, justified the person; but, finding him altogether unable to come up to that, He graciously entered into a second Covenant of Grace, requiring only faith in God the Father and His pro- mises for the redemption of the world ; till Christ should come and be incarnate, which qualified Him to finish what we could not attain. Nor this by any inherent dignity properly in our faith or any other virtues, but through the benevolence and mercy of Almighty God ; so that we are justified by his free grace alone, im- puting the act of faith, working by love, to us for righteousness, instead of all other legal and ceremonial works. This act of faith is the true and genuine cause of jus- tification and salvation, above all other theological virtues. Not (as we said) from any dignity or excel- lency of the act itself (which God might have assigned and placed as well in charity or hope), but from His own beneficence and holy will that so it should be ; and that faith might have this honour and effect ; the Holy Ghost, as it were, mercifully condescending to bind even Himself to the very words and syllables, namely, the imputing our faith for justification, rightly applied, to our inexpressible and eternal consolation. And now, how far the same did operate for the faithful before our THE TRUE RELIGION. 91 Blessed Saviour's Incarnation, may piously and reason- ably be conjectured. SECTION III. THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS THE TRUE MESSIAH ; PROVED, I. BY FULFILLED PROPHECY. We now come to prove that the true Messiah, Christ, or the Anointed, is come — He, namely, whom the Jews long expected, and upon whom we Christians especially place all our confidence, and the religion and faith we profess relies. And that this Messiah is truly God and Man by mysterious Incarnation, and thereby qualified to accomplish the great work of that redemption which no religion else could eflfect, no other name being under heaven by which we could be saved, is the next and most important truth we have to clear. There were seven things, the Talmudists say, which were ordained before the world: — 1, the Law; 2, Re- pentance ; 3, Paradise ; 4, Hell ; 5, Heaven ; 6, the Sanctuary; and 7, the Messiah. As to the name Christ, or Messiah, both siginifying the Anointed, it is a name, oflfice, and dignity, and of persons set apart for some eminent calling, and, there- fore, inaugurated with the same ceremony. So Kings, Princes, Prophets, Priests were anointed after the man- ner of the Eastern countries, with a sweet, balsamic exudation, or odoriferous composition, and did signify, from its spreading nature, the diffusiveness of grace and goodness. Whence that of the Spouse — Thy name 92 THE TRUE BELIGION. is as ointment poured forth} Our Blessed Saviour was thus anointed in all the capacities of the Messiah, Priest, Prophet, King ; so as never any other was before Him. That the Messiah should appear about this time, was the universal expectation ; and there were prophecies of it, not only among the Jews, but even the Gentiles. ^ First, then, from Scripture prophecies, in a line from Adam, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Job, David,^ it is abundantly evident that such a person was to come ; not, as some later Jews still believe, to be a temporal deliverer, but a spiritual and eternal. By Jacob's pre- diction of the Shiloh, by Balaam's Star,"* by that of the Magi, by the Sceptre's departure from Judah, this must be the true Messiah ; for from thence to the Incarna- tion it remained in that family, that tribe still ruling even during all the time of the captivity, and afterwards when under the Romans themselves they had a sort of Commonwealth, and, in some cases, liberty to punish capitally.* Zerubbabel was also of that tribe, and other captains and governors under the Persian, with great authority. But no sooner was He really come, or, at least, a little after His Passion, than at once the Jews lost not only all their own particular government, but ^ Cant., i., 2. ' Cicero gives many hints of it in his epistle to Lentulus, and in his book, De Republica; Virgil in his fourth eclogue, though, to flatter Augustus, misapplied. ^ Gen., iii,, 15; xviii., 18; xlix., 10; Deut., xviii., 15, 18; Job., xix., 25 ; Ps. ex., 4. * Numb., xxiv., 17. 6 See all this made out by Eusebius, 1. viii., De Dem. Evang., and Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 6. THE TKUE KELIGION. 93 all the marks of all government whatsoever, living with- out law, prince, dwelling, country, possession, title, tribute, or the least mark of a people under any regi- ment or polity ; nay, and they had lost their very books of genealogy, and were so disordered and scattered, that they despaired of their re-establishment. Their Temple was destroyed, their altars demolished, their city burnt and sacked, their priesthood abolished, &c. Add to this the completion of the prophecies.^ That the glory of the second, though much inferior Temple for outward magnificence and cost, should be greater than that of the first ; as it accordingly was, by the presence of our Blessed Saviour, the desire of all nations. Born as He was about the latter end of Augustus's reign, when all the world was in peace, the temple of Janus shut, the Roman empire now in its most flourish- ing state, and the earth under one prince, as never was there a time so fit for the Prince of Peace, and the spreading of the Gospel of Peace without interruption. That the Jews were in great expectation appears from the fact, that no sooner did the Magi come to worship, than the whole Sanhedrim was consulted by Herod, who, jealous of his lately acquired authority, was so fearful lest the child should escape him, who he thought might live to supplant him, that he caused his own son to be murdered. ^ Tacitus and Suetonius report » Haggai, ii., 7. 2 This being told to Augustus, he is reported to have said, Melius est Herodis porcum esse, qud,m filium. Macrob. Saturn., 1. v., c. 4. 94 THE TRUE RELIGION. that the Jews were so impatient of the delay of his ap- pearing, that it incited them to a rebellion, and how they flattered Vespasian with their opinion of his being the person, because he was a great and powerful prince, such a one as they dreamt of. But it could not be the body of the Jews who entertained this fancy, because the Messiah they expected was to deliver them from the Romans, and subdue the whole world to their law. And, indeed, this was the fulness of time ; the sceptre, as we showed, was departed, it being punctually also at the expiration of Daniel's weeks,^ an unanswerable prophecy, where is foretold the Messiah's cutting off from the people, but not for Himself, the Anointed being slain, the ceasing of the daily oblation and legal rites, the durability of His kingdom, in which the saints should reign ; the ruin of the four monarchies figured by gold, silver, brass, and mixed iron. All these fulfilled, are most convincing proofs.^ It was now, also, that the Jewish religion was more than ever spread about the world by an accession of the Gentiles, and so prepared to entertain the Gospel in the fulness of time, and that the Roman Empire was in its highest acme of learning, eloquence, wit, pomp, and magnificence. Appeal we to the Rabbins. They all expound Jacob's prediction to that of Christ, whose era was to be at the ceasing of their magistracy. Nor is there at present one ^ Dan., ix., 24. ^ These particulars see at large in the often cited Euseb., 1. vi., c. 8. De Demonst. Evang. THE TRUE RELIGION. 95 Jew, who pretends to be of that ruling tribe, ^ so vigilant was Herod and the Roman Emperors to extirpate it, our Saviour being the very last who could have any pretence, being born in the reign of that tyrant, who was the first usurping stranger. Besides, many of their ancient doctors, weary of expecting, and convinced by innumerable arguments, confess He is already come, more than a thousand years since, though they know not where to find Him, but that He is hidden for their sins. The seventy weehs of Daniel, to the rebuilding of the demolished Temple, (according to all calculation) amounted to 483 years, namely, from the first of Cyrus, to Herod and Tiberius ; so that, as the prophet Jere- miah writes to the captivity, that in seventy years they should return from their temporal captivity, so in just as many weeks of years they should also from their spiritual.'^ And this, with the rest, has been so closely urged, that they have no other subterfuge but that of the prophets being mistaken, whilst the more ingenuous afifirmed their Messiah should come about the four thousandth year from the Creation. The old Talmud of Rabbi Elias is express ; and they are now so lamentably tired with attendance, as to ac- knowledge it vain to trouble themselves any longer about it. To this may be added an universal tradition ^ As is fully and largely made out by Euseb. De Demonst. Evang., 1. viii., 1, 22, explaining the ixth of Daniel. ^ Their doctor, Nehemias, living fifty years before Christ, con- fidently averred that it could not be above fifty years before what Daniel so 'predicted would come to pass. 96 THE TRUE RELIGION. amongst them, that the true Messiah was then to appear when their whole nation was the most depraved, and wickedness abounded amongst them;^ and that then they were so, Josephus^ sufficiently sets forth, and even to that height of wickedness, that he tells us, they were worse than impious Sodom. That the Romans never showed so great cruelty as against this perfidious people, may be reckoned an instance of the Divine displeasure for their rejecting their Saviour, who, to testify His mission, had done such wonders among them, that had they not been the most wilful and obstinate, they must have acknowledged Him the Messiah. As to the rest of those texts ob- jected by the Jews, as the cleaving of Mount Olivet, the planing of ways, the exaltation of Jerusalem, and the like, besides that they are all verified in Christ, their own learned Maimonides^ says expressly, they are parabolical and figurative. The historians'* we mentioned tell us of a report about that time, of an universal Monarch to be born in Jewry ; and Josephus says there was a public inscrip- tion of it there in the market-place. This, with other predictions, so possessed the people, that they were dis- posed to rise upon every occasion, as they did with Judas the Gaulonite, Theudas, and other impostors, those arch levellers, who were all dispersed. Nor is the ^ Zech., xiii. ^ Joseph. Antiq., 1. xx., c. 6, and De Bello Jud., 1. i., c. 15. ^ In Deuter. * [Tacitus, Hist., I. v., 9-13. Suetonius Vespasian, c. 4-8.] THE TRUE RELIGION. 97 general and sudden silence of their own prophets to be passed by; their early and earnest looking for Him, by their questioning John the Baptist, &c. One Theo- dosius, a Jew, avows that in a certain record he had seen a short account of the miraculous conception of Christ, in which His Divinity was asserted, and His divine person registered among the priests by the name of Jesus, son of the Living God, and of Mary the Virgin. And Rabbi Hacodoch long since is said to have foretold, that His mother's name should be Mary, and spake of Bethlehem, and other circumstances of His birth. Babbi Ula, from the ninth of Isaiah, con- fesses that Jesus of Nazareth (for so he styles Him) was crucified the day before the Passover. This, of necessity, must be on our Good Friday, and adds that He was, though very poor, of royal extraction, and that the disciples of HUM should see Him, owning old Simeon for one of the chief amongst them.^ Another proof of the Messiah being come, may be gathered from Isaiah,^ where we have His life and pas- sion so graphically expressed, as if we saw it before our eyes, but especially in the twenty-second Psalm, so that not one accident or circumstance, to a tittle, no, not to the tasting of a little vinegar, but is punctually men- tioned and repeated. We have there His being nailed ^ Josephus, who yet describes His person, was not to write more, having already been one of the flatterers of Vespasian. For my part, as to that famous passage, where he describes our Blessed Saviour, I know not why we should not as soon raze out any period of that excellent History. ^ Isa., liii. VOL. II. H 98 THE TRUE RELIGION. to the Cross, piercing, revilings and blasphemies against Him ; His sorrowful exclamation, the parting of His vesture, His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and His leading captivity captive, &c. The descent of the Holy Ghost, too, is prophecied by Joel, the vocation and coalition of the Gentiles. Nor is it to be passed by, the endeavour of Tiberius to have Him enrolled into the number of the Gods, who was God and Man ; His very name, half Hebrew and half Greek, showing both Jew and Gentile were to liave an interest in Him. And His Deity was asserted by the silencing of their oracles after the demons had confessed Him, at which Porphyry was not a little per- plexed, it happening so near his birth. Augustus, like- wise, even before His advent, is said to have erected an altar, Primogenito Dei. I pass by the acknowledgment of the aforementioned apostate,^ that the Christians were the cause of the improsperity of their gods. Wherefore most semblable is that of Tertullian, where he challenges any of their false deities, and speaks of their being ordinarily in his time forced to confess Christ, their impotence of doing any feats where the holy Babylus was buried, and how their demons and all other Pagan conjurers were put out of countenance in the presence of any Christian. Never could any of their necromancers raise our Lord, or so much as His phantom. Hecadoch, a great rabbi, calls Christ the spiritual King.^ But the most remarkable is what ^ Porphyry. - So also Rabbi Misdrach, upon the Psalms and other Scriptures. THE TEUE RELIGION. 99 Philo says upon it, that the birth of the Messiah should not be after the manner of other men. Hadarsan calls Him the Bud, not by carnal generation, as Zecharius ^ the Branch,^ Further, He was to be of the family of David,^ {w^' figured in Solomon, that happy, great, wise, and peace- able prince) of invincible power, reigning over souls, and by His doctrine subduing the world with spiritual weapons; never prince so rewarding his subjects. And that He was to be such a King, was shown, not only by the coming in of the kings of the earth and submitting their sceptre to His Cross, but in what we noted of the overthrow of the kingdom of Satan, in the silence of his oracles, demolition of his places of wor- ship, overthrowing and breaking down their costly statues, and the unclean spirits ejected. Of His being born at Bethlehem,^ besides what was predicted, it appeared by the Censual Tables mentioned by Justin Martyr, as then extant, St. Cyprian, Ter- tullian, and others. That He was to be the Son of God,^ was confessed by John the Baptist, by Nathaniel, Martha, Peter, and the rest, and by the expectation of the Jews themselves, as is plain by the High Priest's 1 Zech., vii., 12. ^ See the learned Huetius in his Evangelical Demonstration^ and the parallel texts he has so laboriously collated, of all that God spake to the holy prophets since the world began, to perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, and to remember His holy- Covenant. 3 Jer., xxiii., 5. * Mcah, v., 2. ^ Ps. ii., 7, 12. H2 100 THE TRUE EELIGION. question.^ That He was to be born of a Virgin, was no less acknowledged, nor did any of his adversaries gainsay it ; nay, attested by an angel.^ That yet, for all this. He should appear in a mean garb,^ innumerable Scriptures tells us, which made the lofty Jews despise Him, as expecting a pompous, worldly Prince; and therefore they called Him a blasphemer, for assuming that high dignity. Nay, the Apostles themselves were exceedingly possessed with this fancy, every moment expecting when He should begin His reign, so as to confound all the Roman power, and restore the king- dom of the Jews. And some of them ambitiously sought to be especial favourites, as the sons of Zebe- dee's children, insomuch as this seems to have been the greatest stumbling-block why the Jews did not believe in Him, for all His mighty works and holy doc- trine, though the contrary was plainly enough foretold.'* And how He made good His character for the office He was pleased to perform, satisfying His Father for us by His perfect righteousness and unsinning obedience, the New Testament is full from one end to the other. Indeed, never was any creature so patient, mild, humble, merciful, gentle, and disposed to do good. He went about continually seeking for opportunities to instruct by His holy doctrine, to give and forgive. So holy, so devout, so temperate, contented, grateful, prudent, wise, loving, and charitable, so as never any was, debonair, peaceable, full of pity, obliging, fami- ^ Isa., liii., 2; Zech., ix., 9. ^ Ps., xxii., Ixix. ; Isa., liii. 3 Matt., xxvi., 63. * Luke, i., 30, 31. THE TRUE RELIGION. 101 liar, and condescending, and accessible even to little children, preaching the Gospel to the poor ; and happy they, who were not offended at Him, that is, at those mean and humble circumstances which covered these transcendent excellencies. His doctrine was propounded in a plain and familiar way, yet with a gravity and such substantial and powerful authority, as became a Divine Legislator, and not as the Scribes and Jewish Doctors, whom, at twelve years of age. He posed. His Sermon on the Mount contains the whole duty of man. There it is He gives us the true interpretation of the law, not of the letter, but of the spirit, and containing such joy- ful tidings as would even transport the hearer. He came to institute a new covenant, which He ratified with His own blood ; that those who believed in Him, that is, performed His easy commands by faith and repentance, should have pardon of sins, and partake of His future glory. Of this stipulation, and that we might in no ways doubt of it, innumerable are the Scriptures.^ 2. BY THE TESTIMONY OE MIRACLES. We now come from Prophecies to the events and testimony of Miracles, and other witnesses of the Divine Jesus ; and of which He did more in three years, shall we say ? nay, within the space of three days (as we noted), than were ever done by all the Prophets, who went before. ^ S. Luke,xxiv., 47; Acts,ii., 38 ; v., 31 ; I. Tim., ii., 5 ; Heb., vii., 24 ; ix., 15 ; x., 29, &c. 102 THE TRUE RELIGION. Never were such exploits performed by any poten- tate or conqueror of the world, as by the King of both worlds, vanquishing the terror of terrors. Death him- self, subduing the powers of Hell and Darkness. And necessary it was it should be so, as He was to bring under, reform, re-edify, and new-make even the high and haughty spirits of both men and devils, and to change the customs of the whole world. In order to this. He was to show Himself first to the Jews, among whom what mighty works showed themselves, the Scriptures show; and such as God only could do, I namely, create, as He did, eyes to the man born blind, and raising both Himself and others from the dead ; discovering the very secrets of men's hearts, preventing men's thoughts ; effecting cures at a distance, and this by a mere word only ; foretelling future contingencies ; making Himself invisible ; not by tricks of legerde- main, or lying wonders, or feasible by art, magic, and help of evil spirits (whose kingdom He came to destroy), but by a power inherent in Him. And all of them leading to some good, and helpful to mankind ; full of majesty, as pointing the finger of God, and of mighty consequence ; and, though supernatural, yet by no means contrary to nature. Nor were they done in a corner, or in blind times, or with any fantastical cere- 1 monies ; but gravely, plainly, and solemnly. The circumstances waiting on His birth were illus- trated by an extraordinary phenomenon, a chorus of heavenly angels, besides the Angel of Annunciation; the strange birth of His precursor ; visions to Joseph ; THE TRUE RELIGION. 103 voices from Heaven; add to these, the Holy Spirit's resting on Him ; His transfiguration ; His curbing the tempestuous sea ; the turning of water into wine ; the multiplying of the loaves and fishes; the healing of innumerable and incurable diseases by a word ; the for- giving of sins ; for who but God can forgive sins ? He knew letters, never having been taught; He told the woman of Samaria all that ever she did ; He ejected all kinds of spirits ; foretold His own Passion, and all that should happen to Him, even to Peter's denial, and his disciples deserting Him. He foretold the success of his doctrine, the destruction of Jerusalem forty years before it happened; with the miraculous escape and preservation of those Christians who retreated to Pella. He exercised the same omnipotent power over all the elements and things, the sea, winds, earth, plants, animals, and spirits, ejecting of these, not a few, but whole legions. He healed desperate infirmities, not only by His touch and voice, but by his very shadow ; Oh, stupendous power ! By a word only, without per- suasion. He converted an avaricious publican, a wanton Magdalene; the one to leave his usurious bank, the other her sensual pleasure. But so, with one fiat, was the whole universe educed out of nothing ; and by a word only were these things effected : He spake, and it was done. And these things proving Him to be God, must needs assert His Messiah-ship. Nor had he only the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, which are abundantly enough, being the Fountain of Truth, but the testimony of the lOi THE TRUE BELIGION. very Heathen. Witness the centurion's exclamation, who saw Him crucified, " Truly, this was the Son of GodJ^^ To this add the account which Pilate gave to the Senate, of the wonders which He did. For the truth of all which Tertullian, Justin Martyr, and others attest, the public Acts remaining at that time, and therefore undeniable. Whilst He conversed upon earth, neither Tiberius, nor any of those proud emperors, would assume so much as the title of Lord; till afterwards proud Caligula assumed it. For, indeed, Jesus alone was Lord of Lords, the Son of God, the first-begotten of every creature ; begotten before all the worlds and times,— the Heir of all things — on earth without a father, in Heaven without a mother. ^ He is named by an angel the Son of God ; and that which is begotten of God must needs be God; God manifest in the flesh; Emanuel, God with us, must needs be Man.^ He is the Word which created the worlds ; and St. John tells us, that that Word was God, yea, properly and truly: One also with the Father. And, had not God thus come in the likeness of man, ^ The appearance of "the star at His birth is mentioned by Chalcidius ; of the defect of the sun at His Passion (the moon being then at the full) by Phlegon and Dionysius ; and so the earthquake. And his bitterest enemies, Ceslus, Porphyry, Julian, confess His miracles ; yea, and the very Jews themselves, as may be seen in Eusebius, 1. ii., 2. Hist. Eccles. ^ In terra sine patre, in coelis sine matre. — Origen. ' As Eusebius does admirably prove in his Evang. Demonstr., 1. vii., c. 1. THE TRUE RELIGION. 105 nay, had He not really been Man, man could never have conversed with Him : nor could He have suffered for man. Further, He asserted His Mission and Messiah-ship, not only by the Miracles Himself wrought, but .by deriving all His power to His Apostles, as they did to others after them ; ^ so long as this was necessary for the planting and setting of the Gospel.^ And some even of those He raised from the dead, and had seen and felt this His mighty power, were surviving till near the reign of Trajan, as is affirmed by Quadratus, in his Apology to Adrian. After all. He raised himself, and ascended into Heaven, whence He sent down that Holy Spirit with those miraculous gifts, to enable His disciples to preach His glorious and saving truth over all the world. For those who knew no language but their own, were on a sudden enabled to deliver their message to the most strange and distant nations, every one hearing them speak in their own tongues the wonderful things of Grod.^ Thus this sound went into all the world, even to our British Islands and farthest Indies, as Eusebius tells us.* Nor did they accomplish these things and conver- sions by the power of eloquence, but began most of their Sermons at the ignominious death of their Master, whom they yet affirmed to be alive, — contradictions the most unlikely to gain credit, without a Divine and overcoming power. Who ever had the honour to be so ^ Matt., X., 8. 2 Consult Irenaeus, 1. ii., Tertullian (Apol. 23). ^ Acts, iv., 31. * De Demonstr. Evang., 1. iii., c. 7. 106 THE TRUE RELIGION. adored, and so believed, and after an execution so infa- mous and shameful in the eyes of man? And this not in any obscure and inaccessible corner, and among idiots and ignorant people, but at Rome, the capital city of the world ; at Athens, the eye of learned Greece ; at Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, Smyrna, places and cities famous for persons of great name, for their wis- dom and sagacity, and where all the wit and learning flourished, in the most learned, flourishing, and polite age that ever was ! They challenged all the world to convict them of forgery, when it was suggested they wrought their miracles by magical arts.^ But, so far was Christ from working by the power of evil spirits and unlawful arts, that His doctrine utterly destroyed the worship of demons, and all impure rites in which these wild fiends had deluded the world so long. What can be so sense- less, as to imagine the devils should assist to their own destruction? Had the Sanhedrim skill in magic (as the Jews affirm they had), to be able to discover im- postors, they would certainly have done some feats to convince the people of it.^ ^ This appears by the several apologies made to the great empe- rors in those early days, resigning the issue of all they did to the undeniable matter of fact, for at least two ages after their Blessed Lord's Ascension: this is undeniably proved by Justin Martyr, TertuUian, St. Cyprian, Origen, Arnobius, Lactantius, M. Felix, Prudentius; yea, even down to St. Augustine. ^ This is as true as the Legend of our Blessed Saviour's stealing the Powerful Name, which, the Jews say, had been guarded no less than a thousand years in the Temple. THE TRUE RELIGION. 107 The famous Jupiter, Saturn, and other Heathen deities, confessed themselves no other than foul and abominable spirits, frequently cast out by the only name of Christ; so that TertuUian dares their wor- shippers to bring any demoniac before a Christian, and they should see him compelling the evil spirit to ac- knowledge himself a devil ; and this upon forfeiture of his life, if it succeeded not. Nay, he names several consular and great courtiers, whom every body knew, miraculously healed. As to the cure pretended to have been done by Vespasian, the physicians all acknow- ledged, that the blind man brought to him was curable by art; but we find no such among those many to whom our Saviour gave not only sight, but eyes. So healed He the Hwmorissa, after she had spent all upon the physicians to no purpose. The several feats reported to have beien done by ^ Apollonius Thyangeus were proved to be wicked im- postures, depending only upon the testimony of petulant men, and what was written in the ages after the pre- i tended facts. Their authors, too, received rewards and J honours for their legends and books. ^ As to our Blessed Saviour, and the contemptibleness of the means, — His birth and education. His disciples, poor ignorant fishermen — if any think thereby to defame His miracles, the more it advances our wonder and admiration. If the verity of fact be asked after, and where these mighty deeds were done, the answer is easy. Where the doer of them was born, lived, and ^ See Huet. Demonst. Evang., c. 147, &c. 108 THE TRUE RELIGION. died, namely, at Bethlehem, and the famous city Jeru- salem, and in that celebrated Temple where He fre- quently preached. In secret did He nothing, nor in public to be praised of men ; but to glorify God, and vindicate His doctrine. Would you know the time ? It was for three whole years ; and the same miracles were often iterated, and the effects permanent and durable, and not illustrious for the present moment. As for witnesses, besides not only His own twelve Disciples, plain, honest, and disin- terested men, but thousands: nor that once only, but at several times and occasions ; nor these in the house alone, but in the city, streets, villages, country, wilder- ness, by land and sea : and, indeed, where not ? If you inquire after the facts, they were such as were sensible, visible, plainly palpable and easily discerned, without imposing accidents for substance, and qualities for real matter. And, were none of these recorded in the Scriptures, yet were their testimony sufficient at the same time; a famous Church having been there founded at Jerusalem by those Apostles of his, where He had performed so many wonders, taught and suffered. But, to prevent all defects, divers of these Sacred Books were written then, or immediately after, and that 80 honestly, and with that ingenuity, as even to the Authors acknowledging their own failings and in- firmities, their ignorance, cowardice, incredulity, doubt- ings, with extraordinary sincerity, which seducers use not to do, nor could they by such means hope to gain proselytes. They attribute nothing to their own THE TKUE RELIGION. 109 virtue, but utterly disclaim it, giving all the glory to God.^ Another argument of infallible proof may be, that most of what our Saviour did was foretold He should do. Above all, the miracle of His Resurrection, with- out which all His other miracles had been to little purpose, was attested not only by those women, who 'went to be spectators, or by His disciples only, or by unbelievers (for such was the mass at that time), but was seen alike by five hundred brethren at once.^ Lastly, how great and stupendous needs must be that power and virtue, which can give such gifts to men as He did to His servants, empowering others not only to do what be fit, but even so great miracles. For such an effect had the preaching of His Resurrection, that within forty days after it, such multitudes embraced the Faith, as that no fewer than three thousand were converted at one plain Sermon of St. Peter's.^ Such was the effusion of His Holy Spirit upon those truly gifted men; and by such signs and miracles does St. Paul justify his vocation. Nay, with such energy did this virtue exert itself, that miracles were done, not only by the touch and reliques, but by the very shadow of His Apostles.* But, to return to those of our Blessed Saviour: such they were, as none but the Supreme and Absolute Master and God of Nature could have effected : such as far surpassed the power of material causes, yea, and of any substance separate from matter ; as, for in- ^ Acts, iii., 12 ; vii., 51 ; viii., 22, 23. "^ I. Cor., xv., 6. ^ Acts, ii., 41. * Acts, v., 15. 110 THE TRUE RELIGION. stance, the creation of bread in the hands of His dis- ciples who distributed it, — the healing of diseases at a distance, and without topical application, — the doing those things at an instant by a word spoken, — souls to re-enter dead bodies, — subjugating infernal spirits ; and then to communicate all this power by breathing only upon His Apostles ! As for what the Pagans and others pretend, — what is their number ? what their evidence ? What sect or religion have they established by them? And why have those Miracles of Christ so prevailed over them, as even to draw these pretenders over to His party, so as to cause them to burn their most curious and costly books of art.^ In a word, either, then, those miracles which Christians affirm to have been done, were done, or were not done. If done, there is all the reason in the world to believe them; if not, the miracle is yet the greater, that without a miracle it should so prevail. But, to proceed to further instances : the veil of the Temple was rent. But how was it possible they should impose an event so remarkable upon so many thousands, writing so confidently, whilst that stately edifice was standing, and while those persons were yet living, who might so easily have contradicted it, namely, more than a hundred thousand witnesses ? How should they dare affirm a circumstance so notorious, on purpose to de- ceive those to whom our Blessed Saviour preached at Jerusalem, with any forehead or colour of hopes to persuade ? This alone is unanswerable. But, supposing there were no other miraculous proof ^ Acts, xix., 19. THE TKUE RELIGION. Ill of His DlYimty, and the religion He came to promulge, but that single one. His Resurrection, it had been, beyond all contradiction, sufficient ; it being the prime Article which justifies His commission. This, there- fore, it pleased Almighty God to give us the most un- questionable assurance of, of which any thing past is possibly capable, seeing the fact can but once be done ; nor needs it. For, first, the ocular were not (as we said) one or two, but five hundred at once ; and several others, at several times, of irreproachable credit, and such as not only saw, but eat, drank, and conversed with him. Such numbers these, as liars do not use to appeal to. Nor is it possible so many should agree in an untruth for no gain, but ruin ; no man is wicked for nothing but reproaches. Now, what imaginable interest could such persons have to spread a lie, and assert it to the very death ? Why endure such bonds, imprisonments, stripes, losses, banishments, unspeakable tortures, martyrdoms, and cruel deaths, rather than deny it ? The persecution to suppress this doctrine being so raging, that more were found to perish for asserting it, than by all the wars, pestilences, and famines, throughout the then discovered world. Why believe we any history, so much likely to be written out of vainglory, flattery, reward, and which has nothing of the danger and difiiculty which these poor men encountered? What should cause so much fondness in people to a poor, despicable, reputed male- factor, ignominiously put to death, and hanged as a slave, on a gibbet ; the belief in whom made them ob- 112 THE TRUE RELIGION. noxious to all manner of contumely and misery, without any prospect or motive of advantage ; and that not so much as one single person should ever be brought to confess the imposture ? To men of ordinary prudence and vulgar understanding, the very instinct of self-pre- servation forbids so wild and unaccountable folly, as to seal a notorious untruth with their blood. Besides, how safe had it been to contradict it, if false, by exposing the dead corpse ; for, if He were not risen. He must have still been in the sepulchre, where they might have found and taken Him out; seeing, as for that wretched evasion of His being stolen by the disciple, whilst the watch were asleep, how could men who confessed they were asleep attest it ? And how, if awake — how should such poor, mean, unarmed, cow- ardly men, who ran away from and deserted Him whilst alive, after He had shown them such proofs of His miraculous power, hazard themselves to rescue a corpse, watched by a guard of rude and armed soldiers ? Be- sides, how could they have rolled away so vast and ponderous a stone, sealed and made sure, without making the least bustle or noise ? Or how, I say, if all asleep at once, could they affirm so positively what became of Him; or how, indeed, durst they have confessed a thing for which they were sure to be severely punished by their officers ? In earnest, the execution of so bold and magnificent an exploit, for these poor creatures to bear away our Saviour's dead body, guarded with such circumstances, and designed to alter and make such a change of religion in the world, of which it had posses- THE TRUE RELIGION. 113 sion for so many thousands of years, by such unlikely instruments, — as being neither princes, soldiers, poli- ticians, statesmen, philosophers, great wits, or orators ; but base, ignorant, poor, and abject persons, renouncing all the world, — were very unlikely. What should give them up to embrace halters, axes, fire, scourges, sword, exile, teeth of wild beasts, hatred, scorn, want in the utmost degree, and to suffer all the rage of the most truculent tyrants, and witty inventions of torments, for nothing but to propagate a lie ? See what St. Paul (who was no sot, or ignorant) suffers for the testimony of this Arti- cle, — who was before a favourite of the High Priests and of his zealous countrymen ! He was bound, impri- soned, scourged, stoned, shipwrecked, dragged from one tribunal to another, and at last beheaded. Methinks, the very remorse and despair of the unhappy Judas, making himself away so shamefully before any perse- cution happened to him, — whilst St. Paul and the rest rejoiced in their affliction, — were sufficient to convince one. For, had his gracious Master been a deceiver, would that miserable creature have taken it so to heart, to have betrayed Him, and not rather have gloried in it? And can we imagine that Sergius, governor of Cyprus, Dionysius the Areopagite, Polycarp, Justin, Irenseus, Origen, Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cyprian, and multitudes of the most learned, prudent, and sober persons at that time, educated in the Pagan religion from their childhood, would, against all hopes of Avorldly interests, and to the peril and loss of all they VOL. II. I 114 THE TRUE RELIGION. had, embrace Christianity, to worship One, who died so ignominious a death, unless, upon the most accurate inquiry possible to be made, they had found all to be true reported of Him ? But, in a word, the testimony of His miracles was so evident, that neither Celsus, nor Julian, nor even the Jews themselves, — such as stiU adhered to the Mosaic Law, — could not but ac- knowledge Christ a Teacher sent from Heaven. Wherefore, these instances are so absolutely unan- swerable, that, had they not been asserted by those who saw them * with their eyes, the disciples and all the rest must have exceeded all the madmen and fools that ever were, to broach a fiction with so much peril to themselves, and for no manner of end. To conclude this of the Resurrection : how great a miracle yet is it, that more men should be converted without them than with them ! For, even of those who beheld with their own eyes the daily wonders He wrought, how few believed on him! Hindered by their ambition, love of riches, lust, pleasure, and cares of this world, which the austerities of the Christian Doctrine denounced. So that, even after the Parable of Dims and Lazarus, in which the sensual glutton would persuade Abraham how effectual a preacher one raised and sent from the dead would prove, yet was that great miracle so slighted, that on the very day in which our Blessed Saviour resuscitated Lazarus from the grave, the spectators of it immediately sought how to put both the raiser and raised to death again. ^ I. John, i., 1. THE TRUE RELIGION. 115 Let us here take notice, that the Life of our Blessed Saviour was not written by Himself (to avoid suspicion, nor in his life-time), but by others, yet by eye-wit- nesses, recording even their Master's bodily infirmities, hunger, thirst, lassitude, pain, pity, tears, want, re- ceiving alms and help from others ; in a word, subject to like passions, sin only excepted. Let us also con- sider His infinite caution, lest even his disciples, and those who were empowered to do such wonders, as to make even the spirits subject to them, should pride themselves ; He bid them to rejoice not so much in these gifts and miracles, as in those spiritual gifts which make less appearance in the world and in the eyes of men ; so that the woman who pronounced her so happy, that bare and gave him suck, could not at all gratify the least vanity in Him. They were blessed in His esteem, who heard and obeyed the Word of God, and whose names were written in Heaven ; who were poor in spirit ; who left all to follow Him. To all these miracles we might add the wonderful and stupendous accession of people to the Church, in so short a time, with the effects and successes of the Holy Gospel on the lives of evil men, now and ever since converted to the Faith, and made heirs of life, subduing all the powers of the Devil, and the world which he had seduced, and which was so long rooted in ignorance and superstition, without other arms or ar- tillery, than self-denial, humility, charity, patience, courage, and sufferings of their teachers. And that without human learning and studied eloquence ; but by i2 116 THE TRUE RELIGION. the plain and honest endeavour of a few poor, despised fishermen, the most unlikely instruments to effect so strange and prodigious an alteration in the world, among scholars, princes, soldiers, the strongest, the wisest, craftiest, as well as the most vicious, — by a doctrine so averse from the corruptions of sinful men, as crucifying the flesh, pulhng out the right eye, cutting off the right hand, — yet all this was done by these weak and despicable men, even to the pulling down of strongholds, and of every thing which advanced itself against the design of the Gospel. , I might farther insist on the miraculous Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, prophesied by Joel, which was not without such a cloud of witnesses, as comprehended people of all nations of the known and then discovered world, with its prodigious eiFects, as also of the splendid union of the Gentiles ; with other wonderful passages of our Blessed Saviour's life ; be- cause they will many of them yet appear by the stupen- dous progress which His Holy Doctrine made. To which, as a miracle, comprehending nothing else but miracles, I now hasten. S. BY THE WONDERFUL PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. Another mighty proof is the extraordinary progress which the Christian religion has made, in all places and countries, from so small and despicable a beginning, and in so short a time. To how goodly a stature this little infant is grown ! THE TRUE RELIGION. 117 But to take our rise from its infancy : our Blessed Lord, till about the age of thirty years,^ living a mean and humble life among his parents, and, as some affirm, working with His reputed father (who was a carpenter), making ploughs, and other necessary instruments of husbandry (as He who was hereafter to subact and cultivate the world), took not on him His public cha- racter till His baptism. After this. He went about preaching and interpreting the Moral Law, vindicating it from the false glosses and additions, which, in tract of time, corrupt and superstitious men had put upon it ; and so, by degrees, insinuating the defects of the Mosaic Dispensation, to be completed in a better law, which He came to teach — proposing faith in Him and His mediatorship to be the way to eternal life. All these He confirms by wonderful miracles, convincing the gainsayers by the Scripture and prophecies which went before, and spake of Him. And this did He first in Galilee of the Gentiles, showing thereby (as Eusebius well notes) the calling of those ignorant nations ; for which He so oft is found to converse among the Sama- ritans, and about the coast of Tyre and Sidon ; so that, in a little time. His fame and doctrine spread as far as all Syria, nay, and beyond the Euphrates. During this time, He had called and instructed twelve persons to be His disciples and apostles, endowed with fitting gifts to preach and propagate what He began. After three years spent in this ministry, about the ^ The history of the life of Christ, His pre-existence and Divi- nity, we have in Euseb. Hist. Eccles., 1. 1, c. 2, &c. 118 THE TRUE RELIGION. country, He went to Jerusalem, celebrated the Pass- over with His Apostles, and turned it into the Chris- tian communion, as a perpetual memorial of His future Passion, and the seal of the Evangelical Covenant which He came to make. Being hated by the Chief Priests, Scribes, and Pha- risees, whose covetousness, oppression, and false doc- trine. He had severely perstringed, they corrupted one of His disciples to betray Him. He suffered Himself to be taken, and, by malicious and perjured men, suborned to witness against Him, was arraigned as a malefactor, though the most innocent and harmless person that ever appeared upon the earth, even by the suffrage of the Judge before whom the implacable Jews accuse Him, and extort His condemnation to a shame- ful and painful death. After which, being miraculously raised from the grave, as He had foretold. He appeared alive, conversing again with His disciples no less than forty days. After which, having empowered His Apos- tles to plant His Gospel, and successors to govern His Church to the end of the world. He visibly ascended into heaven before them ; and is there set down at the right hand of His Father ; all things being put in sub- jection under Him ; and where He is to be a glorified Mediator, till his coming to judge the world at the last day. But the malice of the Jews stopped not here. St. Stephen's martyrdom, a zealous proselyte of the Apostles, and the persecution managed by Saul (after- wards a chosen vessel of Christ), dispersing the Church, greatly contributed to the propagation of the Gospel. THE TRUE RELIGION. 119 Nor did the Apostles altogether depart from Jerusalem, till twelve years after their Master's Ascension, (as we learn from Clemens Alexandrinus^) when they took their several districts, preaching in all places of the world, wherever they came ; the nature of its precepts and sublime doctrine soon making converts of all sorts. Nothing was hid from the light and heat thereof; so that Justin Martyr gives us the account, that in his time, amongst the most uncivilized and barbarous na- tions, prayers were made in the name of Christ, All other leaders of sects and propagators of new religions being generally confined to particular countries, this new doctrine was found spread in all parts and places. And that, whereas all other religions and opinions of philosophers, not countenanced by the authorities, came to nothing, the Christian took root and prospered the more it was persecuted and oppressed. It prevailed against the strictest edicts of the emperors, vigilance of officers, arguments of sophists, and so crowded all places, that, as TertuUian affirms, should the Christians but of his early times have withdrawn themselves, the Roman empire, so abounding in people, would have remained a solitude, and been depopulated. It spread the faith through that State more in a few years than the con- quests that victorious nation had made in so many hundred. 2 To this add that most ancient sect of the GepoTrf yrat in Egypt and other countries described by Philo, who, in 1 Stromat, 1. vi. ^ See this abundantly proved by Valesius upon Eusebius. 1 20 THE TRUE RELIGION. all probability, were no other than a sort of poor Chris- tians, renouncing the world to live in that institution ; and were by no means of the Jewish Essenes, as Sca- liger pretends. The history of our Blessed Saviour's miraculous Con- ception, His Life, Doctrine, Miracles, Crucifixion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, &c., were incredible as to their stupendous circumstances, and the belief of them so unlikely to prevail by the talk and address of a few ignorant fishermen on so learned and polished a world, so high, curious, and suspicious ; and this acted among a people so malicious and jealous ; and all this, in the face of His enemies, in the capital city of the nation ; that nothing but a Divine assistance could have prevailed. That it should obtain, also, in an age of such professed Atheism and contempt of all religion, a world so given up to luxury, against which the Chris- tian religion severely denounced, is truly wonderful. For never was the Roman empire so depraved; such villanies, injustice, oppression, and all sorts of vice, indulged and patronized, from the time of Julius Caesar downwards ; all ancient faith and Roman gallantry degenerated into craft, injustice, perfidy, lusts, and unheard of vice ; against which this religion not only declared, but against the established religions of the whole world ; yea, even against the Jewish, which had now been in possession (and that from God Himself) above two thousand years. All these it taught to ex- tirpate and abolish as obsolete ; so that nothing but the doing of miracles and wonders, greater than those of "*l! THE TRUE RELIGION. Moses, or any pretended of the Heathen deities, coi possibly have made any impression to the contrary. Never was religion yet introduced with such con- tradiction, opposed with such spite by Jews and devils. The rulers took counsel to destroy the Blessed Auth^ of it : Caiphas, John, Alexander, and the whole kin- dred of the High Priest, prohibiting the very mention of the name of Christ. They stoned Stephen, hauled the believers to prison. The Gentiles, chief men of the city, honourable women, and very craftsmen, were stirred up against the Apostles ; whilst thousands of holy martyrs sealed the doctrine with their blood. ^ TertulHan, reckoning up the several nations who embraced the Christian religion in his early days, names Sarmatians, Scythians, Indians, our Britain, and the Serae, inhabiting the utmost corners of the earth, planted by these Apostles and Apostolic men with all imagina- able hazard of their lives, during that rage of no less than ten persecutions of the most powerful emperors. Of these, the monster Nero was the beginner, about the sixty-fourth year of our Lord ; when, setting the city of Rome on fire to oblige the people to build after a more magnificent form, by laying the fact on the poor Christians, he caused thousands to be murdered ; Peter and Paul among the rest. Under Domitian was the second ;2 the third, by ^ For the sufferings of the Apostles and primitive Christians, and the miserable end of their persecutors, as Pilate, Herod, &c., see Euseb., 1. 2, 3, 4, &c. 2 A.D. 81. 122 THE TRUE EELIGION. Trajan,^ who, though an excellent prince, had yet been enraged against the Christians, by the instigation of wicked men ; whilst the younger Pliny, Governor and Propraetor of Pontus and Bithynia, gives him an ac- count of their innocency, which procured them some relaxation. He acquaints the Emperor that the main of their error was, their assembling together at a certain stated day, where, early in the morning, they sang certain hymns to one Christ, as the God they wor- shipped ; obliging themselves by oath to commit no wickedness, to abstain from adultery, theft; to keep faith inviolably, and to restore whatever was concredited to them ; and, so departing, to meet again at a common meal of simple food, &c. Behold the heavy crimes laid against the innocent souls ! The fourth and fifth persecution was under Adrian^ and Antoninus Pius f learned and virtuous emperors, but possessed with the vulgar superstition, and fond of the ancient Heathen rites, which they found very much deserted. The temples and altars being almost for- saken, set the superstitious and crafty priests against them in all places, killing and tormenting persons of all sexes and ages; as the particulars are recorded by Eusebius, enough to melt a heart of iron. They were flayed, broiled, burnt, exposed to wild beasts, wearying their very tormentors with their patience and constancy ; till, by the prayers of some Christian soldiers of that Prince's army obtaining a victory over the Quadi and Marcomani, by the extraordinary aid of thunder and ^ A.D. 106. 2 A.D. 118. 3 A.D. 140. THE TRUE RELIGION. 123 lightning, they obtained some favour, and were after- wards known by the name of the Thundering Legion. In the year [A.D.] 193 began that under Severus, when many noble martyrs perished. Then came Maxi- minus,' the seventh tyrant, a bloody butcher. The eighth was Decius,^ yet more cruel, if possible. He tore their flesh with red-hot pincers ; divers he impaled. It was in his time that Paul, a youth but of sixteen years, fled into Egypt, where he lived in a solitary cave to the age of one hundred and thirteen years. The ninth persecution ^ was under Gallus and Yale- rianus,^ in whose time no fewer than three hundred poor Christians, rather than do sacrifice to the idols, were sacrificed in a burning lime-pit. And so vehe- ment was the zeal of others, seeing so many innocents suffer for the faith, that divers, professing that faith, voluntarily confessed it before the President and Go- vernor ; and, accordingly, were put to cruel death. The tenth and last notorious Heathen persecution was under Dioclesian and Maximianus ;^ of which Eusebius gives a full relation, living himself in that time. There you will find how they were scourged to death, their flesh raked off" with potsherds, some were crucified, some thrown to the lions, quartered and puUed to pieces by being scalded in boiling oil or lead. Under these suffered the famous Theban legion at Octodurus, in France, where the gallant men, who had so bravely fought and behaved themselves upon all 1 A.D. 235. ^ A.D. 250. ^ A.D. 250. * A.D. 257. * A.D. 300. 124 THE TRUE RELIGION. occasions, willingly resigned both their arms and lives, rather than do sacrifice or throw a grain of incense on the idol altar. Thousands of Christians, likewise, em- ployed to build those enormous structures, magnificent baths, whose ruins are still extant at Rome, were all martyrized so soon as they had finished the work. Thus, from Nero downwards, even to the reign of the great Constantine, did Satan muster all his forces against our Blessed Saviour and His followers. The Jews were the informers, going from place to place to raise persecutions against them, eager for the goods and spoils of the holy flock. Yet strove they through all difficulties, imprisonments, chains, gibbets, axes, fire, caldrons, gridirons, hooks, hot pincers, mixtures of fiery oil, teeth of wild beasts. If the Tiber swelled its banks upon any inundation, or the fruits were blasted, Christianos ad leones — " The Christians to the lions," was the cry. They lighted the streets in the dark nights, with burning Christians at every door. But neither thus could the old Serpent, seeking to devour the woman and her seed, after above four thousand years' contention for victory, obtain his purpose. The victory is now brought to the crisis, though pretending to such antiquity of possession, universality, and con- sent of nations ; his tyranny and dominion, hitherto sup- ported by laws, fortified by arms, asserted by impos- turous wonders and magic arts (the spirits of darkness changing themselves into angels of light), have been overthrown ; his arts discovered, legions of devils and devilish men put to flight ; their ceremonies abolished, THE TRUE RELIGION. 125 their oracles silenced. But all this not without a severe struggle on Satan's part. He summoned all his forces, old and young, commanders, soldiers, princes, priests, councillors, judges, senates, ignorant and learned, and employed them to declaim against the cause. ^ They burnt all books and Bibles they could find ; suppressed learning; forbade them to teach Christian children letters ; used all manner of cunning and stratagem to root the very name of Christian out of the earth ; nay, made a law that none should buy or sell, or draw so much as a little water to assuage their thirst, without Thurification and offering to the idol. They persecuted the Christians as traitors and sacrilegious persons ; and the pro-consuls, and other governors, were directed to hear accusations, condemn, and execute them. Thus was the Gospel of Peace persecuted, and the Messiah, who came to pacify all enmities, and make the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, the calf and young lion to lie down and feed together, and the suck- ing child to play upon the hole of the asp — to be op- posed, and as much as in evil men and devils lay, to be utterly extirpated. When, after all this, there were raised up, even from among the Christians themselves, some worthies, who convinced them with their own weapons, not by the spirit of the sword, but by the sword of the spirit, the old serpent, the devil, Satan, who had so long deceived the world, fell like lightning. ^ Celsus, Porphyry, Hierocles, Symmachus, Libanius, Julian, Lucian, great emperors, commanders, lawyers, and philosophers and wits of the time. 126 THE TRUE RELIGION. The Christian philosophers and divines^ confounded the sophists and the wits. The blood of so many martyrs impregnated the field of the Church, (as it were) never more fertile than when most persecuted. That sharp plough had pre- pared the glebe to receive the seed with more greedi- ness, so that they were at last convinced it was in vain to fight any longer against heaven. They found that with the great weight they thought to suppress the palm, it did but rise the more triumphantly ; and that the Christian philosophy had gotten more scholars and made more proselytes than all the philosophy and in- stitutions of the Greeks had done in so many ages.^ Lactantius shows that, whilst other criminals roar and cry out hideously when they are under execution, chil- dren, old men and young, tender and delicate virgins, endured the tortures without complaint or grievance, some of them singing in the midst of flames, suffering beyond all that they boast of their Regulus and Cur- tius, one of whom being ashamed to live a perpetual captive, the other, because he could not have escaped, seemed to die bravely ; whilst innumerable Christians might, and would not, be delivered from the greatest torments, by flinging a little gum into the fire, or ^ Justm Martyr, Origen, ApoUinaris, Athenagoras, Cyprian, Tertullian, Eusebius, Lactantius, M. Felix, Prudentius, Chrysos- torn, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Cyril, and others, against those Heathens we named, and innumerable others, assertors of the Christian doctrine. "^ See Lactant., five Books of Instit., c. 13. THE TRUE RELIGIOJT. 127 kissing a silly statue or piece of marble. What could it be but the mighty power of God which should work this prodigious change, give this courage, and the doing of wonders greater than had ever yet been done ? By the end of the first year of the Apostles' preach- ing, after their Master was ascended, the Gospel was spread throughout all the parts of Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bythinia, even to lUyricum; and within about half an age this contemptible atom of mustard-seed, scattered by a few illiterate fishermen, (of all other trades and employments the most stupid) grew into such branches, as overshadowed all the known world, even as far as our island, then esteemed the utmost limits of the earth. ^ For so these silly fishermen drew all good and bad into their drag, catching both the Roman emperors and empire itself. And so was ful- filled that of the Prophet : " The potentates of the earth hasted to the light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. "2 So mightily grew the Word of God, and increased. It can, in my opinion, ne ver be sufficiently admired, that those Pagan rites, owned and professed by the emperors and great men, (jealous of the least innova- tion) their temples built and adorned with such im- mense cost, curiosity, and magnificence, such as was that of the Ephesian Diana, should be subverted and rendered desolate by a sort of poor people, strangers, and wandering about the earth ; and all this too, in ^ See Pliny the younger, Epistle to the Emperor Trajan ; Ter- tuU. advers. Judaeos, c. 2, 8. ^ Isaiah, Ix., 3. 128 THE TRUE RELIGION. spite of the severest edicts, the zeal and fury of multi- tudes, the pride and envy of supercilious philosophers, and the avarice of Heathen priests, hating and per- secuting this new sect : join to this the spite of the Jew and the diligence of the Gentile, who looked on it as coming to destroy their national religion. These are the most incontrovertible evidences of the truth of its Divine authority. I say, that an upstart institution so totally unassisted by secular power and interest, so re- pugnant to the vices of the time, education of men, laws, customs, the gallantry and splendour of the world, could not have been so soon embraced but by an over-ruling, omnipotent Disposer and influence, to con- vert and bend the contradictory and refractory minds of men, so prepossessed with inveterate errors, nor with- out the evidence of matter-of-fact, convincing the rea- son of such intelligent persons as it was preached to. But thus that lofty Statue was broken to pieces by the stone cut out of the mountain, without hands ;^ the polity and force of all worldly monarchs, signified by this enormous Colossus, broken to pieces and demo- lished. By the preaching of the Gospel, this strong- Jericho fell flat at the sound of rams' horns, and nothing was able to stand against it. Then tyrants were hum- bled, kings cast their crowns and resigned their sceptres at the feet of the crucified Jesus, and all the pomp and glory of Eastern monarchs hearkened to the fishers of Galilee. They were brought to make this notable change in the world by a few poor people, who having 1 Dan., 2, 45. THE TRUE EELIGION. 129 neither interest, riches, strength, eloquence, friends, nor credit at home or abroad, were hated, whipped, perse- cuted, and put to infamous death : yet did they van- quish and bury all this strength, greatness, and glory of the most formidable empire that ever appeared upon earth, in the grave of a crucified Saviour. For the space of 300 years did the Jews and Heathens pur- sue Christians with all imaginable rage, as despisers of their gods ; they raised stories of their killing and devouring their own children, as committers of incest with their mothers and sisters, as worshipping an ass's head, and things more infamous and filthy. All these their diabolical malice invented, to incense the rabble, till those learned apologists, men irreproachable for their virtue and knowledge, and other excellent per- sons, men of letters and reputation, so opened their eyes, that upon the strictest scrutiny, they could find nothing to charge them with. For let it be no mean argument of the Divine power and favour in the pro- gress of the Christian religion, that it passed through such unheard of contradictions. It was to plant a new religion or doctrine, that would endure no other religion or doctrine but itself, though pleading prescription so many thousand years before it, and under such different and distant princes, interests, laws, and countries — a doctrine so averse and contradictory to corrupted na- ture, and the prejudices it entertained, as mortifying the flesh, pardoning, nay, loving our most malicious enemies. It condemned not only all actual sins, but evil thoughts, uncleanness of all sorts, and even lusts in VOL. II, K J 30 THE TRUE RELIGION. speculation. It forbade polygamy, an inveterate custom; simple fornication, (hardly esteemed a fault) and for faith, it was obliged to believe some things that ap- peared impossible, namely, the Incarnation, Resurrec- tion, and other mysteries of our holy religion. It en- joined penance, self-abnegation, abstinence, alms. In sum, no sect of philosophy obliged its votaries to so strict and severe a deportment ; and all this, upon the credit of a person who was condemned and hanged as a slave, and of a few obscure followers, who had nothing of this world to countenance and support it. The disciples of this religion were not to stay till it were laid upon them, but to take up the Cross, if need were ; to go to prisons, exiles, death ; to take the spoiling of their goods cheerfully : strange invitations, one would think, to embrace an opinion, the maintaining whereof should cost its professors deaths and torments insuffer- able to flesh and blood, even of the most stout and courageous. Did ever any religion thrive upon such a stock, prosper by such a method? Cyrus, Plutarch tells us, inviting men to take up arms, (like Mahomet) promised them all manner of preferments, riches, and pleasures. Here, on the contrary, is nothing but dis- grace, poverty, restraint, scorpions, and gibbets, fire and wild beasts; and yet this army of martyrs, this despised colony, went forth and won the field, planted the Cross on the thrones of princes, in spite of all terror and contradiction! Their sound went into all the world ; such wisdom in reputed folly ; such strength in weakness; such life in death itself I THE TRUE RELIGION. 131 Constantlne having been miraculously converted,' and overthrowing Maxentius and Licinius, and the foolish efforts of all their soothsayers and augurs, de- molishes the idol temples, abrogates their rites, and converts them to charities and the service of Christ. The oracle at Delphos confesses to Dioclesian himself, that certain righteous persons (meaning the Christians) hindered his responses. ^ He caused the Heathen images to be pulled down and dragged about the streets, to the derision of the people. The famous Apollonian tripos from Delphi, Pan, Yenus, and other ridiculous deities, were flung about and dispersed. And thus the cause triumphed till the time of Julian, who, as all those persecuting emperors we named, came to untimely destinies.^ He thought to have set up the old super- stition, used execrable ceremonies, encouraged the Jews to rebuild their ruined Temple at Jerusalem ; in which attempt fiery eruptions breaking out of the earth, as they were digging the foundation, burnt and destroyed the workmen. A truth so notorious, that St. Chrysos- tom makes use of it as a known thing, and happening about his time, as may be seen in his Oration to that miserable people. This was that apostate, who prohi- bited the teaching 6i letters to Christian children, who ^ A.D. 300. ^ See Constantius' letter to Eusebius, about this passage, and of what himself was eye-witness. ' Of which Lactantius gives a terrible account in his Treatise, De mortihus persecutorum, lately brought to light by the learned Balusius. [Stephen Beluze.} k2 132 THE TRUE EELIGION. encouraged the learned Jamblicus, Libanius, Maxi- mus, Oribasius, and all the eloquent Pagans of his time, to declaim against the Christians. But all their rhetoric came to nothing; their advocates were foiled. The wretched Julian was slain by an unseen hand in the midst of battle, blaspheming as he died. This was the last and utmost effort of the perishing Heathen religion and of the power of Satan ; for Jovi- nian, Valentinian, and succeeding emperors, restoring what that miscreant had laboured to disturb, by de- grees rooted up the very fibres of the Gentile super- stition out of their dominions.^ But well had it been with the Church had it received all this hardship from the Heathen only ; there was yet behind a more ter- rible conflict and persecution from Christians them- selves. The sum, then, of all is this : — Christ, being the High Priest of our Profession, by God's immediate designa- tion and appointment, our Prince and Saviour, for the propagation and progress of His religion, sent and gave some to be Apostles, some Prophets, and some Evan- gelists ; others to be pastors and teachers,^ for the per- fecting of the saints, work of the ministry, the edifying the body of Christ, till we all should come to the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God. These, according to their charge and mission, had the gift of ^ Especially the most religious Theodosius, Gratian his prede- cessor, and Arcadius, as may be seen by the last of that prince's decrees to Ruffinus, the Preetorian prefect, which gave the fatal and happy blow. ^ Ephes., iv., 11, 12, 13. THE TRUE RELIGION. 133 miracles, to heal diseases, dispossess evil spirits, and to plant the Gospel, govern and order the Churches founded by them. Of these our Saviour chose twelve to be Apostles, the word implying a special Messenger^ Ambassador, Proxy, or Commissioner. The number was mysterious, as by divers analogies in Scripture. St, Augustine^ fancies it relating to the four quarters of the world, three to each, denoting the Holy Trinity, in whose name they were to baptize and proselyte all nations. Tertullian and others resemble them to the twelve precious stones in Aaron's pectoral ; to the stones taken out from the river Jordan by Joshua; to the twelve spies sent forth to search the land of Canaan, &c. But to pass these by; they rather seem to some to relate to the twelve Patriarchs of the Tribes; but St. Paul, added to this number, seems to interrupt this conceit; and, therefore, we leave it to the wisdom of God, who does nothing but for weighty reasons, though appearing not to us. As to our concern ; we find them immediately com- missioned from our Saviour's very mouth; but they did not execute it so fully whilst their Lord and Master was with them. They baptized, indeed, and preached ; but their circle was yet narrow, the time short, and to the Jews their countrymen only. But, after the Par- tition wall was down, the veil of the Temple rent, especially about A.D. 45, in the reign of Claudius — it was about this period they disposed themselves to preach to all the world, when He endowed them^ with 1 Serm. 3, in Ps. 103. ^ JoJ^q^ ^x., 21-23. 134 THE TRUE RELIGION. the same power He himself received from the Father, and then it was unlimited and universal This wonderful progress of the Gospel by such un- likely means St. Chrysostom^ convinces the Gentiles by, above all, the miracles recorded of our Saviour; these being past and invisible, that evident to all in his days. The like demonstration he uses to the Jews, who could not but acknowledge the matter of fact. To this add the spirit of prophecy, now utterly taken from the Jewish Church, and collated on them, when they re- ceived the gifts of tongues at Pentecost, as is especially conspicuous in what St. Paul has told us of the latter days and future state of the Church, to the understand- ing of all mysteries, that knowledge of the difficult places of Scripture (meaning the Old Testament) and expounding of the Word, preferred by St. Paul before the highest of spiritual gifts. And, accordingly, this continued in the Church, as appears by that of Justin Martyr to Trypho, to his age \^ with ejecting devils, healing diseases, and even the raising of the dead. So Irenaeus to the same effect.^ And as to prophecy and gift of tongues,* " Ipsi audimmus^^ says St. Augus- tine, giving an account of what was performed at Hippo, Carthage, and about his own diocese, noting the very time, persons, places, &c.* Would we have more ? ^ Treatise on the Divinity of Christ, c. i. and xi. ' A.D. 165. ^ Irenaeus, 1. xxii., c. 5, 6 ; Euseb., 1. iv., c. 7, &c. * A.D. 410. * Scio ego — cognosce ego — nos interfuimus, neque referre neque enumerare possumus, &c. THE TKUE RELIGION. 1S5 Moreover, they had the gift of discerning spirits, whether professors were real, or hypocrites; for our Blessed Saviour had frequently warned of false pro- phets and pretenders, who should impose upon the credulous. Thus they discovered the fraud of Ananias and Sapphira, Simon Magus, &c.^ Then had they, as we said, the gift of languages, absolutely necessary to the work of converting stran- gers and barbarous nations ; together with the inter- pretation of unknown tongues; the Christian assem- blies, at that time, consisting of so many different nations. 2 The power and virtue of healing without knowledge or skill in drugs, or medicinal applications, excepting a little oil, denoting the diffusion of spiritual graces. 3 But this, as Christianity began to spread, and stood in need of no further miraculous attestation, (for miracles are not for those who believe, but to convince infidels) was withheld, or rarely happened, as Chris- tianity took place, and became almost universal, and so not needing it. Lastly, they had Virgam Apostolicam,'*' a special and peculiar power of inflicting corporal punishments upon hypocrites and sinners, for the creating of reverence to their ministry, at this their first setting forth. Witness their animadversions upon Ananias and his wife, Elymas the sorcerer, the incestuous Corinthians, Hymenaeus and Alexander, by sudden death, blindness, and excom- ^ Acts, v., viii. ' Acts, ii., 9, 10, 11. ' This continued till TertuUian's time, who speaks of Proculus having cured the Emperor Severus. * I. Cor., iv., 21. 136 THE TRUE RELIGION. munication, which, in those times, was wont to be accompanied with the Devil's actually possessing and tormenting the person so cut off from the Church.^ Nor was this discipline other than necessary for that time, when it had no other power to protect and defend religion, and create for it that veneration which was due to so high an ordinance, but these extraordinary gifts ; and which they had, also, faculty to derive on others. Yet no others of inferior orders could exercise it, it seeming to be confined to the Apostles alone. Neither was all this done in a hurry, haste, or tumult, but by gentle and sweet degrees. Many things were yet in- dulged to weak proselytes, not without convulsion to be wholly obliged to leave what had been so radically fixed in them, as prohibition of eating blood, things strangled, circumcision, &c. ; some of which were con- nived at for some time, till they could digest the sound doctrine. So, as it is said, that Christ did decently bury the Jewish religion. Thus, we have abundantly shown from what begin- nings the doctrine and religion instituted by our Blessed Saviour, and substituted in place of that of the Jewish, spread through the whole world, was propagated and brought down to us, which, though but one continued miracle, as it were, yet is no more than necessarily it must have done, when we shall have looked into, and seriously considered the excellency and sublimity of its doctrine. ^ I. Cor., v., 5. THE TRUE KELIGIOK. 137 4. BY THE EXCELLENCY OF ITS DOCTRINE. PART. I. SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. N0W5 to what shall we attribute the prevalency of this admirable religion, than (together with, and doubt- less above, all we have hitherto produced in this chapter to recommend it) to the transcendent excellency of its doctrine, its design and end to assert its pedigree and Divine original. I say, beyond all ; since even miracles do not so much render it credible or eligible, as its admirable precepts and institution. No philo- sophy, no light of nature, ever showed any thing so perfect as what our Saviour has taught. Let us see what He has left us in those holy doc- trines about preaching and instructing the people. In that sermon,^ He teaches and encourages to poverty of spirit and meekness, in opposition to pride and haughtiness, which, being the first and greatest sin, cast the rebellious angels out of heaven. — He first begins with commanding them to hungering and thirsting after Righteousness. To Mercifulness. To Purity of heart. To be Pacific. To suffer persecution for Righteousness* sake and the Gospel. To glorify God by our good example before men. Not to be causelessly angry, or in any wise revile our brother, but to be of a reconcileable spirit. Not to look upon a woman, to lust after her. ^ Matt., v. 138 THE TRUE RELIGION. To pluck out the offending eye, to cut off the offending hand or foot, or whatever is most dear to us. To beware of vain swearing and perjury, but perform our oaths and vows ; and that our communications may be holy, and so sincere and faithful, that there might be no need of exacting oath at all. Not to revenge ourselves. To suffer injury rather than do any; to bear a loss rather than contend for every trifle. To be charitable, and to give to them who want ; to lend gratis to those who borrow. To love our enemies, bless them who curse, do good to them who hate us ; and labour for God-like perfection. To give alms without ostentation.^ To pray in private, not to be seen of men, without vain repetitions ; but to glorify God's name, that His kingdom may flourish. His will be done. That we pray, depending on His Providence, to have food and maintenance sufficient for the day, without anxious soli- citude, without fear of want ; that our sins may be pardoned, as we are ready to forgive others ; not to suffer us to fall into temptation, but to deliver us from all evil. That we fast, not like hypocrites, with sad countenances, to gain opinion of men ; but mortify ourselves in secret. That we lay up treasure in heaven, that our hearts may be there also. That we be not solicitously anxious for the future; but doing our duty, and, first seeking the kingdom of God, rely on God's Providence. That we forbear rash judgment,' and to be censorious; but rather reform our own selves. That we do not prostitute holy things to the profane. That we pray with fervency and perseverance. 1 Matt., vi. ^ Ibid., vii. THE TRUE RELIGION. 139 That whatever we would men should do to us, we do the like to them, as on this depend both the Law and the Prophets. That we strive to avoid the broad way and wide gate that leads to destruction. That we be careful not to be misled by false prophets under the species of holiness, and that they are known by their fruits. Not to fear those who are able to kill the body, but are not able to kill the sod ; but Him who is able to do both.^ To love no earthly relation, in competition with God. To take up the Cross, and follow Hira. That he who gives a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward. That all manner of sins and blasphemy shall be forgiven but that against the Holy Ghost .'^ That account shall be given for every idle word, at the day of Judgment ; for that which goeth out of the mouth defileth the man. That except we become as little children,^ free of malice, humble and innocent, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. That Christ came to save that which was lost ; and that it is not the will of our Heavenly Father that any should perish.^ That when our brother do a fault, we should admonish him, and forgive him to seventy times seven. That where two or three are convened in Christian unity and Christ's name, he will be in the midst of them. That those whom God has joined together in holy matri- mony may not be separated, except for fornication.^ That none is good but God alone. That whoever forsakes the enjoyments of this life for His sake, shall be abundantly remunerated in that to come. ^ St. Matt., X., 28. ^ Ibid., xii., 32-36. 3 Ibid., XV., 11, 19, 20. * Ibid., xviii., 3-7. ' Ibid., xix., 9, 17, 20. 140 THE TRUE BELIGIOK. That whatever we shall ask in faith in His name, we shall receive.^ That we render to Csesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things which are God's.'' That he who endures to the end shall be saved.' That what measure we mete, it shall be measured to us.* That not what enters in the body, but those evil thoughts which enter in and come from the heart, pollute the man.^ That we should have salt in ourselves, and be at peace with one another. That those who trust in riches shall hardly be saved .*' That we should pray in charity ; yea, to sell all, if need require, for the relief of the poor. That we watch and pray, not knowing when our last hour may be, and the Judgment surprise us. That He who believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved. That Christ was anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor, sent to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised ; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord .7 That He came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That they were blessed who should not be offended in Him. That even the hairs of our head are numbered, so great is God's Providence over His elect. That whosoever shall confess Him before men, him shall the Son of Man confess before the angels of God. That we should take heed and beware of covetousness ; for ^ St. Matt., xxi., 22. '^ Ibid., xxii., 17. ^ Ibid., xxi., 13. * Mark, iv., 24. ^ Ibid., vii., 19, 20; ix., 50. * Ibid., x., 24; ix., 25 ; xiii., 33; xvi., 10. ^ 7 Luke, iv., 18; v., 32; vii., 23; xii., 7, 8, 15, 48; xiv., 8, 13, 14. THE TRUE RELIGIOX. 141 that a man's life consisted not in the abundance of the things he possesseth. That to whom much is given, of Him much shall be required. That we should choose the lowest room, when invited ; and when we feast, call the poor and impotent, who cannot recom- pense us ; that he who humbleth himself shall be exalted. That joy shall be in heaven, in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth.^ That we should make ourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, and beware of avarice. That what is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God. That, when we shall have done all those things which are commanded us, we are unprofitable servants ; and have done that which was our duty to do. That the kingdom of God is within us. Christ's Godhead.^ That except a man be born again, he cannot see the king- dom of God. That God so loved the world, that He gave His only be- gotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth. That we should not labour for the meat which perishes, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life. That He, the Bread of Life, came down from heaven, not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him. That those who believe (that is, obey His commands). He will raise at the last day. That we should not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.^ ^ Luke, XV., 18 ; xvi., 9, 14, 15 ; xvii., 10, 21. 2 John, i. ; iii., 3, 5, 16, 17, 36 ; iv., 29 ; vi., 27, 38, 40, 44, 48. 3 Ibid., vii., 24 ; x., 14, 15 ; xii., 25 ; xiii., 34, 35 ; xiv., 6. 142 THE TRUE RELIGION. That He is the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for His sheep. That He who loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life, shall keep it to eternal life. •* A new Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. By this shall all men know, that you are my dis- ciples, if ye love one another." That He is the way, the truth, and the life ; and that no man cometh to the Father hut by Him. Nor did our Blessed Lord teach any thing but what Himself recommended by His own practice. His sacred dictates were as legible in His life as in the Holy Scriptures ; not a precept in his sermons which lie did not illustrate by His example. Take we that summary and compendium of all that is divine and moral in His Sermon on the Mount ; and where shall we find such a body of wisdom and reason amongst all the writings of the most pretending sects and the most refined philosophy. What counsels, what rules and noble maxims, shine in all his heavenly discourses ! They are sprinkled through the Gospels, Epistles, and sacred pages, in wonderful, plentiful, sublime, and unsuspected truths, to justify His doctrine and the mysteries of our salvation ! Consider we the pains He took to instruct His disciples, letting no occasion pass, no accident, no ob- ject almost escape, which He did not turn and improve to our advantage, attributing the glory of all His illus- trious miracles, stupendous works, and actions to His Heavenly Father only. He instructs us in the duties of humility, purity of heart, love and charity so uni- THE TRUE EELIGION. ]43 versal and unconfined, as not to exclude our bitterest enemies and persecutors ; virtues which no other religion or institution ever had notion of. He exhorts us to pay obedience to parents, loyalty and tribute to princes and superiors ; to be generously charitable ; in a word, to do unto others as we would be done to ; instructing, pardoning, healing, and con- tinually going about to do good. For from the good- ness, excellency, and perfection of the Author, nothing can proceed but what was good, perfect, and super- excellent. And therefore did none of His disciples exaggerate or panegyrize the accomplishments of their Great Master, but relate matter of fact only, simply, plainly, without affectation, as knowing that the purity and intrinsic value of the doctrine would raise ad- mirers, and cause it to be readily received. Let us go through the holy depositories with whom He left His Testament and Commands, and take a survey of what He did as well as taught ; and there we shall find that the energy of a word only made men forsake all they had in the world, to follow Him. His doctrine showed who were the Messed, the salt of the earth, the lights of the world. He expounds and vindi- cates the law of God about killing, adultery, swearing, suffering wrong, charity, and labour after perfection. He tells them His meat and drink was to do the will of God. He teaches what we are to believe, and how to worship the Deity ;^ and more is there said in two words, to discharge religion from superstition, than all ^ Luke, v., 10 ; John, iv., 24. 144 THE TRUE RELIGION. the philosophy, divinity, and speculations of the world did ever hold out. Oh, stupendous mystery ! He gives us the bread of life, that we may never hunger, and drink, that we thirst no more ; and explains the wonder, and that the words which He spake, are spirit and life ; the flesh profits nothing. What effusions of grace could any, save the God of Grace, utter in such melting, obliging, pathetic expressions ! He pardons notorious sinners, feeds multitudes, heals all desperate diseases. He washes His disciples' very feet, even the traitor Judas's, to teach us humility, mutual love, and conde- scension. He forewarns Peter, comforts His sad dis- ciples, shows them the way to bliss, promises the Holy Ghost ; assures us our prayers shall be heard ; prays for us Himself, and goes to prepare mansions, and that He will never leave His Church to the end of the world. Who is able to read those dying and last words of our Blessed Jesus, without the most rapturous passion and transports of love and wonder ? In sum. He in- tercedes for His malicious foes, and, expiring, prays His Father to forgive them who had nailed Him to the Cross, and used Him with such indignity. And thus have we His example as weU as His precepts. Pass we now from our Saviour to His Apostles, and those who heard His gracious words, and received His sacred dictates from His own mouth. They speak and teach no other doctrine ; they live no other life. — That word, which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) — that Word, which was published throughout all Judea, and began THE TRUE RELIGION. 145 from Galilee, after the baptism "which John preached ; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power ; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil ; for God was with Him — they were witnesses of; and, of all things which He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem ; whom they slew and hanged upon a tree ; ^ Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly > not unto all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to the Apostles, who did eat and drink with him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded them to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained of God to be judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the Prophets witness, that through His name v^-hosoever believed in Him, shall receive remission of sins. And that they might be able to do this,^ when the day of Pentecost was fully come, and they were all with one accord in one place, suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty rushing wind ; and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them ; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost ; and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem devout men out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language, by which they were able to preach unto all nations the doctrine of the Gospel which before was made known to the Jews only ; but they, still rejecting it, they turned to the Gentiles (who were first called Christians at Antioch) ; ^ exhorting them to turn from idols unto the Living God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein ; who, in times past, suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. (Nevertheless, He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, ^ Acts, X., 36-39. 2 Ibid., ii., 1, 12. ^ Ibid., xiii., 42, 46. VOL. IL L 146 THE TRUE RELIGION. and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.) But now commandelh all men every where to repent ; because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man, whom He hath ordained, namely, the Lord Jesus. ^ And to confirm this, special miracles were, upon all occasions, wrought by the hands of the Apostles ; their sound going into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world. With what sweetness does St. Paul treat his impla- cable enemies the Jews ? With what admirable courage and patience do the rest of the Apostles go through their ministry ! With what patient humility, tempe- rance, charity, and indefatigable industry do they be- have themselves ! What nobler arguments can there be of the heavenly doctrine ? — I beseech you, brethren, [says St. Paul] "^ by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac- ceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, nor think of yourselves more highly than ye ought, but with sobriety. Let him that giveth, do it with simplicity ; he that ruleth, with diligence ; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be with- out dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil ; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly afiectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another. Not sloth- ful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Distributing to the necessity of saints ; given to hospitality. Bless them who persecute you ; bless, and curse not. Re- joice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one towards another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low degree. Be not ^ Acts, X., 30. 2 j^Qjjj^ ^^i THE TRUE RELIGION. 147 wise in your own conceits. Recompence no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Revenge not yourselves ; but rather give place to wrath. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink, &c. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Let every soul be subject to the higher power ;i for there is no power, but of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the Power, resisteth the ordinance of God. Wherefore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience' sake. For this cause pay you tribute also — render, therefore, to all their dues ; tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. Owe no man anything, but to love one another. For he that loveth another, fulfilleth the Law. The night is far spent ; the day is at hand. Let us, there- fore, cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying ; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provisions for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Then, that men may not condemn one another in things indifferent, he exhorts us to follow after the things which make for peace and edification. That the strong should bear with the weak, and not please themselves, after the example of Christ. In his Epistles to the Corinthians,^ he exhorts. If any man who is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. And taking notice of their going to law : Why do ye not rather take wrong ? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded ?^ Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with ^ Rom., xiii. ' L Cor., v., 11. ^ Ibid., vi., 7 ; iv., 20. L 2 148 THE TRUE RELIGION. mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor re- vilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God. What ! know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own ? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in the body and in the spirit, which are God's. Then, concerning marriage, continence, and virginity,^ what admirable precepts and counsels ! That they who had wives, be as those who had none ; they that weep, as though they wept not ; they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it ; for the fashion of this world passeth away. Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.^ Give no offence — even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. Covet earnestly the best things ; and follow after charity.^ For, if we speak with the tongue of men and angels, and have not charity, and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith to remove mountains, and have not charity, (he shows) we are nothing. Nay, though we bestow all our goods, to relieve the poor, and give our bodies to be burned, and have not charity, it profits nothing. Then he shows us the nature of this virtue : charity sufiereth long, and is kind. Charity envyeth not ; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up ; doth not behave itself unseemly ; seeketh not her own ; is not easily provoked ; thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth ; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, they shall cease ; whe- ther there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. But now 1 I. Cor., vii^ 29, 30, 31, 32. ^ j^jj^j^ ^^ 31^.32^ 33^ 2 Ibid., 2{ii, 31.; xiii,, 1-9. THE TKUE RELIGION. 149 abideth faith, hope, charity; but the greatest of these is charity. Then he discourses of the Resurrection, both of Christ and of the saints, which he proves by most urgent reasons, with the fruits and manner of it, throughout the whole fifteenth chapter. And then, treating of afflictions by his own exam- ple. We are troubled^ (says he) on every side, but not dis- tressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the Life of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For which cause we faint not; but, though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the things which are seen, are temporal ; but the things which are not seen, are eternal. For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' For we walk by faith, not by sight, and must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. That all things are of God, who hath reconciled the world to himself by Jesus Christ, not imputing these trespasses unto another. Having, therefore, these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. ^ Then, to stir up a liberal contribution for the poor saints, he urges the example of Christ. That, though He was rich, yet, for our sakes. He became poor, that we, through His poverty, ^ n. Cor., iv., 7. - Ibid., v., 1. ^ i^^^^ ^jj^^ 1^ 150 THE TKUE RELIGION. might be rich,^ And that if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not (c. ix., 7). And would have provision made for honest and decent things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. In his Epistle to the Galatians, he shows that he received not this doctrine from man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ ; ^ and shows how we are not sanctified by the Law, but by faith in Christ. And that, though an angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel than that the Apostle preached, he should be accursed. And proceeds to describe the hostility between the flesh and the spirit, the fruits of which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance ; against which there is no law. And that they who are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with the aflfections and lusts. In the next period, he moves to gentleness towards those who have slipped.^ If a man be overtaken in a fault, he should be restored in the spirit of meekness, considering our common frailty (II. Thess). That we should bear one another's burdens ; and so fulfil the Law of Christ. Let him that is taught in the Word com- municate to him that teacheth in all good things. And not be weary in well doing ; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. But, as we have opportunity, do good unto all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith. In that to the Ephesians * — in the first chapter whereof he treats of the high mystery of Election and Adoption ; and how Christ is set at the right hand of God the Father, far above all principalities and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, and hath all things put under his feet, being the head of the Church, which is his body. How we are quickened and saved by his grace, through faith, when ' II. Cor., viii., 9. ^ (j^i., i., 8, 12 ; ii., 16 ; v., 17, 22, 24. 3 Ibid., vi., 1. * Ephes., i. THE TRUE RELIGION. 151 Gentiles, and without God in the world. That He is our peace, having demolished the partition-wall, and reconciled us unto God, by his Cross, so as by Him we have access to the Father (iii. 12). And, being no more strangers and foreign- ers, are become fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God ; built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner- stone, &c. These mysteries, hid from the beginning of the world, never till now made known to the sons of men,^ (he tells us) were now first revealed ; namely, that the Gentiles should be fellow- heirs, and partakers in the promises of Christ by the Gospel. He cautions us against divisions and inconstancy ; exhorts to put off the old man, and put on the new : to be angry without sin, that the sun go not down upon our wrath, neither give place to the Devil. That he who stole, steal no more ; but work with his hands, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. And grieve not the Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil- speaking, be put away from you with all malice : and be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us. That neither fornication, uncleanness, or covetousness, should so much as be named among saints, nor so much as foolish vain talking, or jesting ; but rather giving of thanks, walking circumspectly, redeeming the time.^ In his Epistle to the Philippians^, exhorting to unity and other graces. Let nothing (says he) be done through strife or in vainglory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other 1 Ephes., iii., 5, 6 ; iv., 24-32. ^ j^j^^^^ ^ ^ 3^ 15^ ^Q. =» Phil., ii., 3, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15. 152 THE TRUE RELIGION. better than themselves, after the example of Christ, who, being in the form of God, and equal with God, made himself of no reputation ; but took (emptying himself) upon him the form of a servant ; yea, so humbled himself, as to become obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. Do all things without murmuring, that ye may be blameless and harmless, and without rebuke.' Rejoice in the Lord. Let your moderation be known to all men. Be careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Finally, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, if there be any virtue, if any praise, think on these things. What can be more divine ?^ To the Colossians,^ what an admirable description is there of our Blessed Saviour, and of the infinite benefits of his Re- demption ! His blotting out the handwriting that was against us, and nailing it to his Cross, and exempting us from the legal ceremonies of meats, drinks, days, &c., which were shadows of things to come ; ^ exhorting us to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, not lie to one another ; but (as the Elect of God) to put on bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, for- bearing one another, and forgiving one another. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns, and spiri- tual songs, singing, with grace in your hearts, to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. That wives submit to their own husbands ; husbands to love their wives, and not to be bitter against them (Ephes., v., 25-33). That children honour and obey their parents in all things (Ephes., v., 1 , 2). That fathers provoke them not to anger, lest they be ^ Phil., iv.,4-6, 8. ^ Coloss., i., 15,22. ^ Ibid., iii., 1, 2, 8, 9, 12. THE TRUE RELIGION. 153 discouraged ; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That servants obey their masters, not with eye- service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, as to Christ, fearing God, who will reward it.^ In the mean time, that masters give them that which is equal and just, forbearing threatening, knowing they have a Master in Heaven, who has no respect of persons. That we should continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving, walking discreetly among them who are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Then, in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians,^ the same Apostle proceeds with exhortations to purity and sanctification. That no man go beyond, and defraud or overreach his brother in any matter. That Christians study to be quiet, and do their own business, and work with their own hands, that they may have lack of nothing. Nor sorrow for the dead, as those who have no hope, comforting them with an assured resurrec- tion, describing the manna of it, and Christ's glorious and sudden coming. And therefore how necessary it is to be watch- ful and sober, to warn them who are unruly, comfort the feeble- minded, support the weak, to be patient towards all men, to rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, in every thing to give thanks, not to quench the spirit, nor despise prophecy, but to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good ; nay, to abstain from all appearance of evil. In the Second Epistle,^ continuing his description of the dreadful Judgment, warns them of the general defection, at the coming of Antichrist, previous to the coming of our Saviour at the last day. In his two Epistles to Timothy, he exhorts that first of all supplications, prayer and intercession, and giving of thanks, ^ Coloss., iv., 1, 5, 6. M. Thess., iv., 6 ; v., 3, 4. 3 ji^ xhess., i., ii. 154 THE TRUE RELIGION. be made for all men : for kings and all in authority, that we may lead a quiet, peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty, as a thing acceptable to God, who will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth ; there being one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. In like manner, also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, as becomes women professing godliness, with good works. That they learn in silence with all subjection. That they presume not to teach in the Church, as being first in the transgression ; that, not- withstanding, she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they con- tinue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety. Then, in the next chapter,^ he teaches who Bishops and Deacons should demean themselves, and govern and minister in the Church. That they be blameless, vigilant, sober, given to hospitality, apt to teach, no strikers, not greedy of filthy lucre, impatient, or covetous ; ruling his own house well, that they may know how to take care of the Church, lest they be con- ceited ; not given to much wine, that they may know how to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And then shows, that great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified of the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up to glory. Thence proceeds he to show the apostacy of the latter times,^ teaching the doctrine of devils, forbidding to marry and to abstain from meats and other indifferent things, obtruding profane and old wives' fables and bodily exercises, &c., (II. Tim., iii.) Then gives rules for the reproving of others ; ' that elderly people should be entreated as fathers and mothers, the younger as brethren and sisters, with all purity; that real widows be * n. Thess., iii. * Ibid., iv. ^ Ibid., v. THE TRUE RELIGION. 155 honoured, and their children taught to requite their parents ; and if any provide not for his own house, he is worse than an infidel. He also describes such as are to be imputed widows, indeed, well reported of for good works, if she have brought up children, lodged strangers, washed the saints' feet, relieved the afflicted, and followed every good work. Giving a cha- racter of the younger idle widows, tatlers, and busybodies. How the young should marry, bear children, guide the house, and give no occasion of reproach. Then, that the Bishops should rebuke them that sin, that others may take warning, and do all things impartially ; nor lay hands (to ordain or absolve others) suddenly on none, or be partaker of other men's sins. He proceeds to show how godliness, with contentedness, is great gain ;^ and that, having brought nothing into the world, having food and raiment, we should therewith be content. For that they who will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in perdition ; the love of money being the root of all evil, which, while some coveted after, they erred from the Faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. He therefore charges the rich, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the Living God, who gives us all things richly to enjoy. That they do good, be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life. In the Second Epistle,^ he shows how Christ has abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light, through the Gospel. That all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. He charges Timothy^ to preach the Word, to be instant in 1 n. Thess., vi. ^ II. Tim., i. ^ jj^^^^ j^. 156 THE TRUE RELIGION. season, out of season, to reprove, rebuke with all long-suffer- ing and doctrine ; warning him of the perverseness of men. In like manner to Titus,^ (Bishop of Crete) he shows how the ministers of the Gospel should behave themselves, that they may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convince the gainsayers. And then proceeds to give precepts how all sorts of Christians should live :^ that the aged be grave, sober, temperate, sound in the faith; that young women be sober, discreet, chaste, keepers at home, obedient to their husbands ; that servants, being reproved, answer not again ; that they purloin nothing. For that the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righte- ously, and godly in this present world. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of that Great God, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. In the following chapter,^ he puts them in mind to be sub- ject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates (though they were at that time Heathens), and to speak evil of no man ; considering what God our Saviour has called us to, by His in- finite kindness and love ; not for works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs of eternal life. In his Epistle to Philemon,^ see what bowels of charity to a repenting fugitive servant, whom he reconciles to his master. The Epistle to the Hebrews 5 — whether St. Paul's, or of any other Christian author — in the first chapter, describes the in- comparable person of our Saviour, by whom He has in these last days spoken to us. He shows us how He made the ' Tit., i. 2 j^,i^^ ii^ 3 rp.^^ .^^ * Philem. 5 Hebrews. THE TRUE RELIGIOX. 157 worlds ; who, being the Son of God, the heir of all things, is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His per- son, upholding all things by the word of His power, and, having purged our sins, is set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, as being in pre-eminence infinitely higher than the angels, who are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. By this exaggerating the infinite condescension of our Saviour's exinanition, in that being so great a person. He should take upon Himself, and suffer in our nature. And thence infers the danger of infi- delity, by the bad example of the Jews. For that the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,^ piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any crea- ture that is not manifest in His sight ; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And that, since we have such an High Priest, who is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,^ we should hold fast our profession. He shows the great preference of our Saviour's Priesthood to all the Legal High Priests, who were but tem- poral, and could not, with all their sacrifices, oblations, and intercessions, by reason of their infirmities, make any thing perfect (vii., 27, 28). But Christ, though in all things tempted like us, was yet without sin. That, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears for us unto God, though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience, by the things which He suffered ; and, being made perfect, became the Author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him. He proceeds in the next to exalt our Saviour's priesthood' above the Aaronical, as being eternal and immortal, and em- ployed about a better Covenant, (viii., 6) as being able to save ' Heb., iv. ' Ibid., v. ' Ibid., vi. 158 THE TRUE RELIGION. them to the uttermost,^ that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us. For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, blameless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. In the next three chapters,'^ describing the rites of these sanguinary sacrifices under the law, and their great insuflB- ciency, as being figures, to remain only till the time of the reformation, that is, till Christ should come an High Priest of better things. For, if the bloods of bulls and goats under the law, expiatory to the purifying of the flesh, (farther than which it did not reach) how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit off'ered Himself without spot to God, purge our conscience from dead works, to serve the Living God ? Nor did He enter into the sanctuary (as did Aaron and his successors) with the blood of others ; but now once in the end of the world He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed to me once to die, and after that, the Judgment ; so Christ being once oflfered to bear the sins of many — to them who look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin. unto salvation. The same He pursues to confirm in the fol- lowing chapter : showing that God had no pleasure in the legal sacrifices, as being impossible to take away sin, but as referring to Christ (Ps. xl., 6, &c.) Who by one offering hath perfected for ever them who are sanctified. Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way, he exhorts us to draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. To hold fast the profession of our faith, for the danger of wilfully sinning, after the knowledge of the truth, there being no more sacrifice for sin, and the dreadfulness of the punishment. He shows what faith is,^ and the efficacy of it, by the ex- ^ Heb., vii. ^ Ibid., viii., ix., x. ^ Ibid., xi. THE TKUE RELIGION. 159 ample of the patriarchs and prophets, and other holy men, who in all ages suffered for it, in expectation of the reward of their patience and other virtues.^ That heing compassed with such a cloud of illustrious witnesses for our encouragement, we should run with patience the race which is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. That, being now redeemed from the servitude and diffi- culties of a severe dispensation, we are by Christ admitted to Mount Sion, to the city of the Living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. To the general Assembly and Church of the First-born who are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel, &c. Concluding with sundry Christian admonitions concerning fraternal love.' That they should not forget to entertain strangers, for that thereby some have unawares received angels. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them that suffer affliction. Remember them who have the oversight of you, and have spoken unto you the Word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their converation. Be not car- ried away with divers and strange doctrines. To do good, and to distribute, forget not ; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Thus far that holy Apostle and Author of these epistles. Now we come to St. James,^ whose epistle is full of Divine exhortation as to patience under the Cross ; and that in trials and temptations we should not impute our frailties to God, who tempts no man, but that every man is tempted, when He is drawn away and enticed of his own lust. That we should be slow to speak, slow to wrath ; doers of the Word, not ^ Heb., xii. "^ Ibid., xiii. ^ James, i. 160 THE TRUE RELIGION. hearers only. That, if any man pretending to religion, bridles not his tongue, his religion is vain. For that true religion and undefiled before God is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. That we should not have respect to persons, and show partiality, but so speak and do as they that shall be judged by that perfect law of liberty.^ For that he shall have judgment without mercy, who shows no mercy, and that faith without works is dead, and nothing worth ; for even the devils believe and tremble. He advises that we should not be many masters ; for that in many things we offend all, espe- cially with the tongue, which is a fire, and full of a world of iniquity, and therefore to be severely bridled.^ Then he describes heavenly wisdom, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. The following chapters declaim against avarice,^ intempe- rance, pride, detraction, and censoriousness, and other vices, exhorting to patience, justice, and other virtues. Above all things, not to swear, but that our communication be simple, affirmative or negative. Is any afilicted ? let him pray. Is any merry ? let him sing Psalms. Confess your faults mu- tually, and pray for one another, for the extraordinary effect of devout prayer by the example of Elias. The like excellent lessons we have in the following Epistles of St. Peter,^ where, treating of the incomparable mysteries of the Gospel, he shows how the very angels desire to look into them ; and therefore exhorts Christians to sanctity and holiness of life in all conversation, that so we may resemble God, who is holy. That we shall pass our time here in pious fear, inas- much as we were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without ble- mish and without spot, who verily was fore-ordained before 1 James, ii. ^ Ibid., iii. ^ James, iv., v. * I. Peter, i. THE TRUE RELIGION. 161 the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times to us who believe in God, that raised Him from the dead, &c.^ Then he recommends obedience to magistrates. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. That servants reverence their masters, suffering their frowardness after the example of our Master, Christ, who suffered for us, and who did no sin ; yet, being reviled, reviled not again ; but committed Himself to Him who judgeth righteously ; who His own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree ; by whose stripes we are healed. And the same holy Apostle" teaches husbands and wives their duties, to win one another by their chaste and holy con- versation, rather than by plaiting their hair, and adorning themselves with jewels; but with meek and quiet spirits, which is, in the sight of God, of great price. That husbands likewise give honour to their wives, as to the weaker vessel, and as heirs together of the grace of life. In a word, that Christians should be all of one mind, compassionate to one another, to love as brethren, be pitiful and courteous, and always ready to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope which is in us. In the following chapter^ he exhorts us to bear persecution patiently for the name of Christ, and to esteem it as a glory. But that none suffer as a malefactor, or busybody in other men's matters, which do not concern him. For that the time is coming, that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin there, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God ? And, if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear ? Where- fore let them who sufi'er according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as to a faithful Creator, casting all care upon Him, for He cares for us. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the Devil, as a roar- ing lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom ^ I Peter, ii. ' Ibid., iii. ' Ibid., iv. VOL. n. M 1 62 THE TRUE RELIGION. we are to resist steadfast in the faith. ^ And he goes on in the following epistle, showing what precious promises are made to us in the Gospel, that by them we might be par- takers of the Divine nature, by giving all diligence, and adding to faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness cha* rity, giving all diligence to make our calling and election sure. For in this chapter the Apostle seriously professes that they did not follow cunningly devised fables, when they made known to us the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty, when receiving from God the Father, honour and glory, there came such a voice to Him, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this which came from heaven, they heard when they were with Him in the holy mountain. To confirm which yet more fully, they had, above all, that sure and illustrious word of prophecy, the Scriptures, no prophecy of which is of any private interpretation, nor did it (he tells us) come of old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ; warning Christians of such false prophets,^ as shall bring in damnable heresies, to the very denying of Christ. But that, as God spared not the lapsed angels, casting them down to hell and chains of darkness to the judgment day, nor indulged other notorious sinners, but reserving Noah and righteous Lot from ruin, so would He deliver His servants from temptation and evil, describing the manner of those seducers, that they may be avoided.'* Then he proceeds to treat of our Saviour certainly coming to judgment against those wicked persons and those scofi^ers, who question and deride the promise of His coming, seeing so little alteration of things in the world, and that nature holds on her course, as if it should never have an end ; not considering that, as tlie world was once destroyed for sin by ' IL Peter, i. ^ jj^^^j^ ^^ 3 n^^j^ ^^i THE TRUE RELIGION. 1 63 water, so the heavens and earth which are now, are but kept in store and reserved for a general conflagration, and the per- dition of impious raen at the last day. And thus God is not slack concerning His promise, (as some count slackness) for that a thousand years are but as a day to Him, but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but repent. For that, that day will come, as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works which are therein be burnt up. Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And therefore it imports us to be diligent, that we may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless, &c. After St. Peter comes the blessed disciple and evangelist, St. John,^ still confirming the same thing, as to the truth of the Gospel, by the most undeniable and sensible demonstration. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life — de- clare we unto you ; and that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins ; and that, if we confess them, we shall find mercy. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous ; and He is the propitiation for our sins and for the sins of the whole world.^ That to know God, is to keep His Commandments, and love our brethren, and not the world. For all that is in the world, is but the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ; and the world passes away, and all its enjoyments. Then, warning against Anti-christian seducers, he proceeds to describe the incomparable love of God to the faithful. What manner of love^ (says he, even in admiration at it) V John, i. ' Ibid., ii. ^ Ibid., iii. M 2 164 THE TRUE RELIGION. hath the Father bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God ? And what shall we farther be when Christ shall appear, namely, like to God Himself; and therefore, how highly it becomes those who have such hopes, to purify themselves, even as He is pure* He shows that the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the Devil. And that, as He laid down His life for us, so should we for our brethren, and there- fore much more relieve their necessities, as a mark of our love to God. In the chapter following,^ he warns us of too forward cre- dulity of such as boast of the spirits, and that therefore we should try them first. And then returns again to the magni- fying the exceeding love of God ; not that we loved Him ; but He, us ; and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And if He so loved us, we ought to love one another. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God.' Lastly, concludes, by showing that the children of God over- come the world by faith, and that His Commandments are not grievous. Then he speaks of other mysteries. St. Jude^ also treats of the common salvation, and that we should contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the "saints. It is from this Apostle that we learn how the angels who kept not their first state, but left their own habitations, are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Then he describes the wickedness and horrible punishment of seducers, rebels, and voluptu- ous men. Finally, in the former beloved Disciple's Revelation, we have not only a prophecy of what shall happen in the last times from the coming of the Antichrist to the last Judgment, full of prophecy and mystery, but many excellent lessons, encouraging the faithful to persevere to the end. We have there the de- scription of what the Church shall suffer ; of death, resur- ^ John, iv. 2 Ibid., v. ^ Jude. THE TRUE RELIGION. 165 rection, judgment, hell, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the felicity of the saints, with a heavy curse to whomsoever shall presume to add to or detract from the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ, which this Divine Book seals up. And He who testifieth these things, saith surely, I come quickly. Even so come. Lord Jesus. ^ PART II. REFLECTIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. This is the Christian Doctrine, and this their preach- ing, which we see was^ not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. They had the testimony of a good conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, they had their con- versation in this world. And, though they walked in the flesh as mortal men, they did not walk after the flesh. Nor were the weapons of their warfare carnal, which did these great things, and wrought this change in the world by preaching the Gospel ; but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bring- ing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. In a word, every thing in the Christian doctrine concurs to render its votaries happy, and infinitely to be preferred before any other reHgion whatsoever. For, besides temporal benedictions, it sanctifies the soul, establishes the heart, directs and encourages by example, and the highest rewards imaginable. So that ^ L Cor., ii., 4. 166 THE TRUE RELIGION. the Christian morals are not a simple idea alone of perfection, but real ones; not (as the law) written indeed, on stone, but engraven in men's consciences. It teaches to deny all ungodly and worldly lusts, pomps and vanities, and to live soberly and righteously in all godliness, honesty, and decency to all relations; to repress our exorbitant passions, to descend from our haughtiness, and to acknowledge every body our bro- ther; to part from our possessions, rather than do wrong, and from our lives, than deny the Faith, or fail in works of justice and liberality, and to that degree as to send relief from the most distant parts of Greece to the distressed Saints, as far off as Jerusalem, whom they had never seen ; to live with so universal a charity, as if the whole world had been but one family, and this, without the least ostentation. In a word, it raises the heart to the highest speculations, and renders it capable of the noblest impressions, having for its end the most glorious recompence. Indeed, all these transcendant virtues did not con- tinue in the Church without alloy and interruption after a while, by reason of human frailty, and the cor- ruption of the times : Satan being more than ever con- cerned for his kingdom, which the Gospel did so terribly shake. But it pleased God it should prevail for a space, yea, and for some ages ; and, like the sun, now and then under clouds, emerge and break out again, dissipating the darkness, and chasing away the mists; and shine it shall do more and more, maugre all the power of Hell, as long as sun and moon endure, yea, for ever and ever. THE TRUE RELIGION. 167 If we consider the sublimer Mysteries of the Christian Faith, they are such as eye never saw, ear never heard, or hath entered into the heart of man so much as to conceive. Objects infinitely above senses, yet highly rational : such the expiatory sacrifice of an Incarnate God ; the Union Hypostatical ; the Adorable Trinity ; the Soul's Immortality ; the Communion of Saints ; Resurrection of the Dead ; Remission of Sins ; and Everlasting Life. These are not the speculations of contemplative and mopish book-men, but truths and real things ; not (as we said) contrary to sound reason, but above it, to humble our proud aspirings, and raise our veneration ; to exercise our faith and other graces, not to gratify our sight and wanton curiosity, which were to take from the virtue, and consequently from the reward. Moreover, so proceeds it in order of nature, darkness before light, infancy before full stature, milk before strong meats, teaching before learning. It disciplines us to wisdom, not by starts and leaps, but by gentle degrees, from shadows to substances, from types to verities. And since the world, through its own wisdom, knew not these things, God was pleased that the re- puted foolishness of His Doctrine should confound the wisdom of the wise in their own conceits. Wherefore, to illustrate this truth the more, let us look back a little, and see what other the most famous and prevailing religions do afford, or can pretend to, in competition with the Christian. 168 THE TRUE RELIGION. SECTION IV. CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED WITH OTHER RELIGIONS. 1. SUPERIORITY OVER THE PAGAN RELIGION. I begin with the Pagan and Gentile, the most refined and philosophical.' The ancient Greek and Roman |religion was composed, we know, but of the raillery and fictions of poets, perverted imitations of ancient rites, by diabolical auguries, raking into the entrails of beasts, the flying of birds, and other vanities and superstitions, so exceedingly ridiculous, that Porphyry himself is in pain to explicate their fantastical, and, some of them, iimpious and abominable mysteries. Such were those of Ceres, Bacchus, Flora, and other secret rites, filthy, tumultuous, profane, cruel, and altogether barbarous. They were some of them performed in obscurity, and forbidden to be divulged, it being a shame so much as to speak of what was done in it. Whereas, that which Christ has taught us, is an open, manifest, and inge- nuous profession, pure and chaste, sober and grave, and which discovers itself without any cloud or material veil, and is ashamed of nothing it either says or does, whilst it qualifies its followers to see, and to make known things invisible ; even God himself, not by our outward senses, but an inward spiritual illumination. It acquaints us with the whole council of Heaven to our utmost capacity, and shows us how the Almighty governs * We disdain to mention the stupid, ignorant, and totally bar- barous, such as were and are yet among the uncivilized nations. THE TKUE RELIGION. 169 all things by His Providence, making evil subservient to good, and to do His will, even by the most averse and contrary means. The blinded Heathen, after all their scrutiny, could discover nothing but uncertain conjectures ; and their oracular responses, after all their applications, were the cheats of their idolatrous Priests and Satanic impostors; and such as gave no heed to them, attributed all to chance and fortune. The Pagans made their gods of mortal, vicious men ; the Christians, of the holy and righteous Creator of all mankind : the Pagans made images of their gods, and dedicated to them temples; the Christian makes none of his; because with him every man is God's image, and the whole universe His temple. Cicero himself reproves the folly of the Pagan ceremonies, their cruel- ties, lying oracles, and ridiculous auguries; and some wondered they did not laugh at one another, when they were about their silly tricks and solemn impertinences ; fitter to stupify and amuse the ignorant, than to instruct them, and to incur the derision and contempt of the Aviser ; and, having in them nothing of solid and true, they satisfied no doubts, established nothing of virtue, nothing of the soul's future state, nor whence she came, nor for what end, nor who or what to trust nor rely on, to whom of all their gods they should apply themselves, or whether to all of them in general, for fear of dis- obliging some particular one. But, to pass by these more gross and unaccountable : we affirm, the most refined and philosophic Pagans came infinitely short of the Christian, both for truth 1 70 THE TRUE RELIGION. and sublimity; the most rational among them being more prone to worship and adore the sun and constella- tions, than the God who made the sun and all the stars ; to celebrate cruel and bloody spectacles, lewd representations, feasts and debaucheries, to the honour of their idols and false deities, than to worship that spi- ritual Being, whom natural reason might tell them was not like to any thing made with hands and men's de- vice ; or to be conciliated by impure and human vic- tims, — abstinence from certain meats, and other super- stitious austerities, rather than to abstain from carnal lusts and other abominations — to give the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul, and sacrifice their children to devils, than mortify and kill their vices and sensual inclinations. The consideration of which made some of its votaries conclude the necessity of a purgative course ; and, contemplating the pravity of human nature, to acknowledge it could not be cleansed and rectified by any ceremonies ; but by some property in God, which Porphyry calls the Intellect of the Father, and Mundane Soul; but which, indeed, that apostate should have named the Wisdom of the Father, by whom He made the world ; and does at last confess, that none of the Heathen ever showed the means of attaining it. 2. PHILOSOPHIC RELIGION. As to the Philosophic Religion, so far does the Chris- tian transcend it, that the very best of their morals have been taxed, and some deprehended in the most THE TRUE RELIGION. 171 abominable Impurities. Socrates himself (as we showed) has been suspected, as well as the great Alcibiades. Diogenes was shameless ; nay, even Trajan, Seneca, and others of the best reputation, were charged with avarice, pride, and covetousness. Against aU which the Christian Religion not only denounces, but has given the greatest and most signal instances to the con- trary, virtues, purity, charity, and humility, exalted to their highest pitch. They will tell us, indeed, that their wise man should restrain the passions, and vanquish his inclinations ; but assign no reason for it, beyond the ease and happiness of the present state. That sublime idea, which carries the sincere Christian to live as becomes him, they had no notion of. And, though some of them became even martyrs, rather than break their word, or do a dis- honourable action, by which their country might be damnified (such as were Curtius, Regulus, Scsevola, Lucretia, &c.), most of them had undoubtedly an eye to ostentation and the praise of men. Others made themselves away out of shame or fear ; nor was Cato's and Cleopatra's true and real fortitude. And thus do the reduced Indian widows burn themselves on the funeral pile of their deceased husbands. Others fall down to a stone, that it may fall upon them, and the wheels of the idol-machine crush the adorers to pieces. And whence all this but out of a stupid zeal, or fantas- tic imagination of merit ? Tantum Rehgio potuit suadere raalorura ! Whilst the Christian sufferer is full of joy and assurance that, being a lover of God and virtue, his labour shall 1 72 THE TRUE RELIGION. not be in vain ; knowing that there is a reward for the righteous. His zeal is not a sudden heat, a cold or remiss devotion, but a calm, sedate, constant, and uni- form course of exemplary holiness. The Christian Religion shows how impossible it is we should heal ourselves without some supernatural assist- ance, derived from God. While all the shining virtues and pretences of the moral Heathen were more in glit- tering show than real substance. They were too weak to eradicate evil habits ; they knew not what self-abne- gation meant. The poor philosopher despises what he would above all things attain to ; and the rich held fast what he had gotten, still accumulating more, not to do his neighbours good, but to please himself. Seneca (if not foully traduced) was an instance of this ; than whom there was no man more covetous in the midst of afflu- ence. Others of them changed the object, but retained their vices. If they departed from, or mortified, one folly, they soon embraced another, from prodigal to covetous, from lust to perjury, from intemperance to incharity. And what religion now is that, which suc- cessively encounters these successive hydras (which spring as fast as they are cut down), but the Christian, whose principles are of another force? Some of the Philosophers, indeed, spake and lived with more sin- cerity ; but the instances were few ; and the strictest of their wise men recommended virtue but for temporal advantages, health and ease of life, without much regard to the dignity of the soul, the honour of its Creator, and a life and being to come. Some of them celebrated commutative justice, mercy, THE TRUE RELIGIOK, 173 and other virtues, but did not practise it. They had no bowels, when objects of pity lay before them. They knew not what humility was, and their patience was pride, or a morose obstinacy. They fancied thought was free ; took no account of the interior man ; had little influence on the mind; sought to suppress no imaginative or speculative lusts, so they broke not out into actions. Whilst the Christian teaches us, that the divine justice, though impartial, is full of compassion, that the way to ascend on high is to begin at the lowest step, and to conquer and overcome by suffering. It instructs us, that God is our absolute Legislator, and takes account not only of our outward actions, but of all our thoughts and imaginations, and of what we do in secret. It fears not the reproach, nor to be seen or praised of man; but seeks to be approved of Him, who searches the heart and tries the reins. In a word, it acquiesces in the order of the Divine decrees ; and therefore prays His will be done ; endeavours that all we say, do, or so much as think, be true, righteous, and holy, tending to the glory of our Heavenly Master and Benefactor only, without reserve ; nor this of necessity, but of choice. Thus, there is no compare between the Pagan philo- sopher and the Christian, either for the sanctity and efficacy of the precepts, or the sublimity of its myste- ries ; which natural reason alone is too weak to fathom. For what can all its forces do, when the Christian pro- poses the objects of his faith to consist in things im- mortal and of eternal durance? Reason will never prove that the motion of matter can produce a thought. 174 THE TRUE RELIGION. or that it lias parts indissoluble. Natural reason, in- deed, prompts men to love themselves, nay, and our neighbours too, and God above all ; and, in the first place, will carry us a great way to virtue ; but so far has corrupt nature perverted it, for politic and selfish ends, that what we pretend to do, by virtue of our na- ture, is monstrously defective. The Heathen philo- sopher made a glittering and specious show to the world, ^ not to mention many heroic actions performed by divers of them. But there was (as we noted) a mixture of vanity, glory to themselves, love of their country and other interests, without regard to the glory of God, as the End of all. Whom, since they knew not, they indeed could not love, and consequently not serve with that entire and interior purity and rational obedience with which the Christian does, and which renders his service acceptable, and improves morality beyond all that their sages ever attained to. The Epi- curean was sensual ; the Stoic proud ; the Academic always doubting and uncertain ; Plato, ideal and visionary ; whilst the Christian philosopher, transcending carnal reasonings, submits to the obedience of faith, and looks to things beyond the ken of sense, to things superna- tural and altogether divine. She satisfies and fills the mind, without tumor and ostentation ; puts a difference between material and animal, intellectual and spiritual, which are in perpetual hostility the one against the other ; and comes away with triumph. /For, if the speculations of those daring sects be not ^ The morals of Cato, Seneca, Epictetus, and others. THE TRUE RELIGION. 175 subdued, and rendered modest by the power and virtue of Christian and Evangelical grace, it does mischief to religion, whilst looking no farther than matter and the mechanic effects produced by that alone. Philosophic Religion rests in lines and circles ; will have sensible demonstration for things which, though they fall not under the rules of geometry, and diagrams of Euclid, are yet as certain and true, as their most infallible axioms and conclusions. Had religion been prescribed us, to learn how to philosophize on the nature of things, the theory would have been accordingly of a more sub- lime and spiritual nature. But, since it is given us to sanctify our hearts, it is reasonable our contemplations should be governed by something practical, refining, and effective of a good and holy life, without vain curi- osity. Philosophy is not satisfied to know and contem- plate things spiritual after a spiritual way ; but she will comprehend the manner of the operation by springs material, and gross resorts, which Almighty God thinks fit to reserve to Himself alone, and to draw a curtain over. It will (as one observes of the scholastic wits) divide and decide, define and distinguish, cut and con- found with unintelligible and useless notions, till it falls . into nonsense and contradictions. The mysteries of the Christian philosophy, or reli-\