Christian religion's appeal from the groundless prejudices of the sceptick to the bar of common reason by John Smith.

Christian Religions APPEAL To the BAR of Common Reason, &c. The Fourth Book. (Book 4)

The Divine Original of Christian Religion is as demonstrable as the being of a God.

CHAP. I.

The Being of a Deity demonstrated.

§ 1. Atheistical exceptions against particular points of Religion; an Hydra's head, yet they all stand upon one neck, and may be cut off at one blow by proving the Divine Original of Religion. §. 2. The Existence of a Deity demonstrable from the frame of the World, the composition of humane bo∣dies. §. 3. The Garden of the earth did not fall by chance, into so curious and well ordered knots; the ingenuity of Birds sings the wisdom of their maker, &c. §. 4. The Heavens declare the Glory of God.

§ 1. IT hath been a question agitated in the Schools, whe∣ther the Notion of a Deity be not so imprinted on the Tables of the Heart, as 'tis not possible to be ra∣zed out? So congenial to the humane mind as it cannot frame a conception inward, answerable to this outward expression [There is no God] a Sentence in the Fools mouth and heart, and perhaps in his Brutish imagination, but not to be transcribed thence into his upper soul, whose pre-notions repulse all thoughts of entertaining it. (Alexand. Alens. sum. par. 1. quest. 3. memb 2.) An ita deus sit cogitare non esse; (vide Trismig. peri∣and.) Jamblicus makes the knowledge of God so essential to the soul, as he saith [to know God is the very essence thereof] Jamblic. de mysteriis 6. titulo de cognitione divinorum.) [Ante omnem rationis usum inest naturaliter dei notio: imò tactus quidam divinitatis melior quam notitia—Intellectus divinus dat esse

animae, per intelligere suum essentiale: ergo esse animae est quoddam intelligere, scilicet deum, unde dependit; esse nostrum, est Deum cognoscere.] The Notion of God is naturally in man before all exercise of reason: yea, a certain touch of the Divinity better than knowledge. The divine intellect, by giving it to understand its own being, gives being to the soul, the being therefore of the soul is to know that upon which it dependeth, to wit, God, our being is to know God.] Or whether, in case it could be supprest within, the arguments from without, of a Deity, are not so urgent upon our discoursive faculties, as we cannot open our eyes upon the creature, but we must see the impresses of the infinite Wisdom, power, goodness, of their Creator and disposer? The Author of the Book of Wisdom chap. 13. puts the fool upon all them, who from the good things that are seen, could not see him, that is, neither by attending to his works, would acknowledge who is the workman. As to matter of fact the Gen∣tile ages afforded those were called Atheists, by those who reputed all such that did not imbrace the commonly received Gods, (for which reason the Christians were branded with that ignominious title) but that those a∣ges produced one real Atheist, is more than can be proved: there were then such as doubted an dii sint vel non sint [Whether there were any Gods or not] There were such as questioned (or rather determined negatively) whether those were Gods, whose Idols were presented either in the colour of the Aethiopian Deities, black, (as Alexander Geraldin, 5. Itenerarii affirms the Ae∣thiopians to have painted their Gods, thinking that the most venust colour which themselves were tanned with) or in the bloody hew of Victors, Red: as the Romans in their triumphs painted Jupiter (saith Pliny, l. 3. cap. 7.) or in such ridiculous and unbeseeming shape, as that was whereby Latona was represented at Delos; at the sight whereof Parmenistas Metapontius could not refrain laughter, who before that had never laught since he came out of Trophonius his Cave (Athenaeus Dypnosoph. 14.) but there never was any a∣mongst the Ancients that ever questioned. An Deus sit? [Whether there be a God?] But this last age hath been productive of Monsters, whose Bellies have sent up those fumes into their head, as cloud the knowledge of a Dei∣ty, and will not suffer any God to be acknowledged but the Belly: so much more black and dismal is that night of ignorance, wherein the divine Ju∣stice invelops the abusers of Divine light, than that which men brought up∣on themselves, by not attending to natural Notions. That we may not therefore seem to beg that principle, but force the adversary to an acknow∣ledgement of the Deity; we will first prove the existence of a God, and then (by the same evidences) prove the Scriptures to be of Divine and superna∣tural revelation.

Cicero in his wild discourse of the production of the Universe, makes one sober Observation. That he who goes about the framing of any work, if he have before him a model thats always the same, and propounds that to himself as a sampler, must of necessity produce an excellent work: but if he mind only the shape of the thing it self which he is making (which changeth with every turn of the wheel, and receives new impresses by eve∣ry new motion of the Artificers hand) he shall never bring forth so absolute comly a piece as he desires. From hence (saith he) it necessarily follows that this world, which we plainly discern to be an every way perfect pro∣duction, is the counterpart of some eternal Idea, pre-existing in the mind of the Architect, before it was made. (Seneca de provid.) Supervacuum est ostendere, tantum opus non sine aliquo custode stare. (Arist. 2. Phys.) Natura ut est sub primo agente intellectuali, operatur propter finem; (& Metaph. 12. 10.) necesse est unum esse principem, ut optima sit universi gubernatio. Neaue enim potentia temeraeria, sed sapientiae virtute, omnipotens est Deus (August 9. super Genesin ut li∣teram cap. 17.) It is needless to shew that such a work cannot stand without a Keeper (saith Seneca) Nature as it is under the first intellectual agent, operates for some end: where the universe is so excellently composed, there must need be one Prince (saith Aristotle) God saith Saint Austin is Omnipotent, not by a teme∣rarious

power, but by the virtue of wisdom. I choose this for my medium, be∣cause the consequence of it is perceiveable by the common sense of all men, from the greatest Statists to the simplest mechanicks. If the Carpenter or Wheelwright had nothing in their mind while they are hewing, but whats under their eye and Axe, (to which every stroke gives a new shape) if the one while he is shaping a spoke, did not think of a Wheel, and the other while he is forming a Beam, of an House, and both of them had not the perfect Idea of the proportions, and forethought of the use of that they are framing, they would never make all meet together in that symmetrie of parts, as the ultimate product of the one should be meet for habitation, and of the other for carriage. Should not the Gallants Taylor take measure of him, and sound all his Dimensions, or at least have one of his size in his thoughts while he cut out a sute for him, he would make a pitifull Gentleman of him, if he were a man only of the Taylors making, and nothing but his cloaths.

§. 2. No less conspicuous are the prints of infinite wisdom, the footsteps of eternal, all-comprehending, divine foreknowledge in the admirable frame of the world. If we travel through the little World, Man, the Index, Epi∣tome, and Abstract of the great, that Nutshel wherein the whole Iliads of the larger Poem are comprised, that Center where all the lines of the whole Creation meet; and therein contemplate the outward and inward composure of the body, wherein there is not the least particle but hath its apparent use, and whereof every part is without the care or industry of Parents fitted to its proper use, with so much art, that the greatest Philosophers and most e∣minent Physicians can never sufficiently admire it. This Workmanship shews the Workman to be a most excellent mind, and to have squared his work by the line of most Superlative wisdome. The Prince of Physicians, Galen, though an Heathen, saw, (and wondred that any are so blind as not to see) the incomprehensible riches of the divine omniscience in the Anatomy of the eyes, and in the Dissection of the hand, felt (and admired that any should be so thick skin'd, as not to feel as it were by the fingers end) the foreknow∣ledge of the maker, exprest in the admirable disposing of every joynt, so as to make the hand a fit tool for the performance of every work, we use it in. The tongue of the most fluent Orator never run more glib in expres∣sing any passions of his mind, than those of admiration, at the artificial com∣posure of an humane body; when he read to the World that Anatomy Le∣cture, in his second Book de Natura Deorum, where discoursing upon that Subject, from the hair of the head to the nails of the toes, he makes every pipe of that well tun'd Organ, every string of that melodious Lute, sound cut the praises of the all-wise Maker, one while stiling it the [incredibilem stru∣cturam] so admirable a composure, as did we not see it with our eyes, we could not be induc'd to believe it were within the compass of wisdom it self to contrive such Engines of speech, of Breathing, of Digestion, Egestion, Generation, Local Motion, &c. another while crying out [vim quondam in-, credibilem artificiosi operis divinique testantur.] would it be credible if it were not sensible, that so artificial and Divine Works could be framed?

§ 3. How much greater Wonders of the Divine Science might I shew the Atheist, if I ripped up before him that other part of himself? If I shewed him the sparklings of the Jewel that's deposited in this Cabinet; the Artifici∣alness of the Spring of all, these stupendious Motions; whereby, in the twinkling of an eye, his Mind surrounds the Earth, and, if he please, mounts above the Stars: but this his immortal Piece is as far from his knowledge as his care! I will therefore not disturb him out of that pleasing Dream and conceipt of Jack-work or Clock-work: (for his mind is so taken up with Time, so fastned to his Trencher, Palate and Panch; as he can think of nothing but Clocks and Jacks;) nor wish him to strain his eyes in the rea∣ding of so small a Print, as that incorporeal Spirit is writ in, whereby he

lives (or should live) the Life of a Man; nor draw him out of his own gross element of bodily Substances; nor pose him with these hard Questions, con∣cerning things above his head, the ballancings, the Bottles of the Clouds, the moulten Glass of the Heavens, the Treasures of the Snow and Hail, the way that parts the Light, the Rain-spouts, the influences of the Pleiades, the time measuring Mazzaroth, the Seamans guide Arcturus; his Neck inured to stooping, would ake if it should stand in an erect posture: But only ad∣vise him to cast his eye upon that, on which he sets his Feet, the diverse co∣loured, flowrie, or grass-green Carpet of this Earthly Globe; and with the same reason he can think, that any thing but immense and eternal Wisdom, could contrive, the providing of so well furnished a Table, with all neces∣sary Food, and such plenty of delicates; the planting of so rich a Garden, with such variety of Flowers for Food, Physick or Delight; with so plea∣sing a variety of Colours, Scent, Tastes; he may far rather expect, that his own Garden should of it self, by meer chance of Fortune, without the con∣trivance of the Head, or labour of the Hand, part it self into most curious Beds and Artificial Knots; or that Stone and Timber should by chance, lay themselves into the form of a well-built House; or that single Letters cast out of a shuffling Box, should fall in that order, as to make an Elegant Poem. (Cicer, de Natura deor. 2. p. 87.) [Hîc ego non mirer esse quenquam, qui sibi persuadeat corpora quedám solida atque individua, vi & gravitate ferri, mundum∣que ornatissimum & pulcherrimum ex eorum corporum concursione fortuita? Hoc qui existimat fieri potuisse, non intelligo, cur non idem putet; Innumerabiles unius & viginti formae literarum, aliquo conjiciuntur, posse, ex his in terram excussis, an∣nales Ennii, ut deinceps legi possint, effici: quòd nescio an in uno quidem versu pos∣sit tantùm valere fortuna.] [Have I not reason here to wonder, that any man can perswade himself, that certain solid and individual Bodies are tost by motion and gravity, and that this most adorn'd and beautiful World was made by the fortuitous congress of those bodies? He who thinks this possible to be done, I see no reason why the same man should not also think, that if innumerable Characters of the one and twenty Letters, were cast somewhither, there might of them fal∣ling upon the earth be made the Annals of Ennius, so as they might be read, whereas I can hardly think, that fortune would be able to make one verse, after that manner.] How much more like a man did he discourse, who obser∣ving Geometrical Figures drawn on the Shore, said, [I see the footsteps of a man] easily perceiving that such Figures had not been flung by blind For∣tune, but drawn by Art. If he dare venture to cast his eye so near Heaven, as the top of a Tree, or the midst of a Bush; he may observe those so well timed and orderly Actions of Birds and Bees, as cannot but proceed from an higher Reason, than that of their particular Natures; that Fore-cast, to make; that ingenuity in making their Nests; that Discretion in know∣ing at first sight their Foes from Friends; that Parental care of their young, &c. may with more reason be admired, than they can, by the best improved Art, be imitated by us men. If the Atheist scorn Moses, let him (if it be but for Recreation) read Aelians History of Animals, Plutarchs Treatise of the Ingenuity of Birds, Beasts, Insects, Fishes, and Bees▪ himself must be (what Plutarch denies any of them to be) a Brute: if he learn not, that they received their skill from a mind fraught with infinite Wisdom; from a Be∣ing of infinite Goodness, proportioning every of their properties to the bene∣fit of their own Beings and conservation of their kind. If he open but an Ants Nest, a whole Colledge of Doctors will accost him, and offer to read him a Divinity-Lecture, upon this Point: the Doctrine whereof they not on∣ly carry in their Mouths, but lay upon their Shoulders; he may see them hording up in Autumn their Winters Provision, and first eating the Root∣end of every grain of Corn in their Granarie, to prevent its Sprouting: how gloriously incomprehensible must that Providence and Foresight be, that makes those silly Insects thus provident! How great that Wisdom, which teacheth them this discretion!

§. 4. But while I send the Sluggard, the Slow-belly Atheist to the Ant to learn, I must not forget to lay open to my Christian Reader, those Golden Letters of this great Volume, those Spangles that glitter in that our Canopy, which is but the Pavement of the upper House of the invisible World; whose Influences and Motions are so attempered to the Production and Conservation of Terrestrial Creatures; so fitted to our conveniency, as it is not possible to imagine how they could have been order's better. Though Epicurus made shew he did, [Nulla inquit disposi∣tio est, multa enim facta sunt aliter, quam fieri debuerunt. Et invenit homo divinus que reprehenderet; quae singula, si vacaret refellere, facilè ostenderem, nec sapientem hunc fuisse nec sanum, sed hominem quo s〈…〉〈…〉 & vigente nullus aeger ineptiùs deliravit] saith Lactant. (de fal. Sapientia lib. 3. cap. 17.) [There is, saith Epicurus, no orderly disposition of things; for many things are made o∣therwise then they ought to have been. And this Divine man (saith our La∣ctantius) found a great many faults in Gods works, whose Cavils, if I had time to refell, one by one, I would easily show that this quer••lous Philosopher, was neither a wise man, nor well in his wits; but a person than whom (though he was sound and thristy in his Body) never any Sick man raved more madly.] But sure his tongue ran before his wit. Nor do I think that Al∣phonsus King of Spain, was in earnest, when he said that had he been with God, at the Creation, he could have directed the Sun a better course than that which he steers: Or if he was, he had the Moon then in his Crest, or was himself the greatest errour that ever nature committed. For though another course of the Sun might have been more convenient for Alphonsus his Kingdoms, as well as another course and place of the Sea; and though the end of his keeping within the Zodiack, which Cleanthes fancies, (to wit this, that the Sun being a Globe of Fire (the Food of whose Vitals was Moisture) that he might not die of thirst, would not recede further from the Mediterranean, than that he might reach, if not his Lip, yet (with the help of a long arm) his Spoon into it; and sip from thence his dayly nu∣triment, might have been better obtain'd, if he had in his course been led al∣ways to face the Ocean. Yet to him that considers what a general benefit it is to the whole world, that the Sun follows that line he does, in his dayly and yearly course; how by this means his Light and Heat is most equally distributed; the, (as profitable as pleasant) interchanges of Winter and Sum∣mer, of Spring and Autumn, procured: and all sublunary Creatures have assigned to them, as fit proportions of time (to work and rest in) as could be devised. To him I say that considers this, it will appear that an house built thus Magnificent, and furnisht with all imaginable conveniences, and all the members and parts of it disposed into so comely an Order (where∣in every particular serves it self, in serving the Community) was neither built for, nor by, Rats and Mice; but by that infinite being, who had in his mind, before the production of it, a preexisting, eternal and perfect I∣dea of all its Parts, Uses, Appurtenances, and Circumstances. If the fortu∣itous concourse of Atomes (saith Cicero) could produce so comely a Stru∣cture as the Universe, why do not they produce a Portch, a Temple, a City, which are far more easie, and have infinitely less Workmanship? Who can think him worthy of the name of Man, who when he sees such certain and regular Motions of the Heavens, such fixed Orders and Ranks of the Stars, and all things in Heaven and Earth so aptly connext and joyn'd together; can deny that the greatest Reason hath been, and is imployed in the making, sustaining, and guiding of them? Or conceipt that those things fall out by chance, they are disposed by such deep Council, as non-plusseth all humane wit to comprehend it: when we see things moved by Engines, we make no question but that those are the works of Reason; and when we see the C••∣lestial Bodies wheeling about with so admirable Celerity, and most con∣stantly making their anniversary Vicissitude, to the greatest benefit and con∣servation

of all things; do we make the least doubt but that they follow the conduct not only of Reason, but the highest and Divinest Reason? [Quî igitur convenit! signum aut tabulam pictam cùm aspexeris, scire adhibitam Artem; cúm{que} procul cursum Navigii videris, non dubitare, quin id ratione at{que} arte moveatur; aut cùm Solarium, vel descriptum, vel ex aqua contemplere, in∣telligere declarari horas arte, non casu: mundum autem, qui & has ipsas artes, & eorum artifices, & cuncta complectitur, consilii & rationis esse expertem puta∣re. Quòd si in Scythiam aut Britanniam Sphaeram aliquis tulerit hanc, quam nuper effecit Possidonius, cujus singulae conversiones idem efficiunt in Sole, & in Luna, et in quinque Stellis errantibus quod efficitur in caelo singulis diebus, & no∣ctibus: quis in illa barbarie dubitet, quin ea Sphera fit perfecta ratione, Archime∣dem arbitramur plus voluisse in imitandis Spheris, quàm Naturam in efficiendis? Ille apud Actium Pastor, qui navem nunquam ante vidisset, ut procul novum vehicu∣lum Argonautarum è monte conspexit; primò admirans & perterritus, dubitat quid sit, at juvenibus visis, auditóque nautico cantu, consimilem ad aures cantum refert: (de Nat. Deor, 2. 7.) [How incongruous are these Epicurean imagina∣tions! If thou dost but cast thine eye upon a Sign Post, or Painted Table, thou would be ashamed to question, whether Art had been used therein, or chance had put them into that form? If thou seest a Ship under Sail, thou doubts not but Reason and Art are imploy'd in the conduct of it; If thou take a view of a Sun∣dial or an Hour glass, wherein the half hours or quarters are marked out, thou perceives that those Lines were drawn not by Chance, but Art. But when thou contemplates the World (which comprehends these very Arts and Artificers, and all things else) thou thinkest it void of Counsel and Reason. Put case a man should carry that Sphere which Possidonius lately made (whose several Motions make the same progress in the Sun, Moon, and five remaining Planets, which them∣selves make in the Heavens every day and night) into Scythia or Britain; (poor Britain, how art thou Posting back to thy old Scythian-equalling barba∣rousness) who, among those Savages, would make question, but that Art and Reason had an hand in framing that Sphere? Can we think that Archimedes had his mind more imploy'd in imitating the Spheres, then Nature in making of them? That Shepherd of Actium, who had never seen Ship before, when the Ship of the Argonautes came within his Ken; at first (wondring and affrighted) doubted what it was: but when he saw the Marriners and heard the Seamens Songs, he return'd the like Songs to their ears.] Put case, saith Aristotle (as he is quoted by Balbus, in Cicer. de Nat. Deor. 2.) That some men, who had al∣ways lived underground, should be let out of that Dungeon, and be per∣mitted to come upon the surface of the Earth; where, on a sudden, they should see, the Earth, the Sea, and Heaven; perceive the greatness of the Clouds, the force of the Winds; look upon the Sun, and understand the vastness of its Bulk, the Beauty of its Face, and the force of his Influence; the efficacy of its Light, making Day, of its Heat cherishing and refreshing all creatures: and next, when day is shut in, should fix their eyes upon the many thousand fixed eyes of the Starry Heaven, the various Faces of the Moon Increasing and Decreasing, with all their Risings, Settings, and constant Motions. They could not with - hold their assent to this Truth; That all this is the contrivance of unsearchable Wis∣dom.

Divinely our Lactantius (De falsa relig. l. 2. 5.) in answer to that of the Philosopher [If the Motions of the Stars be not fortuitous. they must be vo∣luntary, and have a Principle of Life and Reason within themselves] denies the sufficiency of the Disjunction; saying, they are neither fortuitous, nor voluntary; and yet keep a constant course in performing their journeys, because God (the Architect of the Universe) hath so framed them, that they run through the spaces of Heaven, by a Divine and admirable Reason, in order to the making of variety of Seasons succeeding one another. If Ar∣chimedes could so frame the Image of the World in concave Brass, as one might see therein the Sun and Moon, making the like Motions as they do

in the Heavens, &c. Could not God much more so despose the things them∣selves, than humane Wit could make a Resemblance of them. And if a Stoick should see the imitation of the Heavenly Motions, would he say that motion was caused by the Wit of the Engine, or of him that made it? There is therefore Reason in the Stars, fitted to carry them to the accomplish∣ment of their various courses; but that is the Reason of God, who made and governs all things, not of the Stars that are moved. And c. 2. [Nemo est tam rudis, qui oculos suos in caelum tollens, tametsi nesciat cujus Dei Provi∣dentiâ regatur hoc omne quod cernitur, aliquam tamen esse non intelligat ex ipsa rerum magnitudine, motu, dispositione, constantiâ, utilitate, pulchritudine, tem∣peratione: nec possit fieri, quin id, quod mirabili ratione constat, majori aliquo consilio sit instructum.] There is no man so rude, if he lift up his eyes toward Heaven, although he knows not by what Gods Providence, all that which he sees, is governed, that does not understand by the Immensity, Motion, Disposition, Constancy, Conveniency, Beauty, Composure of these things, that there is some providence or other; and that it is not possible, but that that which is continued by such admirable Reason, was at first framed by the greatest Counsel.

CHAP. II.

The Author of Christian Religion hath stampt thereon no less manifest Prints of Infinite Science, than the Maker of the World hath left upon that his Workmanship.

§ 1. Heathen Prophecies the Result of Ratiocination. § 2. From general Hints which for mens torment God might permit the Devil to Communicate. § 3. The Ambiguity of Oracles on purpose to hide the Ignorance of them that gave them. § 4. It was by chance they spake truth. § 5. Scrip∣ture-Oracles Distinct; of pure Contingencies; their Sence plain; punctu∣ally fulfilled.

§. 1. I Would not run my Reader down with numbers, but beat him down with weight of Arguments, and shall therefore singly insist upon this one, viz.

There cannot be a more certain Indication of Infinite and boundless Know∣ledge, than that which the Author of our Religion hath exerted, in the Pro∣phetick Part thereof.

Of how many pure Contingencies (which then neither were, nor possible to be discerned, in their second Causes, nor to be foreknown at all, but by him, to whose inspection all things, past, present, and to come, are a like vi∣sible) must that Spirit have the Foreknowledge, that inspired our Prophets with so certain a Prenotion of those events which they foretold; as none of their Predictions have miscarried in the least Circumstance: many of which Circumstances are in themselves so inconsiderable, and so little conducing to the gracing or setting forth of the Subject of their Prophecy; and yet so utterly impossible to have been foreknown, but by the indication of the all∣at-once-knowing Wisdom; as they seem to have been communicated, for no other end, but either to convince the World of the Divine Original of those Discoveries. (Isa. 45. 21.) [Who hath declared this from ancient time? have not I the Lord] (Isa. 46. 8.) [Remember this and shew your selves men. I am God, and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning.] Or to outface all Pagan Oracles and Divinations, (Isa. 41. 23.) [Let all the Nations be gathered together, who, among them can declare this, and shew us things to come hereafter, that we may know, that you are Gods?] If the Father of Lies and those lying Vanities of the Heathen at any time gave true Responds.

1. They were usually not of things purely future, but latent in their se∣cond causes: latent (I mean) to Humane Knowledge, but not to Diabolical Sagacity; which smelt them at a distance, sometimes in their general Cau∣ses (by their skill in Judicial Astrology) sometimes in their immediate and more particular Causes (by their skill in the affairs of States and Interests of several Nations, &c. By means whereof, I am so far from admiring their fore-telling the events of Battails, the Fortunes of some Persons of note; their communicating Intelligence from places of 100 or a 1000 miles di∣stance, in an hour, in a minutes space; as I wonder they could get any re∣spect at all, among the soberer and more Civilized Nations, by such three penny Prognostications, as an ordinary Wizzard might out-vie. Hagag the Son of Joseph a Jew, and Prefect of Babylon, Anno Christi 714. being taken with a violent Fever, inquired of an Astrologer, whether he could find by the Motions of the Starrs that a King was to die that year; he affirmed there would but one, whose name was Cain Hagag, calling to mind that his Mother had given him that Name at his Birth; I must die then (replyed he) but thou shalt die before me: and instantly commanded his head to be struck off: (Scalig. can. Isagogic, l. 2. pag. 143.) Could he read his name in the Stars? No sure, but he came to the knowledge of it as Gypsies do, of mens Relations and the temper of their Neighbours towards them. [Ho∣rum sunt auguria non divini impetûs sed rationis—quos prudentes possimus di∣cere, id est, providentes, divinos nullo modo possimus; non plus quàm Milesium Thalem; qui ut ostenderet etiam Philosophum, si ei commodum esset, pecuniam facere posse, omnem Oleam, antequàm flores cepisset in agro Milesio coemisse dici∣tur; animadverterat fortasse quadam scientiâ, olearum ubertatem fore: Necillam divinationem voco, quâ Anaximandro Physico moniti Lacedemonii sunt, ut ur∣bem et tecta relinquerent, armatique in agris excubarent; quòd terrae motus in∣staret:—Nec illam quâ Pherecides, cùm vidisset haustam aquam à jugi puteo, terrae motus dixit instare (Cicer. divinat 1. pa. 197.) Such mens Auguries are not the results of the Divine Impulse, but Reason.—We may call them wise; that is, provident, but by no means Diviners; no more than the Milesian Thales; who (that he might shew that a Philosopher, if he pleased to use it, had skill to get wealth) bought all the Olive-trees in the Milesian field before they blossom'd, foreseeing by his knowledge of the Constitution of that Year, that it would be a plentiful year of Olives; nor do I call that a Prophecy whereby the Lacedemo∣nians were counselled by Anaximander to forsake their City and Houses, and watch abroad in the Fields, because an Earthquake was approaching: nor that of Phericedes, who when he saw Water drawn from a living Well, said, there would happen an Earthquake. How easily might the most Callow and but Pen-Feather'd Demon, tell how many Figgs were on a Tree, how many Pigs in the Sows Belly. As in that contention betwixt Calchas and Mopsus (re∣ported by Hesiod and repeated by Natales Comes lib. 4. cap. 10.) Mopsus an∣swered, there grew ten thousand and one Figgs upon that Tree, concerning which, the question was propounded by Calchas. And to that question which Galchas could not answer) How many Pigs were in the Sows Belly, &c. He gave as true an answer, that they were ten, one whereof was a Bore-Pig: and of the rest, three had a white Cross over the Shoulders; two of them white spots upon the eyes: and the rest had the near-hinder-foot white, from the Hoof to the Knee.—Aemulantur divinitatem dum furantur divinationem, &c. (Tertul. apol. cont. Gent. 22.) They Emulate the Divinity while they Steal Divi∣nation. The Philosophers (saith St. Austin de Civitate 10. 32.) have no e∣steem of such like Divinations, and that justly. [Nam vel inferiorum fiunt praesentione causarum, vel immundi Daemones sua disposita facta praenunciant:] For they are either effected by the presention of inferior Causes, or the impure Demons foretell the coming to pass of such things, as themselves are determined to do.

But it is more to be admired that those busie spiritual Wickednesses, in the Heavenly places, those Princes of the Air, those Curriers that went to

and fro over the Earth, did no more improve the advantage which their na∣ture gave them, to their abusing the World with stronger Delusions; To which, doubtless, their Pride and Ambition to be reputed Gods, and their spiteful enmity to the Womans Seed, did instigate them. And therefore I cannot but adore that Divine Providence, which so far restrain'd those ma∣licious, powerful and intelligent Spirits, as in this point (of Fortune-telling) they could not go the full length of the Line of their own Natures; they were not permitted to tell all they knew, to shew things that were in their second Causes, (and therefore under their inspection;) much less to commu∣nicate the fore-knowledge of things that had no being but in the first Cause.

§ 2. Though he might (for the punishment of mens impious Curiosity) have used bad Angels as well as good, to carry Tidings of such Contingen∣cies, as the Messenger could not have known, but by his Revelation: yet that was done without impeachment of this his challenged Privilege of shewing the End from the Beginning: For he used the service of wicked Spirits (to anticipate the torment of wicked men, by their fore-knowledge of what would happen) only in general predictions of some one single event, without any other Circumstances than such as did either naturally touch up∣on, or might with strong probability be gathered from, that one supernatu∣rally-reveal'd Contingent. Thus, upon supposition of Gods revealing to that Spirit, which the Witch of Endor raised, that Saul should die in that Battail, which the Israelites and Philistines were so near an engagement in, as both Armies were set in Battalia, and facing one another, what time Saul consul∣ted the Witch; that spirit might rationally collect the time of his death [to morrow;] for it was not like the Armies would stand longer in that posture, nor the Israelites engage sooner, than Saul should return to the head of his Army: the discomfiture of the Israelitish Host, for it could not be ima∣gined, that Saul should die in that Battail, but either in Fight, (and that would be such a quelling of the spirits of his men, as to make them turn their backs upon the enemy) or in Flight (and that must be after his loss of the Field, and the taking of the Ark of God, which they carried with them into the Field, and must leave there when they had lost the Field. It might be here observ'd, that the Indian Responds to Alexander, were meer Gypsie-juglings. Alexander in his Epistle to Aristotle, informs him, that the Priests told him, that [The Sun gave out Oracles in the Grecian as well as the Indian Tongue, but the Moon only in the Indian:] Is not the reason of this apparent? because the Priests of the Sun were Learned Knaves, and could speak Greek; but the Moons Vestals were illiterate Females, who understood their Mother-Tongue only. And as to the Answers which both gave, how easily might they guess what Alexander desired to be resolved about? For what could a person of his ambition think of, but Conquering the World; or a person to whom his Mother and Sister were so dear, as he intermingled their Names in the Discourses he had with the Gymnosophists, but of returning home to those beloved Relations, af∣ter so long a march? And, how easie was it to promise him the Conquest of the World, after he had subdued it as far as India's utmost Eastern Bounds, (that is, to the end of the known World on that side, where it was most anciently and populously inhabited, and therefore most likely to make resistance.) Lastly, how probable was the Conjecture, that (now his labour of conquering was as good as over) a man of his complexion would give himself to that ease and luxury, as would lay him open to the stroke of untimely death, by effeminating his body, and making it unapt to bear the extremities of the Climes, through which he was to return; Or grow up to that height of disdainful pride, as might possibly provoke his Captains to disgust him. To say nothing of that light, which those Travelling Sophs might have received, from Daniel's Prophecy, from which it is manifest, those Chaldeans borrowed that Light, which they exhibited, in their Prog∣nostications

of Alexander's Greatness, and Darius his Fall, (by Q. Curtius l. 4.) The Demon of Delphos was not such a punie Devil sure, but that he could count to four, and read Daniels Text, where he wrote of a fourth King of Per∣sia, from Darius Nothus, whom the King of Graecia should subdue: nor such a Freshman, but that he had Logick enough to make this inference, That he who was to subdue the Empire of the whole World, would translate the whole Empire to himself: and therefore his informing Philip, that his Son, whom Bucephalus permitted to come upon his back, should make the whole World his Mule; was no more than what any Pigmie, set upon the Gyant shoulders of Daniel might have seen.

§ 3. Where Pagan Oracles, in an apish imitation of those of the God of Israel, seem to foretel things from beginning to end; yet they shew not, they declare not, those future things, in such clear expressions and incontro∣versial Terms, as speak the Author of those Responds, to have had the know∣ledge of what they seem to speak; but rather a design to cover their own Ignorance, and save their credits, under the shelter of ambiguous words; such as, whatever should fall out, might equally be applied to them and ga∣thered from them, according to the different Glosses, which several Fan∣cies might put upon them. Of which though I have elsewhere given seve∣ral examples, I shall here add that out of Homer, observ'd by Macrobius in his de Som. Scipion. (lib. 1. cap. 7.) [Divulgatis etiam docemur exemplis, quàm penè semper cùm praedicantur futura, ità dubiis obserantur, ut tamen diligens scrutator, nisi divinitùs impeditur, subesse reperiat apprehendendae vestigia verita∣tis, &c.] We are taught (saith he) by famous examples, how that almost constant∣ly when future things are foretold, they are sealed up in doubtful words; yet so as the dilligent searcher, if he be not divinely impeded, may find out some footsteps of Truth therein hinted. As when the Grecian Emperor comman∣ded by Jove in a Dream, that the day following he should draw up his Army and give Battail to the Trojans; and, encouraged with manifest hope of promised Victory, did as he was commanded: but came off with so great loss of men, as he had much ado to make a retreat to his own Camp. Was he deluded with a lying Oracle? by no means (saith Macrobius) but the Fates intending that mischance to the Grecians, there was that lurking in the words of the Dream, which had they observ'd, would have directed them, how they might either obtain the Victory or avoid Fighting. For Jove's Precept was, that the whole Army should be drawn up, meaning, that the King should forthwith make his peace with Achilles, (who upon disgust, had drawn off his Party, and deserted the Cause:) The King therefore not following Jove's Instructions, did both deservedly sustain that detriment, and absolve the Dream from the envious charge of lying. Such another Plaister this great Humanist applies, for the Salving of the credit of that Deli••n O∣racle, which put Aeneas to so many years wandring, and such dangerous voy∣ages, in the quest of the native soil of his Progenitors: which he might have sav'd, had he understood that one ambiguous word Dardanidae. But why did not Apollo avoid the Equivocation, with a man so pious as Aeneas, if indeed he himself had certainly known, what place Providence had allotted for that Trojan Colony to sit down in, or understood any more touching that point, than any ordinary person might have arrived at, by discourse? to wit, That their Mother-soil was likeliest to receive them into her lap, now that the Trojan soil had proved a Step-mother to them: but whether Crete, whence Teucer, or Italy (whence Dardanus sprung) would give Ae∣neas entertainment, the Oracle durst not determine; and therefore to save its credit, gives this uncertain sound. [Quid opus est circuitione & anfractu? ut sit utendum interpretibus potiùs, quàm directè; Deus siquidem nobis consule∣bat, hoc facito, hoc nè feceris diceret. (Cicer. Divin.) Et si Medicus aegroto im peret, ut sumat, terrigenam, herbigradam, domiportam, sanguine cassam; potiùs quàm, hominum more, Cochleam dicere. Pucuvianus Amphion, quadrupes,

tárdigrada, agrestis, humilis, aspera, capite brevi, cirvice anguinâ, aspectu truci, eviscerata, inanima, cum animali sono: Cùm dixisset, tum Attici respondent, non intelligimus, nisi apertè dixeris; at ille, uno verbo, Testudo: non potueras hoc igi∣tur a principio citharista dicere] (Id. Ib.) Why such winding and abruptness? That he that inquires hath need of an interpreter: Why do not Oracles rather answer Directly? Sure if it were God that gave advice, he would say, Do this, beware of doing this, &c. As if a Physician should injoyn his Patient to take the Earth-born, grass-creeping, house-carrying, bloodless Insect, rather than a Snail, in the plain usual way of speech, when Pacavianus Amphion thus can∣ted. The four foot, slow-pac'd, rude, low, rugged Creature, with a sharp head, Snakes neck, fierce look, and no howels, nor soul, yet having the voice of a living Creature: We understand thee not (cried the Athenians) speak plain. I mean (quoth he) in one word, a Tortoyse, why couldst thou not (pittiful Fidler) have said thus at first? Reply they.

§ 4. Fourthly, if those Oracles at any time plainly foretold any Contin∣gents which took effect. The Responds were as contingent, as the things they foretold. Those blind Bards might hap-hazzard, stumble upon a Truth; as the veriest Lyar in the World may; while those great Lotteries were fre∣quented, though most of the Fortunes were Blanks, yet some lucky hand might perhaps once in an Age draw a Prize, or throw a Venus upon the Prenestine Dice, once in an hundred casts. To that Samothracian who made offer to prove Neptunes faithfulness to his Votaries, by the multitude of votive Tables which were dedicated by such as had escaped Shipwrack; yea, replied Diogoras, but were there a Table hung up, for every one that has been drowned, while they were most devoutly invocating Neptune, the Temple would not contain them. [Quis enim est qui totum diem jaculans non aliquando collimet?] (Et Plutarch de oracul. defect. pag. 679.) sicut ii qui saepè jaciunt, saepenumerò scopum attingunt] He has very bad luck that shoots all day long, and never comes near the mark, saith Cicero, (de Divin. 3.) Upon these accounts these Oracles grew into that contempt, as the Spartans would not trust to the Respond of Dodona, till they had sent Agesilaus to Delphos, to propound this Question to Apollo; whether he was of the same mind with his Father? and notwithstanding they had the assurance of two Oracles, Agesilaus, to cure the Despondency of his Army, was fain to sub∣orn the Augur to imprint Victory upon the Liver of the Sacrifice, and pre∣tend he found it there. And therefore Epaminondas, in contempt of both lucky and adverse Oracles, laid the one at his right hand and the other at his left; telling his Souldiers, it was at their choice, whether of those For∣tunes they should have, wishing them to depend more upon their own Va∣lour, than upon the most favourable Respond. (Plutarch. apothegmat. mor. Tom. 1.

§ 5. But now the God of Israel communicated to his Prophets, the foreknowledge of future things, whose Causes were then only in his own Preference, with all their Circumstances, in plain terms: of which Prophe∣cies not one tittle has fail'd, but in its time appointed received its accom∣plishment. Of all which properties, whereby the Sacred Oracles are dis∣criminated from prophane and Diabolical, those are eminently partakers that relate to the Messias, and are fullfil'd in our Jesus.

Which 1. Distinctly foretell the place of his Birth, Bethlehem; of his Re∣treat from Herods rage, Aegypt; of his Nurture, Nazareth; of his greatest Re∣sidence in the time of his Ministry, Galilee. The Confederacy of Herod and Pilate, of Jew and Gentile against him, the Treason of him that eat of his Bread, that dipt in his Dish; the Price at which he was sold; the Purchase of the Potters Field, with that price of Blood. All the Puctilio's of his Passion. The Piercing his Hands, Feet, and Side; The Distension of his Sacred Body upon the Cross, so as one might tell all his bones; the Mar∣ring

of his blessed Face, with Buffeting, spitting and besmearing with blood (trickling down from his Thorn-crowned Head) his being numbred with Transgressors; his being Crucified between two Thieves; the Souldiers di∣viding his Garments among them; their casting Lots upon his Vesture: The Jews scornful and malicious deportment towards him; hiding their face from him; turning their backs upon him; rejecting him as not their King, when Pilate presented him; their giving him Vinegar to drink. The very form of words wherewith they taunted him, were by Prophecy put into their Mouthes. [He trusted in God that he would save him; let bim deliver him if he will have him] Mat. 27. 43. Psal. 22. 8. His making his Grave with the rich, his being buried like a noble man; for he was before hand, by Ma∣ry Magdalen anointed against his Burial with most precious Spikenard, was perfum'd, imbalm'd by Nicodemus a Ruler of the Jews; wound in fine lin∣nen by Joseph of Arimathea, and laid in that new Tomb, which that Ho∣nourable Person had hewne out of a Rock in his Garden for himself: and to make his Funeral more august, the Chief Priests and Pharisees contri∣bute a guard of Souldiers to watch his blessed Corps, and take order that his Sepulchre be made fast with a hewen Stone, (filling the mouth, and fastned with Cramps of Iron into the sides of his Tomb) the most honou∣rable form of entombing, All which things the Evangelists do therefore af∣firm to be done, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, and our Jesus demon∣strated, to be the Person of whom those infallible Oracles spake. The far greatest and most substantial part of those things not being applicable, in truth, to the persons that spake them. David in his own person suffered not such like things, any more then he did not see corruption, as Saint Peter argues: And therefore, as the same Apostle dictates, those Prophesies were not of private interpretation; that is, as Saint Philip, (in answer to the Eu∣nuchs question) resolves, the Prophets did not speak those things of them∣selves, but of some other man, to wit the Messias.

2. Can any thing be imagined more purely contingent than those things? Is it conceivable, how so long before, there could be a Foreknowledge of their Futurity by the Prophets inspection into their Natural Causes. The Learned Vossius (de Origine idol. lib. 2. cap. 48.) doth explode the madness of some Modern Astrologers, who affirm, that all the Miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles, or any body else, were the natural and necessary ef∣fects of some Conjunctions of Planets; and were not ashamed to ascribe to the Horoscope, the Birth of Christ of a Virgin, and all his stupendious works, and those great Changes which have faln out in respect of Reli∣gion; ascribing the rise of the Jewish, to the Conjunction of Jupiter with Saturn; of the Chaldean, to the Conjunction of Jupiter with Mars; the Ae∣gyptian, to the Conjunction of Jupiter with the Sun; The Mahometan, to the Conjunction of Jupiter with Venus; the Christian, to the Conjunction of Jupiter with Mercury; and the Antichristian, to Jupiters Conjunction with the Moon, (all which is to be read in Albumazar, lib. 2. de mag, con∣jectul. tract. 1. dissect. 4.) Say that such Conjunctions might possibly incline those parts of the World, under the Dominion of their Influence, to imbrace those several Religions; yet he must be of a Facile Faith, that can believe it was possible for our Divine Prophets to read their Predictions, in the Book of the Starrs; who if they had had an everlasting Almanack in their heads, from what Positions of the Heavenly Bodies could they have Prog∣nosticated, the concentring of so many emergencies upon one man? from what Conjunction of Planets (or Lincaean inspection into Matters of State) (a Book more tost, and to better purpose than the other, by those prudent Judicial Astrologers, who had a mind not to shame their Profession) could David foresee the agreement of Herod and Pilate who the day before were at enmity, and on the day of our Saviours Passion were made Friends, and that in order to our Saviours Crucifixion at Jerusalem? which (according to Gods determinate Counsel revealed to David) could not be effected, till

those Rulers under the Gentile Empire stood up in their Masters quarrel, and with the people of Israel, took councel together against the Lord and his Christ, as the Church dictates, Act. 4. 25. 27. From what sowr and crab∣bed Aspect of the Planets, could David foretell, their turning of Drink in∣to Vinegar? From what influences the distilling of the Blood of God from Christs Head, Hands, Side, Feet? In what Ephemeris did the Prophet read that astonishing Darkness that invelopt the Earth? Briefly, in what Cause, but the Will of God revealed to them by himself, could they see those strange events that fell out; that one Year, that acceptable Year of the Lord; that one Week, that great Week, as the Ancients stiled it; that one Day, that Day of Redemption? Let the most expert Astrologer e∣rect a Scheme, set up all the Lamps of Heaven, in that posture wherein they stood at our Saviours Passion; and try if he can by their Light, disco∣ver the least appearance or likelihood of a reason, that in such a juncture such things must fall out, by the course of nature. That at that time (for instance) those Prophetick Forms, which the Jews used in derision of Christ, that had hung (as it were frozen) at the Prophets lips, so many hundred of years, should be thawn, and drop into the Mouthes of that Generation: That the Legs of the Thieves should be broken. and not our Saviours: That his Side should be pierced and not theirs, &c.

3. Those Prophecies are so plain, and the Application of them, in their Effects, to the Blessed Jesus, so natural; as we need not strain courtesie with the Letter it self (to wrest it from its most obvious sence, in making the Buckle and Thong meet; in making the accomplishment kiss the Oracles. Here need no Salvoes of the Prophets Credit, by understanding them to speak figuratively; The Text is so easie, as it needs no other Gloss, than the plain History of the Gospel; the same words, the same things, which the one foretells to be done, the other tells as done, Bethlehem answers Beth∣lehem, Nazareth, Nazareth; Aegypt, Aegypt, as face answers face: David declaring the case of his own soul used the phrase of [Broken Bones] Meta∣phorically, to shew the dislocation of its Faculties, by his great Fall: But Moses in describing the ordinance of the Paschall Lamb (the Type of the Lamb of God) uses those words [a Bone of him shall not be broken] in their proper sence, in that sence, wherein the Evangelists applies that Text to Christ. He had his Metaphorical Gall, Vinegar, Spittings, Buffetings, &c. But the Son of David had them really, according to the Letter of the Pro∣phecy. The ruine of the Jewish State, the Vocation of the Gentiles, the Glory of Christs Kingdom are sometimes indeed set out in Rhetorical Flou∣rishes and borrowed expressions; but they (and all things else pertaining to Christ) are in other Prophetick Texts, so plainly foretold as the Tongue of Man can speak.

4. The punctual performance of this whole Cluster, the ripening of eve∣ry Berry thereof into Event, speaks the Prophets not to have spoken by chance. That Poem cannot be a Medley, a Rapsody, whose every foot is of a regular length. If you throw 4 Dice, perhaps one of them may be a Size, but who ever saw an hundred Sizes cast at one throw of an hundred Dice. If a Sow with her Snout should imprint upon the ground, which she is rooting up, the Figure of the Letter [A] couldst thou therefore ima∣gine, she might, in these Lines she draws express Ennius his Andromacha, or Virgils Aeneads. (Cicer. Divin. 1. p. 162.) It was the unparallel'd Commen∣dation of the Prophecies delivered to Israel, that there failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the House of Israel: but all came to pass (Josh. 21. 45.) for the truth whereof Joshua appeals to their own Experience (chap. 23. 14.) Ye know in all your hearts, and all your souls, that not one thing hath failed, all is come to pass, and not one thing failed. And hence the whole Assembly are perswaded, that he, who appeared to Abra∣ham, and spake by Moses, was the only God, worthy of credit, deserving to be confided in, and adhered to.

CHAP. III.

Instances of Prophecies fullfill'd whose Effects are permanent and obvious to the Atheists Eyes, if he will but open them.

§ 1. Predictions that Israel would reject their own Messia, made, by Jews Con∣fession, many hundreds of years before Christ. § 2. The Prophets foretell Gods Rejection of the Jews for their Rejection of his Son. § 3. Texts pro∣ving a final Rejection. Christs Blood calls down this vengeance. § 4. These Menacies executed to the full: Temple, City, and all vanish'd, Spirit of Pro∣phecy past from the Synagogue to the Church.

§ 1. TO give an Enumeration of all Particulars here, would be an end∣less Task, It may suffice, that the most prying Adversary hath not, to this day, produc'd one instance of any of our Prophecies that hath faln to the ground; but what our Apologists have demonstrated, either to be accomplisht, or accomplishable in its time. And furthermore our Mo∣dern Atheist is too wise to believe further than he can see; and therefore I will not press him to the belief of the accomplishment of those Prophecies, whose Effects are gone and past out of sight by any other Arguments, than those I produced in the first part of the Third Book, where I proved the Truth of Matters of Fact reported in the Gospel. But if he be wise enough to know, what his own Senses Dictate to him? it is all that Wisdom, at this present, requires of him, to make him docible, and capable of her Instructi∣ons: And verily, if he be not so far a man, as this amounts to, Anticira is a fitter place for him, than the Academy. Art thou then weaned from the Milk, taken from the Breast? art thou not still like that Child of the Lady Moores Prayers, a Boy still, and wilt be so, as long as thou livest? Know∣est thou thy right hand from thy left? Come in, sit down (Wisdom invites thee) though thou beest in the lowest Form of Rational Animals, she will teach thee knowledge, though thy Soul be the most narrow mouthed glass, that ever was blown by the breath of that Almighty, whom thou scornest she will infuse her Documents into thee, drop by drop, as thou art able to receive them, through the Loop-holes of thy Head and Face.

1. If thine Eyes can spare so much time from beholding vanity, fix them upon those Texts, Is. 53. 1. &c. and they will inform thee, that the Pro∣phet foresaw and foretold, that he, of whom the Evangelical Preachers were to say, [Thy God, Oh Sion, Reigneth,] that that arme of the Lord, upon his making of which bare, all the ends of the World, should see the Sal∣vation of Israels God: that he, who was to besprinkle many Nations; at whom Kings were to shut their Mouthes; who was to have a Portion divi∣ded him with the great, and to be made very high; to have a Name gi∣ven him above every name: should (notwithstanding the beamings out of his Glory amongst them, notwithstanding Moses and the Prophets had so manifestly pointed him out) be despised and rejected of those that saw him, among whom he had his converse.

2. From them cast thine Eye upon Secular Chronology, and that will tell thee, how many hundreds of years this Prophecy was pen'd, before our Saviour (to whom alone it is applicable) was incarnate: Or if thou suspects, they may write in favour of Christ, consult the Jews, his profest enemies, and they will inform thee; how Isaiah gave forth this Prophecy, before the Birth of Jesus of Nazareth, so many ages, as rendred those things impossible to be known, but by the Reve∣lation

of that Infinitely-wise Being, to whom all things past and to come are alike present. Of which if thou makes question, it will be thy part to shew, by what other means the Prophets could come to the knowledge hereof; or to give one instance, at least of any one man, that by Natural Means hath foretold a thing so long before it fell out. But rather than en∣ter upon such a Wild-Goose-chase, (except thou could devise how to get a∣bove the Magnetick Sphere of the Earth, that thou mayst stalk it over the Clouds, into the World of the Moon, to fetch an example thence, of what is not to be found in that Globe which we inhabit) I would advise thee, to make a Voyage into the Low-Countries, and to enquire there, whether the Jews do not reject that Off-spring of David, who made his soul an offering for sin, who was led as a Lamb to the Slaughter, and as a Sheep, was Dumb before the Shearer, and opened not his mouth, when he was provo∣ked to call his servants to rescue him out of the hands of his Murderers: who gave his Face to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, that Buffeted and abused him. Ask this Generation what opinion they have of Jesus of Nazareth, of whom their Fathers were the Betrayers and Murderers, whom God raised from the Dead, by whom God wrought Signs and Miracles. I am sure they will make thee such answer, as the Spi∣rit of the Messias, above two thousand years ago, by the mouth of their own Prophets, foretold they would make to that Question. Listen in their Syna∣gogues, if thou canst hear the blessed Jesus named, except it be in execrati∣ons, spie if thou canst see the Symbol of his precious Death, except it be in their barbarous representation thereof, by some Crucified Christian In∣fant. Observe if there be any Signs of their relenting, for Murdering that holy and just One, of their bitter mourning over their Fathers sin, in choos∣ing a Murderer before the Innocent Lamb of God: If thou discernest one tear to trickle down from their eye, while 'tis fixt upon him; except it flow from their spightful envy, to see him exalted, adored, and worshipt of all people, but themselves: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] (Isidor. Pelus. l. 4. ep. 74.) They are preserv'd alive, that they may be vexed at the heart, by beholding the glory of Christ shining every where. Or be in revenge of that vengeance upon them, by which Christ has paid himself, for the Travel of his soul for that unthankful Nation; and vindicated the honour of his Deity, in the opinion of all men, but themselves: by which they, that would not receive instruction, are made an instruction to others; and they, who would not, (by all the plainest Demonstrations which Christ or his Apostle did lay before them) be convinc'd, are become a Demonstrati∣on to convince the World, that that Jesus, whom they slew and hanged upon a Tree, is the very Christ: For as their Fathers, by condemning him; so the Children of that stock of Abraham, by persisting in their denial of him, (not knowing him, nor the voyces of the Prophets, which are read eve∣ry Sabbath day) have been and are still fulfilling those Prophets, as to this Point of their Prediction, that that People should reject their own Messias, (Act. 13. 27.)

§ 2. A second Branch of Prophecy, whose Fruit hangs yet upon it, whose Effect is still permanent, to be seen, felt, and handled, is that tou∣ching Gods Rejection of the Jews, for their rejecting of his Son; Of the truth of which that Nation is a manifest proof, and stands as a Pillar of Salt, to season all Ages with the belief of the Supernaturalness of those Re∣velations wherein that event was foretold; And of the warrantableness of the Churches Application o•• them to the Blessed Jesus; whereupon Celsus having excepted against that Opinion of the Christians, [That the Jews had moved Gods displeasure against them for their Crucifying and disowning Christ:] Origen replies, [What? Is not the dispersion of their Nation, the ruine of their Temple, City, &c. sufficient indications of Gods rejecting that people?—I dare say they shall never be restored:] (Origen. contra Celsum. l. 3. cal. 10.) I

hope the English Atheist is not so much a French Gentleman, as to take it in Dudgeon, that I lay some grains of this Salt on his Trencher, or rather advise him to help himself to some, now that it stands at his Elbow: for I fancy him yet in Belgium, taking out the first Lesson touching the Jews dis∣owning of Christ: And now that he is amongst those Keepers of our Rolls, those bearers of our Books; let him search, whether those Prophecies which foretell, that upon that Nations refusing to accept their own Messias, their Fa∣thers God should wholly disown them; be the inventions of Christians, the pious frauds of our Church, or the Responds of their own Prophets? Ask a Jew of whom that Prophet of theirs (whom for honours sake they call An∣gel) Jeremy, speaks, (chap. 6.) [I will bring evil upon this people, because they have rejected the word of the Lord] because they said [we will not walk in the good way,] wherein they were promised to find rest for their souls; because [they would not hear the sound of the Trumpet] that sound which the Gen∣tiles would hear; [Hearken therefore; hear ye Nations] hear O earth: I will bring evil upon this people, reprobate Silver shall men call them, because God hath rejected them.] Can the most obstinately blinded Jew shut his Eye so close, as he shall not here see the glimmerings of those unwelcome Truths.

1. That this is an Evil, the Effects whereof should be so palpable, as all Na∣tions should so manifestly see the Marks of Gods rejecting them, as the name whereby they should, in common speech, be called, [is reprobate Sil∣ver,] a refuse Nation, a People cast off of God; a name, which God was angry with the Heathen for fastning upon them, in the saddest dereliction of that people formerly. That,

2. [The word] for their rejecting whereof they were rejected of God: [The good old way,] for their refusing to walk wherein, they were left out of the road of Mercy, can be none other, but that eternal Word, who pro∣claimed himself to be the Way, and offered Soul-rest to them would come to him, is manifest. For,

1. This is absolutely and without compare the good old Way, the sa∣ving Word that was chalk'd out, that was Preach'd to Abraham, before he was Circumcised, 400 years before the good old Way of Moses was known; Nay, preach'd by Noah, that Preacher of Righteousness, by Faith, many Ge∣nerations before Abraham; and by God himself in Paradise, tendering Life through Faith in the Blood of the Womans Seed, which was the only thing saving, in all the After-dispensations of that Covenant of Grace.

2. This is the only Word and Way which the Jews totally rejected, the Word, spoken by Moses and the Prophets, their Fathers (in some part, for some time) neglected, but never totally renounc'd it; and the Modern Jew does too tenaciously stick to the Letter of that Word, and the external Form of that Way.

3. The only Sound of the Trumpet which the Gentiles hearken to, in order to their finding rest to their Souls, is that sound of the Apostles, which from Jerusalem, is gone into all the Earth, and to the uttermost parts of the World: the sound of that Trumpet, whereby Christ is Proclaimed, the Word of God, the everlasting Way of Salvation.

§. 3. Ask a Jew, whether the same Prophet (chap. 16, and 17.) threaten not a more dreadful Judgment (then impending over that Nations head) than the Northern Captivity; to wit, a dissipation into Strange lands, that neither they nor their Fathers knew;] whereas Chaldaea and all the Nations in∣to which they were carried Captive, before their Crucifying the Lord of Life, were their door Neighbours (with whom they had Commerce) where God would [shew them no favour] (as he had done in all other Captivities) but [take away his peace from them, even loving kindness and mercy:] where they should be hunted from every Mountain and Hill and Hole; wherein

not only all the Treasures of Gods Mountain in the Field (the riches of that Covenant of Grace, sometimes deposited with that faithless and fruitless People) should be given as a spoile to the Gentiles: [But the holy Mountain her self discontinue from that heritage which God had given her, and he burnt up and made desolate, by a fire that should be kindled in Gods anger, and burn for ever:] A fire of Eternal Vengeance, such as that whereby God [destroy∣ed Sodom and her Sisters:] So as she may with as much reason expect, that the Lake of Sodom shall become firm Land again, and grow into a plea∣sant Plain like the Garden of Eden; and the Captivity of those Cities be return'd from that Sulphury Abyss that captivates them: as she can look for the returning of that her Captivity, as another of their Prophets fore∣warned them (Ezek. 16. 55.) To these Prophecies Josephus relates, when John the Captain of the Rebel-Jews, had answered Josephus (whom Titus employed as his Interpreter to perswade them to yield) That Jerusalem was Gods City, and therefore invincible. I confess, replied Josephus I deserve to be severely punish'd, for attempting to perswade you, to avoid your Destiny, and to preserve men condemned by the Sentence of God: For who knows not the writings of the ancient Prophets and their Responds hanging over the Head of this most miserable City? (Bel. Jud. 7. 4.) The Modern Jews who have lain under the burthen of those Prophecies so many hundred years, cannot for shame deny that Application of them, which one of their own Priests made, at the first Commencement of their Effects, even before their irresistible force had batter'd their City and Temple about their ears, and scatter'd their whole Nation as chaff upon the face of the Earth. However they cannot deny, that these are the Responds of their own Prophets, and I dare refer it to the judgement and determination of the blindest Atheists own eyes, to conclude upon what people those Menacies are faln; whose de∣stiny it is, to be the butts of those well aimed Arrows of Vengeance. And then let either Jew or Atheist say if they can, what that Sin can be, upon the ac∣count of which, the God of Sion should so loath Sion, as his heart should wholly depart from her: that Sin of Judah written with a pen of Iron, with the point of a Diamond, that it might remain in the guilt of it before God for ever (compare Jer. 17. 1. with Job 19. 24.) that sin of theirs; which out-cries all the beastly and barbarous Idolatries of their Fathers, the filthiness of the Sodomites: that sin which, in the days of the Messias (as their own Tal∣mudists, quoted by the Learned Dr. Lightfoot (in harmo. on Epistle to Phi∣lippians,) gather from their own Scriptures) shall make the Synagogues be∣come Stews, the Wisdom of the Scribes to be abominated, and the religious persons among them to be scorn'd, and the faces of that Generation to be as Dogs: that Sin which shall speak that Generation to be, men of Canine Im∣pudency, Ass-like Contumacy, and Savage Cruelty:) as the Talmudists de∣scribe the State of the Jews in the days of the Messias, in another place, quo∣ted by Grotius (verit. Christian. rel annot. pag. 336. [Of Canine Impudence] they make ostentation of the nakedness of their very nakedness once their glory, now their shame: once Circumcision a Seal of the Covenant, now only Concision, a gash in the flesh. [Ass-like contumacy;] All the Judgments of God upon them cannot cudgell them into one sober Reflection upon what their Fathers did, in Crucifying the Lord of Glory; though they have so many years been braid with a Pestel in a Mortar, the Husk of their Stupidity is not departed from them: and [Savage cruelty] this they practise as of∣ten as they have occasion, or dare shew it; witness their barbarous dismem∣bring of the Cyprians, in the Reign of Adrian, and those other instances I have alledged elsewhere. To which add, their filling all Asia with fire and Slaughter, putting both Christians and Ismaelites to the Sword under their Prophet Buba: anno Christi 1237. (Scal. can. Isag. l. 2. p. 15.) Hagag the Viceroy of Irah and ••abylon under Caliph Abdimelech, (an. Christi 714.) in the 20 years of his Government, slew 120000 men; besides those that died in Prison, of Men 50000. of Women 3000. (Scaliger. dynastia Chalipharum in

Bagded.) That sin, which shall turn the House of Divine Instruction, into a Den of Dragons: (that is, (as R. Jud. expounds it) A Brothel-house) at what time the Son of David should come: that Sin which shall never be blotted out, but cause them to be blotted out of the Book of the living, then when the Gentiles sing unto the Lord, [A new Song, which will please him better than an Ox that hath Horns and Hoofs;] better than the best Le∣gal Sacrifices; which Aben Ezra (Pf. 69. 29.) applies to the Times of Christ: Let the Jew I say name if he can, what that Sin can be, but what the Prophets impute it to: to wit, the Guilt of that Blood which the Fathers invoked upon themselves and Children, [They are written in the Earth (where the Ostrich layes her Eggs) where the foot of every Beast that passeth by may crush them, because they have forsaken the Lord the hope of Israel] (Jer. 17. 13.) Not God, the possession of Israel, while Israel was his possession; but the Lord, the hope of Israel, the promised Lord, which Israel hoped for, To which promise, the twelve Tribes, incessantly serving God day and night, did hope to come. (Acts 26. 7.) It was their hating the innocent Jesus without a Cause; their becoming his enemies wrongfully; their heart breaking Reproaches; the Gall they gave him for meat; the vinegar they gave him in his thirst, for drink; that exasperated their God's heart against them: It was for this, that David (in the Spirit of Prophecie) de∣voted that Nation to that Ruine, we now see brought upon them; to that Vengeance, we see God pouring out upon them; in making their Table their Snare, and their Wellfare, their Trap; in turning the Law of Moses and the Covenant of Peculiarities, into an occasion, of their perverse denial of Christ, of their further Obcaecation and Obduration: It is for their per∣secuting him, whom God smote, (when he laid upon him the iniquities of us all) that, that man after Gods heart poured out these imprecations against them [Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them: ever bow down their backs] that is, let them fall and never rise (let them never see that Redemption from Captivity which they look for, as the Syriack expounds it:) Let them not come into thy righteousness,] that is, deal with them in fury, not in Judgment; let them be strangers to that mitigation of the severity of justice that's tender'd in the Gospel; let them have judgment without mercy: (as the Arabick glosseth) (Vicars his Decupla on Psal. 69.)

As to any other sin: The Jew came out of the fire of the Babylonish Captivity, so refin'd; as he hath been, ever since, his Fathers better; not a dram of the Golden Calf would ever since down with him; he hath never since relisht the Cakes bak'd for the Queen of Heaven, nor lusted after the Onyons, Garlick, or Flesh-pots of Aegypt; nor endured upon his body the fi∣gures of the Letters of his Idol, as King Joachim did (which marks were seen upon him, when he was cast out naked, says, Tostatus, and Nicholas, Lyranus, on 2 Chron. 36.) nor the Symbolical Mark of Bacchus, an Ivy-leaf: which rather than they would receive the impress of, they exposed them∣selves to a thousand torments; nor endured to hear the cries of Innocents, while they were a sacrificing to Maloch; nor so much as the name of a strange God. And for Immoralities, he that reads Josephus, and compares either his general charge of Sins (worse then those of Sodom) upon that Generati∣on on which the fury of Divine Wrath was poured; or the particular Ex∣amples he brings of the Impiety and Irregularity of that Age, with the af∣ter-temper of that People, must be very uncharitable, if he does not con∣clude, that the present Generation is much reform'd, if not wholly changed from that boysterous and indomable opposition to Supreme Power (the sin which actually procured their ruine) into as sordidly fawning and servile a Spirit as Flesh and Blood is capable of: and that therefore that which Me∣ritoriously wrought their subversion then, and continues them under Judge∣ment still, must be something which escap'd the observation, not only of Jo∣sephus, but of modern Jews (though more theirs than his) and some of their

Forefathers, then living, who in a great measure charged their downfall, upon the guilt of their sin, in murdering St. James our Lords Brother, and first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem. But could the blood of a meer Man, wherein the hands of a small party of Zealots for the Law, were only im∣brewed, contract the guilt upon the whole Nation, which nothing can ex∣piate? Sure that Nation lyes under the guilt of the blood of God, of him that's more than Man, of him whom their Prophets stile Immanuel, God with us, the Lord Jehova our Righteousness. Isidor. Pelusiot. (lib. 4. epist. 74.)—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉—[And let them lay this to heart that in the Age of their Forefathers though they committed Idolatry, Sacri∣ficed their Children to Devils, and slew the Prophets; yet they suffered no such things as they do now: but, after their suffering, chastisemeut, were restored to their old habitations, whereas now they suffer a captivity from which they shall ne∣ver return.] For the proof of Christs Divinity (as the same Author observes) The grievousness of the Jews punishment was urged against the Arrians, [Quòd si, ut Arriani aiunt, nudus fuit homo, quare Judaei, cùm olim multos viros sanctos sustulerint, nihil tamen ejusmodi unquam sunt ob id perpessi: propter hunc autem occisum ea sustituerunt, quorum atrocitas, si cum quavis Tragaediâ compa∣retur, longissimo omnes intervallo antecedit: (Isidor. Pel. lib. 4. epist. 166. [If as the Arrians say, he was mere man, why did the Jews (seeing of old they killed ma∣ny holy men, but never upon that account suffered any such things) undergo, for killing of Christ, such punishments, as if the grievousness thereof be compared with any Tragedy, it goes far beyond it.] Upon their shedding of which pre∣cious blood (when they had rejected all the Methods, it pleased God to use, for their Conviction, that that Jesus whom they had slain, was the Christ, the King of Israel, the Prince of Glory) there was brought upon that Gene∣ration all the righteous blood that was shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the first; to the blood of Zacharias the Son of Barachias, the last righteous man was flain (a little before the Romans laid Siege to Jerusalem:) of whose Death our Saviour speaks, as then perpetrated when he spake, be∣cause he foresaw it would be perpetrated: making use of the Aorist (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] which may as fitly be rendred [whom ye shall have slain;] the not observing of which, hath put, even Learned Men to their Wits end, in studying who this Zacharias should be, some conceiving him to be the Father of the Baptist; whom the Apochryphal Protevangelium Jacobi, and Petrus Alexandrin (in canon) affirms to have been slain by Herod's Officers; be∣cause he would not tell where his Son the Baptist was, for whom Herod sent: but Origen, and (from him) St. Basil, Gregory Nissene, Cyril, Alexand. Theophilact, &c. affirm he was slain, for prophaning the holy place, in plead∣ing that the blessed Mary was a Virgin, and therefore ought to have her place among the Virgins. St. Jerome concludes, it was that Zacharias, whom Joash slew, (2 Chron. 24. 19.) But the story of Josephus does more exactly sute this Text, in brief thus. After the Zealots had murdered Ananus, (which was the beginning of the Cities ruine) from which day the walls began to be demolish'd, and the Republick of the Jews to perish, saith Jo∣sephus) they erect a high Court of Mock-Justice, for the Trial of Zachary the Son of Baruch, against whom when they could not threaten the Judge to give Sentence, two of the stoutest of those Russian-Rebels assault and kill Zachary in the midst of the Temple, (Bel. Judaic. 5. 1.) The meaning then of this Menacy of Christ is, that the Jewish Nation should (by their persisting in Impenitency, for their rejecting him) ripen themselves for as great a Judgement, as if they had been guilty of all the innocent blood that had been shed, from the Foundation of the World, to the day of the Fall of Je∣rusalem: and this is no more than what the Prophets had as plainly fore-told, as any thing they delivered. Yea, so clear are their own Scriptures, in this Point, on our fide, with such open mouth do their own Oracles predict Gods reprobating that People, for reprobating his Son, as we dare stand to

their Determination of this Querie, and have had this question determi∣ned for us, by those greatest Rabbies, possitively: that in the days of the Messias, the Jews, for their rejecting the Son of David, shall be cast off by God.

§. 4. And lastly, whether these Menacies be not executed to the full? whether wrath be not come to the uttermost upon this People of Gods Curse? Whether Israels God hath not withdrawn from them all the Tokens of his favourable presence? and manifestly exprest his abhorrency both of their Persons and Most Religious Performances; yea, of that Worship which him∣self commanded their Fathers to pay unto him; may be committed to the Umpirage of any mans eyes, that reads what glorious indications of Gods owning that Nation (above all the Nations of the Earth) were exhibited to their Progenitors: and sees how things are with them now, and have been, since that Generation, which our Saviour said, should not pass away, till all the Prophets Menacies were fulfill'd upon them. Israel was Holiness to the Lord, separated from all other People (by the eminent favour of God towards them) to be his peculiar Heritage. But what is now become of the Ark of his pre∣sence, the Holy Oracle, from whence he was wont to give Responds, as of∣ten as they had need to enquire? Whither are those winged Cherubims and Seraphims flown, betwixt which he dwelt, while he was Israels Sheepherd? By what terrible Earthquake is the Holiness of that place flitted, which he chose to put his Name in, as long as he would have that Nation called by his Name? Where is that holy and beautiful House, the joy of the whole Land, where their Fathers worship'd him, of which Judah's God had said, Here will I meet you, here will I dwell for ever, (that is, while I dwell with you;) out of which no Sacrifice was acceptable, but polluted and unclean, (Hag. 2. 14.) By what power hath that Royal Pallace of the great King been laid in the dust, and kept from a Resurrection, but of his Arm, who said, it should be perpetual desolations, (Israel's sometimes God;) and of his word; who said, One Stone shall not be left upon another (Israel's rejected Saviour.) Where is that Copy of it (the Temple of Heliopolis) erected by Onias, in a precocious humour to fulfill the Prophecy of Isaiah, (Chap. 19. 19.) and, in his conceipt, built as a Trophy of the God of Israels Victory, over the Idols of Aegypt, in a place full of the Ruines of the Shrines of their Sacred Animals (Joseph. ant. 13. 6.) was it able, with all its weight, to suppress those Rat and Mice-Gods while it stood: And did it not fall at last with the Idol-Temples? Was it not blown down by the Breath of him, for whom the Conquest of Aegypt (to the Obedience of Israels God,) was reserved, (our great High-Priest, who hath erected there the Altar of his Cross) after it had first been prophan'd with the Image of that Monster of Men-Gods, Caligula, and shut up against the Jews at the end of the Jewish War, by Lupus, and kept shut, by Paulinus, (Joseph. Jud. Bell. 7. 30.) Where is their High-Priests spirit of Prophecy, since Caiaphas Prophesied, it was ne∣cessary that one man should die for that Nation; hath not that one Man's Blood so discoloured the Gems of the Ephod, as they never since sparkled out a Respond? Hath it not so fast Cemented the Names of the twelve Tribes to the Plate on which they were set, as the Letters of those Names could ne∣ver since stand up above their fellows, so as by those prominent Characters, the enquirer could spell out the Determination of his propounded Question? Hath not God called that his Leiger, that his Resident, Agent, from amongst them: and sent him to the Christian Church; in the virtue whereof, Christ and his Apostles have foretold the sacking of their City, the demoli∣shing of their Temple, the overthrow of their Politie, and dispersion of their persons; and whatsoever else conduceth to the strengthning of our Faith, or the engaging us to possess our souls in patience. In the virtue whereof, our old men have dreamt Dreams, our young men have seen Visions, our Daughters have been Prophetesses; and by this means the Extremity of Fa∣mines

have been provided against, (as by Agabus his Prophesie of an Univer∣sal Famine;) loss of Lives in Shipwrack prevented (as in St. Pauls Voyage to Rome;) mens hearts have been secured against fear in the greatest dan∣ger (as St. Pauls was by a Vision at Corinth.) Men have been resolved in their doubts (as St. Peter was in his, whether he ought to Preach the Gospel to the Gentiles;) time would fail me, should I reckon up those multitudes of Christian Prophets, mentioned in the Canonical Books, much more should I name those that were famous after the sealing of the Canon, unto the Council of Nice. [Alii autem (in Ecclesia,) & praescientiam habent futuro∣rum, & visiones, & dictiones propheticas (Irenaeus adv. Heres. 2. 58.) [Many o∣thers in the Church have the prescience of future things and visions and prophe∣tical predictions.] [Quemadmodum & multos audivimus fratres in Ecclesia, prophetica habentes charismata, & per Spiritum universis linguis loquentes & ab∣scondita hominum in manifestum producentes:] Irenaeus advers Haer. l. 5. p. 539) [We have heard many Brethren in the Church, who had Prophetick Gifts, and would speak by the spirit with divers Tongues, and brings into open light the hid∣den things of mens hearts.] In his time also, some by the Prayers of the Church were raised from the dead (l. 2. cap. 58.) [Et Mortui jam Resurrexe∣runt, & perseveraverunt nobiscum multis annis.] We have seen the dead to have been raised, who after that have lived amongst us many years. But in all this time the Jews have had no Prophets, but such (as to their cost and ruful ex∣perience) they have found to prophesie the Deceits of their own hearts: while our great Divine in the Isle of Patmos, is receiving the Light of Pro∣phesie, from our Jesus. Their Barcocab, [the Son of a Star,] is abusing them with such palpable Delusion, as this light of theirs, goes out with a stink, and gains himself the name, of [the Son of a Lye] Such Meteors have all the Stars prov'd, that have appeared in their Horizon, since the Star of Jacob set upon them, since then, the Sun is gone down upon their Prophets. The virtue is past, out of their Elijah's Staff, into our Apostles Rod; out of his Mantle, into their Handkerchiefs; out of his body (from which, stretch'd upon the Child, life return'd into him,) into St. Peters shadow (by which they that were over-shadowed as he passed by, were healed, (Acts 5, 15.) the Fleece is dry, and void of all that Heavenly Influence, which bedews the Floor of the Gentile World about it.

CHAP. IV.

Gematrian Plaisters too narrow for the Sore.

§. 1. The Ark. §. 2. Holy Fire. §. 3. Urim and Thummim. §. 4. Spi∣rit of Prophecy in the Second Temple. §. 5. Exorcisme, and Bethesda's all-healing virtue, the second Temples Dowry.

§ 1. THeir Cabbalists have attempted to supple and allay the Inflama∣tion of this mortal Wound, by the application of this Oyntment. by a kind of Cabbala, which they call [Gematria] they observe upon (Hag. 1. 8.) it is written [Ekkabbda] [I will be glorified;] where because the word wanteth the Letter [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] in the end of it; which Letter, in Numera∣tion stands for [5] they say that the want thereof sheweth the want of 5 Things in the second Temple, which were in the first. The Ark (and its appurtenances, the Mercy-seat, and Cherubims.) Secondly the Fire from Heaven. Thirdly the Majesty of Divine presence, called [Shechina.] Fourth∣ly, the Holy Ghost. And Fifthly Urim and Thummim. From whence they draw these two Conclusions.

1. That their want of their antient Glory, is not to be imputed to their putting Christ to Death; seeing that was departed from them, many Ages before he was born.

2. That the Apostles were not moved, to write the New Testament, by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost, for they wrote during the standing of the Second Temple.

Though the Answers which are commonly return'd to these Parologisms, are Butteresses strong enough to secure the Christian Cause against these as∣saults, to wit, That though the Second Temple wanted the Shadows, it had the Substance of all these; the things themselves, though not the Types; and therefore was filled with a greater Glory, when he appeared in it, in whom the Godhead dwells bodily, who is the Ark and Propitiation, &c. And that Gods withdrawing these visible Signs by degrees, was an Argu∣ment the Sun was towards Rising, and should have been to the Jews a pro∣vocation to expect so much more earnestly its arising, as they saw the Stars disappearing one after another. Yet because these Answers do not beat the Jew off from his presumption; but, by seeming to yeild, that as to matter of fact, all these were wanting, harden him in his conceit; that he has not sus∣tain'd this loss, upon the account of his being found guilty of our Saviours Blood.

I shall here shew, that most of, if not all these five things, were (in the Li∣teral sence) in the Second Temple; and in being, in, or not long before our Saviours Time.

That the Ark was in the Second Temple against the Testimony of the Cabbalists, I set the whole Company of the return'd from the Babylonish Captivity to attest; in one of those [Songs of degrees] so called, not be∣cause they were sung upon steps (either the 15 of the ascent into the Tem∣ple, or other places of advantage where the Levites stood) for all Psalms were sung upon Ascents, or Scaffolds, (Nehem. 9. 4.) but because they were Sung at the Dedication of the second Temple, by them that had ascended out of the Abyss of Captivity, as the Chaldee Paraphraseth this Title; up∣on their fixing of which Title, first to the 120 Psalm, grew that wild Tal∣mudical story, of the rising up of the Abyss, at the building of that Tem∣ple: which I would not have nam'd, but that (as ridiculous as it is,) it serves to prove, that in their opinion, the Psalms thus intituled (by whomso∣ever

at first pen'd) were, by the Spirit of Prophecy, fitted, to the case of them that ascended from the Captivity, and accordingly used by them, in their Singing Praise. Of which mind also is Theodoret and Euthymius: and to this agrees the Syriack, making the Contents of Psalm 120. to be a Prayer of the People detain'd in Babel; and of the following, a Song of Educti∣on or Ascent out of Babel, (the best exposition of the Septuagint) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] cùm Cyrus praecepit ut ascenderet Captivitas: These Captives re∣turn'd (in Psal. 122,) mention the Thrones of Judgment there set, [the Thrones of the House of David] one of which Thrones was that of the Glory of God, the Ark of his presence (saith R, David) and ver. 4. they mention the going up of the Tribes to the [Testimony of Israel,] that is, (saith R. Obad.) to be resolv'd in their doubts (that could not by other evidence, be determi∣ned) by the Priest, consulting God before the Ark; as they were directed, (Deut. 17.) The Ark is called the Ark of Testimony, partly because the Law was kept in the Ark, in its Original (by which all Copies were to be exa∣min'd, and what was doubtful in them, by it, to be determined:) partly be∣cause from the Oracle, over the Ark, between the Cherubims, God testified what his will was in such cases, which he had not so distinctly declared in that common Rule: hence the Oracle upon the Ark, or the Ark in respect of that Oracle is called simply [The Testimony,] in distinction to [the Law] in that Text (Isa. 8. 26.) [To the Law and to the Testimony;] where we must not think the Holy Spirit Tautologizeth, in giving so short a direction: but as the Heathens enquired, in their Pontifical Books, and at vive-voyce Oracles, where those Books came short of a Determination; so God appoints his people, first to the Law, and then to the living Oracle. The sence then, which their own most learned Rabbies (and such as flourish'd before their Enmity to the Gospel, put their Expositors to wrest the Scriptures into a thousand forms, that they might not speak for the Christians) put upon those Texts, is such as speaketh the return'd in the Second Temple to have rejoyced in this, that they had an opportunity and invitation to go up to the Ark of the Testimony, to the Throne of Gods presence, the Ark. The lear∣ned Castellio goes so far along with me, and these most antient Rabbies, as to render Testimony by Oracle.

In another of those Psalms of ascent, the whole Choire of them ascended out of Babylon introduce the Ark into the second Temple, in this form of words, (Psal 132. 8.) Arise, O Lord, and come into thy resting place, thou and the Ark of thy strength:] the same, in sence, that Solomon used at the Dedica∣tion of the first Temple (saith R. David.) For the Ark, as it went with them into, so it returned with them, out of Captivity, saith Heb. Syr. (upon Verse 6.) [We found it in the Fields,] expounding [the Fields] by (Mich. 4. 10.) [Thou shalt dwell in the Field] thou shalt go to Babylon. I do not mean, it was carried into Babylon; but hid (together with the Tabernacle, and Altar of Incense) by Jeremy: 2 Maccab. 2. 4. an authority, which (though ingeniously confest, by the Writer to be but humane) will, with un∣byast Persons, out-weigh the word of the whole Tribe of Cabbalists. And that the Ark was restored, is further manifest; because the return'd from Cap∣tivity do direct their Worship towards it, (in ver. 7.) [We will worship at his footstool.] Whether of these Opinions is of harder digestion? That those purified sons of Levy (newly come out of the Furnace of Affliction) should offer the Sacrifice of Fools, not considering what they said; should sprinkle God with the Court-holy-water of Complemental Thanks, for what they had not been blest with; should dance before the Lord, after the Pipe of their own deluded Fancy, and praise him with Songs, made in their golden Dreams, of an Ark, when they had not the Ark? or that their degenerate successors should belye the goodness of God, in denying the Typical, as they do the real Ark of Gods presence, to have been in that Temple; and which of these Testimonies is most credible? This of the blinded modern Jewes, (who, that they might with more liberty blaspheme the blessed Jesus) have

conjured out of one Letters want, in a word, the Second Temples want of five things which the First had, and among them the Ark of the Covenant? Or that of the antient and impartial Rabbies, who, in their Comments upon these Texts, introduce their Forefathers blessing God after their Restauration from the Babylonish Bondage, for restoring to them that Symbol of his pre∣sence, upon whose Testimony ('tis so far from being a Fable, as Weemes is pleas'd to call it) I think it may be concluded, as more then probable, that the Second Temple enjoyed the Ark, as long as Jerusalem enjoy'd the Tem∣ple, that is, till it was brought in Triumph to Rome.

§ 2. But they are more impudent, in reckoning the holy Fire to have been wanting in the Second Temple, against the manifest Testimony of their Progenitors, the Jews of Jerusalem: who, in their Letter to their Brethren in Aegypt, (2 Mac. 1. 18.) give them an account at large, how by the appoint∣ment of Jeremy the sacred Fire was hid, by some Religious Priests in a Pit: and by Nehemiah's Order, search being made for it, by the posterity of those Priests, they found thick Water or Naphthar therein; which being laid up∣on the Sacrifices kindled, as soon as the Sun-beams beat thereon, and consu∣med the sacrifices; the Memorial whereof they pray the Jews of Aegypt, that they would (as they of Iudaea had done) celebrate. Contrary to the plain inference of Nehemiah's, (Nehem. 10, 34.) putting it, among the Articles of that Covenant he made all the Jews seal to, [That they would make provision for the perpetual keeping of the Fire upon the Altar, according to the appointment of the Law] Levit. 9. 24. 10. 1. 3. Which pious act of his, he concludes his Book with, and presents it to God as a Sacrifice of a sweet odour. (Nehem. 13. ult) [And for the Wood-offering, at times appointed, and for the first-fruits; remember me, O my God, for good.] All which, from the beginning to the end, would have been no better than the taking of Gods Name in vain, had that Fire, which consumed the first acceptable Sacrifice, which they offered after their Return, been no more then ordinary Fire: for then they might (without any offence to God) have kindled it anew, every time they sa∣crificed. Contrary to what follows from Gods accepting those Sacrifices which by Nehemiah's order were offered; which upon that consideration, God discriminates from those were offered before the Temple was built; professing they were unclean, because they touched the unclean, that is, had strange Fire put to them Hag. 2. 12. That no burnt Sacrifice was accepta∣ble to God, but what was consumed by holy Fire, was a Maxim so univer∣sally receiv'd in the Church, as Moses expresseth [Gods fire coming down] upon Abels and not upon Cain's Sacrifice by [Gods having respect] to Abels and not Cain's, and therefore Theodosion Translates that Text (Gen. 4. 4) In∣flammavit Deus in Abel & ejus sacrificium; at in Cain & ejus sacrificium non inflammavit Deus;] God sent Fire down upon Abels Sacrifice, &c. For no o∣ther way can be conceiv'd how Cain could know Gods acceptance of his Brother's, and rejection of his own, but this visible Sign, as St. Jerom ob∣serves, in locum. Hence our English Translators parallel, Gen. 4. 4. with Lev. 9. 24. 1 Reg. 18. 38. 2 Chron. 7. 1. where 'tis said the fire came down from the Lord upon the Sacrifice at the Dedication of the Altar, at Elijah's Prayer: and at the Dedication of the Temple. So that the Sons of Aarons offering with strange fire (Lev. 10. 1.) seems to be imputed to their being at that time stark Drunk (vers. 9. 10.) which occasion'd that prohibition to the Priests from drinking Wine when they went into the Sanctuary. If therefore they had not holy Fire to Sanctifie the Altar, the Altar could not Sanctifie the Sacri∣fice, but both remain'd prophane as they had been before; the affirming of which is manifestly contrary to those many and plain Promises, that in the Second Temple [Their Sacrifices should come up with acceptance upon Gods Altar.] And lastly contrary to as good Authority, as Secular Records af∣ford, that the Memorial of that holy Fire was Celebrated, as long as the Temple stood, in the yearly Festival called [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] on the 22d day of

Abib: (say Johasin and the Modern Jewish Calendar) but in truth, on the 14. of Lous, as Josephus calculates. So well seen are the modern Jews, in their own Antiquities! and yet their blind conjectures are by some short-reason'd Theologues, embrac'd as Oracles; (de Bel Jud. 2. 17:) [When that Festival came, which they call Xulophoria, on which day the custome was for every one to bring in Wood for the Temple, that the Fire on the Altar might ne∣ver want fuel: for they never let it go out, but kept it perpetually burning.] [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Rebels would not permit the adverse party, to celebrate that Religious Service—and on the day following (to wit the 15. of Lous) they assaulted the Castle of Antonia. This was in the latter end of Nero's 11 year (as Scaliger ob∣serves) to whom for further satisfaction I refer the Reader, (de emend. temp. l. 7. an. in Comp. Jud. p. c. 49.)

§ 3. No less vain will the Caballistical Assertion, touching the absence of Urim and Thummim under the Second Temple, appear to him, that has but dipp'd his lips (fonte Caballino) in the Pegasean Spring of mere Humane Learning; and by gargling his Palate with that Water, has so far rectified it, as 'tis able to discern of Tastes, and to distinguish betwixt the insipid Flegme, of frothie: and the savoury juice, of substantial Authors; among which last, the often-quoted (and never sufficiently praised) Josephus gives as full an evidence, against the Caballists as can be desired (in his Jud. ant. 3. 9.) where speaking of the two Sardonichs upon the High Priests Shoulders, how that, that upon the right shoulder (as often as the Priest was to Sacri∣fice) sent forth such a sparkling light (beyond his own Nature) as they that were at a great distance might see it, certainly (saith he) deserves admiration with all men, except those that seek, by their contempt of Religion, to gain a repute of being wise; but that is much more admirable which I am now about to say, to wit, that God was wont to pronounce victory, by twelve precious stones which the High Priest wore upon his Breast-plate: For be∣fore the Army march'd, such a Brightness shone from them, as gave light to all the people, that God was present, and would be an aid to them, that in∣vocated him. Wherefore the Greeks (so many of them as do not abhorr our Religion) having had such certain experiments of this Miracle, as could not be gainsaid, call'd the Breast-plate [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that is, [the Oracle,] But both the Sardonix on the high Priest shoulder, and the Gemms on his Breast-plate have ceased to send forth their brightness, two hundred years ago, God be∣ing displeased with our Nation, for their contempt and violation of his Law: of which I shall speak elsewhere. Thus far Josephus: whom I make consci∣ence of following, rather than the whole College of conjecturing Cabal∣lists, while he plays the part of an Historian; and therefore collect from this Text, that the Urim and Thummim continued under the Second Temple almost 300 years, and to within little more than one hundred, of our Saviours Birth; for Josephus wrote his Jewish Antiquities in the latter end of the Reign of Domitian. Though I may (without impeachment to his credit) suspend my assent to his Conclusions, when he acts the Divine, as he doth in assigning the reason of the Dimness of these precious Stones to be that Nations contempt of Gods Law; which I think may better be ascribed to (what he did not see) the approaching Light of that Pretious Stone, God was about to lay in Sion, to the proximity of that Age, to the appearance of that true Light, of that only infallible living Oracle. (This by the way.) To this Testimony of Josephus, for the Second Temple's enjoyment of this O∣racle, the Son of Sirach seems to give his Suffrage, Chap. 33. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [The Law is as faithful, as the Responses of Urim and Thummim,] of that Oracle, which (from its Clarity and Veritie) had these names given it, interpreted by the Septuagint, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, [Light and Truth.] The first used by Siracides, and is the Radix of that Sirname of Apollo [Delius;] so called, properly enough, if Apollo be the Sun, but can∣not

be applied but abusively to his Daemon or Genius that gave Oracles, most of which were darker than darkness it self. The latter given to that fa∣mous Saphire, which the Antient Kings of Aegypt, who were also Priests, wore about their neck; as Aelian reports (Var. Hist. 14. 34.) This for the illustration of the Terms: as to the Text it self, it imports, that at the ma∣king of that Book of Wisdom (which the Author saith, was in the Reign of Evergetes) the Oracle of Urim and Thummim was still in being: for he brings that in, as a thing Notius notorious and well known, to illustrate the perspicuity and faithfulness of the Law. Lastly, though it was wanting at their first Return before the Temple was finish'd, yet they expected it would be restored: and therefore, (Ezra. 2. 62, 63.) the Tirshata would not take them into the number of Priests, that could not shew their Pedigree. [Till there should rise up a Priest with Urim and Thummim;] and, in all reason was restored, as soon, as the Temple was finish'd: a Vision whereof, Zacha∣ry seeth (c. 3.) where Joshua is cloth'd with that [change of Raiment,] wherein it is promised him, [He shall judge Israel] [Post ablationem vestium sordidarum, & restitutam mundi sacerdotii dignitatem, promittitur, quòd ipse ju∣dex sit domus ejus.] After the taking away of his filthy Raiment, and restoring to him the dignity of a clean High-Priest-hood, it is promised to him, that he should judge Gods house, (as St. Jerom, from the Hebrews expounds that Text) a clear Paraphrase of the Pectoral of Judgment) of the stones whereof Za∣chary affirms, that they are the ingravings of God, &c. and (in the 6 Chap∣ter of Zach. vers. 14. and 10. I find Tobijah, among those that attend upon the holy things; who was one of those whose Pedigree could not be found; and were therefore excluded from the Sanctuary, till a Priest should arise with Urim, (Nehem. 7. 62.)

§. 4. As to the Spirit of Prophesie, its being under the Second Temple, (in both those Degrees of it, implied (Revel. 4. 2.) that which inspired ho∣ly men with Prophecy, or to be Prophets and to Preach; and that which in∣spired them to be Penmen, or to write Prophecies) Is so palpable by the date of the Prophecies of Haggai and Zachary, as nothing but malice can hoodwink the Jew from seeing it. And though it be true, the Sun set up∣on their writing Prophets, about the Reign of Alexander the Great; yet they had speaking Prophets as long as the Temple stood; of which Jose∣phus gives many instances: of Judas, whose Prophecies used to prove so in∣fallible, as when he saw Antigonus going to the Temple, the afternoon of that day, on which he had prophesied; he should die, and that at Straton's Tower (which was 600 Furlongs distant) he cried out to his Disciples (in the words of the Prophet Jonah when God spared Ninivie, after he had threatned the destruction of it within 40 days) I now grow weary of my life, seeing Antigonus his life convinceth me to be a false Prophet; for it is impossible he should die this day at Straton's Tower, who is here alive, af∣ter so much of the day is spent, and at so great a distance from that place. But there was a Tower, in the Palace, of that name; in the Vault whereof, Antigonus was Murdered, in his return from the Temple, and news there∣of brought to Judas, while he was tormenting himself, for fear of the miscar∣riage of his Prophesie. (Joseph. ant. 13. 19.) Of one Jesus who four years before the beginning of that War, which ended with the Desolation of Je∣rusalem, (at what time the City enjoy'd as much peace and plenty as ever) coming up to the Feast of Tabernacles, suddenly broke out into these Ex∣clamations, A Voyce from the East, a voyce from the West; a voyce from the four Winds; a voyce against Jerusalem, and the Temple; a voyce against the Bridegroom and the Bride; a voyce against this whole Nation;] and, without ceasing day or night, carried this burthen of Prophesie through all the Streets and Lanes of the City: from which no punishment could restrain him. And (to spare the alledging of more Examples) Of himself who prophesied to Vespasian, that he should be Emperour: against which Vespasian making this

Exception. How canst thou foreknow my Fortunes, that couldst not foresee thine own Captivity, nor the taking of Jotopata (of which thou was Governour?) Why replied he) I told the Jotopatanes, that within 47 days they should be destroyed, and my self become a Prisoner to the Ro∣manes.

By this we see how false, as well as blasphemous this Assertion is, that the Second Temple wanted the Spirit of Prophecy: and how far wide of Daniels sence the modern Jews are, in expounding [The sealing of Prophecy] whereby he means the fulfilling and ratifying thereof, by the Blessed Jesus, to be the cessation of it: of which cessation of all Prophecy they sometimes make the Aera to concur, with that of the defiling the Temple by Epipha∣nes; sometimes with that of the League which Judas Maccabeus made with the Romanes; sometimes to the first year of Seleucus Nicanor: Whereas speaking Prophets continued to the end of the Jewish State, and writing Pro∣phets ceas'd long before the eldest of these Dates; and therefore the Author of the Book of Maccabees speaks of that, as falling out a considerable time before the discumfiture of Judas by Alcimus and Bacchides. (1 Mac. 9. 27.) So there was a very great Affliction in Israel: the like whereof was not, since the time that a Prophet was not seen amongst them, that is, a wri∣ting Prophet. (Vide comput. Jud. Scal. de emend. temp. lib. 7. pag. 628. 654.)

That the Shechina or Majesty of the Divine presence; wherein God ap∣peared to be present, by the appearance of Angels (those Courtiers of Heaven) either in a lucid, flaming, shining appearance (as that Host of Heaven, those An∣gels of God's presence, that pitcht their Camp before Israels Camp in the Wilderness, appeared in the night) or in a thick Cloud or Smoak, such a bodily appearance as they assumed, on the day (vide Hamond. an. on Mat. 3. 16.) that this Majestick presence of the Lord did fill the Second Temple, as well as the First, is attested by the Jerusalem Jews, (2 Mac. 2. 7.) where they write to their Brethren of Aegypt that Jeremy, when he had hid the Taber∣nacle and the Ark, told the Priests, that when God restored that Captivity, he would shew them his Glory; that the Glory of the Lord should appear, and the Cloud also, as it was shewed under Moses and Solomon. For the Truth of all the Contents of this Letter, they appeal to ocular evidence; wishing their Brethren, if there were need, they would send some to see. Heliodorus would not believe, that God dwelt then between the Cherubims, till he had been soundly beaten into the belief of it, and scourged by the Angel of Gods presence into a Confession, of what he had seen with his eyes, and felt upon his ribbs, advising Demetrius, if he had any Enemy or Traytor, he would send him to rob the Temple: for thou shalt (saith he) receive him well scourg'd, if he escape with his life; for in that place (with∣out doubt) there is an especial power of God (2 Mac. 3. 36.) It was in this Temple, Hircanus (the High Priest) had conference with God, by an An∣gel appearing to him, while he was offering Incense: that Zachary, the Fa∣ther of the Baptist, had the appearance of God by an Angel. A thing so or∣dinary, as the people, without Hesitancie, conclude he had seen a Vision, when he did but becken to them. But what need of proving that by Indu∣ction of Particulars, which naturally follows from the Premisses: for must not the Divine Presence be there, where was the Ark of Gods Presence? Could the Temple which had the Fire, want the Smoak, want the Cloud?

§ 5. It is manifest then, that under the Second Temple the Jews enjoyed all these Prerogatives. Nay, they were so far from wanting what they had un∣der the first, as even in respect of external indications of Gods gracious pre∣sence amongst them, the Glory of the Second, exceeded the Glory of the First Temple. For under the later House, they had,

1. The power of ejecting Devils out of the possessed, which we do not

find they had under the First Temple: for that melancholy Spirit which David cast out of Saul, by his playing upon the Harp, comes not up to the case, either as to time (being before the First Temple;) or as to the thing, (be∣ing the removal only of melancholly.) But that under the Second Temple there was a stated Order of Exorcists (who by invocating the Name of God, over such as were possessed with unclean Spirits, did cast them out) is manifest from our Saviours urging that practice, in vindication of his own, and professing that he cast out Devils by the same power by which their Children did. [If I by Beelzebub cast out Devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. Mat. 12. 27.] In virtute sci∣licet Creatoris, By the power of the Creator] as Tertullion expounds this Text, (contrà Marcion. lib. 4. 26.) and maintains that Exposition by this Reason, that Christ upbraiding their Children with casting out Devils by Beelzebub, was inconsistent with what he had said before [If Satan cast out Satan, &c.] [Hâc voce quid magis portendit, quàm in to ejicere se, quo & filii eorum, in vir∣tute scilicet Creatoris?] [What can Christ mean by this word, but that he cast out Devils, by the same power, by which their Children cast them out, in the vir∣tue, to wit, of the Creator.] Thus Irenaeus (quoted by Dr. Hammond annot. on Mat. 12. 27.) By the invoking the name of the most high and mighty God, even before the coming of Christ, men were delivered from the wicked Spi∣rits and all kind of Devils. So powerful then, was the Name of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, saith Origen, (contrà Cels. l. 1. & l. 4.) But the use of this form of Exorcism grew so ineffectual, after Christs Name was called upon them that were possessed, as the Jewish Exorcists were willing to change it into that Form, [We adjure you by the Name of Jesus.]

2. The all-healing Virtue of the Pool of Bethesda, (the house of mercy for the poor) into which whosoever first stepped down, (after the troubling of the water by an Angel at a certain time) was cured of whatsoever disease he had (Job. 5. 4.) of which, thus Tertullian (advers. Judaeos cap. 13.) [Fuit & piscina Bethesda, us{que} ad adventum Christi, curando invalitudines ab Israel; desiit a benefieiis deinde, ex perseveratione erroris sui quo nomen Domini per ipsos blasphemaretur.] [The Pool of Bethesda had virtue to heal infirmities unto the coming of Christ: but it ceas'd to put forth that beneficial gift, after that the name of God was blasphemed by the Jews perseverance in their error.] And (de bap∣tismo c. 5.) Having observed, how the Gentiles (in an Apish imitation of the Israelites, initiating Proselytes in the Sacred Religion, by Baptism) used to initiate themselves, some, to Isis; some, to Mithra; by washings: and to expiate their Houses, Temples, and whole Cities, with sprinkling of holy water; and to sprinkle themselves in the Pelusian Solemnities, and the Games of Apollo, in order to their regeneration and purgation, from the guilt of Per∣jury or Manslaughter. (Plutarch. de oracul. defectu.) And that unclean Spi∣rits (in emulation of the Spirit of God its moving upon the Waters) chose to frequent Waters, gloomy Fountains, solitary Rivulets, Groves, Wells, &c. where they made their appearances, wrought their lying wonders, and laid their baits of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [mischievous benefits.] He tells us, that the God of Israel (to prevent his peoples seeking cure, at the hands of those Quacks; and going a Whoring after those abominations; and to shew, that his good Angels were not behind those filthy Daemons, in their power of communica∣ting a saving influence, to that Element, with the commerce whereof, evil Angels sought to bring men to perdition,) sent his Angel to move the Pool of Bethesda: which virtue that Pool retain'd, till our Saviour (by curing the impotent man, that lay there) gave notice, that the Operation of that Pool was now to cease; and invited the sick to come to him, the Fountain of li∣ving Water.

I know Theophilact makes not so great a matter of this Pool as did the Fathers before him (and that the Learned Dr. Hammond strains courtesie with almost every material word in the sacred Text, John 5. to bring that

Story into a compliance with Theophilacts Opinion, that the Angel which de∣scended was but some Officer, who at certain times, that is, at the great Fe∣stivals when the greatest number of Sacrifices was slain, went down and stir∣red up those grosser parts which came from the Beasts washed therein after they were slain for Sacrifice, the congelations of Blood that went to the bot∣tom; by which means they infused themselves more strongly into the Water and conveighed to it such a medicinal Virtue, as is in the Skin of a Sheep newly flead, or the warm vital parts of any Beast. Theophilact was happy in such a second, who by reason of his great Reading, quick Apprehension and solid Judgment might with less ostentation have said to Theophilact than the Philosopher to his Schollar: Do thou invent Opinions and I will make them probable: for doubtless such hath he made this: and that being the high∣est Epithete which the modest Doctor fastens upon it, I hope it will not be imputed as immodesty in me, to take the liberty of shewing my dissent from a person of so deservedly admired worth, and well deserving of the Church, both as to the Opinion it self, and the Reason he brings why he will no fur∣ther insist upon it, than to make it probable; because the Christian Religion is no way concern'd in the miraculousness of this Cure, if such it were, it being afforded the Jews before Christs coming, and continued to them at this time of their resisting and opposing Christ.

For as it is of apparent use to the Christian Cause, and to the Conviction of the Jews, to mind them of the Tokens of Gods favour they enjoy'd, till the guilt of that innocent Lamb's Blood cancel'd their Charter: [infaelicis∣simum infortunii genus est fuisse faelicem;] the brighter the Sun shone at its go∣ing down upon them, the more certain indication it gave of its setting. So this Exposition of the Text by Theophilact, beside the force it offers to the Words, offers violence to common Sence; of which I could give several in∣stances, but will content my self with that reply, which Dr. Hammond gives to that Objection (which he conceives the chief) to wit, That 'tis uncon∣ceivable, how the healing Virtue of that Pool, (had it arose naturally from the fresh warm blood of the Entrails of the Sacrifices that were washed there) could be limited to one, to him, that first stepped in after the troub∣ling of the Waters; for that reason of this which the Doctor assigns, ari∣sing from the circumstance of the place containing these Medicinal Waters, which might be of no larger capacity, than to hold one at once: as that is the only circumstance that can be imagined to avoid the force of the Ob∣jection; so that Hypothesis implies a plain Contradiction to all other circum∣stances of the case, as themselves state it; for what needed an Officer go down into so narrow a hole, when he might have stood at the top, and have poakt up the grosser matter from the bottom with a Pole? Nay, what room could there be for him, to bestir himself or to use a Colt-staff in the bottom, to stir up the congeal'd blood in so narrow a compass? or with what wa∣ter must that water be washt wherein so many hundreds of Entrals were wash'd? for doubtless if it was contain'd in so narrow a compass, it stood in as much need of washing as the Entrails themselves: and the immersing fresh Entrails therein, after an hundred (or according to their account ma∣ny thousands) had been wash'd therein, would have been the defiling of them, rather than their cleansing. Besides, had this curing of only one been but once, or at the most three times a year, and that by a natural Virtue in∣fused into the water, the stirring of the Sedements from the bottom; it was wholly in the Officers power, to admit whom he pleased, to step in; and then those multitudes of impotent folk, that lay there waiting for the stir∣ring of the water, and some of them so long (as the man whom Christ cu∣red) must have been more crazie in their mind than bodies, if they could not collect, it was in vain there to expect good, if they could not make the Officer their Friend: Lastly, what need of a Temple-Officer's going down to stir the water? when those whose impotencie lay in their eyes, or any where but in their feet, might themselves have done all that he could

do; to wit, with their Feet, or Hands, or Crutches, stir up the congealed Blood, and make it mix with the Water; and really 'tis hard to conceive, that a∣mong a great multitude of poor Cripples, their should not be some, who, when they saw their time, would not strain courtesie with good manners, and make no more scruple of stepping in before the Angel, than the May∣ors Horse did of drinking before Queen Elizabeths. Had he been no more than a Temple-Officer, and not as the King's Manuscript reads it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] The Angel of the Lord, whose stirring of the Pool put a super∣natural Virtue into it, which by divine dispensation was so bounded, as to the Effects thereof, as it should but cure one at a time, and that time not to be foreseen (as their stated Festivals were) but purely at the divine Arbitri∣ment; and therefore to be waited for by those that came thither for cure; of which he that first stept in failed not to partake, while the five Books of Moses (the Books of Gods Covenant with their Fathers) as so many Porches encompassed that Nation. (St. Aug. de verbis Dom. Serm. 42.) But, that Co∣venant of Peace removed from them, this Pool (though still to be seen) hath no more Virtue in it now, nor ever had since the Holie Ghost, hath chosen the Christian Font-water to sit upon, (St Jerom. de locis Haebraicis) than the Ca∣stalion or Colophon Wells.

I could instance in more Privileges, which the Second Temple was en∣dowed with, beyond the First, which (as if they had been entail'd upon it) fell with it. But it would be an infinite labour, to recount all the Particu∣lars of that Inventory of Divine Benefits, (Arguments of Gods special fa∣vour to that people] which they died seis'd of, at the expiration of their State, and demolishing of their City and Temple. Gods withdrawing of which from them, is as full an evidence of their Rejection; as his vouchsafing them to them, was formerly of his bearing them more upon his heart, than all the Nations of the Universe besides. Alas! how many days hath that wretched Nation continued, without a King, and without a Prince, with∣out a Sacrifice, and without an Idol, without an Ephod, and without a Teraphim, without God or any token of his presence, save that whereby he watcheth over them for evil? under all which heavy stroaks, they are as insensible as Solomon's Fool, that slept upon the Mast: So that to crown his Judgements God hath taken from them that tenderness of Heart, which their Forefathers had in the Babylonish Captivity, who were jealous of them∣selves, that God had hardned their hearts from his fear, to their greater Ruine: but these though that of their own Prophets (Isa. 6.) be palpably ful∣fill'd upon them; and all the Curses written in Gods Book laying, with all their weight, upon their loynes, yet none of them say [What have I done? Wherefore is all this evil brought upon us?]

CHAP. V.

The Jews rejected Messias to be called the God of the whole Earth: and all other Gods eternally to be rejected.

§ 1. The God of Israel every where worship'd where Christian Religion obtains place. § 2. The God of Israel hath his Priests amongst the Gentiles. § 3. No acceptable Oblation but what Christians offer, tender'd to Israels God. § 4. The Gospel hath utterly abolish'd Idols, made Virmin-Gods creep into holes. § 5. Daphnaean Apollo, choak'd with the Bones of Ba∣bilas. Heathen Testimony for the silencing of Oracles; the Vanity of their Reasons. § 6. Gross Idolatry in the Roman Pale by her own Doctors Confessions and Definitions (the Legend of the Golden Calf) yet not in the proper and prophetick sence.

§ 1. A Third point of Prophecy, the accomplishment whereof is perma∣nent and now in being, (to the beholding of which I refer the Atheist for Conviction, that the Author of our Scriptures hath an infinitely perfect fore-comprehension of Contingencies.) Is that wherein it is fore-told; That this, by them rejected, Messiah of the Jews, was to be called [The God of the whole Earth:] That this Christ, this Son of God, against whom the Jews took Counsel, the Bond of whose Covenant they brake a∣sunder, the Cords of whose Royal Laws they cast from them, was to receive of his Father [The Heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession] (Psal. 2.) was to Reign [from Sea to Sea,] and to fill [The whole Earth] with his Majesty (Psal. 71.) That to this Shilo, after the Departure of the Scepter from Judah, [The Gentiles should be gathered] (Gen. 49.) That this Branch, out of the Root of Jesse, wherein the Jews saw no form nor comliness, is to reign [over the Centiles] (Isa. 21.) in whom [the Gentiles are to trust] (Isa. 42.) to whom the Nations are to come, saying, [Our Fathers have inherited vanity] (Jer. 16.) That in the days of this Kings Son [All the ends of the earth] shall remember themselves and turn to the Lord, and [all the kindreds of the Nations] shall worship before him. (Ps. 22.) That to him Princes should come out of Aegypt, Aethiopia should soon (with the first) stretch out her hands unto God: That his Dominion shall be so far extended as [all Kings] should worship him, [all Nations] do him homage. (Psal. 68. 31) That it was too small a thing that he should raise up the Tribes of Jacob, and that therefore God would give him for a Light to Lighten the Gentiles, and to be his Salvation [to the ends of the earth.] (Is. 49. 6. That at what time, the Lord of Hosts should refuse to accept an of∣fering, at the hands of the Jews, and take no pleasure in them or their Legal services, his Name should be dreadful among the Heathen, great among the Gentiles: and that [in every place, from the rising of the Sun, to the going down thereof,] The God of Israel should have Incense offered to his Name, and a pure offering, (Mal. 1. 10. and 14.)

Let the Atheist consult his Reason, and then try, if he can conceive, how that God, who spake by the Prophets so many things touching the Messias, which are all come to pass and verified in the blessed Jesus, could possibly be ignorant of, or falsifie in the main, in the Subject it self of all those Pro∣phesies, the Person of the Messias: Or that he, who foresaw the Rejection of the Jews, would not provide himself of another People. But I will not put him to the expence, (of what he hath not, in the purchase of Faith. His own Senses, where ever he comes, will inform him of the accomplishment of

these Predictions: what part soever of the old World he travels through, he may hear the Name of the God of Israel celebrated, he may see the Trophyes of Christs Victories standing there; hear the Confession of all men, with one mouth, that the God of Abraham is the God, that made Heaven and Earth: with which rebound the Mahometan Moscos, the Christian Churches, the Jewish Synagogues; for Pagan Temples he will find none, where the Gospel has been. Let him ask where he comes, at the hearing of what Doctrine it was, that their Gentile Progenitours came in to the acknowledgment of the God of Israel, confessing that their Fathers had inherited Vanity, had made lyes their Refuge: I am perswaded the Mahometan will have so much Ingenuity, as to confess that their Religion found all those parts of the World, whither it hath come, worshipping the God of Israel: and therefore that was not the Light God set up to the Gentiles, to bring them in, to guide them to the one true God of Israel; that theirs found the world inheriting the Chri∣stian Religion, which Mahomet himself will not call a Vanity; but for the time its Virtue lasted, (that is, till he put forth his Alcharon,) confesseth to have been a saving, and the only saving Religion, as being the Appointment of God himself by the hand and Ministry of his Beloved Son Jesus Christ, the greatest Prophet that ever was till Mahomet, by Mahomets own Confessi∣on: And the Jew may easily be confuted, if he shall have the simplicity to say, that that is a Prophecy of the Repentance of their Forefathers when they forsook the Idolatries of the Nations they were mixed with; for 'tis the Gen∣tiles are to come and say, Our Fathers inherited Vanity; and the truth is, the repenting Jews could not in verity make this Confession: for though they for some time took long Leases of the Idolatry of the Heathens, yet those I∣dolatries never obtain'd that Prescription as to become their Inheritance, as they did in the Heathen World, where, long time out of mind from Father to Son, no other Gods but Idols were worship'd. Or if he should have the face to deny that it was the Preaching of the Gospel which prevail'd with the Nations of the World to come in to Israel's God, confessing that the Reli∣gions of their Forefathers were all Vanity. For before the Preaching of the Gospel, 'tis manifest that all Nations walked in their own way, and in the name of their own Gods; and the Jew was so far from introducing the Worship of their sometimes God into the Roman Capitol, as they had much adoe to keep that Monster of all Roman Gods, Caligula, from receiving Divine honours in the Temple of Jerusalem, and could not prevent the erecting of his Statue in their Temple at Alexandria, nor the Adoration of it in the Presence-Chamber of the God of Israel. Besides, let them say by which of their Rabbies India, by which Aethiopia, by which Spain, by which Eritain, the utmost Coasts of Europe, Asia, Affrica, were converted from Idols to the One living God; as we can shew by what Apostles and Apostolical Persons the World was by piece-meal brought under the Obedience of God and of his Christ.

§ 2. Let him next observe, if Israels God have that service perform'd to him; which by his Prophets he had declared he would only accept, when he should be called the God of all the Earth, any where but in the Christian Church. If since his rejection of the Levitical Priesthood (which then vir∣tually commenc'd, when Christ as a Priest after Aarons order, made upon the Altar of his Cross (by the oblation of himself) a full and perfect Propi∣tiation for the sins of the whole World: and was then actually inflicted, when, in the virtue of that Attonement, God sent him as a Priest after the Order of Melchisedech to bless the Nations, by turning them from their sins. If this God of Israel hath, where he is invocated, any Priests, taken from a∣mong the Gentiles, but those of Christs Institution, that call themselves, and are called (that is known by the name of) the Priests of the Lord. He may find this name scorned by such punie Antichrists, as the Gospel tells us have ever been, and foretells us will ever be in the Church, but not of the Church:

who being under a Form of Godliness deny the Power, and either out of a blind zeal, or for a cloak of Covetousness, decry the Evangelical Priest-hood, casting contempt upon and practising to abolish that Name which the God of Israel hath said the Evangelical Ministers should be called by: do∣ing what in them lay to overturn the Foundation of Christian Faith; For if there be not an order of Men, taken out from the rest, from among the people, called the Priests of the Lord; the Gentiles are not yet called, nor that God whom we invocate, the God of Israel, nor that Jesus whom we worship, the Christ, the promised Messiah; for of the days of Messias it is pro∣phesied (Is. 66. 8.) [I will gather all Nations and Tongues, and they shall come and see my glory;] and this I will do by setting a Sign amongst them, (by ere∣cting the Standard of the Cross, [For those that escape (those of the Jews that save themselves from the untoward Generation, by embracing Christ) I will send to the Nations, disperse them over the World, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, to Tubal and Javan, to the Isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my Glory: and they shall declare my Glory] Preach Christ, the Bright∣ness of my Glory (Heb. 1. 3.) among the Gentiles. [And they shall bring all your Brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all Nations: and of them that shall be converted out of all Nations I will take for Priests and Levites: For as the new Heavens that I create, remain before me; so shall your Seed and your Name remain for ever.] And again (Isa. 61. 6.) [Ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God.] See here what ten∣der Consciences those tender ear'd men have, and how well those Laodice∣an Church-men consult the promoting of the honour of Christ, and the sal∣vation of Souls through his Blood, that, rather than we should offend the itching ears of those white Devils, would have us wave the use of so harsh a word, so grating a name as that of Priests: though it be of the mouth of the Lords naming, and the bearing of it among the Gentiles, one of those Demon∣strations of the Spirit of Prophesie, that Christ is come; and that he, whose Priests we are, is the God that made Heaven and Earth.

Not but that the Romish Sacrificers have Sacrilegiously abused this name to the abetting their Sacrifice of the Mass: or, as if names or things, whose use is not necessary, may not be laid aside, when abused: as God took the name of Baal out of his peoples mouth, after it had been appropriated to I∣dols, and Hezechiah broke the Brazen Serpent after the Idolatrous use of it. Yet he that upon that pretence would banish the name of Jehovah, or other Names of God out of Christian use, would leave us never a Name to call him by; for all his Names that the Gentiles could get at the Tongues end, they applied to their Idols: and should we exterminate every Word or Thing that has been made an evil use of, we must speak by Signs, renounce our Creed, our Meat, Drink and Sleep. How much more cautious should we be of entertaining those Principles of a squeasie and mis-inform'd Con∣science, as induce us to a disuse of that Name which God himself hath stampt upon the Ministers of the Gospel, as their Memorial for ever. But,

Odi prophanum vulgus, & arceo.—

I should blame my self for making this excursion before the Atheist, if it were not to inform him, that in case, while he is seeking for the accom∣plishment of this Prophesie, he meet with such as disclaim this, and call them∣selves by another Name, and thereby be confirm'd in his Atheism; the Church is free of his blood; for there never hath been any Christian Church upon Earth, whose Ministers are not known and called by the name of the Priests of Israel's God.

§. 3. Let him enquire what Sacrifices and Oblations have been offered him since his Name was Great in all the World, but that commemorative one of the great Propitiation which our high Priest made once for all; That Thanksgiving-Sacrifice of the Eucharist, that well-pleasing Sacrifice of a sweet odour we tender him in our Works of Charity, in our honouring him with our substance; that living and reasonable Service, wherein we offer up our selves, Souls, Bodies and Spirits to the disposal of his Royal Law? What In∣cense hath been burnt before him, but Prayer from a Devout and flaming Heart? What Libations have been powred out in his presence, but peniten∣tial Tears, flowing from a contrite spirit? Let him travel Aegypt through and through, he will find no Altar there erected to the God of Israel, but that Table-throne of Grace, whereon we offer to him his Creatures of Bread and Wine, and make a Commemoration of his Son's Death. No Pillar there set up to the Lord, but the eternal Monument of his dear Love, the Triumphant Standard of the blessed Cross. He will find the Jew, the As∣syrian, the Aegyptian, serving the God of Israel joyntly in the practise of no Religion but the Christian.

And then I leave it to the Atheists Discretion to judge, whether it be con∣ceivable, that that God who was so wise as to foresee, and so powerful as to effect this great Change, we see wrought in the World, by the Gospel; should be so far wanting to himself, and those of Mankind that most sin∣cerely love him, as to have none to worship him, in a way of his own In∣stitution (this sixteen hundred years) ever since he by his Providence hath made it impossible, to tender him that Worship himself had formerly com∣manded: the place being destroyed where God will only accept of such like services; and the Jews having been terrified from rebuilding it under Juli∣an, so, as they never since durst reattempt it. The Story of which their Con∣sternation is thus reported by Greg. Nazianzen, (Oratione 48. in Julianum 2.) Julian invited the Jews to return into Judaea and rebuild their Temple, whereupon multitudes of them repair thither, and busie themselves in that work (with as much zeal as our City-Matrons exprest. When those Forts and Lines of Communication were cast up, whereby they excluded them∣selves from the Protection of the best of Kings, and cooped up themselves to be a prey to the worst of Tyrants; for as ours then, so) the Jewish Ma∣trons, now, spared neither their tender Limbs, nor fine Cloaths, nor richest Jewels; but as they expended their Treasures in hiring Labourers, so they themselves did not disdain to serve the Workmen by carrying Baskets of Rubbish, till both Masons and Servitours were forc'd from their work, by Balls of Fire issuing from the trembling and gaping Earth; by which they that were not kill'd, had their Garments or Bodies inured with the Sign of the Cross: by which Marks of God's displeasure, many of them were so far convinc'd, (that no other Religion was acceptable to God, but the Christi∣an, as they with one voyce invocate the help of Christ, and were by Bap∣tism initiated in the Christian Faith. The substance of this Story I have elsewhere alledged out of Ammianus Marcellinus, one of Julian's Captains. And Nazianzen affirms, that when he wrote this Oration, these Prints and Marks upon their Cloaths were still to be seen, Is't then (I say) imaginable in reason, that ever since the disannulling of the Mosaical Service of Legal Sacrifices, God has been no where worship'd in a way of his own institu∣tion? Or is it possible to point out any People upon Earth, save the Chri∣stian Church, that worship him in that way which God himself foretold he would erect at the vacateing of the old?

§. 4. The fourth and last instance I shall give of Prophecies, touching meer Contingencies, that have been so palpably fulfill'd, as the Effect of the accomplishment is now existing, is of those which foretold, That after Israel had cast off their Messiah, and their God cast off them and taken the Gen∣tiles

to be his People; Those Gentiles, as they came into Christ should cast a way all their former Idol-Gods, so as never again to return to them. Of which Tenour are those Texts, (Isa. 2. 18. 20, 21.) [The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, and the Idols shall he utterly abolish; and they shall go into the holes of the Rocks, and into the Caves of the Earth, for fear of the Lord and for the Glory of his Majesty, when he ariseth terribly to shake the earth. In that day shall a man cast his Idols of Silver and Gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the batts;] This day is that when all Nations shall flow unto the Mountain of the Lords House, &c. ver. 1. The same Prophecy is repeated (Is. 31. 7.) and the Effect of it dated, when the Lord the Shepherd of Israel shall rise up against the multitude of Shepherds, called forth against him (the whole Crew of Idols erected by the Gentile world to affront the Majesty of Heaven) and make no more of them than a Lyon doth of unarmed Shepherds, who would scare him away with their voyce when he comes to take their Flock from them: and when those Flocks shall be turned unto that God, from whom the Children of Israel have deeply revolted. In that day shall every man cast away his Idols, &c. And (Isa. 45. and 46. Chapters.) When all the ends of the Earth shall look unto God, when to him every Knee shall bow, every Tongue shall swear, &c. Then Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their Idols were upon the Beasts, your carriages were heavy laden, they are a burden to the weary Beasts, they stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into Captivity:] That is, the Heathen Great Pontiffs and Philosophers shall not be able to maintain the Cause of those false Gods, whom by office and inducement of State they are bound to support, but shall fall down under the weight of that Vanity and Impiety, the Gospel shall charge them with; and throw off their load, and themselves become Christs Captives; so mighty were the Weapons of the Apostles Warfare, to cast down those vain Imaginations, that had exalted themselves against the knowledge of the true God, and to bring into obedience to Christ the strongest holds that Satan by his Deputies held in the Heathen World. And (Zech. 13. 2.) In that day when a Fountain should be open'd, to those Inhabitants of Jerusalem, to that House of David, that should mourn every Family apart, over him whom they had pierced (which cannot be meant of the Jews after the Flesh, for it was the Gentiles that pierced Christ, it was the Roman Soldiers that platted the Crown of Thorns, and set it upon Christs Head, that Nailed his Hands and Feet to the Cross, that peirced his Side with a Spear: to which external peircing of Christs Body, (and not to that Sword, which the unthankful Jew ran through his Soul) the Evangelist applies this Text, (John 19. 37.) The Spirit of Grace and Supplication is not promised, to the breakers of his Heart, but Bones: the Gentiles Heart that broke his Bones, shall be broken, when the spirit convinceth them of that sin: but the Jews generally lost under Judicial blindness;) in that day, I say, that the spiritual Judah shall repent and be baptized. (St. Jerom ex∣pounds this Fountain to be Christian Baptism, that Laver of Regeneration) It shall come to pass (saith the Lord of Hosts) that I will cut off the names of the Idols out of the Land, &c. and cause the unclean spirits to pass out of the Land. Was ever any thing foretold with more plainness and perspicuity? most of those Oracles (and a great many more, which for brevity sake I o∣mit) are as transparent, as if they had been writ with a Sun-beam: in this co∣pious variety of expressions, there is not one ambiguous Word, not one dark Syllable; a Child may run and read these Visions: Would then such eminent Persons, as their Prophets were, in their several Generations have run the ha∣zard of having their Memories traduc'd in after-ages, by such plain speaking (having no imaginable Secular Temptation to it, but against it:) had they not been (beyond all possibility of mistake) assured of the Infallibility of that Spirit by which they were moved. Now the same Degree of Assurance, which they had à priori (from the Cause) we may have à posteriori (from the Effect;) they could not (by that more then Scientifical Vision of those things

in the Divine Mind; that essential Cognition, that simple Contact and Feel∣ing of God's Will,) [Tactus quidam divinitatis notitiâ melior, essentialis cogni∣tio divinorum, contactus quidam essentialis, & simplex.] [Jamblicus de cognit. di∣vinorum.) be more certain, that this would be; than we may, that it is come to pass, by observing the Event. For never were any Predictions more manifestly fulfill'd than these; not one title of them is faln to the Earth. There is not now, nor has not been, in any part of the World, since Chri∣stian Religion was planted in it, the least Relique of those numberless Pa∣gan Gods, it swarmed with before that. Where, (not only as to their Oper∣ation, but Being) are the Gods of Hamath, and of Arphad? Where are the Gods of Sephervaim, Hena, and Iva (shall I say or) the Gods of Europe, Asia, Affrica? The Aegyptian Nile spawned Fish-Gods, their Land brought forth Gods of Grass, and Gods that eat Grass, their Air was darkned with vollies of winged Deities: In Greece the Genius of every species of Animals and Vegetives; In Rome Pallor and Terror the Fever and Jaundice grew into Gods; They had their he and she-deities, for Conception, Birth, Puberty, Marriage, Merchandice, &c. Gods of the Closet, of the Market; Gods of the Close-stool, and Chamber-pot; such as 'tis a wonder their own Jove did not thunder-strike the adorers of; such, as one would think, Hercules might have scar'd into the holes of the earth with the shadow of his Club, or blown away with his Fly-flap: But that in the Exile of the lawful Sove∣raign, every one has an equal right to the Crown; and in that parity, there is not a chip to chose betwixt a Peer and a Peasant, a Calf will serve the Is∣raelites for a God, when they have forgot him that brought them out of Ae∣gypt. When men delight not to retain the Former of all things in their mind, every Man will be a God-wright and frame an Image of the Deity, of any thing that comes off the Wheel of his ever-running Imagination. Yea Phi∣losophy it self, in those Times of Ignorance, could not castrate the rank Fan∣cies of Democritus and Epicurus of this prolifick God-teeming humour, but that they spawn'd as many Gods, that is eternal Beings, as there are Atoms in their conceipted infinite Worlds. In which particular I should think Laer∣tius and Tully to have wronged their memories, If I did not see (in this Age of improved Learning and divine Light) some mens Wind-mill-heads grind∣ing the God head of the one eternal, into as many and small grains as there are moats in the Universe: If I did not see those Leviathans, who make sport with, and take their pastime in deriding the Notions of created Spirits, and of the adorable Trinity of Persons in that one uncreated Essence (as finding no bottom of that immense Ocean, which Faith makes fordable to the mean∣est Christian;) themselves introducing an Hypothesis of more Spirits (for take Divisibility from Matter and nothing remains but an Incorporeal Sub∣stance; and he that talks of a crooked, an hooked, a three-corner'd Atome, may, with as much reason, tell us of a Square, or Triangular Circle, except he can impose upon the World a new Grammar: as well as Philosophy, or perswade all Greece to forget its Mother-tongue) than can stand betwixt York and Lancaster: I could make infinite more room for them upon the Cartesian Ground, but that is a Field large enough for all the Host of Heaven to incamp in; and I shall enlarge their Quarters in my Reflections upon the other Hypothesis which the Doctrine of Atoms introduceth, to wit, as many Persons in the One Eternal Being, as many distinct individual Subsistencies in the one Essence of Eternal Matter, as we can imagine Moats in the Sun-beams, should they dart themselves ten hundred thousand millions of times further upwards towards the Emperial Heaven than they do downwards to this Globe of Earth, and spread themselves round about that vast Circumference, in comparison of which this of our habitation is but an Atome; For, give E∣ternity to Matter, and you give it the Essence of God: make it subsist in A∣tomes, each one distinguish'd from another, and the result will be so many di∣stinct Subsistencies in that one Essence. Give to these Subsistencies a power of moving themselves (which you must grant them, or say they are moved by another, and what can be elder than Eternity, or by Chance, Chance must

be then before them) and it must be the life of Reason: and that will make e∣every Atome an individual Person, a Rational Hypostasis. So that instead of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, subsisting in one undivided eternal Godhead, This new Divinity commends to us more millions of divine Per∣sons than could be reckon'd up in an age (should all the men of that Age betake themselves all their life to their Counters:) That which we inter∣pret, A Troop cometh, in the Story of Gad's Birth (Gen. 30. 11.) some Hebrews expound, Fortune cometh; upon which our learn'd Antiquary expends the first Chapter of his 1 Syntagme, de Dais Syriis, I will not undertake to deter∣mine which is the best Translation; perhaps they may both stand with that Text, though not better than their conjunction would suit the Birth of the Doctrine of Atomes. For since Leah, that blear-eyed, purblind, Epicuraean Philosophy, grown, under the Age of the Gospel, past child-bearing, hath up∣on the knees of her handmaid, Zilpah, Modern Atheism, brought forth into the Christian Air, her Son Gad or Fortune, as that which made the eternal Atomes so happily meet, as to fall into all those comely Forms whereof the World consists; Gad, or a Troop comes, (shall I say) or a Legion or a My∣riad of Troops of Deities: God the crooked, God the hooked, God the ob∣tuse, God the sharp, God the long, God the short Atome; for it would be a taking of that Name in vain to apply it to those infinite Forms into which those mens Fancies cast those eternal Beings, which (notwithstanding) they call Atoms, with a far greater Solecism than he committed with his Finger; who pointed it to the Earth, when he was speaking of the glorious Furniture of Heaven; and shall rather bestow my time in transcribing that Exclamati∣on which our divine Poet snbjoynes to the History of those and such like va∣nities of the Polytheists.

Ah! what a thing is Man devoid of Grace, Adoring Garlick with an humble face. Begging his food of that which he may eat; Starving the while he worshippeth his meat. Who makes a Root his God, how low is he, If God and man be sever'd infinitelie! What wretchedness can give him any room, Whose House is foul, while he adores his Broom:

Let my stammering Muse add,

Nor dares not sweep't; least from his foot arise, So many Motes, so many Deities.

Certainly Epicurus, if he were true to his own Principles, must have been a nasty Sloven, and one whose disciples well deserv'd that compellation which the Satyrist gives them—

—Epicuri de grege porci.

The Hoggs of Epicurus his Stie. For he and his Litter of Followers must lie battening in their own Dung, for fear of disquieting that eternal Matter; a thing which the Deity does most abominate, in their opinion, and therefore does not interest it self in the affairs of the World, but busies it self in dancing and frisking about, and suffers it self to be carried whither Fortune pleaseth, and not the Scavinger's Broom or Dung-rake. I do not call Cartesius an Atheist, though doubtless his Philosophy has made many; but I think I may well enough call his a Feminine Philosophy, in compari∣son of that of Plato or Aristotle, grounded upon Principles received by un∣interrupted Tradition; though they neither could retrieve all Principles of that Nature, nor, through want of the rest, always rightly apply those they had received; And it seems a wonder to me, that so many, who would be

counted men in understanding, should be so affected with his Systems, which he himself (if my memory fail me not) in his Preface to his Natural Philo∣sophy affirmeth, he could make no man understand or relish so well, as one woman, who, though she was a person of honour, and of as great a capa∣city as any, as all of that Sex, yet sure she was not a competent Judge of such Speculations, had they been truly Masculine. She might perhaps have judged of a Poem, upon the presumption of Sapphos Dexterity; of an O∣ration, and have not gone beyond those bounds to which that Sex reached in the persons of Amaesia, Affrania, Hortensia, she might perhaps have found by enquiring of her Cooks or Scullions, that his Kitchin-experiments were true, and by her own Discretion see some of them subvert some of the Conclu∣sions of the old Philosophy; (as one fool may spy more faults than an hun∣dred wise men can mend.) But that they were a Foundation, firm enough for his Conclusions; that she, and only she, should discern, is an affront to our whole Sex; if indeed his Philosophy be calculated to the sublimest Principles of the most Masculine and Strenuous Wits, and not Female and Vulgar Capaci∣ties (who are easily imposed upon by the fallacy of non causa pro causa, Though It must be acknowledged to the praise of that excellent Lady, that her Phi∣losophical Genius so far transcended the common standard of her Sex, as to make credible that Story which Socrates relates of the Alexandrian Hypatia the Daughter of Theon the Philosopher, who excell'd all the Sophisters of her time, and either preceded or succeeded Platinus in Plato's School, (Lib. 7. 15. Socrat. Scholast. hist.) But I have dwelt too long upon these Minim Deities, were it not that from their introduction we may learn, to what Va∣nity of mind divine Justice gives those men up, that desire not the know∣ledge of the Almighty: and how aptly the Prophet speaks, when he saith, they should creep into the holes of the earth: For at the appearance of the Sun of Righteousness, this whole brood of Vermine disappear'd, these Hod∣madods crept into their shells; these Worms into their holes; these never stood one fight with our. Lord of Hosts; their Adorers never struck one stroke in their defence, as they did for their celestial Gods, the Host of Hea∣ven which they worship'd, the Gods of the greater and lesser Nations: But all in vain: For those strong men that kept the house are all turn'd out of pos∣session by the blessed Jesus, and spoil'd of all their Ensigns of divine honour: Jove of his Thunder-bolt, Christs still voyce drowning the noise of his Thunder: Apollo of his Bow and Arrows, Christ's Arrows proving more sharp in the sides of Python the Serpent, than his: Mars of his Faulchion, Christ's two-edged Sword proving the better mettled Blade: Minerva of her Spear, being not able, with her Target, to defend her self against the Artil∣lery of the Cross: Mercury of his Caduceus, by the more sweet Charms of the Apostles. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah uncas'd Hercules, and pull'd off his Lions Skin over his ears. As that Light of Light appeared in the East, and gradually shone to the West; the World ceas'd to fear those Hobgob∣lins, that had affrighted her in the dark: men learn'd to look upon the Sun without the Ceremonies of Adoration, without kissing the hand or bending the knee. As the Bread that came down from Heaven, hath been broken, to the several Nations of the Earth; they gave over baking Cakes to the Queen of Heaven: As the Gospel introduc'd the fear of the One blessed God, she shak'd off the fear of false Gods, broke down their Altars, demolish'd their Temples, contemn'd their Oracles, and stampt their Images to pow∣der.

As the God that made Heaven reveil'd himself by the Preaching of the Gospel; the Gods that did not make Heaven and Earth have been abolish't from off the Earth, from under Heaven. The Romans Celebration of the Fu∣neral of that Coblers Crow two years after our Saviours Passion, Gilbert Ge∣nebrand. (in his Chronic.) conceives to have been a presage, that now the Gospel was begun to be publish'd, the black Crow, that is, Satan, was short∣ly to expire at Rome, where had been his chief seat and babling, (as he is

quoted by Vossius, [Atrium mali spiritûs infractum, imperium obrutum, & qua∣si sepultum iri.] (Vos. de Idol. 3. 89.) This was but short warning, however, all on a suddain as in a Pannick Fear the whole Army of Celestial, Terrestri∣al and Infernal, black and white Daemons, take themselves to their heels, and quit their ancient seats, as soon as the Lord of Hosts appears pitching his Tent amongst men, and Tabernacling in Humane Flesh. So that now a Child may lead those Lions, at whose voice the World trembled, before God utter'd his voyce; none frequent those Fountains, Caves, Groves, Oaks for Counsel; at the lips of whose Oracles, formerly the whole World hung for advice, in all Matters of weight, thither men repaired, there they en∣quired about planting of Colonies, building of Cities, about Peace and War, &c. (Plutarch. conviv. mor. tom. 1. p. 377.) But they have all lost their Tongues since God spake to us by his Son. Jove's Fountain of Castalion, and that o∣therof Colophon, (saith Clem. Alexand. adhaetat.) are commanded silence; and all other Prophetick Springs have lost their divining tast, whose proud streams swell'd (of old) with the honour of being reputed the seats of Sacred Ora∣cles. One of those silenc'd Oracles, (that of the Daphnean Apollo, in the Suburbs of Antioch) Julian would have cured of his dumbness, and he at∣tempted the like elsewhere, (Am. Marcol. Julianus 22. 12.) [Multorum cu∣riosior Julianus novam consilii viam aggressus est, venas fatidicas Castalionis reclude∣re cogitans fontis: quem obstruxisse Caesar dicitur Hadrianus mole saxorum in∣genti, veritus rè, ut ipse praecipientibus aquis capessendam Rempublicam comperit; etiam alii similia docerentur: ac statim circum humata corpora statuit exindè transferri eo, ritu quo Athenienses insulam purgaverant Delon] Julian his curio∣sity (in the matter of Religion, in order to the Defence of Paganisme against the Christian Faith, which he had renounc'd) put him upon this new Project; think∣ing to open the Veines of the Castalion Fountain, which the Emperour Hadrian is reported to have obstructed with a huge heap of stones, fearing least as he was in∣vited to undertake the Empire by the Oracle of that Spring. others also might be taught the like; he forthwith commands the Corps that were there inter'd, should be removed thence, after the same rite as the Athenians purged the Island of De∣los. What success he had here or in other places that Historian doth not relate, which doubtless so great an admirer of Gentilisme as he was would have done, if it had answer'd Julian's expectation. And therefore I conceive he sped no better elsewhere than he did at that Oracle near Antioch, where all the Respond he could get from Apollo was, that the body of the Martyr Babilas (there interr'd) would not permit him to give Oracles, or to do those other freaks wherewith he had formerly deluded the World: whereupon the Emperour commanded the Christians to remove the Sacred Relicks thence, which they did in triumph, singing (saith Ruffinus) those words of the Psalmist, Cursed be all they that Worship Carved images, and put their trust in Idols (Socrat. Ec. hist. 3. 16.) The Skeliton of one Champion of Jesus, ma∣sters their armed Apollo. But when should I have done, should I reckon up all the Trophies of Christs Victories over Idols erected in the Evangelical Histories? or to what purpose would it be to bring in Witnesses thence, when I am pleading with the Atheist? I will therefore content my self with the Testimony of Heathen Writers for the probat of this point.

§ 5. 1. That Pagan Oracles lost their Speech and Credit in the World, when the Gospel was Preach'd. I have quoted before the Respond which the Oracle of Apollo gave Augustus—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Hebrew Boy bids me leave this house. And those which Porphyrie relates, in his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, may be seen in Eusebius (praepar. Evang. lib. 5. 16.) In one whereof he cries out, oh, woe is me! lament ye Tripodes for Apollo is gone, he is gone: for the bright Light of Heaven, that Jupiter who was, and is, and shall be, Oh! mighty Jupiter, he compells me. Ah woe is me! the bright glory of my Oracles is gone from me.

In another to a Priest that asked him which was the true Religion? he

gave this Answer: Thou unhappiest of all Priests! oh that thou hadst not asked me, being now at my last, of the Divine Father, and of the dear be∣gotten of that famous King, nor of the Spirit which comprehendeth and surroundeth all things: for woe is me! he it is that, will I, nill I, will ex∣pel me from these Temples; and full soon will this Divining-seat become a place of desolation.

And in another, being extreamly urged by Exorcismes to break off his uncouth silence, he thus laments—Apollo's voice is not to be recovered, it is decayed through length of time, and locked up with the Keyes of never∣divining silence. Zosimus Comes (lib. 1.) hath this Story; at Selucia a Town of Cilicia there was a Temple of Apollo Sarpedonius, about which were great flocks of those Birds they call Seleucides, which Apollo used to send to devour the Locusts that infested those mens grounds which applied themselves to him for help. But, saith he, the men of this age have rejected so great a bounty of that God. [It à loquitur homo paganus, quia inductâ Christianâ Religione, passim ludibrio erat gentilis superstitio.] Vossii de Idololat. l. 3. cap. 97.) This speaks that Pagan Writer; because at the Introduction of Christian Religion, Gentile su∣perstition became every where a laughing-stock; (as the excellent Vossius well interprets that place of Zosimus.)

It was in the Reign of Aurelian, that Porphyrie lived, and he reports these abovesaid Responds to have been extorted from Apollo before his Age. And Plutarch who flourish'd under Adrian long before Porphyrie (though a de∣vout Heathen) yet confesseth, that in his days the Oracle of Jupiter Hammon (that had been formerly renown'd) was faln to decay, that all the Oracles in Asia, save two or three, were then grown out of date: and in particular, that Baeotia (which formerly seem'd to be all Tongue, by reason of the mul∣titude of Oracles there resounding) had lost her speech; her Oracles (like Rivers in an extream drought) were dried up, and wholly sunk into the Earth: so that they who came to draw water there could find none but on∣ly at Lebadia. That of Amphiarius, at which Mardonius enquir'd in the Me∣dian War: that at Tegirae, where Apollo was thought to have been born, whence the Grecians (in the Medic War) receiv'd a promise of Victory; were become speechless, and that of late; for I could give (saith Demetrius) one of the speakers in Plutarchs Treatise of the Decay of Oracles, instances of more recent Responses received thence, which Oracles being now altogether struck dumb; it were worth the while to enquire, what the Reason thereof may be. Didimus the Cynick urgeth as the reason hereof, the Impiety the World was then grown to, which had provoked God to withdraw this fa∣vour from it. Plutarch rejects this, upon these grounds, for that God did still continue his favourable Providence to the men of that Age: and that if he had so pleased, he might have taken occasion of as great displeasure a∣gainst those Ages to which he afforded Oracles: for there were then good and bad, and the good as far out-numbred by the bad, as now. Ammonius (by way of Preface to this enquiry) layes down this ground. We must ascribe this Cessation of Oracles unto Divine Providence; (for if we deny that he hath silenc'd them, we lay a ground for suspition, that he did not erect them: and indeed who can Tongue-tie them, but he that gave them a Tongue; and assigns this as the reason, why so many of them were then ceast; because Greece was so depopulated with continual Wars, as that wa∣ter, for the greatest part of it, would have run waste, if Apollo had not dri∣ed up the Springs; what should he do with his hundred mouths, at which he formerly spake, now when he hath no greater an audience, than may all hear from one mouth?

Cleombrotus, will not allow, either that God spake in those Oracles, or did by special dispensation silence them: but ascribes this to the Mortality of those Middle Essences, those amphibious Spirits, the mean betwixt God and Man which inhabited those prophetical Seats: of whose Mortality Philippus, (another speaker in that Colloquie) gives an example in that story I have for∣merly

related, of the death of the great Pan. And Demetrius another; in the following story. When the Emperour (saith he) sent me into Britain, I, out of curiosity sail'd to the Isles called Sporades: in a neighbour Isle to which, I found some few Inhabitants, of whom I learn'd that those Isles were ac∣counted sacred, as being the habitations of the Genii, who when they died caused perturbations in the Air, tempests on the Sea, and many portentous sights; such as hapned while I was there, an argument that at that time a Spirit was deceased.

Briefly, (for why should I follow him step by step while he is hunting which way Oracles went) after he hath thrown on the whole pack of Phi∣losophers, and in vain smelt for a reason of their then Cessation in Plato's 5. in the Hermits 283. and in Epicurus his infinite Worlds, the best he can find in this, That there was in those places certain breathings of subterraneal spi∣rits which actuated the Divining Faculty of the Mind (as the Light doth the Eye) and made it exert it self in prophesying, which in time were either wasted or diverted to some other place; as it happens to Fountains, which in length of time either dry up or flit, by reason that the subterranean Fire, which distills them, either goes quite out for want of fuel or Creep after its fomes, till it meet with matter enough to feed it, and caverns long enough to be Limbecks for such distillations. A Salvo which is neither broad e∣nough for the sore, for it cannot be a sufficient reason why all the Oracles should at once be silenc'd, nor consist with common Principles touching those delusive Responds; and exploded by Cicero (de divinat.) nor comparable to that which the Christian brings and the Oracle of Apollo himself was forc'd to acknowledge, though so much against his will; As when the obstinate Pagans would not rest satisfied with that answer, but labour'd to overcome his obstinate silence, and by Charms extort a better Respond from his Tri∣pos; that he might be no longer forc'd to speak so much to his own dis∣grace; he stifled his Prophetess, whom against her will they thrust into the Cave; when by all ordinary dumb shows he had first exprest his dislike of their making enquiry at his Oracle, the Victim standing still as without sense at the first libations, and scarce shrugging when they rain'd, powr'd whole showers of water upon him. What could the poor dumb Idol do more to∣wards the rebuking the madness of the enquirers that would still be asking questions of him, after he had so often and with so much passionate grief told the world he was tongue-tied from giving any other answer then this, That he was forbid by an higher power (the Hebrew Child, whom all Gods are commanded to obey and worship) to give answers? What could the poor dumb Beast do more towards the stopping them in that prohibited way, than to stand stone still, neither winnying, as we say in the North, nor wagging the Taile; neither tossing her horns nor shaking her ears, when water was poured on her head: it being a received Maxim in the Pontifical Schools, That when the Libations proceeded not Canonically, it was an infallible sign of the aversion of the Daemon, of his dislike of what they were about, [Ca∣pram argui frigida affusa, si non moveatur. Non enim esse animae secundùm na∣turam affectae, non moveri at{que} affici cum libamenta inverguntur. Constanter ve∣rum est, litare signum esse exiturae sortis; non litando demonstrari responsum nul∣lum exiturum iri.] (Plut. ibid. 677.) And a Principle with the Delphick Priests, that if the Sacrifice during the libation, did not furiously rage and fling about, not her head only, but her whole body, it was a demonstration that Apollo would give no answer, had no mind to speak at that time: Quos perdere vult Jupiter dementat, whom God intends mischief to, he takes sense from; and therefore though the G〈…〉〈…〉 sullen stupidity spake Apollo's sullen silence, yet Pythia must down into the Cell, she must take the question, and fit brooding upon the Tripos to hatch an Answer: but no Answer she re∣ceives from the Daemon, saving that which stopt her own breath, and all fu∣ture access to Delphos. For at her first entrance into the prophetick Cave she was replete with a malignant and dumb Spirit, and by hideous shrieks

exprest she was not able to bear the burthen of the enraged Daemon by whom after she had been every way tost, she was at last hurl'd up to the mouth of the Den, in so ghastly a posture, and with so terrible a clamour, as frighted a∣way not only the inquirers, but the whole College of the Priests, and Nican∣der the Wizzard. This is the last news we hear in Pagan Authors of the Delphick Oracle.

§ 6, Of the hitherto-accomplishment of the last Branch of those kind of prophetick Texts, viz. That where the Gospel comes, it utterly abolisheth all Pagan Idols, so as they shall never get footing there again, our eyes may in∣form us: if we carry them through those Countries where Christian Religion hath once been establish'd, though many of them have, by publick Sanction, since exploded it; yet we shall find Christ still keeping possession of those Countries, by parties professing the Gospel there; in all Mahometan Nations there is a remnant of Christians. And though Christian Religion be dis∣countenanced by the Secular Power, yet hath there not been any where a restauration of any of the Pagan Gods, or any God allowed to be worship'd, but the God of Israel, the God that made Heaven and Earth.

Though the Christian World be deplorably immers'd in Metophorical I∣dolatry of Pride and Self-adoration, of Avarice and making Gold its hope and delight, of sensuality and making a God of the Belly (which is in us the same translated foolery, that the worshipping of Garlick was in the old Aegyptians.) Though the School-doctrine, touching the worshiping of Angels; Images and Saints departed, bids fair for the restauration of the Pagan Do∣ctrine of Daemons, and would bring the vulgar into extream peril of as gross, as senseless Idolatry, as any the Heathens committed, if it were practised; (which I add because I think the veriest Ideot a wiser man, than to follow the Dictates of those great Clarks, who always musing in their Cells, bring forth sometimes (through want of concourse with men) as inform Notions, as those lumps of Flesh, or concealed Menstr••a's, which some Virgins are delivered of, without the knowledge of Man, when the Passive Seed of that Sex betaking it self to the Matrix obstructed, and wanting the Plastick male Sperm, to digest it into form; piles it self into a rude heap.)

So monstrous are some of the Issues of these mens brains, brought forth upon this subject, as Cassander, that wise and yet zealous Papist, cannot lick them into any tollerable or practicable Form: and therefore adviseth Charles the Fifth, that Biel's Doctrine, which substitutes the Virgin Mary, or other Saints in the Office of Christs Mediatorship, might be exploded; that those Titles given her, of Queen of Heaven, Queen and Mother of Mercy, our Life, our Hope, Light of the Church, Advocate and Mediatrix, might be laid aside, that those Liturgical forms, wherein a power is ascri∣bed to her to command Christ now Reigning in Heaven, might be expung'd. Such as these, Ora matrem, & jube filio. If you pray to the Mother you com∣mand the Son.

Oh faelix puerpèra, Nostra pians scelera, June matris impera Redemptori—

That he would wholly prohibit all ostentation of Reliques and take care that the people might be taught to reverence the true Reliques of Saints only, to wit, the Examples of their Piety and Vertues.

And as to the Worshipping of Images, he wisheth that the German and Gallican Churches had still persisted in the Opinion of the Ancient Church, and of their Progenitors; for it is, saith he, more manifest than that, I should need many words to express it, that the Worship of Images hath proceeded

too far and the Faction or rather the Superstition of the Vulgar hath been indulged more than enough, insomuch as to that height of Adoration, which even the Pagans gave to their Images, and to the extreamest vanity which the Heathens shewd in fashioning or adorning their Idols, there seems nothing wanting among us; And therefore perswades the Emperour that the ancient Doctrine might be restored and the new restrai∣ned.

Though the like hath befaln the Roman Church which befell the Jewish in the Wilderness. When Moses (as their Legends tell us) to try who was guilty of forcing Aaron to cast the Golden Calf, order'd them to drink of that water into which he had cast the powder of that Idol, which the I∣dolaters greedily gulping, spilt some of it upon their Chins; whence their Beards became of a Golden colour, and betrayed them, to the avenging Sword of their Innocent Brethren. A Romance hansomly exprest by Pe∣ter Rhenensis, as he is quoted by Mr. Selden in his Syntagme de aureo vitulo; whose Poem hath this close—

Hebraei tradunt Mosen fecisse quod audis Vt sciret solos hac ratione reos. Nam rutilans auro monstrabat barba nocentes, Dum patulo latices fluminis ore bibunt, Aurum quod fudit Aaron descendit eorum In barbas tantùm, qui coluere bovem.

Let who please dispute the truth of this Story, I shall only give the English and Moral of it.

To try the guilty, Moses, (as 'tis said) Made Israel drink the powder he had braid The Calf into. Those Reliques of their sin Greedily hausted, drilling on their Chin, Gold-die th' Idolaters beards, and mark them out, For Levie's Sword from 'mongst the guiltless rout.

Thus the Church of Rome hath contracted the colour of the Calf upon the Golden locks of her Shrines and Images, by drinking too deep and too gre∣dily of the Cup of Pagan Abominations, and thereby hath bewrayed herself to have the Calf in her heart, a very strong inclination to the grossest Ido∣latries of Rome Heathen, and to stand in extream need of that Admonition which Cassander gave her, that she would remove the scandall she hath given to the Mahometans, to the Reformed Churches, and the soundest part of her own Communion, by countenancing such Doctrines and Practices, as in the Judgment of her own Doctors, consequentially abett as perfect Paganism as ever reign'd in the Pagan World.

Yet notwithstanding all this, if we lay aside this jangling with words, and take Idolatry in its native proper and old prophetick sence; a sence which any thats come to the stature of a man, may stride over at once: And not suffer ourselves to be abused by those over-acute unhappy Wits, who cut this Term into as many Thongs as will compass the whole body of Romish Superstition, and by sub-dividing those thongs, would bring the innocent and pious Ceremonies of the Church of England within the compass of that word Idolatry: by which art 〈…〉〈…〉thing which we disgust and will not comport with our most carnal humours, may be brought under a suspi∣cion of being Idolatrous: For, Quantitas continua est in infinitum divisibilias; A dexterous hand may cut as many Thongs out of one Thong, with a pair of French Scissers, as a Bungler with a pair of Garden-Shears, can cut Thongs out of one hide. Let us then leave this Logomachie, this contending about shadows, and not presume either to teach the Holy Ghost to speak, or to wrest

his words from their genuine sence to our humours; and nothing will be more apparent to us than that; neither the Church of Rome, nor any other Society of men whatsoever, that once embrac'd Christianity, have Apostati∣zed to the embracing of any of those Pagan Gods whom the Gospel ejected; or to the Worship of any God, but of that only wise and Eternal God that made Heaven and Earth. Him alone the Mahometans, him alone the Papists worship, with that degree of divine honour, which is proper to the Deity. And as to the Church of Rome, she so far abhorrs Idols, in the sence of those Texts which foretell their downfall under the Gospel, as she is famously known to have converted in these last days some Heathen Nations from Idols to the living God. And that not only by force of hand, as the Spani∣ards attempted upon the Americans at their first arrival there; but by force of Argument, and evidence of Miracles; not such feigned and Legerdemain Sleights of hand, as she pretends to do in order to the conviction of those, who have either upon just cause forsaken her Communion (in those things wherein she has forsaken the Communion of the Catholick Church;) or have been shut out of her Communion (though they could have been content for peace sake to have walked with her in point of External practice) meerly because they could not find in their heart professedly to abjure the Communi∣on of the blessed Apostles, the Primitive and Universal Church: Such as cordially believe in Jesus Christ; for whom Miracles were never intended by God, but for them that believe not: And therefore, though her Priests in of∣fering to shew Miracles in Christendom, declare themselves so far to be Mi∣nisters of Satan, or of him whose coming is after the power of Satan, with lying wonders: yet among the Infidel Americans they may, and certainly do work Miracles; not as Papists, but as Christians; not in the virtue of Papal Innovations and singularities, but of the remains of the old and Ca∣tholick Christian Religion mixt therewith: As I believe any of our Ministers might do, did their zeal to propagate Christs Kingdom carry them out, to Preach the Gospel, where it only can be preach't in propriety of speech, to that yet Heathenish part of the World. This Point our Hot-spurrs might do well to consider, who stretch their Stentorian throats with outcries against the Churches Apostracy to Pagan Idolatry: whereby in effect they decry the blessed Jesus, and pronounce him an Impostor, and not the very Christ. For the Prophet Christ is by the power of his Law and Spirit, utterly to abolish Heathen Idols, out of the several Nations of the World, upon their submit∣ting to his Sceptre. So as they should never regain their old Territories, but be and remain totally and finally exterminated from off the face of the whole Earth, and from under the whole Heaven.

CHAP. VI.

Touching the Millenium, Revel. 20.

§ 1. Pagan Idols Fall, and Satans binding Synchronize. Christianity grew up∣on the Empire by degrees. § 2. Charity's Cloak cast over the first Christian Emperours. §. 3. Theodosius made the first Penal Laws against Paga∣nisme: §. 4. Honorius made Paganism Capitall; then was Satan bound.

§ 1. IN complyance with which Old Testament Prophecies the Spirit of Jesus reveils (Rev. 20. 1. &c.) to St. John, That upon the Roman Empire's embracing of Christianity, Satan should be cast into the bottomless Pit; and there chain'd and sealed up untill the expiration of the thousand years, in which Christ should Reign, as sole Lord upon the Earth; so as he should not deceive the Nations any more (that is, as he had done) till the end of those years, and then he should be loosed for a little space, and go out and deceive the Nations, and draw them into a desperate engagement against the holy City, and the Camp of the Saints.

Expositors do macerate themselves and perplex the Church with disputes about the sence of this Text. But they are most at a loss in placing the Aera of the commencement of these 1000 years: and that rightly stated will give light to all the rest. I therefore begin there, and date it at the Em∣pires submitting it self to the Sceptre of Christ, when he gave the World, (as the Empire was then reputed to be) that terrible shake, as made it cast its old Gods. When, at the rising of his Majesty so gloriously, as the Em∣perour acknowledged it; the Imperial Laws were made to serve Christ, which till then had been against him; for awe of which the Idols were hid in the holes of the Rocks, even by such as did not believe, as they had been bro∣ken before by them that were believers, as St. Austin well applies that distin∣ction (Isa. 2.) [Donec projicerentur à credentibus Idola, & à non credentibus ab∣sconderentur] (August. de consensu Evang. 1. 28.) And since which time Sa∣tan hath been wholly restrained from prevailing with the Nations either to erect new Gods or to restore the old. Though I am not very solicitous to assign the precise point of time, when the Kingdoms of this World so be∣came the Kingdom of God and of his Christ, as Satan was ejected out of his; as he and his Angels, the Daemon-Gods, and the Creatures, whom he had perswaded the World to worship before the Creator, were cast out: both these growing up by such degrees, both as to place and thing, as 'tis far easier to see the effects, than observe the steps they made while they were in motion toward that existence: Herbam crevisse apparet, crescentem non cerni∣mus: We must not deny the Grass to be grown at Midsummer, because we can∣not tell in what minute of the Spring it began to put forth, or saw it not growing; yet these Particulars are beyond dispute.

1. That Pagan Idolatry kept possession even of those Provinces of the Em∣pire, whose Local Governours were Christians before the Conversion of the Emperour; of which we have a clear Instance in Paphos; where, though the Governour thereof, Sergius Paulus, was converted to the Faith, early in the days of the Gospel, yet we find the Temple of Venus there long after that: for Titus Vespasian visited it, and had fortunate Responds thence touching the Jewish Wars, and his own Affairs. (Tacit. Hist. 2.) Sergius might, as the Jaylor, as the Centurion, purge his own Family; but the reforming of his Province was no more in his power (saving what his Example

and the exemplariness of his Family contributed thereto) than the Jay∣lor had to reform his Prisoners, or the Centurion had to reform his Band.

2. That after the Conversion of the Empire, every particular Province thereof was not actually brought under the obedience of Christ, but those earliest which were nearest the Imperial Seat, and most under their observa∣tion, and obnoxious to the due execution of its Laws for Christ. Thence we find the Gandavi not converted, nor their Altars of Mercury demolished, until the Reign of Heraclius, (anno 612.) Nor Flanders submitting to Christs Sceptre, till anno 648. Nor Germany scarce attempted by the Preaching of the Gospel, till Gallus and Columbinus communicated it (anno 688.) Nor Westphalia, till that (anno 690.) Abbus and Niger converted it to the Faith. Nor Frisia, till Pippin having subdued their Pagan Duke, (anno 696.) Wilibrod, Bishop of York, planted the Gospel there. Nor Holland or Saxony, till about the year 670. they were brought under Christs Yoak, by the Preaching of Swibert, Winefred, and Aderbert, English Bishops, Nor Denmark, till King Herald their first Christian King, (anno 826.) Nor Hungary, till Geiffa (anno 1010.) received it from Henry the 2d. as the con∣dition of his marrying the Emperours Sister Gisela, that himself and his sub∣jects should be baptized. Nor Pomerania, till anno 1106. Nor the Vandals, till anno 1125. Nor the Prusians, till anno 1164. nor the Rugians till Je∣remare (anno 1168.) became both their Prince and Priest. Nor Livonia, till (anno 1186.) nor Tartary, till 1249. nor Lithuania, till 1387. (Asted chron. Convers.)

3. The Incroachments which Christianity it self made upon the Emperors was by degrees. It prevail'd upon Tiberius his conscience so far, as he for∣bad the prohibition of it, but not as to put him upon the practice of it. It obtain'd of Philip Arabs (who began his Empire, anno 244) so far, as he made Profession of it, but did not enjoyne it to his Subjects. It obtain'd of Severus, to permit his Mother Mammea to profess it, even in the Impe∣rial Court, and Origen to Preach it, in the Royal Family; but himself did not embrace it.

Constantius, the Father of Great Constantine, though the Gospel prevail'd not with him, so far, as to make him a Christian; yet he was so much a fa∣vourer of Christians, as to give them a Toleration in his Dition, who fled from the rage of his three bloody persecuting Colleagues, and to retain those as his Domestick Servants in the Palace who stood firmest to the Profession of the Christian Faith, rejecting such as he found (contrary to their better perswasion) conforming to the Pagan Worship, to please him, saying, they that would not be true to their God, would dissemble with their emperour. (Euseb. de vita Constantini, lib. 1. cap. 9, 10.) And toward the close of his Life renounc'd the Politheism of the Gentiles, and betook himself to the service of the one only God; so as his Court bare some resemblance of a Church, there being in it, the Ministers of the Lord dayly officiating for him, and praying with him. (Id. Ib. cap. 11.) It gain'd so much Authori∣ty over Constantine the Great; as he not only profest it, but commanded his Subjects to practise it: but yet the Ethnick Worship was still publickly al∣lowed. [Christianos optavit esse omnes, coegit neminem.] (titulus decret. Eus. de vita Con. lib. 2. cap. 55.) Constantine order'd (as that which was manifestly behooveful for the Tranquillity of the Empire in that time) that every one should have liberty to chuse and worship what God pleased him best. (Eus. Ec. Hist. 10. 5.) And not only in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, but his Successors Reign to Gratian, Paganism was allowed in the Senate-house; where the Pagan Senators (the Christians looking on, the Ashes from the Altar, the Smoak from the Sacri∣fice, choaking them) took their Oath at the Altar, before their giving their Vote. To which purpose, after Gratian had demolisht it, the Pagans moved Valentinian to restore it, at the publick charge, as being of publick use: and that this had been their custome, under Valentinian the Elder, appears from

that excuse St. Ambrose makes in his behalf, viz. he knew it not, no person informed him of it. (lib. 5. epist. 30.) Yea, Constantine himself, and his Successors, Christian Emperours (down as low as Gratian) retain'd still the Title and Office of Great Pontiffs, and accordingly order'd all businesses, con∣cerning the Ethnick Ceremonies, by their Deputies. Mirabile dictu! saith the Learned Meed, (2 vol. book. 3. chap. 10. 746.) and because it seems so to him, it seems to me worth a more serious ponderation. That the Christian Em∣perours, unto Gratian, were a kind of Samaritane Christians, serving the God of Israel, with their own Country-Gods (though with a vast disparity of respect: and the later, perhaps, but in complement and policy: as Naa∣man bowed in the house of Rimmon; or Jehu proclaim'd a Feast of Baal, that I may not lay an ignominious blot upon the Memories of those pious Prin∣ces) is more manifest than that it needs more proof than what Pagan Histo∣ry gives. Constantine could hear the Orator of the Hedai; stile his Grand∣father, Claudius, Numen: and his own favours to the Hedai, remedia numi∣nis tui: could indure, to see the Images of all the Gods of that City carried in Procession to meet him, [omnium deorum nostrorum simulachra protulimus ti∣bi occursura:] and to hear, that in thankfulness for the benefits receiv'd at the hands of Constantine, they offer'd gifts in their Temples; (in that Pane∣gyrick was made in their name, Printed at the end of Pliny's Panegyrick for Trajan.) He could with Patience permit the Orator of Triers, to call Claudius, a Companion of the Gods, nay a God in Heaven: (Imperator in terris, & in caelo Deus:) whom the Temples of the Gods waited for; who was now receiv'd into the Council of the Gods; Jupiter himself giving him his right hand: and to commend Constantine himself, for visiting Apollo's Tem∣ple (vidisti Apollinem tuum) (in his Panegyrick, Ibid.) All this to me seems not so strange, as that those Kings of Judah, who were educated in the Law of God, should have God's approbation as men fearing him in the main, though they (contrary to as express a Precept as any is in the whole Law) took not away, but suffer'd their People, and sometimes used themselves to Sacrifice in high places, as Jehosophat and Asa. (1 Reg. 22. 44. 1 Reg. 15. 14.)

§ 2. How much more might this connivance of the Emperours stand with true Piety, who being some of them nurst up in Gentilism, had not the means of knowing the will of God, which those Kings of Judah had, which was St. Ambrose his excuse for Valentinian the elder, his coming at the Pagan Altar in the Senate house, (in the place forealleged,) and the rest of them, having their Reigns incumbred with Secular, but especially with Ecolesia∣stical Wars, (and those about the main Fundamentals of Christianity) as they had not leisure to inquire into the niceties of practical Points of Christianity. It was much that those of the West imbrac'd Christ as God, and that those of the East prefer'd him before Idols, then when it was disputed among Chri∣stians, whether he were God or no. Or had they had opportunity to study the will of Christ, as to that particular of the Magistrates Duty: yet their temptations against an exact conformity to it, in that case, (wherein their Political Interests were so much concern'd,) were so great and almost invin∣cible, as that may plead for our charitable Censure, except we our selves had never been drawn, by the Loadstone of our Temporal concerns, to strain cour∣tesie with conscience. Or had they been never so willing, at any charge or hazzard, to conform to God's Law once manifested to them; Yet it might have born a dispute, whether, in that Juncture, it were their Duty, to shew any greater discountenance, than they did, to the old, and so much doted on, Religion of the Gentiles? Especially having those great Examples of Jacob's connivance at Laban's Idols, in his own Family, and among his Wives; till he had an opportunity (after the settlement of his affairs) to purge his house of those Idols: and of David's permitting his Wife Michal, to have an Image of the same kind with those of Laban's, as the Jewish Doctors say,

quoted by Mr. Selden (in his Syntag. de Teraph.) and described by them, to have been the head of the first born of their Clan, the Founder of their Fa∣mily, wrung (as the Priests did the heads of Fowls to be sacrificed, Lev. 1. 15. and 5. 8, Texts which they alledge, for the illustration of this Rite,) off, and season'd with Salt and Aromaticks. To which (having placed it upon a Golden Plate, whereon was writ the Name of that unclean Spirit, which they believed they had called into it, by their barbarous Rites, and lighting Candle before it;) they gave divine honour, and applied themselves, for re∣solution of all difficulties as unto an Oracle. Such were the Gods which both David and Jacob tolerated in their own Families, while they had not power to cast them out. Upon the account of the same Law (that of necessity, that has no Law) the first Christian Emperours were forc'd to tolerate Gentilism. Constantine prefaceth his decree of Immunity, with this excuse. It is necessary for the preserving of publick Tranquility, &c. (Euseb. hist. 10. 5.) But where there was no danger of destroying the common peace (by provoking a major part, as in the Case of the Arrians; he orders, that all the Churches of those Hereticks be forth with overthrown, and their Assem∣blies be no where suffer'd, either in publick or private. (Euseb. de vita const. 3, 63.) Whereas Gratian, on the contrary, finding the party of Arrians for∣midable, and swarming in all places (by reason of that indulgence his Predi∣cessor Valens had used towards them) fearing some general tumult, if he should hastily distress so numerous a multitude as they were: gave order that they and all others might have Churches and Oratories with freedom and immunity: But he being once settled, and joyn'd with Theodosius, (and there∣by made strong enough to quell them) commanded that all Heresies should be silenc'd for ever, as interdicted by the Laws of God and Man, that none should any longer presume to teach or learn prophane Doctrines; (Codicis lib. 1. tit. 5.) From which consideration of the difference of Times, St. Ambrose told Valentinian the younger (advising with him whether he should gratifie those of the Senate, who requested that the Altar, at which the Senators, that still adhered to Gentilisme, had used to be sworn: (Note, it was the fashion of the Romans to stand before the Altar, when they took an Oath,

—Jures licèt & Samothracum, Et nostrorum aras—(Juvenal. Sat. 3.)

As it was also of the Jews, (1 Reg. 8. 31.) and the Oath come before thine Altar.) Before they gave their Vote in the Reigns of his Predecessors Christi∣an Emperours, might be rebuilt, having been demolish'd by his Brother Gratian;) That if Gratian had not had the heart to throw down that Al∣tar, but had left it standing, yet he would advise Valentinian to overthrow it, seeing the Pagan party, both in the Senate and among the Vulgar, was less formidable then, than it was at that time when his Brother had the cou∣rage to demolish it: for they that prefer that request (saith he) do abuse the name of the Senate, while they present that Petition to you in its name, who are only a few Pagan Senators [Pauci Gentiles communi utantur nomine.] As I remember, when about two years ago, the like Petition was preferred, with the like subscription; Damasus, Bishop of Rome, sent me a Libel, which the Christian Senators (far more numerous than the Pagan) gave out, wherein they declared their disowning of that Petition. (Ambros. lib. 5. Epist. 30.)

A manifest Argument that those first Christian Emperours could not be more rigorous against Paganism, than they were, without hazarding the publick Peace, and danger of turning all into confusion, by a precocious Zeal, by reason of the numerousness of those that then profest it, which as it decreas'd the severity of their Decrees against it increased. Princes must do as they can, when they cannot do as they should: in which case they do

what they should, when they do what they can. God accepting the Will for the Deed.

It will be an harder task to free them from guilt, in their retaining the of∣fice of Great Pontiffs, and being present at the Pagan Altar, &c. but for the last it may be pleaded, (for the extenuation at least of their Crime) That they had the Example of Jacob's taking an Oath of Laban, in this form [The God of Nahor judge betwixt us] (meaning that God of the Caldees which Nahor and Abraham and their Forefathers worship'd before Abraham's Call;) and eating with him upon the same heap whereon he had Sacrificed to that God, (Calvin in locum:) [nec dubium est quin jurandi formae responde∣rit sacrificium.] Jacob himself sacrificing to the true God, and swearing by him, whom (to distinguish him from that God which Laban sacrificed to and sware by) he calls the Fear of his Father Isaac, not Abraham; because Abra∣hams Fear (for some time) had been the God of the Caldees, but Isaac (be∣ing born after his Father had left his Country and Country Gods, and entred into Covenant with the only true God) never had any other God, for his Fear, but the eternal God. (Gen, 31.) That Isaac was in presence, while A∣bimelech sacrificed to a false God; and heard him swear by the name of that God, at such time as he made a Covenant with him: (Gen. 26. 28.) Percu∣tiamus faedus tecum, Let us make a Covenant with thee by Sacrifice, and rati∣fie it by Oath; the antient Use being to slay Victims, at their making of Co∣venants (whence the Phrase of Icere, percutere, ferire faedus) (Vossius Etym.) be∣twixt the parts whereof he that swore passed, as he pronounc'd his assent to the Covenant, ratifying that assent with such like execrations, [ità me Dii mactent—si sciens fallo] Let God mangle me as I have mangled this Victim if I wilfully break this Covenant: (Livii. lib. 1. lib. 21.) This ceremony God observed in his entring into Covenant with Abraham. (Gen. 15. 9. 17.) by the deputation of that smoaking Furnace and burning Lamp that passed be∣tween the pieces on that same day wherein the Lord made a Covenant with Abraham. Excellently has the imcomparable Grotius determined this case of Conscience: [Se tamen, si quibuscum negotium erat, adduci non possent ut aliter jurarent, contraxisse cum eis (Idololatris,) ipsos quidem ut opportebat jurantes, ab illis autem juramentum accipientes quale haberi poterat. (Grotii de Jure Bel. lib. 2. cap. 13. 12.) If those with whom the Patriarchs had to do in the point of mutual swearing could not be induc'd to use another Form, than in the names of their Country Gods, they used to contract with them, though they were Idolaters, they swearing as they should, and taking such an Oath from those as they could possibly obtain.

I might also alledge the example of Naaman who, (according to the best Expositors) putting this Case to the Prophet: whether he declaring o∣penly, that he believed there was no God, but the God of Israel: and yet bearing that Office under the King, as the King at times, leaned upon his shoulder, when he went abroad (for greater State:) if the King should go unto the house of Rimmon, while it was Naaman's Office to wait upon him; and Naaman should there bow, not in reverence to the Idol, but in a civill respect to his Master, who could not bow, if Naaman, upon whose shoulder he lean'd did not bow; whether, I say, in this Case he should sin against God in committing Idolatry was the Question he put to Elisha. And the Prophet in his answer to it assures him he may go in peace, that is, his do∣ing thus in such circumstances would be no occasion of breach of peace be∣twixt the God of Israel and him. Upon this example the Protestant Di∣vines assured the Elector of Saxony whose Office it was to bear the Sword be∣fore the Emperour, and to whom the Emperor had sent a Command to at∣tend upon him in the performance of that Office, while he went to Mass; that he might lawfully observe that Imperial Injunction; because, [ad suum officium esset evocatus] he was called to the performance of his duty; whereup∣on, the Elector accompanied Caesar to the Mass, [non vel ut ad cultum divi∣num ad Missam accedens,] not addressing himself to the Mass as a Religious duty,

but to the performance of the Civil Duties of his Calling, (Sleidan Comment. lib. 7.)

And Lastly, I might urge, that the Pagans themselves (forc'd by the Ar∣guments of our men and their own Mythologists) were at that time brought to an open and avowed confession, that the Gods of the Gentiles were not Gods, properly called, but either Created Spirits, in the invisible; or infused Properties, into the several Species of things in the visible World. So as Jupiter signified no more then (even in the Gentile Dialect) than the Heat; and Juno no more, than the Moisture of the Air, And that their erecting Al∣tars to them, was no more but an acknowlegement, in particular, of the Fa∣vours bestowed upon Mankind by the one Eternall God, by their hands, as his Instruments. The change of the propriety of those Heathenish names must needs mitigate the harshness of their sound, even in Christian ears, if not make them as little offensive then, as the names of Saturn, Sol, Luna, Jupiter. Mercury, Mars and Venus, are at this day: when, for distinction sake, we apply them to the Days of the Week, and as that Verse of St. Austin (contrà Academicos tom. 1. p. 197.) Sic pater ille Deùm faciat, sic magnus Apollo; with that Comment which himself makes of it: or that of the Flocena Oratour, utter'd to Constantine in his Panegyrick, [Quod Ceres mater frugum quod Ju∣piter moderator aurarum, quicquid illi parciùs dederunt nobis, amen ex benefici∣o tuo natum est:] whose contexture speaks no more but this, that Constantine's remitting to the Flavians the Customes due to the Imperial Crown, had made them amends for what they suffer'd, either through unseasonableness of the weather, or barrenness of the ground. But to enlarge here, would carry me too far from my intended Scope, which was to shew how by inches the Gospel gain'd upon the Roman Emperours. To proceed therefore in that discourse—

§3. Christianity so far gain'd upon Valens, though an Arrian, as he would not aid the Gothes, but upon condition of their embracing the Christian Faith: which they did so cordially, as when by the Treason of Stillico they were set upon in their march toward Gallia, where the Emperour had allotted them quarters, by some Companies of Jews on the Lord's day, they scrupled to make resistance, though in their own defence, because they would not shed blood on that day which was dedicated to the honour of our Lord; till the Jews, abusing this their over-religious Opinion, in observing no mean in slaughtering them, taught them man by man to betake themselves to those arms which altogether they had resolv'd rather to die than use upon that day. (Vives de Getis. praef. ad August. de civitate dei.) Yet Valens neither received Christ for God, nor restrain'd his own Subjects by any penal Law from the publick Worshipping of Idols; any more than Valentinian the Elder, of whom Marcellinus (lib. 30. cap. 12. [Hoc moderamine principatus inclaruit, quòd in∣ter religionum diversitates medius stetit, nec quenquam inquietavit, ne{que} ut hoc coleretur imperavit, ne{que} illud: nec interdictis minacibus, subjectorum cervicem ad id quod ipse coluit inclinabat, sed intemeratas has partes reliquit ut reperit.] He was famous for this moderation of Government, that he standing Neuter, among the diversities of Religions; neither disquieted any man, nor commanded that any one Religion should be observ'd rather than another: nor did he by threatning interdicts, bend the necks of his subjects to that Religion which he himself profest, but left as he found all those parties inviolated.

It prevail'd so far upon Gratian, as he refused the Pontifical Stole, when it was tender'd him by the College of Pagan Priests; saying it was unlawful for a Christian to be installed in, or to manage the Office of Great Pontiffs. But I do not read that he prohibited the College to officiate, or the inferior Priests to sacrifice; for I find Heliadius, the sometimes Master of Socrates Scolasticus, to have officiated as a Priest of Jupiter, and Ammonius, as a Priest of Apis, at Alexandria in the Reign of Theodosius the Elder, and the Temples of Idols

every where standing and frequented, if I may call that frequenting, when, (notwithstanding that there had not yet been made any penal Laws against Gentilisme) the assemblies there were so thin'd and the number of Pagans faln to that ebb, as Julian the Apostate to gain the Empire and the good will of the Provinces was fain to counterfeit himself a Christian: Ammian. Mar. Julianus.)

And Jovinian, obtaining the better of him, threatned his Army when they elected him Emperour, with a refusal to accept of that Office, except they would renounce Julian's and accept of the Christian Religion (Socrat. l. 5.) which had been a strange piece of Fool-hardiness, had not the Christian Par∣ty of the Roman Legions been then more numerous, for all that so many Christians had parted with the military Belt, rather than continue in those Commands, which they could not injoy under that Tyrant Julian, except they would forsake the Ensign of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉

Nay, when the Imperial Laws were against the Faith, it so prevail'd, as the Idol-Temples under Trajan, were in a manner dis-frequented, as Pliny informs him (lib. 10. Epist.) This I here insert, that my Reader may know it was not by force nor might of the Secular Arm, that the new Jerusalem was forwarded in its building. Marrie, that the Idol-Temples should go down without hands, that the Earth should open her mouth and swallow them up quick, or that God should beat them down with Thunderbolts, would have been a most groundless and presumptuous expectation. And therefore this Emperour Gratian, served Christ in putting his hand to that work, by demolishing the Altar in the Capitol, where the Senators till then had been Sworn, and confiscating the revenues of it; which gave a colour of Equity to the Petition of those, that begg'd of Valentinian, that it might be rebuilt, and the service thereof maintain'd, out of the Treasury: a colour which St. Ambrose handsomly wipes off, [quod enim vel fisco vel arcae est vendi∣catum, de tuo magis conferre videbere, quàm de suo reddere. l. 5. ep. 30.] by tel∣ling the Emperour, that that would be a restoring of the Pagan service, at his own proper charges, and not a restoring of what belonged to that Altar, as its Revenues; for being confiscate, they were now become the Revenues of the Imperial Crown, but that Gratian did subvert any but that Altar, or set any mulct upon Idolaters, is more then I can find in any good Au∣thors.

Theodosius the Elder was the first Emperour that universally prohibited the publick practice of Gentilisme through the Empire, commanding their Temples and Altars every where to be thrown down, and their Statues to be melted into Pans and Kettles for poor people. The execution of this De∣cree at Alexandria was committed to the care of Theophilus, the Bishop of that See; who in ransacking those depths of Satan, those Cages of unclean Birds, brings to open light those shameful Mysteries and Obscenities, as the Revelation of them drives the Pagans to that rage as they furiously make head against the Christians, and slaughter such numbers of them, as the Go∣vernour, with his Military Bands, was fain to come into their rescue, and to aid the Bishop: by whose help he utterly abolished the Idols Temples, and all their Statues, but one, which he erected in the open Market, to be a wit∣ness to future, of the folly of former Ages, in adoring such mis-shapen Mon∣sters; at which Helladius was more vext than at his destroying all the rest. (Socrates lib. 5. cap. 16.) This Emperour pull'd down the Crows Nests, but restrain'd not the Boyes from climbing the tree: nor hindred the Birds from building Nests in private corners. For the Gentiles were still permitted their secret Chappels and Conventicles, even in the Imperial Cities and Courts: Some of whom were in that favour with the Emperours as that they were admitted to places of highest honour, emolument and trust. Macrobius, a Grecian by Birth, and a zealous Gentile by Religion, was Prefect of the sa∣cred Bedchamber to Theodosius: and had so much interest in his Masters Af∣fection, as for his sake he made that Decree; That they who bore that office,

should, in point of honour be equall to the chief Military and urbane Magi∣strates, among whom Macrobius to have the precedency. (Isaac Pontan. in no∣tis ad Macrobium pag. 1. ex Scaligero.)

Optatus, a Pagan had the Military Government of Constantinople commit∣ted to his charge under Theodosius and his Son Arcadius: (Socrates hist. eccl. 7. 16.) with as much impunity was Gentilism practised in the Metropolis of the Western Empire, under his Brother Honorius, at the beginning of whose Reign, when the Gothes, under Alaricus, took Rome, there were very ma∣ny Heathens not only in the City, but Senate, by whose order it was deter∣mined, that the Pagan Worship should be restored and celebrated in those Temples which had by Theodosius been converted to the use of the Christi∣ans: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] (Sozomen. 9. 7.) for I see no necessity of collecting from this passage, that any other Temples were then standing, but what were transferr'd to a Christian use: to which that passage of Orosius (l. 7. cap. 38.) adds strength, where he writes that Attalus, the Governour then of the City, and a Pagan (for he was Christned by a Gothish Bishop after he was joyn'd with Alaricus) sending for the Thuscian Magi (who promised by Thunder and Lightning to drive away the Barbarians,) enter'd presently into consul∣tation with the Senate, about restoring to their Idol-Gods, their Sacred Pla∣ces, and celebrating their Rites. So I render his [continuò de repetendis sa∣cris celebrandis tractatur] [Sacris] comprehending Places, as well as Ceremonies; and [repetendis] implying the recovering of sacred things out of the hands of those who then had the possession of them, and therefore not applicable to the Gentile Sacrifices which the Christians never touched, but their Temples, which were converted from the service of Idols, to that of the true God; as that Magnificent one of Serapis of Alexandria was, at the same time, and by the same Decree of Theodosius. So numerous were the Pagans then in Rome, as Dr. Hammond thinks (and not but upon good grounds) that it is Pagan Rome is threatned in that Prophecy (Rev. 17. 14.) and according to that Prophecy, punished by Alari••us: the Christian Party being some departed with Honorius, their Emperour; some with Innocentius▪ their Bishop unto Vienna: (Come out of her my people, Rev. 18. 4.) as Lot out of Sodom, (saith Orosius l. 7. c. 39.) and the rest overpowered by the Gentile Faction, animated by the hopes they had of Attalus, that he would professedly favour and set up Gentilism, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] and restore the An••••ent Temples, and Feasts and Sacrifices: (Sozom. l. 9.)

§. 4. Hitherto then we see the Dragon, the old Serpent the Devil, still a∣broad and at work (even in the Imperial City) at his old Trade of sedu∣cing the Nations to Gentilism, and, which is more, prevailing with them to endeavour the restauration of the Pagan Religion, after it was prohibited by penal law by Theodosius: for Eugenius and Arbogestes, with a mighty Army attempted to restore Ethnicism which Theodosius had utterly abolisht, saith Mr. Meed, (vol. 2. Book 3. chap. 10.) after whose subduing of those two Tyrants Ethnicism never made head more in the Roman Empire, saith the same lear∣ned Author. Indeed the whole current of History makes it evident, that Eth∣nicism, never after that, appeared in the field against Christianity: yet we find it after that conspiring in the Senate, to subdue the Faith, by the help of the Gothish Arms, invited thither by the Heathens, and therefore so dreaded by the Christian Party, as multitudes of them upon the irruption of the Bar∣barians, either conceal'd or dissembled their Religion to save themselves from the rage of the enemy, till (contrary to their expectation) they perceiv'd that God had turn'd the sword of the Goths against the Pagans. (St. Jerom. ep. 6. ad prin. & ep. 8.) and that Alaricus had given order to his Soldiers, they should neither touch persons nor goods which they found in the Christian Temples. And we find it after that practised in private Chappels, til•• Honori∣us made it capital, for any to worship Idols either in publick or private.

[Quis enim nostrum, quis vestrum, non la••dat Leges ab Imperatoribus datas, ad∣versus sacrificia Idolorum? at certè, longè ibi paena severior constituta est illius, quippe impietatis capitale supplicium est,] (saith St. Austin to the Patron of the Donatists, epist. 48.) which of ours, which of yours, do not commend those Imperi∣al Laws against the Sacrifices of the Pagans? though the pain inflicted by those Laws be far more severe than that which the Law inflicts upon the Novatians: for those make it death for any to commit those Gentile Abominations. At which period of time, if I would be positive, I would fix the beginning of the thou∣sand years which we have in this long discourse been pricking to its seat. For it is most natural to interpret the Chain wherein Satan was bound, to have been those Imperial Laws; and the Key of the bottomless Pit, that Supream Authority and power of Life or Death, invested by Gods Ordinance in them that bear the Sword; and actually exerted in those Laws, by opening the mouth of the Pit, and making it gape upon such as should persist in those im∣pious and inhumane Idolatries by the Ghastly look of that terriblest of terri∣bles, the Pagan was frighted from that Diabolical Worship, and by that fear of his, shut up Satan, and deprived him of power, any longer to deceive. Inso∣much as immediately after the promulgation of those Laws, though all did not embrace Christianity yet the whole Empire renounc'd Politheism; all strife thereabout being supprest, and so eradicated even out of the most talk∣••ive Schools of the Grecians, as if any Sect of Error then rose up against the Church and the Faith, it durst not step upon the Stage to contend with the Chri∣stian, but cover'd with the Christian name; so that the Platonicks themselves, ••••d it not been for some plausible Placits they could adhere to, without fear of incurring the penalties of the Imperial laws, must of necessity have gene∣rally submitted their pious necks to the yoak of the only invincible King Christ: and have acknowledged that Word of God made Flesh who spake and that was believed, which the boldest of them were afraid to reveal to the world. (August. dios. ep. 56.) But I dare not be peremptory in determi∣ning the precise Moment. All that I assert in this is, That if the Thousand years of Satan's binding ••e begun at all, the beginning of them cannot be da∣ted lower than the promulgation of those Imperial Edicts, neither do any place them lower who are of opinion that the Millenium is not yet to begin. From whence I inferr this irrefragable Conclusion. If the Millenium be pre∣cisely the term of 1000 years (Satan at the utmost was let loose in the year of Grace 1400) that then the Christian World has outlived Grace 270 years, ac∣cording to the least compute of that Hypothesis: And if we begin the account higher up, with those that date its Commencement either at Christs Birth, as the Annotator upon King Edwards Bible, that he may make the Millenium expire at the rising of the Papacy, or at the Passion of our Saviour with St. Austin, when indeed he was virtually bound up, and by sentence of law cast out of his old possession. [Mille anni tempus est à passione Christi, in quo non permittitur diabolo facere quicquid vult,] (Aug. tom. 9. pag. 364.) or at the Fall of Jerusalem with the learn'd Dr. Lightfoot; or at Constantine's embracing Christian Religion with Dr. Hammo••d; or at the Conquest of Theodosius over Arbogestes, That they may make it comport with the several incroachments which Mahomet hath made upon Christendom, there will remain from that sum of a thousand years so great a space of time, as will by no means com∣port with that [short space] (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) to which S. John limits the time be∣twixt the completion of the Millenium and the end of the World; There having already been run out (and God only knows how many more hun∣dreds of years may yet be to come) according to the largest and middle ac∣counts [600.] according to the least account almost [300.] years since Sa∣tans loosing: The least of which parcells he that can account a little space, in comparison of [1000.] years, may by that kind of Arithmetick turn every word in the Bible into Cyphers, and make their significations of no value, but what his own preoccupations vouchsafe to put upon them. And there∣fore as those of our Divines, who date the binding of Satan so early, as the

Fall of Jerusalem, should do well to consider, how the Sceptick will be an∣swered, when he can shew Satan at liberty, so many Centuries after that, and deceiving the Empire and its Metropolis, so far as to perswade it to retain its old Gentilism, and to create new Gods, such as Antinous, and their deified Emperours. So those of them who fix the Date thertof 3 or 4 Centuries lower: though they obviate that Objection; (for since then, the Empire has not been prevail'd with, to worship any of its old Pagan Deities:) and right∣ly date the binding up the old Serpent, and spoiling him of power, to impose upon the Empire after his old guise. And leave a far less number of years remaining from his supposed loosing. Again, then they that date his binding so early, yet they should have considered, that the least number that any of them leave, is more, in common sense, then a little space; and to have look'd twice about them, before they had granted the Millenaries their sence of a thousand years, and receeded from the common Opinion of both Schools and Fathers, that that number does not signifie any certain or determinat space of time, in this Prophecy; but indefinitely, that whole time intervening be∣twixt Satans binding and the end of the World, except that little inconsi∣derable moment, wherein he shall again be suffer'd to go loose. Aquinas paral∣lels this Text with Ps. 105. 8. He ••ath remembered his convenant for ever, the word which he commanded for a 1000 Generations; that is, saith he, for all Genera∣tions, or as the Text expounds it self, for ever: (Summ. p. 3. quest. 77. art. 1.) [Non significat aliquem certum numerum, sed designat totum tempus quod nunc agitur in quo Sancti cum Christo regnant.] Therefore exprest by a thousand be∣cause that is the most perfect number, as Aquinas there shews and as they think who derive the Latine Mille from the Hebrew 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 plenitudo; est ••nim millenarius numerus quaedam plenitudo: (Vossius Etymologie.) not to the third or fourth, but to all Generations as R. Obad, expounds, at once that Text, and those words in the second Commandment: well exprest by St. Austin, by a comparison drawn from the ages of men: the last age, saith he, which be∣gins with the coming of Christ, unto the end of the World, is not computed by any certain number of years, as old age, which is our last age, hath not a determinate time, according to the measure of our other ages; but doth it self alone, sometimes take up as much time as all the rest: and because Com∣parisons only illustrate, but are no Probations, he gives this reason of it [ut occultus sit judicii dies, quem utiliter dominus latere oporter•• demonstravit, de Genefi contrà Manic••. l. 1. c. 24.] That the knowledge of the day of Judge∣ment might for our benefit be concealed from us.

CHAP. VII.

The Millenium, yet to come, is a Dream of Waking Men.

§ 1. The Millenaries shifting of Aera's, Apes of Mahometans and Papists. Al∣s••ed's Boreal Empire. § 2. Mr. Meeds Principles overthrow the Faith, and Placits of the Ancients. Christ will come not to convert but destroy the Jews. Satans binding Synchronyzeth with the downfall, not of Mahometanism, but Gentilism. § 3. America though anciently inhabited, yet unknown to the ancient Church, and therefore implicitly only comprehended in her Faith, Hope, and Charity. § 4, The Millenaries impio••s and uncharitable con∣ceptions, touching the Gogick-war. Their Triumphant Church-Millitant. § 5. Christ will find more Faith in America than in this upper Hemisphere. § 6. Satan's Chain shortned in the lower, not lengthened in this upper He∣misphere.

§ 1. THe Opinion of the Millenaries, that the Thousand years are not yet be∣gun, not incumbred with this inconvenience, which presseth them that would have them past; which perhaps is the reason why some able men abett that Opinion, and flie to it as a sacred Anchor, to secure the credit of this Prophesie. And in very deed there can no other Salve be applied to the Hypothesis of a precise determinate number of years. Upon which account I am forc'd to quit that Hypothesis, as being put to this hard choice; that I must either, by adhering to it, conclude that Period of time is finisht so long ago, as will not comport with that short intervall which St. John interposeth be∣twixt the accomplishment thereof, and the consummation of all things; or that those Thousand years are not yet begun: or else by quitting of it vin∣dicate my judgment into the Christian liberty of holding that that is good, rejecting what is manifestly false (even in the Opinion of the far most, ablest, and antientest Divines) by fixing ••pon these Conclusions.

1. That the Millenium is not yet concluded, though more than a thou∣sand years be run out since its Commencement.

2. That that binding of Satan, that Chain of restraint, under which he shall be held, at least to the dawning of the day of Judgement, hath been laid upon him, ever since the Imperial Law made Gentilism capital.

3. And that the expectation of a Seculum of a 1000. years yet to come, wherein Satan shall be any otherwise bound from deceiving the Nations, than he hath been this 1300 years, or wherein the Saints shall any otherwise reign upon the Earth with Christ, than they have done for the same space, is a Castle-built in the Air of Fancy without Scripture-grounds.

I have given my reasons why I cannot subscribe to them that think the Millenium finish'd, and some, why I think it began where the Antimillenarians generally dated it; and shall make further proof of both those Points, in laying down the Reasons why I dare not follow those that think it is not yet begun.

1. I dare not chuse for my Guides, in interpreting Scripture, such as have palpably misled their followers, as often as they have assayed to point out the beginning of their fancied Millenium. Of this Bran were they who a while ago have perswaded the world that Satan was to be bound in that [anno mirabili] that wonderful year 1642. (that very year when Hell broke loose.) And when those ductile Souls, who by their perswasions were in∣duc'd into a belief that at the top of that hill, at the fulness of that Time,

they should touch the Moon with their fingers, found themselves abused. These Crafts-masters in perverting the Word of God, encourage their Idiot∣proselites (who had not so much wit as Children, to dread the fire after it had burnt them;) to lift up their hands that hang down, to strengthen their knees, enfeebled by their disappointment of as great hopes as they have of Heaven, and to walk after those blind Guides (in hope still to see the Dawn∣ing of this day of a 1000 years) from Hill to Hill, from Date to Date; till at last the frustration of their expectations, that the Heavens would fall and Men would catch Larks, anno 1666. converted most of their Scholars into Papists or Atheists; having gaped all that year after Christs Reign on Earth, (which they then hoped to see as verily as the Mexicanes expect the end of the World the last day of their Rota (an Almanack calculated for 52 years) they would have made work for the Tinker, had they, at every approach of their conceited Millenium, broken all their Pots, Kettles, Plate, and all kind of u∣tensils and houshold-stuff; as the Mexicanes do theirs, the last day of their Rota, as conceiving they shall never more have need of such things, (Scaliger de emendat. ad finem lib. 3.) But I wonder more that the Learned and Judici∣ous Alstede should court this Cloud with so indefatigable an importunity, as in order to his laying hands upon it, he runs at one breath, to the top of four Hills, makes no less than four Epocha's for the beginning of it. Upon such Principles as Alsted proceeded upon, (viz. the great Conjunctions) Al∣bumazar foretold the expiration of Christian Religion (after it had reigned a thousand years) above six hundred years ago; And R. Abraham Avenaris gatherd, that the Messias would come in the year of Christ 1444. there being in that year a Conjunction of Jupiter with Saturn in Cancer; or at the ut∣most anno 1464. when there was the same Conjunction in Pisces. [Frustrà Miselli aliûm expectant Messiae adventum, quam gloriosum illum quo in nubili veniet ad judicandum orbem:] (Vossius de origine idolelat. 2. 48.) But in vain (saith Vossius) do these wretched Jews expect any other coming of the Messias, than that glorious one, when he will come in the Clouds to judge the World. Are not Pro∣testants as bad as they, in looking for any other Christian Millenium, than that which is now current? seeing Mahometans expect the expiration of Chri∣stian Religion at the end of this Millenium; upon the very same grounds, that some of us expect the Millenium, yet to come; and that upon no better Principles, than John Aunius a Popish Doctor of Wittenberg) assured to the Emperour, Victory over the Turks; and to the Pope, the whole Worlds coming in to, and continuing under his obedience, for a thousand years, to begin, anno 1481. But the issue, saith Beroaldus (Chron. l. 3. c. 6.) shew∣ed by what spirit he was led, and bewrayed the madness of the Prophet. And doubtless Pope Sixtus the Fourth would have been as mad as he, had he prick'd up his Ears, to have them claw'd by that wide-gaping Promiser; as our Fanaticks did theirs, to listen to the Alarms that Alsted gave them to their holy Wars. For to return to him. His first Aera of the Reign of Saints, of the blessed Millenium, should have commenc'd, Anno, 1622. when I was scarce got out of my Childs Coats; and therefore I my self could not make observation of any glorious Change, then happening: but I was told, that the Sun still kept the same station in the Heavens, and had the same o∣peration upon Earth, which it used to have within the Memory of Man; that the Moon retain'd the same spots in her face, which she had, when Al∣sted first saw her; that Boyes were as towardly, Neighbours as loving, Prin∣ces as Gracious, Subjects as Loyal, the Rich as Liberal, the Poor as well reliev'd in times past, as since that year.

His second Aera bore date, anno, 1636. I was then of age to observe, how the Bonny Scot got him up to this Hill to see Christ enthron'd on the Pres∣byterian Tribunal, and all that would not submit to that his Government, sitting on the Stool of Repentance; who have since, without walking in the Counsel of the Ungodly, sate in the seat of truly divine Scorners of all such Bug-bears.

The third an. 1642. upon that Mount were seen the feet of them that preach'd the everlasting Gospel (as they blasphemously called that Form of Government, they were then about to erect upon the ruines of whatever was Ancient, Sacred, and should have been dearer to us than our lives) that pub∣lish'd to our English Sion those glad tydings, that now the time was come that the Saints must reign, St. Rebels, St. Plunderers, St. Murderers, St. Regicides.

The fourth an. 1694. But our hot-spurrs had not patience to wait so long; many of these covetous wretches, who under a cloak of Religion trouble the Waters that themselves may fish for Preferment and Estates, may have death gnawing upon them before that time come; and therefore, that they might be guawing the bones, and eating the flesh of the mighty, they antici∣pate the time, and pitch upon an. 1666. as the season appointed of God for the Conversion of the Jews, the Fall of Antichrist, the binding up of Satan, and the Reign of Saints: things ill put together; for though I believe that the Reign of Saints which they look for, will be coetanous to the Jews Con∣version; that is, they will both be ad Graecas calendas, when Geese piss holi∣water, yet I think the Reign of such Saints as they are, will rather be the Rise than Fall of Antichrist, and the effect rather of the loosing than bind∣ing the Devil. As they mist it in the mis-joyning of things incompatible, so they were strangely wide in their Calculation, leaving out the round sum, a thousand, and pitching upon the fragments. However they did wisely at last, to trust to Alsted no longer, after he had mocked them thrice. For all that he himself is so confident of the futuriety of that blessed Millenium he dreamt of, and of its beginning to Commence at one of those Periods he had prescribed, as he concludes that discourse thus: According to the time that I have set down in my Speculum, the Boreal Empire shall arise, which God will erect by the Lim of the North, to the astonishment of all those that vili-pend this our Harmony, which we have demonstrated and pointed out, as it were, by the finger. The Harmony which he harps upon, is the concent of three Vo∣lumes; that of the Bible, or divine Prophesie; that of the Heavens, or ju∣dicial Astrology, and that of History or experience: all which he thinks he hears in consort, playing this Lesson, singing this Song, as verily as the Pytha∣goreans heard the Musick of the Stars. This confidence of the Author threatned one of our Astrologers into an opinion, that this Lyon of the North was that King of Sweden, who proved a dead Lyon by that time the Almanack was out of date, wherein he was proclaim'd. And therefore I would think all that are not resolved to run out of their wits in the pursuit of Chimaeras, should take the grave counsel which St. Austin gives (de Civitate 18.) where he adviseth us to let our fingers rest from all such Figure-flinging; for that all who have hitherto attempted to reckon, or rather guess, when their glo∣rious Time shall begin, have been found to have been false Prophets; and whoever shall yet essay such Calculations, will speed no better in the expe∣rience of after Ages.

§ 2. The Eagle-eyed Meed fore-saw this inconveniency, and therefore protests against, determining the time when this Millenium shall take place, and the forty two Months end. And in his discribing the State of this seculum, dis∣owns the fooleries of the common Millenarians, charged upon them by St. Je∣rom, (in prologo. in lib. 18. explicat. in Esaiam.) though that Learned man wrongs St. Jerom, in his charging him to have mis-stated the case of the Chyliasts: for those whom he mentions, Tertullian Lactantius and Irenaeus, held those opini∣ons, which St. Jerom affronteth; which the Alexandrian Dyonisius confuteth, and after that confutation Apollinaris standeth up to maintain: viz. [Mille annorum fabulam; auream & gemmatam Jerusalem, instaurationem templi, hostiarum sanguinem, otium Sabbati circumcisionis, injuriam, nuptias, partus, liberorum educationem, epulorum delicias, cunctarum gentium servitutem, &c.] All mention'd by Lactantius particularly, and comprehended in that sen∣tence

in general. [Deni{que} tunc fient illa quae Poetae aureis temporibus facta esse, jam Saturno regnante, dixerunt] (de divino Praem. lib. 7. c. 24.) yet Meed in drawing his conceptions of it, proceeds upon those suppositions, that are very hard of digestion, and draw after them those absurdities, as will make an uninterested person suspend his assent to those Conclusions, which stand in need of such supports, and are built upon such premisses, as not only over∣throw the Foundation of Faith, but bid defiance to the Placits of those An∣cients, upon whose bare authority this new doctrine is built.

To instance in such Points, as have both those bad Properties. It is the Conceipt of our Modern Soberest Millenaries, that Christ shall visibly ap∣pear, at the beginning of the Blessed Millenium, to convert the Jews; as he did for the Conversion of St. Paul, wherein he exhibited a Type and Model of that Means and Method he would use for the conversion of the whole Nation: A strange way of interpreting the Gospel-history! But I omit that now, and shall only compare this Assertion with that of Lactantius (de di∣vino praem. 7. 1.) [quem (secundum adventum) Judaei quo{que} & consitentur & spe∣runt: sed frustrà; quoniam necesse est ad eos consolandos revertatur, ad quos vocan∣dos prius venerat: nam qui violaverunt impié humilem, sentient in potestate vi∣ctorem: ea{que} omnia quae legunt & non intelligunt, Deo compensante, patientur, quippe qui peccatis omnibus inquinati, & insuper sancto cruore perfusi, ab illo cui nefandas manus intulerunt, sint ad aeterna supplicia destinati] Such, as that Second coming of Christ, which we Christians look for, the Jews expect and hope for, of their Messias, but in vain: for of necessity he will return to comfort those whom he came at first to call: whereas they that impiously despised him, when he came in humility, shall find him a Conquerour, when he comes in power: and those things which they read and understand not, touching the glorious appearance of their Messias) they shall suffer; God compensating to them the just reward of their rejecting Christ, when he came in the form of a servant; as a generation of men, who, to their other sins, have added that of imbrewing their hands in his sacred blood, and therefore to be destin'd to eternal punishment by that very per∣son, on whom they laid their wicked hands.

And with that of Origen, I have formerly quoted, who tells Celsus, he dares say, the Jews shall never have any other Call, than that they have had already: nor never be taken again into Christs Sheep-fold. Now whether our Modern Millenaries, by deserting the ancient in their Opinion of the Jews final Rejection, do not also destroy the truth of as plain Prophesies, as any are in all the Bible, and (by consequence) the Foundation of our Religion, which is built upon the Veracity of the Prophets, I leave my Reader to judge, by what hath already been said upon that Point.

2. The Modern Millenaries make the binding of Satan Synchronise with the Subversion of Mahometanism and Popery: but the Ancients assign its be∣ginning to the downfal of Gentilism: (Lactant de divino praemio, lib. 7. cap. 19.) [Sic extinctâ maliciâ & impietate compressâ (debellato, capto & vincto improbo) requiescet orbis, qui per tot secula subjectus errori, nefandam pertulit servitutem, non colentur ulterius dii manufacti, sed Templis & Pulvinaribus suis deturbata Simulacra, igni dabuntur.] Upon Satans binding, malice being extinct, and im∣piety supprest, the World shall rest (from Idol-worship) which for so many Ages had undergone a most wicked servitude; after that, Gods made with hands shall no longer be worship'd, but their Images shall be tumbled down from their Tem∣ples and Altars, and committed to the flames: according to that of Sibyl.

—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

He shall take off that intollerable yoak of our servitude, that lay on our neck, and abrogate impious Laws and tyrannical bonds.

And that of another Sibyl.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

Men shall break in pieces their Idols, and tear their rich Fur∣niture.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

The manufactures and accoutrements of the Gods shall be burnt up.

In which Point, as they spoke consonant to the holy scripture (for that makes the Reign of God alone to concurr with the abolition of I∣dols) so they laid a sure ground for the Fathers of the succeding century to conclude, that the beatum Millenium, the Reign of the Saints on the Earth with Christ, and the time of Satan's binding was then commenc'd when they saw Paganism wholly exterminated from the Earth. Idols ei∣ther broken or cast into holes all the then known World over: For the Fathers generally never dreamt of the Antipodes, but in scorn of their pos∣sible being. For a Millenary I will name Lactantius: (Institut. lib. 3. cap. 24.) [Quid illi qui contrarios vestigiis Antipodes putant? Num aliquid loquuntur? aut est quispiam tam ineptus, qui credat esse homines, quorum vestigia sunt superiora quam capita? aut ibi quae apud nos jacent universa pendere? fruges & arbores deorsùm versùs crescere, pluvias & nives & grandinem sursùm versùs cadere in terram? & miratur aliquis hortos pensiles inter septem mira narrari, cùm Philo∣sophi & agros & maria, & urbes & montes pensiles faciunt?] For an Antimil∣lenarian, St. Austin, who (de Civitate 16. 9. (censures the relation of the An∣tipodes to be an incredible Fable. Now St. Austin, who lived to see the utmost bounds of the Empire, and of this upper Hemisphere, subjected to Christs Septer, and freed from the service of Idols, speaks of those Pro∣phesies which foretel that Christ should reign from Sea to Sea, and to the worlds end, as then fulfilled: and Lactantius would have joyned with him in that triumphant Song, had he lived to that Age, and seen that one God alone exalted in the Earth, who in his time was rival'd with so many false Gods.

§ 3. But you will say, this was triumphing before the Victory, a mi∣stake of the Fathers, to think the whole VVorld was become Christs, when one half of it stood out against him.

In answer to this Objection, some say and have perswaded themselves to think, that America hath not been long inhabited; but that it was first pos∣sest by such Pagans, as from the Light of the Gospel, and the penalties of the Imperial Laws fled thither before the face of Jesus, as the Tyrians to Car∣thage, from before Joshua. If this surmise were true, it would be a good Salvo, and give light to those passages in Old Testament prophesie; where it issaid, the Idols shall go under ground, be cast to the Moles and Bats, to that Hemisphere which was then uninhabited, &c. But it is wholly against reason, that a place so near that part of the World, where Noah's Posterity first seat∣ed themselves, as some question whether it be not the same Continent, (and others confess them sever'd by a narrow Sea, (Fullers Miscelan. l. 2. c. 4.) should not more early be found out; Noah having taught the World how the Seas might be made passable, and those parts where he seated his children so crowded with inhabitants, as men, to enlarge their quarters, and to a∣void hunger which breaks stone walls, forc'd their way to new seats through the most inhospitable Climates.

Secondly, I therefore prefer here this answer, that this upper Hemisphere in the common dialect of the Prophets signifies the whole world, God being pleased to accommodate his language to the Conceptions of the vulgar: And

therefore he himself put that new Song into the Churches mouth, wherein she triumph'd in her Christ, as install'd sole King over the VVorld, when he gain'd that eminent part of it into his possession, that had been the Stage of Scripture-history, and of the Apostles Peregrination, and was at that time, both when they were given out, and began to receive their accomplishment, the only known VVorld. Not that I subscribe to that of Mr. Meed, that this Hemisphere is to be solely partaker of that universal Restauration which the Scriptures mention, and what Nation soever are out of its bounds, are reserv'd for Christs Triumph at the day of judgement, and to be destroyed with that fire which shall consume those Armies that shall compass the holy City, which that learned person conceives shall be listed by Satan in America, and thence drawn up against the Camp of the Saints (that is, as he opines) the old VVorld men wholly reigning with Christ. For this is not only con∣trary to Experience, whereby we learn that that new VVorld is coming in a pace to Christ. (Vide Heylin. Amer. 2019.) But other express Prophesies that mention the round VVorld, and all that dwell therein; all Nations whom God hath created, as portions of Christs Inheritance, that mention every Tongue and every Knee, confessing to, and bowing to the God of the whole earth, &c. And therefore, as those that lived before the discovery of this new found VVorld might, when they saw the old converted, appropriate that universal Restauration unto it in Faith and Charity, extending themselves to the utmost bounds of the explicite hope of those Centuries, which pre∣ceded that subjection of that old VVorld to the Royal Law: So we to whom the knowledge of the new VVorld is communicated, by our excluding of that from the benefit of Redemption, transgress the Law of Faith, Hope and Charity.

1. Of Faith; for though the belief of the being of the Antipodes be no Article of Christian Faith, yet the belief of their future Call, upon supposi∣tion of their being, is: that is, he that knows there are Tongues and Knees under the Earth, is bound to believe that in Gods appointed time, every knee there shall bow to, every tongue there shall confess to the only true God: Yea, were I sure by a certainty of Reason, or indubitable Intelli∣gence, that men inhabit the VVorld in the Moon, I were bound to be sure, by an equal certainty of Faith, that the Inhabitants of that VVorld shall have their season of Grace as well as we.

2. Of that Hope which the Primitive Church had, which expresly di∣lated it self to the expected Conversion of all Nations, and implicity (up∣on supposition that there were Nations and Languages there) of those of the lower Hemisphere.

And 3. Lastly, of that Charity wherewith the first Christians embrac'd all that VVorld they could grasp with their minds. From which Christian Cha∣rity, how far do they deviate, from whose Pens fall such unmerciful Sen∣tences, such bitter things against the poor Americans, as the defence of their Hypothesis, naturally draws from our Modern Millenaries; from the guilt of which uncharitableness they will hardly be acquitted, by wiping their mouths, and ascribing this severity [justo, at nobis incognito, Dei judicio] to the just, but to us unknown judgement of God, upon that so great a part of the VVorld. For though the deferring of their Conversion so long, may pi∣ously be ascribed to the secret and incomprehensible counsel of the all wise God: at the depth whereof in this case, (of his having mercy upon some of the most barbarous Gentiles, so early in the day of the Messias, and so long before he had mercy on far more civilized Nations) Reason and Reli∣gion call upon us to stand astonish'd, and so much more as we cannot con∣ceive any other Reason thereof but the Divine Will: yet for men to frame to themselves an Image of Divine Justice, inconsistent with that Mercy which God hath proclaim'd, he hath treasured up in his Christ for all Nations, to be manifest in its due and appointed time; and in defence of their own foolish imaginations, to plead Gods secret Counsel, against his reveiled

Purpose, is to add the sin of Sacrilegious Impiety, to that of barbarous inhu∣manity.

§ 4. Thirdly, In both which, the Placits of the Millenaries, touching the Gogick War are so deeply immerst, as I wonder how such conceits could find place in the pious head of Mr. Meed, as those are which he lays down (rol 2. pag. 714.) where propounding to himself this Question, from what quar∣ter of the World, from what kind of men that huge Army was to come that should incompass the holy City? he resolves it must be raised in America, and consist of the Inhabitants of that Hemisphere that's opposite to ours. And next enquiring into the Cause of that their invading our World; into the Arguments whereby Satan should ensnare them into this engagement; he de∣termines it can be for no other reason, but that they may mend their Quar∣ters, possess themselves of a more fertile Soile and live and die here in this up∣per Hemisphere where they may enjoy a Resurrection; which perhaps they think is a priviledge appropriated to this World of ours. For this it is that they shall invade the holy City, that is, this upper half of the Earth, the sole Seat of Righteousness; and for their making this invasion in pursuit of these ends, God shall rise up against them, as so many Gyants fighting against Hea∣ven, and in an instant destroy them by Fire from Heaven (Volum. 2. book. 3. p. 712.) Let us examine these Responds of the greatest Oracle, of the most refi∣ned Learning, that ever opened its mouth in defense of the Millenaries Cause.

1. Say that World be now as horrid as Germany, or Gallia was in Caesars time, may not the Cultivation thereof, for more than a thousand years, ren∣der it as fertile and delectable then, as our World is now? The old Ser∣pent must be grown into his dotage, if he can (after a thousand years mu∣sing in his Den) study out no better an Argument, than that Topick affords, to engage the Americans to invade this upper World.

2. How can it be a manifestation of the righteous Judgment of God, to de∣stroy the Americans, for that Crime, which the Christian Hemisphere is a thousand times more deeply immerst in the guilt of, than they; who have suffer'd those things by us (while we have been harasing those Countries,) as were enough to prejudice them for ever against the reception of that Re∣ligion, whose professors are so unjust and barbarously cruel, were it not that the Almightiness of Prophetick Truth will carry on the purpose of God, a∣gainst all the blocks that can be laid in their way to Christ, by man. Josephus scarce any where more bewrayes the spirit of a Pharisee, than in lib. 12. cap. 13. of his Antiquities: where he censures Polybius for saying, Antiochus E∣piphanes came to a miserable end, for attempting to plunder Diana's Temple: for (saith he) the intention of Sacrilege, which he did not actually commit, seems not to have been a thing worthy of such a punishment: yet, in the se∣quel of his discourse, he recovers himself, and speaks like a man of Reason: If Polybius think, that to have been a sufficient cause of his ruine: with how much more probability may it be affirm'd, that the vengeance of Heaven overtook him, for that Sacrilege which he not only intended, but perpetra∣ted upon the Temple of Jerusalem: with how much more reason may I ar∣gue against this cause of the Americans overthrow, assigned by this learned man? Must they perish for but designing an encroachment upon us, who have made so many unjust encroachments upon them? Must their thoughts of retaliation, of repaying the inhabitants of this upper Plane, that measure they have been meeting to them, be punish'd (by the Righteous Judge of all the Earth, that respects not persons) with so severe and suddain a de∣struction?

3. How much less can the inflicting of so dreadful a vengeance upon them be imputed to their seeking a place of burial amongst us, where they may lye down in hope of a Resurrection: as conceiving in this part of the World to be that Elizium, beyond, God knows what Hills, where the Souls of

righteous men rest in joy: (as Dr. Heylin reports of them in his America) can any thing be more strange or abhorrent to Christian ears, than that ei∣ther Satan should tempt them to, or God punish them for, such an under∣taking?

4. As it is an Article of Faith that the Church is Catholick, that is, at once, in all its members, in point of necessary Doctrine: they all, and eve∣ry one, in all ages, and places, holding the same form of sound words. And successively, in respect of Place, as well as Time. And therefore to assert the ex∣clusion of any place (much more one half of the Earthly Globe) finally out of that Church, bids defiance to the Christian Faith: So 'tis the confession of all, that this Church shall be militant here on Earth, as to the state of every particular Member, (who have remains of corruption within them to grapple with) and, as to the general state of the whole, being incombred, in all pla∣ces, with the bad neighbourhood of such visibly wicked ones, as either mali∣ciously excind themselves by separation, or are justly (for their contumacy) cast out of her Communion; (such as make up the Devil's Chappel, where-ever God hath his Church: From whence will necessarily flow these infe∣rences.

1. That to put such an Interpretation upon dark and prophetick Texts, as makes them present the Church on Earth in a state so triumphant, as leaves her neither spawn of Corruption within, nor the Seed of the Serpent with∣out, for the exercise of her Repentance, Faith, Hope, Charity, Patience; is a giving of the lye to those numerous, plain, and open-fac'd Texts, whose uncontroverted sence, (and words not capable of perversion) inform us the direct contrary. That the Net of the Gospel gathers good and bad, which shall not be sever'd one from the other till the last day; That the Tares grow with the Wheat till the end of the World; That is, the Local and visible Church shall have a mixture of formal Members in it, that are not of it; Insomuch as when Christ was personally present with the College of the A∣postles, they were not all clean; that Church of his own gathering had a simpering Judas, who could cry, Hail Master, and Kiss his Lord, while he betray'd him. And as all the visible Members are not good; so the best and sincerest Member is not all good, Venus hath her Mole, the Moon her spots, the best Christian his infirmities; there is not a man upon Earth that sinneth not; and whoever saith he hath no sin, he sins in saying so. So that the old Serpent, when he shall be let loose again, will find wicked instruments of his malice against the Church, (his own evil Seed) among the Wheat where-ever that is sown; and therefore the Millenaries, in confining him to the lower Hemisphere to gather his Army in, by which he is to assault the Holy City) not only contradict their own Texts which assigns him the four corners, the four Quarters of the Earth, the whole breadth of the earth, the whole compass of the Globe, from East, West, North, and South (which I could bear with them, in knowing that the Prophets have a peculiar language by themselves in their Proverbials and Hyperbolics:) but the whole cur∣rent of sacred Scriptures, commented upon, by the uninterrupted series of Providence in all ages.

§ 5. Second. Nay that at the approaching of the general Judgement, when that War of Gog and Magog shall commence, The Churches most eminent Seat, and the most glorious entertainment of the Gospel will be, in those Chambers of the South, in that new discover'd World, to which it is ha∣sting apace, from our Hemisphere. The far greatest part thereof, all the West of Asia, the East, West, and South, of Affrica; and the sometimes most flourishing, and best peopled parts of Europe, being already over-run with Mahometan Barbarousness; and the remaining parts of it (by our great pro∣vocations and impieties against God, and by our dissentions and discord a∣mong our selves) hasting to open a way for the Turk to enter the City of God, (through the breaches we dayly make, and widen, in the Walls of Sion.)

We sin, and he wins, we contend, and he conquers; we presume, that be∣cause we are the Temple of the Lord, the City of God, we are inconquera∣ble; and in the mean while he takes our Forts, and batters our Walls about our ears; our ears which we stop, and will not hear the voyce of the Char∣mer, charm he never so wisely: and therefore I fear, I should but spill my Ink; in bestowing it in recording, the Turks dayly encroachment upon the Christi∣an Pale; his making Conquests, by inches, over the Western, as he did, by Ells, over the Eastern Church: or in describing those Marks of future bane, those Prints of divine displeasure, and certain forerunners of Gods rejection of a people, as deeply imprest upon the Western, as they were upon the Eastern and Southern Patriarchates, when God deliver'd those Churches in∣to his and their enemies hands, If we go to his place at Shilo, where once he put his Name, & enquire for what wickedness he made his Glory depart from Jerusalem, Ephesus, Antioch Alexandria, Constantinople, we shall find the very same provocations reigning in these parts of Europe, the same infatuation of Counsels, the same strong delusions, the same debaucheries and abominati∣ons; and our selves as ripe for excision, (looking as white for harvest, as they did when the Mahometans Sickle reaped those goodly Fields) Suppose ye that they were greater sinners,? I tell you nay, but except we repent, we shall all likewise perish. But I look too long upon the dark side of that clou∣dy Pillar, that has been passing from the East (the place where the Gospel first set out) towards the West, and as it moves deprives the Church of her Head attire (Christian Princes,) of those her dry Nurses and Guardians; yet not of her wet Nurses, or the inward Glory of her Garments; for she shall reign still with Christ, even upon this Earth, in those remnants of her seed dispersed over the face of it: The Sun of a Christian Magistracy shall not be seen, where this Night hath, or shall, encroach upon the Church: but her eyes shall see her Teachers still, and her ears hear; This is the good old way, walk in it and find rest; the Stars will appear behind the Cloud, as they did in the Primitive Church, before Princes became her Nurses; and as they do now within the Turks Dominions, where Princes have ceas'd to be her Nurses. And when Mercy, triumphing over Judgement, shall have left us such a Nail, such a stump of the Tree of Life in our Hemisphere. The Covenant that God has made with the Christian World, being like that he hath made with day and night; of which, he saith, if those ordinances shall de∣part from me, then shall the whole seed of Israel be cast off; the Covenant he made with, the Ordinances he gave to the Carnal Seed, were but Tempora∣ry; and therefore that seed was wholly cast off: but the Covenant he made with the Spiritual Seed, is an everlasting Covenant, and therefore that Seed of Gentile Believers shall never be wholly cast off; The new Israelites, in shew and profession only, when this Sun of persecution for the Gospel ari∣seth (when the Temptations of the World shall be laid before them, when none shall live under the benign influence of their Mahometan Rulers, but those that wheel about with them to the embracing of that Brutish Reli∣gion) shall forsake Christ, and embrace the present World: But the Israelites indeed, (in Faith and Practice) shall never be prevail'd with to renounce Christ, but that poor and peeled People shall bear up his Name, in all Na∣tions upon whom it hath been called, to the end and consummation of the World.) When (I say) the infiniteness of the divine compassion shall be so bounded and streightned (by the circumjacent Guilt of our multiplyed and cry∣ing sins, and by the innate veracity of divine Menacies) as all it can obtain for us, against the pleas of both, is no more then this: when our golden Dreams of glorious days end in this; God will provide Kings and Queens to be Nur∣sing Fathers, &c. to the American Churches, who shall dandle them upon their knees, and that perhaps for as many ages as we have been dandled, I say per∣haps, because I would not pry into Gods secret Purposes, nor limit the holy One in that point, wherein I cannot observe him to walk by any Rule, but that of his own good pleasure, whereby both to Persons and Nations he

lengthens or shortens their day of Grace, so as the Sun hath been set near a 1000. years ago upon most of Asia; and yet shines upon us in the West of Europe, upon whom it rose before it did upon them; I mean the cherishing Light of a Christian Magistracy, for we had our Lucius, before they had their Constantine. However this is certain that (how long or short soever God hath in his eternal Counsel determin'd that space) that they shall have their time of Grace as well as we; and we shall have no more than our time; and therefore as the night shall grow upon us, that had day before them; the day shall grow upon them; and when the Sun is farthest from our Horizon, it will be highest in theirs.

§. 6. And this affords us another Argument against those who limit the Millenium to a precise number of years, and yet will have it commence at Constantine's Reign; not considering, that though the Revelation-prophecies have the Roman Empire for their Stage, and therefore we cannot pitch upon a fitter time for the beginning of the Millenium, than when the Laws of that Empire bound up Satan from cheating the World with Paganism; it being the common notion of the World then when St. John gave out his Revelations, that the bounds of the Empire were coincident with those of the habitable Earth: Yet now the bounds of the Earth being found to be of a far larger extent, we ought to stretch our conceptions touching the mat∣ters of those Prophesies that are yet infieri and current (as the Reign of the Saints with Christ on the Earth is, and shall be as long as the Earth is inhabi∣ted, and as far as the earth is or shall be inhabited) to an extent answerable to that of the things themselves. And therefore are not to limit the Time of this Reign to any narrower compass of years than will be sufficient for the perfecting of the Call of that whole new-found World, inhabited by the seed of Adam and within the bounds of that inheritance which was promis'd to Christ: which as it cannot in reason be conceived to take up less time than will make the years since Satans binding so many more than a thousand, as a child may count them to exceed that precise number; so we cannot cast the call of those Nations into any other Epocha, but that of St. John's thou∣sand years: for nothing is to intervene the expiring of that propheticall Millenium, and the Day of general Judgment, but that little space wherein Sa∣tan shall be let loose to deceive the Nations, a very unmeet season for such a work: and therefore I wonder that some, very Learned and Judicious Per∣sons, should so soundly nap it here, as to dream that Satan hath been let loose, ever since the Turks took Constantinople; when on the contrary, God is making his Chain shorter than it was, and not allowing him to Reign all over America as he did before. Neither is he permitted, so much as to tempt this upper Hemisphere, to lick up its vomit of old Gentilism; which is the only thing he is during the Millenium, restrained from: as Dr. Light∣foot well observes, and the sad experience of all Ages demonstrates, wherein he has been, is, and will be, Persecuting the Womans Seed, as far as his In∣struments dare; sowing his Tares among the good Seed, deluding those that receive not the love of the Truth, with as monstrous and damnable Errors, as the Pagan Ages were given up to; and tempting them to all the old De∣baucheries and unnatural sins of that, and the new invented ones of this Age, which were not named among the Gentiles; soliciting the Saints themselves, and sometimes leading them captive to those sins, they feel the bitterness of as long as they live. Briefly, he is bound up from being the God of the World (as he was while he and his Angels were Worship'd as Gods:) but he is permitted still to play all other parts of a Devil in the World; and will be, till the Church exchanges the Armour of God, for the Garment of Im∣mortality, so long as she stands, having her Ioines girt about with Truth, ha∣ving on the Breast-plate of Righteousness, and her feet shod with the pre∣paration of the Gospel of Peace; while she wears the Shield of Faith, the Hel∣met of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit; while shee's arm'd on the

right hand and left; while she stands thus [in praecinctu] upon her guard, and is bid to stand so, by the Captain of her Salvation, (which word of command she must be under till both Christ's and his Apostles Precepts be out of door.) we may be sure, she has not only Flesh and Blood to wrestle with, but Princi∣palities and Powers, the Rulers of the Darkness of this World, and spiritual wickednesses in the Etherial places.

Besides that, it will be unseasonable, to assign that time, for a season of grace (to one half of the World) wherein Satan is let loose to reinforce Paganism: the shortness of that space of his loosing will not give room enough, for the preaching of the Gospel to such multitudes of Nations and Languages. It is an old Tradition of the Jews (quoted by Dr. Lightfoot upon Rev. 20.) That in the day, when Judgment is upon the World, and the holy blessed God sits upon the Throne of Judgment, Satan, who deceives high and low, shall be found destroying high and low and taking away souls. Me∣thinks St. John, in this Vision, speaks to the heart of those Jews, and Tertullian expounds this Text of the Revelation, by that Tradition: in his Treatises against the Manichees, (cap. 24.) and de Anima (cap. 35. and 38.) where he hath this passage [Post cujus regni mille annos, intrà quam aeta∣tem concluditur sanctorum resurrectio, &c.] after the thousand years of which Reign of Christ, within which age is included the Resurrection of the Saints, &c. I know Mr. Meed would have him to speak here of a Resurrection that shall be at the beginning of the Millenium; but his prefixing before the mention of this Resurrection [post cujus Reg••i annos, after the 1000. years of whose Reign] seems to assign it to the latter end of the Millenium. And Lactantius dates the loosing of Satan, when the Millenium shall begin, to end [cùm caeperit termina∣ri,] that is, upon its expiring, but within the compass of it: at which time (saith he) the last wrath of God shall fall upon the Nations; and when the 1000 years are fully compleat, the World shall be renewed, and the Heavens shall be rolled up, and the Face of the Earth shall be changed: at the very same time shall be the second and publick Resurrection of all men, even of the unjust to eternal torments: to wit, such as have worship'd Gods made with hands, and have either not known, or denied the Lord of the World, they, and their Lord, and his Angels, and Ministers, shall be apprehended, and ad∣judged to punishment, in the sight of the Holy Angels and just men, (Lactan∣de divino praemio lib. 7. cap. 26.)

Having therefore these Authorities before me, I hope the ingenious Reader will not reckon this Problem either a novelty or singularity.

CHAP. VIII.

That Satans loosing will not be till the Dawning of the day of Judgment, Problematically discu'd.

§ 1. Elect gather'd into the Air over the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Chancells not all Eastward; but all toward that Valley. § 2. The Elect secur'd, Satan re-enters, and drives his old Demesne. The wicked destroyed as Rebels a∣ctually in armes. Believers tried as Citizens by the Books of Conscience and Book of Royal Law. § 3. Gogg, (Rev. 20.) a greater multitude than will meet before the day of Judgment. When Prophesies are to be expoun∣ded Literally, when Figuratively. § 4. The Ottoman Army is not this Gogick. § 5. The Fire of the last Conflagration carrieth Infidels into the Abyss. The Goats are cast into it after they are convict by the Covenant of Grace. White Throne. New Heaven and Earth. Flames of Fire divi∣ded. § 6. They that are in Christ rise first: but Infidels are first Judged. The Objection from their being in termino. § 7. The Jews Septimum Millenarium, is the eternal Sabbaoth. The days of a Tree (Isa. 65. 28.) The Text Paraphrased.

§ 1 THat this loosing of Satan shall not be till the Dawning of the Day of Judgement, touching which I humbly submit to the candid Censure of the Church, these my conjectures, with my Reasons for them.

That Text, Rev. 20. [He shall gather them together from the four corners of the Earth] seems to allude to Mat. 24. 31. and to be subsequent to that ga∣thering of the Elect. [He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trum∣pet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, and from the one end of the heaven unto the other] touching which first gathering of the Elect, St. Paul tells us, it shall be in order to their meeting of Christ in the day of Judg∣ment; at the sound of which Trumpet the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then those Christians whom that day shall find alive, shall in the twinckling of an eye be changed into the same form and condition of body with those that arose from the Dead, and be caught up in the Air to meet Christ. [Qui merebantur compendio mortis per demutationem expunctae, concurrere cum resurgen∣tibus.] (Tertul. de resur. cap. 41.) They who obtained by that short cut of death cancel'd by change, the priviledge to run together with them that rise, to the place of Judgment.

And the ancient Church generally thought, that the Center, to which this gathering of the Saints should be, is the Valley of Jehoshaphat; whither she expected Christ would come to judge the World: and, in testimony of that her expectation (and that she might, in all her religious Assemblies, be found waiting for that appearance of her Lord, and be mindfull of that our general gathering unto Christ) she turn'd her face, while she worship'd, to∣ward that point of the Earth: and therefore the sacred Places of Publick Worship were built with their Chancells (where the Communion-Table, the visible Throne of Grace stood) at the East end, if the place were West∣ward; but at the West end of their Church, if the place were East of that Valley, that so, in what coast soever the Name of Christ was invocated, their Eyes and Minds might be directed thither; this is the very reason, why the Chancel of the Patriarchall Church of Antioch stood at the West-end; and with∣out doubt all the Churches within that Patriarchat, that stood East of Ju∣dea, were conformable to the Mother-Church, as that was to the Practise of the Universal; which, from every point of the Circumference, had its Lines

drawn, to that Navel of the Earth, that Center of the general Assembly: And therefore Socrates is out, in his giving the standing of the Chancel of that Church, contrariwise to the Chancels of the European and Natolian Chur∣ches, for an Instance of the different Usages and Rites of some Churches from others: for though in the rest of the Examples that he produceth, one Church differ'd from another (without breach of Charity, or contempt of Religion) yet in this Ceremony, of looking towards the Valley of Jehosaphat, there was an Universal Conformity; no Church having so little manners, as to turn her breech upon the place of Judgment, while she worshipp'd the Judge, and made Confession of her belief, that she dayly expected his appearance, over that place, where, at his ascension, he was taken out of the sight of his Dis∣ciples into heaven: and his Angels after that assured them, that he should so come in like manner, as they had seen him go into Heaven. Which among other circumstances, must imply, that of the Place, if not mean that above any other: For as to other manner of his second Coming, it will be with a far greater Train of Angels than they then saw him ascend with, and in far greater Glory.

§ 2. The Elect; that is, all that have profest the Worship of the true God, (or as David calls them, Gods Saints that have made a Covenant with him by Sacrifice) being gather'd to the place of Judgment, (or during their gathering thither: For it seems Tertullian thought, the Pagans would be at the heels of the rising Saints; and that they might not surprise the Saints then living, they should be changed in a moment, and, in the twinkling of an eye, be in readiness to march up to the place of Judgement, with those that are risen, before the Antichristian party (both of the then living, and immediately to be rais'd) could seize upon them. [Hujus gratiae privilegium illos manet, qui ab adventu Domini deprehendentur in carne, & propter duritias tem∣porum Antichristi moriebuntur compendio mortis, &c.] (Tertull. Ibidem) This Election I say being gathered, or a gathering to the place of Judgements; the reprobates, (that is all Idolaters, the whole Pagan World, that have lived and died in Gentilism;) shall be raised, and those that are living shall be chan∣ged: And Satan now let loose (the whole Church waiting in the Air the Judges coming) will re-enter upon his old Demesne and drive all the Cattle he there finds, as his own, as weises and strays from the great Shepherd of Souls; and perswading them perhaps that he raised them from the dead, and would now at last be reveng'd on Christ and his Saints, and, dequoying them into an opinion that they had a fair opportunity of making havock of the City and People of God altogether, of swallowing up the little Flock of Christ at one morsel, now they were all in a body (and a body so contemptible, in comparison of those multitudes which he headed being as the Sand on the Sea-shore;) or by whatsoever insinuations, he will prevail with them to march up, under his and his Angels conduct, from all parts of the World, Gog and Magog, tectum & intectum (as St. Jerom expounds, Ezek. 28. and 29) the hidden Climes of the lower, the known World of the upper Hemisphere, against the holy Land and the Camp of the Saints, which while they are en∣compassing, the Judge appears, and, with that devouring fire that goes before him, destroyes them in a moment. For they being taken in the act of Re∣bellion (as Cora and his Complices) divine justice shall not need to proceed against them in a formal way of trial, but the Earth, chapt with this Fire of the last Conflagration, cleaves asunder, opens her mouth and receives them with the dregs of the whole Creation into that Abyss, whither that De∣luge of Fire, to which the Heaven and Earth that now are, are reserved, shall drive them. [Judicium quod est retributio pro peccatis, omnibus competit, ju∣dicium quod est discussio meritorum solis fidelibus, nullo modo infidelibus nec An∣gelis vel bouis vel malis:] (Aquinas sum. pa. 3. q. 89. art. 7, 8.) The Judgment of retribution appertains to all, the judgment of discussion to believers only, neither to Infidels nor Angels, either good or bad. The holiness of Elect Angels, and

the impiety of Devils and Infidels is so notorious, as they need no discussion. He that believes not, is condemn'd already [Et quoniam de his sententia in ab∣solutionem] and cannot be absolv'd, and therefore they shall be destroyed from, not judged before Christs presence (saith Lactant. de divino praemio. 7. 20. They shall not stand in judgment (Psal. 1.) that is, of the general day, saith Aben Ezra [Nos juxta operum nostrorum mensuram judicabit, illos verò non ju∣dicabit, sed arguet condemnatos,] (Jerom in Mic. c. 4.) We shall be judged ac∣cording to our works, but Infidels God will not judge, but take them up short, as condemn'd already. [Ad judicium non veniunt nec Pagani, nec Haeretici, nec Judaei, &c.] (August. Serm. 38. de Sanctis) Neither Pagans, nor Hereticks, nor Jews, come into judgment; because it is written of them that they are already con∣demned. [Alii judicantur & pereunt, alii non judicantur & pereunt: alii judicantur & regnant, alii non judicantur & regnant, &c.] (Greg. Mag. moral 26.) Some are judged and perish, viz. the Goats of the Flock: some are not judged and perish, viz. they that are not of the Flock; some are judged and reign, viz. the sheep of the Flock: some are not judged and reign, viz. the Guardians of the Flock, Elect Angels, &c. [Qui intrà Ecclesiam mali sunt, judicandi sunt & damnandi; qui verò extrà Ec∣clesiam inveniendi sunt, non sunt judicandi sed tantùm damnandi (Isid. Hispal. Sent. lib. 1. cap. 27.)

3. After the Infidels are thus dispatcht (of the method of Gods proceeding with whom I know no Text in the whole Book of God that purposely and plainly speaks, but this of Rev. 20.) the great white Throne shall be erected, for the trial of such as have made Profession of worshipping the one God, through the seed of the Woman, or of embracing the Covenant of Grace in the various dispensations of it; the whole Flock of Christ, both Sheep and Goats, who shall have allowed them the benefit of the Book, (the Book of the Covenant) and be judged according to the Terms of the Covenant of Grace (implied by the white Throne.) [Fideles qui fuerunt saltem numero cives civitatis Dei; judicabuntur ut cives.] (Aquin. Sum. 3. q. 90. art. 7.) Be∣lievers who were at least in account, the Citizens of the City of God shall be jud∣ged as Citizens. In order to which Trial, the Books are open'd, the Books of every mans Conscience (as many Books as there are Consciences) so as e∣very man shall be his own Judge (as to matter of Fact) accordingly as his own Conscience shall accuse or excuse. St. Jerom in Daniel 7. The judgment shall be set and the books shall be open'd, i. e. [Conscientiae, & opera singulorum in u∣tramque partem, vel bona vel mala revelabuntur.] (St. Austin de civitat. 20. 14.) That is, Of the Conscience, and the works of every man on both sides, whether good or bad shall be reveiled, [Qua fiet ut cuique opera sua cuncta in memoriam re∣vocentur, & mentis intuitu mirâ celeritate cernentur:] (St. August. Serm. 67. de tempore.] By which opening of the Books of conscience, it shall come to pass, that every man by the inspection of his mind, shall by a strange celerity remember all his works: and the Judge (the testimony of Conscience standing by) shall demand of every man an account of his Life. [Adstante conscientiae testimonio, rationem vitae caeperit postulare] Bonaventura Breviloq. par. 7. cap. 1.) Fiet apertio Libro∣rum, scilicet Conscientiarum.] There shall be an opening of the Books, to wit, of every mans Conscience.

And for the Trial of Right, another Book shall be open'd, the Book of Life, the Covenant of Grace, wherein all mens names are writ (by their Qua∣lifications, which will only be ponderated then) that therein had salvation promis'd them; and whosoever is not found to be qualified, as that Book describes the Heirs of Life to be, shall, by the Angels of God, (after Christ has pronounced the comdemnatory Sentence upon them) be gatherd out of Gods Kingdom, as tares, as things that offend, and be cast into the Lake of Fire, provided for the Devil and his Angels. [Hanc omnium revelationem comitatur separatio: quae (Mat. 25. 32.) comparatur separationi pastoris, segregan∣tis oves ab haedis:—hanc separationem excipit sententiae dictio] (Vossii. theses. theol. disp. 15. Thes. 1. 2. & 3.) After this revelation follows the separation of the Sheep from the Goats; and after this separation the Judge pronounceth Sentence.

§ 3. These are my Conjectures, as to the Order of Gods proceeding in the day of Judgment; my Reasons for my placing the loosing of Satan, and the Gogick war, and the confusion of both Captain and Army, betwixt the Resurrection and Judgment of the Elect (or profest Believers.) I shall now tender, before the Churches Tribunal to whose Sentence (of approbation or reprobation) I am indifferently willing to stand, as one that espouses no other interest, but that of truth.

1. That this going out of Satan, to deceive the Nations into an engage∣ment against the holy City, will not be, till after the Resurrection of the just, may be inferr'd from the numerousness of this Heathen-army; for mul∣titude, as the Sand of the Sea; large enough to march upon the breadth of the earth, listed out of the four quarters of the earth; such a multitude, as (doubtless) shall never be seen together, but when the Heathen shall be awa∣ked, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat: where God shall sit to judge all the Heathen round about; even those multitudes of multitudes, in the valley of decision, Sept. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] whither the Heathen are to come, and to gather themselves round about, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] under the conduct of that mighty one, whom the Lord will cause thither to come, and there bring down, Joel 3. 11, 12, 13, 14.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] the great Warriour shall be tamed.

2. Indeed Prophetical terms are not to be stretcht always to the utmost extent of the letter, nor, in every word, to be expounded according to the Li∣teral sence; for those burthenous words proceeding from the mouth of God (like Bullets) do often graze, before they reach their utmost mark; and spend not all their force, where they first light: and therefore though particu∣lar, locall, and indeterminate Judgments, be denounc'd in words borrowed from, and make as great a crack as the last; (to awaken us to repentance, in order to the diverting or procrastinating of the effects:) yet, when through our impenitency we provoke God to inflict them, they are mixt with mercy: God, in his every days anger, is strong and patient; strong in sparing; spends but part of the Arrows in the Quiver of the Menacy. Propheticus mos est Summam consternationem, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, describere, petitâ trans∣latione, ab iis quae efficient consternationem in adventu Christi, quo veniet ad judi∣candum mundum.] But the burthen of Prophesie, where it shall fall last, will fall with all its weight: when it is to have its accomplishment, it will have its full accomplishment. Ezech. 37. 12. The Prophet understands the Me∣taphorical Resurrection of Israel from that forlorn estate, but he alludes to the Resurrection that shall be at the last day: and from his alluding to that, Tertullian concludes, that that Text will have a fuller accomplishment then, [Hoc ipso quòd recidivatus Judaici status de recorporatione & readunatione ossi∣um figuratur, id quo{que} eventurum ossibus probatur, non enim posset de ossibus figurâ componi, si non id ipsum & ossibus eventurum esset: de vacuo similitudo non compe∣tit: de nullo, parabola non convenit:] (Tert. de resurrectione cap. 30.) St. Je∣rom (on Ezek. 37.) [nunquam poneretur similitudo resurrectionis ad restitutio∣nem Israelitici populi significandam, si non staret ipsa resurrectio.] The Pro∣phets would not borrow words from the last judgment, from that notion and con∣ception which the world, by tradition, had thereof, to describe particular judgments, if those words were not to be fulfilled at that last judgement. Tertullian affirms that divine Promises are of the like nature, fully accomplishable at the last day: [quum igitur ultimorum temporum statum Scripturae notent, & totam Christianae spei frugem in exodio seculi collocent, apparet aut tunc adimpleri totum quòdcun{que} nobis à deo repromittitur, &c.] Tertul. de resur. cap. 25.) Franc. Ju∣nius notes the corrupt reading of [exordio for exodio seculi:] Seeing there∣fore the Scriptures denote the state of the last times, and place the harvest of Chri∣stian hope at the latter end of the world; it is manifest that then shall be fulfill'd whatsoever God hath promis'd otherwise. And therefore we do but adulterate Prophecies, touching the last day, in receding from the Literal sence, in al∣laying

the briskness of that Cup of Fury, with the sober Nymph, the wa∣ter of figurative Expositions: any farther, than to tame the killingness of the Letter, (its manifest either Iniquity or Impossibility) of which the Li∣teral Exposition of these words which I give, are out of danger; for 'tis pos∣sible enough that at the Resurrection of the unjust, when all the Infidels and excommunicate persons shall stand up out of the dust together, they will co∣ver the breadth of the Earth: the Wings of that Army, of Aliens from the Covenant of Grace, will reach North and South; and their Files be as deep, as from East to West; though they stand at no greater distance one from a∣nother, than an Army in Battalia. It has been doubted by some, how so great a multitude could make their appearance together before the Judge; and therefore they have thought the judgment of the Heathen would take up a thousand years, while God called them one after another: but my Hy∣pothesis salves that doubt, without the help of such a subterfuge. However the raising of such doubts is an argument, that in common sence, there will be people enough, to fill the whole face of the Earth, saving that part of it that shall be railed in about the holy Mount. And that's an Argument, that the far greatest part of that Army must rise out of the Earth; for from whence else can so many be gathered, as shall cover the whole superficies of the Earth? (Caelum non habet unde cadat) and so many living together in a mortal state, would put the world into such a crowd, as might well excuse the Americans for seeking to enlarge their quarters. As for that other ex∣pression, [as the sands on the Sea shore for multitude,] he that thinks it an Hy∣perbole may think it so still, for me, and without prejudice to my Position: for as it is manifest, that so many men as there are grains of sand upon the shore, would not have room to stand upon the Earth, and therefore (according to the caution I have given) we must fly to the Figurative sence here, the Literal being manifestly impossible, so all that I need affirm is this, that this Gogick and Magogick Army shall, for multitude, come as near the Sand on the Sea-shore, as an Army can do, that is pitched on the Earth.

§ 4. Secondly, When Satan marcheth in the head of this Army, the Saints must be locally imbodyed: for it encompasseth the holy City, and the Camp of the Saints assembled, and in procinctu; into which posture how they could be drawn but by the summons of the last Trumpet is not conceiva∣ble: except we fancy that some lesser City and Assembly than the general of the Saints, shall be besieged by this General Army of Infidels: As the Lear∣ned Dr. Hammond applies it to the Turks taking of Constantinople: whereas there is no mention, in the Text, of taking, but only of encompassing the ho∣ly City; in the act and attempt whereof, they are said to be destroyed, by Fire coming down from God out of Heaven. And though the Ottoman Family (the off-spring of the Lydians, who are called the People of Gog, from Gyges, their first King) or Scythians (stiled by Josephus Magogaei) might be a Type of St. John's Gogs and Magogs, encompassing the Camp of the Saints in their besieging Constantinople: yet as they did not in all points Ty∣pifie this Gogick Army, so they did not in any one point Typifie it fully: not in multitude, for instance, for though the Ottoman Armies be very nume∣rous, yet they are not comparable to the old Scythian Armies, under Tomy∣ris; nor the Lydian, under Gyges; much less to that Muster of this Army, which St, John brings in, and therefore, in that respect, cannot so much as be an Antitype of Ezekiels old Gog, much less the very Gog of St. John. For Prophecies acquire strength in their motions towards a perfect accomplish∣ment: Vespasian's sacking of Jerusalem, and captivating of the Jews, came higher up to the terms of the old Menacy, than that which was inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Judgment of the last day will out-doc Vespasian's Desolation, and make up whatever that wanted of fulfilling every tittle of that Prophecy, which described those Judgements in Terms borrowed from the horror and greatness of this.

§ 5. Thirdly, It is the common Tenet of the Schools, that [Ignis ulti∣mae conflagrationis,] that Fire that shall refine and purge the Sublunary World, shall go before Christ when he comes to his Judgment-seat; and, by purging its dregs from the old, make a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein his white Throne shall be erected. [Quòd per ignem conflagrationis ultimae futu∣ra sit elementorum purgatio, probatur: in Ps. dicitur, [in conspectu ejus ardebit ig∣nis,] & posteà loquitur de judicio [advocabit caelum desursum & terram dis∣cernere populum suum,] 2 Pet. ult. Caeli ardenter solventur, & elementa ignis ardore tabefient.] (Aquin. sum. par. 3. q. 74.)

And that this Flame and Tempest shall burn up Gods enemies round a∣bout, [inflammabit in circuitu inimicos] Aquinas proves out of the Psalms, and Dan. 7. [Fluvius igneus rapidus{que} egrediebatur à facie ejus,] A Fiery stream shall go out of his mouth. Upon which he alledgeth this Gloss [ut malos pu∣niat & bonos purget;] That he may punish the evil and purge the good. And thence draws this conclusion, [Ergò ignis finalis conflagrationis in infernum cum reprobis demergetur:] Therefore the Fire of the last Conflagration shall sink into Hell with Reprobates, and carry with it the Lees of the whole Creation; that is, all the Lees which that fire can naturally separate, and finds unseparated; to wit, the corruptible properties of, and the stains which sin hath cast upon the whole sublunary world. And therefore we must except, here, humane mortality (for that shall be removed by the resurrection of the dead, and the change of the living.)

By the way, take notice that Thomas his [bonos probet] is a Popish No∣velty, the dreggs of the School doctrine of purgatorie, brought in to doe that in instanti, which they fancy the fire of Purgatory to effect by degrees and in time. Except he thereby mean, that this fiery cataract, by not touch∣ing them, by leaving no more smell of burning upon them, than that fur∣nace Fire did upon the three Children, will prove the Elect to be, at their Resurrection, Fire proof, though that is more than need, for the Church will be in the air higher above this flood of Fire, than Noah was above the Flood of water. But that which I observe, as truly Catholick, in the School Do∣ctrine, concerning this last Conflagration, is, that this stream of Fire, that shall proceed out of the judges mouth, at his appearance, that flaming Fire wherein the Lord Jesus, when he shall be reveiled from Heaven with his mighty Angels, shall take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not his Gospel, (that is, Infidel-Jews and Gentiles.) 2 Thes. 1. 7, 8. 9.) will deluge all those Infidels, and drive them and the Devil into the Abyss, or (in St. Pauls stile) shall punish them with everlasting destruction, from that presence of the Lord, and from that Glory of his power, wherein he shall appear, when he cometh to be glorified in his Saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. That this Fire (I say) shall carry Infidels in the stream of it, into the pit; from the presence of Christ, Whereas the Goats shall be dis∣mist into it, [Depart from me ye wicked into everlasting Fire.] In its proceed∣ing from Christs presence, it drives Infidels before it, but the Goats are sent after them, into it. It casts the whole Kingdom of Satan, all his profest Subjects, with its rowling waves into the uttermost Hell. But after that; the Angels gather whatsoever (upon trial) is found offensive, all the Tares in the Field of the Church, and shall cast them into it, after they have bound them in bundles. That at this Fiery appearance of Christ, at which the Saints shall lift up their heads, (they that are so indeed, confidently, and they that are so only by calling, hopefully; the first being assured of Heaven, the last not altogether despairing to receive Absolution:) For, [Aliud est ad veniam stare, aliud ad gloriam pervenire, aliud pendere in die judicii ad senten∣tiam Domini, aliud statim a Domino coronari.] (Cyprian, ep. 52. Anton. fratri. lib. 4. epist. 2.) and the foolish Virgins stand at door, and knock and wait and hope for entrance till they hear the sentence.) That at this Fiery ap∣pearance (I say) the Heaven and Earth that now is shall pass away, and bear

down with their dregs, the whole Company of Infidels into the place of tor∣ment, into the sink of all the Scum of the Creation, That God shall thus divide the Flames of Fire, before he divide the Goats from the Sheep; as both Goats and Sheep shall warm themselves thereat, while the strangers to the Covenant flie from their scorching heat, and are beaten down by the beams of it into the everlasting Dungeon, is well exprest by St. Jerom, in his First Epistle to Heliodorus; [Pavebit terra cum populis, & tu gaudebis; Ju∣dicaturo Domino, lugubre mundus immugiet; tribus ad tribus pectora ferient; potentissimi quondam reges nuda latera palpitabunt. Exhibebitur cum prole suâ Ve∣nus; tunc Ignitus Jupiter adducetur, & cum suis stultis Plato discipulis; Aristoteli sua argumenta non proderunt. Tunc rusticanus & pauper exultabis, & videbis & dices, ecce Crucifixus meus qui obvolutus pannis in praesepio vagiit: hic est ille operarii & questuariae filius; hic qui matris gestatus sinu, hominem Deus fugit in Aegyptum; hic vestitus coccino, hic sentibus coronatus; hic Magus demoni∣um habens, & Samarites. Cerne manus, Judaee, quas fixeras; cerne latus, Ro∣mane, quod foderas; videte corpus, an idem sit, quod dicebatis clam nocte sustu∣lisse discipulos.] The Earth shall tremble with its inhabitants, when the Lord comes to judgment, the World shall lament; Tribe by Tribe shall smite their breasts; the most potent Kings of old their hearts will be at through their naked sides; Ve∣nus will appear with her off-spring; Fiery Jupiter shall be brought into the Court, and Plato with his foolish Scholars. Aristotle's arguments will stand him in no stead. Then shalt thou who art a Christian, though never so clownish and poor, ex∣••lt and laugh and say, Behold, this is he who was Crucified for me, who was wrap∣ped in swadling cloaths, laid in a Manger wayling, this is that son of the Car∣penter and of her who earn'd her bread with the sweat of her brows: this is he who being God was carried in his Mothers bosom, and fled into Aegypt from the fury of a man; this is he that was arrayed in purple, and crowned with Thorns; this is that Samaritan Conjurer that had a Devil. Behold those hands (Jew) which thou nailedst; see that side (Gentile) which thou piercedst: see whether this be the same body which you said his Disciples stole away by night. And as plainly asserted by St. John; who not only mentions the erecting of the white Trone; on which Christ is to sit in Judging the Saints by calling, after the destruction of the Infidels, and after that Heaven and Earth was fled away from the face of the Judge, at his first appearance. (Musculus in Thes. 4. We shall be caught up into the air to meet the Lord;) [Tum sane expiabitur & repurgabitur aer ab immundiciâ malorum spirituum, quemadmodúm & terra ab inhabitatione impiorum hominum.] But, after the mention of those things going before, giveth a punctual account of Christs way of proceeding in judging his own flock (for those he judgeth from his white Throne, can be no other, but such as could claim the benefit of the Covenant of Grace, such as could say, Lord, Lord; and plead, we have prophesied in thy name; in thy name we have cast out Devils, we have eat and drank in thy presence, or something of that nature; whereby they will challenge the benefit of the Book, and pretend their names are writ in it; till Christ open the Book, lay before them the Terms of that Covenant; and, by the evidence of their own Conscience, convince them they cannot claim that Salvation was tender'd in the Gospel, for that they have not observ'd the Conditions on which it was offerd; they have not fed the hungry, cloath'd the naked, they have not been merciful, humble, meek, pure in heart, peace-makers, (by which names, the heirs of the Evangelical blessings are set down in the Book of Life) of the same tendency, is that description of the general Judgement which our Saviour gives, wherein he passeth over the judgment of Infidels, and confines his discourse to his way of process with his own Flock, with e∣lect and reprobate Professors of worshipping the one God through the Seed of the Woman. The Goats are part of Christs visible Flock, the excrescen∣cies of his Mystical Body; that serve for Ornament: and therefore the Chur∣ches hair is compared to a Flock of Goats, (Cant. 4. 1. Cant. 6. 5.) and the Kidds of the Flock mentioned, as well as the Lambs (Can. 1.) Hence St. Jerom

well observes, that the barren and Fetid Hee-Goats (not the Shee-Goats that go up from the washing and bear Twins (Cant. 4. 2.) shall be separated from the Flock (in Mat. 25.) Rhem. Test. note in Mat. 25. 32. They are separated, who in the visible Church lived together: as for Hereticks they went out of the Church before, separated themselves: and therefore not separated here, as being judged already. There being none amongst the Goats of that Flock who could plead, they had not seen or known Christ, but only that they had not seen him so and so; they believed he was ascended into Heaven, and sate at the right hand of God: but little thought he was hungry and thirsty, and opprest, in his poor Members on Earth: and the only thing that is laid to their charge being their transgressing the Royal Law, their not living up to Evangelical Precepts, their not practising those Christian Duties they had an opportunity to perform, living in the Communion of Christs Mem∣bers. No larger bounds doth David or Asaph set himself (Ps. 50.) where ha∣ving only hinted Gods destroying the Infidels at his glorious appearance, by the fire that burnt before him, and that horrible tempest round about; he giveth an account at large, how God, after that, will proceed to the trial of such as were in Covenant with him, called his people, vers. 4. his Saints that have made a Covenant with him by Sacrifice, ver. 5. that have enter'd Co∣venant by Circumcision or given up themselves as a Sacrifice to God by pro∣mising to be his Servants, as R. David explains that Text [Faedus per Sacrifi∣cium, ut Exod. 24. 8. Moses faedus ferit, & offerebat sacrificia dicendo, ecce san∣guis faederis: in Daresh faedus Circumcisionis,] (Rab. David in p. 50.) de die ju∣dicii futuro quando redemptor venit (ut Joel. 3. 1. ver. 4.) advocabit caelum: ad Angelos caeli ut vindictam, sicut in exercitum Assur, exequentur, (2 Reg. 19. 35.) that they being dispatcht, he may judge his people, [Postquàm Deus vindi∣ctam in hostes suos ex gentibus ostendit, tunc ex Israele peccatores exterminat, (Zach. 13. 8.) duae partes exterminentur.] (Isa. 4. 3. [omnis scriptus in libro erit sanctus.] Not only by calling, but election: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth, and shall have purged the blood from the midst of Jerusalem, by the spirit of judgment. Before these, and these alone, the Book of Life, the Covenant is open'd, vers. 7. Hear O my People, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testifie unto thee. I will call Heaven and Earth to testifie against thee [Quod f••dere me Deum tuum agnoscere obligatus es, & pro peccatis tuis reprehendam te, non pro sacrificiis, quia in Decalogo non est mentio sacrificiorum, nec est haec res magna in oculis meis, utrùm sacrifices vel non,] That by covenant thou wast bound to acknowledge me thy God, and I will re∣prove thee for thy sins, not for Sacrifices, because in the Decalogue there is no mention of Sacrifice, neither is this a thing of any value in my eyes, whether thou sacrifices or not.] Vicars. decupla. in Psal. 50.) And then the Books of Con∣science are open'd; their sins, the Transgressions of the Royal Law, are ser in order before the faces of such, as have taken the Covenant in their mouths, but hated to conform unto it: when thou sawest a Thief, thou consentedst unto him, and hast been a partaker with the Adulterer, &c. Of the same Tenour is the discourse of St. Paul, 1 Thes. 4. upon which Musculus hath this note, [Non recenset omnia quae futura in adventu Domini, sed ea tantùm, idque in summa, quae concernunt salutem fidelium, de perditione vero impiorum De{que} rui∣na & mutatione totius mundi nihil meminit.] The Apostle doth not rehearse all things future at the Advent of the Lord, but only those things, and that briefly which concern the salvation of the faithful, but of the perdition of the wicked and change of the world he makes no mention.

§ 6. 4. Though I approve not the Sentence of Lactantius and the old Mil∣lenaries, that the Saints shall rise a thousand years before the wicked: yet I cannot cordially subscribe to that of Gennadius Massiliensis (de eccles. dogmat. cap. 6.) [Erit resurrectio mortuorum omnium hominum, sed una in simul & se∣mel; non prima justorum & secunda peccatorum, ut fabula est somniatorum, sed una omnium.] There will be a resurrection of all men, but one, at the same in∣instant

of time; not the first of the just, and the second of the unjust (as some men dream) but one of all men. This opinion (I say) I cannot subscribe to, as conceiving it to thwart the Assertion of Saint Paul, (1 Corin, 15. 23.) all shall be made alive in Christ: but every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits, then those that are Christs, at his coming, then the end, &c. and (1 Thes. 4. 16.) the dead in Christ shall rise first, first not in re∣spect of those in Christ, that shall be alive, (for as we that are alive shall not prevent them that are asleep, so neither shall they that are asleep prevent us that are alive; seeing we shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, in a moment, in the same moment that they shall be raised, so that there will be no more prius & posterius, betwixt us than is in a moment; neither can they whom that day finds alive rise at all.) But, first, in respect of them that are out of Christ; as the antients generally, and the best modern Expositors gloss upon these Texts. Musculus, [Non soli resurgent qui sunt Christi, resur∣gent omnes, sed ii primi. sic. 1 Thes. 4. mortui in Christo resurgent primum, post illas surgent & reliqui.] Not only they that are Christs, but all, shall rise; but they that are in Christ shall rise first, and afterwards the rest, as the Apostle saith. St. Athanasius conceives St. Paul to give to them that are Christs both priori∣ty of time as to their Resurrection and change, and of place as to their trial and receiving of sentence: [Oportet namque ut aliquod habeant privilegium justi vel resurgendo; nam ut in aera obviàm Christo procedant rapiendi: ita & primi à mortuis excitantur; quemadmodum contra & peccatores in terra & lo∣cis inferioribus hisce judicem ut damnati operiuntur.] (Ex Christoferi translatio∣ne in 1 ep. ad Corin c. 15.) It is meet that the righteous should have the privi∣ledge of rising before Infidels: for as they are snatcht up into the Air to meet Christ, so they also shall be first raised from the dead: whereas on the contrary in∣fidels as being damn'd already, shall wait for the judge upon earth, and these inferior places.

5. That the Saints, though they rise before the Infidels, yet shall not be judged till the Devil and his Worshippers be cast into Hell, is the assertion of Tertullian, (de Resurrectione carnis cap. 25.) [Hîc ordo temporum sternitur—Diabolo in abyssum interim relegato, primae resurrectionis praerogativa de soliis or∣dinetur: dehinc & igni data universalis Resurrectionis censuta de libris judi∣cetur.] The order of time is here laid down. The Devil in the mean while being sent back again into the bottomless pit, the Prerogative of the first Resurre∣ction, (that is, their being gathered in the air to the place of Judgment) shall be put into order: and after that they are assembled, (the Fire of the last Confla∣gration having changed the world) the sentence shall pass out of the books upon them that rose first, that is, the Saints by calling.

From these premisses it necessarily follows, That all the time that Satan hath allotted him, after his loosing, to go out again and tempt the World to Gentilism, to deceive the Nations after his old wont, is that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that small season that intervenes betwixt the general Resurrection of the Saints, and the Condemnation of Infidels; that short space, wherein the Saints shall, all in a body be waiting at the place of Judgment (whither the An∣gels shall gather them) for the appearance of Christ. Against which Hy∣pothesis I cannot imagine what now can be excepted; but that it seems to suppose, that Infidels after their Resurrection shall be in a capacity to de∣merit, contrary to the common, (and in my judgment the true) Opinion: that they will be then as they were since their dissolution, in termino. But there is no ground of such a suspicion in this case, as I state it: for I do not make their following Satan with their rebellious Arms, a contraction of new guilt (because it proceeds from that height of judicial obcecation, that di∣vine Justice inflicts upon them, as their punishment) but an occasion of Gods justifying himself in their condemnation: (as that which speaks them, to have lived and died impenitent,) for all their willfull rebellions. I do not affirm, that God inflicts more punishment upon them, because of this, than what they had deserved before: but only takes the opportunity (of these

Rebels being in Arms) to proceed against them, and to destroy them altoge∣ther as enemies. I cannot express my mind in more significant terms than those of Aquinas, (Sum. 3. q. 90. art. 7.) [Civcs judicabuntur ut cives, in quos sine discussione meritorum sententia mortis non feretur; sed infideles con∣demnabuntur ut hostes qui consueverunt apud homines abs{que} meritorum audientia estimari:] Citizens shall be judged as Citizens, against whom the sentence of death may not be pronounced without the discussion of their desert of it: but Infi∣dels shall be condemned as open enemies, who use among men to be doom'd without hearing.

That God may not keep his Citizens in suspence, and demurr the trial of their cause longer than need, he will not appear in his Glory, till his Rebels be all in arms; that so finding them, at his coming, in the Field, set in Battalia against his Subjects, he may cut them off at once.

§ 7. I have but one Argument more, against the Chyliasts limitting the Saints Reign with Christ on Earth, to a precise thousand of years, to try the patience (as well as Judgment) of my Reader withal: to wit, the im∣pertinency of the Authorities which they alledge for their Opinion. Of which I shall give but two Instances, because I would not quite tire my self or Reader.

1. They alledge the Authority of the Jewish Doctors, whereas the Mil∣lenium they speak of, is the Septimum Millenarium (as Carpenter observes, in Plato's Alcinous, pag. 322.) at the beginning whereof they think God will judge all men; and as Mr. Meed proves by several quotations (volume 2. pag. 667.) Now the seventh day thousand of years is confest by all to last to all Eternity, as being the holy Sabbath, wherein the Saints shall rest from their six days labour. And for any day of a thousand years long, before that, the antient Jews are wholly strangers: so they reckon the three Ages, before that, by two thousand of years apiece; two thousand before the Law, two thousand under the Law, and two thousand under the Messiah, before the eternal Sabbath: in which compute they intend not that any of those Ages shall be of so many precise years continuance; (if they do, they have foully mist it, in the two already past) neither do they mention any innova∣tion of the World, after the giving of the Law; but the Age of the Messiah (that is to begin with their fifth Millenium from the Creation) and the Sab∣bath of eternal rest, the seventh Millenium. So that if they, at any time, call the day of the Messias a thousand years, they mean by that number, about two thousand of precise years, that is, an indefinite Num∣ber.

2. How groundless then must be their building their Doctrine of a precise thousand upon those Texts, which the Jews first, and they from them alledge: for first, if they be sueh Texts, as the Jews do ground their Millenium upon, they cannot import a precise Millenium; that being more than the Jews conclude from them (and perhaps St. John might take up the Jewish use of that term, thinking none would be so simple, as to understand it in any other but that sence which their custome had put up∣on it:) and secondly, the Texts alledged imply not any precise number. I will instance in that which Irenaeus stands so much upon: Isa. 65. 28. The days of my people are us the days of a Tree, that is, the Tree of Life; as the Septuagint expounds it; and the Chaldee Paraphrase, (out of the Tar∣gum on Psal. 1. 4.) he shall be like a Tree Planted by the concourse of Waters; i. e. those four streams that water'd the Garden of Eden, where the Tree of Life was planted: this they rightly understand to be a Pro∣phesie of the dayes of the Messias; but the Chyliasts misapply it to their thousand years, when they make this to be the resemblance, That, had A∣dam eaten of the Tree of Life before he fell, he should have lived a thou∣sand years, before his Translation; but eating of the forbidden Tree he died

in the day that he eat of it, that is, before the great day of a Millenium was expired.

But first, Adam notwithstanding lived so near to a thousand years—(930) as makes the Divine Menacy (if that be all it imports) as good as ineffectual, and his returning to the dust so few years sooner, than he should have done, had he kept his innocency, so unproportionable to the severity of it, as speaks him in a manner to have sinned impune.

And secondly, if we will choose rather to sit at Gods feet, than Gamaliel's and take his Comment, before the Glosses of those blind Hebrew Doctors; (to whom their own Scriptures are a Book sealed) we shall hear him teach, that that Tree was a Sacrament of a Life, not for a thousand years, but for ever, Gen. 3. left the man put his hand to the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever. So that if I would single a Text out, for the probat of my As∣sertion, that the thousand years, (answerable to the life Typified by the Tree of Life) of the Messias Kingdom, shall be for ever, shall last as long as time, I could not pitcht upon one, that more clearly proves it, than this does (accor∣ding to the Jewish application of it to the time of the Messias) which the Millenaries, from the Jewish Doctors application of it, alledge to prove a precise number of years.

We see with how great absurdities, the limiting of the Saints Reign on Earth with Christ, to the precise time of a thousand years, is encumbred on all hands; whether we reflect on that Opinion, which presents these years as already run out; or on them, who to prevent those absurdities, assert the Millenium to be not yet begun, and fall into grosser absurdities. By which discourse we have gain'd that light to this Text, as presents that to be the mind of it, which is so much inculcated by the Old-Testament-Prophets, viz. That after Satan is once bound up, by the Imperial Laws commanding for Christ, he shall never have power granted him, either to erect any new Sect of Gentilism (to introduce any new Gods, such as the Gentiles gene∣rally before that, worship'd) into any part of the World; or to restore the old, into those parts, out of which it hath been ejected. In which state the world shall continue a thousand years, that is, for ever, a certain being put for an indeterminate time; than which there is no figure of speech more common, either in the Language of Scripture, or the Tongues of all men. During which period there shall be Christian Assemblies, Worshipping the one God through Christ, and thankfully commemorating the Martyrs that died for, and the Saints that died in, the Faith of Christ, so as they shall live again, in their blessed Memorials: and they that had been condemned for∣merly by the Pagan World, as irreligious Atheists. [Si quis impius, aut Epi∣cureus mysteriorum explorator accessit, discedat.] (Lucian Alexand.) If there be here present any prophane person or Christian, or Epicurean Sifter of sacred Rites) shall openly be proclaimed to live and reign with Christ, as the only truly re∣ligious persons. But as for the rest of the dead, (the old Idolaters, who li∣ved and died either for, or in Gentilism) neither they nor the Idols whom they worship'd, shall ever be received again, or gain their ancient credit: but lye for ever under contempt; as they that are buried and out of mind, Satan, indeed, when that term is expired, that is, at the Resurrection of the Just shall be permitted to do his utmost, to tempt all the Idolatours that e∣ver were, to own him, for their God, as he by whose power they were raised from the dead; and they will so far comply with him, and put their trust in him, as to march under his Banner against the whole Assembly of Belie∣vers, then gather'd to the place of judgment, and attending the appearance of Christ; who shall no sooner appear, but a Fire before him, and an horri∣ble Tempest round about, shall seize upon all the corruptible parts, and inha∣bitants (visible, and invisible) of the etherial, and earthly World; and de∣vour and deluge the whole World of Infidels, as the world of the Gyants was formerly drown'd and purg'd by Water. And thus the wicked Idolaters and their Idols, (Margin. text. Mosora. in Psal. 1, [impii & idola eorum non

stabunt in judicio justorum.] not being able to stand in the judgement of the righteous, but receiving their judgment a part from them, by themselves, while they attempt to take the City of God (as those Gyants of old are feigned to have done) by force; Christ the judge will proceed to pass sen∣tence upon all such, as can lay any claim to the benefits of the Gospel, the white Throne shall be erected, &c.

CHAP. IX.

The force of the general Argument from Prophesie urged.

§ 1. Prophetick Events demonstrate the Reveilers infinite science. § 2. And Omnipotencie. § 3. The Divine Original of the Gospel. § 4. Christ Circumstantiated old Prophesies of Jerusalem's Fall. § 5. When her Fall was most unlikely. § 6. Precognition demonstrates Pre-existence.

§ 2. I Have been forc'd in the Explication of that part of this Prophecy, that is not yet fullfill'd, to larger excursions from my propounded Theme, then will stand with my Readers patience; or indeed with the Rules of Art; were it not that the right understanding of that, is a Key to unlock that part of it, that is fulfill'd: and the misapplication of either is a dangerous inlet to Atheisme, and a spawn of Infidelity; for when such Expositions and Applications of this Prophecy, as I have been opposing, are taken for the Word of God, upon the credit of their Authors, and found to make the time of the binding of Satan from deceiving the world, (after it hath been converted to Christianity) as he did under Gentilism, either to be past, or not yet come: who can be so short reason'd, as not to perceive how palpably St. John is hereby made to contradict the old Pro∣phets: whose constant Song is this, that as the Light of the Gospel should arise, the Darkness of Paganism should vanish, and once vanish'd never come more to light. A truth so palpably experienc'd, as Porphyrie is driven to this confession [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Since the time that Jesus began to be worship'd, no man has perceiv'd any be∣nefit to be reap'd by the common Religion of the Gods (Euseb. praepar. Evan. 5. 1.) Whether in vindicating St. John from all suspicion of clashing with other, and elder, Prophets, and tuning his words into a consent with theirs, we have strained them from their most native sence, I leave to my Readers Judg∣ment, while I press the present and manifest Effects of all Prophecies, upon this subject, upon the Atheists Conscience; as evidence of the infinitely com∣prehending foreknowledge of the first Author of the Revelation of the Fu∣turity of such pure Contingencies, so many Ages before they fell out: as ar∣guments for Faith from Sence, his beloved Medium, through which only he will see Truth. Let him then put his Perspective to his Corporeal Eye, look through Galilaeus his Glass (by help whereof he can spie a World in the Moon, not only Earth and Seas; but Woods and Hedge-rowes; yea perhaps, if he look more wishtly, Men or Boyes spreading Mole-hills.) Let him take a standing with Baethius, in that Orb, and then cast down his eye upon this earthly Globe, East, West, North, Sout•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉, if that be impossible, let him travel the World in the length thereof and breadth thereof. Or, if that be too pain∣ful, let him send to the Isles of Chittim, and see, unto Kedar, and consider di∣ligently, if there be such a thing as a Pagan God any where, where the Gos∣pel was once embrac'd, though it be now renounc'd there. Let him inform himself of the present state of those Nations, which of old, when Israel for∣sook the God that made him, could not by any means be induc'd to forsake

their No-God-Gods; whether all those Gods be not crept into holes, where the Light of the Gospel hath been communicated. Has there been any place for any of them, upon this upper Hemisphere? Are they not all descended into shades, ad inferos, as the Ancients call'd the Antipodes, since the Gospel made the one God known to it? hath any God been exalted, but the Lord alone, any where in all the earth, since it became the possession of Christ. If the Prophets (saith St. Austin de consensu Evang. 1 16.) in foretelling such great Changes to Fall, in the Christian Times, were deceived, how come their Prophecies so manifestly to be fulfill'd? And when we find, by the event, that they spake true, who can have the face to resist so clear a demon∣stration of their being guided by an infallible Spirit.

§ 2. But from these events is not only demonstrated the Omisciency of the Reveiler of those Prophecies, but the Omnipotency of him also, in bring¦ing those things to pass. If he that foretold his own Reigning alone, were not the Omnipotent God; how comes he now to be alone worship'd, and all other Gods rejected? who can this God of Israel be, who was once so un∣known among the Gentiles, as they could not find him in that croud of Gods whom they then worship'd, but is now so well known, as, of so ma∣ny Nations, he is alone worship'd? who can that God be who would not have any other God worship'd but himself; and whose will is of more force, to overturn the Temples; Altars, and Images of all other Gods, than all theirs to hinder the embracing of his Rites? Whereas the Gentile Gods were such tame fools, as they could endure to be rival'd by Gods of their own proclaiming: Jupiter Hammon himself induc'd Alexander into a belief that he was begotten by a God, and should share with him in divine ho∣nours, (Diodor. Sicul. Bibl. l. 17. p. 550.) Must not he be the All-knowing God, whose Prophets, not only answer'd those that consulted them concern∣ing present emergencies, but being not consulted, foretold, so long time be∣fore, those strange and unlook'd for changes, concerning whole Humane kind and all Nations, which we now read and see: Must not he be the All∣powerful God who hath brought to pass what he foretold; to wit, that the Romans and all Nations should, by means of the Gospel, be brought to be∣lieve in one only God, and overthrow the Images, and discard the Worship of their Fore fathers Gods?

Legant si possunt—Let them produce, if they can, any one of the Gentile Gods, that have had so much boldness as to boast, that time would come, that the God of Israel, and the rest of the Nations Gods, should give place to him. Nay, their thrice great Mercury (whether by guess, or peculiar dis∣pensation, that those Devils might be tormented, with the forethought of it, before it came to pass) foretells the fatal day of the Aegyptian Idols, and the restauration of the Worship of the one Omnipotent God, that made and go∣verns the whole World, and shall restore it, and reform it, and bring it forth anew. [Tunc terra ista sanctissima, sedes delubrorum at{que} Templorum, sepul∣chrorum erit mortuorúm{que} plenissima? Oh Aegypte, Aegypte, Religionum tuarum solae supererunt fabulae, & ae{que} incredibiles posteris suis, sola{que} supererunt verba lapidibus incisa: Et tanti operis effector, & restitutor, Deus, ab omnibus qui tunc erunt, frequentibus praeconiis, benedictionibus{que} celebretur.] (Asclep. partit 9.) Then shall this most Religious Land, now the seat of Fanes and Tem∣ples, be full of Sepulchres and dead men, (that is, the Gods whom thou wor∣ship'st shall be detected to be no other than dead men, and their Temples no other than Sepulchers, than places 〈…〉〈…〉e they lay interr'd.) Oh Aegypt, Ae∣gypt, of all thy Religions there will nothing remain, but the stories of them: and those thought unworthy of the belief of posterity: nothing will be left, but some Motto's engraven in stone. And he that brings so great things to pass, the God that made, and shall restore the world, shall then be celebrated of all with dayly Praises and Benedictions. Their most Divine Prophetess Sibyl sung the Fu∣neral Elegy of the Provincial Gods and the Genethliacon of the World to

the acknowledgement of the one God. And their infallible Tripos, and Py∣thian Oracle was forc'd to tell the World that Phaebus himself must pack to Hell and be eternally deprived of Divine honour, by the Hebrew Boy the Child Jesus. But of which of their Gods, did any of the Pagan Divines speak at this rate, that he should turn all other Gods out of their Temples, subvert their Altars, and root out their names and Memo∣rials from under Heaven, and Reign as a Monarch-Deity over the Universe. Sure it concern'd the Gentile World, not to suffer such Oracles to have been spilt upon the ground as water, but to have preserved them in everlasting Tables, which they might have hung forth, upon the Pillars of their Temple, to affront the Oracles of the God of Israel, and to have born up the Spirits of Idol-worshippers, sinking under those burthens, which Gods Prophets saw against false Gods: whom according to their Prophe∣sies, we have seen broken to pieces like a Potters vessel, with the Iron-rod of that Son of God, whom he hath set up as King upon the Hill of Sion; to whom he hath given the Heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession: Who coming out of his Chamber as a Bride∣groom, (that is, [Conjugatum carni humanae Verbum processit de útero virgina∣li,] August. de consens. 1. 16. the Word Married to humane flesh came out of the Virgins Womb.) Rejoyceth, as a Giant, to run his course; not only from one end of the Hemisphere unto the other (as they would bound Christs King∣dom who exclude America from the hopes of it) but from one end of the Heaven to the other: and (if that be not plain enough) nothing is hid from the heat thereof; not any part of the round World, that the corporeal Sun visits. Mankind receives the cherishing warmth of its Beams; and basks it self in that Fountain of Light. The Serpent feels their scorching heat, and flees therefrom. [Et adhuc isti fragiles contradictiunculas garrientes eligunt, ma∣gis isto igne, sicut stipula in cinerem verti, quam sicut aurum à sorde purgari?] And, will the crazy-headed Sceptick yet chatter and gaggle out his petit and bublie Exceptions, which break with the least touch, with the gentlest blast? and choose rather to be consumed to ashes in this fire, as stubble, than to be purged by it from his dross, as Gold.

§ 3. Or is he of so thick-skin'd a Soul, as not to feel the heat of Christs Divinity, in those Prophetick Rayes, emitted from his Spirit, before he came in the Flesh; as not to conceive that the accomplishments of Old Testament-Prophecies, is a demonstration, not only of their own, but of the Gospels Divine Original: which can be the Workmanship of none other Architect, but of him who drew the Model and Idea of these new Heavens, that new Creation, that new face of things, which we see produc'd in the Age of Christianity. Humane Wit indeed might have drawn another Model per∣fectly resembling that, might have fram'd an History parallel to Prophecy. (though they that could make the Counter-part, so exactly answer the Ori∣ginal, and write so perfectly after the Copy, as the Apostles have, must be Persons of a steady Hand; excellently composed Spirits, and solid Judge∣ments. And therefore all the Inference we drew, in our Second Book, from the Apostles proportioning every Limb and Line of their Story to the Old Testament-Draught, was, that they had thereby demonstratively acquitted themselves from all suspicion of being themselves deluded.) But it is out of the reach of Humane power, to bring the Matters, there prophesied of, unto Birth, the erecting of the Structure it self; the production of what was fore-told into real existence, cannot be the Effect of any, but of him alone, who hath as great an Infinity of Power, to bring to pass, as he hath of knowlege to foresee them.

And therefore having proved, the Truth of what the Apostles reported, that what they say was done, in order to the accomplishment of Prophecy, was done indeed; he must be a person of very short Reason, that from the im∣provement of the Premisses, cannot improve the Conclusion, and draw this Inference. That as nothing but Omnisciency could foresee, so nothing less

than Omnipotency could effect, That a Virgin should bring forth a Son, ex∣ternally so mean, as those, among whom he convers'd, saw so little comli∣ness in him, as they Crucified him, (as an Impostor, for saying he was the Son of God, the King of the Jews, that Messia promised in the Law, and so much predicated by the Prophets) and yet really so full of Majesty, as he is become King of Kings, hath subdued the World to his Obedience, abo∣lish'd all the Gods of the Nations, and erected every where the Worship of that one God, that made Heaven and Earth: that God of whom Moses writes, known formerly only in Jewry; but now no where less known than among the Jews; they being the greatest strangers to their own Pro∣phets; and their Fathers God being the greatest stranger to them; of any Na∣tion upon the face of the Earth.

§ 4. But that I may not put the Sceptick to the expence of all the Rea∣son he hath, and that he may not think it is through penury of New Testa∣ment-prophecies, that I pitch upon those of the Old: and that he may grope out the Divinity of the Blessed Jesus, in some palpable accomplishments of the Predictions he made in person, as well as by Proxy: I shall here mind him of this Note.

That Christ espoused all the Old Testament-prophecies, commented up∣on them, applied them, and not only attested the coming to pass of what the Prophets had foretold, in general; but, as it were individuated those gene∣rals, by more particular and punctual Circumstances, not so much as hin∣ted, by them of old: and appeal'd to their accomplishment, in that way, and with those Circumstances, wherewith he cloath'd them: The prophets gave only the rough draught of what Christ drew to the life; he lickt their rude Lumps into so distinct and explicite forms; as the Prophecies became his own: his Gleanings were more than their Vintage: To instance in one for all, Christ, in his Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem, referrs to Daniel (when you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel) thereby appealing to its accomplishment, as that which he was content to stand or fall by, as to mens belief that he was the Messias: as if he had said, if you see it not within the Term of Daniels Weeks, within so many years after my offering an Attonement for sin, as Daniel states it, after the Oblati∣on of the Messias, believe me, not that I am he. But withal he leaves it not in such curious Calculations as Daniel did, but what he had writ in figures, Christ transcribes in words at length; and applies it to that Generation, with that perspicuity, and in such particularities, as an Historian can scarce tell what has been done more punctually, than Christ foretells what should be done.

1. As to the time of its taking Effect: there be some (saith he) standing here, that shall not tast of Death, till all these things shall be fulfill'd; and in par∣ticular, St. John shall tarry till Christ come to avenge himself on the Jewish Nation.

2. As to the Instruments to be employed by Christ, for the destruction of their place and Nation, he describes them by their Banners, the Eagles, under which the Roman Legions, those Birds of prey, march'd, when divine Justice conducted them into Judaea, that they might flesh themselves upon that Na∣tion, whose Inhabitants (their sins being ripe) were as Carcasses fatted and prepared for them; signified (as Tacitus thinks) by that prodigy of a Dog bringing to Vespasian a dead mans hand, as if that Dog had set the Game for the Roman Eagles, and had wagg'd his tail before Judaea, as the place where the Carcasses (their prey) lay,

3. As to the Deliverance of the believing Jews: in the Mountainous pla∣ces of Judaea, whither Christ warned them to flee when they should see the Roman Standards advancing towards Jerusalem: or at Pella, whither those that had not understood Christs direction repaired, after that voyce was heard in the Temple [migremus Pellam;] Let us march to Pella,] or into

whatsoever by-places or holes of the Rock, the Dove of Christ had betaken her self, till that indignation was over past. There was not one Christian re∣maining in Jerusalem when Titus laid siege to it, they being all removed up∣on the opportunity which Providence offer'd them by Gallus his suddain rai∣sing of the siege some moneths before: (Euseb. hist. 3. 5. ex Josepho:) And being put in mind of Christs direction, a little before the Ruin of Jerusalem, by the Prodigies reported by Josephus, and foretold by Christ. Such as mens not attending to them, mens not believing them to be signes and fore-run∣ners of the approach of Divine Vengeance, neither Josephus a Jew, (Josep. de Bel. Jud. 7. 12.) nor Tacitus an Heathen, (Tacit. hist. 5.) can impute to any thing else, than Gods dementating that people, whom he meant to de∣stroy: A Starr in the form of a Sword brandishing it self a whole year to∣gether over Jerusalem: a light shining, for the space of half an hour, about the Altar and Temple, at nine of the clock at night, while the people were assembled to celebrate the Feast of unleavened bread, (then falling on the eighth of April) so bright as one would have thought it the light of the clearest day. There were signs in the Air: they had some nearer hand un∣der their feet. The same day of unleavened bread an Heifer as she was led to be sacrificed, brought forth a Lamb in the midst of the Temple; could any thing more significantly shew, that the Legal Sacrifice, about to die, had left the Lamb for its heir: the first part of which Lesson was bellowed out to Vespasian, by that Ox that came into his Pavilion, and fell prostrate at his feet, pointing him out as the man at whose feet the Mosaical Sacrifices were to fall.

The East-gate of the Inner Temple of Massie Brass, so heavy as twenty men could scarce shut it, being made fast over-night with iron Locks and strong Bolts, was seen at the sixth hour of the night, to open of its own ac∣cord: of which Accident the Magistrate being inform'd, by the Keepers of the Temple, goeth up to the Temple, and with much ado got it shut again. This, though the ignorant and interessed party expounded it in favour of the Jews, yet the wiser sort (saith Josephus) understood it to presage, that the Temple wherein they trusted would, as it were by the instinct of that God who dwelt in it, deliver it self up into the enemies hands; and Rabban Jo∣chanan, by name; applyed to this Prodigy, that Text of Zachary, Open thy doors, oh Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy Cedars; of the truth of which he was so confident, as he caused his Scholars to carry him forth, as a dead Corps, upon a Bier, and by that means made his escape to Caesar, as Doctor Lightfoot, (Harmony pag. 182.) tells the Story from R. Nathan: A few dayes after this Feast, May 21. appeared a Sign beyond belief (saith Josephus) but that those who saw it are yet alive, and such desolations followed, as were worthy to be usher'd in by such presages: Before Sun-set, were seen Chariots to be driven in the Air, and armed Bands sallying through the Clouds, and beleaguering the City. And on the Feast of Pentecost following, the Priests going after their custome into the Inner Temple to officiate, perceived, at first, a kind of rustling and confused noise; and after that, heard a suddain voice, saying, Lets depart hence.

Of these prodigies Tacitus makes mention, (Hist. 5.) [Visae per caelum con∣currere acies, rutilantia arma, & subito nubium igne collucere Templum: Ex∣passae repente Delubri fores, & audita major humanâ vox, excedere, simul ingens motus excedentium, quae pauci in metum trahebant.]

Fourthly, as to the miseries accompanying this Desolation falling, through the extremity of the Famine, most heavily upon Women with Child; that laying siege to two lives in one body, and on such as gave suck; they being in perpetual fear, either to have their little ones taken away from them (to relieve the hungar-starv'd Soldier) or to be forc'd themselves, either to pine them at their dry Breast, or to bury in their Stomack the fruit of their Womb: of the completion of which Josephus, an Eye-witness, gives us sad examples, (de Bel. Jud. 7. 7, 8. upon whose stories, touching that inundation of mise∣ry,

that rowled in upon that people of Gods Curse, it was a very signal Pro∣vidence, saith Isidor. Pelus. (lib. 4. ep. 75.) that God stirred up a Jew, and one zealous of their Law and Traditions, to communicate to the World those Tragical disasters, which befell that People, at such time as Christ had threat∣ned to take vengeance of them, for those Narratives do so far exceed all Example, as they could not possibly have found credit, if they had been reported by a stranger, or by any other person than such an one as Josephus, who thus describes the extremity of the Famine: An infinite number died through hunger, 'tis inexpressible how many fell, either through the extre∣mity of the Famine, or by striving to relieve themselves against it: you might see men at Daggers drawing in every house, where was the least mor∣sel of Meat or crum of Bread; the dearest friends snatching victuals out of one anothers mouths, and rifling the bosoms of them that were a dying. You might see men in a rage (through disappointment of their prey, which they sought in desolate places) run like rabid Dogs up and down the City, search∣ing twice or thrice over in the same house, and through want of better food greedily feeding on such things as the most fordid Brutes abhorr, sparing neither Girdles, nor Shooes, nor the Leather upon their Targets; esteeming the Orts of Hay so great a dainty, as a small quantity of it was sold at four Attiques; to stuff their craving bellies; buying at any rate the stuffing of Padds, Saddles, &c. Nay so lamentable were the afflictions that came upon that People, and especially by Famine, as Josephus protests he could wil∣lingly have passed over the mention of them, for fear that Posterity should account him a Liar; but that he had many Eye-witnesses to attest them, and might seem, perhaps, to disregard and overlook the afflictions of his Coun∣trymen, if he should lightly touch their heavy sufferings; being some of them such as were never felt either by Greeks or Barbarians, things horrible to speak, incredible to hear: Of which I shall only mention one particular story, of one Mary the Daughter of Eleazar, a wealthy Matron, and of a no∣ble Family; who flying to Jerusalem (moving counter to Christs direction) was there, among the many thousands, that upon the occasion of the Pass∣over, were at that time in the City, when the Romans lay siege to it, coop∣ed up; and being by the rude Souldiers plunder'd of her goods, and at last of all provision for the Belly: she takes her child and (saying to him, poor Child thou must be meat for me: a Fury to fright those sedicious Zealots, who have brought us to this extremity; and a Fable to all posterity) sacrifi∣ceth him, to the asswaging of her hunger; and at one meal devours one half of him, reserving the remainder till the strong man that breaks stone walls, should return again so arm'd, as to force her to break the bonds of Na∣ture, and Female delicacy once more; but she was prevented of the second Course of that Thiestean Banquet, by Souldiers (that had got the scent of it) breaking in upon her, and threatning her with death, if she did not bring forth and present to their eye that roast-meat which they had the smell of in their Noses. The wretched woman sets before them the reliques of her Babe, bids them fall too, if they had an appetite: but if they were more nice than a Matron, more pittiful then a Mother, they might be wellcome to leave it for her, to sustain her loathed life with. Of which and the like Immanities Titus being inform'd, made a solemn appeal to the Gods, that they, whom his Clemency could not induce to accept of Peace, and an Act of Oblivion, by him offer'd, were worthy to feed on such cates; protesting he would bury this abominable fact in the ruines of the Country where it was com∣mitted, and not leave that City standing, for the Sun to behold, where Mo∣thers fed on so detestable food.

5. Of that degree and measure of the Wrath that was then to be poured out upon that Place and People of Gods Curse, according to the Predictions of Christ, that it should be levell'd with the ground; not have one stone left upon another; be an utter and perpetual desolation, if I would give a punctu∣al Account; I must transcribe all Josephus his Books of the Jewish Wars,

whose Theme that is; and a great part of Tacitus his fifth Book of Histories, I therefore referr my Reader to those Authors, whose Relations, if he compare with Christs Predictions, he will find them accomplish'd in every Circum∣stance. And as to that Cities never being able to this day to obtain a Re∣surrection from those Ruines, wherein Titus buried it; Infidelity it self need no other proof, than ocular Demonstration, nor can require a better reason, why it has not so much as been attempted for above this thousand years, than the frustration of Julians purpose to rebuild it, (meerly to affront Christs Predictions) of which Ammianus Marcellinus an Heathen Historian gives this account, (lib. 23. initio.) [Ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosoly∣mam Templum, quod post multa & interneciva certamina, obsidente Vespasiano posteáque Tito, aegre est expugnatum, instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis, negotiúmque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi, qui olim Britannias curà∣verat pro prefectis. Qúum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius, juvarétque provinciae rector, metuendiglobi flammarum propè fundamentum crebris assultibus e∣rumpentes, fecere locum, exustis aliquoties operantibus, inaccessum; hócque modo elemento destinatiùs repellente, cessavit incaeptum] Julian had purposed to be at excessive charge, in the Restauration of that sometimes stately Temple at Jeru∣salem, which after many and mortal skirmishings, being besieged, first by Vespasian and then by Titus, had been with much difficulty demolished. The care of ma∣naging this work is committed by Julian to Alypius of Antioch, who had former∣ly been the Deputy-governour of Britain. Alypius therefore setting amain upon the rebuilding of this Temple, and the Governour of the Province assisting him; dreadful Balls of fire breaking out and squibbing about the foundation, and many times burning the labourers made the place inaccessible: and the Element thus obstinately resisting, the place it self peremptorily rejecting the stones which were laid upon it, as refusing to bear such a structure, the enterprise was given over. And no man ever since hath been so fool hardy as to put his hands to that work which burnt the fingers of Julian's Labourers.

§. 5. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How art thou faln from Heaven! God was thy wall of Fire once, to burn up them that besieged thee; but he sent now, Balls of Fire, to consnme those that would have rebuilt thee. Who would have believed that this would have befaln thee and thy children, when thy rejected Christ dropt his Tears, and with them, those Predictions upon thee, which we now see fulfill'd! What Sign was there, in Reason, or Nature, or Politicks, of this thy fatal Catastrophe? didst thou ever lift thy cloud threatning head higher above, or cast a more supercilious look upon Mount Olivet, than when Christ from thence, facing the sumptuousness of thy building, and the Ornaments of thy goodly stones, pronounc'd this fatal Sentence against thee? Thou wast then adorn'd with Donatives sent thee from Caesar's houshold, honour'd with dayly Sacrifices offer'd, at Caesars cost, and by his appointment, on thy Altar to the most high God, who dwelt between thy Cherubims. Philo Jud. (legat ad Caium) tells, how high the Jews were in Augustus his favour, in particular, a great part of the trans-Tiberine City was possest by Jews, who were allowed their proseucha's there; and permitted to send their first fruits and offerings to Jerusalem; whither most of Caesars family sent gifts, which remain (saith Philo) to this day, where Augustus commanded Sacrifices to be offered at his own charges to the most high God for the Emperours health, which custom (saith he) continueth to this day, and will for ever continue as a Monument of his Royal virtues; (he proved a false prophet in this, but in what follows he is a true Historian.) He appointed the Jews, at Rome, to have their share of the monthly largesses of corn and mony, and if the day of distribution happen'd on the Sabbath, he order'd, the Jews should have their shares the day following. These privile∣ges were continued to them during the reign of Tiberius, notwithstanding the spight of Sejanus against the Jews.

Thy Children were indulged, thy Sabbaths reverenc'd, by Augustus and

Tiberius, whose ears were always open to their Complaints, against their own Deputies; whose greatest friends at Court could not procure their continu∣ance, if thy peoples Legates made motion for their removal out of Office.

If Caligula's Sacrilegious Pride would prophane thee, by affronting the divine presence with his own Image; it was no greater an indignity, than he put upon the Temples of his own Gods; and what they wanted, thou found, an Agrippa to intercede for thee, and a Petronius to suspend the execution of the Imperial Decree against thee.

Claudius banish'd thy Children from the Roman Suburbs: but it was for their contempt of thy holiness; for daring to abuse the piety of Roman Ma∣trons towards thee; for diverting to their proper use the presents and rich donatives, which the proselytes of thy religion committed to their hands, to conveigh to thee: he vindicated thy honour, upon thy bastard Sons, not their crime, with thy ruine: as he did that of the Priests of Isis, at the same time: he left thy walls standing, and thy Religion free, and under the care of thy most indulgent foster-father King Agrippa, one of his greatest Fa∣vourites.

Thy Clients under Nero found that favour in the Imperial Court (by means of his Wife Poppaea a zealous Votary to thy Religion) as they obtain'd a Decree, for the Demolishing of that Tower, which the Roman President had erected, to out-face thy holy of holies. Yea, by Poppaea's interest in Ne∣ro's affection (so great, as to gratifie her jealousie (that the Womb that bare him corrival'd Poppaea, and had a greater share of Nero's love, than she would spare from her self) that womb must be ripped up.) So benign an aspect did his Reign, (malevolent to all other) cast upon thy Children, as they were thinking once to have added twenty Cubits to thy height, and dimensions to those parts of thy Foundations that had proved too slender to bear that weight of magnificence, Herod had laid upon them, (Joseph. antiq. 15. 14.

Under the Monster of men, the Bane of the World, thou makes shew of rising to greater renown, and when thy Children waxed so wanton, under the Indulgence of the Empire, as to kick against its Majesty (as I have seen children, when they are strutted with the Milk, Play with the Breast, till their scratching it procures them a Motherly blow) and play with its Au∣thority, and to call for stroaks. Good God' what gentle correction was designed for them: Vespasian (the Love and Darling of Mankind, he who counted that day lost wherein he perform'd not some office of Humanity) is the Rod that's laid upon their back, the Empire takes up an handful of Marsh-rushes, to chastise her Rebels with; was she like to draw blood with such a Rod? Could the stroak of so soft an hand have caused blewness, much less Mortality of wounds, had not the vengeance of Heaven gangren'd the place? Could that gentle silk twine have pull'd down thy Towers, that Lambs Horn have pusht down thy walls, had they not been secon∣ded with the unseen power of that Sentence Christ had past upon thee?

Ask thy Neighbours, the Chaldeans, whether they could observe any Signes of thy Ruine among those Lights, God had plac'd in the Firmament to be Signs. That book was never more studied by the Eastern Astrologers than in that age, when the expectation of the arising of the Star of Jacob (that bright Morning-star) had put the whole East into as passionate a Contest who should see it first, as that betwixt the seven Princes of Persia, who hung forth the Imperial Crown, as his prize, whose Horse should first Neigh after the Sun was up. And for nothing more was that Book then studied, than to know the Fortunes of thy Children, when and where that person was to be born, who was to be King of the Jews; that thy King whose Star three of the Magi saw; but to the rest it appeared not. Howe∣ver, had there been any sign, in any of the Heavenly Houses, of thy Ruine;

they would certainly have discovered it, whose eyes were then so intent up∣on that Heavenly Volume, on purpose that they might there read thy Con∣cerns, but in vain shouldst thou solicit the wisest of them; the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, which neither thou nor they observed, was the only Sign was given thee; that Sign of Jonas, his coming out of the Whales∣belly, the Bowels of the Earth, after he had been three dayes and three nights therein buried; that Sign thou mightst have known (if thou would) when time was: but now, that and all other Signs, of Christs coming against thee, are concealed from thee. And as vain am I in discoursing with thee, whose head layes so low in the dust, as thou canst not hear me. Nor have I more to say to my Reader upon this Argument for the divine Original of our Religion; but only,

§. 6. First, that he would weigh, not only the strength of the Argument but the Modesty of Religion, in her begging no more of the Sceptick pro concesso, than what Cartesius himself begs, and hath granted him without all dispute, as a Ground of his Philosophical Discourse; all he begs is the Con∣sequence of this Proposition, [Cogito, ergò sum] All that she begs, for the probat of her Author, is the consequence of this [praecogito, ergò praesum.] And if Thinking be an indisputable evidence of Being, Fore-thinking must be as good an evidence of Fore-being. If finite Cogitation will prove fi∣nite Being, then infinite Precogitation will prove an infinite Fore-being, if the Argument à Conjugatis be of any force. And by what evidence can a Philosopher prove to another that himself thinks (without the proof where∣of, no man is bound to believe that he is) by the like whereto it may not be proved, that there is an Eternal Fore-thinking Being. If he present me with a well framed Poem, or Oration, or some exquisite piece of Art; I should conclude, that his thoughts were not a wool-gathering, while he composed them; but is this any whit more evident, than that he must be all mind, who has form'd so excellent and comly a piece as the World is, which the Grecians therefore called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, because it is so beautiful and of so exact a Symmetry of parts.

Nay, (to speak properly) no man can prove that he thinks, but only that he hath thought: for the Medium, he proves it by, must be the Effect of thinking: be it a wise Word, or Action, before either of them can come to the knowledge of another person, the thinking which fram'd them, is past and gone. But God, by Prophecy, giveth us fore knowledge of his fore-knowledge, before the Effect thereof take place, and during that intervall, exposeth himself to the Censure of the World, giving us a larger time to think of his forethinking, and to ponderate the infiniteness of it, and to arm our selves against delusion, than we may with good manners, expend in dis∣cussing the thoughts of men. And by this means we are render'd more expedite to judge thereof, when the Event falls out, than we can be of a∣ny other kind of humane thoughts, but such as are employ'd in framing Prognostications; the sufficiency whereof any Child may judge of, when the time is come when the Effect should follow.

2. That to this Argument for the divine Authority of Scripture, this con∣sideration will add no small weight; That All the Old Testament-Prophecies, according to their several times of accomplishment, have been fullfill'd to a Tittle in their Evangelical sence: but in any other sence thats put upon them, are a pack of as palpable Untruths as ever were asserted. Not one of them wants its mate, as we apply them to the blessed Jesus, and the things appertaining to his Kingdom. But they are barren of Effect, and most of them past Child-bearing, if they have not brought forth allready those Chil∣dren which the Christian Church fathers upon them. If their Messias be not already exhibited, he can never be exhibited in that place, at that time, and with such other Circumstances, as the Prophets assign. The Temple which he was to fill with Glory, is demolish'd; the Polity, during the standing

whereof Shilo was to come, is dissolv'd; the Weeks, within the compass whereof, Messias was to make attonement for sin; at the end whereof, desolation was to come in like a flood, are long since expired. The Idols, which at the appearance of his glorious Majesty were to creep into holes, are already exterminated from off the face of this Earth: so that if he has not already appeared, it is impossible that at his appearance he should find any Gentile Idols to abolish from off this Earth, and from under those Heavens which the Prophet pointed at, and taught the Jews to point at, during the Babilonian Captivity, in making this profession, Jer. 10. 11. Thus shall ye say unto them, the Gods shall perish from under those Heavens; that is, which are over Chaldea. Let the Atheist search if he can find in all that Tract one Heathen Idol.

CHAP. X.

The Demonstration of Power.

§ 1. Christians Gleanings exceed Pagans Vintage. § 2. Christian stories of undoubted, Pagan of dubious, Credit. § 3. Pagan Miracles mis-father'd § 4. Rome's Prosperity whence. § 5. Wonders among Gentiles for the fulfilling of Prophecies. § 6. For the punishment of Nations ripe for Exci∣sion. § 7. Empires raised miraculously for the common good.

§ 1. VVE have seen the Prints of incomprehensible Wisdom upon the Creatures, and thence demonstrated the Being of a God: we have seen the like impresses upon the Sacred Scriptures, and thence pro∣ved that God to be the Author of them, who contrived the Universe. The next demonstration of a Deity is the impressions of infinite Power stampt up∣on his Works; those Rhetorical Figures sprinkled in the Book of Providence, which render the Contents of it more illustrious, the divine Eloquence of it more august and specious: For as in humane speech, the moderate and de∣cent aspersion of new and unusual words add a splendour to it; so Miracles add a grace to the divine Eloquence and an Emphasis to that discourse, God entertains the World with, while he speaks to it by the Dumb Creature. [Si∣cut humana consuetudo verbis, ità divina potentia etiam factis loquitur; & si∣cut sermone humano, verba nova, vel minus usitata, moderate, & decenter asper∣sa, splendorem addunt: ita in factis mirabilibus, quodammodo luculentior est di∣vina eloquentia.] (August. ep. 49. quest. 6.) In which strain the God of Isra∣el, the Father of the blessed Jesus, hath as far out-stript all other pretenders to Divinity and Authors of Religions; as the Feates of the Artillery Garden are exceeded, by the wisest Stratagems of the greatest Captains; the products of a Wheel-wright, by Archimedes his Engines; A blind mans catching an Hare by chance, by the success and Achievements of Diana and her Quire of Huntresses: or, Don Quixots Windmill engagements, by the Exploits of Caesar; or the Sorcerers Serpents, by that of Moses; which if we compare to∣gether, we shall find the stupendious Effects wrought by the Heathen Gods, to have been,

1. So few as an hundred of those Deities may be allowed to club for the production of one Miracle: though no greater than the swelling of a Lake, while the Romans besieged the Vejentes, [Exoptatae victoriae iter miro prodigio Dii immortales patefecerunt.] (Val. Max. 1. 6. 3.) a multitude of Gods are fain to joyn hands to open this light door; What is this in compa∣rison of the way through the red Sea? No less than two durst venture to cast the scales, at the Regil-lake, on the Romans hands, when their Army

and the Tusculancs were so equally pois'd, as neither would give one foot back. It was as much as two of them could do, and (that on horse back,) to bring P. Vatinius word to Rome, in a whole day, of King Perses his over∣throw, in Macedonia. Briefly, put together all the miracles, that Authors of any credit have father'd; upon all their Gods, or have reported to have been done in their names: and the Miracles wrought by Moses alone in the Name of the God of Israel, to prove that he was his Messenger, the Mi∣racles wrought by Christ alone, in his own Name and Person, to prove that he was the eternal Son of Israels God: the Miracles wrought by St. Peter a∣lone, in the name of Christ, to prove his Masters Resurrection, and his own Delegation, will far out-vie them. Nay, the after gleaning of Christs Mi∣racles, I mean those which were wrought at the Memories of Martyrs, as low as the third and fourth Centuries, are more than the whole Vintage of Pagan Prodigies; deposited in Authors of undoubted credit, as in Barnes (Cypriani tract. 1. cont. Demetrianum) [O si audire eos velles & videre, quando à nobis adjurantur & torquentur spiritualibus flagris & verborum tormentis de ob∣sessis corporibus ejiciuntur: quando ejulantes & gementes voce humanà & pote∣state divina flagella & verbera sentientes, venturum judicium confitentur. Veni & cognosce esse vera quae dicimus. Et quia sic Deos colere te dicis, vel ipsis quos co∣lis crede, aut si volueris & tibi credere, de teipso loquetur audiente te, qui nunc tuum pectus obsedit, qui nuno mentem tuam ignorantiae nocte caecavit. Videbis nos rogari ab eis, quos tu rogas, timeri ab eis, quos tu times, quos tu adoras: vide∣bis sub manus nostras stare vinctos, & tremere captivos quos tu suspicis & veneraris ut dominos. Certe vel sic confundi in istis erroribus tuis poteris, cùm conspexeris & audieris Deos tuo's, quid sint, ad interrogationes nostras statim prodere & prae∣sentibus licèt vobis praestigias & fallacias suas non posse caelare. So plentifully was this sweet and powerful savour of the Ointment of Christs Name pou∣red out, in the Age of St. Austin; as that Learned Father, having (in his Book de vera Religione) given Reasons, why Miracles were not then so fre∣quent as formerly, lest he might thereby be understood to deny that the Church retain'd the gift of Miracles in his time: upon second thoughts, dares not commit that Tractate to the hands of Posterity, without this a∣nimadversion upon it (in the unparallel'd Books of his Retractations, (lib. 1. cap. 13.) I argued indeed (saith he) in that Book (of the true Religion) that the Pagans had no reason to expect Miracles now: but I never affirmed, that no miracles are wrought now; for, even then when I writ that Trea∣tise, I knew a blind man who was cur'd at Millain, and several others: nay there are now so many Examples of the like miraculous Cures wrought in these times, as I cannot possibly know them all; and yet I know more than I am able to reckon up. And the same Father (epist. 137.) tells us, that at the memory of St. Felix at Nola, Miracles were then so usually wrought by Invocation of Christs Name, as he purposed thither to send Boniface, (a Priest of his Church) and one who accused him of Incontinency; the one firmly attesting, the other as peremptorily denying; conceiving that though in Africa, where no Miracles were wrought. (A thing which he wonders at, see∣ing that Climate abounded more with Religious persons, than Italie; and I wonder as much at his wondring; for that which he alledges as the reason of his astonishment, was the reason of the thing he admires, and therefore should have put a stop to it, because Italy swarm'd more with Pagans than those parts of Africk, therefore was that power of working Miracles continu∣ed there; Tongues, and all other supernatural Gifts, being not for those that believe, but for Infidels.) One of them might persist in their lie against Conscience: yet that the reverence of the very place, where the power of Christ had been so manifestly seen, would extort from them the confession of the Truth. To which he was encouraged, by what had happen'd at Millan, in the like case; where a Thief, who strongly denyed he was guilty of a Theft that was laid to his charge; when he came to the Church, there to swear in the presence of that God, in whose Name so many Miracles had

been wrought in that very place, durst not swear as he had boasted he would, but confessed the Fact, and restored the goods he had stoln. Before I close this point, I will give one Instance more, of the multitude of Miracles wrought, for the Conversion of one peevish Heathen, reported by this great Light of the Church, who for Learning, Judgment, and Integrity, deserves more credit, than the whole Tribe of Pagan Scriblers, who (in his 67. Epi∣stle) gives this account of the Conversion of Dioscorus the Architheater. It was not like that this mans stiff neck would be bowed, nor his petulant Tongue tamed without a Prodigie; It pleased God therefore to smite his only and exceedingly beloved Daughter, with a dangerous sickness, of whose recovery, without Miracle, he despairing, implores the aid of Christ, promi∣sing if he might see his Daughter restor'd, he would embrace the Christian Faith, his request is granted, his Daughter recovers, but he procrastinates the payment of his vow: he hath not long seen her restored to health, when Christ retracts the benefit, and strikes him blind. He vows, the second time, to become a Christian, if he might recover his sight: he obtains his sute, regains his sight, and sets forward toward the receiving of Baptism: but they could not get him to learn the Creed, till he is surprized with such a Palsey, as deprives him of the use of his Tongue: upon this he betakes himself to his Pen, and writes the Confession of his former Hypocrisie, and subscribes to the Confession of the Christian Faith: upon which he is resto∣red to the use of his Tongue, and to perfect health. I am perswaded, up∣on an impartial search, here are more indications of a Supernatural power made out, for the conversion of this one man, than ever God permitted all the Heathen Daemons to shew, in proof of all false religions: Of which perswasion I make no question but my Reader will be, by that time he hath well weighed this example, and studied an Answer to that Question of Ar∣nobius: To what purpose is it for the Defenders of the Pagan Impiety to shew one, or perhaps two, cured by Esculapius, when none of their Gods relieve so many millions, and all their Temples are throng'd with wretched, and unhappy Pati∣ents, who tire Esculapius himself with their Prayers, and invite him with their most miserable vowes to help them. [Quid prodest ostendere unum vel alterum fortasse curatos, cum tot millibus subvenerit nemo, & plena sint omnia miserorum infeliciúmque, delubra? qui Aesculapium ipsum precibus fatigare, & invitare miserrimis votis.] (Arnobius.) And that by that time I have laid down the rest of the differences, betwixt those which occur in prophane Authors, and those reported in the Sacred Scriptures,

§. 2. 2. For as to the Miracles reported to have been wrought by the God of Israel (or by his servants in his name and power) they are repor∣ted with the greatest Evidence of Truth, that matters of Fact are capable of, (as hath already been demonstrated.)

But the Prodigies, said to be done in confirmation of Paganism, labour under the burden of a very great suspicion, that they are (most of them) lying Miracles. Not one hath been found, among the various Sects of Christians or Jews, that ever question'd the Truth; those of the Old, those, of either Old or New Testament-relations, Though some of their Princi∣ples (had they seen the tendency of them) would have necessitated them to it. The Manichees, who denied the God of Israel to be the best and greatest God, did yet believe that the History of the Old Testament was true. The Sadducees, who denied the Existency of Angels or Spirits, yet owned the Books of Moses wherein the God of Israel is declared to be both great and good, by the merciful wonders he wrought, by the Ministry of Angels. The Arrians denied Christ to be the Eternal God, yet confest he did those stupendious works, which none but God can do (some whereof he profes∣sedly did, on purpose to manifest himself to be equal to his Eternal Father,) Monsters of men! they deny the Conclusions, and yet grant Premisses, most necessarily and demonstratively proving those Conclusions. But of all those

Pagan Writers, that have escaped the Teeth of time, and made mention of Pagan Prodigies; there is not one, but hath question'd the Truth of their own Legends, so far as by the diligent reading of them, I can find. To the many instances that have allready been produc'd in my First Book (Sect. 3. chap. 5. I shall here add the Censure of that Famous Critick Agellius, who (in his 9. 4. noct. Attic.) telling a story, how that upon his coming to Brun∣dusium, he heard a fellow crying Books, to whom he repairing, bought the works of Aristaeus Proconnesius, Isagonus Nicaeensis, Ctesias, Onesicritus, Polyste∣phanus, and Hegesius, Authors of great Authority (as he stiles them) and yet he calleth their Histories of such miraculous Accidents, as made most noise, and had been most universally believ'd, in the Age of Paganism, Books full of Miracles and Fables: out of which, repeating those that had best born up their credit unto his Age, he mentions none but such stories, (of men with one eye, of Pigmeis, &c.) as there is no man, vers'd in the Affairs of the World, but knows to be as meer Fictions, as any of the Poets Fables. And of that greatest of Humanists, Plutarch, who, in his Book de Pythiae oraculis, brings in Diogenianus suspecting that Apollo's Oracles were meer forgeries, because they were given out in such beggarly Verses; when he himself, upon whom they were father'd, was the God of the Poets, and in Eloquence did far ex∣cel Homer and Hesiod: and Boethus comparing those over-religious persons, who, in spight of their native Draught, would invert those Oracles into good and plausible Poetry, unto Pauson the Painter, who being hired to draw the Picture of an Horse tumbling on his back, painted one running; at which he storming who had fore spoke that Picture, Pauson turns the Ta∣ble so, as presented the heels of the Horse upwards: and Bio thus concluding that Argument: We ought therefore not to conclude they are good Verses because of Apollo's making; but that they are not of Apollo's making, because they are naught.

To these I might add Herodotus, the Collector of all such strange stories, who gives his Reader a caution, not to be over hasty of belief, by his stiling his Books by the Names of the Muses, and by his frequent sorting such pas∣sages as that which he subjoynes to his stories of Rampsinitus: whosoever thinks them credible may believe them, (Euterp.) and that wherewith he concludes the disapparition of Zamolxis [ego autem de hoc neque non credo, neque valde non credo,] (Melpomene.)

And Pausanias who in his Corinthiacis, makes the same of Aesculapius his raising of men from the dead (upon account whereof he was deified,) dwindle into the pittiful story, of his bringing Archias out of a Convulsion Fit, which took him as he was hunting: for which cure Archias bestowed Divine Ho∣nours upon him, and built him a Temple at Pergamus. But it would be endless to number particulars: and it may be enough to invalidate all strange Pagan Stories that the most antient and authentick History in the Gentile World (which was thought worthy to be hung up in Apollo's Temple (Hen∣ry Stephens Fragments of Stesichorus out of Athenaeus) the Homerial Histo∣ry of Troy, is confuted by Herodotus in his Euterpe.

§. 3. 3. A great part of the Miracles father'd upon Demons, are manife∣stly mis-father'd; they are made gay with the Lambs-wool, and trick them∣selves with the Feathers, which the eternal Word of the ever-blessed God made to grow. For all forreign Miracles that have been delivered by indubita∣ble Tradition, and were really such as exceeded the whole power of the Creature, were not effected by those Heathen Deities, that bare away the praise of them, but the products of Israels God, To instance in the most eminent of them; Diod. Sicul. (Bib. 16.) reports that the Phocians (after they had rob'd the Temple of Delphos discumfited by the Beotians, 500 of them took Sanctuary in a Temple of Apollo; where by a fire by accident, they were all burnt alive, and the Temple it self consumed: had this been Apollo's doing (and not that Gods; who equally abhors Sacrilege, and such Idols as that sacrilege was committed against, he would, sure, in punishing the Sa∣crilegious,

have had a care of his own Temple: and not have punish'd it, with a greater Sacrilege than they committed. When the Ship, wherein the Mother of the Gods was, was brought from Phrygia, and was so stranded in Ty∣ber, as all the strength of Men and Oxen, that they applied thereto, could not make it stir; Claudia the Vestal Nun, being suspected of Incontinency, tying her Girdle to the Ship, and praying the Goddess, that if she were an immaculate Virgin, she would follow her forthwith, haled the Vessel to shore: this Virgins Statue, in memorial of this, was erected in Cybel's Tem∣ple, and stood firm and perfect upon its own base, after the Temple had been twice consumed with fire, (Livii 2. de bello Punico.) He must be wholly un∣acquainted with the Legend of this salacious Goddess, that can think she had any hand in vindicating the innocency of this Virgin; who her self was the veryest Strumpet and impure Drabb that ever liv'd, and whose Mysteries, wherein her story was represented, were so obscene, as common Harlots would have blusht to have such obscenities laid to their charge (Aust. de Civit. cap. 4. lib. 2.) as Cybeles Priests celebrated her memory with. It was not therefore through her procuration that Claudia's Chastity was thus miracu∣lously vindicated but by his Providence, who hath declared himself the Ad∣vocate of oppressed Innocency, that filthy Goddess was forc'd contrary to her own Genius, to follow the halings of that unjustly accused Vestal; who had made her appeal to the Tribunal of the Deity, generali complexione, in an interpretive and general sence, though she mist it in the application. (Gro∣tius de jure 2. 13. 12.) Quia quanquam sub falsis notis, generali tamen com∣plexione numen intuetur. The same only true God, who divides the Flames of Fire, protected the Image of Claudia, when the Temple of Cybele, where∣in it stood, was consumed with Fire, the Goddess not able to secure her own Image and sacred Utensils.

The greatest part of the Victories the ancient Romans obtain'd, were im∣puted to the favour of this unclean Goddess; to whom thanks were return'd, when any notable and extraordinary emergent fell out, contributing to their advantage, (Val. Max. lib. 1. cap, 1.) [Matri Deûm ••saepenumerò Imperatores nostri, compotes victoriarum suscepta vota Possinuntem profecti solverent.] It is like that such a Deity who could not endure that any should touch her My∣steries, but Gelt Priests, would take care of the concerns of that Masculine State, and those virile Roman spirits?

The Army, which Xerxes sent to burn and rifle Apollo's Temple, was de∣stroyed with Thunder, Tempest, and Stones rent by the Tempest (Diodor. Sicul. Bibl. l. 11. lib. 13.) The Athenians, having rob'd the Temple at Delos of ten thousand Talents, fail'd into Sicily, with 200 Triremes and an Army of a∣boue 40000 fighting men, where they were beset with those calamities, and so utterly overthrown, as not so much as one Vessel escap'd, nor not one man to tell those sad news. Brennus, making the like attempt, met with that o∣verthrow of his Army, as forc'd him, in a desperate mood, to fall upon his own Sword. The Romans, who at the taking of Carthage disrob'd the I∣mage of Apollo of its golden Vest, left their hands among the Fragments of the Image. [Acer sui numinis vindex Apollo;] Apollo severely vindicated his own Divinity, (saith Valerius Max. l. 1. c. 1.) But with what face could that pil∣fring God punish so severely that crime, whereof himself was more guilty than any man? If Apollo and Hercules be all one; as Macrobius▪ (in Sat. 1. 20.) affirms them to be: [Hercules quid aliud est quam 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, aeris spendor,] &c. And Porphiry confesseth (in Euseb. praep. 3. 4.)

Briefly, for it would be an endless labour to enumerate all particulars; How could any of those miraculous castigations be inflicted upon impious persons, by those Gods, who as they never gave any precepts of virtue or pro∣hibitions of vice. (Vide Aug. de Civitat. 2. 4. tit.) [Quòd cultores Deorum nulla unquam a Diis suis praecepta probitatis acceperint, & in sacris eorum tur∣pia quaeque celebraverint.] & cap. 6. tit. [Deos Paganorum nunquam benè vi∣vendi sanxisse doctrinam,—nec nobis nescio quos susurros paucissimorum auribus

anhelatos, jactent, quibus vitae probitas castitásque discatur; sed demonstrantur lo∣ca talibus aliquando conventiculis consecrata: non ubi fugalia celebrarentur effusa omni licentiâ turpitudinum, & verè fugalia, sed pudoris, sed úbi populi au∣dirent quid dii praeciperent de cohibendâ avaritiâ, ambitione frangendâ, luxuriâ refrenandâ, ubi non discerent miseri quod dediscendum,] Persius increpat Satyra tertia:) dicatur in quibus locis haec docentium deorum, solebant praecepta recitari; sicut nos ostendimus ad hoc ecclesias institutas quaquà versum religio Christiana dif∣funditur:] That the Worshippers of false Gods did never receive any Precepts of virtue from their Gods; who in their Sacred Rites had all manner of turpitude represented. That the Gods of the Pagans never enacted the Doctrine of living well, are the Themes of two whole Chapters. Do not let them boast that some∣thing was whispered into the ears of some few teaching honesty and chastity; but let them shew the places dedicated to such meetings, not where the fugalia, full of all licentious filthiness, (fugalia indeed, for thence was all modesty exil'd) but where people might hear what the Gods commanded touching the prohibiting of ava∣rice, violence, ambition, or where they did not learn what must be unlearn'd (as the Satyrist checks them:) let them say in what places the Precepts of their Gods, teaching them virtue were wont to be publish'd, as we can shew Churches erected for this purpose wheresoever the Christian Religion is scattered. As these Gods, I say, never either commanded Virtue or prohibited Vice, and therefore could not, in common equity, punish mens transgressions before they gave out a law to the contrary,) so by their own Example, men were more instigated to all manner of lewdness, than, in all reason, they could expect they could have been deterr'd from, by the severest menacies of humane Lawes: [qua fronte notatur actor, si adoratur exactor,] How could they for shame punish those things in others, which they so far delighted to have charged upon themselves, as they compel'd the Romans, to erect those Scenical Playes in the honour of the Gods, wherein they are introduced as contaminated with the greatest and most barbarous Immanities imaginable; threatning, that the Pestilence that they were then afflicted with, should not cease, till those Playes were erected? [Diis exhiberi potentibus, & nisi fieret irascentibus, eorum admonitione dedice∣rant,] (Aug. de civ. 2. 11. 8.) and endeavouring by their own example to give divine authority to wickedness; moliuntur suo exemplo velut divinam authorita∣tem praebere sceleribus (de civit. 2. 24.) And taking more delight, to see their own Rapes, Incests, Murders, Sacrileges, &c. represented, than to be honou∣red with Sacrifices, as Labeo, a person well seen in the Laws and Antiqui∣ties of the Romans, attesteth. [Malos propitiari caedibus & tristibus supplica∣tionibus, bonos autem obsequiis laetis atque jucundis: qualia sunt, ludi, convivia, lectisternia.] Dr. Hammond (on Rom. 8. 20.) [not willingly, but by him that had subjected them:] that is, the Devil, who being worshipt by the Heathens, did by that means infuse into their worships all the villany in the world, made all unnatural sin part of their devotions; and so what they did, they did not willingly of their own inclination, but in obedience to this, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Devil, who had gotten such authority among them, and kept them in this slavery of corruption, doing it at his command.

In which kind of Celebrations of the honour of those Gods they esteem∣ed select and best, there was not one of them but was painted out, in those colours, as would put the most impudent man to the blush; except Janus, whom therefore (saith St. Austin) they painted sometimes with two, some∣times with four faces, either that they might conform him, in the Monstroci∣ty of his Body, to the rest, who were such Monsters in Soul: or that seeing the rest had lost their fore-head, and were grown past shame, by doing things and glorying to have things imputed to them, which they ought to have been ashamed of, they might hereby signifie, as by how much he was more innocent than they, he might so much more boldly hold up his face amongst them, and without shame reflect round upon himself. [Erubescenda perpetrando ami∣serant frontem: quanto iste innocentior esset, tanto frontesior appareret,] (Aug. de civit. 7. 4.) Can we think then, that such beastly Deities would be angry

with men, for imitating them: or impute those Revelations of wrath from Heaven against notorious impiety and unrighteousness, to them: who, as often as they were permitted, did countenance and abet, and encourage the World unto all Villany: by whose Oracles, Sacrifices, and Presages, as well as Examples, such as were the Bane of Mankind, were forwarded to the Ruine of their Countries, the mixing of sacred and prophane, and the com∣mitting more audacious outrages, than otherwise their own most barbarous dispositions would have prompted them to; (Euseb. lib. 4. cap.) tells us that of Carpocrates, that it was his avowed Doctrine, that there was no other way of escaping or appeasing the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 worldly Princes,, but by pay∣ing them their dues, by all their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 unnatural filthiness. The Ro∣mans may thank the prosperous Omens their Gods gave Sylla, for all his Cruelties; to whom, when he sacrificed, they gave such encouragements by the Entrails, as Posthumius, the Aruspex pawn'd his Head, (as Livy reports,) that whatsoever he had in his mind, the Gods would assist him to bring to effect: when such were his intendments, as, had they regarded Virtue, or the common good of Mankind, they ought rather to have forsaken their Altars, before which so impious a Wretch consulted; or at least have rebuked him, for entertaining such inhumane Councels, (St. Austin de civ. 2. 24.) Would such Deities punish vice, as could not appear in giving Testimony against the Adultery of Paris, the Perjury of Laomedon, in their destroying of Troy, but they must condemn themselves? (Aug. de civit. 3. 3.) [tit. non potuisse deos Paridis adulterio offendi quod inter ipsos traditur frequentatum.] Or if they had had a mind to express their displeasure against the greatest Debaucheries; they might have found greater provocations to it, among the Romans (their darlings) than in all the World beside, whose Founders were Bastards, Aeneas by Sacrilegious Incest of Venus, and Romulus of Mars, whose Judges, in passing Sentence; whose Juries, in giving in their Verdict, whose Vulgar in passing their Suffrages, minded nothing less than the observation of their Oaths. (Lucan. phars. 1.)

Hine rapti fasces pretio, sectórque favoris. Ipse sui populus, letalis{que} ambitus urbi, Annua venali referens certamina campo.

And lastly, such Gods as when they had a mind to protect the Innocent, or punish the guilty, could not, which Impotency they exprest by their tears, as Women and Children use to do, when they cannot have that Re∣venge which they seek. Thus the Image of Apollo Cumanus, when the Romans waged War against the Achaians, and King Aristonicus, was repor∣ted to have wept for the space of four dayes (Julius Obsequens, fragm. de pro∣digiis.) Thus the Image of Juno Sospita at Lariniunt (L. Aemilio Paulo. Cn. Balbo Pamphilo. Coss.); wept before a great Pestilence. Thus in the Civil Wars, Lucan brings in the native and houshold Gods weeping.

Indigitos flevisse Deos, urbis{que} laborem Testatos sudore lares.—

And therefore (as St. Austin well observes) Numa considering, that the Trojan Gods which Aeneas brought into Italy, could neit••••r preserve the Kingdom of Troy nor Lavinium from ruine, did wisely p〈…〉〈…〉de other Gods to be either the Keepers or coajutors of those, (de civitat. 3. 11.) We must then find another Father, for these miraculous punitive Accidents, even that God who hath both severely prohibited all un-natural Brutishness (in the Book of Conscience,) and all sin (in the Books of Sacred Scriptures) as that which he abhors and his pure Eyes cannot endure: and proportion'd his Menacies to the several degrees of Guilt, and of mens impenitencies, who therefore punish'd impiety against, and perjury, by the names of false Gods,

upon them that thought them Gods indeed; not for what they did, but for what they thought: to wit, that those Temples, which they rifled; those Statues, which they disrobed, had the spirits of the living Gods dwelling in them; that those Idols, by whom they sware, had Ears to hear, and Eyes to see, and Hands to revenge; and yet they would venture upon their displea∣sure. [punitur, quia tanquam deo fecit:] The Sacrilegious person is punish'd, though he rob that that is not God, because he doth it unto that, he thinks is a God saith Seneca. (de Ben. 17. 7.) [Opinio illum sua obligat paenae:] his opinion makes him obnoxious to punishment. It is St. Jeroms opinion (in Daniel 6.) [Quamdiu vasa fuerunt in idolio Babylonis, non est iratus dominus (videbantur enim rem dei secundùm pravam quidem opinionem, tamen divino cultui consecras∣se) postquàm autem humanis us••bus divina contaminant, statim paena sequitur post sacrilegium.] God was not angry while the Sacred Vessels, that were taken out of his Temple, were in the Idols Temple of Babylon, (for they did as it were, con∣secrate the things of God to a divine use, though according to a false opinion;) but after that the things consecrate were prophan'd by a common use, punishment immediately followed that Sacrilege: And St. Austin's saying: [Et qui per la∣pidem jurat, si falsum jurat, perjurus est: non te audit lapis loquentem sed punit Deus fallentem.] The Calf which was cut in twain, when the King of Ba∣bel took an Oath of the King of Judah, and made him pass through the parts of it, was divided and laid in twain by Nebuchadnezzar's Priests, was on his part a Sacrifice to the Gods of Babel, for he that administred the Oath, was to divide and lay the Calf in parts; between which he that made Oath was to pass: as is manifest in that adorable instance of Gods condescen∣tion; that Abraham should take him sworn, (Gen. 15. 9.) The whole Ce∣remony in this Form of Swearing, will be best conceiv'd, by comparing this Text with two passages in Livy: [Tu Jupiter ita illum ferito ut ego hunc porcum:] (lib. 1. pag. 15.) [Deos precatus, ita se mactarent quemadmodum ipse agnum mactasset, lib. 21.] (and perhaps on the King of Judahs part:) yet the God of Israel calls it his Oath, and the Covenant which was made before him, (Jer. 34. 18. Ez. 17. 19.) and threatens to av••••ge the breach of it, by a judgment sutable to that form of words was used in that form of swearing [Let God divide or scatter me, as this Beast is divided, betwixt whose parts I pass,] I will give the men that have transgressed my Covenant, that have not performed the words of the Covenant, which they made before me, (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Sept. bis.) when they cut the Calf in twain and passed between the parts of it; to wit, the Princes of Judah and of Jerusalem, which passed between the parts of the Calf. I will even give them for meat, unto the Fowles of Heaven and the Beasts of the Field. Ver. 17. I will give them to be removed into all the Kingdoms of the Earth, Sept. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, for a dispersion: the very curse they invocated upon themselves, in case of Perjury. Our English makes it doubtful whe∣ther the Jews or Babylonians divided the Calf, but yet the mentioning of the Jews passing through the parts of it in the 19 verse, without that other circumstance, the dividing of it, and the Translation of Junius and Trem. [quum transiverunt inter dimidiatas partes ejus vituli, quem dissecuerant in Duo] plainly divides those actions between the Babylonian and the Jew, and then the Septuagints 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, parallel to Virgils

Cùm faciam vitulâ—

The Calf which they Sacrificed will clearly infer my other Observation, that the Calf was at least reputatively a Sacrifice; now a Sacrifice to the true God it could not be, as being not offer'd in the Temple, into which it was not lawful for the Gentiles to enter; and sure the Babylonians were present at the King of Juda's taking the Oath in this form. To proceed to such in∣stances as Pagan records mention, Cleomenes in a fury divinely inflicted, kil'd himself; whether this judgment befell him, for his inhumanity towards sup∣pliants, (as the Argives) or for violating Orgades, a Region consecrate to

the Eleusine Gods, (as the Athenians;) or for corrupting Apollo's Interpreter (as the Delphians interpreted it,) we can permit them to dispute: but that their Apollo inflicted this madness upon him, who himself conspired with him, the death of the innocent Demaratus, by giving out lying Oracles; or at best connived at his Prophetess Sacrilegious complying with Cleomenes; is as far from all likelihood of truth, as that Oracle was. The Megarenses, after they had prophan'd the Land which belonged to the Eleusine Gods, never en∣joy'd good days, neither could they by any means mitigate the anger of those incensed deities, saith the same Author, (Pausanias, Laconicis.) Had those Gods inflicted upon them that punishment of their Sacrilege, their wrath would certainly have been appeased, upon their applying themselves to them, in so supplicant a way, (as Israels Gods was towards the repenting Ninevites) clemency to the penitent, being so essential an Attribute of good Spirits as Plato (in Phaedro) ascribes it to the deified soul of Helena, whose anger con∣ceiv'd against Stesichorus, for his invectives against her, was expiated by this short Palinody,—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 &c, This discourse is not true; nei∣ther didst thou ever come at Troy. In order to his making this Recantation, he was inform'd by the Muses, that he had offended Helena, (a favour which they would not do for Homer) saith Plato, (in the fragments of Stesi∣chorus, put out by Henry Stephens.) Nay Pausanias affirms, that Helen sent him word of her displeasure, on purpose that he might attone her: so propense to mercy are deified Souls in the judgment of sober Antiquity! how much more the Deity it self! (Pausanias, Laconicis.) Though as to this story of Stesichorus, Isocrates fathers his blindness upon his writing impiously of God, (Isocratis Busiris) upon whose Testimony we may rank him with Theopom∣pus and Theodectes, who (as Demetrius told Ptolomy) were struck blind, for inserting some Sentences of the Law of Moses into their prophane Writings. (Joseph. Anti{que} Jud. lib. 12. cap. 2.) And verily if we may judge of Hercu∣les by his foot, of that Poem of Stesichorus by the Fragments remaining, He∣lena had no cause to be angry with the Poet: for there is nothing extant of his works relating to her, but what is in her commendation; as that in the Scholiast on Euripides, where Stesichorus is said to have represented Hele∣na: in such an admirable form of Beauty, (the only thing wherein she pri∣ded her self) as when the incensed people did but cast their eyes upon her face, they let fall out of their hands, the stones they had taken up to fling at her. (Stesichori carmina:) Whether in his Story of the Suns putting it self into a golden Cap, and descending down through the Ocean into the infer∣nal World, to visit his Virgin-wife and dear Children, he hath not perver∣ted the Sacred Story of the Suns shadow going back on Ahaz his Dial, and the Prophecy of the Virgin-birth, I leave to the judicious to determine, after they have perused that Fragment of his in Athenaeus. But I digress—These Examples show that the wisest of Heathens accounted the true God to be the avenger of Impiety.

§. 4. Unto the same head are to be referr'd those miraculous effusions of the divine Goodness upon some Gentile Nations, who were less brutified, and better moralized than others, and retain'd a Reverend, though erroni∣ous Opinion of the Deity. The Observation of Valerius Maximus, (cap. 1. tit. 8.) is in Hypothesi very sound. [Non mirum igitur, sipro eo augendo im∣perio, custodiendóque pertinax divina indulgentia semper excubuit: quod tam scru∣pulosa cura, parvula quo{que} momenta Religionis examinare videtur: quia nun∣quam remotos ab exactissimo cultu ceremoniarum oculos habuisse nostra civitas ex∣istimanda est.] It is no wonder that God should work wonders for the safeguard and encrease of those Empires, that are strictly Religious and scrupulous of the least matters touching the Worship of God: though he, and his unthankful Countrymen, mist it, in ascribing that indulgence, in the lap whereof the an∣tient Romans were dandled, unto the Roman Gods, imputing their prospe∣rity to the favour of those Gentile Deities, who favour'd nothing less than

Virtue and Innocency, of which every Act was an upbraiding of those beast∣ly Gods, upon their embracing of whom, that State degenerated into a con∣formity to them, in Epicurism, Uncleanness, Cruelty, Perjury, and all that Debauchery they learn'd of those Gods: before their reception of whom, the Roman Nation was both better manner'd, and more successful. Before they had any of those Gods to swear by: in those Heroick Times of Rome, when their Kings word, or consent to a proposal, exprest by the dumb shew of lifting up his Scepter, (perhaps of Hazel) would more oblige him to keep his Promise, than the most sacred Oathes could tie their Posterity, [Heroicis temporibus sceptrum erectum pro regum jurejurando valuisse notatum,] Aristot. 3. polit. 14) When, what the Orator flatteringly said of C. Caesar. (Orat, pro Deiotaro.) a mans right hand (not stretcht out to Jupiter or any of his Fel∣low-Gods but) to Heaven, the habitation of the true God, gave a greater testimony of its strength, in plighting troth, and forcing him that held it up, to keep his promise; than by handling the Martial Sword. When the im∣presses of a Deity, and innate Principles of Honesty did so ballast their heart, as they naturally so far abhorr'd an impious or uncomly act, as their Word was better than the Bond of their degenerate Off-spring: and that infant, in∣nocent Age of Rome, render'd the generality as reverable for Virtue, as was that Grecian, of whom Tully (pro Cor. Bal.) tells this lovely story. [Athe∣nis aiunt, cùm quidam apud eos qui sanctè & graviter vixisset, & testimonium pub∣licè dixisset (ut mos est Graecorum) jurandi causa ad aras accederet, unâ voce om∣nes Judices, nè is juraret, reclamasse.] It needs not the Panderage of Rhe∣torick, to obtain for it, the attention of rightly affected ears: I will there∣fore turn this Story after my wont into this plain English. A certain Gre∣cian, who had lived an holy and grave Life, being brought in to give testi∣mony, in a case depending, and in order to his taking his Oath, making his approach to the Altar (as their manner is) was with the general vote of the Judges dispenc'd with in that Ceremony, they conceiving that the Gravi∣ty of his Life added weight enough to his bare Word. Rome never expe∣rienc'd the industry of Fate, the indulgence of our common Father more, than during her Infancy: while she went in her Mothers hand, and scarce stirr'd from her side: [prima aetas, & quasi infantia, qua circum matrem suam luctatus est cum finitimis, quam habuit sub regibus septem, quadam fatorum in∣dustrià, tam variis ingenio, ut reipublicae ratio, & utilitas postulabat. Nam quid Romulo audentius? tali opus fuit ut invaderet regnum: Quid Numa religio∣sius? Talem res poposcit, ut ferox populus Deorum metu mitigaretur. Quid il∣le militiae artifex Tullius? bellatoribus viris quam necessarius, ut accueret vir∣tutem ratione? quid aedificator Ancus, ut urbem coloniâ extenderet, ponte junge∣ret, muro tueretur. Jam vero Tarquinii ornamenta & insignia quantam principi populo addiderunt, ex ipso habitu, dignitatem? actus à Servio census quid effe∣cit, nisi ut ipsa se nosceret respublica?] (Elori proeem & lib. 1. cap. 8.) When (I say) it was thus with them in point of Virtue: it was best with them in point of Prosperity: while they lived tollerably up to the Light of Nature, they were more indulg'd, as to the concerns of this Life, even by the God of Israel, than his own people were, when they frowardly walk'd contrary to the Light of Grace.

Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisq. Ennius.

Plutarch, in his Treatise of the fortune of the Romans, moves this Questi∣on; Whether Virtue or Fortune had the greater hand, in elevating the Ro∣mans, to that stupendious height? and resolves it thus: That they joyned hands, and by united forces raised that famous Structure. [Equidem hoc rectè opinor censere, fortunam & virtutem ad tanti compagem imperii at{que} poten∣tiae tantae structuram, pace composita, coivisse; humanorúmque operam pulcherrimam communicatis operis absolvisse.] in the building whereof, that those that were emploied, were both instructed with all kind of Virtue, and in most of their

affairs aided by Fortune, he demonstrates in the sequel of that Discourse. [Quem qui machinati sunt, eos & omni virtute instructos, & à fortuna plurimis in rebus, adjutos fuisse, &c.] (by fortune he means, not that blind versatil Chance of the Epicureans, but that all-seeing and Judicious Sister of Justice, and Daughter of Providence.) [Non incerta qualis apud Pindarum, sed quae rectius dicitur justitiae & suadae soror, ac providentiae (siquidem ea est Prometheia) filia: quomodo genus ejus Alcman. describit. This he introduceth, conducting Romulus, Numa, Servius Tullius, &c. and following those incomparable per∣sons, for Heroick Virtue, the Fabricii, Camilli, Lucii, Cincinnati, Fabii, Marcelli, Scipiones, Caius Marius; Mutius Scaevola, M. Horatius, &c. From this ancient Roman Gallantry when that Commonwealth degenerated, its Affairs went so backward, as Livy complains thereof, and that upon that account their History was so interrupted, as nothing could certainly be known touching the state of those Times, [Sed quid in his refert immorari quae certi nihil habent? cum & res Romanorum perierunt, & confusi commentarii sint ut Livius narrat.] The same Observation Florus makes. [Ut ad constituendum ejus imperium virtus & fortuna contendisse viderentur: Florus.] So that to the constituting of that Empire virtue and fortune seem to have striven which of them should contribute most.

§. 5. Unto the same supreme Cause must be referr'd those manifest mi∣raculous growths of some Kingdoms, conferr'd by the God of Israel, in or∣der to the accomplishment of the Oracles of his own Prophets.

That wonderful success, which Nebuchadnezzar's Arms found in Aegypts Conquest, though he ascribed it to his Gods, was given him by the true God, in pursuit of making good the Menacies of his Prophets, against that Nation. I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, and will set his Throne upon these stones, that I have bid (at the entry of Pharaohs house) and he shall stretch his Royal Pavillion over them, and I will kindle a fire in the houses of the Gods of Aegypt, and he shall array himself with the Land of Aegypt and he shall go forth from thence in peace, (Jer 43. 10.) Cyrus his victorious arms over Chaldea and the circumjacent Countries were born up upon the wing of that Prophecy, which named him an 100 years before he was born, (Isa. 43. 28.) in order to the fulfilling whereof (Isa. 44. 1, &c.) Gods right hand upheld and strengthen'd him, to subdue Nations before him. God loosed the Loines of Kings, and open'd the two leaved Gates before him: he went before him, made the crooked places straight, brake in pieces the Gates of Brass, and cut in sunder the Bars of Iron. It was not the Heroes of Media, Persia, Assyria, whom he so religiously supplicated, and so devout∣ly thank'd, but that God of the Jews, whom he knew not then, but at last acknowledged his hand to have been alone, in all thosegrand Transactions. As Nebuchadnezzar also understood not, who that God was, that had done such great and marvellous things for him, till convinc'd (by the deliverance of the three Children) he proclaimes to all the World, that their God is he, that had shewed signs and wrought wonders towards him, &c. (Dan. 4. 2. 3.) Daniel had prophecyed of Alexander the Great, that he should be Mighty, and do according to his Will, (chap. 11. 3.) when God raised him up against the Persians, to destroy that Empire, and he had no other way thither, the Pamphylian Sea open'd to him and his Army, as the Red Sea had done to Moses, (Joseph, Jewish antiq. l. 1. cap. 7.) This Story saith Josephus is mention'd by all, that write the Acts of Alexander.

§. 6. In order to the punishment of other Nations, God frequently does, as it were by Miracle, advance some one Nation, perhaps no better than the rest. The Assyrian was the Rod of Gods anger, and the Staff in his hand, that that sustain'd him was Gods indignation; though he thought not so, but triumph'd over the God of Israel, as one of those feeble Idols that was not able to defend his own Territories, any more than the Gods of Calno,

Carchemish, Hamath or Arpad. (Is. 10. 5, 11.) In which case, the wicked may oftentimes devour the man thats more righteous than himself, (Hab. 1. 12.) And when that Nations sins are brim full, and Gods whole work done, for which God raised it up, some of those subdued Nations are raised up, (by no less a Miracle) out of the Grave, out of the ashes, to bringdown that stout heart, and avenge the blood he hath shed. Thus Greece was stirred up for the Ruine of the Caldean Empire, and Rome for the destruction of the Gre∣cian; in all which great and stupendious Mutations of States, the strange ac∣cidents that fall out, are the Effects of divine Vindicative Justice, though each Nation, for whose raising they were wrought, conceiv'd them to have been the Fruits of the Favour of their Idol-Gods. It was an higher wisdom than Minerva's, that managed the affairs of Athens: the Lord of Hosts, not their God of War, that put courage into the Spartans. The unknown God, not any of their Tutelars, that made them great, and arm'd the Sons of Greece against the Bratts of Babel: all the wonders of that age (reported by Thu∣cidides, and Diodorus Siculus,) and of the next Empire, (reported by Dion, Dionysius, Livy, &c.) were the Operations of his hands, that only doth Won∣ders; that sets up the low Tree, and brings down the high Tree, by ways past finding out, Judgments unscrutable, either as to Methods or Cau∣ses.

§. 7. Lastly, if at any time the World hath been so equally pois'd, in respect of the Virtue or Vitiousness of her several Inhabitants, as it seemed not good to vindictive Justice, by extraordinary impulses, or incanonical courses of his Providence (as St. Austin calls Miracles) to animate one Nation to a∣venge its quarrels upon another: By what prodigious accidents hath God made the Empires that then were in Being or arising, conspicuous, in order to the preservation of the general Peace, and that the whole Earth might sit still and be at quiet. Melanc••hon (in his Epistle Dedicatory to Carions Chro∣nicle) tells us, that Philip Prince Elector Palatine was wont to say, that in reading the History of the World, he all along observ'd manifest Testimonies of the Divine presence in the constitution of Monarchies; because it was im∣possible they could be erected, or continued, by Humane strength: and were to that end appointed by God, that they might be keepers of humane So∣ciety, the Umpirers of Difference among the Nations of the World, the pre∣servers of the Laws, Judgments, and Peace, &c. The truth is, it is a Miracle of it self, that wheresoevet the Order of ruling and obeying hath once been received, it remains for ever; that some or other form of Government should be embraced all the World over; That some Forms should last so many Ages, in some certain Countries: as the Regal, among the Assyrians, Ae∣gyptians, Francks, &c.

This would not be if God had not a peculiar care of them, and gave ma∣nifest tokens of that his care; by his wonderful erecting of them by mean persons (in respect of such undertakings) such as Cyrus, Alexander, Julius Caesar, made famous by nothing, but Gods signal owning of them, in his giving them success beyond their own expectation, and the natural accom∣plishments of Unity, Power and Policy: and by his furbishing and setting a new gloss upon the splendour of his own Creature, when at any time (through length of time) it was grown obsolete: and in some places fixing a standing badge, of an honourable discrimination of them from others, upon the persons of the chief Governours, as that wonderful gift of healing, otherwise incurable Maladies, by a touch, intail'd upon our Kings. Instances of that other way of Gods setting occasional Remarks, upon his own great Ordinance, when it grows into contempt, occur every where in History. God choosing rather to work Miracles (and permit the Devil for the present to carry away the honour of them) than to let the Grandeur fall of that Or∣der which he had set in the World. He the God of Order (as St. Paul calls him) that supreme God who rules the World, to whom there is nothing up∣on

earth more acceptable than Councils and Societies of men rightly associate (Cicero som. Scipion.) whose Providence is as much seen in the erecting of Em∣pires, as in framing the World. [Itaque praesens disputatio Romae magnam suspiciendamque conciliabit dignitatem si de ea id quod de terra, mari, caelo, si∣derihus solet fieri, disquirimus: fortunam ne an providentiam authorem habeat?] (Plut. de for. Ro.) God erected the Roman Empire, saith Plutarch (de for. Rom.) [Ut omnibus hominibus con••ceret vestam, re vera, sacram & beneficam, ac stabile retinaculum, & elementum sempiternum, & quod rebus fluctuantibus at∣que sublabentibus anchora esset, (ut cum Democrito loquar.) Alexander's Em∣pire being faln into pieces, the fragments of it (like the first Qualities in the Chaos,) never ceas'd clashing, and putting the World into combustions, and continual changings, (while each of his Successors sought to be that, which not any one of them was, Lord Paramount, like the Cyclops in Euri∣pides,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

A confused rout, where none minded nothing that no body said; till the Majesty of Empire becken'd to them to keep silence,▪ till Rome having attain'd to a Consistency, and constringing in it self as well the neighbouring as foraign and transmarine Kingdoms; the great affairs of the World obtain'd a firm basis, whereon to lean and rest, and were laid to sleep in the bosom of that Empire: For the erecting of the Roman Empire (Polib. l. 1.) It was a won∣der to see how Fortune made all the Affairs of the whole World lead one way, and incline to that one point, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Hebrews had a Proverb, [Nisi potestas publica esset, alter alterum virum deglutiret:] (Chrys••stom de statuis 6.) If it were not for Governours we should lead a more wild life than wild Beasts, not only biting, but devouring one another: (Livii l. 26.) [Respublica incolumis & privatas res salvas facile praestat, publica prodeundo tua nequicquam serves.] It is not at all strange then, that that God, whose Phi∣lanthropie, is so apparent, should for the maintenance of this common good, do such strange things, as made the Gentiles conclude the persons of Princes to be Sacred, [regium nomen, gentes, quae sub regibus sunt, pro deo colunt (Q. Curtius.) Artabanus Persa: (apud Plutar. in Themistocl.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Among our many and good Laws, this is the best, That we reverence and honour the King, as the Image of God, who preserves all things in safety. Though Gods using a standing Miracle to convince us hereof, who have the Example of the blessed Jesus, and the Injunctions of his holy Apostles to revere our Supream Governours, seems to be an up∣braiding us with that Proverb, The King of England is King of Devils: and speaks them to be right Devils incarnate, to have their Intellects blinded with malice, who, when the divine Clemency doth thus super••rogate, in af∣fording us means of knowledge, yet cannot, will not see the Majesty of the Lord, visibly sitting upon his own Ordinance. Yet how the Rabble of Gentiles (who had not Reason enough, to see every mans private weal was imbark'd in the publick; nor Religion enough, to teach them, that the powers that are, are ordain'd of God,) those waves of the Sea, should be kept in order, and within their own bounds, is hardly conceivable, If he that rules the raging of the Sea, and the madness of the people, had not set them bounds, beyond which they must not pass, had not rayled in the Mount, the Majesty of Supream Authority (so as to make it unapproachable) by the Thunder and Lightning, the stupendious manifestations of Divine Power exerted, for the common behoof of Mankind, to beget and uphold, in the vulgar, an awe and reverence of that Order, under which they were Mar∣shal'd. And therefore whatever miraculous events, of that tendency, fell

out in the Age of Paganism, were not the operations of Pagan Gods (among whom there was not one, but he was a profest enemy to Mankind,) but of Israels God, the Creator and Conserver of the Universe, and upon that ac∣count are to be taken into the Christians bill of miracles.

CHAP. XI.

The Deficiency of false, the Characters of true, Mira∣cles.

§ 1. Heathen Wonders unprofitable. § 2. Of an impious Tendency. §. 3. Not above the power of Nature. § 4. Moses and the Magicians Rods into Ser∣pents. § 5. The Suns standingstill and going back. The Persian Triplesia. § 6. Darkness at our Saviours Passion. § 7. Christs Resurrection, the Broad-seal set to the Gospel.

§ 1. ANd for the rest of the reputed Miracles, that come not within the compass of these Rules that will not come over to us, as 1. being such as the Pagan Gods Genius was against; 2. Or such as the God of Israel rewarded the Morality of Heathens with; 3. Or such as he foretold he would do in Heathen Nations, for the Discipline of his own people; 4. Or such as he wrought for the punishment of those Nations, whose sins were ripe: or 5. Such as were of tendency towards the erecting or maintaining of Order in the World. For the rest, (I say) we can easily and freely let who will father them, without impeachment of our Gods Prerogative; as having a threefold Mark of differenee from true Miracles stampt upon them.

• 1. They are as to their immediate Effect useless.
• 2. As to their Tendency impious.
• 3. As to their Nature deficient.

1. Miracles reported to have been effected by Pagan Deities; or persons in league with them, as to their immediate effects were useless for the most part, and insignificant, producing nothing to the benefit or emolument of humane kind, comparable to what our Scripture-miracles con∣ferr'd.

Pagan Jove, by keeping the Sun from rising, and making one night as long as two, gain'd only to himself the opportunity of a longer dalliance with Alcmena; putting the world in the mean time, to the irksome incon∣venience of an impatient waiting for the Morning-watch, and the torture of an imprisonment in their uneasie Beds. But our Jehovah, by keeping the Sun from going down, till one day grew to the length of two, gave his chosen People an opportunity of prosecuting their victory, to the extermination of his and their enemies. Orpheus went to Hell on a Bootless errand, and returned immerst in a double sorrow to that which he carried thither, being forc'd to leave his Euridice behind him, and putting her to the anguish of a second death. Aristaeus Procounesius, (Herodotus, Melpomene, brought nothing out of the other World (after seven years perambulation through it) but one pa∣per of Verses (stiled by the Grecians Arimaspaei, because therein relation is made of a Country, inhabited by men so called, who have but one eye in the midst of their forehead:) nor at the end of his second Translation (which lasted 262 years) did he return with any news, but this, that he was grown a God, dub'd Phaebus his Esquire, and (that he might keep pace with his swift footed Lord) was turn'd into a Crow. What gain'd Ceres either for the behoof of the World or her self, by her visiting the infernal shades, seeing her Daughter Proserpina chose rather to stay in the bosom of her Ra∣visher,

than return to her Mothers lap? Was the World any better for Her∣cules his haling Cerberus from Hell, and leading him up and down the Ar∣golican Cities: had he sold him to a Tanner, he might possibly have made so much of his Hide, as to have paid the Apothecaries Bill for the Ingre∣dients of that Bolus wherewith he intoxicated his three Heads and lull'd a∣sleep his six Eyes; but not to defray the trouble of his undertaking: where∣as his leading this Captive in triumph, had this only issue; that the scow∣ling Curr drivel'd his moody foam upon the Earth, and impregnated it with poisonfull Aconite, the only fruit of this Herculean Labour, if he had here v crified the Proverb, (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Herculean Labore, prover∣bially, Labour in vain, (Erasm. adag. chil. 3. Cent. 1. num. 1.) of labour in vain, his pains would have been less mischievous. And it had been better for humane kind, that a thousand Bastard-sons of Jove had faln into the jawes of inexorable Dcath, than that he should return from thence with such banefull spoiles; without compare betwixt his and those gifts our Jesus received for men, when he led Captivity Captive. The Memory of Ramp∣sinitus (Herod. Euterpe.) (a King of Aegypt, Successor to Proteus) his returning from Hell, and bringing thence spoiles, was universally celebrated, within the Memory of Herodotus: But the whole Legend of his atchievements, in that lower Region, amounts to no more but this; That while he remain'd there, he past his time in playing at Tables with Ceres: where, by the for∣tune of the Dice, sometimes winning, sometimes losing; The Goddess, at last sta••ing a Wallet (it was that, I suppose, her Daughter was gathering flowers into, when Pluto ravisht her) lost it to Rampsinitus; who bearing away this prize, returns to the upper World, with one half of that blessing, which the Proverbial Promise; (of a grain'd Staff and a Budget) estates Spend-thrifts in. Abaris Hyperboreus was of that agility, as he could flie in the Air, as fast as an Arrow out of the Bow; which Arrow, when it came to a period of its bor∣rowed strength, he snatch'd into his hand, and flew with it round about the Globe of the Earth. I shall not (with Herodotus) laugh at the unlikelyhood of the Story, (for if there had been no other ground of that, but what he pitcheth upon, to wit, the impossibility of the Earth's Orbicularness, I could well digest it:) but only demand (with Origen in his Answer to Celsus (cont. Celsam l. 3. cap. 8. &c.) who introduceth those Examples to vie with the Blessed Jesus (and therefore I have instanc'd in them,) what profit came there of this miraculous Agility? What was the World better'd by those mens descending into Hades and returning thence? Did Abaris drop down any blessings upon the several Regions he took his flight over. Of all the Examples, introduc'd by Celsus, not one, but that of Zamolxis, was of any tendency toward the bettering of the World, or benefitting any single per∣son. He indeed, by ••etiring for the space of three years into a subterraneous house, which he built on purpose, to make the Scythians believe he had been so long dead; perswaded them into the belief of the Souls Immortality: but this was only Pious Fraud, no Miraculous disappearance, as Herodotus himself (Herodot. Melpomene) tells the story; and therefore vainly alledged by that half-witted Epicurean, to spare the labour of reckoning up more par∣ticulars. Agellius passeth this Censure, upon the Miracles reported, in the stories of Aristeas, Isigonus, Ctesias, Onesicritus, Polystephanus, and Hegesias; that though, when he first got them into his hands, he had thought he had got a prize: yet he grew weary of reading them, they being Writings impertinent and conducing nothing at all to the meliorating of mans Life (Noct. attic. l. 9. c. 4.) But now our Saviour (as Origen replies) at his Resurrection, bore away the Gates of Death, and the richest spoiles of conquer'd Hell, he in his 40 days Converse with his Disciples, betwixt his Resurrection and Ascen∣sion, entertain'd them not, with Fabulous Tales of Hyperborean Chimera's, but with Discourses touching the Kingdom of God. He, after his Ascensi∣on, gave gifts to men, poured down the gift of the Holy Ghost upon his A∣postles, impowring them with ability to cast out Devils, to heal the sick, to

cure the lame, to bless the blind with the gladsom benefit of sight, to give convincing testimony of their Master's Resurrection, &c.

Briefly, Christs Miracles were beneficial to Mankind, even in their im∣mediate Effects; how many went from him rejoycing in the recovery, of their own health, of their limbs, sight, &c. in the restauration of their friends, from death to life? The Old Testament-Prophets indeed (sutably to the courser grain of that Dispensation) sometimes called Fire down from Hea∣ven, but Christs Miracles were all healing his very cursing the fruitless Fig∣tree, was advantagious to the owner, whose ground was hereby cleared of that, that did but cumber it, and takeup the room of a more fruitful Plant: there was [Nihil nocens aut noxium, sed opiferum, sed salutare, sed auxiliaribus plenum bonis, potestatis munificae liberalitate donatum:] (Arnobius contra gen∣tes, l. 1.) In Christs miraculous acts no harmful, no burtful, ingredients; all was healthful, helpful, full of relieving goods, and flowing from the largess of courteous Power. And the Apostolical Rod, (though it had its Prickles to let out impostum'd matter) budded Almonds, and brought forth fruit, for the healing of the Nations; being never inflicted, but in order to the saving of the Soul, by bringing down the Body: towards which if it was not avail∣able upon the persons, on whose backs it was laid, it was always of use, to∣wards the bettering of others.

The Deputy gain'd spiritual, by Elimas his miraculous loss of corporeal Eye-sight, the Church learn'd to beware of Sacrilege, by the exemplary punishment of Annanias and Saphira; and if Hymeneus and Alexander, by being delivered to Satan, did not learn not to blaspheme; the Prints of the strokes of that Apostolical Rod could not but deterr others. Not one of all theirs or their Masters mighty Works was labour in vain, but accomodated to Humane use, to common Good, to the benefit of Mankind, even in their natural operations, and immediate products.

§ 2. 2. How much more advantagious were they to the VVorld, in re∣spect of their ultimate tendency and designed end? viz. to convince men of the Truth and Divine Original of a Doctrine, so every way suited to the procurement of all sorts of Happiness to Humane kind: a Doctrine, which (if observ'd,) would restore those golden Times, which preceded Astraeas Flight from the corrupt Earth; would have turn'd Devils into Men, and Men into Angels; so as Ideot-Christians, that are true to their Religion, are so far free from all Lust, Rapine, Injustice, &c. as they live at the rate of most per∣fect Priests; and exhibit in their Manners, that Gravity, Purity, Probity, and Simplicity, as is not to be found amongst the wisest of any other Sect (as Origen tells Celsus, (lib. 7. cal. 14.) and evidently declare the Author of so pious and just a Religion, to be the holy God, to all who have not lost all sense. It being impossible, that an enemy to Mankind should promote the embracing of a Doctrine so beneficial, either by revealing it, or confirm∣ing its Authority by the Seal of Miracles. (Origen. lib. 1. cont. Celsum.) But the design of all Pagan Miracles was, to bring into credit a Doctrine of ano∣ther tendency, to countenance such brutish Immortalities, as Humane Na∣ture, under the greatest degree of Debauchery, it can possibly degenerate into, would certainly have abominated; if they had not been commended to the VVorld by its Devil gods, and urged upon men, by lying VVonders, (Austin de Civit. l. 4. cap. 26.) Gods Ape, the old Serpent, scarce ever counterfeit∣ed his hand more dexterously, than in his practising upon T. Latinus, in or∣der to his sorcing him to acquaint the Senate, that it was the Divine plea∣sure to have the Scenical Games renewed: the story is mentioned by Cicero (de divinat. 1.) out of Fabius, Gellius, and Caelius, by Livy, Val. Maximus, A∣gellius, and Macrobius, viz. That the Games, in the first Day of their Cele∣bration, being profaned, by the execution of a Malefactor (the Gods for∣sooth, being displeased, to have the delight, they look in beholding those Games, interrupted by so sad a Spectaticle:) this Titus was warn'd in his

sleep, to go and tell the Senate, that they must begin anew their Celebration; he not daring the day after to communicate this Dream, as he was appoin∣ted, is the next night more severely charged; which he neglecting the per∣formance of, that day looseth his son by a suddain death; and being the third night threatned with suffering a more grievous punishment, in case he would not obey the Vision; and still not daring to tell the Senate, he himself fell into a sharp and horrible sickness: and then, by the advice of his friends, carried in his bed to the Senate, he acquaints them with the whole business; upon which he is presently restored to health, and walks home on foot as sound as a Roach: the Senate, astonisht with so great a Miracle, forthwith decrees the instauration of the Sports. Who, in his right wits (saith St. Austin) may not here see persons in vassalage to malig∣nant Daemons, compel'd by force to exhibit to such Gods such things, as in right Reason may be judged dishonest. For in these Games, which those Gods compell'd the Senate to restore, are repeated those flagitious Crimes, which the Poets father upon them: such as the veriest Wretch would blush to have laid to his charge; the Scenical Actors of those turpitudes of the Gods sparing neither filthy words nor actions; (Herod. Commod.) upbraid∣ing them (with a strange kind of lasciviousness) with the most foul and sordid Actions imaginable: and by those upbraidings and representations, insinu∣ating to the World the laudableness of the most dishonest Vice, as having the Gods for their Fautors, and cancelling at once all the Precepts of the Mo∣ral Philosophers; which if they had not been retunded by this basilick Ar∣gument (by counter-ballancing their Reasons with Divine Authority) might have bid fair for the civilizing of the World, and the ridding it of Barba∣rism and Devillism: [Magis intuentur quid Jupiter fecerit, quam quid docu∣erit Plato,] (August. dc civitat. lib. 2. 7.) [Exemplo suo velut divinam authori∣tatem praebere sceleribus] (Austin de Civ. 2, 25.) They designed hereby to give the face of Divine Authority to the most impious kind of Villanies.

To the no less impious, though less frequent, secular Games, were the Ro∣mans invited, by a like Satanical Sign and lying Wonder, wrought upon the Children of Valesius Sabinus, (Vives in Aug. de civit. 3. 18.) who as he was offering Prayers and Vows, for his three Children, dangerously sick, even un∣to Death, heard a voice that assured him his Children should recover, if he would carry them up Tyber, at a full water, vnto Tarentum: and refresh them with (what they desired) warm water fetcht from the Altar of Fa∣ther Dis and Proserpina, Valesins thinking that the Oracle meant the City Tarentum (though that was a great distance from his Habitation, and had no passage to it by Tyber) in obsequiousness to the Oracle, Ships himself and his Children, and Sailes as far as Campus Martius: There, to ease the tedi∣ousness of Navigation, he brings his Children on shore; and desirous to kindle a fire, asketh the Pilot where he might fetch fire, from Tarentum (re∣plies the Pilot) a place hard by, where you see the Shepherds fires shining: he over-joy'd at the hearing of that name, conceives that must be the Taren∣tum, to which the Divine voice directed him: commands the Vessel to stear thither, and while he hasts to the City to buy an Altar, orders his men to dig a place, where he might erect it: they digging twenty foot deep, find there an old Altar, with this Inscription [To Dis and Proserpina.] The Fa∣ther, returning from the City, sacrificeth upon that Altar to those Infernal Deities, and three nights together (answering the number of his late sick, but now recovered, Children) makes Funeral Banquets to the Gods with Songs and Dances. With what strange obscenities those Games were celebrated, is more obvious, than that it needs be related. It is sufficient to evince the Diabolicalness of those seeming Miracles and therefore only seeming) that they manifestly tended towards the erecting of the Worship of infernal Fiends, to the robbing the one Supreme God, of that honour, thats his peculiar due: and to the introducing of most barbarous Immoralities into the VVorld. And therefore (being Seals set to a Law directly thwarting that Law of God

writ on the hearts of all men,) if they had more exactly counterfeited the Scal of Heaven than they did, may easily be deprehended, to be nothing else but feigned Miracles.

§ 3. This should have, at least, awaken'd the VVorld, to a more scrupu∣lous inspection and prying into them: and to have weighed them with those Sel••s which were set to the contrary Doctrine. In comparison with which, they would have been found if not lighter than vanity; yet at least wanting many grains weight of real Miracles; that is, productions by the God of Nature, above the power of Nature, and beside its ordinary Course. I insert this last clause into the description of a Miracle, to distinguish it from the Effects of ordinary Providence: which though they proceed from infi∣nite Power, yet are not Miracles, but issue from the natural order of Con∣version, Mutation, and Mutability of Bodies. The water (saith St. Austin de Trinit. lib. 3.) is poured ordinarily upon the earth: but when, at the Pray∣er of Elias after so long a serenity, when there was no appearance of a cloud, it was made to fall; this was the immediate effusion of Divine Power. God ordinarily makes the voyce of his Thunder to be heard, and sends out the Lightning from the bright Cloud: but when on Mount Sinai, after an un∣usual manner, those thundering voyces were sent forth, which did not make a confused din, but articulately sounded forth the VVill of God, this was mi∣raculous: who draws moisture, by the root of the Vine, to the Clusters, and by degrees ripens the Grapes; but God? who giveth the increase, while Man Plants and VVaters? But when, at our Lord's beck, VVater was turn'd into VVine by an unusual celerity; he must be a fool with a witness, who denies that to be a witness of a divine Power in him, who commanded and it was done. Earth is the common Matter, for the bringing forth and nourishing of all Plants, and of all Bodies of Animals; and who produceth these things from the Earth, but he that said to the earth, bring forth? But when, of a suddain, he turn'd the same Matter, out of Moses his Rod, into a Serpent; and back again out of that Serpent, into a Rod (immediately and in an instant) he wrought a Miracle, the things indeed were changable, but this change of them was unusual. Who but God cloaths the Shrubbs with Leaves and Blossoms? But when the Rod of Aaron blossom'd, the divinity did, after a sort, discourse with doubting Humanity. Who is he that giveth life to every living thing thats born, but he that gave life to that Serpent of Aa∣ron for an hour? Who restored to Bodies, when they were dead, their Souls; but he that animates flesh in the Mothers Womb, which is born to die? of the same common Matter, which subsists in the Elements, God produceth (in time, or ex tempore,) a Ram, or a Dove, who are of the same fleshy vi∣gour, at their coming in and going out of the World; whether they were made in an instant or by degrees, they are not of different constitutions: on∣ly that which was produced ex tempore, appeared after an unusual manner; but when those Creatures are brought forth, by a kind of continued Flux of sliding and remaining things, passing out of secret into open light, and out of light into obscurity, in the usual road, they are called natural, which same Creatures, when they are thrust in upon us (for our admonition) by an unusual mutability, are called Wonders.

2. And yet, it is not every unusual Conflux of those primordial, seminal Causes, towards the production of a thing into being, that makes a Miracle, for, (as St. Austin observes upon the story of the Aegyptian Magicians,) Ex. 7. de Trin. 3. cap. 8.) there are certain seminal Causes, hid in corporeal things (through all the Elements of the World) which Daemons may pick out (more easily than the cunningest Gold-finer can single parings of Gold out of heaps of Sand into one Mass) and make up into strange Effects; and of them produce new Species of things in a trice. [Omnis spiritus ales est mo∣mento ubi{que} sunt: volocitas divinitus creditus quia substantia ignoratur:] (Ter∣apol. 22.) But it is farther requisite (as I have exprest in the first Clause of

the Description) that it be a production, beside the Order of whole created Nature; such as cannot be educ'd out of the active Powers implanted in the Elements, nor their natural passive Powers, whereby they are made recep∣tible of any form by natural Motion. (Aquinas. sum. 1. quest. 115. 2.) [Prae∣ter virtutes activas naturales & potentias passivas quae ordinantur ad hujusmodi virtutes activas.] But out of a bare obediential Possibility, or Non-resistency of the Creature, whereby it throws it self at Gods feet, and becomes plia∣ble in the hand of Omnipotencie, to embrace any shape he is pleas'd to mould it into, by an act of Power, equivalent to that of creating, and edu∣cing forms out of the first Abyss of inform Matter. (Alensis. sum, 2. quest. 42. art. 5. memb. 5.) [ad opera miraculosa possibilitas tantùm secundùm obedientiam creaturae, de quo Deus potest facere quod vult—& est possibilitas pas∣siva.]

Briefly and plainly, proper Miracles exceed Nature in a threefold de∣gree

1. As to the Substance of the Fact; such are the Glorification of the Bo∣dy, the Retrogradation of the Sun, &c.

2. As to the Subject wherein it is wrought, such are the restoring Life to the Dead, giving Sight to the blind, &c. Nature can cause Life, but not in a dead Body; can give Sight, but not to one that's blind: for there cannot be a natural recess from a total Privation to an Habit.

3. As to the Manner and Order of working, such is the restoring of Lame, the healing of Sick, the multiplying of Bread, Oyl, &c, in an unusual course, on a suddain, without applying natural Causes, &c.

To the first of these Degrees the Pagan VVorld, never so much as pre∣tended.

To the second, none ever attain'd, who pretended to act in the Name of any God, but the God of Israel. For all Pagan Stories, that commemo∣rate such Mutations, are either so manifestly fabulous, as they carry their condemnation on their foreheads, or else ascribe those strange Effects to Art; or, at least wise, impute them to the true Gods designing, thereby, to ren∣der the person that wrought them, more august and conspicuous in the VVorld, for a common good; as is manifest from the account which both Josephus, Suetonius, and Tacitus gives of Vespasian's curing a blind man. [Au∣thoritas & quasi majestas quaedam ut scilicet inopiniato & adhuc novo principi do∣ceat: haec quoque accessit, &c.] (Sueton. Vesp. 7.) Vespasian coming thus unex∣pectedly from a new Family to the Empire, wanted Authority, and as it were a kind of Majesty; but this also he obtain'd, by Omens and Prodigies. Suetonius indeed, siath, that the blind man was directed in a Dream by Serapis, to pro∣cure Vespasian to lay Spittle on his eyes (and it is no wonder, that an Alex∣andrian should fancy, that Serapis injected that motion into him; since the chief God in that Country went under that name) but that Serapis was so much as invocated by Vespasian, when he applyed himself to perform the Cure, is not in the least hinted, but rather the contrary implyed: not only in the Historians silence, as to Vespasians applying himself either to that or a∣ny other particular Deity, but from his mentioning that Alexandrian Dei∣tie's putting the blind man upon the business, who was to Vespasian a strange God, and therefore not to be invocated by him; and from his in∣troducing this, amongst other instances, as a subsequent to and an accom∣plishment of the Oracle of the God of Carmel, deliver'd to him (or at least commented upon) by Josephus. [Apud Judaeum Carmeli Dei Oraculum con∣sulentem, ita confirmavere sortes, ut quicquid cogitaret volveretque animo, quam∣libet magnum, id esse proventurum, pollicerentur, & unus ex nobilibus captivis Jo∣sephus—] (Sueton. Vesp. 5.) When he consulted the Oracle of the God of Carmel in Judaea, he was confirmed by this answer, That whatsoever he purpo∣sed and had in his thought, he should accomplish, though it were never so weighty, See my first Book, chap. 9. §. 8.

The third and lowest Degree was the highest that the ambition of Hea∣then

Gods climbed to, that is, the introducing of a Natural Form, into a Subject naturally capable of it, in an unusual and extraordinary way. In which attempt how far the greatest VVonders they did came short of true Miracles wrought in the Name of Israels God; will be evident, if we com∣pare them, first, with such of this Rank which were done in the Name of the one true God: and secondly, out-vie them with those of the higher Formes, the second and first Degrees.

§ 4. To give them more than Huntsman's play: we will yield them more, than they can challenge by the evidence of their own VVritings, grant them a greater power than any Records, but those in the Churches custo∣dy, make mention of. Seek their Books from end to end, and all we find them say, as to this point of the exerting a miraculous power, amounts not to the one half of what Moses reports (Exod. 7.) That the Aegyptian Magici∣ans did, by their diabolical Inchantments, affront the Messenger of the high God in three of those VVonders, he did before Pharaoh; (the turning of Rods into Serpents, of VVater into Blood, and Slime into Frogs; by an im∣perceptible celerity) when he challenged Aaron to shew his Credentials, to make it evident by some Miracle, that the God of Gods had sent him up∣on that Embassie, which he delivered in his Name to the King of Aegypt.

The Contest there was betwixt the God of Israel and the Gods of Aegypt, the Question to be Determined, whether of them were greatest? as is mani∣fest from Pharaoh's demanding, who that Jehova was, that sent to him to re∣lease the People of Israel (a People who owed their lives to Aegypt, for its sustaining them in the seven years Famine, and who had, by so long a pre∣scription, been Subjects to the Aegyptian Crown:) from his challenging Mo∣ses and Aaron to shew a Sign of their being Commission'd from a God, whom Pharaoh was bound to obey; and from his summoning the Magicians, that they (by invocating the names of the Gods of Aegypt) should doe the same VVonders, which Aaron (by divine appointment) was commanded to show, as Seals of his Mission from a more mighty (the Almighty God. We will grant (I say) that after so solemn an Appeal to Miracles, after the Litigants had here joyn'd issue, Ja••nes and Jambres resisted Moses, and stood out a trial by three of the first Miracles. Neither will we retract with one hand, what we give with the other, as some do; who blame St. Austin for yield∣ing, that the Magicians did more than cast mists before the Spectators Eyes, even really turn Rods into Serpents, the Waters into Blood, and caused Frogs to swarm; for it is clear from the facred Text, that the Magici∣ans did the like to what Aaron did [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (the Hebrew word comes of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. fecit. effecit, is used Gen. 1. 31. to express Gods making the World.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] not the like in appearance, but really, for they cast down every man his Rod, and they became Serpents, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (the Hebrew word comes of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 fuit; whence is derived the name Jehovah.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Calvin, from the Hebrew appellations given to these that withstood Moses, argues, that they only fascinated mens Eyes; and Aben Ezra will have 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (which is render'd, in the Text, Sorcerer) to be no more than a Jugler, who transforms things in appearance only: but this is to make words fall out with the sentence, and bid defiance to the whole series of the discourse, and to turn the Emphasis of the divine Miracle, into a Plantasme too: for if their Rods were turn'd into Serpents, only in appearance; Aarons could not eat theirs, but in appearance only, as St. Austin argues: The Septuagint better under∣stood both the Matter of Fact, which was kept on foot as to the Circum∣stances of it long after their time (either by Oral Tradition, or in their Secu∣lar Records, as appears from St. Paul's naming the Ring-leaders of that Di∣abolical Crew which opposed Moses) and the importance of the Hebrew Phrase, than the whole College of the Rabbies; and they, to prevent all possible mistake through the ambiguity of words, st••le the Actors, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,]

and the Inchantments they used, sometimes [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] sometimes [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] which though they be words of a middle signification, yet when they are taken in an evil sence, and applied to Magicians or Sorcerers, im∣ply the using of the Rites, and invoking the aid, of evil Spirits; being joyn'd in prophane Authors, with the most Diabolical of all the black Artists and Arts, Goetia, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] (Polyb. apud Suidam,) and in Sa∣cred Writ among the most Capital Heathenish Abominations. Briefly, God permitted the infernal Powers to run the whole length of their Chain, in this Contest. But yet they cannot reach to the lowest Form of a real Miracle in these real Transmutations. For,

1. They only prepared the Matter, but did not introduce the substantial Form: that being the natural result from the last preparation of the Matter; so that Nature did the same office here, that the God of Nature performeth, in introducing the rational Soul, after the Body is organized and ultimately prepar'd for its reception, whereupon St. Austin (de Trinitate lib. 3. cap. 8.) piously and wittily saith, as we neither call Parents the Formers of Men, nor Husbandmen the formers of Fruit: though the Divine Power makes use of the one, to prepare the matter for the reception of the Reasonable Soul; and of the other, for the accelerating the disposition of Plants, not only to bear Fruit, but Fruit of such a colour, taste, smell, &c. so we must not think, that Angels (whether good or bad) are introducers of the substantial Form; but that they (by reason of their subtilty) knowing where the Seeds of things lay (which we cannot discern) and secretly sowing them through congruous∣ly mixed Elements, do only administer occasions, of the Birth of things, and of hastening their growth.

2. What the Gods did, whom the Magicians invocated, they took time to do. It is like that they singled out a time most convenient for such like operations, in respect of the Planetary hour, and Positions of the Heavenly Bodies. Macrobius (Sat. lib. 1. cap. 17.) observes that the victory which the Romans obtain'd over the Carthaginians, when they implored the aid of Apollo, that is, the Sun, upon the motion of the Prophet Martius, (who pro∣mised them victory, if they would observe the Oracle which he delivered to them) was in such a Juncture as the Sun was then, in the vertical point, directly over Rome, and therefore strongliest abilitated to heat their blood, and put courage into them, who were born under that Planet. Aaron's God in an instant both alter'd the Matter, and chang'd the Form of his Rod into a Serpent: but the Egyptians used Inchantments, in order to the Transmu∣tation of their Rods, and thats enough to evince it not to have been instan∣taneous. Had nature, indeed, been left to her own Genius, she would have taken far more leasurely steps, than those Daemons did; that Handmaid of God keeps that state, in her ordinary pace, as a club-footed Vulcan may out goe her: she perhaps may spend a thousand years in making such Transmu∣tations in Mettals, as a Chymist will perform in a week, and yet not come near the celerity of these winged spirits in their Operations; there being a far greater disparity betwixt them, and the most dexterous Operator in the whole Colledge of the Virtuosi, than there is betwixt these and the most dul∣pated-club-fisted Mechanick. Briefly, the change of the Egyptians Rods was indeed subitaneous: Nature was there put out of her pace, but not out of her way; The workers of that Wonder gain'd time enough to perform that feat in, while the Magicians were at their Inchantments (and doubtless one Reason of the institution of such Diabolical Ceremonies is the advantage of gaining time) time enough for such agil Creatures to procure all those alte∣rations in, which in a natural way of causation were pre-requisite towards the ultimate Change. But the instantaneous change of Aaron's Rod put Nature beside her course, for seeing no Body can move, but in time, as well as place, [Natura non agit per saltum,] it implies a Contradiction, that the Rod should pass into a Serpent, by any other kind of Corruption, than that of Annihilation: or the Serpent be produc'd out of it, by any other kind of act, than that of Creation.

3. VVhereas some scruple whether that saying [Aaron's Rod devoured the Rods of the Sorcerers,] imply not the returning of their Serpents into Rods; St. Austin, by removing that Scruple, clears our way to the observing ano∣ther material difference betwixt these wonders. This (saith he) is spoken [initialiter & finaliter,] in respect to what they had been, and to what one of them (that is Aaron's Serpent) would return to be; but whether the Egyp∣tian Serpents became Rods again, I will nor dispute. However 'tis most pro∣bable they did not; it being the common Opinion, that Aarons Rod, when turn'd into a Serpent, did devour their Serpents, and prevented their beco∣ming Rods again, (Alensis sum. 2. quest. 43.) which Opinion seems to be well grounded upon that word in Moses Text, [swallowed up] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ab∣sorpsit.] which, though applied to men it sometimes hath a metaphorical sence, yet in the History of Animals, doth so naturally signifie, the swallowing in at the mouth, down the throat, into the stomach, (so 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is rendred by Scapula, deglutiatio; Cibi & potionis ab ore in ventriculum descensus) as the Greeks derive from hence, not only 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which, in Dioscorides; but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which, in common use, signifies the Gula or Throat (or, as we say in the North, the Swallow, herein purely Grecizing,) and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, both the under Jaws (at which the Swallow begins) and the Orifice of the Stomach, where it terminates. In a word, ransack this Term from the be∣ginning, through the middle, to the end; and you will find it speak such a swallowing, as an inorganized Body is uncapable of; and to imply in this Text, that it was not Aarons Rod simply, but turn'd into a Serpent, that did devour the Magicians (sometimes Rods but now) Serpents, as if they had been but so many Pills (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) prepared for this Dragons swal∣low, by which it not only appears that (as all Gods things have, and there∣fore whatever hath a transcendent excellency is stiled Gods, as Gods Hill, Gods Host, &c.) this Serpent had the priority of theirs, and kept the Pit after them: but that their Rods were devour'd, as well as Serpents, and ne∣ver became Rods again. The old Serpent may croud Serpents into the World, but he can't lay them; he could pester Egypt with bloody VVa∣ters, but leaves the cure of them to him, thats higher than himself: He could make Nilus be delivered of Frogs, before the time came of her ordina∣ry travel, and in all likelihood plague Goshen with that crawling Vermine (for I cannot find any room for them elsewhere, in all the Land of Aegypt, since Aaron's Frogs had already fill'd all the VVaters and Houses of the E∣gyptians.) But his Ministers cannot, with all their Inchantments, free so much as Pharaohs house of those unwelcome guests, who is forc'd to be beholding to Moses Prayers, for their riddance out of his Bedchamber. A clear evidence, that the Devil cannot rectifie those Irregularities, which he is sometimes permitted to introduce into the Course of Nature; that he can make knots and snarles on Natures Skeane, but not unravel them, nor untie them: that he can rend the seamless coat of her orderly progress, but not darn it up again.

4. Say he had kept pace with God in these three steps (which he mani∣festly did not) yet Israels God outgoes him at the fourth, and the rest of the following VVonders: he that could turn (God permitting him) Rods into Serpents, could not turn Dust into Lice: but his Instruments at that Mi∣racle, are forc'd to quit the Field, and confess, that was the Finger of God. He cannot without a toleration from Heaven, produce the most contempti∣ble Insect: the divine Art out-vies him in the frame of the vilest Ani∣mals.

§ 5. VVe have seen the God of this world beaten upon his own Dung∣hil, the Prince of the Air worsted in his own Region, outvied by the lowest degree of divine Miracles, lagging behind Omnipotency, while it lights and walks afoot: how less able is he to Lacquy it by its side, while it rides tri∣umphing in the production of Miracles of the first and second Rank. Such

as was, the Sun's standing still in the days of Joshuah, and its going retrograde upon Ahaz his Dial, at the request of Hezekiah; which I instance in, as be∣ing Accidents indisputable as to Matter of Fact: the first being so famously known, and universally taken notice of, as it occasion'd that Fiction of the VVorld's expending a whole day upon the Birth of Hercules: [Cujus in ortu mundus expendit diem. Senec. Her. fur.] though Asterages turn'd day into night, and misapplyed that to the Grecian, which belonged to the Phaenici∣an, Hercules, Joshua, and the last being observed as far as Babylon, whence Merodac Baladan (having heard it was done in favour of Hezekiah) sent his Embassadors into Judaea, (who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land (2 Chron. 31. 31.) to congratulate Hezekiah, and to enquire concerning the Circumstances of that Miracle, so famously known, as Dionysius the Areopagite, Ep. 7. ad Polycarpum, affirms that the Persian Priests and Magi, kept up the Memorial thereof in the Rites [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] of the triple Mithra. Not because this day was almost as long as three days (as Pachymerius and Maximus mis-expound Dionysms,) for that makes this day longer than that in Joshua, whereas the Text, (Josh. 10. 14.) saith, there was no day like that (equal to it in length) before or after it. Nor is their Argument so conclusive; if we expound it of the Sun's going back as well as the shadow (with St. Austin de mirabil. script. l. 2. c. 48. and the Fathers generally) as that Vatablus, Burgensis, and Montanus needed, by its force, have been put to that miserable shift, they betake themselves to: viz. that the Sun kept its ordinary motion, and its shadow only, by the Ministry of Angels, was made to fall back on Ahaz his Dial. For it might go ten Degrees back, and over those ten degrees forward again, and so on his daily Course, and not make that day from Sun-rise to its Setting 32 hours; If the degrees of Ahaz his Dial were either Quadrants or half-hours, the Sun might keep his ordinary pace, in going back and forward, and not reach the length of Jo∣shua's day: or he that could make it go back, might make it to mend its pace, as to redeem so much time, that that day might possibly be not much longer than an ordinary one: and yet sufficiently miraculous, and so conspi∣cuous (for the Sun's going back) as the Persians might well take notice of it, and celebrate its memorial in the Rites and Denomination of the Triplifi∣ed Sun; because of that threefold course it then took, first forward, next backward, and then forward again. So that the authority of Dionysius, still stands firm, notwithstanding the Learned Vossius his so easie rejecting it, upon that mistake which Pachymerius and Maximus led him into: as if the Areopagite had affirm'd, the Persians to have given that appellation to Mi∣thra or the Sun, by reason of its tripling the length of that day: when in truth all he affirms of them is, that they kept the Memory of this Miracle, in the Celebrities of the Triplasia: which he might certainly know they did, (that being a Matter of Fact) and which they might do, in commemoration of the Suns tripling his Course. It is true indeed Dionysius thought that day to be tripl'd, and from thence to have arisen that Persick Name; but in this (being matter of Opinion, and an Opinion so directly opposing the Text in Joshua) we may safely forsake him, and question his judgement. But we cannot reject him, in what he barely reports, as a Matter of Fact, with∣out questioning his honesty; to wit, that the Persians kept up the remem∣brance of the Suns going back and changing its Course.

I will not here enter a Debate, with our Modern Philosophers, about that question, whether it be the Sun or the Earth that moves: for let it be gran∣ted, that it is natural to one of them to move, in that course, that hath been traced above 5000 years; and I matter not, to whether of them they assign the Task of Motion, or bequeath the Privilege of Rest: which of them so∣ever it be that moves, what Second Cause can be imagin'd to make it once stand still, and once to move back ward? Did some hooked prominent A∣tom catch hold of some weightier quiescent Body, and forc'd the Earth or Sun to lie at Anchor a whole day; or put a stop to one of them as a long

Skewer (for Kitching-similies are fittest to illustrate their new Kitching-Phi∣losophy) stays the Spit from turning, if it touch the Drippin-pan. What second Cause can be imagin'd of its going back? ubi pedem fixit? Where set he his foot, while he wheel'd one of those Orbs, Westward and Eastward, backward and forward, as we turn a Globe in a Frame? Or was it with so great a violence, as lasted ten hours, driven back by falling foul upon some other Vessel, sailing in the Super-lunary Waters, through neglect of crying, Ware Oars? untrain'd curiosity may quest through the Universe, before it can set any other Author of this Motion, but him that is the Author of Be∣ing: none could set back this Universal Watch, this measure and standard of every Inch of Time; none could slacken or hasten the going of it but its Maker.

§. 6. Though it will not be granted me, that 'tis natural for the Sun to move, yet I hope Providence will bless these Lines out of the hands of such Brutes, as question whether it be not as natural for the Sun to shine, as for Fire to burn; whether its Beams of Light flow not necessarily from its very Being, as streams from the Fountain. I demand then, whence proceeded its Opacity, and the suspension of its Light, at our Saviour's Passion? That it was at that time exempted from the Dominion of all second Causes, which by their intervention could possibly rob the lower World of its Light, may easily be made appear, by an enumeration of such Particulars, as have been observed (for this 5000 years) to hinder its illuminating at once the Hemis∣phere of the Earth: and so much more easily, as the impediments are fewer, than to take up a long discourse, being but these two.

1. The Interposition of the Body of the Moon, which in that juncture could not be the impediment: for at the Passover, when our Saviour suf∣fer'd, the Moon was at the Full, and visibly arising that evening in the East when the Sun set in the West: we may therefore with as much reason charge a Theft committed at London, upon a person that was in India when that fact was done, as charge the Moon with this Robbery of the Suns Light, I shall run no hazard of my credit, before equal Judges, by becoming her Com∣purgator in this case.

2. The Cloudiness of the Skie: But the Air was at that time so serene, as the Stars appeared, and might be seen all over the Heavens, as Phlegon a Gen∣tile Chronologer, hath left upon Record: [Dies horâ sextâ in tenebrosam noctem versus, ut stellae in caelo visae sunt:] (Chron. Euseb.) and that record, probably, taken out of the Roman Rolls, where it was extant in Tertullian's time. If the Clouds were not so thick, but that the Stars might be seen through them, they could not hinder the shining of that greatest Light, the Sun. Besides, this Darkness was universal, [Mark 15. 33. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Darkness was over the whole Earth.] Erasmus indeed limits this to the Land of Judaea: but Melchior Canus (lib. 11. cap. 2.) Doth suf∣ficiently confute that Opinion: which needs not any other Confutation than this, that it was observ'd at Heliopolis in Egypt: and if that Testimony of Di∣onysius be scrupled, that of the Graecian Historians who write of it cannot be excepted against. (Scaliger animadvers. in Chron. Euseb.) But Clouds do but screen, and stand in the light of some particular and small Regions: so that, when the Sun hath nothing else to hinder its shining, it will cast its beams on one City, on one part of a City, when the other part is clouded. This Darkness therefore could not proceed from any Natural Cause, but was simply and nakedly the Effect of the suspension of its most natural power of giving Light, [Ex retractione radiorum solarium,] (Voss. harmon, Evang. l. 2. cap. 10.) the retraction of its Beams, from the unthankful World, at the Will of its Creator (on purpose to convince men, that that Jesus who was then a crucisying was both Lord and Christ, or as the Centurion (from that Argument concludes) the Son of God, the King of Israel.) according to the sign given by the Prophet Zachary (chap. 14. 6.) In that day the light

shall not be clear nor dark, it shall be one day, (a day by it self) at evening time it shall be light, the Sun shall be turn'd into darkness and the Moon into blood; and Joel chap. 2. 31, &c, as St. Peter applyed those Texts, (Acts 2.) this is that that was spoken of by the Prophet Joel, &c.

§ 7. I will conclude with that, which is both the sum of the Christian Faith, and the seal of it, the Resurrection of the blessed Jesus. The sum of it; (If thou shalt believe in thine heart, that God raised up Christ from the dead, thou shalt be saved; Rom. 10. The Seal of it; whereof he hath given assu∣rance (made demonstration) to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Act. 17. 31.)

Shall I need to shew the demonstrableness of this Argument? so cogent, as he must shut his eyes against the clearest and most undoubted Sentiments of common Reason, that does not acknowledge the Finger, the Hand, the Arm of inconquerable Omnipotency, to have been at work, in breaking the Chains of Death, and bringing Christ thence, after the pains and anguish of the Cross had exhausted his Vital Spirts, and made his sacred Body inhospitable to that his precious Soul, which he breathed into the hands of his Father; after they who were set to watch him, were so well satisfied that he was dead, as they thought it needless to break his Legs, and yet (to make all sure) ran a Spear to his Heart; whence issued (as an indication that there was no need of that neither, in order to his dispatch, but only that the Prophecies of him might be fulfill'd) Water and Blood. And lastly, after he was buried, and a Guard of Soldiers set about the Sepulchre, by the procurement of his most watchful Adversaries, who feared he would rise again (as he had said) and thereby declare himself to be the Messias. These Circumstances speak a total privation of Life, the extinction of the vital Flame, the breaking of the golden Cord and Marriage-ring, which coupled together that lovely Pair (the Humane Flesh and Reasonable Soul) whereof the Man Christ consisted. And I appeal to common Principles, to give sentence and determine those Que∣stions. Whether the Flame of Lifes Taper can be blown in again, but by the blast of that Breath; which blew it in at first? Whether that Cord can be knit again by any hand, but that which drew it? Whether the Bowels of the Earth (our common Mother, whither Bodies return that they may see corruption) be a fit Matrix, wherein the Corps may be ripen'd, naturally, in∣to an aptitude for the reception of the Soul? In our first moulding, the Spermatick Matter Courts the humane Form, and when by Second Natures hand (the Hand maid of the first Nature) its gradually purified into an imme∣diate fittedness for the reception of its Bridegroom, God knits first the Band. And after the Band, is broke, the Soul (after a sort) courts the Corps, by its propensity to a reunion to that, without which it cannot be perfect. But the fullen Corps is deaf to all such motions, resists all methods of cure; all applications of Medicines, which the (now more illuminated and intelligent) Soul can possibly make (and doubtless if an herb grew any where, that could restore these beloved Mates; the Souls of Philosophers, that could see so well through the Casement, being now in the free Air, and having their eyes cla∣rified with the dust of Death, would spy it out) are fruitless; this work must be let alone for ever: as no man can redeem his own Soul, so no Soul can restore its own Body. As the matter in the Womb, would never have had its desires of Union to a reasonable Soul gratified, if God had not infused the Soul: so the Soul in a state of separation, will never have its longing after reunion gratified, till God restore to it its Body. He that brought the Man to the Woman at first, must after the sleep of Death bring the Woman to the Man, or they will never meet.

Nay the bringing of soul and body together again, after their Divorce, implies that seeming Contradiction, as the Disciples by the Illumination of Faith, could not understand what Christ meant, when he spake to them of his Resurrection, and were ready to give up their hopes that he was he that

should redeem Israel, when they saw him giving up the Ghost, and hanging down his Head upon the Cross; as St. Thomas though he had seen Lazarus rais'd from the dead, and heard it reported by credible Witnesses that Christ was risen, would not believe it. As Celsus, (Orig. cont. Cels. l. 2. cal. 41.) rather than grant the Truth of the Christian Hypothesis, denied the pos∣sibility of it. As it seemed good to the holy Ghost, to confirm the report of Christs Resurrection, by all those Signs which the Apostles wrought after his Ascension, by the name of the Holy Child Jesus; while with great power they gave witness of his Resurrection, (Acts 4. 33.) Yea so much did divine Goodness condescend to Humane imbecility, as to give a fuller proof of that point (so far above Reasons comprehension, and much more out of the Sphere of Natural Power) than the report of Eye-witnesses, than the Confes∣sion of Adversaries, than the Seal of those Miracles afforded; by that Grace, that was upon all the Publishers; and fell upon all the Receivers of that Do∣ctrine: a Grace enabling them to live up to the Gospel, and to bring forth those Fruits of Holiness, Righteousness, Temperance, Meekness, as sufficient∣ly commended, to the morallized part of the World that Root of Faith, from whence they issued; as far outstript the most glorious glittering productions of the Moral Philosophers; as infinitely transcended the results of fantastick Credulty, and put all other Religions to the blush, at the sight of their own impotency.

CHAP. XII.

The Supernatural Power of Salvifick Grace.

§ 1. The Church triumphs over the Schools. § 2. Christianity layes the Axe to the Root. § 3. The Rule imperfect before Christ. § 4. The Discipline of the Schools was without Life and Power. § 5. Real exornations before Verbal Encomiums.

§ 1. HEre (Christian Reader) I must crave thy help, and beg thy aid, towards the convincing the World of the Divine Original of Chri∣stian Religion; which, though it apparently bear the stamps of heavenly Wis∣dome, in its Prophecies: of in finite Power, in its Miracles; commends it self more to the Consciences of men by engaging its Fautors to a Conversati∣on answerable to its Sacred Rules; than by affording the most substantial Grounds of discoursing in its Defence by any other Arguments. Religion is better maintain'd by Living than Disputing. A Gospel-becoming Con∣verse falls under the Observation and speaks to the Hearts of all men; even of those who are not able to fathom the depth, nor feel the ground of the most rational verbal Discourse: well exprest by the Apostle of the Circum∣cision, (1 Pet. 3. 1. Dr. Hammond annot.) in the Argument, whereby he per∣swades Christian Matrons to be in subjection to their own (though Gentile) Husbands: that if any obeyed not the Word (submitted not to the Gospel upon the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power) they also without the Word (which the Apostles preach'd in confirmation of the Resurrection of Christ) might be won by the Conversation of their Wives: while they be∣held their chaste Conversation, that Modesly which the true fear of God, Christian Religion (which alone rightly Disciplines persons in that fear) taught them. In his motive, (1 Pet. 2. 12, 13.) to Christian Subjects, to yield obedient subjection to their Heathen Magistrates, and in that point, par∣ticularly, to lead an honest life, among the Gentiles: that whereas they were evil spoken of (as Jews, by reason of the turbulency and frequent rebellions of their Countrymen) the Gentiles might see that Christian-Jews were of

another spirit, than the rest of that Nation: and upon that account might revere them for their good works, and glorifie God (the Author of a Reli∣gion) that had made them so much more meek, regular, and quiet under the Heathen Government which was over them, than the other Jews were,) when the Proconsuls should be sent, to make enquiry of the Commotions made by the unbelieving Party of that Nation. It was by this Argument that the old Laic-Confessor silenc'd, convinc'd, and converted that proud and subtile Philosopher, who bore up himself against all the Reasonings of the Learned Teachers of the Nicence Council, (Crab. tom. 1. pag. 249.) In the name of Jesus Christ (saith he) O Philosopher, hear the Dictates of Truth: There is one God, Maker of Heaven and Earth, who Created all things visi∣ble and invisible, by the power of his Word, and confirm'd them by the San∣ctity of his Spirit. This Word therefore (which we call the Son of God) having mercy on Mankind, vouchsafed to be born of a VVoman, to converse with Men, and die for them, and will come again to give sentence upon the Lives of all men. By the belief of those things we Christians are freed from Error, and from that Religion, wherein Men live like Beasts; into a state of living like Men. Upon this the Philosopher cries out, that he is a Christian, and assures his Fellows he was drawn to it not upon light grounds but by that ineffable Vertue which attended the embracing of Christianity. In this Argument the ancient Patrons, of the Christian Cause triumph'd, over all other Religions, and Disciplines. The Christian Churches (saith Origen contr. Cels. lib. 3. cal. 8.) compared with other Societies, are really the Lights of the VVorld; who is there that must not confess (if he make an impartial collation of them) that the worst part of the Church excells vulgar assem∣blies? for the Church of God at Athens (for instance) is meek and quiet, &c. the Pagan Assemblies, seditious, turbulent, &c. And to that Calumny of Celsus, that the Christians invited the worst of sinners, Origen makes this Reply; that the Christian Philosophy did dayly reform the most dege∣nerate Natures, not by converting one or two in so many Ages (as Phaedo, who coming Piping hot out of the Stewes into Plato's School, took those impresses from his Doctrine, as Plato in his Dialogues brings Phaedo in dis∣coursing of the Immortality of the Soul; Or Palemon who by attending to Philosophical Discipline, became, of a Ruffian, so temperate, as he succeeded Xenocrates in his School: (but great multitudes. Christs Fishers of men caught them by whole shoales, when these Philosophical Anglers drew them up by unites. Tertullian (apolog. 46.) outvies the greatest Philosophers with common Christians. Thales, one of the seven VVisemen, could not satisfie Craesus, when he askt him, what God was? but required time for the return of an answer, and the more he thought upon it, was further off from find∣ing a solution: when every Mechanick Christian hath found, and can shew all that can be askt concerning God; though Plato says the framer of the U∣niverse is neither easie to be found out, nor to be exprest. If we compare them in point of Chastity, we read that one part of the Attick sentence, a∣gainst Socrates, condemn'd him of Sodomy with Boyes: when the Christian hath to do with no more, of the Female Sex, than his own Wife. Democri∣tus, for all his Moral Rules was forc'd to put out his eyes, to keep him conti∣nent; he not being able to command them to look on fair women, without lust. But a Christian, his Soul being averse to Lust, can save his Eyes, and look on Women without danger of sin. If in point of probity. Diogenes, for all his pretence to Humility, trampled on Plato's Pride with greater Pride: whereas a Christian doth not insult over the poorest man. If we strive, who shall carry away the praise of Modesty, Pythagoras affected to Lord it over the Thyrians, Zeno over the Prienenses; But the Christian will not seek, nor thrust himself into the lowest Office of command. Who of Equanimity? Lycurgus pin'd himself to Death, because the Lacedemonians would have corrected his Laws: but the Christian gives thanks, when himself is con∣demn'd. Who of Fidelity? Anaxagoras denyed to restore what was commit∣ted

to his keeping, because they were his enemies to whom he ought to have restored it: But a Christian is esteemed, and found to be, a man of his word, even amongst them that are without (how far were Tertullian's Christians from that Papal Maxime, Fides non est servanda haereticis?) If we compare them in point of Innocency, Aristotle did shamefully thrust out of place his familiar friend Hermias: but a Christian will not injure his enemy. The same Aristotle slatter'd Alexander, Plato hung by his Teeth, as a Trencher chap∣lain, to Dionysius, Aristippus in Purple, plaid the good fellow, under a super∣ficial shew of Gravity: Hippias was slain, while he was traiterously conspiring against his City. This no Christian at any time hath attempted, for the deli∣verance of his brethren, though scatter'd and harrass'd with all kinds of cru∣elty. Athenaeas, (Dipnosoph. l. 11. cap. 22.) Argument, [quòd Plato in omnes e∣rat implacidus, contumeliosus, gloriosus, &c.] (lib. 11. cap. 23.) Argument, [Platonis Discipuli tyrannici, sunt ex Academicis qui irreligiose vivunt, & mi∣nùs honestè, &c.] This is the Argument of one whole Chapter in Athenaeus. That Plato was inappeasable to all men that affronted him, a reproacher, vain glorious, &c. Of all which charges he gives several proofs. And he spends another Chapter upon this Theme. That Plato's Schollars are tyrannical; and divers of the Academicks live irreligiously and dishonestly. Nothing is more obvious than the complaints of Plutarch, Seneca, Macrobius, Age••ius, and who not of the whole learned Tribe of Gentile Writers, that Philosophical Precepts were not able to pluck up Vice and plant Virtue in their Disciples hearts: But how powerful Christian Philosophy was to tame the most savage Natures, is apparent from infinite Examples even of whole barbarous Nations, amongst whom it is observed for Instance, That the Cappadocians while they were Pagans, were of so ill a report, so Monstrously addicted to all kind of wicked∣ness, that beside the share they had in the old Greek Proverb; of [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] i. e, (There are three Countries whose names begin with C. of very vicious and lewd lives.] They had some Proverbs peculiar to themselves, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: a man of Cappadocia, and a Cappado∣cian Monster, being proverbially used, to signifie a man most extreamly wick∣ed: and they made good the Proverb, even in the times of the Gospel, before they had embrac'd the Faith in the sincerity of it: for Gregory that bloody Butcher of Alexandria, Auxentius, Asterius, Eustathius, principal Patrons of the Blasphemous Arrians, and that Arch-Heretick Eunomius, were all of this Country! yet such is the influence of the true faith where once entertain'd, that this lewd disposition of the Cappadocians was so corrected and restrain'd by it; that this Country afforded as many godly Prelates and couragious Martyrs, as any other whatsoever; for which Nazianzen doth highly com∣mend it, who, with Gregory Nyssen, and St. Basil, were Cappadocians, and a∣mongst many Martyrs of great fame and constancy, St. George the Patron of the Noble Order of the Garter, was a Cappadocian Colonel, under Dioclesi∣an, (Heylin. Asia Minor. p. 649.)

§ 2. Fuimus Troes; time was when the Christian Church could make these boasts (Lactan. de falsa sapient l. 3. c. 26.) [Dà mihi virum qui sit iracun∣dus, maledicus essraenatus; paucissimis Dei verbis tam placidum, quàm ovem, reddam: da cupidum, avarum, tenacem; jam tibi eum liberalem dabo & pe∣cuniam suam propriis plenis••; manibus largientem: da timidum doloris ac mor∣tis; jam cruces, & ignes, & Phalaridis Taurum contemnet; da libidinosum, a∣dulterum, ganeonem; jam sobrium, castum continentem videbis: da crudelem & sanguinis appetentem; jam in vera•• clementiam furor ille mutabitur: da inju∣stum, insipientem, peccatorem; continuò & aequus & prudens & innocens erit: uno enim lavacro malitia omnis abolebitur. Tanta divinae sapientiae vis est, ut in hominis pectus infusa, matrem delictorum stultitiam uno semel impetu expellat—Philosophi cùm aetates suas in studio sapientiae conterant, ne{que} alium quenquam, neque seipsos possunt facere meliores—pauca verò Dei praecepta, sic totum ho∣minem immutant, &, expolito vetere, novum reddunt, ut non cogn scas eundem

esse.] Give me a man (saith her eloquent Patron Lactantius) thats angry, and who vents his fury by revilings and wild curvettings; And, by a very few words of God, I will make him as gentle as a Lamb: Give me a greedy, covetous, griping Miser; and I will restore him back to thee, so liberal, as be shall scatter abroad, and give to the poor his own mony, with his own, and those full hands: Give me a delicate piece, that affraid of pain and death; and he shall forthwith contemn Crosses, Fires and the Bull of Phaleris: Give me a Fornicator, an Adul∣terer, a Brothel-house-haunter; And thou shalt, by and by see him sober, chaste, continent: Give me a blood thirsty Tyger; and that rage will presently be exchang'd for true Clemency. Give me an unjust and unwise offender; and he shall on a sud∣dain become, just, prudent, and innocent. For all wickedness shall be abolished with one washing.—Such is the force of Divine Wisdome, as being infused in∣to the hearts of men, it expells at one thrust the folly bound up there, which is the Dam of all misdeeds—The Philosophers after they have worn out their whole age in the study of Wisdom, neither make others nor themselves better men; but the Precepts of God (which are but few and soon learn'd) do so transmute the whole man, and wholly stripping of the old, make him new, as you would not take him for the same person.

St. Jerom passeth upon this Christian Cicero this Censure, [Utinam tam nostra affirmare potuisset, quam facilè aliena destruxit.] I could wish that La∣ctantius had quitted himself, as well in maintaining ours, as in overthrowing the Gentile Religion. Why? what better Defence can be made, what more full proof can be brought of the Divine Authorlty of the Gospel, than what is here produc'd? what more convincing evidence of its divine Original, than such supernatural Effects, so infinitely surpassing, what the best improvement of humane Nature, by Art, could bring forth? what could that be, but the breath of the Almighty, that could inspire Life into such slain (and cover those dry bones, with flesh, that flesh with skin, that skin with so perfect a beauty) as had lain dead so long at the Philosophers door, and peremptorily resisted all their methods towards a recovery; whose Schools were but so many Charnel-houses and Graves of the dead; till the Apostle of the Gen∣tiles, stepping into them, distilled the word of life into their Patients Ears, stopt to all former charmings of the wisest Moralists. (Act. 17. 18.) Most of their Cures of natural pravity, were but palliations, such as Lucian and the Satyrists laugh'd at, and the rest but partial, amounting to no more, than the lopping off of some Branches of the corrupt Tree, and the grafting in their room some particular Virtues. But their Ax did not reach the Root, their Art did not alter the Tree, it still put forth its Malignity, in other Bran∣ches; they did not drain, but divert, the current of vitious Inclination, which with so much more violence broke out, where it could find vent, as it was more pent up by the Banks that were cast against it. There was in∣deed a sound of universal Justice ringing in their Disciples ears (that Justice which equally distributeth to every one their due: to God, to Man, to a mans Self, to Soul, to Body:) But the seed of this was never cast into mens hearts, till the immortal seed of the Word fell there.

§ 3. The art of cultivating Man, till Christ perfected it, labour'd under a two fold defect, which frustrated its intendment.

1. In point of the insufficiency of the System. It comprehended not all the Precepts and expedients of a truly virtuous and perfectly honest Heart and Life: the Rule came short of the end pretended, which was, to reduce man into a Conformity to God (as the Platonists) [Unares est, virtus, quae nos immortalitate Donare possit, & pares diis facere:] (Seneca de immatura morte.) to Discipline him into an habit of perfect virtue, (as the Aristoteli∣ans promis'd.) Socrates, the Prince of all Moralists, by that Aphorism, [quae suprà nos nihil ad nos] as Lactantius (de falsa sap. l. 3. cap. 20.) proves, pro∣hibited all religious care and meditation. Plato, in his Precepts for Com∣munity, overturns the v••••y foundation of that Concord he seems to esta∣blish,

and expels from his Commonwealth, Frugality (for which there is no place, where no man hath ought of his own:) Abstinence (which cannot be exercised where there is nothing of another mans to be abstain'd from,) Tem∣perance, Chastity, Modesty, Love of Parents to Children, Piety of Children to Parents, conjugal Fidelity, &c. and is so far from bringing men into a con∣formity to the divine, as he professedly commends, to the imitation of his Citizens, the most bestial manners of Brutes, and such as wherein they re∣cede further from Humanity, than the Fowles of the Air, most of which ob∣serve the Laws of Marriage, are faithful to their Mates, with Concord of mind defend their Nests, as their Marriage-Beds: and because they know their young, love them. [Redegit ergo humanam vitam ad similitudinem non dico mutorum; sed pecudum & belluarum: nam & volucres penes omnes faciunt ma∣trimonia & nidos suos tanquam genitales toros concordi mente defendunt, & faetus suos quia sunt certi mutuò amant, &c.] Lactan. Ibid. cap. 21, 22.] These An∣cient and wise men taught the Communion of Wives saith Tertullian. [Ex illa credo, majorum & sapientissimorum disciplina, Graeci Socratis & Romani Ca∣tonis: qui uxores suas amicis communicaverunt—ô sapientiae Atticae, ô Romanae gravitatis exemplum! Leno est Philosophus, & Censor.] (Tertul. apol. 39.) Oh the exemplariness of Grecian wisdom, of Roman gravity; their Philosopher Socrates and our Censor Cato, were Panders.

When these were so wide of the Rule, how wide must they be, who took aim from them (the rest of the vulgar Philosophers who succeeded) or who wanted that light which those travelling Philosophers convey'd into Greece out of forreign Countries (the wise men who preceded them) of whom to speak particularly, would be to transcribe the greatest part of Diogenes Laerti∣us: I will therefore but point to the defect of their Morals, in regulating mens contempt of Riches, for which they esteemed themselves, and were accounted of others wise: in which particular they taught their Disciples, to precipitate themselves in a calm: for fear of suffering Shipwrack in a storm: to cut their own throats, for fear of having their throats cut; while they condemn'd Wealth, as evil; and run from the Patrimonies, which their Progenitors left them; while they threw their Treasures into the Sea, which, charitably expended, might have reliev'd the poor from hunger, thirst, and nakedness. I instance in this, as that which our Saviour hath rectified, in that Subjuncti∣on to his Precept of selling all a man hath: [and give to the poor.

Briefly, upon the account of this defect of them, and the perfection of the Gospel-rule, I may without fear of meeting with that sharp retort, that La∣ctantius gave the Author of that Distick, in praise of Epicurus (except it be from some of that grunting Sophisters Litter) apply that to the Blessed Jesus.

Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit, & omnes, Restriuxit stellas, exortus uti aethereus sol. * 1.1

Which was so ill applyed to Epicurus, as the Author well deserv'd that Cen∣sure of our Christian Cicero, [Poeta inanissimus Leonis laudibus murem non or∣navit, sed obruit & obtrivit,] (Lactant. de fals. sapient, l. 3. cap. 17.) This most vain Poet by heaping the praise of the Lion upon the Mouse, did not adorn that contemptible insect, but overwhelm and crush it: For the Scholer not only of Epicurus, but the most Divine Moral Philosophers, might be all, that these Masters of Civility were, or enjoyn'd them to be, and yet remain an uncivi∣lized person; the Philosophick Robe was too short, to keep warm the whole body of Virtue. But whoever puts on that of Christs weaving, or rather Christ himself (for he was one and the same, both in Rule and Ex∣ample) is cloathed with Virtue, from head to foot, perfectly ac∣coutred

for all Duties, Personal, Relative, Private, Domestick, Pub∣lick.

§ 4. 2. The Discipline of the Schools came short of Christs, in point of power and operativeness: their Precepts were so smewless, as they had not strength to draw the Teachers of them to a compliance with them, but left them as they found them, slaves to Anger, Covetousness, Lust, Arrogancy, Rudeness.

1. Being neither commended to mens Consciences, as the Dictates of God; but barely propounded, as the Results of Reason, as the collections of humane Ratiocination: while in the mean time their Gods taught them, by their Examples, the quite contrary, [Ut ab ipso caelo traduci in terra satis idonea videatur authoritas,] That the inartificial argument (that of divine Authority) for Debauchery (as drawing its extract from Heaven) might counter-ballance all the most artificial perswasions to Virtue. (August. de civitat. 2. 10.) Those Gods (saith St. Austin, Ibid c. 6.) Not only permitted men to be overwhelm'd in their minds with loose opinions, and to grow to the height of Villany, with∣out their interposing any terrible threatnings, (for they are not able to name the place, or time, when any of them perswaded to virtuous actions, or disswaded, by menacies, from avarice, ambition, fraud, cruelty, luxury, &c.) But they spurr'd them forward to all manner of licentiousness by their own Example.

2. Nor prest with such Motives of eternal retribution as the Gospel pro∣pounds.

3. Nor seconded with that aid of Divine Grace, which attends the Preach∣ing of the Word of Life rightly administred. Hence all Philosophical In∣structions became so ineffectual, as it became a question, Whether it was possible to discipline men to Virtue? [de virtute disputamus, docerine possit,] (Plutarch. ethic. tom. 2.) and though Plutarch affirms it may, yet the best proof he brings of his Assertion, is the absurdity of the contrary: that men should learn all other Arts and Sciences, and be incapable of learning the Art of right living, seems to him highly absurd; but he either labours with such penury of Examples, or thinks those that were commonly alleadged, so in∣concludent, as he doth not produce one, for an Essay to the Probat of his Opinion; but leaves the Virtuous Man (for all the Culture of the Schools) in the rank of black Swans, even where his Antagonists had placed him: [Viri boni nominantur tantùm eo pacto, quo hippocentauri,] Good men are (entiàra∣tionis) fancied only, not really existing.

And ••ully (after the perusal of both Greek and Latin Authors) was as far to seek for a good man of the Philosophers making, as Plutarch; what one of the Philosophers (saith Tully) is so well manner'd, so disposed in mind and life as reason requires? which of them look upon their own Discipline, not as an ostentation of science, but the law of life? who listens to himself, or observes his own decrees? you may see some of them to be persons, of that light, and yet supercilious carriage: that they would have been better, if they had never gone to school. Some so coveting mony, others praise, and many such slaves to lust; that their speech and life are at greatest enmi∣ty. And his Nephew Cornelius beats upon the same string. I am so far (saith he) from thinking, Philosophy to be the Mistress of Life, and that which perfects virtue: as I rather incline to this Opinion, that no men stand in more need of an instructor how to live, than the most of them, who spend their lives in discussing the rules of living well: For I see the greatest part of them, who in the Schools do most subtilly give Precepts, 〈…〉〈…〉ing Mo∣desty, and Continency, to wallow in the Mire of all n••thy Lusts. To this Sene∣ca gives his suffrage in his exhortations: Most Philosophers (saith he) are such kind of men, as they are eloquent in reproaching themselves, whom if you heard declaiming against Avarice, Lust and Ambition, you would think they had receiv'd a ••ee to plead th••ir own Condemnation, so do their revi∣lings

of Vice (which they send abroad) recoile upon themselves, as you can∣not conceive any otherwise of them, but as Physicians, whose Boxes have, on the outside the Titles of healthful Druggs, but are within full of Poyson. Yea, so palpable was the inefficacy of their own Rules, to make the best of them throughly honest: as Seneca is forc'd to cast over them (and himself for company) the Cloak of this Excuse. [Omnia quae luxuriosi faciunt; quaeque imperiti, facit & sapiens, sed non eodem modo, eodemque proposito.] That the wise man may do the same things which fools and the luxurious do, but af∣ter another manner, and to another end, (as if the goodness of the Intention could either rectifie the pravity of an Action, in it self vitious; or remove the scandal, seeing the badness of the example is apparent, but the drift of the mind out of sight.) Thus Aristippus defended his Familiarity with the Strumpet Lais, by saying, there was a great difference betwixt him and the rest of Lais servants: for Lais had them, but he had Lais. Oh brave Wis∣dom (cries Laciantius) and deserving to be imitated by good men! who would not send his Children to this Philosophers School, to learn to have a Whore? who can assign no other difference, betwixt himself and persons of profligated honesty, but this; That they wasted their Fortunes in that Lux∣ury, which he enjoy'd gratis? In which point yet, the strumpet overwitted him; who so held the Philosopher for her Pandar, that all the Youth be∣ing corrupted (by the Example and Authority of their Master) might flock unto her without any shame. And yet this is he whom the Censors of Manners, the Satyrists prefer, before the rest of the Gown'd Crew. Such an empty sound of words were all Philosophical Precepts, as the Teachers of them could not hear themselves speak, with an obediential Ear: whom therefore Cicero affirmeth, not to have sought the bettering, but delighting, of themselves, in the study of Morals. In good sooth (saith he) I fear that all their disquisition, though it contain most plentiful Fountains of Virtue and Science, yet if we compare it with their actions and things that are brought to perfection, may seem only to have been a pleasant diversion from busi∣ness. The Emperour Antoninus Philosophus his Sanctity grew almost into a Proverb for its perfection, but Julius Capitol••nus suspects it to be counter∣feit (dederunt ei vitio quod fictus fuisset, nec tum simplex quod videretur) and (for all the oftentation of virtue which that Royal Philosopher made) makes this the main point of difference betwixt him and Verus, that Verus could not dissemble as he did. [à cujus sectâ, lasciviâ morum & vitae licentioris nimieta∣te dissensit. Erat enim morum simplicium & qui adumbrare nihil posset.] (Jul. Cap. verus.) And Lampridius hath this Note upon Commodus, [Sed tot dis∣ciplinarum magistri nihil ei profuerunt.]

But Evangelical Precepts do not only gingle in the Ear, but ring in the Conscience, and come, not in word only, but in power, being accompanied into the hearts (of such as do not resist the holy Ghost) with such a Majesty, as commands Obedience, (like that Word, whereby God called things, that were not, into being) by vertue of that Spirit, which in the Old Testament-prophecies, God promiseth shall never be separated from his Word: and which, in the New Testament, and subsequent Ecclesiastical History, we find always moving upon the Face of those sacred Waters, making the Souls of men take the Impress of the Soul of the Gospel, forming in them the I∣mage of God, and converting the most wicked persons (that embrace it) from all their Debaucheries, wherein they were immerst, to a life most sutable to Nature, and Reason, and to the practice of all Virtues, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Orig. Cont. Cel. lib. 1. cal. 30.) Whereupon to Celsus his Calumnie, that Christ chose the worst of men for Apostles, Origen replies that Christ thereby made it appear how Soveraign a Medicine his Doctrine is against Soul-plagues, and that therefore Celsus ought rather to have admired the Physicians skill, than to have upbraided him with the pristine maladies of his Patients, who could do more, than all Chrisippus his Rules, towards the curing of unrulie

Passions. How many (saith he) did Christ recover from the Plague of their head strong Affections? From the colluvies of their vitious distempers, how many had their beastly Manners tamed, by occasion of the Evangelical Preach∣ing? which ought to have been embraced of all men, with thankfulness; if not as true, yet as a new, and compendious, Method of curing Vice, and ex∣ceedingly advantagious to Humane kind. He that can think the malignant Powers would contribute towards the bringing of such a Doctrine, as this, into credit, by their Sealing to it, in those wonderful Operations, which gain'd it an Authority over Conscience: may, with an equal likelihood of Reason, conceive it worth the while to milk Hee-Goats. To which labour I remit him, while I commend to wiser persons the conclusiveness of this last Argu∣ment, for the Divine Original of the Christian Faith, in general; and in spe∣cial, for the probat of Christs Resurrection, the Center wherein all the Arti∣cles of the Christian Faith meet, and the demonstration of the Divine Au∣thority, and heavenly Mission of the blessed Jesus, to communicate that way of Salvation to the World: as being the Doctrine of Christ, that dyed, or rather, is risen again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, whence he communicates that Grace, of which we have been speaking, and wherein Christianity triumphs over the greatest pravities of corrupt Nature as sub∣dued by her Discipline, and overall other Methods of cure as insufficient as unable to reduce lapsed man to a state of health.

§. 5. The strength of this Argument would be more apparent, if we of this Age could make good the assumption; as easily as those Primitive Chri∣stians did, of whom the Patrons of the cause of Christ made these holy boasts, and such as that, [Non aliunde noscibiles quam de emendatione vitiorum pristinorum,] (Tertul. ad Scapulam.) Christians are not to be known from other Sects but by the emendation of their pristine vitious manner: were we, who embrace the form of those sound and healing words, as much under the power of Godliness, as they, whom that saving Grace taught to deny ungod∣liness, and worldly lusts; and to live godly, righteously, and soberly: did we more study the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ; so as to know him, in the power of that Resurrection of his, which we make profession to believe the truth of: and in the fellowship of his sufferings, so as to be made conformable unto his Death. In which point (notwithstanding that, never to be enough bewail'd, Apostacy of these latter times) God hath not left himself without witness: But reserv'd a remnant of persons, who cordially embracing the truly Catholick Religion of Christ, (as it is profest in the Church of England) and mourning over the Irregularities of, and Scandals given, by such as conform not to its sacred Precepts; really exhibit to the Worlds view a Specimen of ancient Holiness; in their harmless and blame∣less Conversation, with, and towards all men: in their serious piety towards God, their reverential observance of their Superiours, their Justice, Charity, Love towards all men; their Continency, Chastity, Sobriety, Temperance in respect of themselves. And for the rest of the Professors of the pure and un∣defiled Religion, (who deviate from the rule of this Sacred Discipline) they cease to be Christians, [Sed dicet aliquis; etiam de nostris excedere quosáam à regula disciplinae, desinunt tum Christiani baberi penès nos: Philosophi verò illi cum talibus factis in nomine & honore sapientiae perseverant.] (Tertul. apol. 46.) Some men may say, that even some of ours deviate from the Rule of Discipline: They cease then to be esteem'd Christians by us, Philosophers with such debauche∣ries, retain the name and honour of Philosophers. Fanaticks though unrighteous, unmerciful, unpeaceable, pass among their own Tribes for Saints; but no man can pass the Muster for a Christian indeed that keeps not the Commands of Christ, that conforms not to his Example. The Church owns them not for hers: Christ owns them not for his: but will profess unto them, I know yee not, depart from me, ye that work iniquity: and will expostulate with all who hate to be reformed, for their taking his Covenant in their mouths

Christ has past the same Decree against all vitious Livers, that Severus past a∣gainst Thieves: [per praeconem edixit, ut nemo salutaret Principem qui se fu∣rem esse nosset, ne aliquando detectus capitali supplicio subderetur,] That none salute him with Lord, Lord, who knows himself to be guilty, under pain of be∣ing Convict and suffering the extream punishment. None must enter into his Courts any more than to the Eleusine Rites, or into the Emperours Palace, [Nisi qui se innocentem novit,] but he that knows himself free of those sins, which by the sanction of the Royal Law exclude from the Kingdom of Hea∣ven. And who so presume to contravene those Edicts, must expect the same entertainment that Severus gave Septimius Arabinus, when he came to salute him. [O numina, O Jupiter, O dii immortales! Arabinus non solum vivit; verùm etiam in Senatum venit; fortassis etiam de me sperat, tam fatuum tam s••ul∣tum esse me judicat ac Heliogabalum.) (Lampridii Alex. Severus.) Oh mon∣strous▪ Arabinus dares come into the Senate, dares appear in the Assembly of Christians, does he think he can deceive me, as he did the world with vain shews, as he did himself with vain hopes: he's deceiv'd indeed if hetake me for such a fool, if he think I will be mock'd. Can he be ignorant that the sentence is past, the prohibition [à mulieribus famosis matrem & uxorem suam salutari, vetuit,] (Id. Ib.) is seal'd, that none presume to joyn themselves to my Church, to associate with my Love, my Dove, my undefiled Spouse, whose Lives are infamous, Christians may not eat with such; and can they expect to eat bread in my Kingdom? And therefore they who either by go∣ing out from us do more openly declare; or by a Conversation unbecoming the Gospel (while they are with us) more secretly insinuate, that they were not, that they are not of us; in an impartial judgement should neither preju∣dice the holiness of that Society, whereof they are no Members: nor the Efficacy of that Religion, they either never came under the power of, or have rejected the yoak of; what, must it be presum'd that the Sun shines not, that its beams warm not; because those men, see not its Light, are not refresh'd, and vegetated with its Warmth; who either shut their eyes, or remove in∣to a Clime it never visits? Dr. Hammond (An. in Heb. 4. 2.) But the word that was heard did not profit those, who were not by Faith joyned to them that obeyed it: Shall we condemn the Seed, because it thrives not to matu∣rity of Fruit, in the ground of a dishonest heart: where either the fowles of the Air, pick it up, or it wants depth of earth, or is choak'd with Thorns and Weeds? Shall we question whether Christ be risen; because men, whose affections are so strongly set upon the earth, as they cannot elevate them to∣wards Heaven, are not risen with him, when we see such palpable Effects and Demonstrations of it, in his raising those to a newness of Life, who do not resist, grieve or quench his Spirit; but, with an humble teachableness, follow its conduct, in that way of holiness his Word hath chalk'd out before us.

In order to our perseverance in this way, and confirmation in our assurance that it will infallibly lead us, to Peace here, and eternal Glory hereafter: I have undertaken this vindication of the Christian Faith against the prejudices which our modern either Scepticks or Atheists have taken up against it; which as they took their rise from the Scandals which have been cast upon Religion, by the woful miscarriages of men professing it in guile and hypocri∣sie, so they must fall before a Spirit of Grace and Glory, resting upon the em∣bracers of it in Truth and Sincerity, and shining out upon the World in their so peaceable, humble. meek, and every way Christian deportment, and men seeing their good works may glorifie their Father who is in Heaven, and re∣vere that Discipline (as proceeding from that Father of Lights) by whose in∣fluence the wildness of common Nature is abated, and its vertuous Seeds so improved, as to bring forth Fruit chearing the heart both of God and Man. To which if thou beest instigated (Christian Reader) to aspire by the peru∣sal of this Discourse, and so become one of Christs Witnesses, by sealing to the Truth of the Gospel, by a Life answerable to its most holy, just, and yet easie,

Precepts, thou wilt lay up for thy self a good Foundation for time to come, and contribute towards the conviction of the Adversaries of the Christian Faith, by an Argument so familiar, as it incurrs into every mans sense; and so strenuous, as the most stubborn Atheist will not be able to resist it: but be forc'd to confess the unreasonableness of his own Exceptions, against a Religion that brings forth such Divine Effects. Would we all study thus to adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; such real exornations would render Religion more venerable in the eyes of the VVorld, than all verbal Encomiums; those whom the close fist of the most Logical Arguings cannot force the commanding beck of that open-handed Eloquence would allure to a silent admiring of that sacred Fountain whence they see such heal∣ing VVaters flow. That this my Request to my Readers may take effect, I shall back it with that Request to God, which my Dear Mother, the Holy Church of England hath put into her Childrens mouth. [More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholick Church, that it may be so guided and govern'd by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians, may be led into the way of Truth, and hold the Faith in Unity of Spirit, in the Bond of Peace, and in Righteousness of Life. And this we beg for Jesus Christ his Sake. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all Honour and Glory world without end,

Amen.

FINIS.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Who outstript all the Sophs in this Essay, Quenching their Star-light with his Solar Ray.