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 Second Book. (Book 2)

The Apostles were not themselves deluded, no Crack'd-brain Enthusiasticks, but Persons of most composed Minds.

CHAP. I.

The Gospel's Correspondency with Vulgar Sentiments.

§ 1. The Testimony of the Humane Soul untaught to the Truth of the Christian Creed in the Articles touching the Unity of the Godhead; his Goodness, Ju∣stice, Mercy. The Existence of wicked Spirits. § 2. The Resurrection; and Future Judgment. Death formidable for its Consequences to evil Men, No Fence against this Fear, proved by Examples. § 3. In hope of future Good, the Soul secretly applauds her self after virtuous Acts. This makes the Flesh suffer patiently.

§ 1. WHat Exception can be made against so impartial a Relati∣on, of Men possessed with such a mortal Detestation of Forgery, made to an Age so well accommodated against Delusion by all internal and external Fortifications ima∣ginable, cannot (in my shallow Reason) be conjectured; except it be that of Celsus, and his Modern Epicurean Disciples. That the Apostles themselves were deluded: or (which is worse) infatuated! For who, but raving and dementate Persons, would have ven∣tured to put off Adulterate Wares to so knowing an Age? But then, how could they have framed the Doctrine and History of Christ in such a Decorum, in so exact a Symmetry of Parts, not only among themselves, but to the great World, as Lactantius argues: [Abfuit ergò ab iis fingendi voluntas, & astutia;

quià rudes fuerunt; & quis possit indoctus apta inter se & cobaerentia fingere, cùm Philosophorum doctissimi ipsi sibi repugnantia dixerint: (haec enim est mendaciorum natura, ut coherere non possint:) illorum autèm traditio (quià vera est) quadrat undique ac sibi tota consentit: & ideò persuadet, quià constanti ratione suffulta est.] (Lactant de justicia lib. 5. cap. 3.) The Apostles had neither Will to feign, nor any crafty Design upon the World, because they were plain Men; and what il∣literate Man can have the Art to make Fictions square to one another and hang to∣gether: seeing the most learned of the Philosophers have spoke things jarring a∣mongst themselves? (for this is the Nature of Untruths that they cannot be of a Piece.) But the Tradition of the Apostles, because it is true, one part falls out even with another, and it agrees perfectly with it self; and therefore gains upon Mens Minds, because it is underpropp'd with that stedfast reason; and on every side Squares with Principles of Reason. Origen useth this Argument (Cont. Cels. l. 3.) willing him to consider if it were not the Agreeableness of the Principles of Faith with common Notions. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that prevailed most upon all candid and inge∣nuous Auditors of them.] For how can that be the Figment of deluded Fancies, the issue of shatter'd Brains, that's so well shap'd as it bears a perfect Propor∣tion to, and Correspondency with, whatsoever hath had the common Ap∣probation of Mankind: Being calculated

1. To the Meridian of common Sentiments, to the Universal Religion of the whole World, to the Testimony of every natural Soul: to whose Evi∣dence Christian Religion appeals by her Advocate Tertullian (in his admira∣ble Treatise De Testimonio Animae:) I call in (saith he) a new kind of Witness; yet more known than any Writing, more tost than all Learning, more com∣mon than any Book that's put forth, greater than whole Man (that is) the All that is of Man. Come into the Court, Oh Soul, whether thou beest Di∣vine and Eternal (as most Philosophers think) and by so much the rather, not capable of telling a Lye: Or not Divine, but Mortal (as Epicurus thinks) and so much the rather thou oughtest not to lye, for Fear of distracting thy self at present with the Guilt of so Inhumane a Vice; whether thou art receiv∣ed from Heaven, or conceived of Earth; whether thou art made up of Num∣bers or Atoms; whether thou commences a being with the Body, or art infu∣sed after the Body: from whencesoever, and howsoever thou makest Man a Rational Creature, most capable of Sense and Science. But I do not retain thee of Council for the Christian such as thou art when (after thou hast been formed in the Schools, and exercised in Libraries) thou belchest forth that Wisdom thou hast obtained in Aristotle's Walks, or the Attick Academies. No, I appeal to thee, as thou art raw, unpolish'd, and void of acquired Know∣ledge; such a one as they have that have only a bare Soul; such altogether, as thou comest from the Quarry, from the High Way, from the Looms. I have need of thy Unskilfulness: for when thou growest never so little crafty, all men suspect thee. I would have thee bring nothing with thee into this Court, but what thou bringest with thy self into Man; but what thou hast learn'd to think, of thy own teaching (or thy Author's, whoever he be.) While thou art such a one, I am sure thou art not a Christian Soul; for thou art not born, but made (and new born) a Christian Soul: And yet we Chri∣stians require thy Testimony: the Testimony of a Stranger to us, against those of thy own kin: that our Adversaries may (at least for thy sake) blush, for their hating and persecuting us, for holding those Opinions, which lead thy Judgment captive, of which thou canst not rid thy self.

Articl. 1. The Pagans are displeased with us Christians, for preaching that there is one only Lord known and confessed by that only Name of God, without the Addition of any of the Names of their Idols; of whom and un∣der whom, are all things. Do thou declare what thou knowest touching this Matter. And lo, we hear thee aloud (and with that full Liberty that is de∣nied us) at home, and abroad, thus dictating (thus pronouncing Sentence in the Case) in such Proverbial Sayings as thou puttest into all Men's Mouths,

viz. God grant: If God will. By which Way of expressing thy own Senti∣ments, thou signifyest, that there is such a one; and confessest that all Power belongs to that one God, to whose Will thou lookest for all good: and with∣withal deemest all other Gods to be Gods, whom thou callest by their own proper Names; Saturn, Jove, Mars, Minerva: for him thou affirmest to be God alone, whom thou namest God only: so that if at any time thou call∣est them Gods, thou dost but borrow the only God's Name to bestow on them.

Articl. 2. Neither art thou ignorant of the Nature of that God whom we preach. Deus bonus est, Deus benefacit: God is good, and God does good, are Words of thy own framing: are Phrases of Speech thou usest in their pro∣per Sense. And on the other hand thou hast taught us to say [an evil Man] thereby taxing, obliquely and figuratively, such a Man to be therefore evil, because he is departed from God that is good. Again, because it is, among us, the great Mystery of Mortification and Conversation, to believe that the Blessing of Goodness and Bounty is at God's Disposal; thou pronouncest this Prayer [God bless thee,] as plainly as a Christian need do. And when thou turnest that Blessing into a Curse, thou thereby confessest (with us) that God's Power is wholly above us; that whom he curseth, are cursed: whom he blesseth, are blessed. There are some that do not altogether deny the exi∣stence of God, but they do not think, that he either minds what Men do, or will judg them according to their Works; (in which Point, they exceedingly differ from us, who betake our selves to the Discipline of Christ, that we may escape Judgment to come,) but they think it a Dishonour to God, not to be discharged from the Care of Inspection, and the Trouble of Animad∣version, or to have Anger ascribed to him: for if God (say they) can be an∣gry; he is corruptible and passible. Yet when the same Men, elsewhere, confess the Soul to be Divine and conferr'd by God, they become obnoxious to have the Testimony of the Soul retorted against their other Opinion. For if the Soul either be Divine or Gods Gift, without doubt, she knows her Do∣nor; and if she knows him, them she also fears him, at least wise, as her Au∣thor: Doth she not fear him whom she would rather have Propitious than Angry? Whence then proceeds this natural Fear of God in the Soul, if God knows not how to be angry? how can he be feared, that cannot be offended? What in God can be feared, but his Anger? how can he be angry at Mens doing amiss, if he mind not what we do? Why does he mind, if he will not judg? How can he judg, if he want Power to execute? and who hath Su∣preme Power but God alone? Hence therefore it is, that the Soul (out of her own Conscience) is ready, within Doors and without, (without any bodie's deriding or hindering her) to cry out [God seeth all things; I appeal to God; God will requite it; God will judge betwixt us.] Whence hast thou learned these words, seeing thou art not a Christian? How comest thou to use such expressions, oftentimes, even while thou art impaled with Ceres her Hair-lace, clad in Saturn's Scarlet Pall, or Isis her Linnen Garment? Who taught thee to implore the Judgment of God, in the very Temples of Idols; stand∣ing at Esculapius his Feet, trimming Juno in the Air, and putting a black Case upon Minerva's Helmet, thou in vocatest none of the Gods there present: In thy own Court, thou appeal'st to a Forreign Judg: in thy own Temples thou liftest up thy Eyes to Heaven, and call'st upon the God of Heaven: how great is the Evidence of that Truth which procureth Witnesses for its self, (and in behalf of Christians) under the Noses of those Devil-Gods whom Pagans Worship. The Christian Cicero, Lactantius, (de falsa Religione, l. 2. cap. 1.) hath the same Observation: Nam & cum jurant, & cùm optant, & cùm gra∣tias agunt; non Jovem aut Deos multos, sed unum Deum nominant: ità veritas ipsa (cogente natura) etiam ab invitis pectoribus erumpit: si qua necessitas gravis presserit, tunc Deum recordantur; si belli terror infremuerit, si morborum pestifera vis incubuerit, si alimenta frugibus longa siccitas denegaverit, si saeva tempestas, si

graudo gruerit, ad Deum confugiunt, à Deo petitur auxilium, Deus ut subveniat oratur, &c. When Men swear, pray, or give Thanks, they name not Jove or many Gods, but the one God. So the Truth (by the Impulse of Nature) break∣eth out of those Breasts, which would imprison it. If any sad Calamity oppress them, then they remember God: If the Terror of War roar upon them: If Pesti∣lential Sicknesses sit upon their Skirts: if a long Drought withdraw Nourishment from the Fruits of the Earth: If raging Tempests, Hail or hot Thunder-bolts invade them, then they fly to God; then they beg Aid of God; then is he beseech'd that he would deliver them: hereby confessing, that such Punishments are inflicted upon the World by that provoked Deity; who takes notice of Mens Sins, and therefore punisheth them: of Mens Prayers and Repentance, and is therefore made propitious by their humble Addresses.

Articl. 3. We are question'd for affirming there are Devils: (as though we, by casting them out of the Possession of Mens Bodies, did not prove them to be indeed.) But, besides, that the Followers of Chrysippus make them a Laughing-stock, thy Execrations, Ob Soul, give Answer, that they both are, and are to be abominated: thou callest that Man [Daemonium] a Devil that's stain'd with Filthiness, Malice, Insolency, or any other grievous Sin which we impute to Devils, or if fit to express him to be a Person deserving all Mens Hatred. Lastly, when thou hast a mind to express thy Aversation to, thy Scorning or Detestation of, any thing, or Man: thou cryest out [Satan,] and namest him, whom we call the Angel of Malice, the Crafts-master of all Er∣rour, the Defacer of the whole World; by whom Man, at first, was circum∣vented to break the Law of God, whereby he became obnoxious to Death, and drew all his Posterity into the same Condemnation. Thou knowest there∣fore thy Destroyer: and though Christians only, and those Sects that depend upon the Mouth of God, have learn'd to know the whole Story of him: yet thou, also, hast some inkling of him, for else thou wouldst not hate him.

§ 2. The Soul conscious of Eternal Judgment.

Articl. 4. There is one Article of our Religion wherein we expect thy Determination; so much the rather, because it respects thine own state and concernment. We affirm that thou continuest in Being, after thou hast paid back the debt of Life: That thou expectest the Day of Judgment, and to be sentenc'd to Eternal Torment or Happiness, according as thy works have been in the Body; of which, that thou maist be capable, we affirm, that thou expectest the restoring, to thee, of thy pristine Substance, the same Body, the same Memory. This Faith we introduc'd not, but found in the World: for this Principle of the Soul's Existence after death, the Gallick Druides (that most uncult Tribe of Divines) retain'd, as Caesar witnesseth (in his lib. 6. de bello Gallico;) and Strabo (in his 4. Book of the Gauls) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Of the same Opinion, the same Strabo witnesseth the Indian Brachmans to be (lib. 15.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The sentiments of the Souls Immortality Barbarism it self could not raze out of the minds of some Thracians, (saith Pompon. Mela (lib. 2. de Thracibus.) Alii redituras putant ani∣mas obeuntium: alii, etsi non redeant, non extingui tamen, sed ad beatiora transire.

And as to that of the Bodies Resurrection, Tacitus (lib. 5. hist. 5.) speaking of the Jews, saith, that in hope of the Resurrection they, as also the Egyptians, used not to burn, but to interr their Corps. [Corpora condere quàm cremare, è more Aegyptio:] eadémque cura, & de inferis persuasio. These as well as we, think it not equal to pass a Doom, without the Exhibition of the whole Man, which in thy fore-past Life was at work, either to bring forth death (by sowing to the Flesh) or life (by sowing to the Spirit.) This Christian

Doctrine, though much more becoming than that of Pithagoras (for it does not translate thee into Beasts) though more full and plain than that of Pla∣to (for it restores to thee the dowry of thy Body, which point the Plato∣nicks waver'd in.) Non novi quam utilitatem ex ipsa capiamus—••••orum enim nulla est commemoratio, neque sensus esse posset, si simus prorsus, quae gratia hujus immortalitatis est habenda (Athengus dipnos. 11. 22.) though more acceptable than that of Epicurus; (for it defends thee against annihilation;) yet, merely for the name we give it, undergoes the Censure of being vain, stupid and temerarious. But we are not ashamed of it, if thou beest of the same Opi∣nion with us: As thou declarest thy self to be; when, making mention of a wicked man departed this Life, thou call'st him [poor wretched man] not so much for that he has lost the benefit of a temporal Life, as for that he is inroll'd for punishment: for others, when they are deceased, thou call'st [hap∣py and secure,] therein professing both the incommodity of Life and benefit of Death. Those deceased whom thou imprecatest, thou wishest to them heavy earth, and to their ashes, torment in the other World: to them to whom thou bearest good will, when they are dead, thou wishest rest to their bones and ashes. If there remain nothing for thee to be expected af∣ter death, no sense of pain or joy; nay, if thou thy self shalt not then re∣main, Why dost thou lye against thine own head? Why dost thou tell thy self that something attends thee beyond the Grave? Yea, why dost thou at all fear death, if thou hast nothing to fear after death? If thou answer'st; Not because it menaceth any thing that's evil, but because it deprives me of the benefit of Life: I reply, (yea thou wilt give answer to thy self) That sometimes Death quits thee of the intolerable inconveniences of Life: and sure, in this case, the loss of good things is not to be feared; that being recompensed with a greater good, to wit, 〈…〉〈…〉st from inconveniences. That certainly is not to be feared, that delivers us from all that is to be feared. Whence come such amazing fears, dreadful apprehensions, sinking thoughts to attend guilty Conscience, but from the innate Notion of Judgment to come? Whence proceeds it that [se judice nemo nocens absolvitur,] a guilty Soul arraigns it self? That self-consciousness to the closest Villany binds the Malefactor over to the general Assize? that the guilt of innocent Blood, though never so secretly shed, looks so gastly in the face of the Murderer, rings so loud, speaks so articulately in the ears of Conscience; (as some have conceived the very Birds of the Air, nay, the callow Sparrows in the Nest, to reveal the matter, as it befel to Bessus) should be such a load, such a weight upon the Soul, as to make it melt in its own grease, with struggl∣ing under it? [Mentem sudoribus urget.] What makes them most stubborn and contumeliously set against entertaining the thought of Eternal Judgment, tremble at the voice of Thunder; as if in that rumbling noise they heard the sound of the Judges Charriot-wheels; and in the Lightning, saw a re∣semblance of that fire shall go before him and consume round about him? Caligula out-braved God, and Tiberius slighted him; yet [ad omnia fulgu∣ra pallent,] when they heard his voice they were afraid. Excellent is the Note that Tacitus makes upon those Passages in Tiberius his Epistle to the Senate: [Quid scribam vobis, Patres conscripti, aut quomodò soribam, aut quid omnino non scribam hoc tempore; Dii me Deeque pejùs perdant quàm perire quo∣tidiè sentio, si scio: If I can tell (Fathers) what I may write, or how I may write, or what I may not write, at this time; let the Gods (who I perceive are destroying me daily) destroy me worse. Adeò facinora & flagitia sua ipsi quoque in supplicium verterant: Neque frustrà Plato affirmare solitus est, si recludan∣tur trannorum mentes, posse aspici laniatus & ictus; quando ut corpora verberi∣bus, ità saevitia, libidine, malis consultis animus dilaceratur: So do impious men (comments Tacitus) torment themselves with the guilt of their own villanies; as Plato had reason to say, that if the Minds of Tyrants were exposed to open view, they would be seen smiting and tearing themselves: for as mens Bodies are with scourges, so are their souls torn with the guilt of cruelty, lust,

and ill-advised actions. That is, as the same Plato (de republ.) saith, when they perceive deaths approaches. Nero hath this Character given him by Suetonius [Religionum usquequaque aspernator, he perfectly contemned all Re∣ligion;] yet his Mothers Ghost dogg'd him into an acknowledgement of Judgment to come: for after his Matricide, he was scar'd with dreams, ter∣rified with visions; wherein sometimes, he hears the Apparritors voice, sum∣moning him to appear before the divine Tribunal; sometimes he thinks the Furies arrest him, and hale him into close and dismal Dungeons: those anti∣pasts of approaching vengcance drive him quite off his Stoicism, in his last Act, put him beside the Lesson his Master Seneca had taught him: he could handle his Weapon dexterously in the Artillery-garden, but he cannot find his hands in the pitch'd Field. 'Tis one thing to bark at the Lions Skin in the Hall, another thing to meet the Lion in the Wood. He cannot at his death with all his Charms (of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Age, excita teipsum, how ill do these fears become the Scholar of Seneca. Caesar where art thou, go too, stir up thy courage Nero) conjure down the terrours of death: nor keep them within the Circle of his own heart, but they break out in those gastly stareings of his Eyes, as strike the Spectators with horrour [Extantibus rigentibusque ocu∣lis usque ad horrorem visentium] (Sueton. Nero.) so true is that of St. Cyril. Je∣rus. (Catech. 18.) Thou maist deny it with thy lipps, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, but thou carriest the Conscience of the Resurrection about with thee.] Epicurus made it his business to obliterate the Notions of the Souls Immortality, and the Judgment attending us in the other World; yet Cotta in Cicero (de nat. deor. lib. 1.) gives this Testimony of him, [Nec quen∣quam vidi qui magis timeret ea quae timenda esse negaret; mortem, dico, & Deos:] I never knew man that more fear'd, what he said was not to be fear'd, to wit, Death and the Deity. There is no Antidote strong enough, to repel the thought of fu∣ture Judgment, from soaking into the spirits of those men that would most glad ly quit themselves of those thoughts. The Atheist in heart cannot persevere to be an Atheist in Judgment: he may cross the Book, but the Debt is still le∣gible; he cannot make his Soul rasam tabulam, not rase out of it the native Im∣presses of a righteous Deity: he may think he has barrocado'd all the ways to his Soul, and secured it from all Assaults of Fear; that he has sufficiently im∣mur'd his Judgment, and made it impregnable: but Judgment has a Party within will betray the Fort, a self-accusing Conscience.

Conscia mens ut cuique sua est, ità concipit intrà pectora, pro facto spémque metúmque suo.

He may think he has extinguish'd the Fire; but the Sparks of the Fiery Day are only raked up in the Embers, and lie glowing on the bottom of the Hearth. He may beat the thoughts of Eternal Vengeance from the Out-works and base Town, the lower and bestial part of the Soul (Fancy) that's only mur'd by Sense: but they are so fortifyed in the Fort Royal, in the white Tower of the rational Faculties: as there they stand at defiance against all his Artillery: as thence they make frequent Sallies, and put all the Arguments wherewith they are beleaguered to the Rout: thence they discharge whole Vollies of mortal Shot against the Atheist's Head, if he once but dare to peep up, above those Trenches under the Covert of which his Disbelief lurks. To be sure the Dust that riseth under the Charriot Wheels of approaching Death, blown into the most refractory A theist's Eyes, will cure him of that his Pur∣blindness, of that Indisposition whereby he could not see afar off, so far off as Judgment to come.

§ 3. Articl. 5. The Soul's Antipasts of the Resurrection to Eternal Life.

To whose Discipline we will leave him, and attend to what the Soul speaks about that other part of glad Hope after Death; whence comes that secret

Applause she gives her self, when she acts well? that Exultancy of Spirit which ariseth from her reflecting upon her vertuous Actions? Seneca speaks the Peasant's Sence, as well as the Philosopher's; when he saith, [Animum divina aeterna delectant: nec ut alienis interest, sed ut suis—distrabe hoc ine∣stimabile bonum, non èst vita tanti ut sudem, ut aestuem:] Upon the perform∣ance of Noble and Heroick Actions, the Soul contemplates those Eternal Re∣wards that attend them in the World, and delights and enjoys her self in those Rewards, not as things she hath nothing to do with, but as her own peculiar Portion: without which Fore-tasts of Eternal Retribution (which the Divine Justice will award to Pious Actions) this present Life were not worth the while, our sweating and toiling here were but lost Labour, exact∣ly to the Apostle's Sense (1 Cor. 15. 19.) If in this Life only we had Hope, we were miserable Men: If the Soul did not think that the Body shall reign with her, with what Equity does she put it upon suffering for her? Would not the Flesh grumble to be rid by her, through Brush and Brake; if she did not rest in hope of sharing with the Soul in the Reward of well doing? Would Scoevola's Hand, if it had not laid fast hold of Eternal Life, have been kept so steady in that Fire wherein he sacrificed it for his Countrey's Service (then which, as my Author saith, the immortal Gods never saw a more noble one laid upon their Altars, nor more bespeaking the Attention of their Eyes.) Could Pompei have perswaded his Finger, to have the Patience to be burnt to the stump, in the Flame of a Candle (to convince King Gentius, that no Tor∣ture could rack him to confess the Senates Counsel) if he had not pointed it to its future Reward? With what else could Theodorus charm his Tongue to hold its Peace while he tired his Tormenters, and wore out the Rack with his Patience? Or Alexander's Page, his Arm not to shrug, while it was carbona∣doing, with that live Coal that fell into his Sleeve (out of that Censer he held, while his Master was sacrificing) till the smell of his burnt Flesh exceed∣ed that of the Incense; and till Alexander had fulfill'd those Rites, which he lengthen'd out, on purpose, to delight himself with the Prospect of that in∣vincible Manhood in a Boy? With what else do the Indian Gymnosophists ob∣tain of their Bodies a Compliance with their Austere Discipline, of going na∣ked in Frost and Snow all their Life long, of hardning them with the Frosty Rigour of Caucasus one while, and another while throwing them into the Fire; under all which Burdens the poor Beast never groans nor expresseth the least Disgust against its Rider? But would a good Man be thus merciless to his Beast, were he not perswaded (with that Strippling Martyr in the Book of Maccabees 2. 7.) these I had from Heaven, and for his Laws I despise them, and from him I hope to have them again. These had not only suck'd-in the Platonick Principle of the Soul's Immortality, which he asserted with the Light of inexpugnable Reasons (in his Phaedon) as Macrobius testifies [Inexpugna∣bilium luce rationum anima in veram dignitatem suae immortalitatis asserta.] (in Som. Scip. l. 1. c. 1.) But were sure of that which Plato spoke but coldly of (in the end of his Books of the Commonwealth) to wit, the Soul's receiving again its own Body: that, with that, it might receive [Justiciae vel cultae prae∣mium, vel spretae poenam.] either the Reward of fulfilling, or the Punishment of de∣spising Justice.

CHAP. II.

Reason nonplus'd, help'd by Religion, acquiesceth in her Re∣solutions.

§ 1. Man's Supremacy over the Creatures, the Reason of it not cognoscible by Natural Light: § 2. Yet generally challenged even over Spirits, whom men command to do what themselves disgust. §. 3. The way of Creation a Mystery; Reason puzzl'd to find it out can but conjecture. § 4. Divine Revelations touching both, acquiesc'd in as soon as communicated. Scripture-Philosophy excels the Mechanick. Plato's Commendation. § 5. Nothing but the God of Order's Grant can secure States from Anarchical Parity and Club-law. § 6. Heathens assented to the Reasons of both assigned by Scripture.

§. 1. THis is a material Witness: I shall therefore examine her in some other Points of our Religion, wherein she concurrs with us (as to the Propo∣sitions) before she confers with us: and cannot but acquiesce in our Reasons, after she hears them; though till then she could not find them out: Reasons, out of the Sphere of Natural Reasons activity, till let down by supernatu∣ral Revelation: but when they are presented to her view, she is ready to say of them (as Adam of our Mother Eve, when God brought her to him) Is not this fiesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone? She then imbraceth them, falleth upon their neck and kisseth them; bids them heartily welcome when they deign to come under her roof; though she could not reach them (to hale them in) nor so much as imagine she had any such kindred in being, till they exhibit themselves openly to her. Indeed she could not sit down till they came, her Mensa Philosophica wanted her best Guests; there were set empty Chairs, at the upper end of the Table, but what personages they were reserved for, she no more knew, than the modern Jews understand, who that Elias is, for whom they set a Chair at their Festivals. She suspected there was some Elias not far from her, who when he came would resolve all her doubts; and gropes in the dark in the mean while, if happily she might stumble on the reason of these things: hence Suarez [Unde etiam fit, ut illuminati seu roborati lumine fidei, multas ex his veritatibus intelligamus ut con∣tentas in principiis naturalibus, quas fortasse non assequaremur si in pura naturali ratione philosopharemur. Ità enim acutissimis etiam philosophis lumine fidei ca∣rentibus accidisse, perspectum est,] (Metaph. l. 2. disput. 3. sect. 36.) [Upon this account, we who have the benefit of the Light of Faith, understand many of these verities as contain'd in natural Principles, which perhaps we should not attain to if we philosophized in the pure light of Nature: for it is manifest that so it happened to the most ancient Philosophers who wanted the light of Faith. For being void of the divine knowledge, and ignorant of the true Original of things, they betook themselves 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to Suppositions concern∣ing Matter, and reduc'd and accommodated (as well as they could) the Cause of the Universe to the Elements of the World; so that there was not amongst them any fixt, stable or immovable Reason or Opinion, but the after-comers invalidated the Theses of their predecessors, (saith Basil the Great, Hexaemeron. homil. 1.)

Let us first instance in Mans Supremacy: of which Strabo (lib. 17.) writes that Providence separated the Water from the Earth for the service of Man, and of those Animals that serve Man [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] But how comes he to be my servant? the elder to serve the younger, the strong the weak, the armed the naked, the inno∣cent the guilty? Is it the comeliness of my Person, the beauteous features of my Face? But first we our selves are not agreed what that is; for complexi∣on here red, there tawny, in another Country-black wins the prize: for pro∣portion,

here the tall, there the mean, here the slender, there the gross, here the little Ear, there the lave Ear, here the thin Lip, there the Blubber-lip, here the streight, there the die Neck are esteemed most courtly. [Nobis etiam vitia saepè jucunda: naevus in articulo pueri delectat Alcaeum: est corporis macula, ili tamen hoc lumen videbatur. Q. Catulus de Roscio—(vestra prece mihi liceat coelestes dicere)

Mortalis visus pulchior esse Deo.

at erat sicut hodiè perversissimis oculis (Cotta in Ciceronis de natura deor. lib. 1.) Blemishes do oftentimes seem to us to be beauty-spots. A mole on the Boys knuckle delights Alcaeus: that which is the Bodies stain, appear'd to him its gloss. Quin∣tus Catulus, in a Love-rapture, thus commends the aspect of Roscius: If I may with your lieve (O ye Celestials) speak it, this mortal hath a better face than any of you; though Roscius is the most squint-eyed fellow living. Besides, in those things we all confess to be real Beauties, how far are we out-stript by Birds of the Air, by the Flowers of the field? Indeed our borrowing their feathers to stick upon our own nakedness, argues our despondency to compare with them: and when, out of their cast Sutes, we have furnish'd our selves, and to our native Cloth added the best gloss and trimming they can afford us; we cannot make our selves half so fine as the Lily, not near so gay as the Pea∣cock. Nay, were it the amiableness of our countenances did thus charm them, they would love our presence and society; whereas few or none of them (but such as we hire to it) can endure our company, but fly from us, as we do from Serpents or Toads; not out of fear of harm, but purely out of an odium to our persons; those of them keeping a distance from our whole kind, to whom we never did nor intended hurt. If you say, that the Majesty of our looks which makes them confess us their superiours, teacheth them (that point of good manners) to know their distance. How comes it to pass that a Toad dares look at, that a Rat dares fly in our majestick face; that the most contemprible Insects will venture to pinch our skin, to pierce our flesh, & suck our blood: that a Basilisk will out-stare us into our holes, into our graves: herein quitting the scores, and equally ballancing the accounts betwixt us; making us as much Vassals to some of them, as we make others Vassals to us. Lastly, if it be the grandeur of our looks that prefers us to this Sove∣reignty over the rest of the Creatures, why is not the Ape or Baboon ho∣nour'd, as next to us, in this our Kingdom, being next to us in proportion of Face and other Members?

Simia quàm similis (turpissima bestia) nobis, Ennius.

How is natural invention baffled here, and non-plus'd, in seeking out the rea∣son, in assigning the ground of Mans Dominion over the meanest Creatures!

§ 2. Men challenge a Royalty over Spirits.

And yet we will not let go our claim, though we can show no evidences, we persist in the Conclusion, though we see not the Premisses from which it is infer'd. Yea, though we cannot tell how we became Lords of the visible, we challenge a Royalty over the intellectual World. [Dii immortales ad usum hominum fabricati penè videntur:] (Cicero de natur. deor. 1. p. 9.) The im∣mortal Gods (saith Tully) that is, the Angels, seem to have been created most-what for the use of men. We will not allow Spirits to be exempt from our Jurisdiction, but account them obnoxious to our Laws. What else were Charms and Magick invented, but to extort from Spirits that service which we think they owe us? What mean we by summoning them, as it were, to our Courts, but to let them know they owe us Fealty? Why else do we amerce them for Non-appearance? Would the Furies have been by us so imperiously com∣manded to whip others, if we had not thought that Alecto her self stands in

awe of the Conjurer's Whip? Had not Mortals deemed the Inhabitants of the other World to have been at their devotion, could they have expected an observance from them of such harsh Commands, as the performance there∣of was deemed more painful, than the Infernal sufferings? Witness the groans they are conceived to utter, while they are pricked on to draw in so uneasie a Yoke as we put upon them.

Abire in atrum carceris liceat mei Cubile: liceat (si parùm videor miser) Mutareripas: al••eo medius tuo Phlegeton relinquar, igneo cinctus freto, [Seneca Thyestes.] * 1.1

Cries the Ghost of Tantalus in the Magick Circle. And Thyestes his Ghost groans almost as lowd, when that is evocated to attend the pleasure of the black Artist.

Incertus utras oderim sedes magis— —Libet reverti: nonne vel tristes lacus Incolere satius▪ [Sen. Agamemnon.] * 1.2

Unpleasant work and such as from the dolour that Spirits made, when they were called to it; the Art, whereby they were constrained to it, had its name Goetia; as a great proficient in that Art (Porphyry) thinketh, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, from that lamentable din the Ghosts made about their Se∣pulchres, when they were evocated:] and yet it was a Vulgar Opinion, that the Spirits might be forc'd thus against the hair by the Negromancers. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Goetia is an Art to constrain the dead by invocation:] (Suidas referente Le Vives in August. eivitat. Dei, 10. 9.)

It cannot now be imagin'd, but that the Humane Soul should hunt every way, to find out the grounds of this her claim of Superiority over the whole Creation: methinks I hear her upon the quest, thus mouthing it. Oh that I could see the Charter by which we are estated in this privilege: who will shew me those Letters Patents by vertue whereof we are invested with this power; for nothing I have yet seen will stand good in Reasons Law, as a justi∣fiable Plea.

§ 3. Reason non plus'd in its Conceptions about the way of the Creatures existing.

But why do I wonder at my blindness as to the ground of title to what I poffess, when I am a perfect stranger to the way of my own Being, and can∣not tell how it came to pass, that I am, or how the rest of Creatures first received Being? Reason taught Heathens, that the World had a Beginning. [Questio quae multorum cogitationes de ambigenda mundi aeternitate solicitat, &c. Nam quis facilè mundum semper fuisse consentiat? cùm & ipsa historia∣rum fides multarum rerum cultum, emendationémque vel inventionem ipsam recentem esse fateatur, &c. (Macrobius in som. Scipio. 2. 10.) From the grow∣ing of Arts by degrees and the obscurity of former times, the Epicurean himself concluded the World to have had a beginning (Lucretius l. 5.)

—si nulla fuit genitalis Origo Terrarum & Coeli, sempérque aeterna fuére, Cur suprà bellum Trojanum, & funera Trojae Non alias alii quo{que} res cecinere Poetae? Quà tot facia virùm toties cecidere: nec usquam Aeternis famae monumentis insita florent? —Recénsque Natura est mundi, ne{que} pridem exordia cepit. Quare etiam quaedam nunc artes expoliuntur, Nunc etiam augescunt; nunc addita navigiis sunt Multa, &c. * 1.3

Reason, I say, convinc'd Heathens that the World was not eternal: but how it received its being they could not tell. How is Aristottle puzzl'd to determine whence Animals had their first beginning, whether they were ingender'd as Worms and Insects, or hatch'd of Eggs; for one of these ways, saith he, they must of necessity have beengenerated, (de Generation. animantium, lib. 3. cap. ult.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Hear we the discourse of Cicero upon this Subject. I am told there was one before me, and I believe it: but if we shall procede in drawing up our line in infinitum, we shall at the long run unmake our selves, and annihilate all Creatures that live by succession: for if there was not in eve∣ry kind, one first, there could be no second, nor third; and (at last) we our selves, that now exist, would not be at all. Whence then had the first in each succession his beginning? in what Forge was he framed? and what pre-existent Metal? Did the Elementary Bodies beget him of Mother Earth? But who begat and brought forth them? Rowze up thy self, O Soul, rub thine Eyes, look round about thee, stand upon thy Tiptoes, lift up thy Head; see if thou canst find an Answer to these Expostulations, an Answer will sa∣tisfie thy self. By whom were the Foundations of the Earth laid? who laid the measures thereof? who stretched the Line upon it? where∣upon were the Foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the Corner-stone thereof? Quae molitio, quae ferramenta, qui vectes, quae machinae, qui ministri tanti operis fuerunt? What Grindle-stone had that Architect to sharp∣en his Tools upon, what Tools had he to work with, what Levers, what Eugins, what Journey-men, what Apprentices? In what Grove grew Tim∣ber enough for such a Fabrick? In what Mould were the Heavens cast, on what Looms were the Balancies of the Clouds wrought? Who will teach us what to say to these things; for we cannot order our speech by reason of Darkness. These were the highest flights Reason could make; it lay not in her power by Arguments or Discourse to come to any Certainty, or so much

as Probability in these matters. So that after all her boasting Prologues, uttered by such as Democritus, who in the Preface to his Writings, said he would speak of all things, she acts her part here so poorly, as she deserves to be hiss'd off the Stage, and make way for Religion. Such things as these we rather desire to know, than do know, saith Velleius (in Ciceron. de na∣tura Deorum, lib. 1.) Quae talia suxt ut optata magis quàm inventa videantur. Sciscitor cur mundi aedificatores repentè extiterint, innumerabilia ante saecula dormirent: non enim si mundus non erat, saecula nulla erant: saecula (dico) non ea quae dierum noctiúmque numero annuis cursibus conficiuntur: sed fuit quaedam ab infinito tempore aeternitas, quam nulla temporum circumscriptio metiebatur: spatio verò qualis ea fuerat intelligi non potest: quòd nè in cogitationem quidem cadit, ut fuerit tempus aliquod nullum cùm tempus esset. Isto igitur tam im∣menso spatio quaero (Balbe) cur Pronoea vestra cessaverit: (Velleius in Cicer. de nat. deor. l. 1.) that is in brief, why was the World made no earlier? Cicero's Eloquence never stammer'd so, his Inventions were never so nonplus'd, as when he would describe the Order and Method of the Creation of the World (in his Book de Universitate) where he becomes so vain in his Imagination, and plays the fool so with Philosophical Wisdom, as I wonder not that Vel••eius should say [à Philone didicistis nihil scire, Ye Philosophers have learn'd of your Masters to know nothing:] (in Cicer. de nat. deorum, l. 1.) Or that Cotta should tell Balbus, after his large Discourse of Providence [Non igitur ad∣huc intelligo hoc esse: credo equidem, sed nihil docent Stoici:] I am not one jot wiser for all thy reasons: I believe indeed what thou sayest is true, but the Stoicks do not teach the reason of it. Upon which Lactantiuss observes: Tullius ex∣positis horum omnium de mortalitate & immortalitate animae, &c. sentent••••, ha∣rum inquit sententiarum, quae vera sit, Deus aliquis viderit: (Lactan. de div. praem. 7. 8.) And hath this Note upon Anaxagoras, who affirm'd the Snow to be black. [Hic est ilie qui se idcirco natum esse dixit, ut solem & coelum videret, qui in terra nihil videbat sole lucente:] (de fals. sap. l. 3. cap. 23.) This is be that said he was born to contemplate the Sun and Heaven, and yet he could not in the clear Sun-shine see what lay at his foot.

§ 4. Moses a better Philosopher than Cartesius, or any of the Mechanicks.

But Religion no sooner drops from her sacred Lips, the first word we read in Moses and the Eagle-wing'd Evangelist [In the beginning was the Word; all things were made by it] than she is received with general acclamations. And by that time she had utter'd [Let them have dominion over the Fish of the sea, and over the Fowl of the Air, &c.] Reason her self claps her hands, and cries plaudite: that natural Logick (that's every man's Birth-right) adores this rising Sun, whose resplendent Beams discover those latent Reasons, her self could not grope out: and welcoms these discoveries with with a thank∣ful 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: with as great an exuberancy of joy as Pythagoras conceiv'd, when upon his finding out some Philosophical Experiment, he sacrificed a whole Oxe to the Muses. (He had been more just, had he crown'd the Fountain whence he drew better Conclusions than the rest of Philosophers, to wit, the sacred Philosophy of Moses) (Cicero de natura deorum, l. 3. pag. 149) In∣genuously confessing, that had she not ploughed with God's Heifer, she should never have found out these Riddles of his Providence. Tatianus, a∣mongst the reasons he gives, why he embrac'd the Christian Faith, names this for one, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] The rational account which that gives of the Creation of all things. Indeed it were to be wished that Moses his Philosophy were more studied; as that which is the only Ex∣pedient fully to satisfie inquisitive minds. For though the old and modern Mechanick Philosophy be of excellent use, to inform us of those Causes which partake most of Matter, and live next door to our Senses; yet who∣ever follows them home, will see them make doubles before they come to their seat; at a stand in their progress through intermediate to the prime

and only independent Cause; and not able to joyn the inferiour Links of the Chain, to that upper part of it that's fasten'd to Jupiter's Chair. How much more rationally is the Sun's Motion (for instance) deduced to the power of the divine, Fiat, to the force imprest upon it, by that Omnipo∣tent hand out of which it first came: than either to those intelligences which Aristotle invented to move it (as a Dog in a Wheel;) or such Jack-pullies, and Weights of (I know not what) Atoms, which our modern Wits have fancied for the Springs of his Motion. After the same manner that that, which Proclus calls the Soul of the Universe, wheels about the Primum mobile: [sta∣ret si unquam stantem animam reperiret] as he is quoted by Macrobius (in som. Scipionis, 1. 17.) Of such whimsical Philosophers well saith Lactantius, [Multò sceleratiores, qui arcana mundi & hoc coeleste templum prophanare im∣piis disputationibus quaerunt:] (de fals. sapien. l. 3. cap. 20.) If it be accounted sacrilege to profane Temples of Wood and stone; how much more impious are they, who labour to prophane the secrets of Nature and this heavenly Temple the Universe, with their godless Disputations? I wonder that the Doctrine of A∣toms blusheth not, to see that variety (and yet constancy) of the admirably disposed Colours in Birds and Flowers: that it is not overcome with smell∣ing that variety of scents issuing from Herbs of different kinds; which can with no more reason be deemed to be the Effects of the blind fortuitous Con∣course of Atoms, than the first Propunder of this Hypothesis could expect, that that Basket of Herbs, which his Wife threw up to the roof of his Hall, should fall down (in the form of a well-order'd Sallad) into a dish she set on the floor. We may believe that the Painter's Pencil, thrown in a rage at the lips of the picture of an Horse, might perchance supply the de∣fect of Art, and make the lively representation of Foam; with the same de∣gree of certainty, as we believe the blind man caught the Hair: But he that would attempt to perswade us, that the whole Horse was drawn after that manner, must first repute us more doltish than Asses. To whom can I bet∣ter resemble these Kitchin-Doctors, than to Children at a Puppet-play, who minding the various motions of the Images; and fancying a spring thereof, within themselves, independent to that hand which behind the Curtain puts them upon, and directs them in those Motions, beat their brains, and set their fancies a work to find out the Causes of such strange Effects; and after all the flu∣ctuations of their mind, produce nothing but froth: Whereas to them that ob∣serve what influence the Artificers hand within the Veil hath upon those Engins, the whole series of the Causes of those Motions are naked and bare-fac'd. Plutarch gives Plato this commendation, that finding fault with Anaxagoras, for immersing his thoughts too deep into Natural Causes, and too eagerly pursuing the necessity of those Effects which happen to Natural Bodies, he totally omitted the efficient and final, the prime and chief of all Principles: and avoiding the other Extreme (which some fell into, to wit, Poets and Divines) who only minded the Supreme Cause, the rational and voluntary Efficient; never came to the Natural and Necessary Causes of things: These first ascribing all, the second nothing, to the Perpessions, Collisions, Mutations and Mixtures of Natural Beings among themselves. Plato wave∣ing these Rocks, was the first that joyn'd together the Indagation of both thess sorts of Causes (de oracul. defect. pag. 677.) Hitherto appertains that saying of St. Austin. (De Trinitate l. 3. cap. 2.) [Itaque licuit vanitati Philoso∣phorum, etiam causis aliis ea tribuere, vel veris sed proximis (cùm omninò vi∣dere non possent superiorem caeteris omnibus causam, id est, voluntatem Dei) vel falsis, & non ipsa quidem pervestigatione corporalium rerum atque motionum, sed à sua suspicione & errore prolatis:] The vduity of Philosophers took lieve to attribute these effects to Causes, either true but next to hand (seing they could not at all discern the supreme Cause of all, the Will of God) or false, and such as were not produced by the pervestigation of Corporeal Matter or Motion, but from their own suspicion and errour. Were it not that with the Tradition of Re∣ligion, God hath communicated to Mankind general Maxims, to help us in

our search into the Nature of things: we could never attain to the certain knowledge of any thing. And therefore we see all the Grecian Philosophy that was not grounded upon Tradition, dwindled at last into Scepticism; and veil'd the Bonnet to that of Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, who travel'd for theirs, into those places where the Tradition had been best preserv'd. So true is that Oracle which the Indian Gymnosophist delivered to Socrates, in his Reply to the answer that Socrates made to this Question [By what means a man might become wise?] If he consider after what manner it becomes man to live, saith Socrates. To which the Indian, smi∣ling, gives this retort [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉:] No man can understand the nature of humane and mundane things, that's ignorant of divine: (Euseb. praeperat. Evang.) referente Grinaeo (in praefatione ad Irenaeum.) Upon which Point the golden Tongue'd Lactan∣tius elegantly; [Veritatem & divinae Religionis arcanum Philosophi attigerunt: sed aliis refellentibus, defendere id quod invenerant nequiverunt: quià singulis ra∣tio non quadravit: nec ea quae vera senserant, in summam redigere potuerunt:] (de divino praem. 7. 7.) The Philosophers made a shift to touch, with the fingers end, Truth and the Mystery of divine Religion, but they could not grasp them so close, as to hold them; as to defend what they had found against opposers: be∣cause Reason did not square to every one of their Placits singly, nor were they able to bring into one Sum and subordinate System their true sentiments. And it is Fernelius his observation (in his Preface, de abditis rerum causis) that the latter Platonicks, Numenius, Philo, Plotinus, Iamblicus, Proclus, [Quicquid de divinis rebus magnificum attigerunt, illud à Christianis viris, Joanne, Paulo, Hirotheo, Dionysio furtim excerpsisse; ut inde abstrusa Platonis dicta clariùs lucidiusque interpretarentur, & in verum sensum deducerent:] attain'd to the knowledge of nothing in divine things, that was magnificent, but what they stole from Christian Philosophers: by whose spoils they were enriched with ability, more clearly to interpret and deduce to a true sence the dark sayings of Plato. But I digress.

How the World was produced: and how man came to be Sovereign of the rest of the Creatures, Reason was in pursuit after, but could ne∣ver attain to the knowledge of; till Religion prompts her, till sacred Writ informs her: That God made man after his own Image, gave him that Dominion, made him Lord of the Universe, as being of that Nature of which the Son of God was to assume Flesh, into a perpetual Union with himself; which being the highest preferment that the Creature is capable of, and an Estate which Angels shall never aspire unto, speaks it no wonder that God should make his Angels ministring Spirits for the good of Man. But we need not now go so far as the Reason of God's disposal: 'tis enough we have found out Gods disposal, as the ground of Man's Sovereignty. Weigh this with all besides that ever was said upon this Question, and they are light∣er than vanity: and let Reason use the utmost of her skill in descanting upon this ground, she shall never be able to find the least flaw in it.

§ 5. The longest Sword or over-reaching Wit conveigh no Right.

Self-love prompted Reason to play the part of an Oratour handsomly, to declaim probably upon Man's Dominion over Beasts; but how he came to command Spirits she could not deem. And that his Power over inferiour Creatures should extend it self to the taking away of their Lives, (though it was practically concluded by all Nations) yet I could never see one sound na∣tural Reason produced for it: and do here solemnly challenge the profoundest Atheist, to give one irrefragable Argument, which he is not beholding to Re∣ligion for, in defence of that Dominion he daily exerciseth over his Fellow-Creatures, and for ought he knows (if he travel no farther than Athens to learn) his Betters: what Staff can he find to beat his Dog with, that his Skullion may not as well lay about his own Shoulders? what can he plead for

his Butchering a Sheep, that another may not, with as much reason, urge a∣gainst his own Throat? How will he handle the Knife with which he carves a Capon, and not cut his own Hands too; unless it be hasted with Scri∣pture Reasons? Bar these, and abstain from Flesh till Pythagoras be confuted, and thou must keep Lent all thy Life, be it as long as Metbuselah's: wave these Topicks, and where wilt thou gather Arguments to Silence Celsus, (Orig. in Celsum: lib. 4. calum. 29, 30, 31.) or Plutarch, (de solertia animali∣um.) while they make these Assertions their Theme. Some Creatures, as Bees and Ants, excel Man, in the Science of Government: others, in the Art of Divination: others, in Religion, as the Elephant; that they are dearer to the Gods, have a more sacred Converse among themselves, than Men, &c. If the Humane Soul were not better distinguish'd from the Bestial, by its O∣riginal and Fountain, by Gods breathing it into us, than by its Effects and Productions, we should be hard put to it to prove our Superiority of Reason. Except we furnish our selves with Weapons from God's Armory, from the Tower of David, from the Magazine of Sacred Writ, we shall be in as bad a case as the Israelites were when there was not one Sword nor Spear amongst them; and have nothing to defend our selves against the Imputation of Ty∣ranny: but must be forc'd, as our last and only Refuge, to betalie ourselves to the Herculean Argument of Club-Law: [We may because we can.]

For a negat sibi nata, nibil non arrogat armis.

When the Roman Legates demanded of Brennus what Ground he had of Quarrel with the Clustans; the same, saith he, that you had with the Albanes, Fidenates, and Ardeates; because they being fewer and weaker, will not im∣part what they have to us, who are stronger: we herein observing the old Law which Gods, and Men, and Beasts are under; that the weaker should yield to the Stronger: (Platar. Camil.) A desperate Principle of Hectorishi, which if it make Root in Men's Hearts, will turn the whole World of Mankind into a Wilderness of Savage Beasts, and deprive Prince and Peasant of all possibility of securing either Life or Fortune, any longer than these Snakes are frozen: I leave therefore these Inhumane Placits to the severe Animadver∣sion of all Republicks that are not weary of their own happiness;

§ 6. Religion so dexterously resolves these Questions as Reason acquiesceth in her Determinations.

While I observe how aptly, how dexterously the Ladies hand of pure and undefiled Religion unties these Knots: Man had not Power so much as o∣ver the green Herb, to deprive it of its Vegetive Life; no not in Order to the Preservation of his own, but by Gods Donation, (Gen. 1. 29.) Seeing that Life of Vegetation was not given by Man, by what Right but the Indul∣gence of him that gave it, could he deprive the Creature of it? and withal in∣flict, perhaps, beside the Evil of Loss, the Evil of Pain; for that some Plants ar esensitive is manifest: and I have heard some Florists affirm it with so much Confidence, and assay to confirm it with such Arguments; as, of the two Pro∣blemes, I had rather undertake the Proof of this, That all Vegetives have Sence; than this, That any Atheist hath Reason. This Grant of the green Herb, for Meat, being made to every Fowl and Beast and creeping thing, as well as Man; as it argued the Paternal Care of that provident Housholder to∣wards every Member of his great Family: so it prohibited man from falling upon those Creatures, which were set at the same Table with himself, till God enlarged his Quarters, and mended his Commons, in the Charter granted to Noah, (Gen. 9. 2, 3.) every Beast of the Earth, every Fowl of the Air, all that moveth upon the Earth, and all the Fishes of the Sea, in∣to your Hand are they delivered: every moving thing that liveth shall be Meat for you: even as the green Herb have I given you all things. An

Account so rational, as the Stoicks had no sooner receiv'd an Inkling of it, by Oral Tradition, but they yielded assent to it, and enroll'd this a∣mong their Maxims concerning Justice, That all things that were brought forth upon Earth were made for Man's use, (Lactant. de ira Dei. cap. 13.) [Unde hoc nisi de nostris?] Whence had they this but from our Scriptures? (saith St. Ambrose: Officior. l. 1. cap. 28.) they learn'd of us, how all Creatures, by Gods subjecting them to Man, were put under our Feet: (Psal. 8.) and therefore concluded that Man might justly make use of them, as being made for him. Ovid's Pipe borrows Breath of Moses his Lips; in his—

Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae Deerat adhuc, & quod dominari in caetera posset: Natus homo est.—

Where, having, according to the Method of Scripture, described the Creation of Heaven and Earth, with its Inhabitants; he introduceth the Story of Man's Creation, with this Preface, There wanted yet a more Di∣vine Creature, that God might set over the rest of the Works of his Hands, and make Lord of the Universe: speaking of Man's Dominion, as a Vulgar Notion universally subscribed to; but of the Ground of that Dominion, viz. God's preferring him to it, as a Point of hidden Wisdom, and reveal∣ed by that Deity he invocates. It were easie to multiply Examples not only of particular Men, but of whole Nations, who have both con∣fessed the Impossibility of finding out, by light of Nature, the reason of Man's Soveraignty over the Creatures; and acquesc'd in the Reasons pro∣duc'd by Christian Religion, as soon as they have been propounded to them: but the matter is so manifest and every where obvious, as these few may serve for a Taste: Mercurius Trismeg. (in his Pimander, Dial. 1.) in∣troduceth the Divine Mind, informing him that God had that respect for Man (who bare the Image of his Creatour) as he granted to him the Lord∣ship over all his Works. Cicero (out of Chrysippus) could say, the Hog could not possibly be serviceable to Man, but at the Table, whose Soul serves only for Salt to keep their bodies from stinking, till they are fit for Slaugh∣ter: but yet confesseth that to find out the Counsel of God, and the Reason of his ordering things as we see he doth, for Man's Behoof, is not within the reach of Humane Counsel: and that no Man can in this Knowledg, as well as any thing else, be eminent, without the help of Divine Inspiration: Ne∣mo vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquam fuit (de Natura deor. lib. 2. 113.

CHAP. III.

Natural Conscience ecchoes to Christian Morals.

§ 1. A Dispraise to dispraise Vertue, or praise Vice. The Comicks Liberty re∣strained. § 2. How the worst of Men became to be reputed Gods. § 3. Men were defied for their Virtues: Vice ungodded Gods. § 4. Stage-Gods hissed at. The Infamy of Players. The Original of Mytho∣logy.

§ 1. Christian Morals had the Universal Approbation of the Heathen World.

NO less clearly does every Man's Conscience eccho to our Christian Morals, than we have heard it resound its assent to these our Placits and Theo∣rems. But it were an endless labour to compare every line of the Gospel, drawn by the pencil of Christ, and the holy Apostles, paralel to what is drawn by the hand of Nature upon every Soul. (There being no Language that does not eccho to the sound of their Doctrine.) I will therefore wave here the prosecution of Particulars, and confine my discourse to this Observation: That,

Those men, that in all Nations and Ages, have lived nearest the Rule of Evangelical Morals, have obtained the best Memorials, and most sweet smel∣ling Names, among all these to whom their Histories have been communicat∣ed: And those men's Memories have stunk most in the Nostrils of the ge∣nerality of Man-kind, whose Lives have been most contaminated with bid∣ding defiance to Gospel Precepts. What undebauch'd Soul does not that Encomium of Chastity arride, which an Heathen could sing to Domitian.

Censor maxime, principumque Princeps, Cum tot jam tibi debeat triumphos, Tot nascentia Templa, tot renata, Tot spectacula, tot deos, tot urbes: Plus debet tibi Roma quòd pudica est. (Mart. Ep. 6. 3.) * 1.4

Or what another said in praise of Vertue. [Honestum id intelligimus quod tale est ut detracta omni utilitate, sine ullis praemiis fructibusque per seipsum jure laudari possit; quod quale sit, non tam definitione quàm communi omnium judi∣cio & optimi cujusque studiis & factis.] (Cicero de fin. lib. 2. pag. 149.) What is honest is better learn'd by common Sence than Philosophical Definition. [I∣taque Torquate cum diceres clamare Epicurum, non posse jucundè vivere, nisi honestè, sapienter, & justè viveretur: tu ipse mihi gloriari videbare: tanta vis inerat in verbis, propter earum rerum quae significabantur his verbis dignitatem; ut altior fieres, ut interdum—ut nos intuens, quasi testificarere laudari bo∣nestatem ab Epicuro. (Cicero de finibus l. 2. pag. 151.) I observed (Torquatus) how, when thou saidst, that Epicurus did openly aver, that no man could live pleasantly, who did not live honestly, wisely, and justly; though thy self seem'dst toglory: there was so much force put into the words, by the worth of the things sig∣nified by these words, that thou stintedst while thou pronounc'dist them; and looking

upon us, seemedst to testifie, that Epicurus did praise Honesty.

Ransack all the Stories, and you will not find one man commended down to Posterity by the common Vote as good, but the vertuous: and nothing uni∣versally reputed vertuous, but what corresponds to Christ's royal Law. Do not Plutarch, Valerius Maximus, Xenophon, Seneca, Plautus, Terenee, and all Hu∣manists pass the same Sentence commendatory or condemnatory upon all moral Actions (that come under their Censure) that Christ and his Apostles do. Have any of them dar'd to commend to the World, as honourable, that manner of Actions or Persons which the Gospel condemns: or to con∣demn such, as the Gospel praiseth. Or if any have been so careless of their own repute, as to do so, have they not met with a check, and procured a ••lot to their own Names?

The old Greek Comedians were licensed by the Law, to bring whom they pleased upon the Stage; how seldom did any of them abuse that liber∣ty? Or if they did, have not themselves been hissed off the Stage for it? It was not in the power of the greatest Wits of that Nation to give Laws to the world, to superceed the Law of Nations, the Canons and Rules of Vertue. Does not every man commend those Comedians, for giving a bad Chara∣cter of the seditious Cleophon, a man guilty of the same crime that the E∣vangelists badg the Thieves with, that were crucifyed on each hand of our Saviour? Are they blam'd for representing Hyperbolus as a debauch'd person, whom Pliny, Thucidides, and Lucian report to have been banish'd the City as its disgrace and opprobry: and whose like, the Gospel expels from the City of God?

Whom did not (saith Affricanus in Tully cited by St. Austin) the old Comedy touch, or rather vex, whom did it spare, &c? We will allow it to bespatter Cleon, Cleophon and Hyperbolus (though it were better such like men were branded, rather by the Censor, than Poet:) But that Perocles, (after he had presided over his City, for many years, in the greatest Authority, both in Peace and War;) should be traduced in Verses, and those acted on the Scene, was as much unbecoming as if our Plautus should have rail'd upon the two Scipios, or Caecilius upon Mark Cato. (de Civitate lib. 2. cap. 9.) [Quem vetus Comedia non attigit? vel potius quem non vexavit? cui pepercit? Esto. Cleonem, Cleophontem, Hyperbolum popu∣lares homines improbos in Republica seditiosos patiamur, &c. Sed Periclem cum jam—violari versibus & eos agi in scena, non plus decuit quam si Plautus noster aut Naevius Publio & Cneo Scipioni aut Caecilius M. Catoni maledicere voluis∣sent.]

Aristophanes (through love of Lucre) grew so rabid against Cleon; a man so vi∣tious as his hatred to Vertue made him spleen Nicaeus, Demosthenes, and all good men: as when none of the Actors of his Comedy (called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Horsmen) durst undertake to personate Cleon; Aristophanes himself (rather than he would lose the wages that Cleon's Adversaries had stipulated with him for) steps up∣on the Stage, and acts Cleon's part. He is by Cleon convict of Bribery: the Senate force him to vomit up the bribe (by way of fine into the publick Trea∣sury) that he had received out of private Purses, for making that Come∣dy. (Lud. vives in Aug. de civit. 2. 9.) Has any Man undertaken to disprove the Senates sentence against Aristophanes; who was in the very same trans∣gression that the Gospel condemns Balaam for, (i. e.) speaking Truth out of love to the Hire.

The mercinary Pen of the same Poet was engaged by Anitus and Melitus to traduce Socrates, and to draw a Cloud (in his Play so called) over the most resplendent Vertue that ever shone in a mere Humanist. Socrates was present at the acting of that Comedy; and exhibiting himself to publick View, af∣fronted both Actors and Spectators without change of Countenance, or shew∣ing the least Disgust, while they clapp'd their hands at the Reproaches were cast upon him. (Aelian. Var. Hist. lib. 1. cap. 13.) It is two thousand years since this was done: has one man (in all this tract of time) had other Resent∣ments of this thing, than such as have been expressed in admiring Socrates, in

abominating the Poet, Actors and Spectators, but most of all the Judges, for proceeding (upon the information that the Vulgar, by their applauses, gave of their readiness to comply with so impious a Sentence) to his Con∣demnation? Do not all men look upon their retracting their Sentence, con∣demning his Adversaries, and decreeing him to the honour of a golden Sta∣tue, as their coming out of that Frenzie, into which that temporizing hu∣mour had cast them?

An humour took Isocrates to make an Encomiastick, in praise of Helena, that Fire-brand of Troy and Greece; but he durst not commend her as vertuous: and yet with how much regret of soul he went about that attempt, him∣self witnesseth, in his large and frequent Digressions and Apologies, which take up so much of that Oration; as a great admirer of him craves lieve to say, He is mostwhat beside his Text in that Sermon: (Wolfis argument.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Indeed he so manageth that business, as if he had a mind to make the boldest Sophister despair to undertake that sub∣ject; or as if himself were affraid of undergoing the Censure he passeth up∣on those Rhetoricians, that hugely applaud themselves, if they can strain their wits to speak but tolerably, upon an absurd and paradoxical Hypothesis: (Isocrat. Hel. laud. initio,) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.]

Poverty forc'd Polycrates to make a sally through the brazen Wall of a good Conscience, to the relief of Bustris (and as some say Thyrses) from those just charges of barbarous Inhumanity, the World had loaded them with: and to the affronting of innocent Socrates, and vindicating his unequal Judges. But with what success, appears from Isocrates his tart Reflections upon those Orations: from the excuse that Demetrius Phalereus makes for him, that he writ those Orations only in Jeast, to give the World a Specimen of the fertility of his Wit, upon so steril Subjects: and from Virgil's stiling Bustris [illaudatus] unprais'd, for all he knew, that both Polycrates and Isocra∣tes had writ Orations, whose Theme was [the praise of Busiris.] And from Isocrates, that the Argument is not good, nor such as an honest discourse can be made upon. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉:] Isocr. Bus. laud.)

Peruse Christ's Sermon in the Mount, and examine whether the Doctrine he therein delivers, be not that which the World has declared it self to have a Transcript of, by its blessing those that he blesseth, by its cursing those that he curseth? by its groping after those Vertues he commends, by its boggling at those Debaucheries he condemns? What has raised the Heroes in all Ages, to an Esteem for Vertue, but Humility, Mercifulness, Purity, Peaceableness, aspiring to the top of Vertues Stairs, by a patient bearing of Evil and doing Good? What has ever been accounted the heroick degree of Vertue, but that Mark Christ sets those that would be perfect? Which of the Moralists, in their condescentions to humane weakness, stated the minimum quod sit, of ver∣tue more favourably, and more to the incouragement of the smallest sparks, then our Saviour has; who will not have the smoaking flax quenched with the injection of the least fear of his non-acceptance of a Cup of cold wa∣ter: A Point wherein Plato so fail'd, as Athenaeus passeth this Cen∣sure on him: Plato made Laws, not for men really existing, but of his own feign∣ing: so that when all is done, he hath men to seek, who are capable of power to perform the Rules he lays down: he ought to have writ things practicable: [—ic non optandis viris haec scribere, sed iis qui haec ipsa amplecti possunt:] (Dipnosoph. l. 11. cap. 21.) What has intail'd an indefeasible infamy upon Mens Memories, but such like Enormities as the Gospel decries? What but Luxury, Effeminateness, Cruelty, Unrighteousness, Fornication, Wicked∣ness, Covetousness, Maliciousness, Envy, Murder, Debate, Malignity, &c. have made the Names odious of that wallowing Hog Sardanapalus, (a perfect Scholar of Metrodorus, that sordid Epicurean, who blamed his Brother Timo∣crates, for making the least doubt of this Doctrine, That all things belonging to a happy Life were to be measured by the Belly, (Cotta in Cicer. de nat. deor.

l. 1.) that devouring God-belly-gulph Heliogabalus; that shame of the Coun∣try in whose Lap he was litter'd, (to use Valerius his words) Gemellus, who entertain'd the Consul and Tribunes with naked She-servitors: That helluo of his large fortunes Clodius, who, by breakfasting with dissolved Pearls, brought his Estate to that low ebb, as he had not a drie Crust to sup with in the Afternoon of his life, but what he begg'dat more provident mens doors. Of Xerxes, who so far effeminated his Subjects (by his own example, and his propounding of Rewards to the inventors of new pleasures) as their hands and inventions failed him, in securing to him the possession of his Imperial Crown. Of Sylla, who transmitted his own shame to all succeeding Ages, by causing his cruelty, in murdering 470 proscribed Persons, to be entred in the publick Rolls. Of Marius, Nero, Phalaris, and all that have been hand∣ed down to posterity, as the Monsters of the Age they lived in. Our Cade, and Kett, and Straw:—our Rosamond, Shore—have not their infamy, yet, derived down to so many Generations: but should the World continue yet as many as it hath done, it would be born down the Stream of Time to the very last of them: and had they lived in a Pagan Age and Climate, they would have given the same sence of these Opprobries of our Nation and Re∣ligion, that that Christian Age did wherein they lived.

The sacred Compilers, then, of the Gospel were men of no vulgar Con∣ceptions, that could frame a Religion so every way fitting the common con∣ceptions of Mankind, and sute their Last to every Foot (not swoln with Pride or Prejudice;) so that the Voice of God that they publish'd, is the Voice of the People, and finds a party for it in every human Soul, not de∣generate; Pagans and Mahometans being so far Christian, as they have any thing in them praise worthy: among whom there is nothing cried up for Vertue, but what glitters like, and has some kind of resemblance to, Gospel∣vertue.

§ 2. The Poets Jove was not vulgarly reputed a God.

The only valuable Exception against this Argument, is the Instance of the Pagan Idols; who being the worst of men, were yet prefer'd (in the opinion of the World) to the honour of Gods; which gave occasion to that Sarcasm of Euripedes, That Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn, and the rest of the Gods, deserv'd to be banish'd Heaven, as being guilty of those Debaucheries would render men unworthy to tread upon Earth: and to Menippus (in Lucian) to declaim against their Rapes, Incests, &c. and to Te∣rence, to flout the great Jove, for giving encouragement to Chaerea to perpe∣trate that Rape upon his Mistress, in imitation of Jove's upon Danae.

In answer to which (and to clear the World from the imputation of dei∣fying the most debauch'd Persons that ever lived; (by which Act it would have confounded all Principles of Morality) let it be considered:

That the Poets Jove had not, so much as among the silly Rable, the re∣pute of a Deity: for had they indeed esteemed that Letcher a God, his Ex∣ample would have had influence enough upon it, to have turn'd the whole World into a Brothel-house, in spite of all Laws to the contrary. For, as St. Austin observes, [Magis intuentur quid Jupiter fecerit, quàm quid do∣cuerit Plato, vel censuerit Cato:] (de civit. 2. 7.) They that took those Poe∣tical Monsters for Deities, must needs have been more swayed with their example, than with Plato's precepts, or Cato's practice. Now there being so few that pleaded the authority of Jove's Example to patronize their own Crimes, and they that had the face to do it, being universally badged with the im∣putation of impiety; for making that Plea, is evidence enough, that he was not cordially worshipp'd, under that form which the Poets presented him in. What needed those adulterous, covetous, ambitious Suiters, in Per∣sius, have whisper'd into his Ears their impious Prayers; if they had not re∣puted him worse than that most corrupt Judge Statius Albius, who (as

bad as he was) had any man begg'd his favour in such like Cases; would, with expressions of amazing horrour, have rejected the motion? Might they not have avowed and justified their impure and unjust Requests, as much as, nay rather than, those that other men pour out openly, for a sound Mind, a good Name, &c. as tending more than these towards the conforming of those Votaries to the God whom they invocated; had they indeed deem∣ed that Letcher, to have been God-Jupiter. The most audacious of them durst not thus have pull'd him by the Beard, had they thought him, whom the Poets painted, to have been a living Lion.

'Tis too manifest, that the Poets charming Style did insinuate those Ideas of the Gods (that they drew) into the minds of many, espe∣cially of such Persons, as were preoccupied with inclinations to those Vices: (for facilè credimus quod volumus) and that out of that Pondora's Box issued those Debaucheries that over-spread the Pagan World. When I was a Boy (saith Menippus in Lucian (Lucian 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,) and heard Homer and Hesi∣od singing the Warrs, Seditions, Adulteries, Rapes, Incests of the Gods, I was verily perswaded that all these things were good and comely: for I could not imagine that the Gods would have done them, had they not they look'd upon them as vertuous. Who would not (saith St. Austin) think that course of life to be followed, that is presented in Stage-plays, instituted by▪ divine Authority; rather than that that is commended to us by Laws, that are but of humane Institution: [Quae actitantur ludis, authoritate divinâ institutis, quàm quae scriptitantur legi∣bus humano consilio promulgatis:] (de civit. 2. 8.) And therefore he concludes that the Devil's grand Design, in setting abroach the Poetical Divinity, was to ingulph the World in those beastly sins the Poets feign'd the Gods to be Actors of: he by this device, (de civit. 2. 20.) furnishing wicked men with a Cloak for their most sordid Immoralities (borrowed from the Wardrobe of Heaven) spurring them on to all manner of lewdness, that they might grow up into a Conformity to those whom they worshipped: and putting a check to all vertuous Motions, for fear of seeming therein to outstrip their Gods, and thereby to incurr their displeasure: [Quibus nihil aliud actum est, quàm ut pudor hominibus peccandi demeretur, si tales Deos credidissent:] (Senec. de beata vita cap. 26.) This would be the effect of mens believing the Gods to be such as the Poets describe them, viz. that men would not be ashamed of vitious living. This was the Ravishers Cloak. [Ego homuncio id non facerem, quòd Deus qui templa coeli summo sonitu concutit? Ego verò illud feci & lubens:] (Ter. Eunuch.) This was the fewel of Lasciviousness.

——cùm dira libido Moverit ingenium—(Pers. Sat. 3.)

Alledged to this purpose by St. Austin (de civit. 2. 7.) Hence the Authour of the Book of Wisdom, (Cap. 14. 24, 25, 26.) imputes it to Heathenish I∣dolatry, That men kept neither Lines nor Marriages any longer undefiled: but either one slew another traiterously, or grieved him by Adultery: so that there reigned in all men promiscuously, Blood, Manslaughter, Theft, Dissimulation, Corruption, Unfaithfulness, Tumults, Perjury, disquieting of good Men, forgetfulness of good Turns, changing of Sex, &c. Hence Philo Judaeus tells Caligula, That should he, by his slaughters and impieties, gain the re∣pute of being a God, it would eternize the repute of those Villanies, and perpetuate the practice of them as laudable: (de legat. ad Caium, fol. 629.)

So that it is beyond the reach of human Apprehension to conceive, that the Poets Creed should be universally embrac'd; and that belief not turn the World into a mere Chaos, in point of Morality. And therefore the Ge∣nerality of Mankinds retaining some Sentements of good and evil, is a plain Demonstration, that the Belief of the Poets was not Catholick; that the far greater part of Heathens dissembled with the Poetical Gods, as most Chri∣stains

do with the true: drawing near him with the Lip, but in Heart de∣nying him; or (in the Apostles language) professing that they know him, but denying him indeed.

§ 3. Vertue made Gods of Men; Vice Devils of Gods, in vulgar esteem.

That it was Vertue promoted men at first to the honour of being God-born or Gods Incarnate, would be evidenc'd beyond all Contradiction, could we retrieve Pagan History to the first Original: but that being as impossible, as to count the Waves of the Sea, with that noted fool Caecilion in Aelian, (Aelian. var. hist. 13. 15. tit. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.) I shall not lanch out into that deep, but creep by the shore of these common and universally∣received Maxims.

1. The first that bore the Name of Gods were the Founders and great Benefactors of their several Nations; who for their Vertues, at the breaking of the Shell of Mortality, were hatch'd into Deities, by the warmth of the Peoples resentment of the Benefits flowing to them from those Second Causes; after they had lost the true Tradition of the First, and were grown towards him unthankful. The Cretian Jupiter, of whom the Poets write, had two Name-sakes elder than himself (Cicero de natura Deorum:) whose true story Ennius, the Translator of Eumeruus, thus concludes, Deinde Jupiter, postquam quinquies circuivit terram, reliquitque hominibus Leges, Mores Frumentáque paravit, multáque alia bona fecit; immortali gloria memoriáque affectus, sempiterna monimenta suis reliquit: Vide Lactant. de falsa relig. 1. 11. And Diodor. Sicul. (lib. 3. antiq.) where he saith the Aethiopians thought the Gods (that is, of a second Edition) to be either sempiternal, as the Sun and Moon, &c. or such as had been Men, but for their Vertues and Benefits bestowed on Mankind, were made Gods: (Diod. Sic. ant. l, 3. pag. 72.) Hence that form in the 12 Tables: (—Divos colunto, & ollos quos in coelum merita vocaverint; Her∣culem, Liberum, Aesculapium, Castorem, Pollucem, Quirinum, &c.] (Cice∣ro de Legibus, lib. 2. pag. 319.) Hence Virgil (Aen. 6.) de Saturno,

Qui genus indocile & dispersum montibus altis, Composuit, legésque dedit—

Macrobius (in somno Scipionis, l. 1. c. 8, 9.) upon these words of Cicero: [Omni∣bus qui patriam conservârint, adjuverint, auxerint, certum esse in coelo definitum locum, ubi beati aevo sempiterno fruuntur:] hath this Observation;—hinc pro∣fecti, hinc revertuntur: To all those who have preserved, succoured, benefitted their Countries, there is a certain place assigned in Heaven, where they enjoy a blessed Eternity; that is, saith Macrobius, thence they came and thither they return. And cap. 9. he quotes Hesiod numbering the ancient Kings among the Gods:

Indigetes divi fato summo Jovis hi sunt Quondam homines, modò cum superis humana tuentes, Largi ac magnifici: * 1.5

Nay 'tis Cotta's observation (in Cicer. de natura deor.) that the Egyptians worship'd no Beast, but in consideration of some benefit it confer'd upon them: Ibis maximam vim serpentum conficiunt—possum de Ichneumonum utili∣tate, de Crocodilorum, de Felium dicere—belluas à barbaris, propter beneficium consecratas.—] For the same Opinion he (a little after) quotes Prodicus, Chius,

Euemerus, and his Interpreter Ennius; [Prodicus Chius, Ea quae prodessent ho∣minum vitae, Deorum in numero habita esse dixit:—fortes, claros, potentes vi∣ros tradit post mortem pervenisse ad Deos.—]

2. Now the first Jupiter (for instance) being succeeded by so many of his name (but not Vertues) as in process of time the Joves amounted to 300 as Tertullian (out of Varro) counts them: [Romanus Cynicus Varro tricentos Joves (sive Jupitores dicend.) introduxit:] (apol. 14.) and at last, the true History of him growing as much out of the Memory of men, as the History of the Creation was, when he was first made a God; this latter brood was brought over his shoulders, to share with him (as he had done with the only true God) in the honour of being esteemed Deities: each Nation contending that their own was the ancient Jupiter, ascribed to their own, all that was com∣mendable in others of that name; and fastned upon foreigners the Vices of their own Jupiters: So that it was the Vertue of the first Jupiter that advan∣ced all his Name-sakes to divine honour. And when the Crimes of the younger Jupiters were by the Poets fastned on him, this was so far from add∣ing to his credit; as, with those that believ'd the Poetical Stories, it lost him the repute of being a God: and with those that believ'd him to be a God, the Poets lost the repute of being faithful Historians, upon that very account, because they presented the Gods in the form of beastly immanities; and af∣firmed the God-born to have perpetrated more vile Enormities than ever were acted by the off-spring of most wicked men: not only charging them with Thefts and Adulteries, but with the devouring of their own Children, gelding their Parents, Incest with their Mothers, and many other fedities; as Isocra∣tes (Busirid. laudat.) observes, calling Poetical Theology, Blasphemy, and affirming the Divine Vengeance to have pursued most of them, for those im∣pious Fictions: many of them becoming Vagabonds and Beggars; others being struck blind; others, being exil'd, lived in perpetual fewd with their own Kindred: and Orpheus, the chief Author of such like Fables, being mangled alive, and torn in pieces. Wherefore (saith he) if we be wise, let's not follow their dotages; nor endure (since we make Laws that one man should not slander another) that this lawless liberty be given, of babbling what comes at Tongues end concerning the Gods: but let us think that both Thief and Recetter, the Reporter and Believer of such Sto∣ries are grievous offenders. For my own part (saith he) 'tis an Article of my Creed, that not only the Gods but the God-born are not only exempt∣ed from all Vice, but have all Vertues so naturally implanted in them, as they become Leaders and Masters to us Men, in all honest and praise-worthy en∣deavours. Hence Pausanias cautions his Reader, not to believe what the Athenian Temples represent concerning the Gods; as grounded on Poetical Fables.

On the other side, where the Poets fictions were imbraced and applauded, the Gods that they presented were exploded: while they muster the Gods (saith Tertullian Apol. cont. gentes) into two adverse parties standing the one for Troy, the other for Greece: while they present Venus wounded by a mor∣tal hand, while she's fetching off Aeneas from Diomed's pursuit: while they bring in Mars pin'd almost to death, by undergoing a three-months penance in those Chains Vulcan had caught him in with Venus: while they sing, how Jupiter was secured by the help of a Monster, from being taken with his Curtizans, in the like snares: while they chaunt his lamenting Sarpedon's mishap, his dalliances with Juno: while, through the connivence of Princes, they take liberty to feign Apollo a Herdsman under Admetus; Neptune a Mason to Laomedon, and defrauded of his wages; Aesculapius to have been struck with Jove's Thunder-bolt, for taking too large Fees for a Cure: (sure it was not of the French Disease, that amorous God would have thought half a Kingdom a Fee small enough for that:) while the Mimick perso∣nates Anubis playing the Adulterer; Diana making love to the Swain Eu∣dimion (and lash'd soundly for her offences;) the Sun lamenting Phaeton's

Fall; Cybel (the Mother of the reputed Gods) puling at the feet of a dis∣dainful Shepherd; the Boy Paris umpiring the Contest for the golden Apple, betwixt three Goddesses. While (I say) the Poets publish in their ears, while the Mimicks present to their Eyes, the obscenities of their Deities, the vulgar conclude them no Gods: and instead of making them the Objects of Devotion and Religious Fear, esteem them Objects of Scorn and Derision. [Dispicite utrùm Mimos an Deos vestros in jocis & strophis rideatis?] Do you, when you hear joques and quirks put upon your Gods, laugh at the Jeaster's wit, or at the folly of your Gods? Durst ye make a sport of Phaebus his tears, and laugh, while he's presented weeping, if you really believ'd the Mimick-Phoebus to be a God. Had they esteemed the Mimick Gods, Gods indeed, they would have reverenc'd their presence more than Cato's, before whom the Romans were ashamed, in their celebrating the Floralia, to call forth the Mimicks to act their parts; confessing (as Valerius Max. observes, lib. 2. cap. 10.) that they had more respect to that one Man, whom Vertue had made vene∣rable, than to all the Spectators, yea, than all those Gods who were there personated.

§ 4. The different respect which Stage-players had amongst Romans and Gre∣cians: The design of Mythologists.

Hence Plato (in his 2. and 10. Books of his Commonwealth) would have that kind of Poetry, that sings the flagitiousness of the Gods, expelled out of every well-constituted Republick; as tending to the effeminating of mens Minds, and corrupting of Manners. And the ancient Romans (to prevent that evil Opinion of the Gods, which they foresaw people would readily take up, from such Premises) forbad the use of Stage-plays in their Laws of the Twelve Tables; a Law in force 500 years after Rome built. And when in the Consulship of Sulpitius and Lici∣nius, the Pontiff, by direction of Sibyls Books, instituted them to asswage the then raging Pestilence: to secure the Vulgar from the dint of that Tem∣ptation to Atheism, that was laid before them, in those scenical Prostitutions: they were admonish'd of the baseness of those fellows, by a Decree prohi∣biting Stage-players to be free of the City (In Aug. de civit. dei, 2. 13.) as L. Vives affirms out of Livy. A Decree which speaks that Generation of men to have been (in the Opinion of the Senate) Persons of most debauch'd man∣ners, and profligated honesty (seeing that privilege of the City was granted to many thousands of flagitious men;) and therefore not to be credited by the People, in what they prated or presented, either concerning God, or Man. To this Constitution alludes Cicero, Roscium ità peritum dixit ut solus esset dignus qui in scenam deberet intrare: ità virum bonum ut solus esset dignus, qui eò non debeat accedere:] (Orat. pro Roscio, referente Augustino, de consensu Evangel. lib. 1. cap. 23. Tom. 4.) who said, That Roscius was so skilful an Actor, as of all others he deserv'd to come upon the Stage; but so good a man, as it was pity he should ever come there. And this Constitution (perhaps) they were in∣duc'd to make, upon their reflecting on that mischief which the Grecian con∣trary custom, of honouring Stage-players, had introduc'd; for it was early in the Age of Poetry, and before the Roman Name was known out of the confines of Italy, that the liberty of the old Comedians, back'd with the esteem they had in that State, had prejudic'd the Grecians against the common∣ly-received Gods. Briefly; St. Austin has drawn, into this short Syllogism, the Sum of what both Grecians, Romans, and Christians assert touching this business.

The Greeks propound,

If the Gods that Stage-players represent be Gods indeed, they that represent them are worthy of honour:

The Latins assume,

But Stage-players are not worthy of the lowest degree of honour, of being free Citizens:

The Christian concludes,

Therefore those Gods that Stage-players represent are not Gods.

A Conclusion most necessarily flowing from the Premises; but yet the Ro∣man Sages, fearing that the Vulgar might not have natural Logick enough to gather this consequence from their excluding Stage-players from the pri∣vilege of the City, they openly avowed and published this, as a sound point of their Divinity; That Jupiter in the Scene, was not the same with him in the Capitol. Thus Varro, quoted by St. Austin (de Civitate 6. 5.) expresses the sence of his Country-men. [In Poetical Divinity there are many things feigned, against the Dignity and Nature of the immortal Gods: for here we are taught, how one of them is born of Jupiter's Head, another of his Thigh, another of drops of Blood; how one play'd the Thief, another the Adulterer, &c. lastly, this Theolo∣gy attributes those things to God, which connot befal the most despicable and wretched Man.]

Yea, fearing this might not prove Antidote strong enough against that deadly Poyson of their Religion that was propined from the Stage; (for as St. Austin observes, Jupiter was presented on the Stage, in the same posture and accoutrements, he had in his Temple:) at last they came to this shift, That the Poetical descriptions of the Gods, were nothing less than they pre∣tended in the Title-page and common Notion: but onely Schemes of Na∣tural Philosophy, under their borrowed Names, (that none might appre∣hend the Mystery of that Science, but their own Scholars to whom they communicated their Key) calling the Skie, Jupiter; the Air, Juno; the Sea, Neptune; the Earth, in its central parts, Pluto; in its superficial, Ceres, &c. Thinkest thou (say the Patrons of the Pagan Cause in St. Austin (de civit. 2. 24.) that our Ancestors were such arrant fools, as not to know that the Poetical Gods were not Gods, but only the Gifts and Creatures of God. That this was the old Subterfuge of the Romans, and of an elder Date than St. Austin (and therefore not invented as a Salvo against the Objections of Christians, but of common Sense) appears, from that passage in Philo Judaeus (de leg. ad Caium, 630.) where deriding Caligula for attempting to monopolize the honour of all the Gods to himself; and shewing how little he resembled Mars: I mean not (saith he) that fabulous one, but him by whom we understand natural Fortitude. (A trick that Philo himself had learn'd and (without any appearance of need) practis'd, in his turning those passages in sacred History into Allegories, wherein the Philosophers objected any shew of improbability or indecorum: and therefore I wonder not at his seeming allowance of this shift in them.) And secondly, from that speech of Lucius Balbus (in Tully's de nat. deorum, 2.) [Videtisne igitur ut à physicis rebus, benè & utiliter inventis, ratio sit tracta ad commentitios & fictos Deos: quae res genuit falsas opiniones, errorésque turbu∣lentos, & superstitiones planè aniles: Et formae enim nobis Deorum, & aetates, & vestitus, & ornatus noti sunt, genera praetereà, conjugia, cognationes, omniá∣que traducta ad similitudinem imbecillitatis humanae; nam & perturbatis ani∣mis inducuntur: accepimus etiam Deorum cupiditates, aegritudines, iracundi∣as: haec & dicuntur & creduntur stultissimè, & plena sunt vanitatis, summaeque levitatis.] You see therefore, how from Natural Philosophy, well and profitably invented, Reason was drawn by head and shoulders to fictitious Deities: which thing hath produced false Opinions, turbulent Errors and most doting Superstitions: For the Shapes, Ages, Apparrels, Ornaments, Lineages, Marriages, Alliances, and all other things of the Gods, are presented to us and drawn after the simi∣litude of humane frailty: They are moreover introduc'd with troubled Minds; and we learn their Lusts, Sicknesses and raging Passions: which things either to say or believe of them is a point of the extremest folly, vanity and levity: and therefore Piety forceth us to put a mystical interpretation upon the Poets, &c. But what need∣ed they to have cover'd the nakedness of their Poetical Deities from vulgar eyes with this Mantle, had they not suspected the avowing them, for such, would

have hazarded the bringing of their people into an opinion of Socrates, who in contempt of that Jove, instead of swearing by him, chose rather to swear by a Dog, a Goat, a Goose; conceiving the most contemptible Creature of Gods making, to have more Divinity in it, than that monstrous God of the Poets framing.

So deeply are the Principles of Vertue and Vice (and among those vertu∣ous ones) that of honouring Vertue, radicated in the minds of all men (not debauch'd) as, rather than Vice shall supplant Vertue of its due reward of honour, Jove himself if he appear in its garb, shall be ungodded, and me∣tamorphosed (in the opinion of Mankind) into a Devil: for such the Pagan Philosophers themselves do (with one mouth) proclaim all those re∣puted Gods to be, that delight in Blood-shed, in Filthiness, &c. Jamblicus (de mysteriis pag. 98.) in answer to what Porphyry propounds to the Aegyptian Priest, touching the Opinion of those who thought all presages to procede from evil Spirits confesseth, that some do; to wit, such as for their de∣filements are conformed to impure Daemons, to prophane and dissolute Spi∣rits. And to his other Question, How come the Gods, upon wicked mens intreaty, to inflict unjust pains upon good men? he gives this in answer, (Id. Ibid. pag. 105.) If upon mens imprecations pour'd out to the Gods, some adverse things be observ'd to fall out unjustly: we must impute it to other Causes; which if we cannot find out, we must not (for all that) so much as suspect any thing of the Gods, unworthy of the Divine Nature, or of that certain science of their goodness which is inbred in our minds, and wherein all both Greeks and Barbarians agree with us—and a little after; If what we have said of Idols and evil Spirits be true—they counterfeit the presence of God, and therefore command their Worship∣pers to be just, that themselves may be thought to be good: but because they are in their nature bad, they are prone to do evil and to lead us to evil.

Porphyry (de sacrif. pag. 314, 315.) out of Plato tells us, that as heat cannot cool us; so the Divine Nature (that is all Justice) can do no unjust thing: and therefore concludes, That all those Spirits, that either themselves commit, or tempt us to commit immoralities, (though they would make the World believe they are Gods, and their Prince the highest and holiest God) are no better than Devils. Plutarch (in his Pelopidas) reports, That while the The∣ban Army lay encamp'd in Leuctra, resolved to give battel to Cleom∣brotus and the Spartan forces; Pelopidas was terrified with a Vision of Scedasus Daughters there ravish'd and slain by certain Spartans; against whom when their Father could not obtain Justice at the hands of the Spartan State, pouring out dreadful execrations upon them, he slew himself upon his Daughters Grave. These Pelopidas thinks he hears, groaning about their Sepulchres, and cursing the Spartans; and their Father commanding him to sacrifice a yellow-hair'd Virgin, if he desired to obtain victory over the Spartans: Pelopidas communicates this Vision and Command to his Prophets and Associates: by whom (notwithstanding the allegations of the examples of Menaeceus, Macaerias, Pherecides, Leonidas, Agesilaus and Agamemnon, in fa∣vour of it) that Command was judged so barbarous, as it was impossible it could procede from, or the fulfilling of it be acceptable to any of the Gods; for those that delight in human blood and slaughter are infer∣nal Fiends, &c. Thus Salacus King of Aethiopia is commended for interpret∣ing that Dream, wherein he was counsel'd to assemble the Aegyptian Priests, and to cut them off by the middle; as proceeding from the diabolical inje∣ction of some Demons that envied his happiness, and desired to make him obnoxious to the just displeasure of the Gods, for so sacrilegious an Act: chusing rather to lay down the Egyptian Crown, which he had then wore 50 years, and return into Aethiopia: than to hold it at that price the Vision set upon it, (Herodot. Eutyrpe, 163.)

Lo here, the point of this Objection turn'd against those that framed it: for Jove was so far from gaining by his Viciousness the repute of being a God, as the Vices of his Namesakes (imputed to him) dethron'd him from that

Heaven, to which his own Vertue had of old exalted him, while they knew and believed no other of him, but that he was the Founder of their Com∣monwealth; that he gather'd them (being formerly dispers'd like savage Beasts) into human Societie, that he taught them by Precept and Example the Trade of Vertue, they ador'd him for a God: But when they hear the Poets tell Stories of his Murders, Incests, Rapes, &c. they conclude him (if those Stories be true) a wicked Demon.

Yea Plutarch (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The Venus and Harp of all Philosophy, in his Treatise of Superstition (Moral. tom. 1. pag. 389.) strenuously maintains the Point; That those who deny the Being of God, are not so impious, as they that conceive him to be such as the Poets feign him: I had rather (saith he) men should in their discoursing of me, say there never was any such man as Plutarch, than say I was such a man as the su∣perstitious account God to be; sickle, mutable, prone to anger, desirous of revenge for the least injury: and that from these misconceits of the Gods, men grew into the Opinion that there were no Gods. Would God this Christian Age had not too sad experience of the truth of this Aphorism! For since the Pulpit hath been made a Stage for Mimicks, who are train'd up to no other Art wherein they are more dexterous, than that of making Mows and wry Faces upon the Establish'd Religion; of misrepresenting the Chri∣stian Faith and the Authour of it (by fathering upon the Spirit their non∣sensical uncharitable blasphemous Prattlings; upon God the Father such in∣humane and bloody Purposes and Decrees, as make him look, out of their Dress, more ill-favour'd than the blackest Fiend; upon God the Son, the In∣stitution of a Religion more barbarous than the Worship of Moloch:) this Stage-play Divinity hath brought in Atheistical Contempt of God and the Ministery. But I dare not give my just Zeal its full scope in this place. I now alledge this only to shew, That the Law of Honesty, Vertue and Mora∣lity is so deeply imprest upon the Human Soul, as, rather than Men (who are not altogether brutified) will be led to Acts of Injustice, upon the sug∣gestions of a Divine Command, they will deny the Divinity of that Com∣mand; and chuse rather to worship no God at all, than one that's repre∣sented with such Properties as bid defiance to common Honesty.

CHAP. IV.

Christian Religion concords with the highest Philosophical No∣tions.

§ 1. Divine Knowledg communicated from the Church to travelling Philosophers. Our Religion elder than Heathenism by Heathens confession. § 2. Christi∣an Articles implied in Pagan Philosophy's Positions. Man's happiness through Communion with God, and Conformity unto God. § 3. This Conformity and Communion effected by God-man. God manifest in the Flesh, born of a Virgin. § 4. Plato falter'd under the burden of vulgar Error. A man from God. Whence Multiplicity of God-Saviours. Pagan Independency. Their mutual indulging one another. § 5. Not many, but one Mediator, the result of the Heathen's second thoughts. Plato's Sentence sentenced by Platonicks. Nothing can purge but a Principle. St. John's Gospel in Pla∣tonick Books. The Christian Premisses yielded, their Conclusions denied by Gentiles. Plato's Sentence (under the Rose.)

§ 1. The Church gave life to, received none from, the Philosophers.

THe Apostles, however illiterate, might perhaps spin out of their own bowels a course-spun Warp, which might fit to an hairs-breadth the home-spun Woof of vulgar Conceptions. But then how came they to a Do∣ctrine so exactly suting the more refined Notions of the most eminent Philo∣sophers? [Quis docuit psittacum suum 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉;] If they were men of crazy or but vulgar Brains, whence learn'd they to dogmatize, to Grecize, in their di∣vine Philosophy, so profoundly? to distil a Doctrine so absolutely Philosophi∣cal, as it either ecchoeth to what was taught in the most learned Schools; or is such as the most sagacious Wits were hunting after, but could not start, and must ecchoe to, upon its Proposals, or recede from their own Principles. Hence that of R. Obad. Caon. (in Psal. 45.) Kings Daughters were among thy honourable Women: [id est, opiniones sapientùm Nationum exterarum] that is, the opinions of the wise Gentiles. And that of Lactantius: [Quod si extitisset aliquis qui veritatem distersam per singulos, per sectásque diffusam colligeret in unum, ac redigeret in corpus: is profectò non dissentiret à nobis.] (La∣ctant. de divino praemio, 7. 7.) If the Truth dispers'd among several Persons, and scatter'd among several Sects, were, by any man, collected into one, and dige∣sted into a body, it would, without doubt, not dissent from us.

When Apollodorus offer'd to Socrates a precious and gorgeous Tunick and Pall, to put on when he drank the poyson, and to be wrapped in when he was dead; Socrates, turning to Crito, Simacus, and Phaedo; what an honou∣rable opinion (saith he) hath Apollodorus of me, if he think to see Socrates in this Robe after I am dead; if he think, that that which will then lay at his feet, is Socrates, I know not my self who I am. (Aelian. var. hist. 1. 16.) This Socratical Aphorism Tully expresseth thus, [Mens cujusque, is est quisque.] Is one Egg more like another than this of the Schools to that of the Gospel, where Jesus concludes Abraham to be still living, from Moses his stiling God the God of Abraham so many years after his decease? That of Abraham he left behind him in his Sepulchre, is not Abraham, but that of him that still lives.

But it would require an Age to transcribe, by retail, those numerous Phi∣losophical Axioms which speak the Language of Scripture so perfectly; as the whole matter of controversie, betwixt the Fathers Apologizing for, and the Philosophers contending against our Religion, was brought by mutual consent to this point: Whether the wise men of the World receiv'd those Do∣ctrines from our Scriptures, or the Pen-men of the Scripture from their Schools?

Celsus in Origen contends earnestly, that whatsoever was solid in the Chri∣stian Religion was borrowed from the Philosophers: by whom it was better and clearlier delivered. He instanceth in our affirming God to dwell in light inaccessible; this (saith he) is no more than what Plato teacheth in his Epi∣stles, [that the first Good is ineffable.] In our Saviour's commending Humi∣lity. This is Plato's Doctrine (saith Celsus) teaching in his Book of Laws, that [He who would be happy must be a follower of Justice with an humble and well-composed mind.] In Christ's saying, 'Tis easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: what is this (saith he) other than that of Plato, [It is not possible that a man can be very rich and very good.] From the fame Fountain Celsus will have Christ to draw that saying, Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that lead∣unto life, and few there be that find it; and that our Doctrine of the fall of Angels, and their being reserved in chains, was derived from the Poet Phere∣cides and Homer, (vide l. 4. col. 9.)

The Patrons of the Christian Cause, on the other hand contended that the waters of the Academy were drawn from the wells of the Sanctuary: that the Sun of knowledg arose in the East, and thence displayed its Beams over the World. St. Ambrose proves that Plato borrowed of David in Psalm. 35. And upon that in Isaiah 40. [For she hath received at the Lords hand double to her ini∣quity,] saith he [Plato eruditionis gratiâ, in Aegyptum profectus, ut Mosis gesta, Legis praecepta, & Prophetarum dicteria cognosceret, &c.] (in psalm. 118. serm. 18.) St. Austin quotes St. Ambrose proving from Chronology, that the Gre∣cians borrowed of the Jews, not è contrà: and thence commends the reading of Secular History, (de Christiana Doct. lib. 2. cap. 28.) and, in his Epistle to Polinus and Therasias, writes thus; [Libros Ambrosii multùm desidero, quos adversùs nonnullos imperitissimos & superbissimos, qui de Platonis libris Dominum profecisse contendunt, dilligentissimè & copios ssimè scripsit:] (Aug. Epist. 34.) And not barely affirm'd it, but brought in evidence for the proof of it, either from common Principles of Reason, or the Authority of heathen Chronolo∣gers. St. Origen thus, (Contra Cels. lib. 6. cal. 1, 2, 3, &c.) [Moses was long before the most ancient of your Philosophers, and therefore they must borrow light from him; but it was impossible he could light his Candle at theirs, before they were lighted: and the Apostles were the unlikeliest men in the World to understand your Philosophers.]

The same Father (Origen contrà Celsum lib. 1. cal. 13.) in answer to Celsus objecting Moses his Juniority to the Heathen Theologues, saith: that Hermip∣pus (in his first Book of Lawgivers) declared how Pythagoras translated his Discipline from the Jews into Greece: and that there was extant a Book of Haecateus, in which he so approves of the Jewish Philosophy, as Herennus Philo (in his Commentar. de Judaeis) questions whether it be the genuine Book of Haecateus, whose name it bears; it seeming to him improbable, that an Heathen Philologer would write so much in their commendation. St. Austin in his eighteenth Book de Civitate, from Chap. 2. to the end of that Book, demonstrates by Chronology that our Prophets were elder than their Philoso∣phers. And (in his 8. 11. de Civitate Dei) affirms Plato to have transcribed the description of the first matter, in his Timaeus (mentioned also by Cicero, and thus translated, [Mundum efficere volens Deus, terram primo ignemque jun∣gebat, When God was about to frame the World, he first joyntly made the matter of Fire and Earth:] from that of Moses, [In the beginning God made the Hea∣ven and Earth (Gen. 1. 1.)] Plato by Fire understanding Heaven: And his notion of the Air upon the Water, to have been Plato's mis-conception of that of Moses [The Spirit moved upon the Waters:] And his Dogma, (in Phaedone) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that [Every right Philosopher is a lover of God,] to have been derived from the sacred Fountains, where no∣thing flows more plentifully than such like Doctrine. But that which made this most learned Father, almost believe altogether that Plato had read Moses, was his observing Plato to have been the first Philosopher who called God by that

name, which God reveal'd himself by to Moses in his Embassy to Pharaoh: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I am that I am, or, That that is.] A name appropriated to God by Plato, in his Timeus, calling God 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The ever-being:] and so familiar with the Platonicks, as in their Master's stile they super∣scribed their Treatises concerning God with this Title [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Of him that is. A name (saith St. Austin) I find in no Books before Plato, save in those where it is said [I am that I am.] This was mo∣destly said of that cautious Divine; for the truth is) Alcimus writes to Amyn∣thas, that some Philosophers had got that Notion by the end before Plato, naming Epicharmus, and quoting those words of his, at which Plato lighted his Candle; and Plato himself in his Sophista confesseth little less. But it comes all to one, as to our Argument: for Epicharmus was a Pythagorian; and that Pythagoras the circumcised Philosopher, received that and all his o∣ther refined Notions from Moses his Writings, or by discourse from the Jewish and Egyptian Priests, at first or second hand; Isocrates (Busiridis laud. pag. 539.) gives as pompous a proof, as is to be met with any where. Of the Religion of the Egyptians (saith he) I could commemorate [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] many and great things, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉—] in the ob∣serving of which I am neither alone, nor first: but many both of this, and the former Age: among whom is the Samian Pythagoras, who travelling into Egypt, became their Disciple, and brought Philosophy and Religion into Greece: and Clemens Alexandrinus (Stromat. lib. 1.) as full and clear one as can be required, who out of the Pagan Records, affirmeth Pythagoras, to have been circumcised in Egypt; that he, having thereby liberty of going in∣to their holy places, might the better learn their mystical Theology: and that he learned there to call his School [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a word of the same impor∣tance with [Synagogue.]

The same assertion is made by Justin Martyr (in paraclesi ad gentes:) By Eusebius (in praeparat. Evang.) And, before them, by Aristobulus Judaeus (in his Epistles to Ptolemy Philometer, lib. 1.) quoted by Eusebius: to wit, that Plato did transfer many things into his, out of the Jewish Writings: up∣on which, saith Athanasius, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Law was not for the Jews only; but that Nation was the sacred School of the whole World, concerning the knowledg of God, and the way of spiritual living.]

Clemens Alexandrinus, from their own stories, sheweth, that the Grecians did not only borrow, their best Notions from the Jewish Scriptures, but the manner of expressing them sententiously: A mode of teaching what Plato commendeth, as that which all the Greeks press after, but none attain'd to, but the Spartans: That they so esteem'd the form of uttering moral Rules in Proverbs, in imitation of Solomon, as they father'd such Sentences, as came nearest that Model, upon several Authors: as if they thought many of their wisest men must have put their heads together, for the production of one so compact a Sentence, as we have thousands of in Scripture: each one striving who should bear away the honour of being reputed its father, as the Cities of Greece strove for Homer. That which was thought worthy to be set over the Gates of Apollo's Temple [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] some attributed to Chilon: Cha∣maelio, in his Book of the Gods, ascribes it to Thales: Aristotle to Pythias: That other: [Nè quid nimis:] some father upon Chylon; Strato (in his Trea∣tise of Inventions) upon Stratodemus: but Didimus upon Solon. (Stromatum lib. 1.)

There is scarce a Sentence of note, either in the Poets or Philosophers, but what the same Clemens, in the same Treatise, patterns in our Scriptures; and demonstrates the Gentiles to have had theirs from thence, not è contrà, by computing the ages of the Founders of every Sect, and finding them, by their own reckoning, to be younger than Moses, by many hundreds of years.

Xenophon, the Author of the Eleatick, is said by Timaeus, to have lived in the Reign of Hieron the Scicilian Tyrant: by Apollodorus, in the time of Darius and Cyrus: so that this Sect is younger than most of the Prophets.

Thales the Father of the Ionicks, is said by Eudemus (in his history of Astro∣logy) to have fore-told that Eclipse which happen'd at the Battel betwixt the Medes and Lydians, in the reign of Cyaxeres the father of Astiages, to whom agrees Herodotus, in his first Book; this Cyaxeres was contemporary with Sal∣manassar, who carried the ten Tribes captive: so that the Kingdom of Israel was standing upon its last legs, before this Sect had got foot.

For the stating of Moses his age he brings the Testimony of Appion; (one who so far disgusted the Religion of Moses as he wrote that Book against it which Josephus answers) who making mention of Amasis King of Egypt al∣ledgeth the Testimony of Ptolomeus Mendesius (a Priest, who wrote the Hi∣story of the Egyptian Kings in three Books) and saith [that in the raign of A∣masis, the Jews, under the conduct of Moses, came out of Egypt:] which Amasis was contemporary (as he saith) to Icarus. And of Dionisius Halicar∣nassaeus, who in his Chronicles affirms the Argolicks, who derive their Pedi∣gree from Icarus, to be the most ancient of the Grecians: then whom the Atticks, who come of Cecrops, are younger by four Generations (as Tatianus saith) and the Arcadians who come of Pelasgus, nine: And the Photioticks, who come of Deucalion, fifteen: and the Wars of Troy twenty, that is, five hundred years. So much is the subject of Homer younger than Moses. Now Homer is the most ancient Heathen Author: and was therefore (Aelian. var. hist. 13. 22.) painted by Galaton, spewing Grecian Learning, and all other Poets licking up his Vomit. A posture wherein (bating the homeliness of the conceipt) Moses might with more reason be drawn. For whatsoever ma∣terial divine Truth the heathen World had (except the remains of the first Tradition by Noah and his sons) were but the fragments of his loaf, the crums they gathered up under the table of Shew-bread. Hence Eusebius spends the whole tenth Book, de preparat. Evangel. in accusing the Ethnicks of Ingratitude, for hating the Jews, from whom they learn'd the liberal Sci∣ences: and of Theft, for challenging those Ethick Precepts for their own which they stole out of the Hebrew Books. And the eleventh Book in prov∣ing the Platonick Philosophy to have been fetch'd out of Egypt and Judea: and the [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] writ over the Portal of the Delphick Temple (spoken of by Plu∣tarch) to have been borrowed from Moses his History of God's giving him∣self this name [I am that I am.] And the twelfth in instancing what Plato∣nick Sentences concur with Moses.

Besides those Pagan Authors quoted by Clement, we have Herodotus (Terpsi∣core.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] [The Ionians received the knowledg of letters from the Phaenicians;] hence all Learning is called Phaenician. And Eupolemus (libro de Judaeae Regibus) ait, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Moses was the first wise man. And for the juniority of most ancient Heathen Writers we have the Testimony of the same Herodotus, who (in the life of Homer) collects, out of Lesbian and Cumane Anti∣quities, that Homer was born 622. years before Xerxes his invasion of Greece: (circa finem.) And of Macrobius (in Som. Scip. 2. 10.) who affirmeth, that there is no Greek History extant which mentions any thing of note above 2000. years by-past, for beyond Ninus nothing famous is inserted into Books; Abhinc ul∣tra duo retrò annorum millia de excellenti rerum gestarum memoriâ, nè Graeca qui∣dem exstat historia; nam suprà Ninum nihil praeclarum in libros relatum est.] Now Macrobius lived under Theodosius (as Johan. Isaac, by Joseph Scaliger's in∣dication, observes, ex codice Theodosiani, lib. 6. titulo, de praepositis sacri cubicu∣li. And was, it seems, a Pythagorick Philosopher: and yet a Gentleman of that Christian Emperour's Bed-Chamber: vide Johan. Isaaci notas in Macro∣bium.

My desire to secure my Reader from stumbling at the Objection of Celsus, and to shew him the validity of that Reply, which the maintainers of the

Christian Cause return'd to it hath forc'd me to this Digression, from the pur∣suit of that Argument I was producing, to prove the consonancy of our Faith with the approved Maxims of Philosophy; drawn from each sides claiming the Primogeniture and pleading that theirs was the First-born. It being there∣fore manifest, by the confession of both parties, that Christianity and Philoso∣phy agree in their Maxims: I shall take this as a Supersedeas from that toyl∣som labour of collecting the several parcels of Christian Verity, out of the vast Ocean of Secular Authors, on whose surface they lay scatter'd: the ga∣thering up whereof is compared by Clemens Alexand. (Stromat. 1.) to the set∣ting together again of Pentheus dismember'd limbs: and requires more read∣ing, and a stronger memory than I dare pretend to: being not only of a courser Clay, but wanting the helps which those learned Fathers had, whom Tertullian (Testimon. animae. cap. 1.) affirms to have evidenced to the World, by an enumeration of Particulars, that Christian Religion propounds nothing new or portentous, but for which it hath the suffrage of Humane Learning and Pagan Writers. A Province so well administred by St. Clemens of old, and the incomparable Lord of Plessai of late, as renders it a needless work for me. I shall therefore only instance in two or three such heads of Chri∣stian Doctrine (which I have not observed others to have spoken of) as ap∣proach nearest to the Foundation, and are vulgarly reputed opposite to the Dictates of Philosophy, yet have been attested to by Philosophers.

§ 2. 1. That man in order to his being happy must be restored to Com∣munion with, and Conformity unto God is the Assertion of the Platonicks, as well as us Christians. Plotinus, that most refined mouth of Plato (as one (St. Austin, lib. 3. Academ. quest.) stiles him, who had more insight into Phi∣losophy than a thousand of our modern Blatterers.) In his first Book, de dubiis animae, writes thus; Father Jove, pittying labouring Souls, made the bonds wherein they were held, solvable, and allowed them some interval breathings and intermissions, wherein they might live from their Bodies, and from that of themselves which they had contracted by converse with their Bodies: and sometimes be there, where the Soul of the World is always: taking no thought of these inferiour things, (vide Jamblicum de mysteriis: tit. Via ad felicitatem.) The ground of this Sentiment he might have had from his master Plato, who, (in his Timaeus) distils from his pen these golden drops: while the soul lives below God, she meets with nothing but turbulency and uncertainty (the perfect print of Solomon's seal, of his [vanity and vexa∣tion of spirit:]) She must therefore fly to her native Countrey (expressed to the life in St. Paul's) [having our conversation in Heaven.] But where shall we have a Passage-boat? How shall I make my flight thither? There is but one expedit and certain way; to wit, becoming conformable unto God. A main point of Chri∣stian Philosophy: which his foresaid Scholar thus comments upon (Plotin. de contemplat.) [All beatitude flows from our contemplating that best and fairest Fa∣ther, whereby our souls (bidding farewel to the body, and freed from drudgery) enjoys, in that mean while, that happiness, which the soul of the Universe enjoys eternally and without intermission.—No man can attain to an happy life, that does not, in the purity of chast love, adhere to that one best Good the inocmmutable God.] With the like Doctrine Plato in his Convivio feasts his guests ears. [A blessed man, by the inspection of the Divine Pulcritude, not only produceth, but nourisheth in himself, not only appearances and shadows, but real and substantial Vertues such as lively express him whom we contemplate.] Was ever any thing said by Christian Theologues more resembling our Philosophy than these Pla∣tonick Dictates? Compare those with the Evangelical Notions, of [being changed into the same Image by beholding the glory of God, &c.] and then say, if they make not as perfect an harmony, as if these lessons had been set by the same Master. Now whether God did ever hang out to the World a more lively Picture of himself, than him whom the Apostle stiles the express Image of his Father's Person? or did ever throw out a stronger cord of love,

to knit men's affections to himself, than the Son of his love? I dare refer to the determination of Philosophy it self, after I have discussed some other Ma∣xims, common to that and Christianity.

§ 3. 2. The Original Tradition of the all-comprehending Evangelical Promise, [The seed of the woman shall break the head of the Serpent:] that grain of Mustard-seed, whence grew the tall Tree of the whole Gospel: that Rose of Sharon in the bud, which in process of time dilated its leaves to their full dimensions; deliver'd to the World by Noah, that Preacher of Righte∣ousness, was not wholly obliterated out of the memory of the Gentile-World. That it still retain'd the Tradition of Man's Apostacy from God: appears from Celsus (In Orig. lib. 6. cal. 20.) his quoting Pherecides for bringing in the Serpent Ophioneus, as heading a Party against Saturn, the father of all the Gods; and therefore cast down with his followers out of Heaven, and bound in chains. From Aelian's reporting (Var. hist. 3. 1.) that the Serpent which Apollo slew, had usurped the place of the Divine Oracle: a plain intimation of his presuming to wrest Gods Oracles; and of his setting up his own in their room, in his conference with Eve. The same Author in his description of Tempe, in the story of Python, gives us a perfect prospect of Eden: into which the Serpent had insinuated himself; and where he received his deaths wound, his fatal doom. Erithraea (quoted by Lactantius (de orig. erroris lib. 2.) the greatest part of whose writings are repositories of the old Tradition:) turns this part of Moses his History into Verse.

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

Man was form'd by God's hand, but being seduc'd by the Serpents guile, be became obnoxious to death, and learn'd to know good and evil. Hyginus (in his Poetic. astronom. titul. Serpens) quotes Pherecides speaking of golden Apples; of a Serpent set by Juno to watch her Orchard: of a Serpent which the Gi∣ants (in their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,) set upon Minerva, and thrown by her to among the Stars. Manifest prints of the old Tradition. Indeed the corrupt Matter is∣suing from the Wound, was a dayly Monitor to humane kind, that it had been struck with the Serpents poysonful sting: and therefore it is hardly con∣ceivable, that they should wholly lose the Tradition of the Remedy, the Me∣mory of that soveraign Plant which would cleanse and heal them. Though, through the vanity of men's minds, and the craft of those who made them∣selves Lords over their Faith (on purpose that they might settle themselves in a more absolute Dominion over their persons) that Tradition was in time so corrupted; as it requires a more than ordinary sagacity to scent out the foot-steps of it (and I hope the candid Reader will take that for my Apology, if in hunting after it, I come not always within so full a view of the game, or fol∣low so hot a scent, as to have the whole pack of Readers, with one mouth, cry (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,) there, there.) Howbeit I despair not, but that (by the help of the Fathers pricking out some of the prints before me, and with the assistance of his Spirit whose cause I am pleading) I shall trace out the remains of this Tradition in secular Authors, so near its scent and first Original: as to make it probable, if no more, that what the Apostles delivered in Thesi touching the blessed Jesus, is suitable to what is taught in Hypothesi by the Philosophers: especially those of them, who (to vamp and furbish the sullied and almost worn-out knowledg thereof) travell'd into those parts where the Original of that Tradition was preserved.

I will begin with that of Plato in the Phaedra pointed out by (the best versed in humane Learning of all the Fathers) Clemens Alexandrinus, (Stromat. 1. 98.) who quotes that travelling Philosopher reporting this to have been the Opinion of those Barbarians, of whom he learn'd his Philosophy; as also of

the Brachmans, Odrysians, Getes, Aegyptians, Arabians, Chaldaeans, and all that inhabit Palestine: That certain blessed Souls (or Daemons) leaving their supercelestial place, vouchsafe to descend into this earthly Dungeon, and, in assumed humane Bodies, to undergo all the miseries that man is obnoxious to in this life: and undertaking the care of Mankind, to give Laws, and teach Philosophy. This, Origen (Contra Celsum, l. 5.) reminds Celsus of, charging it upon his Epicurean blockishness and want of reading, that he should need be told, that it is the common sentence of all Philosophers (who held the be∣ing of a God, and his Providence over man,) that some Gods have been manifested in humane flesh, assumed humane shape, that they might deliver Oracles, and bring releif to mankind. Jamblicus writes after Plato's stile (de myster iis, tit. quando alia numina, &c.) making the Heroes or Semidei to unra∣vel the Snarls which the Cacodemons make: assigning to these last, that they oppress and distemper the Body, that they draw the Soul downward, and hin∣der it in its motion toward Heaven: to the first, that they stir us up to good Actions, that they enliven and enlighten us, provoke us to great and gene∣rous Vertues, that they watch over our Souls, and loose them from corporeal and terrene Intanglements. and in the same Treatise, [tit. quae ratio sacrifi∣ciorum, &c.] he lays down this as a Principle, that we cannot attain to Com∣munion with the incorporeal Deity but by the Mediation of the corporeal or incarnate. A point which he transcribed out of his Master Plato, who (in his Convivium, thus dictates: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. God is not to be approached to by man: but all the communion betwixt God and man is through the mediation of Demons: that is, good Demons, or Gods made men: a middle betwixt God and man, the bond which uniteth and joyneth us and God; as Plutarch observes, in his Treatise de defectu oraculorum, where he commends this opinion, as that which salves many and difficult doubts [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.] Of this Ethnick Principle St. Austin takes notice, (de civitate lib. 8. cap. 18.) titul. homines ut commendentur diis, bonis Daemoni∣bus uti debent advocatis: and (lib. 9. cap. 9.) tit. an amicitia caelestium per in∣tercessionem Daemonum possit homini provideri; and (lib. 9. cap. 17.) tit. non iali mediatore indigere hominem qualis est Daemon. That as the Pagan Philoso∣phers held, that men must make use of good Demons to commend them to the Gods: whether the friendship of the Caelestials can be procured to man, by the in∣tercession of Demons? Man does not need such a Mediator as the Demon is. And as to that branch of it which asserts the Virgin-birth, St. Cyril gives his Ca∣techumens this item (Catech. 12.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] If the Grecians question the possibility of Christ's Incar∣nation, they may be confuted by their own Mythologists. Upon which point Tertullian (apolog. cap. 21.) (after his common use) hath this excellent Ani∣mad version. [Recipite hanc fabulam, similis est vestris, &c.] If the story of Christs Incarnation be a Fable, ye ought to embrace it; you have no reason to think it strange, that the Son of God should be born of a Virgin: for how many Stories have you like this, and far less like to be true than this? You feign your Jove to have had Sons begot of Mortals, which even a good man would be a∣shamed to father: begot in Incest, of his Sister; in Adultery, of other mens Wives; in Fornication, of Virgins; in the shape of Fish, Fowl, and horned Beasts, &c.

Had not the World been prepossest with this Opinion, That God-saviour was to be Incarnate, and to assume the Womans Seed; how could it have been so easily induc'd to believe, that Persons of more than common Prowess, Vertue and Activity (especially in cultivating, protecting, rescu∣ing, or delivering humane Kind) whose Original on the Fathers or Mothers fide was obscure, had their extraction on the Fathers side from some Deity or other. Whence Pausanias (in his Corinthiacis;) though he bring different reports of the Original of A••sculapius, on the Mothers side, (so obscure was the Parentage of that great Succourer of all Mortals (as he is stiled in that Oracle

which his father gave to Apollophanes) whom the Dog and She-goat of Arestanus found on the Mount Epidaur) yet he fathers him, by common Vote, upon Apollo: and introduceth Apollo, thus resolving the Question of Apollophanes, concerning his Mother: That he was not the Son of Arsinoe, nor a Messenian; but an Epi∣daurian, the Off-spring of himself and the fair Coronis: And the same Au∣thor expounds Homer, as stiling Mochnon [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Man, the Son of God. Stesichorus, in his Fragments, collected by Henry Stephen, stiles Cly∣mene (after she had brought forth Children to Sol) his Virgin-wife [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] & virginalem uxorem. Nay if he were a person of extraordinary Beneficence to his Country, though he had been born in Wedlock, and during his Nonage reputed such a mans Son; yet after the performance of his hero∣ick, and more than humane exploits, some God or other claims him for his Son and makes his Father construe that Verse.

Hos ego filiolos genui, tulit alter honorem.

Thus Hercules shakes off his Father Amphitruo, for Jupiter; Plato would have discarded his Father Ariston; for Apollo; and Alexander his, for Ju∣piter Hammon. And so ambitious were the Females of the honour of be∣ing esteem'd Mothers of God-saviours, as they were contented to keep their Sons counsel, and to blow their Husbands Horn; (which it had been more for their credit, to have put in their pockets) had they not conceived, that the honour of that, would counterballanee the shame of this: Just as the Patriarchs zeal to have the promised Seed come from their Loins, over-weigh∣ed the sin and shame of their Polygamy. In which conceit, these good Women wrote after the Copy, which Mother Eve set them, at Cain's Birth; whom (thinking he had ben the promised Seed) she welcom'd into the World with this Congratulation [I have gotten a man from the Lord:] she thought she had got the Man of God, the promised Seed, by the fore-top, when she had the Seed of the wicked one by the heel. [Alii subtiliùs [possedi virum Dei:] quasi intelligeret Heva, jam se habere illum sibi promissum Serpentis vi∣ctorem: ità fidem Hevae laudant, quòd promissionem fide amplexa sit, de conte∣rendo per semen suum Diaboli capite: putant autem in persona vel individuo fu∣isse deceptam; quia ad Cain restrinxerit, quod de Christo promissum erat. (Calvin in Genes. 4. 1.) Hence Pharaoh caused Joseph, to be proclaim'd [Abrech] Saviour of the World: (St. Jerom, question. Hebraicis, Genesis 41. 43.) and as such they worshipped him afterwards, under the Symbol of an Oxe, as the Israelites did under the Image of a Calf. A great many such God-men were precipitated into the World, through its impatiency to stay, till the Fulness of Time wasco••••e. This is that which Origen (lib. 1. calum. 20.) gives in reply to Celsus his Jew, excepting against the Article of Christ's being born of a Virgin: We Christians (saith he) are not the only men that report Heroes to have been born of Virgins: of the truth of which Assertion, he there makes demonstration by several Instances. Of this extract were those whom Creon in Sophocles his Antigone stiles [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Deos indigends. Tully's Invention is stranded, in seeking a salvo for that Point of Secular Theology and Religious Custom, of inclining to canonize those rather, who were feign∣ed to have a God to their Father, than a Goddess to their Mother: a Custom which seems to him to contradict both the Civil and Natural Law; where the Mothers side is esteemed the surer side. [Quid quorum matres? opinor etiam magis: ut enim in Jure Civili, qui est de matre libera, liber est: item Jure Na∣turae, qui de Dea matre est, Deus sit necesse est—tales tamen nusquam coluntur:] (de nat. deor. l. 3. pag. 132.) But this Observation unties this Knot, viz. It was the Seed of the Woman which the World look'd after for Redemption, and had re∣spect to, in their canonizing of their Worthies. For the clearing of which; and that the Sparks of Evangelical Truth, raked up in the fore-alledged Se∣cular Authorities, may shine out, it will be necessary to blow away the Ashes they are raked up in.

§ 4. All these Quotations faulter under the weight of that Vulgar Error, which had the chief hand in corrupting the Original Tradition, by introdu∣cing the multiplicity of God-saviours. An Errour (I suppose) at first taken up in Policy, by the Heads of the first Schisms from the Patriarchal Church; who, forsaking the one Body, cleft the one Head, the one Seed, into many, to serve their own Interests: teaching their several Colonies to expect (each Faction in their particular Separations) the Birth of the promised Seed in their own Conventicle: (Just as our modern Separatists from the Unity of the Catholick Church teach their several Parties to believe, that they are that peculiar Society, out of which must procede those more than men who must effect those strange things of which they dream waking.) And when upon these suggestions, each Schismatical Confederacy had brought forth Saviours of their own flesh and bone, the Politicians were forc'd to allow this multi∣plicity, for peace sake, to suppress their otherwise-endless contendings, about the priority of those several Saviours, which each Nation, before mutual Commerce, had made to it self: and the Meliority of those various Religions, wherewith those Gods were worshipp'd. To prevent irreconcileable wrangl∣ing upon this diversity (appearing still more and more, as the Nations of the World came acquainted with one another: So as not so much as the Pit∣cher that stands upon Hydras back to tantalize the Crow, but was contended about: some affirming it to be, that wherein Matusius presented to Demo∣phon his Daughters Blood mixt with Wine; others, that wherein Icarius pre∣sented Wine to the Ligurians, &c. (Hygini poetic. astronom. tit. Hydra, 226.) they all came to this point, and (by universal Consent) centred in this Opinion, That the Genii or Angel-guardians of each Country, deputed by God, as so many Lords Presidents over their Provinces, under himself the Emperour of the whole World, suted themselves in their government of them, to the Nature and Constitution of the respective Climates within their Jurisdictions. Hence, as it were, according to the disposition of the Matrix, one Coun∣try produceth A Virgin-born God of one temper; another, of another; one a Male, another a Female Deity; here a Mars, there a Venus; here a Saturn, there a Jupiter, &c. Every one of which are best pleased with that kind of Divine Service that best sutes the Genius of the place of their Birth. Hence Jamblicus builds the greatest part of his Discourse, about Di∣vine Worship, upon this Foundation of Gods Presidents over several Countries and Commodities: (de mysteriis, quae ratio sacrificiorum:) And Symmachus his Arguments to Valentinian, Theodosius and Archadius, for in∣dulgence of the Gentile Polytheism, upon this Maxim: [Varios custodes ur∣bibus cunctis mens divina distribuit: ut animae nascentibus, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 populis fatales genii dividuntur:] (lib. 10. epist. 54.) The divine Mind hath distributed to all Cities various Guardians, as Souls are shared out to organized Bodies, so fatal Genii to Nations.

That this was their pacifick Salvo, for their Multiplicity of God-saviours, and of the Worship tender'd to them, is manifest, from the Discourse of Cel∣sus in Origen (lib. 1.) where he states the Case thus: [The Law-givers of particular Regions were directed by the Angel-guardians of the places, in a way of congruity to their particular Climes.] (In allusion to which St. Paul stiles some Devils [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Eph. 6. 12.) Of the same stamp in Christian Rome, apostatized to Heathenism, are their Mahuzzims, who together with God (to them (when Daniel wrote) a strange God) that Church worships, causeth to rule over many, and distri∣butes the Earth amongst them, for a Reward: (Dan. 11. 39. Vide Meed, Vol. 2. Book 3. cap. 17.) [Thence that diversity of Laws, (saith Celsus) yet all just; of Religions, yet all pleasing to the Gods to whom they are directed.] The Ethiopians about Meroe worship Jove and Bacchus; the Arabians, Bacchus and Urania; Egygpt generally, Osiris and Isis (some particular Provinces ex∣cepted, that have their peculiar Deities; as the Saitae, Minerva; the Nan∣cratitae,

Serapis.—) And that they may please such variety of Palats; one Country hath these, another other kind of Rites: one Country abstains from eating Sheep, another from Goats, another from Heifers, another from Cro∣codiles (as sacred to their Gods) which other Countries feed upon, without fear of displeasing their Deities. To which purpose he quotes, out of He∣rodotus, (Herodot. Euterpe, l. 2. 109.) this pleasant Story. The Inhabitants of Marea and Appis (Towns in the confines of Egypt and Lybia) disrelishing the Religion of Egypt, because it prohibited the eating of Heifers (after which their teeth water'd) were taught by that Master of Arts, the Belly, to plead, their Towns belonged to Lybia, not Egypt: upon which they dispatch Messengers to Jupiter Hammon the Lybian God, to tell his Holiness, that they belonged to his Dominion; that thenceforward they would re∣nounce Egypt and her Cow-goddess: neither would they ask her lieve to eat Beef: For being without Delta (the utmost bounds of Egypt) they were born under a better Planet, than to be kept Tantalizing, within the sight of so many fat Bullocks as their Country bred, whose flesh they must not eat, for fear of displeasing the Goddess: for their parts, having said their Grace to him, they were resolv'd to fall to, if he would say Amen. But he (whe∣ther, after the guise of the English Courtesie, he would yield to his Sister∣deity the upper hand at Table, the preheminence in carving; or whether he thought it not worth the while (with her displeasure, and so great an appearance of Injustice, as removing the old Land-marks might be interpret∣ed) to add to his Province so Belly-god a people, as hung to him by no∣thing but the Teeth, and would prove only Trencher-chaplains) would not give them their longings, but bound them to a perpetual Lent, as being within the Jurisdiction of Egypt, which was not bounded with Delta, but the Nile; out of which whosoever drank their Mornings draught, must not dine with Beef. This point of Gentilism Joshua disswaded the Israelites from imbra∣cing, in his sarcastical allowing them to chuse, whether they would serve the Gods of the Nation, from whence they came; or of the Nations of of whose Land they had got the possession: or of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jocob: of whose Faith this was the Crown, that coming into a strange Country, they neither brought their Penates with them, nor received the Gods of Canaan, but adhered to the true God who appeared to Abraham. Whereas Nahor's Family was tainted with the vulgar Error of Local Deities: so far, as Rachel (not daring to trust her self in a foreign Country without the salvifick presence of her Fathers Gods) stole away those consecrated Ima∣ges of them, into which she conceiv'd the Spirits of those Gods were entred: The purging his Family of which, and erecting an Altar, and adhering to the worship of that God appeared to him, was Jacob's commendation.

The Mixture of Religions in Samaria grew up of the same seed; as also the fearful Apostacies of Israel and Judah, both while they were one Com∣monwealth, and after they were divided into two Kingdoms. For, not con∣fiding in their own God, they called in, as it were to his aid, the Gods of Egypt (the golden Calves) the Gods of Moab, Baal-Peor, &c. whom while they sought to please, with services sutable to each Deity, they fell to these barbarous immoralities (of open Fornication, of Sacrificing Children, &c.) as ripened them for Transportation and Captivity. In which School of Affliction they so profitted, as after that they could never be induc'd, by the severest torments, to invocate the names of any foreign Gods. But to re∣turn to the Philosophers.

From this Distribution of Countries (saith Celsus) among Guardian∣angels, and their disposal of Religious Affairs, congruously to the Climates which fell to their lots; it comes to pass, that diverse Countries have diffe∣rent Funeral Rites: some by burning, some by interring, some by bury∣ing in their Kindreds Maws: each affirming their ownway best for themselves, and most pleasing to their Local Deities. So as the Scythians esteem Canni∣balism a sober and religious Custom; and some Indians account it an act of

Piety to kill and eat their decrepit Fathers. Of which different Sentiments we have a famous Example in the Story of Darius; who calling together his Grecian Companies, and asking at what price they would be hired, to devour their defunct Friends? received this answer from them, That they would not by any means be hired to commit so savage an Act: then calling his In∣dian Soldiers (whose Funeral Ceremony was, with a great deal of solemnity, and ostentation of Piety, to devour their deceased Parents) he propounded to them what wages he should give them to burn the Bodies of their dead Kindred? They holding up their hands, as Men astonish'd at the horror of this Motion, beseech him he would not pollute his Tongue and their Ears with such a more than barbarous proposal.

Hence Celsus can allow the Jew to adhere to the Religion of his own Coun∣try; but that he should impose upon all other Nations the God of Israel (one of the least and most contemptible Provinces of the World) this he can by no means digest. Hence Josephus (contrà Appion, l. 2.) is so shie of condemning the Religions of other Countries; that to the calumners of Lysimachus he promis∣eth he will not recriminate; it being sufficient for him to maintain the Re∣ligion of his own Country, without taxing others: their Law forbidding them to speak evil of the Gods. And that therefore what he should speak in disparagement of the Grecian Deities, should be no other, than what had been formerly said by their own most approved Authors. Though he was grosly mistaken in his interpretation of that Sentence [Thou shalt not speak evil of the Gods:] (that being intended of Magistrates, as his Contemporary St. Paul rightly applied it (Act. 23. 5.) Yet this argues how tender that great Politician was, of breaking the Bond of common Peace, which tack'd upon this Pin; Let every Nation abound in its own sence, as to Matters of Reli∣ligion. This makes me less wonder that Xenophon (the greatest Politici∣an, Soldier, Orator, and Philosopher, that ever met in one Man altogether) should, in that his Specimen of an absolute accomplish'd Prince, constantly represent Cyrus as having an equal Devotion for the Gods of those several Nations, through which he made his marches or conquests: (Xenophont. Cyrus, lib. 2. cap. 1.) In his Expedition for the relief of his Uncle Cyaxeres, at his approach to the utmost bounds of Persia, he presents him invocating [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] and beseeching the Gods and Heroes presiding over the Land of Persia, that they would propitiously dismiss him. At his entrance upon Media he presents him beseeching [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] the Gods of Media, propitiously to receive him, (Xenoph. Cyr. lib. 3. 19.) And at his entrance upon Assyria [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] he pacifies and propitiates with sacrifice the Heroes of Assyria. His custom of sacrificing [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] was observ'd by Alexander and the Romans, who upon no other account sacrificed at Jerusalem, to the God of the Jews, when they sojourned there; as, out of Apollonius Rhodius his Scho∣liast, is observed by Scaliger (in Eusebii chronic. num. 1685.) Upon this ac∣count the Crime, which Creon charged Polinices with, was, That he attempt∣ed to overthrow the Land of the Theban Gods and their Laws; their Laws extended no further than their Lands: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 whence the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 took their name: (Sophoclis Antigone.)

§ 5. How far this supposition, of Gods assigning the Regions of the World to the Guardianship of particular Angels, may stand with Scripture-grounds; either according to Mr. Meed's Scheme, who applies to this pur∣pose that Text of Zachary, [These are the serene eyes that run to and fro through the world:] or according to the compute of some of the Ancients, who apply to it that Text of Moses; [When the most high divided to the nations their in∣heritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people, according to the number of the children of Israel:] (in the Exposition of St. Jerome, in Daniel. cap. 7. vis. 6.) That is, as Israel was divided into Twelve

Tribes, so the World was parted into Twelve [majores Gentes] Ancient Na∣tions, and an Angel set as President over each of them: one of them conceiv∣ed by Daniel to be called, the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia: (Jerom in Dan. 10.) [Princeps autem regni Persarum restitit mihi 21 diebus:] Videtur mihi hic esse Angelus cui Persis credita 〈◊〉〈◊〉 (juxt à illud, [Quando dividebat al∣tissimus gentes—statuit terminos gentium juxt à numerum Angelorum Dei:] fa∣ciens pro credit â sibi Provincia, nè captivotum omnis populus dimitteretur, enu∣merans peccata populi Judeorum, quòd dimitti non deberent.) But the Prince of the kingdom of Persia resisted me one and twenty days. This seems to me (saith St. Jerome) to be that Angel to whom Persia was concredited; (according to that [When the Almighty divided the nations—he appointed their bounds ac∣cording to the number of the Angels of God:] an Agent for that Province that was committed to his trust, pleading, by commemorating before God the sins of the Jews, that they might not be dismist out of Captivity to the Persian Empire.) And because there were Twelve ancient Nations; hence these Presidents are altogether stiled by the Gentiles, [Duodecim Dii majorum gentium,] the Twelve Gods of the ancient Nations. How far (I say) this Hypothesis in general, and which of these ways of applying it is grounded on Scripture, would carry me too far out of my way to discuss: (Origen (lib. 5. contrà Celsum) hath an excel∣lent discourse upon this subject, whom they that have a mind may consult.) That which at present I am commending to my Reader, is the abstraction of Plato's Sentence, from the Errors of those times wherewith he was born down; yet so abstracted, it may afford us the Genuine sence of the Philoso∣phers, touching the end of God's Incarnation; viz. To communicate divine Oracles, and to relieve Mankind by suffering, that is, to be (in the Christian Dialect) our Priest and Prophet, our Lord-saviour. Whether this is to be perform'd, by piece-meal, for several Nations, by diverse Gods incarnate; or at once, for all, by one; according to the Dictates of the Philosophical Schools, where they speak under the Rose, out of the hearing of the Vulgar, and are not biass'd with fear of going against the Current of the Popular O∣pinion, is another Question, and comes next to be discuss'd: And let Plato's School determine it

By the mouth of his Scholar Porphyry (as malicious and potent an Adver∣sary as the Christian Cause hath met with) who affirms (as he is quoted by St. Austin (de Civit. 10. 23.) that this was the Respond from the divine Ora∣cle, That the humane Soul cannot be purged by the most perfect Sacrifices offer'd to the very chief of the Celestial Gods, (the Sun or Moon;) but only by a Principle. Upon which St. Austin hath this Animadversion; Thou mightest have spared the labour of telling us, that nothing can purge the Soul but a Prin∣ciple; after thou hadst said, The Sun or Moon, sollicited by the purest and eve∣ry way compleatest Sacrifices, could not do it: for if they cannot, who are the chief of the Heathen Gods, sure, 'tis out of the reach of the underlings to do it. Observe by the way, rhat Ludovicus Vives translates Telesmata, perfect Sacrifi∣ces: but Selden makes them all one with Teraphims, that is, Images; which were thought to be [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] replenished with the Deities of those Gods they were dedicated to: and whom they invocated after the per∣forming of sacrifice before them. (Such an one was Pope Gerebert taught to make by the Saracens of Spain; and our Bacon falsly reported to have erect∣ed.) Saving that the Teraphim was the head of a Man, bearing the name of one Deity alone; but the Telesmata had the Images and Names of all the Gods they could think of. Such were those of Apollonius Tyaneus, mention'd by Justin Martyr, (respond. orthodox. 24.) such as Scaliger (in his Epistle to Casau∣bon) affirms he had frequently seen. This therefore is manifestly the impor∣tance of Porphyry's Dictate, That the most religious worshippers of all the known Gods, cannot thereby be purged. But what means Porphyry by a Principle? That will best be discerned by observing (with St. Austin) that the Platonicks held Three Principles; the Father; the Intellect, Mind, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of the Father: and the bond of these, viz. the Spirit: not the Soul of

Man, as Plotinus misinterprets it; (for that must have been postpon'd to the Father and his Mind; whereas Plato interpones it, that is, makes the Spirit the bond or tie betwixt them: (Vide testimonium Platonis (in Epimenide) de Patre Filióque; & Plotini verba (in libro quem inscripsit de tribus hypostasibus) citata ab Eusebio (in Praepar. Evang. 11. 10.) & Numenii testimonia de Trinita∣te; de primo Deo & Deo Creatore & Spiritu vivificante.) Thus also Zeno af∣firms, Fate (that is, the necessary Being) to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Word, God, and the Soul. And Plato himself (in his 6. Book de Legibus) brings in Socrates, after he had discoursed [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Of the one Good (that is, God) telling Glaucus, he will speak [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Of him that is both the begotten of that Good, and his express Image: and in his Epistle to Hermius, he hath these expressions—swearing by [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] God the maker of all things, and the Lord-father of that Principle and Cause: And in his Epinomides, he mentions [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] The Word, the most divine of all things; by which the World was framed, whom a wise man admiring, is inflam'd with desire to understand, how he may be happy in this Life and the future. As to the Third Principle, he saith, he knows not what Name to give it; except he should call it [the Soul of the World; because it gives Life and Being to all Creatures.] And in his Epi∣stle to Dionysius, he tells him that he writes [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] of the Trine Divinity, that is, as Porphyry (alledged by St. Cyril against Julian) expounds him, Three Subsistances (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) in the Essence of the Divinity. Con∣sonant to which Platonick Dictate, is that Respond which the Oracle of Se∣rapis gave to Thales King of Aegypt, at the time of the Trojan War, inquiring who was happier than he?

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. * 1.6

Thus Macrobius stiles the First Person [The truly chief God;] the Second [the Mind or Thinking of that God;] the Third [The Soul or Spirit proceeding from that Mind.] Anima ex Mente processerat; Mens ex Deo procreata est: (Macrob. in som. Scip. 1. 17.) These Allegations bid fair for the proof of this Opinion, That the Philosophers were not wholly strangers to the Mystery of the Trinity: And in the last of them Macrobius makes confession of the Trinity, in as plain terms as we Christians do; and of the Order and Manner of the Procedure of the divine Persons, plainer than the Grecian Church would yield, or the Latin Church could prove the sacred Scriptures to declare. I appeal to their Contests about the word [Proceeding] and the Clause [de Filióque:] And to Macrobius a Greco-latin Platonick his so clearly asserting, That the Mind was begotten of God (the First Person) and the Spirit proceeded from the Mind. But that's more than I do (or need to) produce them for: the use that I have for them, is only to give testimony, that the Platonicks vouch∣safed the name of a [Principle] to nothing, but God the Father, God the Word, and God the Spirit: and therefore it is not (even by their Principles) in the power of any other God, by his Mediation, to bring the Soul by Purgation into Conformity to or Communion with God: nothing but a Principle can effect that; and there are but three Principles, Father, Son, and Spirit, say the Platonicks.

To this Platonick Notion of a Principle our Saviour seems to allude (John 8. 25.) where, to the Jews asking who he was? he answers [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. (in St. Austin's (de Civitate 10. 24.) and others (St. Ambros. Hexameron. lib. 1. cap. 4.) of the Fathers judgment) That he was the Beginning: [respondit se esse Principium.] To be sure the Platonicks did, in a peculiar Notion, denomi∣nate

God the Word, the Principle. Which made Amelius, when he read the Beginning of St. John's Gospel, (In the beginning was the Word [apud Deum esse, & Deum esse, & per ipsum omnia facta esse] the Word was with God, and was God, and by him were all things made) cry out [Per Jo∣vem! barbarus iste cum nostro Platone sentit Verbum Dei in ordine Principii esse:] This Barbarian is of our Plato's Opinion, that the Word of God is in the rank of Principles, &c. And that other Philosopher whom Simplicianus B. of Mil∣lain informs St. Austin of (de civitate 10. 29.) to protest [Those words of St. John [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] deserved to be writ in Letters of Gold, and to he hung up in the most conspicuous places, in all Churches:) and St. Austin, in his Confessions, say, that [he had read the beginning of St. John's Gospel in the Platonick Books, in sence, though not in the very same words:] (lib. Confess. 7. cap. 9.) [procurasti mihi quosdam Platonicorum libros, & ibi legi; non quidem his verbis, sed hoc idem omninò: There I read (saith he) and found proved by va∣rious Reasons, That in the beginnning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, that by it all things were made: Multis & multiplicibus suaderi rationibus, quòd in principio erat Verbum, & Verbum erat apud Deum.—There (in the Platonick Writings) I read; That the Soul of man, though it bear testimony of the Light, is not the Light, but God, the Word of God, is that true Light that—Et quòd hominis anima, quamvis te∣stimonium perhibeat de lumine, non est tamen ipsa lumen, sed Verbum Dei Deus est lumen verum, quod illuminat omnem hominem.—And that he was in this World, and the World was made by him, and that the World knew him not: & quia in hoc mundo erat, & mundus per eum factus est, & mundus eum non cognovit. But that he came unto his own, and his own re∣ceived him not,—I did not read there: Quià verò in suos venit & sui eum non reciperunt; quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit illis potestatem fi∣lios Dei, non legi ibi. There also I read, that God the Word was not born of flesh or blood, nor of the will of man, or the will of the flesh, but of God: Item ibi legi, quià Deus Verbum non ex carne, non ex sanguine, non ex voluntate viri, ne{que} ex voluntate carnis, sed ex Deo natus est: But that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, I did not read there: Sed quià Verbum caro factus est & habitavit in nobis, non ibi legi. In those Platonick Writings, I found it said in va∣rious and many forms of speech, That the Word, the Son, is in the form of the Father, counting it no robbery to be equal to God; because he is by nature God: Indagavi quippe in illis (Platonicis) literis variè dictum & multis modis, quòd sit Filius in forma Patris, non rapinam arbitratus esse aequalis Deo, quià na∣turaliter id ipsum est: But that he emptied himself (taking the form of a ser∣vant) to the death of the Cross—is not mentioned in those Books: Sed quià seipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens, in similitudinem hominum fa∣ctus, &c. non habent illi libri. Indeed that before and beyond all, thine only be∣gotten Son incommutably continueth coeternal with thy self; and that mens Souls do, out of his fulness, receive what makes them happy; and by participa∣tion of that wisdom that rests in him are made wise, is affirmed in those Platonick Books: Quòd enim ante omnia tempora & suprà omnia tempora incommutabi∣liter manet unigenitus Filius tuus coaeternus tibi, & quia de plenitudine ejus accipiunt animae ut beatae sint, & quia participatione manentis in se sapientiae re∣novantur ut Sapientes sint, est ibi, &c.

This is a Testimony so weighty, as we cannot question the truth of; it being given in his Confessions made to God: and so full, as it not only proves this Par∣ticular, That the Platonicks conceived the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to be the Son of God, by whom he made the World, to be in the Order and Degree of a Principle (which was all I produc'd it for in this Section) but my general Position, laid down in the first Section of this Chapter, That what the Gospel asserts in Thesi of our Jesus, the Platonick School asserted in Hypothesi, concerning him that was to relieve Mankind. Plato's Doctrine of Purgation came so near ours (saith St. Austin (de vera Religione, cap. 4.) as many Platonicks upon that account turn'd Christian [Paucis mutatis verbis & sententiis: aut si hoc non fa∣cerent,

nescio utrùm possent ad ea ipsa quae appetenda esse dixerunt cum istis fae∣cibus viscóque revolare: (ex Platonis Phaedro & de Legibus & Timaeo.) With the alteration of a few words and sentences; and if they had not, I cannot tell how they could, with the Birdlime and dregs of those their Errors (which Chri∣stian Religion confuteth) have flown back to that good they said was to be de∣sired, and those their sound Principles, which both we and they joyntly hold. The only thing they disgusted, being the application of those things to Christ; they stumbling at the same Stone, at which the Jews stumbled, the Cross of Christ: and taking it in scorn, that so mean a man as Jesus of Nazereth, should be reputed, to be the Saviour, to be that Principle, that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that Son of God, that was to enlighten every one that comes into the World; out of whose ful∣ness all our wants were to be supplied; by the participation of whose Wis∣dom we are made wise, &c.

For St. Austin, when he saith. [He could not find in their Books that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 was come into the World, came to his own and his own received him not, took up∣on him the Form of a servant, and humbled himself to the death of the Cross.] Must not be understood, to deny that it was to be found, or that himself had found in the Platonick Writings: that the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (in order to humane Re∣demption) was to come into the World, to assume our nature, to be wound∣ed for our Transgressions: for whoever it was by one (or more) that man-kind was to be relieved: that one (or more) must, as we have heard the Oracle (the God of Philosophers, as they stiled him) deliver, descend from his (or their) supercelestial place, into his Dungeon of Earth: and in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 (or their) assumed body (or bodies) endure all the miseries of this life, &c. as (Sect. 3. cap. 4.) hath been quoted; out of which sentence (not only of Plato, but of all that exchanged not the old Traditional Philosophy for the Kitching-Experiments of Greece, whom Jamblicus compares to Ships with∣out Balast; for that they had emptyed themselves of what they had received by the old Tradition, (de mysteriis, tit. de nominibus sacris,) we have been, all this while, boulting the Bran of their conceipted Multiplicity of God-saviours, by the Sierce of their more sober and considerate Doctrine, poured out into the bosom of their friends, sequestred from the Censure of the Vulgar (be∣fore whom it was not safe to speak all they thought:) [Difficile est negare, credo, si in concione quaeratur; sed in hujusmodi concessu facillimum: (Cicero de natura deorum, lib. 1.) It is an hard matter, I confess, to deny this in the hearing of the multitude; but very easie in such a select Assembly of friends and Philosophers.] And have thereby gain'd from them the unforc'd confession of this Evangelical Truth.

That man's restauration unto Communion with, and Conformity to God, cannot be obtained by the Incarnation of separate Spirits, or blessed Souls, but of God himself, descending into the Dungeon of this Earth, assuming our Nature, and in that Nature suffering what was due to us; and delivering to us the Divine Oracles. Plato therefore in assigning this effect to a Multi∣plicity of holy Souls or Spirits, coming down from Heaven, in several Ages, and Countreys, was a popular Complyance with the vulgar Errour: either out of fear to in〈…〉〈…〉 his Master Socrates his fortune, or out of design to have the World believe (as some of his great admirers did) that himself was one of those officious Spirits: or if he spake as he thought, it was the froth and e∣bullition of that vanity of mind judicially inflicted upon such; as knowing God, did not worship him as God. That this was his Errour, and such an Errour, as himself, in his lucid Intervals, renounc'd, and was forsaken in, by his own followers: hath been sufficiently cleared; if the weight of this point, and the dissatisfaction of some most deservingly eminent Modern Di∣vines, did not make it shake upon its strongest supporters, and (as it were by its nods) becken to us to strengthen it by Buttresses: I shall therefore beg my Readers patience (which I doubt not but to obtain of him if he can but con∣strue that of the Epigrammatist; [Non sunt longa quibus nihil est quod demere possis; Sed tu, Cosconi, disticha longa facis:] Mart.) while I make it yet more manifest.

CHAP. V.

None of their Local Saviours were able to save.

§ 1. Their white Witches impeded in doing good by the black. Lucan's Hag more mighty than any of their Almighties. § 2. None of their Saviour's Soul-purgers. § 3. Porphiry's Vote for one universal Saviour: not known in the Heathen World. Altars to the unknown Gods; whether God or God∣dess. § 4. The unknown God. § 5. Great Pan, the All-heal, his death. § 6. Of their many Lords none comparable to the Lord Christ; to us but one Lord.

§ 1. POrphyry (Aug de Civitat. 10. 9. 10. reference:) from experience confesseth the inability of those reputed good Spirits or God-Savi∣ours, to whom the Heathen applyed themselves for cure, to gratifie the commerce to them (their most severe worshippers) in their desired Soul-pur∣gations: in that they were often impeded by their Superiours; and their Su∣periours manacled in the Conjurers bands, so as they durst not effect the desi∣red Purgations; so terrified by the black Witch, as the white Witch could not loose them from that fear, and set them free, to do that good, to which their own natures inclin'd them, and their most religious Votaries solicited them. (Whereupon St. Austin facetiously thus explains: Ergo & ligavit iste & iste non solvit. O animae praedicanda purgatio! ubi plus imperat immunda invidentia quàm impetrat pura beneficentia; ubi plus valet malevolus impeditor quàm beneficus purgator animae.] The Cacodemon, it seems, could bind and the good Angel could not lose. Oh praise-worthy purgation of Soul! where un∣clean Envy obtains that power, which pure Bounty cannot; where the malicious opposer is of more strength than the liberal purger of the Soul. But however ri∣diculous either the opinion or grownd of it were: This Doctrine the Pla∣tonicks grounded upon that complaint which a certain Chaldean made, that all his attempts, and greatest endeavours, for the purging of his Soul, were frustrated; by reason that a man, potent in the Theargick Art, envying him that felicity, bound up the hands of the Divine Powers, charm'd by his Conjurations, so as they could not grant his Request. The Romans more than once experienc'd the same thing: for sometimes these Plebeian Deities lay bonds upon the Superiour: as those in Rome, whose sacred houses had been turn'd to private dwellings, suspended, and (as it were,) entred a pro∣hibition against Esculapius: that he could not proceed in the cure of the Pe∣stilence (then raging) till they had been compounded with, and their houses restored, (Cicero in orat. de Aruspicum responsis.) This was about the first pu∣nick War: (Orosius lib. 4.) of which St. Austin (de Civit. 3. 17.) [frustrà prae∣sente Aesculapio; aditum est ad Sybillinos libros:] After they had in vain, for two years together, invocated the aid of Aesculapius, they betake themselves to thy Sibyls Books. To which also they applyed themselves, in the time of that Plague that happen'd a little before the Invasion of the Gauls, (Livy, lib. 5.) and having long tryed the inutility of craving help at the hands of their Capitoline Deities, are directed to institute the Lectisternia (that is) to yoke the Gods, two and two together, Apollo with Latona, Hercules with Diana, and Mer∣cury with Neptune, into one Team: and after they had provinder'd them well (with Sacrifices) and smoak'd them (with Supplications) not to doubt, but that they would either themselves hale away the Pestilence, or not pass back, but let their Capitoline Jove, or helping father, do it, (Liv. lib. 5. 13. pag. 151.) Their experience before that of Joves inability to cure them (he giving him∣self to Women in his youth, had slipp'd the time of learning Physick (as St. Austin facetiously excuseth him) (de Civitat. 3. 17.) forced them fetch Ae∣sculapius from Epidaure to Rome to act the part of a Doctor amongst them. A∣pollo

having refused to undertake the cure (though fee'd with a promise of hav∣ing a Temple erected to him.) [Aedes Apollini pro valitudine populi vota,] (Liv. 4. 25.) and referring them to his son (as Ovid (Metam. 15.) tells the sto∣ry.) But the Pestilence still raging after all this; and whatever the Duum∣viri could collect out of Sibyl's Books, for the pacifying of Divine Wrath and averting the Malady, proving ineffectual: The people apply themselves to all the Gods they could think or hear of; in so much as there was to be seen in e∣very Street peregrine and unusual Expiations; whereupon the Ediles are charg∣ed to see to it, that they restrain those Supplicatings of strange Gods, (Liv. 4. 30.) The Senate was partial in this Decree: for if themselves, when they saw that their [Jupiter Optimus Maximus] their helping Father could not releive them: call'd in, his Grandchild, Aesculapius: why might not the people, when they found their Cure was beyond the skill of this Doctor, call in a Council to aid him: for they could not impute their not-recovery to their want of will, but skill; seeing Aesculapius had so lately been obliged to do his utmost, by their making him a free Deity of their City: And Jove by the oblation of opima spolia (dedicated to him by Cossus) and of a golden Crown, by the Dictator: (Liv. 4. 20.) I wonder that, after so many and clear experiments of their impotency, those Gods did not take up that Proverb, as well as we men, [Non omnia possumus omnes.] The forms of these God-terrifying In∣cantations are set down in Jamblicus (in Mysteriis:) tit. quomodo obserratores Daemonibus minabuntur. [If you will not do this] that I adjure you; or, on the other side, if you do that which I abjure you: [I will split the Heavens in pieces, lay open the secrets of Isis, divulge the secret that's hid in the abyss, stag∣nat Baris, scatter Osiris limbs to Typhon, &c.] And more elegantly in Lu∣can (lib. 6.) who brings in Erichtho thus threatning the slow-pac'd Gods and Goddesses whom she had invok'd.

—miratur Erichtho Has fatis licuisse moras, iratáque morti Verberat immotum vivo serpente cadaver, Pérque cavas terrae, quas egit carmine, rimas, Manibus illatrat, regnique silentia rumpit; Tisiphone, vocisque meae secura Megaera, Non agitis saevis Erebi per inane flagellis Infaelicem animam? I am vos Ego nomine vero Eliciam, Stygiásque canes in luce superna Destituam, per busta sequar: per funera custos, Expellam tumulis, abigam vos omnibus uruis. Téque deis, ad quos alio procedere vultu Ficta soles, Hecate, pallenti tabida forma Ostendam, faciémque Erebi mutare vetabo. Eloquar immenso terrae sub pondere, quae te Contineant Eunaea dapes, quo faedere moestum Regem noctis ames, quae te contagia passam Noluerit revocare Ceres. Tibi pessime mundi Arbiter immittam ruptis Titana cavernis Et subitò feriere die—

It cannot but move some kind of diverting if not recreating Passion in my Reader, cloy'd with so much serious and philosophical Follies, to hear my course Muse translate these smooth-footed Latin, into these hobling English Verses.

Erichtho wondering how the Destinies Durst so long loyter, at death chasing, plies With living Serpents the dead Corps: and charms Deep chincks i'th' ground, through which she thus alarms,

With barking rage, the Manes. Tisiphon And thou Megaera (for my words ye scorn;) Or whip this damn'd Soul through the Streets of Hell; Or I'll strip you of borrowed names, and tell What kind of Hags ye be; ye Stygian Bitches, I'll hale you into th' open Sun, ye Witches, And leave you there, where neither tomb nor urn Shall dare conceal you. Hecate can turn Her coat, when she before the Gods appears, And have another face than here she wears: But they shall see her, in her native dress, Such as she is 'mongst shades, pale, sanguinless: That face she wears in Erebus she shall show Among th' Immortals. And the World shall know, What cares detain thee in grim Pluto's Court, (Proserpina) and why thou loves that lout; And what it was thou catch'd there, made Thy mother shuck thee off into a shade. And thou (unequal arbiter of the World) Titan and day shall in thy face be hurl'd.

This was that masculine Poesie which Plato allowed in his commonwealth, and out of which Porphyry, in his Responds, confirms his Dogma, That the reputed Deities, oftentimes, proved less than men, in the hands of the The∣ourgicks. For he there brings in Hecate, forc'd by the Hag to give Responds, against her will.

—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. * 1.7

And least we think the evasion of Jamblicus to be of weight, who limits the efficacy of these Imprecations, to the infernal Deities (those vagabond Fairy-elves, that converse in the lowest Region) whom he confesseth any toothless Hag, if she mutter over them words of an harsh sound, that jerk the Air, though with non-sence, may put into a fright. The same Platonick introduceth Apollo, giving Responds against the hair.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 —〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. * 1.8

To spare the labour of particularizing; the Thessalian Hag in Lucian (lib. 6.) boasts, that she could charm what Gods she pleased, to whatsoever in∣voluntary acts she pleased: 1. Not only the bad Spirits, from doing the ill they are inclin'd to, or to do the good they are averse to (with power the Saviour of Mankind must be invested in, or those malicious Spirits (of whom the Platonicks make frequent mention) would prove too hard for him.) And therefore sacred Records inform us: That God bound up the lying, and forc'd a true Prophetick Spirit upon Baalam, contrary to the grain of his co∣vetous inclination; from which he could not extricate himself, by all the sacrifices he could offer, or shifting of place; (supposing, belike, the Daemon that bound him, might possibly be some God of the Vallies; or, if of the Hills, his Territories might not reach to all those upon which he sought for in∣chantments.)

And that our Saviours substitutes (his Ministers sent forth for the good of his people) Gabriel and Michael. (dan. 10. 13, 20, 21.) (vide Bullingerum in locum & in decadibus,) though for some while impeded by the Princes of the Kingdom of Persia and other Nations (that is those Caco-de∣mons, to whose lot, by their own choice (and Divine Justice saying Amen to their choice) they were fallen:) yet at last cast off those bonds, and break through the thickest files of their united force, to bring relief to Immanuel's people. 2. Nor the good spirits to exert their salvifick Powers; as Moses detain'd the Angel of Gods presence, and Jacob the Angel that wrastled with him. 3. But the very best, fairest, and most beneficial of their Gods, from granting the just desires of their most religious Worshippers, and to gratifie the most impious requests of malicious Conjurers. A clear confession, that the best and greatest of those reputed God-saviours, were so far from being able to purge Souls, as themselves stood in need of being purged, from the pest of fear. St Austin ingeniously, [Mirum est autem quòd benignus ille Chaldaeus qui Theurgicis sacris animam purgare cupiebat, non invenit aliquem superiorem De∣um, qui vel plus terreret atque ad benefaciendum cogeret territos Deos, vel ab eis terrentem compesceret, ut liberè benefacerent: sic tamen Theurgo bono sacra defu∣erunt, quibus ipsos Deos quos invocabat, animae purgatores prius ab illa timoris peste purgaret.] (de Civitate, 10. 10.) It is strange, that that Chaldean did not find out some superiour God; who could, either by greater terror force the terrifi∣ed Gods to do good, or to drive from them him that terrified them: and yet so far was that good conjurer destitute of sacred Rites, by which he might purge those soul∣purging Gods themselves of the Plague of their own fear. A passion which he who undertakes the rescue of men's Souls; if he be not absolutely exempted from, he is render'd utterly incapable to perform the office of Redem∣ption.

§ 2. Upon these Considerations Porphyry (de sacrificiis) grounds this As∣sertion. That as these reputed God-presidents had no power of releiving, but within their own respective Jurisdictions; so the purgation of the humane Soul was wholly out of their reach. The spiritual part of the Soul (saith he) which takes in the Images of Corporeal things, from the Fantasie, inform'd by the common Sense, may (by the cooperations of those Daemons) with certain Magical Consecrations, be made capable to receive the Images of those Spirits, and to see those kinds of Gods: But the Intellectual Soul, wherein is received the Verity of intelligible things, that have no resemblances of Bodies, cannot receive, by such Consecrations, any such Purgation, as renders it fit to see its pro∣per God, or those things that are true. Yet Porphyry (in the same place) takes down the efficacy of these Saviours one Pegg lower, and leaves them nothing to put forth their salvifick power upon, but Temporal Concerns, and the goods of the Body, or Fortune; and therefore counts it madness, in Pli∣losophers, to make any application to them; though perhaps (and but per∣haps) it be necessary for Cities to procure their favour, and make them, by material Sacrifices, propitious to them; for the sake of that external and corporeal good, they may confer upon those, who place their well-being in the affluence of such things. (The fairies may drop a Teaster into the good huswise's shoe, and that's the summ of their rewards.) And yet these Saviours cannot save to themselves this poor pittance of power; denied to them not∣only by St. Austin, who (in his five first Books de Civitate) not only proves, but proves out of Pagan Records, that those Saviours can neither do good nor hurt. But by the most sage Philosophers, and Philosophizing Poets, there quoted by him; to which quotation I refer my Reader, and pro∣cede to another Argument, for the proof of the agreement of the Plato∣nicks with us Christians in this Point, That none of those (by the Vulgar reputed) blessed Spirits, who became incarnate to redeem Mankind, were qualified for that Work: which was therefore to be laid upon one more mighty than them all; able to grapple with all opposite Infernal Powers;

an undauntable Lion, who would not faint nor be discouraged by Lions in the way; a Passion to which all their known God-saviours were subject, and thereby rendred incapable to accomplish the end of their supposed In∣carnation.

§ 3. Porphyry (in his first, de regressu animae) professeth himself of this O∣pinion, [That God was not so deficient in his care of Man, as not to provide as general a way of Purgation, as the Infection was; and make the Plaister as broad as the Sore:] which universal way of Redemption he confesses, had not been communicated to the World, as far as he could learn, either by the Customs of the Indians, the Disciplines of the Chaldeans, or the Philosophical Schools: there being something of what, in common Reason, was required, in order to the effecting of the Cure, wanting in all those ways of Soul-purgation, to which the most inquisitive Persons had applied themselves. Upon which that great Light of Africa, St. Austin (de civitate, 22. 27.) hath this Note: [Had Plato and Porphyry compared Notes, they would have turn'd Christian,] that is, had Plato dared to have spoken, as freely as his Scholar did, for an Universal Saviour: and had not Porphyry forsaken his Master in that point of Truth, which he asserted, touching the Incarnation and sufferings of the Saviour, they would have joyned hands with the Christian, and have sub∣scribed to his Hypothesis. This very Notion was the ground of their erect∣ing Altars and preferring Prayers to the unknown God. Hence the Mari∣ners call every man upon his God; and lest they might all mistake the true God-saviour, they awaken Jonah to call upon his God for help in that exi∣gent (Jonah 1. 5.) hence they were wont to close their petitions with [Dii Deaeque omnes:] (Servius in Virg. Georg. l. 1.) The Arabians, saith Gyrald, Syntagm. 17.) perceiving the insufficiency of their known Gods to re∣lieve them, dedicated Altars to the unknown God. Pausanias mentions: the Altar [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] of the unknown Gods erected in Olympus, (Eliacis prioribus:) and several Altars at Athens of the same Title, (in his Attica:) the full Inscription of which, the indefatigable Selden (in his Prolegomenis to his Treatise de Diis Syriis) sets down in this Form;

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

To the Gods of Asia and Europe and Africa: To the unknown Gods and strange

Of the same importance were those Silver Tables (Cicero de natura deo∣rum, lib. 3.) which Dionysius rob'd the Grecian Temple of, being inscribed not with the names of particular Deities (as the Tables of their known Gods were) but indefinitely [To the good Gods:] whence that scoffing A∣theist drew an Argument for his Sacrilege, saying he would make use of their Bounty. But hitherto the Gentiles only exprest their diffidence in their own Local Saviours. That which St. Paul took notice of, dedicated to the un∣known God, speaks their acknowledgment of their being at a loss, as to the knowledge of the true God saviour; and their not daring ultimately to relie upon the help of any of their received Gods, either domestick or foreign; it being not in the power of all their reputed Saviours to satisfie their Appe∣tites, implicitly set upon an otherwise Saviour, than any of them were: (whom our Scriptures therefore call, The desire of all Nations;) even him whom they worshipp'd ignorantly and St. Paul declared unto them (Vossius de Idolo∣latr. lib. 1. cap. 2.) The occasion of erecting these Altars is thus laid down

by Isidore Pelusiatas (Epist. 69. lib. 4.) out of Pausanias (in his Arcadicis.) Some say the Athenians sent Philippides, to crave aid of the Spartans, at what time the Persians made their Expediton into Greece; and the Spectrum of God Pan met their Messenger upon the Hill Parthenium; promising them victory if they would erect an Altar and offer sacrifice to him; upon which report, they dedicated Altars to the [unknown God.] Others (saith Isidore) affirm, that the Pestilence raging, and the Athenians having to no purpose tried all their known and allowed Gods; it came in their mind, that pos∣sibly there might be a God to them unknown, who if atton'd would free them from that Plague: hence Epimenides caused the Beasts for sacrifice, to be let loose, and gave order that where they laid down, they should be sacrificed, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to the proper God:] Whence (saith Laertius in his Epimenides) there were Altars at Athens without names [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that is, of any special God; for that Epimenides knew not to which of the Gods, by name, he ought to apply himself, for the a∣verting of the Pestilence: any more than the Romans knew, what God they should attone when an Earthquake happened: of which Agellius (lib. 2. cap. 28.) thus: [Veteres Romani, ubi terram movisse senserant, nuntiatumve erat, ferias ejus rei cáusâ edicto imperabant; sed Dei nomen statuere & edicere qui∣escebant, nè alium pro alio nominando, falsâ religione populum alligarent. Eas ferias si quis polluisset, piaculóque ob hanc rem opus esset, hostiam, Si. Deo, Si. Deae. immolabat. Idque ità ex decretis Pontificum observatum esse M. Varro di∣cit, quoniam & qua vi, & per quem Deorum Dearúmve terra tremeret incertum esset:] The ancient Romans when they perceiv'd or had been inform'd that there had been an Earthquake, bid Holidays for the deprecation of the ef∣fects of that Omen: but they did not specifie the name of God, lest by misnaming him, they should involve the people in a false Religion. If any man prophan'd those holidays, and therefore had need to make expiation, he offered sacrifice with this form of deprecation; [If thou beest a God, if thou beest a Goddess:] And this Order (saith Varro) was appointed to be observed by the Decrees of the Priests; because they were not certain by what force and by what God or Goddess the Earth-quake was caused.

§ 4. Now though Pausanias stile those Altars, the Altars of the unknown Gods; yet we are not to think that there was not an Altar dedicated to the Unknown God in the singular number: For Lucian (second to none in the knowledge of Heathen Theology) in his Philopater, swears by the unknown God at Athens [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉:] and, at the end of that Dia∣logue, exclaims [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] But we having found the unknown God at Athens, let us give thanks unto him, adoring him with hands stretch'd out to heaven. (Though with Lucian's lieve) the Athe∣nians unknown God was to them [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] a strange God: not to be found there, but in Jewry, as Lucan sings (Tharsal. 2.) quoted by St. Austin (de consensu Evangel. lib. 1. cap. 30.)

——& dedita sacris Incerti Judaea Dei:—* 1.9

Neither was the unknown God under that name invocated only at Athens: For Natales Comes (Mytholog. l. 1. c. 10.) reports out of Theagenes (de Diis) and Pausanias (prioribus Eliacis;) That at Hypaepae and Hierocaesarea (two Cities of the Persic Lydia) were two large Temples and Altars; to which the Priests approaching, implored the aid of the unknown God. However, from the charge given to Philippides, it is manifest, that the Athenians, be∣sides

those dedicated to the unknown Gods indefinitly, had Altars erected to the unknown God Pan, that is, the Universal Saviour. So far did, the most learned Adversary to the Christian Cause, Porphyry bewray his want of read∣ing, in saying, he could no where meet with the mention of that universal Remedy, which he was confident God had prepared for Mankind. Philip∣pides his Pan was not that Arcadian, whom the Grecians knew as well as a Beggar doth his dish, and had Altars dedicated to him by that name: but some Daemon that gave himself out to be, and was reputed, the universal Repairer of the whole World, the Son of Jove and Hybris, of God and de∣spicable Man, the Inventor of Musick; whence, though the Hill Partheni∣us produc'd Tortoises most fit to make Harps of; yet the Inhabitants would permit none to take them, because they thought them sacred to Pan: (It should seem by this, that the old and great Pan, was Jubal-Cain) (Pausan. Arcadic. ad finem) the Husband of Eccho (Macrob. Saturnal. l. 1. c. 22.) a fit Match for, and every way suting the Word of Promise: (who had no issue but by Eccho, children begot of the Seed of the Word; and sent not to redeem some particular Climate (the Province of the Heroes) but the Uni∣verse: whence Homer (in his Hymns) gives this Etymon of his Name,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. * 1.10

§ 5. But our Saviour's Death cut this Daemon out of his work of any longer deceiving the Nations; (as Virgil out of Sibyl, had prophesied, in his

Pan etiam Arcadiâ dicat se judice victum:

Pan, even Arcadia being judge, shall confess himself conquer'd, if he dares strive with me.) For this was that Pan whereof Plutarch, from Aemilianus, a man both wise and serious (as that great Critick of Men characteriz∣eth him) tells this Story; (in his Book of the decay of Oracles:) That as Aemilianus was sailing for Italy, a voice was heard, from the Isle Paxae, calling to Thamus the Master of the Vessel, and commanding him, when he came over against the Palodes, to tell the Inhabitants, that the great Pan was dead: which injuction he had no sooner performed, but there was heard from the Island, a sad and wonderful groaning: the news of this Prodigy arrives at Rome with those Passengers, and quickly comes to the ears of the Emperour Tiberius; who sends for Thamus, and (being by him assured of the Truth of the Report) makes a diligent inquiry, of the learned men of Rome, who that Pan should be? This fell out toward the latter end of Tiberius his reign: For Plutarch flourished under Trajan, about the 100. year of Christ (Alsted. Chronol. 40.) and Philip, who tells this Story, in Plutarch, had then with him those to witness it, who had heard Aemilianus tell it, when he was an old Man: and must therefore be near our Saviours Crucifixion, else the Mariners would not have found Tiberius at Rome, but at Capreae. Whence appears how grosly his Theo∣logues were mistaken, in their determining this Pan to have been the Son of Mercury and Penelope; and the reasonableness of this Conjecture, That he was some Cacodemon, who (as the Coriphaeus of all those Thieves who came before Christ) had made the World believe, he was the [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] in Macrobius his phrase (Saturnal. l. 1. c. 17.) the All-heal, One Saviour: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Idem Saturn. l. 1. c. 22.) the Lord, not of the Woods, (as the Poets interpreted that Title) but (as Macrobius expounds it) of uni∣versal Nature; whose influence disperfeth it self round about the World: whom the Mythologists do therefore make the representation of the Uni∣verse, because they could not find any person appearing in the World to whom they could apply these Titles, and those descriptions which both Gre∣cians and Aegyptians make of Pan.

So that here we have the Confession of the greatest Theologues and the best cultivated Nations. That their received [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (as Isidore Peleusiota, in the Epistle above-quoted, stiles them) God-saviours or bealing Gods, were so far from being able to cure Souls, as they durst not relie up∣on them, for the removal of the Pestilence, a bodily Malady; but applied themselves to a God, whom they expected would in time discover him∣self to the World; though then a stranger to all Gentiles, and known only in Judea; as not only Lucan (before alleged) but long before him, Orpheus confesseth (in his Hymn de Deo)—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [Whom no man ever saw, but a certain only begotten who proceeded from the ancient stock of the Chaldeans:] to wit, that water-born Law-giver Moses, as he afterward stiles him; alluding, I suppose, to God's showing Moses his back-parts.

§ 6. A principle wherein the Patrons of the Christian and of the Pagan Cause were so well agreed, as they put the Controversie betwixt them to this issue; Whether, in common Reason, our Jesus was like to be that one unknown universal Redeemer; or some one in the Crowd of their reputed Saviours? Hence Julian (in his Treatise against the Galilaeans) singles out Aesculapius to outvie Christ, in the claim of the common Saviour; who, being the Son of Jove, descended from Heaven to Earth, in the Sun-beams, for the health and welfare of Mankind. And Celsus in Origen (lib. 7. ca∣lum. 14, 15, 16, 17.) having argued against the likelihood of the Christi∣an Assertion, That Jesus of Nazareth is that, to the Gentile World unknown, God; who being the desire of all Nations, came to redeem them from those miseries, from which their received Saviours could not free them (it being, as he thinks unreasonable to imagine, that the so very inconsiderable Nati∣on of the Jews, (a people so far out of Gods special care, as he did not provide for them so much as a place upon Earth, wherein they might live together; but permitted them to be scatter'd over the face of the whole Earth) should attain to the knowledge of the true God-saviour (so hard to be found out) rather than the studious and most inquisitive Philosophers:) labours to outvie the blessed Jesus with Hercules, in the power of repulsing all external adversary force (called therefore [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the Scatter-evil, as Clemens Alexand. observes (in his Protreptic.) With Aesculapius, for the Virtue of expelling bodily Diseases (who for all his skill could not cure the Roman Matrons of that epidemical Abortion which befel them at the time of the War with Pirrbus, (Orosius l. 4.) But St. Austin excuseth him for that, as professing himself 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, non Obstetrix,] a prime Physician, but no Midwife: (de Civitate, l. 3. c. 17.) And therefore Celsus providently advis∣eth, that if we suspect the sufficiency of these Two, to relieve the World of all its incumbrances, we joyn to them (as auxiliary Saviours) Orpheus, who without doubt (saith he) was inspired with a divine spirit, and suffered death for the divine Doctrine he delivered: (Observe, Reader, that the Epicu∣reans could not get out of their Minds, nor refrain their Tongues from acknowledging, that men are relieved by the Death and Doctrine of their Saviour.) Or Sibyl, whose authority Christians so sar prize, as they quote her Verses for the proof of Christs Divinity. (An Heathen Epicurean was the first man that derided the Christian Doctors for quoting the Sibyllines in favour of our Faith: talidedecore gloriamur:) Or Anaxarchus and Epictetus, who gave so great examples of patient and heroick suffering. In this discourse; as Celsus cunningly begs the Question, and takes it for granted, that these Saviours, of his naming, outweigh our Saviour; (whereas their is more weight in his little finger, than in the loins of a thousand such like Mock-saviours:) So he openly confesseth, that not any one of the Gentile reputed Heroes was sufficiently qualified, to be the common Saviour; and subscribes to what I am proving, That none can be the Universal Redeemer, but he that hath in himself the combination of all those salvifick Vertues, which the Heathen

conceiv'd to be dispers'd amongst all their Deities. How much better doth our Apostle state and determine this Question; (1 Cor. 8. 5. 6.) There are Gods many, and Lords many; but to us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him: And one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him:] understanding, by [Gods] the supreme and sempiternal Deities which the Gentiles worshipp'd. By [Lords] those half-God half-man Medi∣atours, whom they called [Baalim] Lords; (Meed's Apostacy of the later Times) by whom, as middle and indifferent Agents, betwixt those superiour Gods and us Men, they thought we received all manner of Good. Now as the Soberer Party of Gentiles held, There was but one only supreme God; so also, that there was some one individual Lord, the common Saviour, in whom should centre all those saving Properties, that were scrambled (by blind De∣votionists) amongst the crowd of their Local Presidents: and by whom the supreme God would give, not some things to all (as he doth by the host of Heaven:) nor some things to some, either Countries (as their Local Presidents) or Men (as their Lares) or Members, (as those divine Relievers to whom Jamblicus assigns the Cure of several Maladies afflicting the several Members of Man's Body) were supposed to do: But all things to all men: (Jambli∣cus de mysteriis, titul. de supplicationibus.) Hence Caligula (who put in for the repute of a God-saviour among all Nations) was not content with that ho∣nour which the several parts of the World had confer'd upon their respe∣ctive Heroes, but challengeth in gross, what they had attain'd to in parcels, and habits himself with all their Ensigns and Symbols; with Hercules his Club and Lions Skin; with Castor's Cap; with Bacchus his Ivy and Javelin; Mercury's Caducaeus, Wings and Cloak; Apollo's radiant Crown, Bow, Ar∣rows, Graces, Praeans; Mars his Gorget, Helmet, Shield, Sword: and not questioning his passing for a God incarnate in the rest of the Roman Provin∣ces he commands his Statue to be erected in the Temple of Jerusalem with this Title [NOVI JOVIS ILLUSTRIS CAII,] Of the new helping Father; Caius, outshining the ancient Heroes: (Philo Judaeus legatione ad Caium.) I expound Jupiter, [Juvans Pater] the helping Father, by the authority of La∣ctantius, (de falsa Religione, l. 1. c. 11.) who affirmeth that those Philosophers gave that Etymon, who said they worshipp'd, under that name, the best and greatest God, that is, the Everlasting Father, as our Scriptures stile God Re∣deemer. And by his Novi, I think, he understood that new-born Saviour or God incarnate, whom the Oriental Prophecy mention'd as about that time to appear in the World.

CHAP. VI.

God the Light, Man's Reliever.

§ 1. Phebean Light mistaken for the true. All-healing Light. Joves and Vaejoves. Mythology an help at a dead lift. § 2. Wisdom begotten of God; Man's Helper; the Fathers Darling. § 3. Made Man. Sibyls maintain'd, as quoted by Fathers: Come short of Scripture-Oracles. § 4. Virgil, out of Sibyl, prophesied of Christ. The Sibyllines brought to the Test. Tully's weak Exceptions against the Sibyllines. § 5. Si∣byl's Songs of God Redeemer; the Eternal Word; the Creator. Apollo commends Christ. Local Saviours exploded.

§ 1. THe Gentiles we see, in their second thoughts, pitch'd upon the Notion of one only Lord-saviour. We will next enquire whom they conceived this Saviour to be, or what. And let the most learned and sa∣gacious of all Heathen Philosophers determine this Question in the general, I mean Varro, who, as he is quoted by Lactantius (de falsa Religione l. 1. c. 21.) and by Macrobius (Saturnal. l. 1. c. 7.) affirmeth; That Saturn was to be atton'd by the Oblation of Light, and that Faunus mistook that Oracle which commanded him to offer to the Father of Gods, Saturn, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]

[—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,]

by misinterpreting [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] to signifie Men (as sometimes it used to do among the Ancients:) whence arose that barbarous Custom of sacrificing Men, which Hercules abrogated; by informing the Hetrurians, that by [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] was meant [Light:] and by instituting the Oblation of the Image of Men made of Osiers; which being set on fire were thrown down from the Milvian Bridge into Tyber: In which Motion they resembled the Light, immersing it self into the Abyss, in the form of man; and, in particular, represented the Sun falling into Thetis or the Sea. For the World being impregnated with this Notion, That God the Light was to be Man's Advocate with the Father; or that God, the Word of God is that true Light, that enlightens (with re∣lief, the whole World of Mankind: (a point which St. Austin saith he had met with in the Platonick Writings (Confession. l. 7. c. 9.) And wanting patience to stay (as to her application of that Maxim) till the Fulness of Time was come, when that Light should dwell amongst us. And seeing, for so many Ages, nothing appear comparable to the Sun for splendour, brought forth this false and precocious Conception; That sure the Sun was that Light: to whom therefore the Priests, in that Prayer that Macrobius mentions (Saturn. 1. cap. 23.) thus applied themselves: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] Oh Almighty Sun, Life of the World, power of the World, Light of the World:] Hence those Titles given to Apollo (that is, the Sun, as Macrobius evinceth from the Titles themselves (Saturnal. 1. 17.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] sospitalis, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Remover of evil, author of health. Hence they pictur'd him with the Graces in his right hand and a Bow in his left, as one by whom God communicated to us all good, and protected us from all evil. Hence the same Author asserts, and proves by particulars, That all the rest of the Gentile God-saviours (Janus, Saturn, Apollo, Bacchus, Mars, Mercury, Esculapius, Salus, Hercules, Isis, Osiris, Adonis, Attine, Ho∣rus, Jupiter, Adad) were not Deities, but either Instruments by which the Sun works, or Emblems of those particular salvisick Properties which are al∣together eminently and radically centred in the Sun, (Saturnal. l. 1. à cap. 17. ad cap. 23.

To Macrobius our own learned Antiquary Mr. Selden assents (in his Diis Syriis)

and proves all the Syrian and Egyptian Gods to have been representations of the Vertues of (that Hermaphrodite-light) the Sun and Moon; the Ancients thinking that the Soul of God-saviour, either had been or was to be assumed into those Planets, after he had performed his saving Gests upon Earth, his [animus] the divine part of it, into the Sun; his [anima] or humane Soul into the Moon, as being a Saviour of both Sexes: upon which reason they called Apollo [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the Twin, because he exhibited (saith Macrob. Sa∣turn. 1. 17.) a two-fold appearance of his Deity by illuminating and form∣ing the Moon; for from one Fountain of Light doth that Twin-constellati∣on illuminate the spaces of Day and Night. Whence the Romans worship∣ed the Sun (by the appellation [didymaei Apollinis:] under the name and form of the two-fac'd Janus. And yet to exclude all other Deities from partak∣ing with him in the honour of Mediatorship, the same Author (ibid.) tells us, That Numenius derived his Name [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] not from [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] his opening of obscure things; but from [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] in the ancient use of that word signifying one and alone. That the Assyrian Adad, the same with the Sun, had that name from its Oneness, and signifies the one Lord: (Saturnal. l. 1. c. 23.) Upon which Johan. Isaac. hath this Note, [Significa∣verit itaque appellatio Dei unum, at ipse Deus Solem,] The name of that God signisieth [one,] the God himself signifieth the Sun. To which will give light that of Herodotus (l. 1.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Of the Gods they wor∣ship only the Sun. And that of Plutarch (de Iside & Osiride) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] The one Zoroastres calls [Oromazes] the good God: the other [Arimanius] the Vejove or the evil God, betwixt them both they place [Mithra] the Sun, whom therefore the Persians call Mediator. This Entire Opinion of the Persians, Manes (the Patriarch of the Manichees) espoused: That of there [Jove and Vejove] in his two-fold Principle, good and bad; this [of the Sun] in that Opinion which St. Austin asscribes to the Manichees (contrà Faustum, l. 20. c. 1.) [Vestrae vanitati placuit, in Sole ponere virtutem filii, & in Luna sapientiam:] Your vain mind pleaseth it selfwith pla∣cing the virtue of Christ in the Sun, and his Wisdom in the Moon. The excellent Vossius opposeth these two Testimonies of Herodotus and Plutarch; and, upon the authority of the latter, rejects the assertion of the former [That the Persians worshipp'd no God, but the Sun:] But if we duly weigh them, they are not contradictory, but explicatory of one another. For Herodotus speaks of God-mediatours, whereof, amongst those many which after-ages erected, the Persians only worshipp'd the Sun, adhering in that point to the elder Tradition. And Plutarch's [Oromazes] is nothing else but that God-Creator, whom the ancient Persians worshipp'd without an Image or Temple, con∣ceiving him infinite and incomprehensible; (whereas of God-saviour they made Representations; which, at first, were the Images of those Heroes whom they mistook, for the promised Seed: and, in process of time, the Symbols of the Sun, into whose Body they conceived the Souls of their He∣roes to be assumed.) Now it is no wonder, that not being able to salve the appearance of evil with the goodness of God, they fancied a Vejove, ano∣ther Eternal Principle of Evil, betwixt which two Principles they placed God-mediatour, (as they called their Mithra) that he might on man's be∣half repel the evil of the one, and procure benefits from the other. Chri∣sippus (saith Macrobius) derived his name [Apollo] from the privitive [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] and [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] many; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉:] because he is the alone God-saviour, and hath no partakers. That I do not strain courtesie with Chrysippus his sence in this Interpretation, is manifest from that other Ety∣mology of that Name which is there subjoyned: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] they think Apollo hath that name, from his curing diseases; to him therefore did the Milesians, sacrifice under the name [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] salvifick, in order to their obtaining health, (as saith Meandrius.) And Pherecydes re∣ports, that Theseus, when he was carried into Crete, to the Minotaur, made a

Vow [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] To the health-conferring Apollo, and Artemis, that is, the Moon. And that we are here to take health in its largest sence (as it comprehends all kind of Welfare and salvation from mi∣sery,) appears from the account that Macrobius gives of the Institution of the Ludi Apollinares among the Romans, which were first instituted in the Pu∣nick War, by the motion of Cornelius Rufus the Decemvir, upon his finding in the Sibyls Books this Oracle. HOSTEM. ROMANI. SI. EX. AGRO. EXPELLERE. VULTIS. VOMICAM. QUE. QUAE. GENTIUM. VE∣NIT. LONGE. APOLLINI. CENSEO. VOVENDOS—HOC. SI. RECTE. FACIETIS. GAUDEBITIS. SEMPER. FIET. QUE. RES∣PUBLICA. MELIOR. NAM. IS. DIVOS. EXTINGUET. PERDUELLES. VESTROS. QUI. VESTROS. CAMPOS. PASCUNT. PLACIDE. If you would (O Romans) expel the enemy out of your coast, and the vomit cast from a Country so far distant: I advise you to vow sacred Games to Apollo after the Grecian mode, &c.—This if you perform regularly, you shall always rejoice, and your Republick shall grow better; for that God will extinguish your enemies, which so sweetly forrage your fields. One point of the Grecian Rite, which they observed in celebrating these Games, was their offering to Apollo an Oxe, to Latona an Heifer with gilt Horns: the first to the Male, the second to the Female-light. By all which Testimonies it is as clear as the Sun, that the Gentiles thought Light to be that God to whom they were to apply themselves for the removal of all sorts of maladies, not only bodily but ghostly, [à quo vis salubris subvenit animis corporibúsque mortalium:] Ma∣erob. (Saturn. l. 1. cap. 20.) as to him from whom a saving power was ad∣ministred for the succour of Soul and Body; as to him by whom Saturn, the father of [Jove] (the healing Father) the [sacer 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] the blessed Mind, or [sator 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the creating Mind (whose quatripartite issue were the four Elements, [Jupiter] the Fire, [Juno] the Air, [Neptune] the water, and [Pluto] the Earth) was to be appeased; as Fulgentius (Mytholog. l. 1. titulo, De Saturno) observes, out of Apollophanes, Heraclitus, Theopompus, and Hellanicus. As also Vives (de civitate l. 7. c. 19.) out of Dionysius, Plutarch, Varro, Festus, Agellius, Macrobius, Propertius, Lactantius and Ovid; where he quotes Ma∣netho the Aegyptian Historian, relating how Amasis instituted the Consecrati∣ons of Wax-tapers to Saturn; which they lighted and set upon his Altars to attone him (saith Macrobius, Saturnal. l. 1. c. 7.) This was to denote the expiatory sufferings of this heavenly Light in an earthly Body. Upon which which reason, they that took the Sun to be that Light, did not only conceive him, to fall every night into the Ocean, but to run his course through the Zodiack, beset with Monsters, the conquering of which put him to such pain, as gave ground to the Proverb [Herculean Labours;] while he is supposed to encounter with the pushing Ram, the goring Bull, the stinging Scorpion, &c. And to have been wounded and hard put to it, in his contend∣ing with Python: But I shall have occasion, hereafter, to express the sence of the most industrious Heathen, touching the Passion of the Common Sa∣viour. I will therefore conclude this Section with one critical Note more out of Macrobius, and one upon him; both tending to the illustration of this Point. That which I note of him is, that the Sun's Name, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] is derived [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] from healing; which the Grecians abbreviated into [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] in that form of Invocation [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] i. e. Medere Paean, Heal us Paean, when they begg'd health for themselves: but when they invok'd his aid a∣gainst an enemy, by way of imprecation, they used this Form, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that is, Let thy arrows fly Paean: this Form Latona used when she spurr'd the Sun on to repulse the assaults of Python; this Form the Delphick Oracle taught the Athenians, what time they begg'd Apollo's help against the Ama∣zons: for he commanded them that when they went to Battel, they should in these words invocate the saving aid of Apollo. That which I note of Ma∣crobius, is this, That living in the Court, and being an Officer of the sacred Bedchamber of the Christian Emperours Honorius and Theodosius; of all Gen∣tile

Philosophers, he was most concern'd to play the part of a Mythologist dexterously, and, if it were possible, to reduce the whole Body of Pagan Theo∣logy into Natural Philosophy; that being the only Salvo of that Religion, in the Opinion of the Prince of all Mythologists the great Varro: On which ground O∣rigen triumphs over Celsus (lib. 1. calum. 14.) and the Pagan Theology, shewing that we did not betake our selves to the allegorical Exposition of Scriptures, by reason of their speaking any dishonest or unworthy things of God, as their Poets did of their Jove, whose sayings therefore their Mythologists turned into Allegories. For after that Socrates had detected their inhumane Sacrifices, ab∣surd and ridiculous Rites, execrable and prophane Mysteries: And Euheme∣rus discovered all those whom they worshipp'd for Immortal Gods, to have been Mortal Men; they had nothing to cast over Religion's nakedness but this Cloak. How must then those philosophers, who out of a supersti∣tious reverence to Gentilism (for its Antiquity) turn'd back their eyes from seeing, and design'd to hide from the Worlds eyes, its nakedness, bestir them∣selves in the practice of this art of palliation, after the Christian Philoso∣phers had more strenuously and convincingly demonstrated the filthiness of it: and above all others, Macrobius, whose daily converse was with the most emi∣nent Christians: and especially in that Treatise where he introduceth a Chri∣stian Philosopher (under the name of Euangelus) as an Interlocutor. Hence that Preface of Vettius, (Saturnal. l. 1. c. 7.) [Saturnaliorum originem illam mihi in medium proferre fas est, non quae ad arcanam Divinitatis naturam refertur, sed quae aut fabulosis admixta disseritur, aut à Physicis in vulgus aperitur; nam occultas & manentes ex meri veri fonte rationes, nè in ipsis quidem sacris ••narra∣ri permittitur:] Religion allows me to bring to Light that Origin of the Saturnalia, which is either mix'd with Fables, or out of those Fables explain'd to the Vulgar by Natural Philosophers: not that which bath respect to the secret nature of Divinity; for such Reasons as are occult, and flow from the fountain of pure Truth, we are not permitted to disclose, no not in the administration of sacred Rites.] And yet for all this premeditated Resolution, and notwithstanding the Biass of Inter∣est, so forcible is the naked Truth, as it cannot be penn'd up in those corners into which he labours to drive it, but openly displays its beams through all those thick Clouds he draws over its face; for though his aim be to make the World believe, that the Gentiles in their worship of the Sun, intended on∣ly to glorifie the Maker of it, in commemorating its Natural salvifick Proper∣ties and Effects: yet the Series of his Discourse doth plainly evince, that that Notion of his never entred into the heads of those Authors whom he alledg∣eth; but that they, through the misapplication of that Maxim [God the Light is the Redeemer of the World] thinking the Sun to be that Light, bestowed upon him such Titles as are proper to the one only Lord Redeemer, and belong to the Sun, not by Nature, but (upon their Supposition) Institution to that Office.

§ 2. They whose Eye-sight was strong enough to pierce through all vi∣sible Light, in looking for that Light, that was to come into the World: stiled it [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] or [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] that is, Minerva; whom they conceiv'd to be the Issue of Jove's Brain, born without a Mother (as the Etymon im∣ports which the Grecians gave of [Athena] (Motherless) and of [Pallas,] (born of Jove's Brain:) to whom they assigned the settling and composing the Mind of God; (a phrase parallel to that, In whom I acquiesce) and perpetual∣ly shaking her Lance in the defence of Mankind (a fit posture for the Captain of our salvation) according to other derivations of those names which the Hea∣thens gave: (Anonym. observat. libellus annex. Natalis Comitis Myth. tit. Pallas.) A manifest allusion to the Doctrine at first delivered to the Patriarchs, touching the two-fold Generation of that Light, that was to refresh the World, of that Minerva, or Wisdom of God, who hath the Father's Understanding, and more-than-wise Counsel (to speak in Orpheus's phrase, quoted by Macrobius, Saturnal. 1. 17.)

[〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]

by whom the World had been created, and was to be restored: the one E∣ternal, of the Substance of his Father (in respect of which he was [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] without Mother: and [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] everlastingly begot; as they feigned Apollo: [Camurienses, qui sacram Soli incolunt insulam, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Apollini immolant] (Macrob. ib.) The other temporal, of the Sub∣stance of his Mother, (in respect of which, he was to be [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] without Father) that he might be the express Image of the Eternal Father, whom Hermes (quoted by Lactantius (de vera sapient. divinar. institu∣tion. lib. 4. cap. 13.) stiles without Father or Mother, because he is from E∣ternity neither made nor created nor begotten; and of whom the Platonicks (as you have heard) affirmed the Son or [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] to be the express Image. Now it being impossible that God the Son could resemble God the Father in the point of his Ingenerability (if I may, in the penury of words to express that inconceivable Mystery, use that barbarous, and to English Ears strange, word) except he were born twice: once without Mother, and again without Father, (both which put together render him perfectly like the Father.) Rea∣son led the sagacious Heathen to this Conclusion, That the promis∣ed Seed of the Woman (by which Mankind was to be restored) being to be in that Generation without Father (and so far be born in the Image of God) must be assumed, by a person preexistent to that Generation, who in respect of his former Eternal Generation was without Mother (and so far born in the I∣mage of God the Father;) and therefore must be a Person infinitly discriminated from the whole pack of those petty Saviour; those Puppies whom (canis fe∣stinans parturivit caecos) the impatiency of the inadvertent World (and the ti∣tillations of the Political World) brought forth, before the fulness of Time: these having, in the repute of all, but one only (and at once) conception of the divine Seed mixt with humane; by which was made a confusion of Na∣tures, and a production not at all resembling the Eternal Father, in point of Ingenerability: for these Issues (in respect of one and the same instantaneous and individual Conceptions) had both Father and Mother; being on their Fa∣thers side, the children of some God's Loyns, (not of Jove's Brain, as the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 was conceiv'd to be: not of God's Will, as St. Austin (de haeresibus) affirms Hermes to have thought the ineffable Word to be [Filius benedicti Dei & bonae voluntatis.] The Son of the blessed God and his good Will: upon which St. Austin thus flouts the Pagan. [Quaerebas Pagane conjugem Dei, audi Mercurium. Abjiciatur quaeso ex corde tuo impura pravitas, Conjux Dei bona vo∣luntas est:] Thou demandest of what Wife God begat his Son? Let Mercury an∣swer thee. Cast I pray thee impure pravity out of thine heart; [The wife of God is his own good Will, of that he begat his Son.] In the expressing of whose Eternal Generation, though the Gentiles spake not by Rule (as we do) yet they blunder'd out our sence, and communicated the Reliques of the Old Tra∣dition of the eldest Nations, in such Terms as they could. Trismegistus (re∣ferente Lactantio de vera Religione, 4. 6.) in his Book entituled [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the perfect Word. [The Lord and Creator of all things, whom we usually call God, begat [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] God the second Person, visible and sensible.] I call him sensible, not (saith Trismegistus) because he hath sence (that's not our business now to resolve;) but because the Father sends him to reveal himself to the World: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (parallel to St. Paul's [God manifest in the flesh;] to our Saviours [He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also;] and to St. John's [No man hath seen God at any time, but the only begotten son, who is in the bo∣som of God, he hath reveil'd him.] Hermes proceeds; because therefore he produced him [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] first, and one, and alone: and because he was pleasing in his sight, and full (of Grace) of all truly good things, he sanctified him, and loved him exceedingly, as his own proper Son.

Upon which St. Austin hath this Observation; [Quem primò factum dixit, poste à unigenitum appellavit, (Augustin. de 5. haeresibus) him, whom before he said God made, he afterwards calls his Son and begotten. This Son of God Tris∣megistus (as he is there quoted (by Lactantius, de vera Religione l. 4. c. 6.) stiles [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] God's Workman; and Sibyl [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] Gods Counceller; because, by his Councel and Hand, he fram'd the World. These passages, in truth, (as well, in the judgement of Lactantius, and St. Austin: (for he makes the same, both quotations and applications of Hermes and the Sibyllines (tom. 6. de quinque haeresibus) are a Transcript of that divine Discourse of So∣lomon touching Wisdom, (Prov. 8. 22.) The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old—when he prepared the heavens I was there—then was I by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his de∣light.

Trismegistus (referent. Lactant. l. 4. c. 7.) affirms, That the Cause of this Cause, is the Will of the sacred Goodness; [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] which produced that God (God the Son) whose name it is not possible for humane mouth to express: and a little after; speaking to his Son, saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 there is a certain ineffable word of Wisdom of that Lord of all, of whom we have preoccupations or preconceptions, which to expressis above the power of man.

This ineffable word Zeno asserts to be the Maker and Governour of the whole World, (Id. ib. cap. 9.) item Tertual. (apolog. contragentes, cap. 21.). [A∣pud vestros quoque sapientes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, id est, sermonem atque rationem constat arti∣ficem videri universitatis. Hunc enim Zeno determinat factorem qui cuncta in dis∣positione formaverit, &c.]

§ 3. Now that he, who is this Light of Light, this God-born of the Essence of his Father, before all Worlds, was (in the opinion of the wisest Heathens) to become Man for the Redemption of the World, to become [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] mortal, in regard of his assumed humane Nature (as the Milesian Oracle answered those that enquired whether he were God or man, may be evident from the Testimony of the Sibyls; and indeed, was from thence so clearly evinc'd by the Patriarchs of the Christian Cause, as the Adversaries had no place of refuge left but this sorry one, That the Verses alledged were not Si∣bylline, but forged by the Christians, as long since complain'd St. Austin, Quod à sanctis Angelis vel ab ipsis Prophetis nostris habere poterunt—quae cùm proferimus à nostris ficta esse contendunt:] August. (de consens, Evangel. lib. 1. c. 20. Tom. 4. pag. 164. b.) That which the Sibyls sing touching Christ [They might learn either of the holy Angels, or the Writings of the Prophets: but when we urge Pagans with their Verses. they contend that we Christians forged them.] And before him, Constantine (in his Oration, cap. 19.) where he mentions and answers that Calumny. In which way of calumniating that most immaculate Spouse of Christ (the Primitive Church) with a suspicion of the most damnable A∣dulterations, that any Society can be guilty of; some of our Modern Criticks have not been afraid, nor asham'd to run with the Pagan Wits (but with far more excess of impious scorn, and to the utter subversion of all rational Belief; for if that Church was so far deserted, not only of Grace, but com∣mon Honesty, as to forge Sibylline, what assurance can we have that she did not forge Divine Oracles?)

I shall therefore first (for the preventing of an inundation of Irreligion) make up the Bank, that has been cut by those too sharp Wits; to whom no∣thing was wanting to render them absolutely (and without exception) judici∣ous, save the learning of the first Lesson in that Science, [To be wise with Sobriety.]

1. Lactanctius (de vera sapientia, 4. 15.) would tell these Calumniators, that, were they as well read as they pretend themselves to be, they would never have made this Objection [Quod profectò non putabit qui Ciceronem

Varronémque legerint, aliósque veteres, qui Erythraeam Sibyllam, caeterásque commemorant, quarum exempla proferrimus: qui Authores autè obierunt, quàm Christus secundùm carnem nasceretur:] The Verses of the Sibyls which the Church alledged, she found quoted, in the writings of Tully, Varro, and other old Writers, who were in their Graves, before the blessed Babe lay in the Manger. Touching Varro the same Father (de falsa Relig. l. 1. c. 6.) gives us this account (and therein resolves the Question of Tacitus whether there were more Si∣byls than one, (Annal. 6.) [An una seu plures fuerint Sibyllae?] M. Varro (than whom never man was more learned, either among the Greeks or Latins) in those Books which he writ to Caesar, the Great Pontiff, speaking of the Quinde∣cimviri, saith, that the Sibylline Books were not the Works of any one Sibyl, though they were all called Sibylline, because all Women-prophetesses were of the ancients called Sibyls (either from the Delphick Prophetess of that name, or from their declaring the Councel of God (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 enim Deos, non 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,) for they called (according to the Aeolick Dialect) God [Sios] not [Theos;] and Counsel, not [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] bi••t [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] thence the Sibyls were so called, who were Ten. All whom he reckons up under those Authors who wrote of them severally. The first the Persian, of whom mention is made by Nicanor, who wrote the Gests of Alexander. The second Libyssa, whom Euripides mentions (in Lamiae pro∣logo.) The third Delphick, of whom Chrysippus speaks (in his Book of Divi∣nation.) The fourth Cumaea in Italy, of whom Nevius (in his Punick War) and Piso (in his annals) make mention. The fifth Erythraea whom Apollodorus Erythraeus affirms to have been his Citizen, and at the Gracians expedition a∣gainst Troy, to have prophesied the overthrow of that City, and the lying Pen of Homer. The sixth Samia, of whom Eratosthenes writes, [That he had found in the ancient Annals of the Samians, that she had prophesied of him.] The seventh Cumana; by name, Amalthaea, or, as some call her, Demophile, as others, Herophile: She brought nine Books to Tarquinius Priscus, demanding three hundred Philippicks for them; a price which the King would not give, but taught at the madness of the Woman: upon which she burnt three of them in the King's presence, and demanded the same price for the remainder; at which the King more admired her folly: But she persisting upon the same price (after she had burnt other three) for the three then remaining, the King gave it her. The num∣ber of these Books was increased, after the repair of the Capitol, because they gathered up and brought to Rome all the Books of any of the Sibyls that could be found, either in the Grecian or Roman Cities. (Vide Tacit. annal. 6.) The eighth Hellespontica, whom Heraclides Ponticus writes to have flourished in the time of Cyrus. The ninth Phrygia, who prophesied at Ancirae. The tenth Tyburtina, whose name was Albunea; who is worship'd at Tybur as a Goddess. The Verses of all these Sibyls are extant, and divulged up and down, except of Cumana, whose Books are conceal'd by the Romans, it being unlawful for any to look into them but the Quindecim-viri. Their several Books, but without distinction of Names; saving that Erythraeas Name is inserted in her Verses; being more famous and noble than the rest: of whose Prophecies Fene∣stella (a most diligent Writer) speaking of the Quindecim-viri, tells us, That C. Curio the Consul made a motion to the Senate, that Embassadors should be sent to Erythrae, to search out Sibyls Verses, and conveigh them to Rome; and that P. Gabinius, M. Octavilius and L. Valerius, being sent upon that errand, col∣lected a matter of a thousand Verses out of private Manuscripts.

Touching Tully's Quotations of the Sibylline Oracles I have spoke before (Lib. 1. cap. 9. sect. 5.) and shall, to what I have made there upon that Sub∣ject, add now these Animadversions: That the Sibylline Oracles were not only in being before Christ's time, but a moat in the eyes of those, who were averse to Monarchy (because they were interpreted to point at the erect∣ing an universal Monarchy, and to boad that indefinitly and in general be∣fore Christ's Incarnation, which the Church after his taking of flesh, ap∣plied to him in particular:) So as the Church was so far from inventing the Oracles, as she did not so much as invent the application of them to the

Messias; but had that done to her hand by other Heathen Divines, who con∣ceived they had respect unto him, that was to be born King of the Jews. For though I believe the more ancient Times look'd upon them [as deliramenta] as little better than the dotages of old Women; because of their denouncing certain monstrous Miracles, without describing either how, or when, or by whom, those things were to be effected (of which deficiency both Lactan∣tius after, and Cicero before Christs Birth, take notice:) yet when the Ea∣stern Prophecy touching the Messias came to light (by means of the Septuagint) those Scripture-oracles, by their punctual describing of every circumstance, gave that light to those more general Sibylline Oracles, as they grew for∣midable to that party, that could not endure to hear of a change of the Worlds Government, into that form which both of them foretold the rising up of. And when the general ones in Sibyl, and the more distinct ones of sacred Scripture, came to receive their accomplishment, their sense grew more plain, and the application of them more obvious, which till then was unintelligible. The voices of the Prophets sounded in the ears of the Jewish people for above fifteen hundred years; and yet were not under∣stood, till Christ's Doctrine, Actions, and Passion had commented upon them.

I do not at all wonder, with the learned Dalaeus (de usu patr. lib. 1. cap. 3.) that Ruffinus (in zeal to Origen) should forge an apology for him, under the name of Pamphilus; nor that he should father a Treatise of Sextus, the Pytha∣gorean Philosopher, upon Sixtus, the holy Martyr: nor that he of whom St. Jerom complains, should forge a Letter under his name, wherein he makes him confess, the Hebrews had by their delusions perswaded him to translate the Bible, after that maner he did: But rather at his ranking the most an∣cient Fathers among Forgers, for their quoting the Sibylline Oracles; and most of all at the reason he gives: [because Celsus objected that against Christians.] For had he consulted the place, he might have taken notice of Origen's Reply; That, if Celsus his Epicurism would give him lieve to put himself to the trouble of examining the Authors, out of which they made their quotations, he would find, they did not forge them of their own heads, but found them in Authors of high esteem among all Philosophers but those of Celsus his Sect: (Origen contrà Celsum, lib. 7. Calum. 16.) Besides, it is not like that such holy men would support so strong an edifice, with so weak a prop of a pious fraud; or borrow help from a falshood, to evince the Truth. If they durst have been so impudently ventrous, how easie had it been for their learned Adversaries to have detected the Imposture, and silenced the Christian Advocates with reproach and shame? (as Dr. Heylin in answer to Casaubon (Geogr. Marmoricâ, pag. 931.)

If it be question'd, how they came into the Christians hands? Lactanti∣us inform us, out of their own Writers; That the Books of all the Sibyls, save Cumana, were vulgar, and in every Man's hand that would reach for them.

And though Augustus caused a thousand Sibylline Oracles to be burnt (which by the number seem to be those very Verses of Erythraea which the Roman Legats collected;) against which he might (perhaps) have a pique, upon rea∣son of State, because of their agreement with that Eastern Oracle, which had put the World into those expectations of a change, as that wise Prince thought ought not to be cherished; as tending toward the keeping of the Empire from a perfect settlement. Upon the same account Agrippa, in his Edileship, the year before M. Anthony's overthrow) banished Astrologers and Prestigiators (Di∣on 49.) perhaps, because upon their instigation, Anthony had caused the Ale∣xandrians to give to Caesarion the Title of King of Kings. Yet notwithstand∣ing, the Manuscripts, out of which the copies were transcribed, were still in Being.

To that Objection from the burning of the Capitol in the Social War, &c: and therewith all the Sibylline Oracles there deposited, no more need be

said but this: That the Fathers made no quotations out of those Books of Cumena which Tarquin bought (the only Books there laid up, and into which alone it was not lawful for any to look, but the Quindecim-viri, to whose custody they were committed:) and had they been as common and vulgar as the rest were, out of which the Fathers made their allegations, it is like the Church would have made little or no use of them. For, from the time wherein that Prophetess liv'd, and the use which the Romans made of them, I guess she wrote in another strain, and by another spirit, than Cumaea and the rest did. [Quod ex Cumaeo carmine se fassus est transtulisse Virgilius, quo∣niam fortassis etiam ista vates eliquid de unico Salvatore in spiritu audierat, quod necesse habuit confiteri.] (August. Epist. 156.) Virgil saith that he translated this Poem out of Cumeas: because perhaps this Prophetess had received something in the spirit concerning the one Saviour, which she was necessitated to confess. And that Tarquin's Cumena wrote the Epilogue to Numa's Aegeria, being that to her, which the Prophets were to Moses, an Interpretess; who taught them to apply Numa's general Laws, touching Religion, to particular occasions and contingencies; For, all I find produc'd out of her Oracles, are certain Directories, in such cases as they could not resolve, by the help of Numa's Rubrick. 2. As for other Sibyllines they were burnt afterwards indeed (by the Arch-traytor Stilico:) but before that time, the best part of them had been quoted by, and transcribed into other Authors, out of which, what is now extant of the Sibyls, is for the most part gathered, (Heylin Geogr. Ar∣moricâ.) And yet 3. Even Cumenas were in being, and escaped burning, in the Reign of Julian; when the Temple of Palatine Apollo was consumed by fire: [Ubi ni multiplex juvisset auxilium, etiam Cumaena carmina consumpse∣rat magnitude flammarum:] (Ammian. Marcellin. Julian. l. 23. cap. 2.) Where, if there had not been a great deal of help, the violence of the flames had con∣sumed the Verses of Cumena. A Testimony beyond all exception, given by one of Julian's Military Commanders, and an Eye-witness.

§ 4. But to put it beyond all possibility of a rational Doubt, That the Si∣byls were preexistent to the Apostles, as to those their Oracles which the Church made use of: Virgil had out of them (before our Saviour's Birth) composed his Genethliacon: wherein, as he interprets them to portend the greatest change and restoration of the World, by the procurement of one to be born about that time; so he comprehends all, in effect, which the Fathers quoted the Sibyls for: all which are not applicable to any person, that has yet appeared in the World, save the blessed Jesus. So that both Song and Descant (mutato nomine) were made to the Churches hand. See Constantine's Speech (in Eusebius) chap. 20. where that religious Emperour comments up∣on Virgil's 4. Eclog, and shews, That he (who was contemporary with Au∣gustus) in that Oracle, translated out of Sibyl, wrote so truly and aptly of Christ, [Ut nec his veriùs quicquam, nec ad Servatoris virtutem aptiùs dici pote∣rit:] That nothing could be said either more truly or more properly of our Saviour, than the contents of that Poem.

Add to this the diligence used by the Romans, to prevent the taking of forged Oracles into the Sibylline Canon; exprest by Tacitus (Annal. 6.) in the case of Quintilianus the Tribune, his putting it to the Senat's Vote, whe∣ther a certain Book of Sibyl (which Caninius Gallus, the Quindecim-vir, had requested might be received into the number of the Sibyllines) should be put into the Canon? Of which Tiberius hearing, chides the Tribune, as too young to understand how business of that consequence ought to be managed: but se∣verely rebukes Gallus, for that he being an old Master of Ceremonies, should so much, as put it to the question, before he had (as the manner was) caused the Book to be read and canvas'd by his Colleagues and other persons skill'd in such Affairs; withal admonishing him, how Augustus (for that many vain things went under the famous name of Sybyl) had decreed, That it was in∣sufferable, that those Verses should pass (though but in private hands for Sibyls,

that had not been first legally examin'd. The like caution our Forefathers used (saith he) after the burning of the Capitol in the Social war, making search in Samos, Ilium, Erythrae, through Africk also and Sicily and the Italick Colonies, for the Verses of Sibyl, [dato Sacerdotibus negotio, quantum humana ope potuissent, vera discernere:] (Tacit. ib.) and committing to the Priests the charge of discern∣ing which were true, as far as by humane strength it was possible. I observe here by the way, that no Sibylline Verses were permitted to be, even in pri∣vate hands, but such as were approved to be such; and that therefore those Sibylline Oracles which the Quindecimviri, after approbation, had received into their custody, remained (in other Copies) in private hands, and were not (as those of Cumena) lock'd up from vulgar inspection. But that for which I directly alledge this discourse of Tacitus is, to prove, that the Ro∣mon State would allow nothing for Sibylline, that would not endure the se∣verest scrutiny. And therefore had those Verses which the Church quoted, as such, been spurious, (or but under the least suspicion thereof) we should have heard of it by otherwise Persons than Celsus, we should have heard not only the Epicurean Hogs grunting it, but the Lions roaring it against us.

Cicero indeed excepts against the divine Original of those Acrostick Sibyllines (out of which Caesar procured some body to pick the name of [a King] as a Title which the Universal Monarch should assume; which Title he there∣fore would have had the Senate to confer upon himself:) for that such curi∣ous versifying savour'd too much of the Lamp, and father'd those Poems rather upon humane Industry, than divine Inspiration. But first, this Rea∣son can be of no force with us, who know what excellent Poems Moses, Deborah, David, Solomon, Hannah, &c. made, by divine Inspiration: Nor with those eminent Philosophers, who queried how Apollo came to lose his versifying Vein? of which they could not have had any scruple, if they had not believed his Oracles were at first given out in Verse: nor with himself, if he had not forgot, since the Father whipt the Son for extemporizing in that Vein

Parce precor genitor, posthac non versificabor:

Or not coneiv'd the Divine Mind not able to do that, (when it would) which his did (against his will.) Secondly, had they been the result of humane In∣dustry, it could not be of those men that were not in Being till after he was in his Grave, as the Christian Name it self was. And lastly, had he had Au∣thority on his side (which is the main proof in matters of fact) he would rather have produced Witnesses to depose, who was the suspected father, by what Legerdemain they gain'd the repute of being Sibyls (and that among the Romans, where none could be canonized for such, till they had under∣gone the severest censure that humane Wit could invent, to try their legiti∣macy by:) than attempt to prove them Bastards by such weak reasons, as have not force enough to repel the single Testimony of any one person that is not of profligated credit, much less the united Vote of the uninterrupted succession of the whole College of the Quindecim-viri and most knowing Pa∣gan Divines: who (before Tully was born) upon serious examination, had past them for Sibylline: and (after the divulging his reasons to the contrary) per∣sisted in the Opinion, That they were not of humane Invention, but divine Extraction. Briefly, I shall despair of ever disputing those men out of their preoccupations, with whom the Rhetorical flourishes of one Orator, or the Fancy of one Augur (and he prejudic'd by interest) is of more weight; than the joynt authority of so many Sages, and the general Voice of all people, who had no temptation to be too favourable, but rather over-severe, in their sentencing those Books to be Sibyls, which imported, not only such alterati∣ons, in general, as the forethought of, is naturally sormidable to all honest men of settled and composed spirits, (that love not to fish in troubled waters:)

but particularly, the erecting of a Monarchy in Judea, that should over-top the Roman Empire.

Having therefore thus laid the foundation, and proved the Sibylline Ora∣cles to have been, in common repute, of divine Original: and those to have past for Sibyls (by the Vote of those Ages were best able to judge) out of which the Primitive Church made her allegations. I proceed to shew that all they who imbraced those Oracles (and they were the far greater part of the culti∣vated World) were of opinion (if not faith) that the Universal Redeemer could not be any created blessed Spirit, but the Eternal God himself, who to that end was to be incarnate; this being the Respond of those Oracles they held to be divine.

§ 5. Erythraea in the beginning of her Song, celebrates the Son of the high God with these Titles (Lactant. de vera sap. 4. 6.)

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

[The all-refreshing Creator, who gives the sweet Spirit to all, and whom God hath made the head over all Gods:] And concludes that Song thus;

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

[Him hath God given to all that believe in him, to bring them to honour;] or God hath given to all men that believe, to crown him with honour, or to esteem him the ancient of days; (for [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] senex and [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] honor, are so near a kin, as the one is derived of the other; and that, in the judgment of Plato, who (in the 2. of his Polit.) hath [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] having old men in honour.) However Sibyl here teacheth, That the same God is the cherisher, the re∣fresher, the restorer of all, who is the Creator of all, and whom God hath made high above all Gods; and given to them that believe, to honour him, as him that bringeth them to Glory.

Another Sibyl (quoted by the same Father) sings thus;

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

[Acknowledge him for thy peculiar (or proper God) who is the Son of God.] This brings to mind that fore-cited passage in Porphyry, [The intellectual Soul can∣not, by any Theurgical purgations, be made capable to apprehend its proper God) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] which as it confirms the legality of this quotation (for it was from this Sibylline, and no where else that I can find, that that great Phi∣losopher had this Notion) so it implies the learned World's preoccupation with this conceit, That none of their reputed Gods, was that proper Savi∣our of Mankind, who was to work out the Souls perfect Redemption: (and seems to be a transcript of that older one) [He is the Lord thy God, and wor∣ship thou him] (Psal. 45.) A Cure to be effected only by the [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the Word, as Sibyl elsewhere expresseth;

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

[Working all things and curing all diseases by his word:] They conceiv'd God might delegate particular Cures to Local Deities, but the all-curing God must be the all-making God; and that none could restore, but that Word by which all things were created. In manifest allusion to that of the Psalmist, [In them he hath set a tabernacle for the sun.] Another Sibyl thus warbles, quoted by Lactan. (de divino praemio, 7. 19.)

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

[God shall send a King from the Sun, who shall make peace all over the Earth.] To which Julian (alluded in that quotation of his which hath formerly been al∣ledged;) who, not daring to question the authentiqueness of this Sibylline, and taking it for granted, that the common Saviour must come from the Sun (that his Aesculapius might, according to this Oracle, be qualified for that Office) fancied him to have descended by the Sun-beams into this World. And St. James in his [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Every good gift and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of change:] The comprehensively good, and every way perfect Gift, the All-heal, de∣scends not from this visible Sun, which every day appears in several habi∣tudes and positions, and, every year, is farther from us, or nearer to us, af∣ter the proportion of its moving toward the Northern or Southern Tropick; from whence it casts several shadows to the several parts of the World; (some being [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that cast no shadows at all; some [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that cast sha∣dows on one side; and some [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that cast shadows round about.) But from that Fountain of Light, that's exempted from all mutation. From inacceisible Light came that Sun of righteousness, which arose upon all Na∣tions, with healing under his Wings.

This is the only God can save to the uttermost, whom (as the Oracle of the Milesian Apollo (Lactant. de ira Dei) describes the God of Judea) infer∣nal Devils fear. (Of which and the like Responds, St. Austin (de consensu E∣vangelist. 1. 15. (& de civitate Dei, 19. 23.) writes thus: [Quidam eorum Philoso∣phi (sicut Porphyrius Siculus in libris suis prodidit) consuluerunt Deos suos, quid de Christo responderent; illi autem Oraculis suis Christum laudare compulsi sunt: nec mi∣rum cùm Daemones, &c. Mar. 1. 24.) Some of their Philosophers (as Porphyry writes) enquired of their Gods, what they could say concerning Christ; and that they were forc'd in their Oracles to commend Christ: which is not at all to be thought strange, seing we read (St. Marc. 1. 24.) That the Devils confest him to be the Son of God. But let us hear Apollo:

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

[This King God (in the Apostle's phrase, the only Potentate) and Creator of all things; the Earth, the Heaven, and Sea; revere; before whom hellish darkness and Demons tremble.] And therefore Sibyl chides the Grecians for their extreme vanity (Lactant. de falsa Relig. lib. 1.)

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

[Greece, why dost thou put thy trust in provincial Presidents, who are but men? Why dost th•••• bring vain oblations to dead men? Why dost thou sacrifice to Idols? Who injected this folly into thy mind, that thou should do these things, and neg∣lect the person of the great God?]

This was that Grecian folly which (as I said at my entrance upon my dis∣course, upon Plato's reporting his own, and those Barbarians Opinion, from

whom he learn'd his Philosophy;) Grecizing Moses intermixt the true Tra∣dition with, making it speak the Language of his own Country: wherein he was not only forsaken by his own School, but exploded by the adherents to the Sibylline Books; out of which these last-quoted Verses give so express a Reproof of that, and so full Proof of the contrary Doctrine (that men are to expect salvation, and (in order to the obtaining of it) to put their trust, not in many, but one Saviour, (who is the Person of the great God) as I shall burden my Reader with no more Allegations, nor any further discourse upon that point; but proceed to another Hypothesis of the Ethnick Theo∣logues, concurring with the Fundamentals of the Gospel, and exprest in that forecited passage in Plato, viz.

CHAP. VII.

Man healed by the Stripes and Oracles of God-man.

§ 1. Jew hides face from Christ. Greatest Heroes greatest sufferers; the expia∣tory painfulness of their Passions. § 2. Humane Sacrifices universal: § 3. Not in imitation of Abraham. Porphyry's Miscollection from San∣cuniathon. Humane Sacrifices in use in Canaan before Abraham came there: And in remotest Parts before his facts were known. In Chaldea be∣fore Abraham's departure thence. § 4. It was the corruption of the old Tradition of the Womans Seed's Heel bruised. Their sacred Anchor in Extremities. § 5. The Story of Kings of Moab and Edom vulgarly mis∣taken: different from Amos his Text. King of Moab offer'd his own Son, the fruit of the Body for the sin of the Soul. § 6. What they groped af∣ter exhibited in Christ's Blood. § 7. Man's Saviour is to save Man by de∣livering divine Oracles. Heroes cultivated the World by Arts and Sciences. § 8. Gospel-net takes in small and great. The Apostles became all things to all men; how?

§ 1. A Relique of the old Tradition, delivered in Paradise, and wrapp'd up in those clauses [The Serpent shall bruise the heel of the Womans Seed; and he shall break the Serpents head:] the first implying Christ's Passion, and the latter his undeceiving the World, by delivering true Oracles to the World, which had been cheated by the Devil's false ones.

Of the first Member of this Tradition we find reserves in the Sibylline Books quoted by Lactantius (de vera Rel. lib. 4. cap. 16.)

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

[He shall become miserable, contemptible, without form; that he may give hope, afford help to miserable men.]

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 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 fall into the hands of sinners and infidels; who shall with impure hands box him about the ears, and spitefully spit upon him, and he shall give his most in∣nocent back to scourges.]

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

[When they smite him upon the cheek he shall hold his peace; so as Men shall not take him for the Word, oe understand why he came (to wit) to make the dead hear his voice; and he shall wear a Crown of thorns.]

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

[They shall give him Gall to eat, and Vinegar to drink: these are the Commons which that inhospitable Generation will allow him: By which misusages his face shall be so marred, as his own shall hide their faces from him, as seeing nothing in him that was desirable;] that could speak him to be [The desire of the Nati∣ons:] for thus sings another Sibyl of the Land of Judea:

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

[Fool that thou art! thou canst not know thy own God, through the vizour of that contempt thou casts upon him.] These Responds eccho so distinctly to the Voices of the Prophets, and so exactly sute the History of the Gospel, as, had they all proceeded from one mouth; they could not have made a more perfect Harmony.

That the Writings of the Philosophers are Repositories of the same Do∣ctrine, hath been already evidenc'd out of Plato, who affirms that it is the Opinion of those Barbarians of whom he learn'd his Philosophy, as also of the Brachmans, Odrysenans, Getes, Egyptians, Arabians, Chaldeans, and all that inhabit Palestine; That those blessed Souls, who leave their supercelesti∣al place, and vouchsafe (for the relief of Mankind to assume humane Bodies) do in order to that undergo all the miseries of this Life. To which Isocra∣tes gives his Vote (in the name of the greatest part of the World) telling us (in his Euagoras) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. That most of those that were re∣puted Semidei (half-God half-man) and those the most famous, were reported to have undergone the greatest calamities; and that in pursuit of achievements, which were more full of danger to themselves, than of Immediate profit to others: (Isocrat Hel. laudatio:) [—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] of which he giveth instance (Orat. ad Philippum) in Hercules: whom notwithstanding, with the same breath, he affirms [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉—] to have had more Wisdom than Fortitude. Now how it could stand with his Wisdom, to imploy his Fortitude in those dangerous and painful labours, which brought so much hardship upon himself, and no profit to others, can hardly be resolv'd: except he undertook those labours (otherwise in vain) as Expiations, and spent his sweat and blood, as Libations, as Propitiations, to appease the incensed Deity, not for his own but his Countries sins: for [The God-begotten (saith Isocrates, Busirid. laudat.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] are free from sin, and have all Vertues in their perfection.] By this oblation of himself for others, Hercules his labours were beneficial to the whole World: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] and he procured to himself the Surname of [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Clemens Alexandr. Protrept.) The driver away of evil: Not by the physical force of his achievements; (for most of them, such as his killing Serpents in his Cradle, his suffocating of Achelous, his killing of Nessus, his purging the King of Elis his Stable, his hunting to death the Parthenian Hart, his conquest of the Amazons, his fetch∣ing the Hesperian Apples, his slaughtering Diomedes Horses, and his haling up of Cerberus, &c.) had no natural tendency, either to the conveying of good unto, or removing of mischief from Mankind:) but by the merits of his suf∣ferings. Celsus instanceth in Zamolxis, among the Getes; Mossus, among the Cilicians; Amphilochus, among the Acarnanians; Amphianorus, among the

Thebans: & Trophemius, among the Lebadienses: (Orig. cont. Cels. l. 3. c. 9.) where he compares the blessed Jesus, in point of suffering, to those reputed Gods of these Nations; who all underwent violent and painful deaths for their Countries good. Besides, Isocrates, in comparing him with Theseus, observes that Theseus his gests were (in their own nature) behoofful to the several Countries wherein they were perform'd; and yet he was not deified. A manifest Argument, that the World, in its canonizing Saviours, consider'd not, so much, the present beneficialness of mens Exploits, to them for whom they were perform'd; as their expiatory painfulness to them that perform'd them. And therefore that strenuous and philosophizing Oratour did, contrary to his wont, put in a Bar against Euagoras his obtaining the honour of being esteemed a God, in that very Argument he presseth for his deserving of it, as well as, or ra∣ther than, the best of the reputed Semidei: for that their lives were incum∣bred with bitter afflictions, but his (like that of the Gods) freed from in∣cumbrances. For, by his favour, this was the Worlds sense; That who so would redeem the World from misery, must, while he abode in this Rule (to which he descended for Man's relief) undergo misery, be (in the Prophet's Language) a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; I say acquainted with it; grief must dog them, and tread upon their heel. Hence it was that Q. Curtius did not obtain the repute of a God, though he threw himself alive into that Gulph, in the Market-place: Nor the Decii (Father and Son) though they devoted their own heads for the publick safety; Nor Codrns, though he offer'd his life for the Athenians: Nor Themistocles, though, by a volun∣tary potion of Bulls Blood, he fell down before the Altar, as a Victime for his Country: Nor the Philaeni, who would be buried alive where they stood, upon condition that that place might be their Countries Bounds (Valer. Max. 5. 6.) Neither could Adrian, with all his Art, avoid the scorn of the World; for attempting to deifie, his Paramour Antinous, who voluntarily immolated himself, to gratifie Adrian in his Magical Divinations, whereto an humane Sacrifice was required: (Dion Adrianus.) Because their sufferings were but short; whereas the Saviour must be acquainted with grief during his life.

§ 2. This Doctrine the World wrote in the blood of her Sacrifices, which was universally accounted Expiatory, at the first, in reference to that which was to flow from the bruised Heel of the Womans Seed. [Vide Cypri∣an (de ratione Circumcisionis) hujus oblationis doctrinam sacrificia continebant antiqua.] To whom Calvin assents; [Ipso more sacrificandi, quamvis adulte∣rino, convictae fuere gentes propriae indignitatis, ut agnoscere deberent, humano generi non aliter propitium esse Deum quàm reconciliatione interpositâ—dis∣camus quicunque unquam Deum verè quaesierunt, litationem in sanguine tulisse, ità ante Legem latam semper victimis sancita erat Religio:] (Calvin in 2. praecept.) Sacrifices of old contain'd the Doctrine of the oblation of Christ's Blood (saith St. Cyprian.) By the very manner of sacrificing (saith Calvin) though adulterated, the Gentiles were convinc'd of their own unworthiness, and that they ought to ac∣knowledge, that God is not made propitious any other way, than by the interposi∣tion of reconciliation wrought by the Blood of the promised Seed: we may there∣fore learn, that whosoever sought God truly, offer'd bloody Sacrifices. So that Religion was always (even before the giving of the Law) ratified by Victimes. Though in process of time, the Gentile, that had the Institution of sacri∣ficing only by oral Tradition, grew as vain as (and no more vain than) the Jew (who had that Tradition in writing) did, in a shorter tract of time; both of them misconceiving the Blood of Bulls and Goats to be in themselves ex∣piations for sin, without relation to that which it typified Yet as God hath beaten the Jew from that conceit, ever since the final demolishing of that Temple, wherein alone it is lawful for him to offer bloody Sacrifices; so the Gentile argued himself out of it by degrees: in so much as in those parts of the World, that have continued Pagan to our memory, we cannot re∣trieve

the time ('tis so long since) when any Blood was offer'd (as propitiato∣ry) but humane. (Heylin America) The Inhabitants of Nova Gallicia are wor∣shippers of the Sun, and Cannibals (pag. 1041.) They of Nova Hispania think the Gods are pleased with the blood of Men, which they sacrifice to them (pag. 1044.) The Men of Peru, at the death of their great men use to kill and bury with them one or more of their Servants: (pag. 1065.) They of Brasil, on high Festival days, have publick assemblies, and make merry over the roasted Body of a fat man, whom they cut in collops and eat (pag. 1079.) This makes me think they are Cannibals, not in respect of their common Meals, but their Religious Festivals; or if they eat mans flesh ordinarily, they contracted that Custom (as o∣ther Nations did that of eating the flesh of Beasts) by using to eat it, at Sacrifice∣feast: however I find not any sacrifices in use in that new found World but of men. And where the blood of Beasts was sacrificed of old (as old as any Secular History reaches to) there also was offered the blood of Men, in order to the pacifying of divine Wrath; a clear evidence that the World durst not trust to any, but the Blood of the Womans Seed, to make its peace with Heaven.

For the inforcing of this Argument it will be requisite that I prove these three Points.

1. That, so far as Secular History reacheth, it hath been the universal Cu∣stom of the Pagan World, to sacrifice men for the appeasing of the divine Wrath.

2. That this Custom was not taken up in imitation of Abraham's offer to sacrifice Isaac.

3. But upon the Worlds Experience of the ineffectualness of the Blood of Beasts, after it had lost the true Institution of bestial Sacrifices, and be∣gan to rest in the opere operato of sacrificing, without respect to the blood of the Womans Seed, &c.

Touching the first, Clemens Alexandrinus (protreptic.) instanceth in the Messenians, among whom Aristomenes sacrificed, for the appeasing of the Gods, three hundred men. The Lacedemonians, among whom Theopompus did the like. The Tauri (a people inhabiting the Taurican Chersonesus) who sacrificed all the Strangers they could lay hands on to Diana (quoting for this Enripedes.) (That pair-royal of Friends, Pylades and Orestes, had died no o∣ther death; if they had slain their Keepers, and stolen away the Goddess: (Lucian. Toxaris.) The next whom Clemens instanceth in are the Thessalians, among whom the Inhabitants of Pella sacrifice an Achaean to Releus and Chi∣ron; (for which he quotes Maninius (in his Collection of Wonders.) The Cretensians, among whom the Lycians sacrifice men to Jupiter; (for this he quotes Anticlides, in reditibus.) The Lesbians, who (as Dosidas saith) pacifi∣ed Bacchus with humane Hostes. The Phocensians, whom Pythocles (in his third Book de Concordia) affirms to have sacrificed Men to Diana Taurica. The Athenians, among whom (as Demaratus writes, in his first Book of Tra∣gical Things) Ericthonius (for the pacifying of Proserphone) sacrificed his own Daughter. And the Romans, among whom (as Dorotheus relates, in his fourth Book of the Affairs of Italy) Marius sacrificed his Daughter [Diis Averrun∣canis,] To the Gods that expel mischief.

Lactantius (de falsa Relig. lib. 1. cap. 21.) proves this to have been an anci∣ent Custom in Italy, to precipitate Men from the Milvian Bridge, for the ap∣peasing Saturn's wrath (out of Ovid's in Fastis,

———quotannis Tristia Leucadio sacra peracta Deo:)

And to sacrifice to the same God their own Children. After whose Dialect (Micah 6. 7.) the Prophet introduceth apostate Judah querying, [Shall I give my first born for my trangression? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?] to which the Spirit returns this pat answer: [He hath shewed thee, O man, what

is good, and what the Lord requires of thee, viz. to do justly and love mercy:] (neither of which can be done in this barbarous inhumanity to thy own Bowels) [and to humble thy self to walk with thy God:] not to outrun God in thy hastening to bring forth a Saviour before the fulness of Time, &c.) In the same place the same Lactantius relates out of Poscennius Festus, this Story: That the Carthaginians, being overcome by Agathocles King of Sicily, and conceiving that to be the effect of God's displeasure against them, for the rendring of Heaven propitious, sacrificed two hundred Noblemens Sons. Of the same bran (saith he) are the Rites of the Mother of the Gods, whose Priests attone her with the Blood of their Genitals, and of Bellona wherein her Priests lance and slash their own shoulders, with Swords which they carry in both their hands, as they run like frantick men about her Altars: the very same Oratory which the Priests of Baal used, who in their contest with Elijah, when he lent a deaf ear to the sound of their Prayers, lifted up to him the voice of their blood, as that, they doubted not but would ob∣tain for them a favourable audience. Herodotus (in his Euterpe pag. 128.) relates; how at Busiris, in the Festivals of Isis, after the Sacrifice, the whole Company (being many thousands) lash themselves till blood come: and that in Papremis, the Company that assemble (to worship the Deity of that place) fall together by the ears, and wound, yea kill one another.

Dion (Roman. histor. lib. 43.) reports, that Julius Caesar, to propitiate Mars, caused to be sacrificed to him two of those Mutineers, who raised a commo∣motion in the Camp, because of Caesar's Prodigality in his exhibiting showes and Plays to the Senate and People (grudging that so much water should run beside their Mill:) for which (he saith) he had neither Sibylline, nor any other express Oracle, but only Custom.

Pliny (lib. 36.) writes, that the Moors sacrificed Men to Hercules: others say to Saturn (as Plato, by name, in his Minoe, and Dionysius Halicarnassus; as also Theodoritus Cyrenaeus.)

Tacitus (de moribus Germanorum) saith, That the Germans do on certain stated days appease Mercury with humane Sacrifices. That the Semnones (the most ancient Stock of the Suevians) on certain anniversary holy Days, meet together in a sacred Grove, and begin the solemnity of the day with sacrificing a man for the Common Good; (for so I translate his [caeso publicè homine.] That the Reudigni, Aviones, Angli, Varini, Eudoses, Snardones, Nucthones, in the service they perform'd to the Mother of Gods (whom they call Hertham, that is Earth, the very English of the Grecian [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]) drowned those that had officiated in the Procession.

The same Historian Tacitus (an. 14. fol. 207.) tells us that Suetonius Pau∣linus (at the taking of the Ifle of Man) found Groves devoted there to bloody Superstition: for they used to sacrifice Captives at their Altars, and to look into their inwards by way of Auguration.

Dictys Cretensis (who was comrade to Idomenoeus, in the Trojan War) wrote a Journal of that War; which Paxis presented to Nero, and Septimius Romanus translated into Latin) in which Treatise (de Bell. Troj. lib. 1.) we are told, that for the appeasing of Dianas displeasure against Agamemnon (for slaying the Hart that was feeding in her Grove) his Daughter Iphigenia was required in sacrifice. Upon this ground Euryphylus (in Virgil) perswades the Grecians, when they were returning from Troy, to appease the angry Deity with humane Blood, with the blood of Polixena: (Aeneid. lib. 2.

Sanguine placastis ventos & virgine caesa, Cùm primùm Iliacas Danai venistis ad auras.

Herodotus (Melpomene) relates, how the Getes (the most morallized of all the Scythians) send every year to their God Zamolxis, a Man, whom they had first sacrificed. And how the Messagetes immolate in their old Age, all Per∣sons of note, counting none happy, but them that die that kind of death:

(Herod Clio.) And lastly how the whole Scythian Nation do sacrifice to Mars (whom they esteem the chief God) one of every hundred Captives; whose Blood they gather into a Basin, and with it besmear a Fauchion, which with them is the Idol, or Representation of Mars: (Herodot. Mel∣pomene.)

This Custom reached to the farthest Western Nations (as Plutarch (de su∣perstitione) observes) who, if they had Children of their own, sacrificed them to Saturn, if not, bought other mens Children, to that purpose, as men buy Lambs or Chickens. While they were sacrificing their Mothers were to stand by and look on, who if they shewed any sign of sorrow, they were ever after accounted opprobrious persons.

Yea, as far as (the then reputed World's end) Hercules Pillars (as Timae∣us the Historian affirms, in his rebus Deliacis;) for the Inhabitants near to those Pillars (saith he) use to sacrifice their Kinsfolks, if they reach the seventieth year.

Strabo (lib. 11.) reports, that in Albania (a Country near the Caspia•• Sea) they used to sacrifice to the Moon (their supreme Deity) those of their initiated servants, that had most of that Goddess in them, after they had been sumptuously feasted a whole year before.

These two last I report upon the Credit of Natalis Comes (Mytholog. l. cap. 17. de victimis:) not out of penury (for to the best of my knowledge there is not an old Historian extant, that gives not many Examples of this inhumane Pie∣ty:) but because I would not let this part of my Discourse pass without the honourable mention of his Name, who hath taken such Herculean pains up∣on this Subject: to whose Labours I refer my Reader for fuller satisfaction; if he require any; after he hath heard Tertullian's Judgment, (Apolog. 8.) [à vobis ostendam fieri, partim in aperto partim in occulto; per quod forsitan & de nobis credidistis,] to wit, That the commonness of humane Sacrifices, through the Pagan World, induc'd them to believe that Calumny raised a∣gainst the Christians, [That in their Coventicles they sacrificed a Ghild, whose blood they mingled with crums of Bread, and so did eat it.] (A Calumny rais∣ed upon their mistake of the Christians Commemorative Sacrifice, the Sacra∣ment of the Body and Blood of Christ.) A thing so abhorrent to Nature, as no man could deem it possible for another man to grow so inhumane, ex∣cept he who was himself grown so inhumane. And therefore saith he of all things, our sacrificing Children should not be objected to us as a crime, by the Heathens; who themselves did immolate Infants to Saturn, openly and without controul, till Tiberius, being Proconsul of Africk, nail'd the Priests themselves to those Crosses upon which they used to crucifie Children: and now secretly, notwithstanding the Imperial Edicts against it. Yea, in the most religious City (inhabited by the Off-spring of pious Aeneas) there is a certain Jove whom they appease with the shedding of humane Blood even at this day, and that in the most publick place and greatest concourse, the Thea∣ter. In your painting the Christian God as delighting in humane Blood, you shape him after the Prototype, which you have conceived in your mind, of your own Jupiter; whom you fancy to be the true Son of his Father Saturn, because he resembles him in Severity, and will not be appeased but with the Blood of that Nature which gave the offence: [O Jovem Christianum & so∣lum patris filium de crudeliaate.] And therefore you have no reason to ac∣cuse Christians, as the only men that represent God as not appeasable, but by Christ's making an Oblation of his own Blood, for the sins of the World; a Sacrifice far more like to be acepted as a Propitiation, than those Victims you offer; of men condemned to the Beasts (and therefore polluted with their own guilt;) or of innocent Babes, who are merely passive (and offered against their own Will;) or of decrepit Persons, though willing: for since old Age pusheth them forward, what merit can their be in chusing to go out at this door, where, in their passage to their Grave, they shall not meet with those Incumbrances of extreme old Age, which singly are worse than an hundred

deaths? or of those who in the prime and flower of their Age do offer them∣selves Victimes, for the benefit of Man-kind: since a few more years will put them beyond their choice, and bring them under a necessity of dying: whereas that Blood, which we affirm to have been shed for the sins of the World, was the Blood of a spotless Lamb: offer'd by Christ himself; (he was Priest as well as Sacrifice,) and laid down his Life; for no man could take it from him against his will, &c.

§. 3. Touching the second branch of this argument, That this custom of propitiating the Deity with the oblation of Human blood, was not in imita∣tion of Abraham, but the corruption of the old Tradition, &c. though I find great names muster'd against this Assertion, yet when I consider that they march under the conduct of the Jewish Rabbins (who are ambitious of having the whole World in debt to them) this Army of Lions grows less formidable, as being led on and headed by such sheepish Captains, as R. Salomon Jarchi, who (upon Jeremy, 7. 31.) bringeth in God speaking concerning Molech after this manner [When I spake to Abraham to sacrifice his Son, it entred not into my heart that he should sacrifice him, but to make known his righteousness.] having first fancied, that the Heathen, in defence of their practice, objected the Exam∣ple of Abraham. A thing which no more enter'd into the Pagan's heart, than it did into God's to have Isaac sacrificed; nor was ever objected to the Jews; of which this (I conceive) is proof sufficient: That neither Philo Judaeus nor Jo∣sephus, nor his Adversary Appion, make the least mention of the Heathens imi∣tating Abraham, or pleading their imitation of him in their own defence. A Ca∣lumny from which those great Patrons of Judaism would certainly have quit∣ted their Religion, had it then been objected, when they wrote of that Obla∣tion: Josephus (Jud. antiq. lib. 1. cap. 14.) most copiously: and Philo (de pro∣fugis) allegorically: neither can it stand with reason that Appion (who scraped up whatsoever he could find in Books, or invent of his own Brain against the Jewish Religion) should omit so material and plausible a Plea, if the World had then thought of it.

The first clear intimation of Abraham's offering his Son that is met with in Pagan Writers is in Porphyry (as he is quoted by Eusebius) (praeparat. Evangel. 1. 7.) where speaking of Saturn, he saith, [the Phaenicians called him Israel, and that he had an only Son called Irud (which in the Phoenician Language signi∣fies an only Son) of the Nimph Anobret;] whom his father, being in some great calamity, sacrificed upon an Altar purposely made. If I may call that clear which the two eyes of Learning, Grotius (in dent. 18. 10.) and Vosstus (de idol. 1. 18.) cannot see how at all it concerns Abraham, but that the trans∣scriber of Eusebius meeting with [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (the name of Saturn among the Phoe∣nicians) as appears by St. Jerom. (Phoenicibus [Il. qui Hoebraeis El.] Jerom. E∣pist. 136. ad Marcellum:) and by Sanchoniathon himself [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Sanchoniathon apud Eusebium, prep. Evang. 1. 7. [El.] which self same they call [Saturn.] This note Vossius had from Grotius; [atque ad hanc con∣jecturam, quam certissimam arbitror in familiari sermone mihi praeire memini di∣vinum virum Hugonem Grotium.] (Vossius Ibid,) and withal this conje∣cture that the Immolations mentioned by Sanchoniathon was by Saturn's Wives procuration,) The Transcriber, I say, of Eusebius, ignorant of this Phoenician use of [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] supposed it to be a contraction of [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] But to take it in its full strength, according to the ordinary reading, and the com∣mon application of that Name to Abraham, of whom came Israel; I can∣not see, how it implies, the Heathens deriving their sacrificing of children, from Abraham.

For 1. This was not pleaded by Porphyry, against the Jew, but Christian; nor against the Christian, till he had cryed shame of the Heathen World, for its barbarous Immolations of innocents: for the palliation of the filthiness whereof that indefatigable enemy of the Christian name brings in this story.

2. Porphyry's Author, Sanchoniathon (from whom he hath this Story) nei∣ther

names Israel (but Saturn, whose Soul after his death assumed (for its heavenly body) the Planet so called:) nor his, but his wifes (the Nymph Anobretha) sacrificing of her only Son, after the death of his Father.

3. Thirdly he relates this fact of Saturn, or his Wife, as an imitation of the ancient Custom of that Nation, to sacrifice the Princes most beloved Son, in times of eminent danger, to that Deity that takes vengeance of sin, for the pacifying of his wrath. [Morem priscis—] [cùm itaque Saturnus rex,]—(Eus. pr. evan. 1. 7.) So far is Porphyry out in his alledging Abraham or Israel, as the Samplar out of which the Heathen World transcrib'd that bloody Copy: as his own Author makes that very fact of Abraham, which he al∣ledgeth, to have been done, in observance of a Custom in ure long before A∣braham was.

4. Porphyry (for the credit of Sanchoniathon) affirmeth that he gather'd his Antiquities, out of the Records of the several Cities, the sacred Inscriptions in the Temples, and of Jerom-Baal the Priest of the God Irvo, or Jao; If we admit this Jerom-baal to have been Gideon, whom the Scripture calls Jerub-baal, which is of the same sense, in the Phoenician Language; only, after their custom, changing one [b] into [m] (as in [Ambubaiae, Sambu∣cus,] &c.) it will not follow, that this Author was contemporary with Gi∣deon: for he might use Gideon's Records after his death, and (in all likelihood) came to the knowledg of him and them: by means of that intercourse be∣twixt the Israelites and the Inhabitants of Berith (where Sanchoniathon lived) the worship of whose God [Baal-Berith] the Israelites fell to, after Gideon's death. But that he was not elder than Gideon doth necessarily follow from hence: (see Dr. Stillingfleet, Orig. l. 1. cap. 2. sect. 3. 4.) and indeed 'tis mani∣fest he was much younger than Gideon: from which Chronological Concessi∣on of those that are of opinion that the Heathens sacrificed Children in imita∣tion of Abraham, I argue against that opinion thus: If the story of Abra∣ham's Fact had not till that time arrived, by Oral Tradition, at their next door neighbours (the Phaenicians) but must be fetch'd out of Hebrew Re∣cords, till then unknown (to the greatest Antiquary the Heathen World af∣fords;) how can it be imagin'd that the report thereof should reach all over Canaan, so many hundreds of years before that; wherein children were made oblations, so long even before Moses, as he speaks thereof as of ancient use among them. Even their sons and their daughters have they burn'd in the fire to their Gods.] (Deut. 12. 31.) In which particular God himself is so far from suspecting the Gentiles would or did follow Israel, as he gives Israel cau∣tion not to follow the Gentiles: [Thou shalt not enquire after their Gods, saying, How did these Nations serve their Gods? even so will I do likewise.] (vers. 30.) which would have been to small purpose, had the Gentiles in those oblations followed Abraham; for the Jew might then have replyed (to the Prophets re∣buking him for that practise) that therein he followed the Nations, in no∣thing but wherein they followed Abraham (whom those very Prophets bid them look to, who were sent to rebuke them for sacrificing their sons and daughters to Molech.) It would have been more seasonable in that case (had the case been as our Opponents imagine) to have warned them not to look to Abraham, but to the intentions of God to try Abraham's Love and Faith, in his tempting him to offer his only Son and his Son of Promise. But the Psalmist (Psal. 106. 35.) hath determin'd it beyond all doubt, that the Is∣raelites in sacrificing their Sons and Daughters served the Idols of Canaan and learned their works, that is, those abominations which the Canaanites had practised (as Moses saith) before Israel came among them: and for which Is∣rael should have rooted them out. Nay, so far were the Canaanites from learning these works of Abraham, which Abraham's Posterity learn'd of them; as that before Abraham's tryal, the old Inhabitants of Canaan, by reason of these works, began to look white towards Harvest, though as yet their sins were not fully ripe (Gen 15. 16.) yea Moses having spoken of offering sons to Molech, among other of their bestialities (Levit. 18. 21.) as the sins that God

visited upon the Canaanites (vers. 25.) tells the Israelites (ver. 27.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] for all these same abominations have the men of this Land, who were before you done: and this Land hath been defiled, upon which Text Philo Judaeus saith [Barbaras quoque gentes per multas aetates litasse mactatis filiis, cujus sceleris Moses eos accusat:] (de Abrahamo, pag. 243.) It appears that the Gentiles for many Ages before Abraham, did sacrifice children, from Moses his saying [The men of this Land (Canaan) who inhabited it before you, did do all these abominations and the land was defiled.]

5. Had those circumjacent Nations taken up that practice from Abraham's Example, what better Argument could they have used than that, to induce the Jews to it? and sure had the Jews upon that reason conform'd to that Gen∣tile Rite, we should have heard them plead that, for their adhering to it; ra∣ther than those sorry reasons they bring for their resolute contumacy and per∣tinacious resistance of the Prophet's motion to them to forsake it! [As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee, we will do as we have done, for then it was well with us, we had plenty and peace, &c.] how much more strenuous would this reply have been, [then we did well; for we followed Abraham.]

6. If the Phoenicians had no knowledg of Abraham's fact, till Sanchoniathon found it in the Jewish Records, so long after Moses: how could the know∣ledge of it reach, in almost as short a time, as far south as Affrica, as far north as Scythia, as far east as India, (for 'tis not to be conceiv'd, from whence but India or Tartary: the Americans derive their Pedigree or the Inhabitants; of the Caroline Islands, the worship of Molech: whose Images in that form wherein they are described by Diodorus Siculus in the twentieth Book of his Bi∣bliotheca: were found there by the first discoverers of that Island; who also affirmed that they threw children as sacrifices into the glowing hands of that Idol; who were there scalded to death, by vertue of a fire within the hollow body of the Image: of all which Vives received good intelligence just as he was commenting upon the 19. Chapter of the 7. Book of St. Austin, de Civi∣tate Dei, which treats upon that subject.) As far west as Hercules Pillars: that is, through all the Nations of which ancient History gives us account. For this custom, of sacrificing men to appease the divine wrath, will appear to have been in a manner universal (almost, if not altogether) as early as that Age wherein the most critical Computers affirm Sanconiathon to have lived: If we cast a diligent eye back upon those quotations that have been already al∣ledged. Nay if the Phoenicians did not know it before then, how could the Carthaginians practice it, as the custom of their native Countrey Phoenicia: since that Colony was as old as Joshuah, from whom they fled into Affrica, and built Carthage. There was graven on two Marble Pillars, near Tangis or Tangere, this Inscription; [Nos fugimus à facie Joshuae, praedonis filii Nave:] We fled from the face of that Robber Joshua, the son of Nun; which Proco∣pius reports he saw (as Euagrius Scholasticus affirms, Eccl. hist. lib. 4. cap. 18.)

7. Seeing Sanchoniathon (the only Pagan Writer whose Testimony my An∣tagonists produce) relates that fact of Saturn (as they say, of Abraham) as what either he, or his Wife after his decease, was forced to by vertue of the ancient use of hat Countrey: All their presumptions; grownded upon the Phoe∣nicians conveighing this Custom not only to their own Colony at Carthage, as Diodor. Sicul. affirmeth it to be (Bibliath. l. 20.) And also Herodotus, who saith Cambyses intended a War against the Carthiginians: but the Phoenicians (be∣ing the only Seafaring men Cambyses had) absolutely refused to be imployed in that service: for that they were sprang from the same stock that the Carthagi∣nians were (Herodotus in Thalia. St. Austin also informs us, that from thence the Carthaginians had their Extract: [interrogati nostri rustici quid sint; re∣spondent Punici Chanam;] (that is, Phoenician Canaanites,) St. Austin (in epist. ad Romanos.) But (being the greatest Traders by Sea in the whole World)

(Heylyn. Geogr. Phoenicia;) to all those Countreys with whom they trafficked These presumptions, I say, fall too short of proving the Inference they are premised to: for all this might be, they might convey their own old Custom, but not as grownded upon the fact of Abraham; and therefore, for the Ori∣ginal of it, in those Parts of the World that they had dealings with, we must look, (beyond Abraham) to the more ancient practice of the Phoenicians, upon which Abraham's practice, as they relate it, was grounded (not è con∣trà) and which was in ure (before Israel came there) in the land of Canaan, and in Chaldaea, before Abraham came thence: for the Hebrew Doctors say that the Chaldeans would have sacrificed Abraham in the fire, for his speaking against their Idol, which (I suppose, from their making fire the symbol of it) was the Sun: and that's all one with Molech: (vide Calvin (in genes. 11. 28.) & Josephum (Ant. Jud. l. 1. cap. 8.) & Hieronimum (in genesim.) But to put it out of doubt, that humane Sacrifices were in use before Abraham; Diodorus Siculus tells us, that the Ethiopian Priests used to perswade their Kings of old to a voluntary laying down of their Lives, for their Countreys good: and that Ergamenes (in the time of Ptolemy the second) was the first Ethiopian King who threw off that Superstition: and that from these (being the most ancient Nation) the Egyptians, and others borrowed their Hierogli∣phicks, their sacred Rites, and all other Ceremonies, whereby the Gods were honoured Died. Siculus (antiqu. lib. 3.) Now that Jupiter Hammon (the Ethiopian God) was Molech, or the Sun, may be read on the horns they assigned him; which were nothing else but types of the Sun's Beams, Bacon (sa∣pientia veterum.) Selden (de diis Syriis.)

§ 4. Touching the third branch of this argument, That the custom of sa∣crificing children is to be father'd, upon the corruption of the old Tradition, of sacrificing Beasts, after the world (having lost the ground of the first insti∣tution of sacrifices) thought the bestial Sacrifices, of themselves (without re∣lation to the blood of the womans seed, which they typified) were propitiato∣ry: and found them, by after experience, in-available, This is in it self so rational an Hypothesis (upon the grant, that it is not to be father'd upon the Example of Abraham) as, that, being disinherited, the estate must fall to this, as heir at Law. Yet, because that hath carried it by so long a Prescription, I shall not move for its total Ejectment; till I have proved the Title of this to the Child whose Parentage is in controversie. To wit, that God having made promise of the Woman's Seed, and instituted Sacrifices as Types of that blood: (Grotius reck ons the custom of Victimes among those which were not taken up by natural Instinct, nor the Collection of Reason, but by divine Tra∣dition: a custom retain'd in all Places and Ages (de verit. Christ. rel. lib. 1.) the World corrupting that Tradition, came to this point: that humane Blood must be more effectual, than bestial, to attone the divine Justice.

After that Agathocles had subdued Affrick (with the remainder of that Ar∣my, which when it was intire, was routed in Sicily, by the Carthaginians) and laid seige to Carthage: the Inhabitants imputing the disaster to the dis∣pleasure of the Gods, betake themselves to all manner of Supplications, and see the Gods whom they supplicate with large donatives; for they thought (saith Diodorus) by this means to deprecate the anger of the Gods, [If to their prayers they join'd sacrifices and donatives.] (Diodor. Sicul. bibliothec. l. 20.) But suspecting all this would not pacifie the enraged Deity: at last they be∣take themselves to humane Sacrifices; and immolate, for the publick Good, two hundred of the choicest Sons of the most Noble Persons: to whom two hundred more of Voluntiers joyn'd themselves; and so march'd four hundred in a Body to the Altars of Saturn, as Victimes for their City. 'Tis easie to observe, in this story, That the Carthaginians looked upon the sacrifices and other gifts they dedicated, as Bribes to blind the eyes, and appease the displea∣sure of their (before that) neglected Gods: But that the suspicion they had (when they considered the imminent danger they were in, and the grievous∣ness

of their Crime, in wholly neglecting; and of their fore-fathers, in cheat∣ing Saturn with Changlings, instead of Noble-men's Sons) that their Silver and Gold, that their bestial Victims, would not expiate so great a guilt, nor procure Redemption for them from so great a danger; prompted them to make all sure by the oblation of humane Blood: when they revolved these things in their minds, and saw the enemy before their walls, thinking to make up all former breaches with their Gods, and to supply the defect of other applications; they betook themselves to this course of Expiation, saith Dio∣dorus. To which eminent Act of Piety (as they thought) they imputed the safety of their City and recovery of their Countrey: as on the contrary that Historian in the same Book chargeth Agathocles his overthrow upon his sacri∣ficing his Friend and Landlord Ophella, to his own ambition. For (saith he) on the same month and day whereon he slew Ophella, and drew his Army to himself, he lost in Sicily his own Army, and both his Son's, and which is most worthy of note (in his opinion) for slaying one Friend, he not only lost two Sons, but lost them by the hands of Ophella's Souldiers. In which passage my Author seems to compare Agathocles his Immolation of Ophella to his own lusts, with the Carthaginians Oblation of their Children to Saturn: that, the meritorious cause of his ruine: this, of their deliverance. Hence Philo, [immolandos exhibuisse filios, vel pro incolumitate patriae, velut averterent bella, siccitates, inundationes, pestilentias:] (de Abrahamo, 243.) the Gentiles sacrifi∣ced children for the common safety, for the averting of War, Plague, drought, &c. Hyginus (Poetic. Astronom. tit. Hydra) reports that the Plague raging at Phla∣gusa (near Troy) Demiphon enquired of the Oracle what course he should take to pacifie the incensed Deity; Apollo commands they should every year sacri∣a Virgin of noble Parentage. Petronius Arbiter, amongst the most trite and obvious things, in Classick Authors, reckons. [responsa in pestellentiam data, ut virgines tres aut plures immolentur.] (Satyric. pag. 1.) Responds given, for the removal of the Pestilence, that two or three or more Virgins should be sacrificed.

If we review those Instances of humane Victimes that have already been quoted, we shall find, they were applyed to (as their sacred Anker) when all other ways of supplications were found inavailable, and their distress such as required immediate redress and would admit of no delay. Thus when the Priests of Baal found their God to lend a deaf ear to their Prayers, they in∣voke him with the voice of their own Blood. When the Grecians in their expedition to Troy at Aulis, cannot, by their Hecatombs of bestial Victims, obtain the favour of their angry Goddess, they immolate Iphigenia: and when in their return home, at the Taurick Chersonesus, they cannot by any other means attone Achilles's Ghost, or engage a fair wind homeward, they with joynt consent sacrifice Polixena. When the Marcomanni invaded the Empire, an. Christi, 271. Fulvius Sabinus made a motion in the Senate by the Emperour's Order, that the Sybil's Books might be consulted, and such Sacrifices offer∣ed as they appointed for so great an Exigent: to the which he instigates them in these words, [Serò nimis, P. C. de reipublicae salute consulimus, serò ad fata∣lia jussa respicimus, more languentium, qui ad summos medicos nisi in summa de∣speratione non mittunt,] we consult too late (oh ye conscript Fathers) about the safety of the Commonwealth, we look too late to the fatal Commands after the manner of languishing persons, who send not for the best Physicians but in greatest Extremity. Now what these fatalia jussa were, appears from the Emp. Aurelian's letter to the Senate. [Miror vos patres sancti tamdiu de aperiendis Sibyllinis dubi∣tasse libris, quasi in Christianorum Ecclesia, non in templo deorum omnium tractaretis. Agite igitur ceremoniisque solennibus juvate principem Necessitate publica labo∣rantem inspiciantur libri: quae facienda fuerint celebrentur, quemlibet sumptum, cujuslibet gentis Captivos, quaelibet animalia regia non abnuo, sed libens offero.] (Vopiscus in Aureliano, pag. 100, 102.) I wonder (holy Fathers) that you should thus long dwell upon the question, whether the Sibylline Oracles are to be con∣sulted or no? as if you handled this question in a Church of Christians, and not in the Temple of all the Gods. Go to therefore, and with solemn Ceremonies aid

Prince labouring under the publick necessity. Let the books be looked into, and whatsoever they appoint to be done, be it to sacrifice Cattel, Captives, or whomsoe∣ver, it shall be observed.

§ 5. But we need no better evidence, that men fled to humane Blood in those extremities (out of which they found no exit any other way) than what the sacred Scriptures afford: where it is recorded, that the King of Moab being besieged in Kirharraseth, & seeing that he could neither hold out against the assaults, nor with his select band make his way through the Forces of his Enemies: and being resolv'd not to yield, till he had tryed the last means of invoking and engaging the divine aid; took his eldest Son (that should have reigned in his stead) and offered him up for a Burnt-offering upon the wall. (2. Reg. 3. 26.) [And when the King of Moab saw that the battel was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men to break through, even to the King of Edom: but they could not. Then he took his eldest Son, &c. And there was great indignation against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own Land.] I shall not here dispute, whether Junius & Tremelius their first or second thoughts are soundest. It will be sufficient for my turn, to prove their second not overwise (except in St. Paul's sence:) being part of them grounded upon their correcting the Text as themselves translate it: the Text [Accepit filium suum primogenitum:]—The Margin, [Corrigendum, [Ejus,] id est, Regis Edomoeorum.] Such is their conceipt that the King of Moab sacrificed the King of Edom's Son: for the framing of which, they turn [Suum] (which clearly carries it to the King of Moab) into [Ejus] to which they make the King of Edom the antecedent; whose Son (they would make us believe) the King of Moab took Prisoner, in that fruitless sally he made to break through the King of Edom's Forces; a thing in its self ('tis true) possible, though very improbable; that he, who could not break through to the King of Edom's Forces (sor the safety of his life by flight) should be able to carry off such a Prisoner, who, doubtless, was near his fa∣ther's Standard) in his retreat to the City, through the Forces of the Kings of Judah and Israel, which lay betwixt the City and the King of Edom; as that expression does more then imply, [to break through even unto the King of Edom;] strange that he should venture back again, through two Armies: with the incumbrance of a Prisoner, rather than through one, for his own safety. However the Argument [à posse ad esse] can be of no validity here, where the consequence is as manifestly impossible, as it is for God to lye: for the Text saith the King of Moab took [suum primogenitum] [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Septuagint, [he took his own first begotten son.] his own first begotten son, in which relative there can be no ambiguity, though the [Ejus] which they foist into the Margin, and the [his,] which stands in our English Text may, in Grammar, refer indifferently to either the King of Edom or of Moab: and therefore I am more scandalized with these learned men's turning of [suum] into [ejus] than I am with the Collecters of the Contents of our English Bibles, for applying that relative to the King of Edom, (Eng. con∣tents of 2 Reg. 3. [the King of Moab sacrificing the King of Edom's son.]

To return to Junius and Tremelius: their opinion touching this subject (expressed in their notes on Amos 1. 16.) [filium Edomaei captivum in hola∣caustum absolutissimè obtulit, The King of Moab did undoubtedly offer the King of Edom's son for a burnt-offering) Is chiefly grounded, upon their jumbling two Stories into one (just as the Poetical Fables grew up, from confounding the true Histories of several Joves, and applying them to one of the young∣est and worst of them) this, related in the book of Kings: and that which Amos mentions (chap. 2. vers. 16.) [for three transgressions of Moab—be∣cause he burnt the King of Edom's bones into lime.] By this means metamor∣phizing the King of Moab's son, into the King of Edom's: and then the King of Edom's son, into the King of Edom himself: and lastly, the sacrificing of a living youth upon the wall; into the haling of dry bones out of the Sepul∣chre,

and burning them to Chalk; things no more like one another, than Chalk is to Cheese: and all this (as themselves confess) contrary to those rea∣sons and the authority of good Authors, upon which they had some time been of another Opinion: and (so far as my small reading reacheth) to the current of Expositors, who thus express their judgments touching this Text of Amos [quando id factum non constat:] So Emmanuel Saa [quando hoc fa∣ctum sit nusquam legitur:] So our learned Gualter. Saa (indeed) saith, the Hebrews make this in Amos an Appendix to that in the Book of Kings, and that the Chaldee Paraphrasts have a conceipt, that they besmear'd their houses with the ashes of those bones instead of Chalk; and Gualter propounds it as probable, that the Moabites (after the end of that war mention'd in the Kings) did, in the revenge of the Edomites, confederating, against them with the two Palestine Kings, dig up the bones of the King of Edom (formerly dead) and burn them in contempt. But that it was the King of Edom's son that was sacrificed in the seige: or that he that was sacrificed, the same man whose bones were burnt to Chalk (according to the tenour of Amos's discourse) neither they nor any considerate man ever thought, before Junius and Treme∣lius. And now from the clear Text in the book of Kings, and the Para∣phrase of Josephus upon it, in order to the clearing of the point, for the proof whereof I alledge this Text: I observe.

1. That the King of Moab offered his son as an holocaust, as a propitia∣tory sacrifice, to appease the wrath of God. [Scilicet deo suo, ut sic placa∣ret:] (Em. Saa in locum:) to wit, to his God, that he might appease him.

2. That he betook himself to this way of supplication, when all other means of safety fail'd him, when he was at the utmost point of extremity and despair; [quod, ubi praeter spem, non successit: rem extremae necessitatis & de∣sperationis aggreditur,] (Joseph. antiq. Jud. lib. 9. cap. 1. ad finem) when his sallying out had not that success he hoped, he betook himself to that shift which is never used but in extream necessity, and when men despair to find relief any other way.

3. That, for the safety of himself and Crown, he sacrifices the most pre∣cious oblation that was in his power (as he thought) to give, his son that was to reign after him; an argument that the Heathen imputed the prevalency of their oblations, to the worth of them and their preciousness in the esteem of those that offer'd them. The Superstitious (saith Plutarch, De Superstiti∣one) they that over-do it in their Religious Services, do account humane Sa∣crifices most precious and acceptable to the Deity. At this rate the Idola∣trous Jew discourseth in the Prophet: Will the Lord be pleased with thou∣sands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oyl? shall I give my first-born, the fruit of my body, &c. Of the same mind were the learned Jews; Midrash Tilli••, in Psal. 94. 12. Beatus vir quem tu castigas domine: tria sunt à deo gra∣tiosè data. 1. Lex: 2. Terra Israel: & 3. Saeculum futurum; media obti∣nendi haec sunt afflictiones: de lege quem tu erudieris ex lege: de terra; Sicut pater castigat filium: Deut. 8. de saeculo fuit; Sicut sacrificia pacificant, sic af∣flictiones sunt via vitae, Pro. 6. Sacrificia sunt ex divitiis, sed afflictiones sunt in corpus ideóque anteferendae sunt, &c. Vicars. There are three things bestowed on us by God which speak him gracious to us. 1. The Law: 2. The holy Land: 3. the Age to come: afflictions are the means to obtain these: of the Law it is said; Blessed is he whom thou chastisest and instructest out of thy Law: of the Land it is said; as a father chastiseth his son, &c. of the Age to come it is said, as sacrifices pacifie wrath, so afflictions are the way of life: Sacrifices are of our goods, but afflictions are upon our own bodies, and therefore to be preferr'd before sacrifices; that is, our own blood is more available for the procuring of God's fa∣vour than the blood of Rams.

These being grown ignorant of God's righteousness, having lost the sight of Gods scope in the Levitical Law, and not looking to Christ, the end of that Law, went about to establish their own righteousness; set themselves another mark: viz. the procuring acceptance of God, and justification from

sins guilt, by the price and valew of the Oblations themselves: Thence when they reflected upon the inconsiderableness of Hinns, they propounded Rivers, and ten thousand Rivers, of Oyl: and at last seeing the infinite disproporti∣on between those attonements and the sin attoned for; they capitulate with God, upon these terms; that he would accept the fruit of their Body for the sin of their Soul. The gentile proceeded, in the same way of paralogiz∣ing, to the oblation of humane blood, to the sacrificing of his own Chil∣dren; It was the custom (saith Sanchoniathon in the place forecited) in such like extremities to sacrifice the Princes best beloved son, his dearest Child, to pacifie the wrath of the provoked and revengeful Demon: and with the child sometimes the life of the Mother, by ripping the Sacrifice out of her Womb. of which Lucan,

Vulnere si ventris, non qua natura vocabat, Extrabitur partus, calidis ponendus in aris. * 1.11

That by expending two lives at once, they might inhance the price of their bloody Oblations, and make sure it was innocent blood they offerr'd.

§ 6. To think that God would eat the flesh of Bulls and drink the blood of Goats, to allay his thirst of Revenge, was a most brutish Fancy. But it was most inhumane and barbarous to conceit, such horrid Parricides (as the immolation of Innocents) to make atonement for sin: a fact exceeding in Immanity the savageness of Brutes, who cherish their Off-spring: and pawn their own lives for the safety of their young ones: so as it were better to live after the manner of Beasts, than to worship such impious, tetrical, and san∣guinary Gods (saith Lactantius:) (de fulsa Relig. 1. 21.) yea to deny the Being of God, rather than think him to be such an one as is pleased with such sacrifices; as who so offer, address themselves to Temples; as if they were going to the Caves of Bears, the Dens of Dragons, the lurking places of Sa∣vage Beasts (as Plutarch argues) (de superstitione) who wonders, that men should account those impious, that deny there is a God: and yet should not esteem them such, as affirm him to be such an one, as the superstitious believe him to be: for my own part (saith he) I would rather chuse, that men should say, there is no such man as Plutarch, than that they should say Plutarch is so prone to anger, so desirous of revenge, so blood-thirsty as nothing will appease him but the torture of innocents, &c. had it not been more expedient for the Galls and Scythians, never to have taken into their mind any conce∣ption at all of a Deity) than to think those to be Gods, who joy in the blood of butcher'd men; and that to be the most perfect sacrifice? Had it not been more profitable for the Carthaginians, to have had (at first) such Law-givers as Critius or Diagoras, who would have determined there is no God: than to sacrifice their children to Saturn? Say, some Typhons or Giants (hav∣ing profligated the Gods) should in their room, have Dominion over us, could they desire other kind of Rites or Sacrifices? [Deciorum devotionibus placatos deos esse censes? quae fuit eorum tanta iniquitas ut placari P. R. non pos∣sent, nisi viri tales occidissent:] Cicero de natura deor. (lib. 3. 121.) [Do you think (saith Tully) that the Gods were appeased with the Devotions of the Decii? what a degree of iniquity was it in those Gods that they would not be pacified to∣wards the people of Rome, except such excellent men laid down their lives for them.]

But yet as barbarous as these Immolations (of humane, of innocents Blood) were, they had clearer prints of the Original Promise, then bestial Victims, seperated (as in time they grew to be) from that blood of the Womans Seed, of which in the divine Institution) they were to be Types; the scent of which

Blood in bestial Sacrifices. The Gentiles having once over-run, and being at a loss, ran counter, till they took the scent of it again in the first Promise: and then, not being able to follow it down that train of bestial sacrifices that God had laid; (it being through length of time, grown cold, and they having no Huntsmen (no divinely inspired Interpreters) to set them on) they con∣cluded it had not gone that way.

Cum sis ipse nocens, moritur cùm victima pro te? Stultitia est morte alterius, sperare salutem.

Quoted by Grinaeus (in Euseb Demonst. Evangel. 3. 4.

Why dies the beast for peccant man? By other blood than humane, can No humane soul redeemed be.

And then becoming vain in their Imagination they pursue a fresh scent of it in the Blood of humane Victimes, of innocent Children: missing that one Seed (as St. Paul stiles Christ) and falling upon the many, which (as their occasions served them) they ran down one after another, and made Oblations of, as propitiatory Sacrifices. In which mistake of the Individuum, they yet pitched upon 1. The Woman's Seed, 2. The most innocent of the Woman's common Seed, Children. 3. And that Seed, which was to the offerers most precious, their own Children; acknowledging hereby that nothing could redeem humane kind from the extremest suffering, but the most precious, spotless, Humane Blood, that could be thought of, or procured. Wherein as they perfectly agreed with the Christian Hypothesis; so I have the suffrage of the happiest Searcher into the Original of Idolatry, that ever undertook that task, to my position, the great Vossius: [Nec quicquam in mundo est excellentius homine: nihil parentibus carius est quam liberi. Sic igitur judicarunt, non me∣liùs summum posse Deum demereri, quam si immolarent liberos suos, etiam in maximarum divitiarum ac potentiae spem natos. Haec vera est illius sacrificii ratio.] (Vossius de orig. idololat. lib. 2. cap. 5.) Nothing in the world is more excellent than man; nothing more dear to parents than Children: the Gentiles therefore, thus judged, that they could not by any better way procure the favour of the high God then if they sacrificed their children, especially such as were born to the hope of great fortunes and power. This is the true reason of this kind of sacrifice. And yet the Gentiles wrote the Christian Doctrine more plainly and fully in the blood of humane Sacrifices at the first Institution, than in their later Customs and degenerate use of sacrificing Captives, in stead of Natives, Natives grown instead of Children, Children instead of First-born, First-born of Subjects in stead of First born of Kings, First-born of royal Females (in use in the Trojan Wars) instead of the First-born Sons of Kings, either heirs to (as in the case of the King of Moab;) or possessors of their Father's Crown (as was the custom of the Aethiopians.) And First-born Sons of Kings in stead of their only begotten Sons, possessed of Royal Power after their Fathers death, which was the most ancient Custom; as appears from the Phaenician Story. To which Observation, if we add that which we have heard Macrobius (in Som Scip.) deliver, as the common Opinion [that all Kings are God-born,] we may without labour of brain collect, this to have been the Opinion of the World [That nothing can propitiate the Deity for the sin of man, but the blood of his only begotten Son, made man.]

Hence, as the great Debate, in point of Sacrifices, betwixt us and the Jew, was, Whether the Blood of Bulls and Goats, or of the promised Seed of the Woman, be propitiatory: so the Original Contest betwixt us and the Gentile was, whether that Blood of their Sons and Daughters (which they offer'd) was that propitiating Blood of the Woman's Seed; or the Blood of the Cross? Wherein they came nearer to us than the Jew, in the state of the

Question, and put us to no farther labour, in confuting theirs and establish∣ing our Assertion, than to prove that Blood to be the most precious and spot∣less, and therefore the most salvifick that ever was paid as a Ransom; compre∣hending in it self alone, all that was requisite towards the redemption of the whole man. [Haec via totum hominem mundat & immortalitati mortalem ex omnibus quibus constat partibus praeparat: ut enim non alia purgatio quaerere∣tur ei parti, quam vocat intellectualem Porphyrius: alia ei, quam vocat spirita∣lem; alia quae ipsi corpori: proptereà totum suscepit, veracissimus potentissimús∣que Mundator & Salvator:] (St. August. de Civitate, 10. 32.) The most per∣fect Gentile Sacrifices could not purge the Soul; but Christ our Sacrifice cleans∣eth the whole man and prepares mortals for immortality, in all the parts of which they are made up: for to the end we should not seek one kind of purgation for that part of man that Porphyry calls intellectual; another for that he calls spiri∣tual; and another for the Body: therefore hath our most faithful and powerful Purifier and Saviour taken whole Man. In which Point, the Heathen World saw itself labour under that great disadvantage, as at the first starting of the Que∣stion, the Roman Empire would, by an Edict prohibiting humane Sacrifices, have wiped her mouth (with Solomon's Whore) and denied the Fact: had not the Patrons of the Christian Cause made palpable Demonstration of it, by pointing to those Humane Victims to the Latian Jove, that were openly sacrificed in Rome it self: and to other Deities through the whole body of the Empire; (Tertul, Apol. 8.) Upon which disappointment, those Philosophers which enter'd the lists against the Church, (or wrote in defence of Natural Theology, (not daring, for very shame, to deny the fact) turn it into all imaginable shapes, but of its natural Form, that it might not serve the Christian's turn. Hence Plutarch decries humane Sacrifices as barbarous (and well he might, for so they were.) Porphyry explodes the Vulgar Opinon that the blood and steam of sacrificed Animals was the food of the Gods; affirming that none but Cacodaemons can delight in such food: wherein the Christian does more cordially concurr with him, than Jamblicus (his Fellow-philoso∣pher:) for he, though he give him his say in gross, yet takes it away by retail: or rather consents to him in general words, but opposeth him in deed, and in particular Conclusions. (Jamblicus de mysteriis, tit. [De sacrificiis unde vim habeant, & quid conferant:] tit. [Quae ratio sacrificiorum, quae utilitas.] In all which windings and turnings (more than I am willing to follow them in) they did but seek Subterfuges from the dint of the Christians Plea from u∣universal Practice, by perverting the state of the Question: which was not, Whether humane Sacrifices were of any efficacy (towards the averting of e∣vil, or the obtaining of good) in deed and reality? but, Whether, in the World's Opinion, they were not of that tendency? nor whether they were justifiable in Morality; But whether they were practised or no, as propitiati∣ons in Divinity? which Jamblicus himself is forc'd to confess, more than once; Good men (saith he) being expiated by Sacrifices, receive good things from the Gods, and have evil things driven away; (tit. Chaldeor. mysteria.) And a∣gain, The Prophets foretold impending judgments, and admonish'd People, by Sacrifices to appease the Divine Nemesis; (tit. Inspiratus vacat ab actione:) And lastly (having assigned the cause of the wonderful efficacy of Sacrifices, to be a certain friendship, accommodation, and habitude, inclining the Work∣man to respect his Workmanship) he concludes thus: When we take and sa∣crifice any thing living, that hath sincerely, and exactly observed the Will and De∣cree of its Maker, by such a Sacrifice we properly move (causam opificiam) the working cause, to do us good, and bring us releif; (tit. Quae ratio sacrific. quae u∣tilitas.) How much more moving must the Oblation of Christs blood be? who exactly fulfill'd the Will of God: not only by a passive kind of Obedi∣ence, such as Vegitatives and Animals yeild to the Law of Creation; (such as Fire and Hail, Snow and Vapour (fulfilling his word, Psal. 148. 8.) nor by a bare not actually sinning, such as Infants yield: but by an every way compleat fulfilling all Righteousness: and who was made a Victim, not by force and

compulsion, but by his own free oblation of himself. It is St. Jerom's ob∣servation (upon Daniel's seventh Vision.) That when ever Expiation was to be made, Michael was sent from God with instructions to Israel; whose name signifies [who like the Lord.] God by this intending to teach us, that none can make expiation but God alone: [ut scilicet intelligatur, quia propiti∣ationem vel expiationem nullus possit offere nisi deus.] And Philo Judaeus his (upon Levit. 4. 3.) that Moses does (as good) as affirm the true High-Priest to be without sin:—tantum non dicens, verum Pontificem expertem peccati es∣se (de victimis pag. 528.) The Jewel I have been all this while, raking for, in the Dunghil of Heathen Philosophy.

§ 7. The second Branch of the last general Hypothesis, common to us and Philosophers (viz. That God-saviour incarnate must work Man's restauration into Communion with God, by communicating divine Oracles to the World) lies more bare-fac'd in their Writings; and that it does so, is not disputed by a∣ny (that I have met with:) and therefore I shall quickly dispatch that point.

Jamblicus affirms, that the Law of Religion was given by divine inspirati∣on from the first Father of the World, from whom were all Symbols in Sacri∣fices, signifying some invisible thing, [Quae lex data est divinitùs à primo patre mundi, a quo & omnia symbola in sacrificiis significantia aliquid occultissimum;] Jambl. (de myster. tit. de providentia, pag. 31.) that is, from the supream God by the middle Deities; for the same Jamblicus speaking of the Rites used in the Worship of the Gods, (de myst. tit. quae ratio sacrific. pag. 135.) lays this down (as the common Opinion of all their Theologues.) [That these Ceremonies are not the Inventions of Men, nor obtain'd Authority by Custom and Prescription, but were divine Revelations, communicated to the se∣veral Nations, by those Deities to whom God had committed the care of those Nations:] (these are those local God-Man-Saviours, concerning whom we have spoke already.) Of the same tendency is that fore-quoted Clause out of Celsus; where he saith, that these Presidents did appoint the several Re∣ligions (that obtain'd place in their respective Cures) congruously to the Tempers of the Climes and People committed to their trust; and that there∣fore those Religions were all good; and that the very best (quoad hic and nunc) for every particular Nation, which their local Praesidents had instituted. And that of Tully. Mercurius tertius quem colunt Phenentae, quem tradunt Aegypti∣is leges & literas tradidisse. Apollinem Arcades Nomionem appellant, quòd ab eo se Leges ferunt accepisse:] (Cicero de natura deorum, lib. 3. pag. 133. 134. With which concurrs that Testimony of Plato in his Symposium [those Semi∣dei that mediate and keep up a correspondency betwixt the Gods and us, do bring to us the injunctions of the Gods [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] Apuleius (de daemonio Socratis) calls them Interpreters on both sides, and bearers of Salutations. (St. Austin has a whole Chapter upon this Subject: [an daemonibus nunciis & interpretibus dii utantur;] de Civitate, lib. 8. cap. 21.) And that of Jambli∣cus (de mysteriis titulo de ordine superiorum: quaesunt in diis &c.) [quae sunt in diis ineffabilia, & occulta, daemones exprimunt, atque patefaciunt.] Those things that are ineffable in the Gods, the Demons declare and reveal to us. Hence we find this clause (he gave Laws) inserted in the Histories of all the Heroes (vide Lact. de fal. rel. lib. 1. cap. 10. 11.) But to spare the labour of multi∣plying Instances, that place of Plato, I mention'd at the beginning of this dis∣course is abundantly sufficient (where those blessed spirits that descended to take care of Mankind, are said to have given them Laws:) neither that of O∣rigen against Celsus (lib. 5. cap. 1.) whom he charges (in his affirming, that never any God or Son of God came down from Heaven, to reveal divine Counsels) to oppose the Vulgar and received Opinion of Philosophers: and proves that charge by many clear instances; one of which we have (Act. 14. 12.) when St. Paul had by a word speaking, presently and perfectly cured the man, that was born lame: the Lystrians conceived him to be Mercury appear∣ing in humane form) because he was the chief speaker: clearly expressing this

to be their Opinion, that the healing God was to be the great Gods Messenger, and to restore men's discomposed Minds, (as well as Limbs) by his word: the very Office which the Prophets assigned to the Messias, and the Apostles and Evangelists applyed to Christ; A prophet shal the Lord raise unto you of your brethren, like unto me (as touching his humane) but infinitely superiour to me (in respect of his divine Nature.) And that's the scope of that so much abused Text [all thy children shall be taught of God;] (Isa. 54. 13.) if Christ be better at expounding Scripture, than our new illuminates. Who, when the Jews excepted against his affirming himself to come down from Heaven, (because they knew his Father and Mother, supposing him to be the Son of Jo∣seph) as they said) (Joh. 6. ver. 42.) gives them this reply. That no man could come to him (that is as one that came down from Heaven, and whom they were bound to hear under pain of extermination) except the Father drew him (ver. 44.) not as a log by main force of hand; but as a man, by strength of Argument: by teaching him the meaning of that Text in the Prophet, [and they shall all be taught of God] (ver. 45.) which cannot be understood of the person of the Father, for no man hath seen the father but the son, (ver. 46.) Nor of the Spirits teaching; for that the Church had from the beginning (thou gavest them thy good spirit) (Nehem. 9. 10.) But of the Person of the Son, who was in the Fullness of Time, to assume Flesh, and dwell among us, and teach not only Jews but Gentiles, what they must do to be saved: So as, in the last revelation of the divine Will, God will no longer deal by pro∣xy: but himself in the Person of the Son, will speak face to face, which you might have learn'd, in Hypothesi, had you diligently weighed that Text: (of Isa.) and though I, in respect of my humane Nature, am the son of Mary, and as you suppose, of Joseph, whom you know: yet, at my Baptism, you might have learn'd that I had another Generation: for then my Father bare witness by a voice from Heaven, that I was the son of God: and at my transfiguration (having avouched me to be his well beloved Son) he gave command that I should be receiv'd, as that Prophet whom all are to hear: every man therefore that hath heard and learn'd this of my Father concerning me; that I am that great Prophet that was to come into the World (like to my Brethren, as to my Manhood: but equal to the Father, touching my Godhead) will cer∣tainly come to me, and learn of me: as to those, whom my Father (by these clear convictions, and furthermore, by that Seal he hath set to my Commissi∣on to teach, in those Miracles I work) does not draw into a full perswasion; 'tis impossible that they, while they are under that obstinacy, should come unto me. Hence it is that our Saviour so much presseth, and layeth so much stress upon the believing, that he was he, that should come to tell men all things; hence St. Paul begins his Epistle to the Hebrews with the proof of this, that Jesus of Nazareth was that divine Person, the express Image of the Fathers person; by whom (according to the Prophecies that went before) God hath spoak in the last, that is, the Evangelical Age.

§ 8. Humane Laws (we say) are Nets, which small fish escape through and great ones break; but Christ's Law is so framed, his Gospel net so knit, as the Vulgar fry stick in it by the Finns and Gills of common Sentiments: And the greatest disputers are intangled in it by strugling. It takes the poor of this World by the compliance with their innate Notions; and the wise, in their own craftiness. By it

Learning was pos'd, Philosophy was set, Sophisters taken in a Fisher's net: Plato and Aristotle were at a loss: And wheel'd about again, to spell Christ's Cross.

As our great British Divine (and Divine Poet) sings (in his Church (tit. Providence) in which Poem as he hath given us an abstract of Church-history;

so (I fear) there is a more discerning spirit of Prophecy expressed therein, than in all our modern golden Dreams, and Comments upon Daniel and the Revelation: these Predictions being but guessings at (if not perversions of) the sence of dark Texts: his the applications of as clear menaces, as any are in the whole Bible: and these (too) commented upon, by the constant method of Providence in the World; which usually so shapes its rewards and Pu∣nishments, to mens demerits: as for our knowing what will betide our selves, we need not consult ambiguous Oracles, but such plain sanctions of the royal Law, as have been made good upon, and befallen other Churches, for exam∣ples to us: for if we will not be diverted from following Egypt and Greece's steps: we must arrive at their dismal end, if we, by our debaucheries of mind or life, put the Gospel from us, and draw upon our selves strong de∣lusions; a Revelation-Criticism will not secure the one to us, nor us from the other. But to return from this Digression. The constitution of Christian Religion is such, as it finds all that is of man, left in man, a party for it, in the Market; and all true Philosophy, a party for it, in the Schools of Philo∣sophers (saith Clem. Alexandr. Strom. l. 1. pag. 94.) whether of the Barbari∣ans or Grecians (I mean) not the Stoick, Platonick, Epicurean, Aristotelian: but, whatsoever any Sect rightly taught; whatsoever they taught Pious or Just, is but a Branch of eternal Truth, pluck'd from the Tree of Life (the ever-being Word.) An observation grounded upon these Prophecies: I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches of it,—and build it as in the days of old,—build the old wasts, raise up the former de∣solations, the foundations of many generations (Amos 9. 11. Isa. 61. 4. Isa. 58. 12.) and this to the end, that the residue of men (that is the Gentiles) might seek the Lord (Act. 15. 16.) as St. James expounds the Prophets: which in∣forceth us to interpret those Prophecies, not of Persons only, but Doctrines. For the Gentile was grafted in, not only upon the cutting off of the Jews, but upon the raising up of those Foundation-truths; which not only among the Jews, but the many Generations of the Heathens, had been buried under the rubbish of humane Vanities built upon them. This interpretation induc'd the Apostolical Synod, to reestablish the Precepts of Noah, as an Expedient to gain upon the Gentiles. The Platonicks conceived all knowledg to be no∣thing else but [reminiscentia] an awakening of the mind to see innate Noti∣ons: The Notions of the Gospel were not innate, yet so imprest (by Tradi∣tion) upon all mens minds; as the embracing of it, is call'd a man's coming to himself. (Psal. 22. 27.) All the ends of the world shall remember themselves, and turn to the Lord. And therefore true Philosophy is so far from being a Prejudice against, as it is an Introduction to, a Preparation for the Gospel. When the Philosophers (saith Isidore Pelusiota) saw, in that grain of Mustard-seed, all that Truth Vertually laying, which they had been seeking for; how many of them, bidding adiew to their own Opinions, betook themselves to the shady Branches of the Tree of life, and there found rest: how many Pythagoreans, (formerly the Ma∣sters of pride and disdain) became the Scholars of our meek Jesus? How many Platonicks (letting fall their Crests, proudly lifted up through an opinion that they excell'd all men in the Art of Discourse) sat down at Christ's feet under the shade of the Mustard-tree? How many Aristotelians, how many Stoicks (scorning that Wisdom whereof they had made greatest boast) thought themselves happy if they could be enter'd among those Disciples of Christ, who observe his word?] (I∣sidor. Pelusiota. lib. 4. ep. 76.) Our Religion is nothing else, but the last and best Edition of that, which was either writ on mens Hearts, or promulg'd in Paradise, to the old; and by Noah, to the new World (who is therefore stil'd the Treacher of Righteousness) which being Pentheus like) pull'd Limb from Limb by the several Sects (each party getting some relicks and scraps of it) the Apostles gather'd up its scatter'd Limbs, and fram'd them into a perfect and compleat Body of Divinity again; (clothing its Bones with the Flesh, 〈…〉〈…〉lling its Veins with the Blood, not of slaughter'd Beasts, but of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World) and presented it to the World; wherein there

was no Nation so barbarous, but if they came near and felt it, they might find something in it, of which they might say: This is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone: whatever I retain (either of right Reason, or solid Religion) is comprehended in this. This is that express Image of the Father, of which I had the rough-draught: All the Wisdom I have retain'd, or learn'd, I meet with in this foolishness of Preaching. of this the Apostle was so confident; as to the Jew, he became a Jew; to the Gentile, a gentile: (1 Cor. 9. 20, 22.) not by a sycophantick and temporizing compliance with the least of their Errours, but by taking advantage of the truths they held, as Mediums by which he ar∣gued them into an assent to the Gospel: dealing with every man at his own suresby-weapon, and upon his own sound Principles. He did not flatter them as Clisophus did King Philip; who when the King's Eye was wounded, bound up his; and when the King had received a hurt on the shin that made him halt halted with him, as if he had been lame: and never saw the King make sower faces, but he look'd as if he were eating the same sharp sawce. Nor conform to them as the Arabians did to their King; who if he were lame of any Limb, they mutilate that Limb of their Bodies: Or the Dionisiocolaces to that Tyrant; who (because he was purblind) groped about for the Dishes that were set before them, till he had got his hand into his (Athen. dipnosoph. 6. 6.) But St. Paul conform'd to Jew and Gentile in their seeing Eye and sound∣est Limbs. Pleading with the Jew, from old Testament-texts: With the Gentile, from the Law of Nature, and the common Traditional Religion: that in the Jews mouth and heart, before the giving of the Law by Moses; that Word whose sound went into all the World by oral preaching, the seed of the Christian faith (Rom. 10.) With the Philosopher, from his most sub∣lime Verities: Such as the several Sects, with whom the Apostle had to do, could not deny (without contradicting those Notions, they were most assured of the truth of:) and yet were not able to defend (against the assaults which their other erronious Opinions made upon them) upon any other but Gospel∣grounds, the only Sanctuary and City of Refuge for all divine Truth: in se∣peration from which, like a Beam, cut off from the Sun: a Stream, from the Fountain: a Branch, from the Tree: a Limb, from the Body; it cannot subsist. This Tent-maker so contriv'd his Tabernacle, wherein he plac'd the Sun of Righteousness, his Gospel, wherein he exhibited Christ; (give me lieve to lisp and stutter now, with those I am opposing (who speak of the Gospel as the device of men:) for I shall hereafter demonstrate it, to be the Contrivement of God:) as it excludes all bad Airs; takes in all the Light, (that was before scatter'd among several Sects) So as Christ keeps open house in it, for all comers; the way-faring man, though a fool, may turn in hither, and find lodging (where his Soul may be at rest) a Table furnish'd with plain Cates, suting his Countrey-palate. The wise man may here be entertain'd, in as much state as heart can wish. In the Muse's Chamber, in Apollo's Din∣ing-room; his vast Soul cannot have that room to expatiate her self in: as in Solomon's Curtains, in Sarah's Tent: nor find that satisfaction in Plato's A∣cademy, in Zeno's Porch, in Aristotle's Walk; as in our King's Galleries, in the Prophets Schools, in Christ's upper Chamber: nor meet with that abstruce Learning in the Egyptian Hierogliphicks, as in the embroidered hangings of Christ's Presence-chamber. Now how men of crazy Intellects, could frame so excellent a Model of Wisdom, so perfect a Mirrour of all Metaphisical Science (truly so called:) we may sooner strain our Brains out of joynt, by stretching our mind to imagine, then imagine, with the least shew of proba∣bility. To which labour in vain I leave the Sceptick, while I lead the Chri∣stian Reader to the Law and Prophets, and shew him (what Ammoni••s, St. O∣rigen's Master of old urged the Philosophers with:) (Euseh. Eccl. 6. 13.) viz. That the Gospel is calculated exactly to the Meridian of the old Testament; in whose Types, Precepts, and Predictions, there is not one imaginary Line, but hath its paralel in that.

CHAP. VIII.

The Gospel calculated to the Meridian of the Old Testament.

§ 1. In its Types. § 2. Its Ceremonials fall at Christs feet with their own weight The Nest of Ceremonies pull'd down. That Law not practicable. § 3. Mo∣ses his Morals improved by Christ by better Motives: Moses faithful; Christ no austere Master. Laws for Children; for Men; for the Humane Court; for Conscience. Christ clears Moses from false Glosses. § 4, It was fit that Christ should demand a greater Rent, having improved the Farm. St. Mat. 5. 17. explain'd. Christian Virtue a Mirrour of God's, admired by Angels; St. Mat. 7. 26. urged. The Sanction of the Royal Law. § 5. St. Paul's Notion, of Justification by Faith only, explain'd, it implies more and better work, than Justification by the works of the Law. Judaism hath lost its Salvifick Power. Much given, much required. The Equity and Easiness of Christ's Yoak Discord in the Academy; none in Christs School.

§ 1. THe Gospel is so fram'd as it exhibits to us the Substance of the Law's Types; wherein the things pertaining to the Person, Office, and Kingdom, of the Messias, were umbrated; without reference to which, most of them are such childish and beggerly Toys, as the instituting of them is ma∣nifestly unworthy of infinite Wisdom, and that solemn pomp (of signs and wonders) that went before them, as inducements to the Israelites to receive them with due reverence, would be in the most candid Interpretation of im∣partial Reason) no better than the Mountains swelling, and going in hard la∣bour to bring forth a ridiculous Mouse. From which imputation of folly (observed, and objected by the Heathens, against their Lawgiver) the most learned Mythologist Philo Judaeus, though he attempt to vindicate Moses, yet missing Moses his Scope, (and not looking to the end of his Law) he falls far short of his purpose; and makes worse work of it, than a Novice-Christian would, that has but learn'd this Principle [the Law was a shaddow of good things to come, but the body (that casts those shadows) is Christ;] A Tast where∣of he gives us (in his Treatise of Circumcision) wherein (having premis'd how unlikely it is, that so severe a Ceremony should be taken up upon weak Grounds) he lays down these wise reasons for it. 1. [The prevention of the growing of the Carbuncle in that part:] (Just as if a man should advise to have the Head chop'd off, to prevent the aching of it. 2. [That that Membrane might not be a receptacle of uncleanness:] upon the same reason they must not only, with the Egyptian Priests, shave off their hair (which he grounds upon the same reason) but slit their Noses, and crop their Ears, and dismember themselves of other Vessels receptory of Excrements. 3. For the procuring of Foecundity, of which he saith it is a necessary Cause [aiunt enim ità semen rectà ejaculari integrum, nec diffluit per sinus preputii:] As if Nature could not frame her own Tools, in a form fittest for the use, she in∣tends them. And yet these Grounds of Circumcision (he saith) came to his ears by the Tradition of divine men, his Ancestors, who most diligently ex∣pounded Moses. Of the like grain are the Reasons he gives, why God pro∣hibited the planting of Groves about the Tabernacle; [because it was not meet, to bring man's or beast's Dung near the Tabernacle, to manure the Trees, and make them flourish.] (Philo de monarchia 2.) Of Gods commanding the Priests, to wear linnen while they officiated. Because such garments are not made of a matter proceeding from mortal Creatures, as woollen are.] Eadem cum ratione insanit, with the same kind of reasons he plays the fool, in making the High Priests Apparel a resemblance of the World; his Jacinth colour'd Vest tipifies the Sublunary; his Pectoral, the Celestial Region; the two Emeralds on either Shoulder, the two Haemispheres; the twelve Stones therein, the twelve

Signs of the Zodiack: Its name [Rationale] does denote, that all things com∣prehended by the Heavens, were made and adorn'd, upon Principles of the best Reason:] Thummim, or Verity, does denote that [no lye can come into Hea∣ven:] Urim, or Clarity, that [all the light, which is in the sub-celestial, flows from the celestial Bodies: The Flowers on the Fringe do tipifie the Earth, whence they spring: the Pomgranates, Water: called [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] for their fluidness: the Bells, the Harmony and Concent of the Parts of the World among themselves (Philo de monarch. 2.) With how much more credit do the Evangelists bring off Moses, when they present Christ as the substance of that Mannah, that Bread of Heaven, that Angel's Food, wherewith the Jews were sustained in the Wilderness: of that Rock, of which they all drank: of that brazen Serpent lifted up to heal those who were stung of fiery Serpents: of that Pascal Lamb, by the sprinkling of whose Blood, they were preserved from the stroak of the destroying Angel: a Lamb of the Flock, without blemish; a perfect man; (of the stock of Abraham) and without sin, and taken up, carried in procession into Jerusalem, on the same day, whereon their Paschal Lamb was seperated from the Flock: his Blood, the thing signified by the Blood of Bulls and Goats, his Divine Nature, by the Goat that was dismist (the Scape-goat;) his human, by the Goat that was sacrificed; his Body, the sub∣stance of Tabernacle and Temple (wherein the God-head dwelt bodily:) his Priest-hood, as to the offering of the great Propitiatory, typified by Aaron's Priesthood: as to his Blessing in the vertue of that Sacrifice, by Melchisedech's Time would fail me to enumerate particulars. See more of them in St. Je∣rome's Preface to his Exposition of Hosea. [Velum Templi scissum est; & o∣minum Judaeorum secreta patuerunt. Verus Helizaeus aquas steriles atque mor∣tiferas sapientiae suae condivit sale, & fecit esse vitales: Marath aqua legis ligno patibuli dulcorata est.] [The Veil of the Temple was rent in twain from top to bottom; to signifie that all the Jews Mysteries were by Christ laid open: He be∣ing that true Elisha who with the salt of his Wisdom season'd those steril and mor∣tiferous Waters of the Sanctuary, and made them healthful. It was by the wood of his Cross that the bitter water of the Law was sweetned. The Apostles setting the Watch of the Gospel, so exactly to the Dial of the Ceremonial Law, as to keep touch with all its Minute-shadows: their drawing the features and proportion of Christs Face; so as to resemble that Image, which the glassy Sea of Mosaical Rites reflects: So as in those Draughts we see his glory, as the glory of the only begotten Son of God (full of Grace, as to himself; full of truth, as to them:) and thereby also rendring the Law it self full of Grace, and worthy to be esteem'd the progeny of the Divine Mind; speaks them to have had their wits about them.

§ 2. The Gospel is perfectly consonant to the Old Testament, in re∣spect of its Precepts and Ordinances. It hath indeed abolished the Ceremo∣nial Law; but without clashing with the Sanction of that Law) and upon clear and indubitable Old Testament-principles, where we hear God saying; [he would make a new Covenant] with them, not according to the Covenant he made with their Fathers, when he brought them out of Egypt, which Co∣venant they brake: and promising to erect [a new Priest-hood not after the or∣der of Aaron, but Melchisedech. From both which common places, the A∣postle argues strenuously; (Heb. 8. and 7.) [when he saith the new, he maketh void the old;] [where the Priesthood is changed, there must of necessity be a change of the Law.] The Old Testament points out him that is to be a Priest for e∣ver after the order of Melchisedech) as to come of the Tribe; not of Levi, but Judah: which Topick the Apostle pursues and applies to the blessed Je∣sus, who according to the Prophecies that went before of him, sprang of the Root of Jesse, came from the loins of David, and was the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah; of which Tribe, none by the Law, were to be made Priests, but of the Tribe of Levi: and that therefore the Levitical Law was prescribed a∣gainst, in the Prediction of Jacob, and in the preheminence of this Melchise∣dokian

Preist before the Aaronical, hinted by Melchisedech's Blessing and receiv∣ing Tithes of Abraham, while Levi was yet in his Loyns; almost four hundred years before that Law, which assigned Levi to the Priest-hood. And lest, this Law which assigned Levi to that Office, might be interpreted as vacat∣ing Melchisedech's: the Apostle observes that long after Aaron had been made a Priest, and that without an Oath, that Kingly High Priest, after the order of Melchisedek, was made a Priest by Oath: (Hebr. 7. 17. 18.)

In the Old Testament, (Malac. 1. 11.) God expresseth his dislike of Le∣vitical Sacrifices and Ordinances, in comparison of another Sacrifice and Ser∣vice that was to be exhibited. A point acknowledged by the Jewish Rab∣bies; who upon these Texts have these reflections, Psal. 69. [Laudabo no∣men dei—& placebit deo super vitulum novellum, cornua producentem & un∣gulas.] This is the new worship, that shall be given to God, in diebus Christi (saith Aben Ezra.) A worship, will please God better, than the Oxe which Adam sacrificed; [Qui perfectus erat de terra creatus:] a perfect Oxe (an∣swerable to one, three years old) the day he was created: having hoofs and horns (saith R. Solom.) Than that three years old Oxe of the Peace-offering; or so large as he can push with his horns, or so great and comely as he makes men contend about him (saith R. David:) all center here, that the most choice Legal Sacrifices are not comparable to that spiritual Worship which should be introduc'd in the days of the Messias. Without relation to which, legal observances were not good, nor such, as by which they should live (Ezeck. 20. 25.) God protesting he never spake to their Fathers, touching Sa∣crifices and Oblations, abstracted from that end of the Law (Jerem. 7. 22.) and chiding them for treading his Courts, for making many and fervent Prayers, for offering Incense, for bringing their Oblations and burnt Offer∣ings; without having an eye to the spiritual part of worship, and to Christ (the Life and Spirit of all acceptable Worship;) (Isa. 1.) Of which imper∣fection and faultiness of the first Covenant the Apostle takes notice; as that which made way for the second (Heb. 8. 7.)

In the Old Testament God promiseth that, under the Kingdom of Messias, he would take Priests and Levites out of all Nations (Isa. 66. 21.) that stran∣gers should be Israel's Pastors, Plough-men, and Labourers in the Vine-yard (Isa. 61. 5.) What must then become of the Law, prohibiting any, but the sons of Aaron to approach the Priest's Office, to minister in the Sanctuary? Levi must lose his Plough, when Messias makes Gentiles put their hands to his, and therefore there is much more of ingenuity, and correspondency to their own Prophets than in modern Jews, in that story of the Jerusalem Gomarists, told by R. Judab: of a certain Jew, who being at Plough, and hearing an Arabian telling him, that Messiah was born; presently loosed his Oxen, and sold his Plough and Gears (Lightfoot Harm. pag. 9.)

Lastly, (for to instance in all the Topicks of this tendency would put me upon transcribing the greatest part of the Prophets, and the Epistle to the He∣brews:) in the Old Testament we are told, That Jerusalem it self, the Tem∣ple, the place elected by God for Legal Worship, should become a perpetual desolation, within a few years after the coming of Christ; That Rook's Nest (as they had made it) should be pulled down (Dan. 9. 26.) and then sure the whole brood of those callow and imperfect Rudiments (annex'd to it) laid in it, must fall to the ground. That a time would come, when the true Jove would shake that his lap, wherein his grand Seer, the Eagle-eyed Moses, had laid the Eggs of his Ceremonial Laws. Haggai. 2. 6. [I will shake not the earth only, but the heavens:] that is, as St. Paul (Heb. 12. 27.) expounds that Text; not only the Vanity of the Gentiles, but the Jewish Religion, though of Divine Institution, so far as it is to be shak'd. Or which comes all to one, [The heaven,] that is, the heavenly Sanctuary, the Temple, God's Court, the place of his Residence, where he dwelt between the Cherubims. That Sion would be ploughed up (Micah 3. 12.) [Sion shall be ploughed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the Lord's house as the

high places of the Forrest. This the Chaldees alledg in behalf of Jeremy (Jer. 26. 10.) and the Rabbies observe the accomplishment of it, then, when Turnus Rufus ploughed up the place of the Temple (Dr. Lightfoot, Vespacian 2. paragr. 1.) and what must become then of the whole Crop of the Temple-Ceremonies which had been there sowen, and of the Eggs there deposited? That Jerusalem, the dish wherein Levitical services were to be served up, should be turned up-side-down, and wiped as a man wipes a Dish, (2. King. 21. 13.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. It shall be turned upside down up∣on the face thereof. What can that portend but the spilling of the Cates? So that, to a considerate Spectatour, it cannot but be matter of highest admi∣ration, to see that blinded Nation groping for the door, when the house is fal∣len flat to the ground; and like a company of dispersed Ants, whose hill is digged up, carrying their Eggs in their mouths above this sixteen hundred years; not knowing where to lay them, but expecting still their old Ant-hill should grow up again, out of the dust, wherein it has lain all that while; not considering that, by this time, their Eggs must needs be grown addle. A∣las, what a spirit of slumber hath divine Vengeance powred upon them! see∣ing they still persist in denying that Holy and Just One, after Moses hath so pe∣remptorily and palpably denyed them; after God hath pull'd them from him and hedged up their way to his Law, by an absolute impossibility of observing it! The Temple wherein the greatest and most eminent part of that Law was only performable, being by his irresistible hand demolish'd, and kept from being again erected (in spight of all the attempts of the most daring enemies of our Jesus) and the Nation, to which they are peculiarly calculated, being dispersed, and ceasing to be a Nation. Nay after themselves have (in effect) renounc'd the Religion of Moses, and betaken themselves to the Religion of the Patriarchs, which yet is unpracticable among them in the point of Sacri∣fices: so that they worship God in a way, which neither their Fathers, nor their Fathers-fathers knew: A way taken up by themselves, since the demo∣lishing of their Temple, and dispersion of their Nation: wherein they add and take from their own Law, contrary to the Divine Sanction.

In vain do they urge those Texts that seem (in the Letter) to import the perpetuity and irrevocableness of Moses Law: such as (Deut. 29. 29.) Things revealed belong to us and our children for ever. (Lev. 23. 14.) First fruits a sta∣tute for ever; and, the passover a statute for ever, (Ex. 12. 17.) For, if they will allow David to speak in Moses his Language, when he applies ever to the Temple (Psal. 132. 13.) [This is my rest for ever;] and allow their own eyes to interpret David's [ever] (now they see the place of his residence for ever demolished:) the Chain, wherein they think themselves still bound to Moses, will fall off of its own accord: can the [ever] of Oblations, possibly, be stretched beyond the [ever] of that Sanctuary to which they are limit∣ted.

As vain is the exception against the cogency of this Argument, from the Instance of the first Temples laying waste, during the Babylonish Captivity: during which time, though the Law, as to the practise of it, was, in some points suspended, yet it was not abolished. For,

1. The Law had a shrewd shake, and was loosen'd in its sinews, by the ruine of the first Temple: Gods withdrawing then the Ark of his Presence and Covenant from them, was a sign he would quickly grow weary of sitting on Mount Sion; now, that his foot-stool was removed: his not vouchsafing to give them Fire from Heaven, for their Sacrifices in the second, as he had done in the Tabernacle and first Temple, and yet accepting their Offerings made by strange fire (so directly contrary to the Law) was an Argument, that he stood not so much upon Levitical punctilios, as he did at first, when he punish'd Nadab and Abihu with suddain death, for offering with strange fire. If the Jews will avouch their own story upon (Dan. 6. 4.) [Ut invenirent oc∣casionem Danieli ex latere regis;] (where interpreting [latus regis] to be the Queen, or the King's Concubines, they tell us, that Daniel was an Eunuch;)

they must be forc'd to a confession, that God stood not much upon the Cere∣monial Law, when he preferr'd an Eunuch (who by that Law was not to come into the Congregation) into that intimate Communion with himself, as to reveal to him more of his Counsel than he did to any Prophet beside Moses: (Jerom. in locum:) I urge these Instances as Arguments ad hominem (they be∣ing the Jews concessions, though in themselves not true, as I shew else∣where.) It is from their own Premisses, I infer this Conclusion. That God weaned them by degrees from Moses, antiquating one Ceremony after another; till at last Christ cancell'd the whole Hand-writing of Ordinances: breach upon breach was made in that wall of partition, till Christ took it wholly a∣way and rac'd it to the ground.

2. God promised to return that Captivity, to restore to them their own Land, and to repair the ruines of the first Temple; but this Captivity will never be return'd, the second Temple will never be repair'd: but both Nati∣on and Place are to be perpetual Desolations. Of this I make proof else∣where, and therefore here shall propound this only Argument to evince the truth of it, (viz.) That during the desolations of the first, the Spirit of Pro∣phecy was not with-held from them, God raised them up Prophets in Baby∣lon: he then set them up Way-marks, guides to their Cities again; he whist∣led to his Flock, scatter'd in that gloomy and dark day of their wandring, to prevent their total dispersion, and to keep them within the hearing of Cyrus his Proclamation: But since the desolating of the second Temple, they have had no Voice, no Vision, none to answer how long; no Prophets have risen up among them, but false ones, as themselves acknowledg: such as Ben Coz∣ba, of whom their Taba (in Taanith per 4. halac. 6.) and Maymon (in Taanith per. 5.) quoted by Dr. Lightfoot (Vespacian 1. Sect. 1.) thus write. [It was on the 9. day of the Month Ab, that the great City Bitter was taken, where were thousands and ten thousands of Israel who had a great King over them; whom all Israel, even their greatest wise men, thought to have been Messias.] And be∣fore him, and Jerusalem's fall (according to our Saviour's Prediction) the many false Christs, of whom Josephus in the History of that Age, gives many instances.

§ 3. As the Ceremonial Law fell with its own weight, was disannull'd by its own Vote, and cancel'd by vertue of its own Ordinances: So that Old Te∣stament-law, which cannot be shaken, 1. Is confirm'd and establish'd, in the Gospel, upon better Principles, and more powerful Motives: 2. And im∣proved by our Royal Lawgiver, in many branches of it, that budded not un∣der that Testament: 3. And in the whole of it, to the utmost heroick degree of Christned Morality, 1. That an humane Soul cloathed with Mortality is capable of, 2. Or can be drawn to by the most powerful Attractives of the Spirit of Grace, 3. Most plentifully poured forth upon all that sincerely em∣brace the Gospel. Of all which points I shall speak distinctly; not only be∣cause they demonstrate that Christ came, not to destroy, but to perfect and fill up the Law, but do also present Christ and the Gospel to us, in a quite other form, than the faithless Solifidian draws them in; whose Models of Christianity look. as if they were designed to shame Religion.

1. The Salvifick Grace teaches us, in the Gospel, to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live godly, righteously, and soberly; with more masculine and strenuous Motives, than were propounded under the Law. The Argument then was [I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; but that which was but implyed in that, is in the Gospel clearly expressed, and obedience prest from our deliverance from the bondage of Satan, the vassalage of our own Lusts, the chambers of eternal Death. The motive expressed there was: That thy days may be long in the land, a land slowing with milk and honey:] here the darkness of Type (that was upon the face of that earth) is dissipated; the waters (that overwhelm'd it) are divided from it, and the dry Land made to appear, that

Land that is very far off, far above all visible Heavens. The Childrens Rat∣tles and Nats being laid aside, the Gospel openly hangs out Prizes, becoming men of full age to run for, in that Race of Holiness that's set before us. This they that would, might have received as their encouragement then; they that took the pains to crack the Nut, found this Kernel of heavenly, with∣in the Shell of those earthly, inducements. In Christ's Manger there's clean Provender, fann'd and winnowed to our hand: in the Crib of Moses, the Corn was in the Chaff; yet so, as they that had their senses exercised to dis∣cern, did seperate the Corn from the Chaff. Now the framing of Gospel∣motives so, as they clash not with, but are superordinated to, yea extracted out of those of the Law (as their spirits) speaks the Compilers to have been men of well composed Minds. To take at that hint which Moses gave, of God's intending some better thing than Canaan, in his informing us; that the whole earth (whereof Canaan was a part) was accursed for Man's sake: and Canaan not only actually under the effects of that Curse; (for it bore Briers and Thistles;) but the most cursed part of the whole Earthly Globe then, when the promise of it was made to Abraham (as being contaminated with the abominations of its Inhabitants, more than any other Countrey. Or at those hints which the Patriarchs gave, of their looking beyond an earthly Ca∣naan, in that promise; in their confessing themselves to be pilgrims and stran∣gers, even when they were setled in Canaan: [I am a sojourner as all my fa∣thers were,] (Psal. 39.) In their not taking those many opportunities which were offer'd them of returning thither, after the end of the Famine, during the whole time of Joseph's Presidency, or of those Kings who knew Joseph: but chusing rather to stay in Goshen, than to go back into Canaan: where, for all its fertillity, they had been famish'd, if Egypt had not releiv'd them: (e∣nough singly to have convinc'd them, that some better thing was involv'd in the Promise.) To take (I say) at such hints, and thence to conclude so irre∣fragably as they do, that the Patriarchs saw, by faith, a Land beyond that, e∣ven an heavenly. Their presenting the Church in such a posture, as Christ's left hand is under her head, while his right hand doth embrace her: (as St. Jerom, from the Fathers, expounds that place (Can. 2. 6.) in his comment upon Zachary) (cap. 4.) So as the two Olive-trees; (Law on left, Gospel on right hand) pour Oyl into the golden Candlestick, the Church, argues the A∣postle's discoursive faculty to have been very sound.

2. Which may be further evidenc'd, by their giving such an account of Christ's improvement of Moses his Morals, in some Branches (that were virtually in the Bole or Root, though they did not actually put forth, till they fell under the vegitating influence of the Sun of Righteousness) as neither speaks Moses unfaithful in his omitting of them, nor Christ austere, in his re∣quiring some things that under Moses were dispensed with. [Christus prae∣cepta supplendo & conservavit & auxit:] (Tertul. Cont. March. l. 4.) [Christ, in supplying the defects of the Law, did as well preserve it as enlarge it.] As in the cases of Polygamy, divorce, retaliation, deportment toward enemies, &c. By their imputing Moses his giving of dispensations, to the hardness of that peoples heart, for whose benefit, and whose temper his Laws were fram∣ed: who were tolerated in less, to prevent their breaking out into greater sins (Mat. 19. 8.) And his not imposing some (and those the most spiritual and heroick Duties) to the Childishness of the Synagogue, being under age till the Fulness of Time (Gal 4. 1.) The Christian Age is thence stiled, by St. Chrisostom (tom. 3. pag. 93,) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the age ripe for great∣er commands, Both which being removed by Christ; hardness of heart (by the plentiful pourings out of his Spirit:) and childishness, by making us men in knowledg (through his most manifest revelation of spiritual and E∣ternal life:) As also that heavy Yoke of carnal Ordinances, sutable to the Necks of that carnal People; who minded not [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the eternal and natural rules of Justice and Piety (Just. Martyr 〈◊〉〈◊〉:) (and therefore imposed upon them, as we send Children

to School, to keep them employed: (To impose some checks and stops in their course of carnality, to find them work (as Justin Martyr tells Tryphon the Jew) and out of the way of those harms they are otherwise prone to run into.) From which divine Impositions they took occasion of becom∣ing more childish, relying for acceptance with God, more upon those bodi∣ly Exercises, than substantial Holiness. These Incumbrances (I say) being taken away by Christ, it cannot be counted an act of Austerity, that he should evacuate all dispensations to sin; and having eased us of the burden of car∣nal Commandments (grievous to an ingenious and generous spirit, such as the Gospel infuseth) should lay so much more weight upon us of noble work, congenial to every humane, and delightful to every evangelized Soul. Christ being come, our brangling and babling work was less: wherefore we had also a greater Task, as having greater assistance given us,] (Theophilact. in Rom. 6. 14.) (for I interpret his [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the wrestling of Boys in the Fenc∣ing-school; and [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the exercises of men, and experienc'd Practitioners; as is manifest from the opposition they are set in.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Theoph. in 1 Cor. 9. 21.) Having a Law more sublime than the old Law, viz. the Law of Christ.

3. By their presenting Moses in some of them, as prescribing Laws Poli∣tick, for the outward Man, not Spiritual, to the Conscience; and therefore dispensing with them (in curia soli non coeli) before Man's, not God's Tri∣bunal. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Isid. Pel. Epist. 134. lib. 4.) The Old Testament made Laws, for the Hand; the new, for the Heart: that regulated, the Action; this the Thought. An hint of which St. Matthew gives (as that divine Critick Dr. Hamond observes) in his prefacing those passages in Christ's Sermon (on that Mount, where he publish'd his royal Law) which concern retaliation, and loving of friends, and hating enemies with [an [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] ye have heard] but leaving out [the [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] by or to them of old] thereby signifying those Doctrines to have been Doctrines of Moses his Law, but not of the De∣calogue, not moral Precepts, wherein Conscience was concern'd; but belong∣ing to Policy and the humane Court: wherein, Moses intending to prevent the first injury (as the learned Isidore observes.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] for fear of suffering the like. (Isidor. Pe∣lusiot. lib 4. epist. 209. tit. in illud oculum pro oculo.) the offended person was allowed to implead the offender, and to have a Tooth, for a Tooth; an Eye, for an Eye. August. (contr. Adamant. Man. cap. 5.) saith [Constitutus est eis primus lenitatis gradus: ut injuriae acceptae mensuram nullo modo dolor vindicantis superaret. Sic enim & domare aliquando posset injuriam qui eam primò non su∣perare didiscisset. Unde dominus huic gradui superaedificavit alterum; ut qui jam audierat, non ampliorem vindictam, quàm qua quisque laesus esset, redderet: placatâ mente totum se donare gauderet: quod etiam in illis veteribus libris Prophe∣ta praedicavit dicens, Domine mi, si feci istud, si reddidi retribuentibus mi∣hi mala: & olim Propheta dicit, de bujusmodi uno patiente injurias & levissime tolerante, Dabit percutienti se maxillam: ex quo intelligitur, & mensuram vin∣dicandi rectè carnalibus constitutam, & omnimodam injuriae remissionem, non tan∣tùm in novo Testamento esse proeceptam, sed longè antè inveteri pronunciatam:] The first degree of Lenity enjoyn'd them was, that they should not through smart, of the injury they had received, exceed the measure of the offence in taking ven∣geance: for thus, he who had first learn'd, not to exceed; might learn, in time, wholly to remit the offence. Upon this reason, our Saviour to that lower degree added an higher; that he who had already been taught, that he must not take re∣venge, beyond the demerit of the injury: might have joy in himself, if he could with a pacate mind forgive the whole: which even in the Old Testament the Pro∣phet commends saying: [Oh Lord if I have done this thing, if I have reward∣ed evil to them that are mine enemies:] And another Prophet speak thus, of one who suffer'd such like injuries, and bare them patiently: [He gave his cheek to him that smote him:] From whence we learn that Moses did well in setting

bounds of revenge to carnal men, and that the free and total remission of injuries was not only justly commanded in the Gospel, but before that, commended in the Law. And for that other of hating their Enemies, that is, the seven Nations; whose sins being ripe, God had sentenc'd the extirpation of them, and made the Jews Executioners of that Sentence (and to have their Cloaths and Pos∣sessions for their pains;) it was necessary, in order thereunto, that they should not pity, but hate them; and that right sore, as God's Enemies: so that nei∣ther he that took that Limb from another, which himself had been deprived of by him; nor he that took away the Life of any of the seven Nations, was responsible for it, before their Judicatories; no more than Hangmen are, a∣mong us, for chopping off Hands or Heads of condemned persons: who yet, if they hate those of whom they are the Executioners (as their own, and not as the Republicks Enemies) and have an Eye more to the Wages, than the executing of Justice, may be guilty (before God) of horrid Murder. And if the Ghostly Father (in his admonition to the condemned) should, in a Paren∣thesis, advise the Executioner, to take heed of contracting the guilt of blood upon his Soul, by a male-administration of his Office: who would accuse him of accusing the Law? No more ought Christ to be thought either to oppose or accuse Moses, in these his reformations; tending not towards the abolition of common Justice, but towards the cautioning and regulating of private Persons aggrieved, in seeking redress of Injuries, or of publick Persons ap∣pointed (as the Ministers of God) to take vengeance upon them that do evil, that neither of them should be over-rigid, in seeking redress, in every petty and inconsiderable Case: and when the importance of the Injury done (ei∣ther to private Persons, or the publick Law) forces them to it; in invo∣cating aid of the Law, to aim not at their own revenge, but God's Glory and the preserving of common Equity. [Ista praecepta magis ad praeparationem cordis quae intùs est pertinere, quàm ad opus quod in aperto fit: ut teneatur in se∣creto anima patientiâ; in manifesto autem id fiat quod eis videtur prodesse posse, quibus bene-velle debemus: (Augustin Marcellino epist. 5.) These Precepts of Christ do rather appertain to the heart than the outward man: that the Soul may possess it self with patience within, and the Christian do that openly, which he thinks will be most profitable to those, to whom we are bound to do good. Thus I have heard some say, that our Laws, touching Usury, con∣fess it unlawful by the Law of God, and damnable in his Court; yet seeing that most men had so little of the fear of God before their eyes, as (notwith∣standing God's excluding Usurers out of his holy-hill) they would be dabling with the accursed thing) that they might set bounds to men's avarice, make it extortion, to take more consideration than the Law allows: that by this li∣mitation, the covetous (whom God abhors) that are resolved to run the hazard of their own damnation, may bring it upon themselves, with as little detri∣ment to others as may be: and that the Christian indeed, that dares take God's bond and suretiship, for the poor borrower, may lend gratis without a∣ny other consideration, than that hundred-fold Reward which he hath pro∣mised. Though I hope better things of the Usurer, yet this tenure of our Law may serve to illustrate Moses.

4. By their giving an account, of Christ's discharging Moses his Law, from those false Glosses and Doctrines which his Expositors had fastned upon it: expressed in St. Matthew by this form of preface ([〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it hath been said,] without either [the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ye have heard,] or [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to them of old]) prefix'd before Christ's discourse, touching Divorce: thereby signifying, that the matter there recited (called by the Pharisees a command of Moses (Mat. 19. 7.) was neither given by Moses in the Law, or by any other after him, to that ancient People, as a Precept: but was a bare permission in the case of turpitude (Deut. 24. 1.) given them for the hardness of their heart. Where, yet, all that Moses commands is only this: That he that doth put away his wife (in that case which he permits (for the prevention of a worse evil) but allows not much less commands) should do it in due form of Law.

Now the Pharisees having put this sence upon Moses, as if he had, in the case of uncleanness, commanded and (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) for any slight Cause, made it lawful, to put away ones Wife. Christ vindicates Moses from this Gloss; and that out of his own Writings; where he gives an account, of the first Institution of Marriage, of Adam's Aphorism when God brought Eve to him, [This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh;] and of Moses his Inference from thence, [Therefore ought a man to cleave to his wife.] Can there be a better Argument of a well tun'd Mind, than to set Christ's prohibition in as perfect a concord to Moses his toleration of Divorce, as that second part of his Song bears to his Descant upon the Epithalamium which Adam sang in Paradise: and with so much dexterity, to remove out of the consort, that Discord which the Pharisees had made, by their putting of Moses out of tune with himself?

§ 4. No less a Decorum do the Evangelists observe in their giving an ac∣count of Christ's improvement of the whole body of the Moral Law (to the highest pitch, that Humane Nature (in this Warfare-estate) is capable of, or can be induc'd to (by the powerfullest Motives, or greatest Assistance) and of his requiring an higher degree of inherent Grace, and the exerting thereof, in more noble Acts of Obedience (to be performed both by the outward and inward Man) in order to God's accepting of us, through Christ, to Salvati∣on, as Persons Justifiable (without impeachment to God's Justice, in con∣demning others: or to the truth of divine and irrevocable Menaces) from the charge of Unbelief and Hypocrisie; then was required in the Mosaical Covenant. Such a pitch of Theological Virtue, of Evangelical Righteous∣ness, Christ more than once calls aloud and distinctly for; as that without which men cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. [I am not come to de∣stroy but to fulfil thé Law (Mat. 5. 17.)] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a word that, when it is applyed to a word or a Prophecy, signifies, to perform or fulfil: but, in other cases it is to fill up, to compleat, to perfect as (2. Chron. 24. 10.) they cast ob∣lations into the Chest, till they had made an end, till they had fill'd it, and used by Christ in this sence (Mat. 23. 32.) fill ye up then the measure of your fathers: whereupon Eusebius saith [admonebat etiam eos, ut altiùs saperent iis quae Judaeis a Mose praecepta fuerant, &c.] (Euseb. demon. evang. 3. 7.) Christ also admonish'd his hearers, that they should savour such Heroick verities, as were higher than those, that Moses gave in command to the Jews.] expressed well by the Ancients, by the similitude of a Vessel that had some Water in it before, but is now filled up to the brim: The holy Waters, that were but An∣kle-deep, and ran in the middle of the Channel before, are made by Christ Bank-high, and Chin-deep; the Image of God in Wisdom, Righteousness, Holiness, to which Old Testament-believers were to conform, (under pain of being rejected as Bastards not Sons) was but a rude drawn piece, in compari∣son of that Image which Christ drew to the life; and requires conformity to now; under the same pain. That this is Christ's mind in this Text is mani∣fest; from what he adds [Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees (the most knowing Expositors of their Law, and the strictest Sect of their Religion) ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven:] From the following Instances (in this Chapter) of several particulars of the Law, barely set down first, and then improv'd by Christ, in this form, [But I say unto you: from his commanding us to be perfect, as our heavenly Fa∣ther is: From his rejecting that rich man, who had from his youth kept all the Commandments (in the general and express sence) for his refusing to come up to those terms (of forsaking all when call'd to it) which Christ had made necessary, to the rendring of men qualified, by the Tenour of the Go∣spel-law, for the Kingdom of Heaven. From St. Peter's stiling Christians [A peculiar people, a nation of kingly priests, that hold forth the virtues of God; and are partakers of the divine nature:] From St. John's telling us, [That he that is of a Christian Hope (and sure none but such as have Christian Hope hold

the Christian Faith) purifieth himself as Cod is pure;] and [that he that doth righ∣teousness is righteous, as God is righteous.] Which Texts, though they imply not ••inless perfection, much less equality with God in holiness, as some blasphe∣niously gloss upon them) yet they can import no less than such a Conformity to God's (in Christian) Virtue; as renders it (as to its Genius and Comple∣xion) super-humane; and those that are endowed with it, the Shrines and Temples of God, wherein a more noble spirit resides, than Adam was capable of in his state of Innocency. As is observ'd by Grotius (that wonder of men for Reading, Judgment, and (which crowns both) Modesty.) Ad vitam coe∣lestem nobis dandam requirit Deus sanctitatem animi eximiam, & quae illum Ada∣mi, non modó ex quo lapsus est, sed & eùm, in quo primùm est conditus, statum longè excedat & nos Angelis aequat, manente tamen discrimine eo, quòd corpora humana ab Angelicis distantia secum ferunt:] (Grotius ad Cassand. consult. articul. 2.) To our being capable of receiving the heavenly Life, God requires an eminent san∣ctity of mind; even such as doth far exceed that, which Adam had, not only after he fell, but when he was first created; and equals us to Angels, bating this diffe∣rence, which humane Bodies, distant from the substance of Angels, carry about with them. Yea I humbly conceive, that the poorest, sincere Christian hath a love to God, a knowledg or apprehension of God; of a more generous kind, a more noble tincture, than Cherubims and Seraphims have: who have their names from ardency of Love and perspicacity of Understanding (as if their essence were made up of delighting in and contemplating of the divine Good∣ness.) Not that we either love, or know God, more or better, than they do: (I have more knowledg of my Ignorance and Chilness, than to harbour such a Luciferian thought, than to set my triumphant Throne above those Stars of the intellectual Heaven:) But there is in our poor cole (almost choak'd with, and buried in, ashes) that peculiar sparkishness; that flows from our leaded frail Glass, those vivid Reflections of the divine Light and Heat, as draw the admi∣ring eye of those Flames of Fire (those pure Christal Mirrors) after them (1 Pet. 1. 12.) [Which things the Angels desire to look into:] as wondring to see in; (1 Tim. 3. 16.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] it put Angels into an exstacy to con∣template the Mystery of the Gospel: and desirous to learn of the Church the manifold Wisdom of God (Eph. 3. 10.) these friends of the Bridegroom, be∣ing ravish'd with contemplating the conjugal knowledg and love, which the Bridegroom and his Bride have of, and bear towards, one another; so illu∣strious is the foresight thereof (in the Glass of the holy Trinity) (whence the Angels that fell learn'd it [non speculando verbum, sed suscipiendo illuminatio∣nem à Verbo] (Bonávent. l. 2. dist. 4. 9. 1.) Not by beholding the word but by re∣ceiving illumination from the Word.) moved envy in Lucifer and his confederate Angels (Hieron. Zanch. de operibus Dei l. 4. cap. 2.) [quia inviderunt hominem hanc dignitatem:] This was the Devil's great sin, that he envied Man's happi∣ness: and the glimmerings of it, in those righteous persons who walk'd with God (before Christ's Incarnation) made them the Objects of the envy of the the Devil's Seed (1 John 3. 12.) though they were but faint glimmerings of that Grace which Christ calls for and requires, in his Gospel-Law; where the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John the Baptist (than whom there had not been a greater Prophet born of Woman) (St. Mat. 11. 11.) where the feeble are to be as David, and the house of David as God (Zechar. 12. 8.) The meanest Form in Christ's School, to equallize the highest in Moses his: and the highest in Christ's, to take out those Lessons, that were never read to any, before Christ set up School; and to perform those Exercises that were never set to any, till Christ gave us a Formula of them in his fulfilling all righ∣teousness, and a command to perform them (Chrisostom, de virgin. cap 44.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] God indulged those times in those and many other things; but after the coming of Christ the way is made much streight∣er, and more noble work set us. [Secuudùm Natur am vivere, laus ejus est, qui nondum credid••t:] (Justin ad Zenam.) To live according to Nature, is his commendation,

that hath not yet attain'd to the Christian Faith: to which whosoever subscribes, binds himself to a more holy and heavenly frame of Heart and course of Life, than any of the most strict forreign Sects propounded: And that under pain of losing the reward of a Christian. For the proof of which we have as full and clear Testimony (from the mouth of him, who is Amen, the faithful and true Witness) as for any Doctrine in all the Bible: not only in that foremen∣tion'd Preface to his Royal Law, but in the Sanction annex'd to it (St. Mat. 7. 26.) [Every one that heareth these sayings of mine] (these terms that I have added to the remedying Law, as it was dispenc'd by Moses, in this Form of words prefix'd [But I say unto you:]) For what can these sayings of Christ's be; but what he had, in that Sermon, said unto them, over and above what they had hear'd was said to them of old time) [and doth them not) shall be lik∣ned unto a foolish man: which built his house upon the sand, and the rain des∣cended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it;] and all this both Law and Sanction, he preach'd not as the Scribes, as a Commentator on Moses; but of his own au∣thority, in his own name, as a Lawgiver: which Sanction (set to his Law, when it first went out of his sacred Lips) he was so far from reversing, as when he seals up all Prophesie (the whole new Testament) the Law to his Disci∣ples: he binds it upon them, and confirms the unalterableness of it, in such forms as these.] [Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man, according as his work shall be:] (Rev. 22. 12.) that is, [to them that continue in well doing, eternal life; but to them that are contentious, (will rather be arguing with God about his Proposals, quarrelling with his Law of Li∣berty, than submit to the practice of it;) and obey not the Gospel: indignation and wrath, &c. (Rom. 2. 8.] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, the first and the last:] and what I said at the first, I say now at the last: what I was at the beginning, I shall be at the end: still of the same mind, and of this mind: [Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in, thorow the gates, into the city, for without are dogs, &c.] [If any man shall add unto these things] (make those things ne∣cessary to salvation which I have not made so: as the Judaizing Pseudo-chri∣stians (who beside the Yoke of Christ) made the Yoke of Moses necessary) [I will add to him the Plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this Prophesie] (make that needless, that I have made needful: as the Gnosticks did) [God shall take away his part out of the book of life.] (Rev. 22. 13. &c.) In which Quotations, and hun∣dreds more of sacred Texts, the Evangelists do so fully obviate the Popish Distinction of Precepts and Counsels, and the Antinomian's, whole brood of worse Birds of that evil Egg (who turn all Christ's Precepts into Counsels;) And (in the language of Isidore) so manifestly pervert, and (Isidor. Pelusiot. lib. 4. ep. 125.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] adulterate the divine Doctrine by mixing the pure and limpid sence of sacred Scripture with their own Opinions: as I wonder how Christian ears can endure to hear their Croakings, in flat Contradiction to the divine Oracles: or tingle not to hear them, putting those things to the question, which Christ has so positively, and without the least ambiguity determined; and that their folly is not mani∣fest to all men, (as well as their audacity) in their interpreting ambiguous places, in the Apostolical Writings, point blank to Christs manifest and plain sence: as if that Spirit of Promise, by which their Pens were directed, had not brought to their remembrance, but made them forget what Christ had said, and prompted them to propound Salvation upon as contrary Terms to Christs, as darkness to light. And in their concluding against the ne∣cessity of Evangelical good Works, from those very places where the neces∣sity of them is most strenuously asserted and maintain'd. To show these blind Leaders of the blind, how great their Darkness is (even in those things where∣in, they think, they have the clearest Light) when they hear St. Paul con∣clude,

that a man is justified by faith, not works; they take faith there, to be terminus diminuens, and to import a lighter burden, an easier Yoke than those works which they deny justification to.

§ 5. Whereas it will easily appear, to him that rightly states the grand Contro∣versie (then arising upon the Coming of Christ) and the common notion of the word [Faith] in the stating of that Controversie: That none of the con∣tending parties did (or could, except they would wilfully pervert the stated sence of that term, and become Barbarians to one another) understand by Faith (in that question) any thing else, but Christian Religion. Can any man think, that St. Paul had not more Grace or Wit, than to assert that a man's bare depending on Christ for salvation, without observing that Physician's Rules, would bring him health? That they who do not so much as believe him; but give him the lye, when he protests he will exclude from Interest in him all those that keep not his sayings: that they (I say) who when he pro∣nounceth woe and menaces, do not take him for an honest man, (a man of his word) either can believe in him for eternal life; or if they should, would obtain it by him? or lastly, that he (or any body else in their right wits) would dispute that which all rational men grant, (viz.) that no Religion can save any man that does not cordially comply with it; or that any man can cordial∣ly comply with a Religion as of divine Original, and not conform to its Pre∣cepts, not follow his God in the observance of his Commands? I put it to the Consciences of the whole Tribe of these lisping Divines, to say, whether Christian, Jew or Pagan did not all confess, that how saving soever the re∣spective Religions which they stood for were, yet they would not benefit him that was not true to them, that did not cordially embrace them; and accept of what they promised upon the terms which they propounded. Let them ask a Jew or a Mahometan what it is that constitutes a Christian, and makes him capeable of the benefits of that Religion? they will readily re••••••ve as plain and true an answer from them, as we can give either of them if they ask us what constitutes a Jew or Mahometan? (To wit) A cordial Compliance with, and Conformity to the Law of Christ; as that which constitutes a Jew, is complying with the Law of Moses; a Mahometan, with the Law of Mahomet: in observance whereof they expect undoubtedly to be saved; because they make no question but that their respective Lawgivers were sent of God, who cannot lye. So far do our new Illuminates fall short of Pagans, Jews and Mahometans, in the knowledg of the true Notion of Faith (as it signifies our Act;) as what these fumbling Theologues grope for (in the dark of their own bewildered Imaginations) lay so bare fac'd to every smatterer in Religion, to every Novice initiated in Judaism and Gentilism as well as Christianity: that none of them ever moved question about it, but were wholly taken up in dis∣puting whether Faith (as it signifies the divine Object of our Belief: (that is) Christian Religion, were able to save them who cordially embraced and lived up to it? Till the Gnosticks (to maintain Libertinism) perverted the common use of that Notion, in the aforesaid Question; and wrested St. Paul's Do∣ctrine, to import Justification by a Faith short of that of Devils (viz.) by a bare frigid assent to the truth of the Gospel, in so remiss a degree as it did not work fear (for had they by Faith been moved with fear or hope, they would have prepared an Ark to the saving of themselves, in order to their obtaining that hope.) This forced St. James to demonstrate the falsity of that Thesis, in the Gnostick's sence of Faith; and to infer that a man is justified, not by Faith only (as Faith signifies our Act) from those very Instances (of Abraham and Rabab:) whence St. Paul concluded Justification by [Faith only (as it signi∣fies the Object of Christian Belief) without Works;] that is, by a faithful ad∣hering to and practice of Christian Religion, without the help or observance of Moses his Law: That having been the ancient and catholick way of Salva∣tion; wherein eternal Life was attainable, before Judaism was in being; and whereby they that were true to it, in all Nations (to whom the sound of Mo∣ses

his Trumpet never reach'd) obtain'd pardon of sin, and God's acceptance of them to eternal life, through that blood of the Redeemer, which was pro∣mised in God's Covenant of Grace with Adam, tipified in the Blood of Sacri∣fices long before Moses; and exhibited and actually tenderd, as an Oblation propitiatory for the sin of the World, in the Fulness of Time, predicted by the Prophets. After which, because the foundation and pillar of it, was be∣lieving that Jesus of Nazareth was that Seed of the Woman, promised to the Patriarchs; and that Seed of Abraham, promised to the Jews: of which later and more distinct promise all the circumstances did so meet together, and concenter in the blessed Jesus: as they must renounce Faith in Moses, and their own Prophets, that did not believe, that he was that person fore-appointed of the Father, to break the Serpents Head. Thence this Religion was called [Faith,] and the Professors of it [Believers;] names whereby, in common use, they were sufficiently discriminated from all others; and therefore used by St. Luke in his History of the propagation of Christian Religion; and by St. Paul in his disputations about Justification (without the addition of any E∣pithete) to signifie, The whole and entire Oeconomy of that Religion, or way of knitting God and man together) which Christ propounded; and the ad∣herers to, And expectants of Salvation in, that Way. Of the same impor∣tance and equipollency, are the Notions, of [anointing] and [Christian;] the first importing that Religion which Christ was anointed to preach, and the later, persons imbued with that Religion: as also [master,] (or [teacher] sent from God) and [disciple] but not so free from ambiguity as these of [faith] and [believers.]

Upon the like Reason [Works of the Law] are used, to denote [Works, directed to be performed, by the Religion of Moses] in order to mens finding, acceptance with God, unto eternal Life: And the relations conducing thereunto, his Writ∣ings having obtained universally (where they were spoke of) the name of [the Law] with the addition sometimes, of the Law [of Moses] or the Law [of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Jews] (when the Discoursers upon that Subject were [Jew] and [Gentile,] because the Gentiles hold their Religions to be Divine Laws, as well as the Jew did his:) But when the Christian discoursed with a Christian or a Jew, they stiled it the [Law,] without such addition (they being both agreed that it was Divine, and the only Divine Law in writing, that had been com∣municated to the World before the exhibition of the Messias.) And to a∣breviate that demonstration, in continued discourses on that Subject, (where it was often to be repeated) instead of [the Works of the Law] (that is, in∣joyned by that Law) they used the simple term [Works.] In the room whereof, they sometimes used the name of that Work which obliged them to all the rest, viz. Circumcision. Hence these Terms: [Circumcision, Works, Works of the Law, the Law, the Law of Works] in the sacred Writings are e∣quivalent, and imply [the terms of that Covenant God made with the Jews, by the Mediation of Moses; as abstracted both from that he made with the Patri∣archs (before) and by Christ (after Moses).] This for the verbal Terms which are easie to be understood by him that observes, what was the great Question agitated in those Times (Isidor. Clarius, in Rom. 3. 20.) [Si cogita∣remus, quae versaretur eo tempore controversia, non erit admodùm difficilis scopum assequi hujus Epistolae: at sine hac consideratione luditur opera.] But whoever attends not to St. Paul's scope in that Epistle, shoots at random, and spends his fools bolt to no purpose. As to the thing it self, I hope these papers will have the for∣tune to fall into no mans hand of so perverted a judgement, or obtuse wit, as shall not at the first hearing give their vote and assent to these Pro∣posals.

1. The grand Question in debate betwixt St. Paul and the Jew was [Whe∣ther the well-pleasing of God, and his acceptance of us (as persons intituled, by his gratious Covenant) to his promise of Pardon, and eternal life) was obtaina∣ble (as the case then stood) by obedience, and observance of, that Religion which was instituted by Moses, or by Christ?) I insert this clause [as the case then stood,] be∣cause

Christ and his Apostles denyed not, but plainly affirmed, That Salvation had been of the Jews; (that is) that Salvation was attainable in the Jewish Re∣ligion, by all those that in observance of it, look'd to the end of it, Christ. But the Question then was, [Whether the great Prophet (that is in the bosom of the Fa∣ther) being come, and his Law being gone out of Sion, and the word of the Lord him∣self from Jerusalem; that old Religion had not lost its salvifick Power?] which, that it had, the Apostle maintains and proves by many Arguments; a∣mongst which this is not the least; That God expected more now from the sons of men, to testifie the sincerity of their Love to him, and to make them capable of his acceptance of them, as sincere, than he did, during those dark∣er Revelations of his Grace, and more sparing allowances of divine Aid. In the demanding whereof the old Religion coming short, was thereby disina∣bled and become uncapeable to save; it being possible that a man might, af∣ter the coming of Christ, perform what it required, on condition of Salvati∣on, and yet not make those returns to God (for the rich Revelation of his Grace by Christ) as he would accept of, for good payment; or as might de∣nominate him, an honest man, a man keeping a good Conscience towards God, and not dealing fraudulently with him: As he must do, if he pay no more Rent of Thankfulness and Obedience, now that his Farm is improv'd (and manur'd with the Lamb's Blood) then was by Contract payable, before that Improvement.

2. And that therefore Justification by Faith implies God's demand of a greater rent, now under the Gospel, than would have passed for good pay∣ment, during the first Lease, or Law of Works. Not as if, either then or now, that Righteousness of Heart or Life (that was, or is required) could, or was intended to be paid, as the least part of our Ransom: as a Fine, for our Forfeiture of the original Contract betwixt God and us, in a state of In∣nocency: No, it cost more to redeem a Soul, by way of price, than all the Righteousness of Angels and Men (summ'd up together) can amount to: that must be let alone for ever; and wholly exterminated from the limits of our discourse touching Justification, when the Question is, [Whether we are justified by faith or works?] But Christ having stood to, and fulfill'd the Terms of that Covenant, whose Condition was Perseverance in Innocency: and paid the Forfeiture that we had made; in both which he supererrogat∣ed; exhibiting that active and passive Obedience, which infinitely exceeds in worth what was required of us: (For that Law demanded man's Obedi∣ence, or Death; but he tender'd both, and in both, not only man's, but God's; the Person subjecting himself to Obedience being God-man;) upon which consideration our Kinsman, not only redeem'd the Inheritance that we had lost, but purchas'd a better for us: It were therefore against all Reason and Equity, that he should be denyed a power to dispose of his own Purchace, to whom, and upon what Terms, he pleaseth: which his good pleasure he hath (from time to time, by some means or other) revealed, and at the last in his own person communicated; wherein it hath pleased his infinite Wis∣dom to proceed in this Method, that in all other former dispositions of the good things he had undertaken to purchase for us, he accepted of less ac∣knowledgment from us, than in this his last will and Testament, made after his actual Purchace: bequeathing Himself and Benefits upon different Terms and Conditions (suitable to the Revelations of his Grace, the Emanations of di∣vine Power, and the Obligations he hath laid upon us.) Hence is that observa∣tion of St. Jerom (on Gen. 6. 9.) [Noah was a just man, and perfect in his genera∣tion:] [Signanter ait in generatione sua; ut ostenderet, non juxtà justitiam consum∣matam sed juxta justiciam generationis suae, fuisse justum:] It is to be mark'd that he calls him just, [in his Generation;] to signifie that he was not so, in respect of consummate Justice; but that he was just, for a man of that age; for one that li∣ved under that Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace. Christ observing, in these his disposals, that generally-acknowledged Rule of common Equity (so of∣ten inculcated in the Evangelists:) That to whom men concredit much, of

them shall much be required; and of them that have received little, of them little shall be expected [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] to expect the same things (à summo minimóque) of Children and of men: the same tale of Brick, from them to whom Straw is given, and them that must gather Stubble in stead of Straw; to lay equal burdens upon unequal strengths; to require the same In∣terest, for the loan of different Summs; of them, to whom hundreds were; and of them, to whom thousands are concredited, is extremely unequal. But the account of the difference betwixt Moses and Christ, as the Antinomians casts it up, is as monstrously unjust, as John Scotus his partition, of the two great Fishes, to himself (who was a little man) and the one little one to the two tall Persons that sat next him, at the French King's Table: giving this Reason to the King, accusing him of making an unequal division, contrary to his order; that he had exactly perform'd his Majesty's Injunction: for here (meaning himself, and the two great Fishes, upon his own Trencher) is one little one, and two great ones; there (pointing to the two proper and corpu∣lent Person's, and the little Fish he had laid before them) are two great ones, and one little one. The Joque might pass, as witty, from his Jeaster; but sure the Action could not arride the King as just, and becoming a Philosopher; except Scotus came nearer to Truth, than he did here to Justice, when to the King asking him, what was the difference between a Scot and a Sot? he an∣swered, the Table, if it please your Majesty; (the King sitting right over a∣gainst him: (Camden's Remains.) by no better Rules of Equity, do the Solifidians proceed in their discriminating the two Testaments; assigning the Gyants work to the Pigmie, and the Pigmie's to the Gyant. A partition that may pass for currant, with silly Women, laden with Lusts; and those mon∣sters of men, whose souls are fallen down into their Paunch or Groin▪ those [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] persons of dislocated Minds, whose Intellects are put out of joynt, by being precipitated from the Pinacle of the Head, to the baser parts, those, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] brutish Animals, that corrupt themselves in those things they naturally know: who make no other use of Religion, but to bribe and gag Conscience, or to be a Pander to their Lusts: such a Cover may fit such Pottage-pots; Such Lettice may sute such lips. The Image of God in the Gospel, thus turn'd heels upwards, may please such, as have no other thoughts concerning him; but how they may either escape his spurns, or banish the o∣pinion of a Deity out of their minds, or make him truckle under (their God of Gods) their Belly. Such Jovinian Libertinism may take with such Jovia∣lists, as St. Jerom describes. [Favent tibi crassi, nitidi, dealbati, adde si vis ••uxta Socraticam irrisionem, omnes sues & canes, & quia carnem amas, vultu∣res quoque, aquilas, accipitres & bubones—de tuo armento sunt, imo inter tuos sues grunniunt,—quòd multi acquiescunt sententiae tuoe indicium voluptatis est: non enim ta•• te loquentem probant: quàm suis favent vitiis.—Pro magna sa∣pientia reputas, si plures porci post te currant quos Gehennae succidiae nutrias post praeconium tuum;—semper pseudo-prophetae dulcia pollicentur, & ad modicum placent—egregia sanè vox & audiat sponsa Christi:] (Jerom. cont. Jovinian. par. 1. tract. 2. ep. 6. cap. 49.) Such beastly hearers may applaud such filthy dreamers, as he tells Jovinian (Ibidem.) [Tibi cedunt de via nobiles, tibi os∣culantur divites caput; nisi enim tu venisses.—In aviariis tuis non turtures sed ••pupae nutriuntur, &c.] Thou hast for thy favourites and abetters of thy licen∣tious Doctrines a company of old fatguts, of young spruce painted Monsieurs; you may add if you please (to make up the number) such as Socrates in derision calls Sows and Doggs; and because thou art all for the Flesh, Vultures (also) Eagles, Goss-hawks and Owls.—If I see any with shining Faces, with periwigg'd Heads, with curled Locks, with rosie Cheeks, they are of thy drove, they grunt among thy Hoggs. The reason why so many acquiess in thy Opinion, is, because pleasure votes for it; they do not so much yeild to the Reason of thy Discourse, as to the sway of their own vitious Inclinations. Dost thou think it a point of great wis∣dom, that thou canst draw a company of Swine after thee, which thou feeds and flatters till they come to be hung up in Bacon-fliches in the smoke of the infernal

Pit.—It hath ever been the Custom of false Prophets to speak pleasing things, and delight men for a moment.—An excellent Doctrine indeed, and such as becomes the chaste Spouse of Christ to hear!—However by prophesying such smooth things thou hast obtain'd that respect as Noble men give thee the wall, and rich men fall upon thy neck and kiss thee; for if thou hadst not opened and widen'd the way, the reeling Drunkard and belching Epicures could never enter into Para∣dise, nor those Lapwings (not Turtles) which are only bred in thy Aviaries, so•••• into the highest Heaven, if thou hadst not brought it down to them.

But how a Doctrine fram'd to please and gratifie such like She-men as these (they commonly being, in every sence, the Major Party;) how such a Codpeice-Religion and Tap-divinity, as the Antinomian has perverted the Gospel into, should take with any grave, sober and studied Divines; with a∣ny of our well-bred Gentry; or with any of those of a courser Clay, that have but any spot of Grace, or the least glimmerings of common Sentiments of Good and Evil; is to me unconceavable. And I must sit down, wonder∣ing in silence at this strange sight: that God should be presented (with the ap∣probation of any that are not unman'd) as conniving at those Immoralities, Immanities, Debaucheries in the New: (wherein he has afforded more Light to discover the exceeding sinfulness of them, more Assistance against them, stronger Motives to avoid them, and threatned a much more grievous Punish∣ment against them that do them) which he would not connive at, under the Old Testament: As if God had sent his Son into the World to set Hell loose, and enlarge the Devil's Kingdom: to proclaim impunity to all man∣ner of Licentiousness; to give men Passes to go to their own place (to that that Judas went to) without stop, molestation, or trouble of Con∣science. Whereas the difference lies point blank on the other hand (as has been proved) the Law of Faith demanding so much more Work, than the Law of Works did: as our Vails are more, our Reward greater, our our Helps of all sorts more plentiful, and our Obligations more con∣straining, then theirs were to whom that Law was given. So as in this diversity of Terms or Conditions, the same general Rule is laid down in both (as their Basis and Summ) [Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, with all thy soul and with all thy strength:] which last Clause being a qualification of the Precedent, renders this Proposal, a fit Ba∣sis for any Covenant that God ever made, or can make with Mankind; for Justice can require no more, nor mercy less, in general, than that we love God, and express our love to him, according to our strength; than which Angels cannot do more, nor the weakest Christian less: whose lov∣ing God with all his strength, argues as much sincerity as Angels show, in their loving him according to theirs: the Gnat moves with as good a will, though not with so great a force as the Eagle; and therefore its in∣dustry as commendable as his. And the Ant is as laborious in carrying a grain in her mouth, as the Elephant is in carrying a Castle upon his back. Angels that are mighty in strength; and, according to that, fulfil God's Commands; reap no greater commendation from Christ than the Angel of the Church of Laodicea did; who had but a little strength, and kept Christ's word. For it is according to what men have, and not according to what they have not, that God and man expect returns should be made, by them whom thay oblige. God, therefore, having given to Man a power not to sin, demanded his perseverance in Innocency, or a sin-less Obedience in our first Parents: In which they faising, and God inflicting as a penalty upon them and their Off-spring (naturally descending of them) the withdrawing of that power (which he was not bound to bestow at first, much less to restore after they had forfeited it) he was pleased to make another Covenant with them, of his mere Grace and Bounty: That as to Satisfaction of his Truth and Justice, in the Expiation for the breach of that first Covenant; he himself would provide a Lamb, in the Merits of whose Blood, every man should have a share, that did but love him

with all that strength which God had left him, or should afford him. From which different Degrees of afforded Strength, arose the different de∣grees of Love and Obedience to God, required (as Conditions of God's accepting our love to him, as sincere) in all the After-Covenants which he made with Man. Now for the Apostles to fit these super-added strings to the Polycord of the Old Testament; to tune the still voice of the Gospel, to the shrill tones of the Law; to make Christ's Pipe accord with David's Harp; the Trumpet on Mount Sinah, with the Law that went out of Sion; to set their new Song, to the old Tune, was not the work (Ambu∣baiarum) of every trivial Ballad-singer; but of minds well set, and perfect∣ly harmonious. A blind fortuitous Concourse of such variety of Herbs could never have produced so-well-ordered a Sallad, temper'd to the tasts of all savoury Pallats. Seeing the wisest Philosophers were so far from a general consent one with another, as not one of their Schools agreed with, but contradicted it self; (Euseb. de praep. Evang.) demonstrates how the School of Plato jarred with its own Dictates. Symphoniam & consensum scripturarum commendat per antithesin monstrat â Ethnicae Philosophiae 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉▪ adeò ut invalescente opinionum varietate & re pugnantiâ, alii in Sectus divisi hostilibus 〈◊〉〈◊〉 decertarent, alii 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 laudarent, &c.] And thence commends the Symphony of the sacred Scriptures, from the Untun∣ableness of Gentile-philosophy with it self; insomuch as through the prevailing of various and repugnant Opinions; some being divided into Sects contended with hostile hatred; and others grew to that pass, as they would affirm nothing, but turn'd Scepticks.

CHAP. IX.

Gospel-history agrees with Old Testament-prophesie.

§ 1. Christ's Appeal to the Prophets, § 2. The primary Old Testament-Pro∣phesies not accomplishable in any but the blessed Jesus. Jacob's Shilo; Gentiles gathering. Scepter departed, at the demolishing of their King's Palace. § 3. By consent of both Parties. Not till the Gentiles ga∣ther'd. Children to Abraham of Stones. Gentiles flock to Christ's Stan∣dard, § 4. Signs of Scepter's departure. Price of Souls paid to Capi∣tol. Not formerly paid to Caesar. Mat. 17. 25. explained. § 5. Jews paid neither Tythes nor this Polemoney to any but their own Priests before Ves∣pasian, who made Judah a vassal to a strange God; such as their Fathers knew not.

§ 1. NO less harmoniously does Gospel History fall in with Old Testa∣ment-prophecy, touching the Messias; His Lineage, [of the house of David, Psal. 132. 12. Act. 2. 30.] His Mother, [a Virgin, St. Mat. 1. 22, 23.] His Place of Birth, [Bethlehem, Mat. 2. 5, 6.] of Education, [Nazareth, St. Mat. 2. 23. that from his dwelling there he might be known to be the Branch [Natzar,] a name given the Messias, Isai. 11. 1. Jer. 23. 5. Zachar▪ 6. 12. &c.] of Retreat from Herod's Cruelty, [Egypt, St. Mat. 2. 15. Hosea 11. 1.] of his greatest Converse during his Ministry, [Galilee] of the Gen∣tiles, Mat. 4. 14. Isa. 9. 1, 2. The time of his Ministry [half seven Years, Or the half of a Prophetick Week Dan. 9. 27. So Scaliger de emendatione, Pas∣cha Christi,] The specifick Miracles for confirmation of his Doctrine, [healing sick, restoring sight to the blind, legs to the lame, &c. St. Mat. 11. 4, 5. Isa. 35▪ 6. Isa. 61 1. Christ appeals to his working Miracles by the rule of Prophesie.] His being betrayed by one of his Familiars, one that did eat of his bread, [Judas, St. John. 13. 18. Psal. 41. 9.] The Price he was sold at [thirty pence,] The Fields name that was bought with that price of blood [the Potters] Field, St. Mat. 27. 7, 8, 9. for which the Evangelist quotes Jeremy though the Text be in Zachary chap. 11. 13. because the 10, 11, 12. Chapters of Zachary were a part of Jeremy's Prophesie, not committed to writing till after the Captivity, and then annex'd to the former Chapters of Zachary: as other mens Psalms are inserted amongst David's; and Agur's Proverbs annex'd to Solomon's, as that Jewish Proverb imports, The Spirit of Jeremy rested on Zachary; (Ham∣monds Annotat. Heb. 8. 9.) The flight and dispersion of the Apostles, St. Mat. 26. 31, 56. Zach. 13. 7. His Crucifiction betwixt two Theives, St. Mar. 15. 27, 28. Isa 53. 12. His Buffering, St. Mat. 26. 67. 27. 29, 30. Isa. 50. 6. His Vineger, his Gall, St. John 20. 28, 29. St. Mat. 27. 34. Psal. 69. 21. The di∣viding of his Vesture, The casting lots for his seamless Coat, St. John 19. 24, 25. Psal. 22. 18. The piercing of his Side, Their not breaking of his Leggs (as they did theirs that were crucified with him, St. John 19. 36. Exod. 12. 46. Psal. 34. 20. Zech. 12. 10. Psal. 22. 16. &c.) As these things were foretold of the Messiah, so they were in every Title fulfill'd in the blessed Jesus. I ap∣peal now to all men of Common Sence, to judg, whether men of dislocated Understandings, could have carryed the matter so eavenly, as the Evangelists did here, making their Gospel-relations (as well wrought Wax) to take the perfect Impression, and Seal of Old Testament Predictions? presenting Jesus of Nazareth, wearing that very Coat of Arms, which the Prophets had blazon'd for the Christ: so as the word which they preach'd concerning him, differs not in the least, Title, Tone or Accent, from that which the Prophets preach∣ed touching the Messia: Of which our Saviour was so confident, as he made frequent appeals to the Tribunal of Moses and the Prophets: offering to put

the Issue of the whole Cause to this trial; that if he did not express, to the life, that Model, which the Prophets had drawn of the Messiah, he would be content they should disown him, and esteem him an Impostor. No less earnest were the Apostles to have Moses and the Prophets umpire the Controversie; making with their Hearers such candid Expostulations as these: [We preach no other things of Jesus, than what Moses and the prophets said would come to pass:] if you can find one line in the face of your Messiah (as 'tis drawn by their Pencil) which we cannot shew you in Jesus Christ's, we will give you leave to spit in our faces. A Point wherein the Jews joyn'd issue with the Christians in the Primitive Times; but were as often foyl'd, as they provok∣ed to this way of determining the great Question in Controversie; Whether Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messias? [Itaque dicunt Judaei, provoce∣mus istam praedicationem Isaiae 7. & faciamus comparationem, an Christo, qui jam venit, competat, &c.] (Tertul. adv. Judaeos, cap. 9.) Let us bring (say the Jews) this Doctrine of Christians to the Test of the Prophet Isaiah (Chap. 7.) and by comparing it, see whether the name [Immanuel] which he gives to the Mes∣sias agree, to him who they say is come? Why? (saith Tertullian) ask any Chri∣stian, and he will tell you that Jesus Christ is Immanuel (that is) God with us: as the Prophet expresseth the Importance of that name. But how doth that agree to your Jesus which is here said, [The Child shall receive the riches of Da∣mascus and the Spoils of Samaria against the King of Assyria?] Do but consi∣der (saith Tertullian) that the Child is to receive these, before he can say Dad or Mam (Is. 8. 4.) and it will convince you of the vanity of that fancy of yours, [that the Messias is to be a mighty Warrier, and to subdue all Nations by force of Arms:] for then he must call his Souldiers together, not by sound of Trum∣pet, but by blowing his Coral-whistle; and ride upon his Hobby-horse to take in Castles. And withal call to mind, that the Riches of Damascus and other East∣ern Countreys of Arabia, (to which Damascus anciently belong'd) are Gold and odoriferous Gumms, Spices and Plants. And then you may learn, that at the wise men's presenting our Saviour with Gold, Frankincense, and Myr••h, the ••abe Jesus received the Riches of Damascus before he could cry Father or Mother, &c. And whereas the Jews objected the impossibility of a Virgin-birth; and there∣fore expounded Isai. to speak of a young woman. Tertullian replies, that that would have been no Sign; for there is nothing more ordinary than for young wo∣men to bear children (vide caetera loco citato.) By this Method of arguing the Jew was so baffled, as he wav'd the dispute about Christ's Person, and stood only upon a Dispute about his coming (in St. Austin's time;) of which he gives this Reason: Because he was so manifestly describ'd in their own Prophets, that the Baptist sent to ask Christ, art thou he, that the Jews said, tell us if thou beest the Christ: and that to this day they look for just such an one as our Jesus. [Quomodo autem nobiscum non de Christo sed tantum de adventu ejus disceptarent, nisi bene nossent eum in libris Prophetarum, cur à Joanne quaeritur u∣trùm ipse sit Christus? cur ipsi domino dicunt, quamdi••s animam nostram tollis? si es Christus, die nobis palàm? nisi quod hoc nomen, in illa gente, per illas literas & scribatur, & expectabatur,] (Aug. contra Faustum, tom. 3. lib. 12. cap. 44.) So true is that of Tertullian, [Quid est autem signare prophetiam? quoniam im∣pleta est prophetia per adventum ejus; ipse est signaculum omnium prophetarum:] (related out of him by St. Hierom in Dan. vision 8.) What's meant by the seal∣ing of Prophecy (in Daniel) but that all Prophecy is fulfil'd in Christ's coming, he being the seal and full sum of all the Prophets.

Nay so perfectly did every Tenon of Evangelical History fit every Mortice of sacred Prophecy, as the Pagan World (saith St. Aug. epist. 59.) [Nam ipsa prophetia, quid aliud, nisi à nobis putaretur esse conficta, si non de codicibus inimi∣corum probaretur:] might have thought the Apostles had forged the Old Te∣stament-Oracles, at their own fingers end; were it not that they are safely kept in the Jews custody, and to be found in the Archives of those grand ad∣versaries to the Christian Name; and therefore he imputes to a signally graci∣ous Providence the making good upon that Nation that prophetick Prayer;

(Psal. 58. 12. [Slay them not, lest they forget.] In God's preserving the Jews (in the midst of those several Nations into which they are disperc'd) a visi∣bly distinct Body from the Natives, with whom they neither mix in Marriage or Religion: by means whereof the Church can no where want a Demon∣stration of the Truth; they being her Library-keepers; and carrying those Books after her, whose Authority she urgeth, for the defence of Christian Religion: of whose quotations, if Gentile, Jew, or weak Christian, make any doubt, he may step into their Synagogues and satisfie himself, by enquir∣ing of those that are our Enemies in their Hearts, our Witnesses in their Books: (vide Aug. tom. 4. pag. 509. de fide invisibilium.) Ergo occisi non sunt sed dispersi—in libris suffragatores, in cordibus bostes, in codicibus testes, &c.

§ 2. As the Gospel exhibits the full accomplishment of former Pro∣phecies; so 'tis absolutely impossible, that the chief of those Prophecies can be fulfill'd upon any other Person, than our Jesus, to whom the Apostles apply them. Such is that of old Jacob; [The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from betwixt his feet, until Shilo come, and unto him be gather∣ed the people or gentiles.] for the understanding of this Prophecy, I shall bor∣row Light from the sagatious Mede in these Animad versions.

1. Scepter is not to be restrained here to [Kingly power] but signifies [any Power or Majesty of Government under what name or form soever;] whereof a Rod or Staff (the word here translated Scepter) was anciently the Ensign: hence the Septuagint translates it [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] there shall not fail a Ruler, nor [Juridicus] a Lawgiver from betwixt his feet, i. e. of Juda's Loyns (it being the use of Scripture, modestly to express the place of generation by Thigh or Feet) upon the mistake of which Oriental Idiom, grew the Fable of Bacchus being born of Jove's Thigh.

2. Till Shilo come, i. e. the Christ the Messiah; as the Jews anciently acknow∣ledged not only in their Talmud (where Shilo is reckon'd among the Names of the Messiah:) but in all the three Targums or Paraphrases, that of Jerusalem rendring it expresly [until the time that King Messiah shall come;] that of Jo∣nathan [until Messiah come, a little one of his sons;] applying it to David the least of Jessee's sons; that of Onkelo's, [till Messiah come, whose is the King∣dom.

3. And to him the Gentiles shall be gather'd; there is nothing in the Ori∣ginal to answer [shall be,] and therefore the word [until] is common to this, with the former Sentence, namely thus: The scepter shall not depart from Ju∣dah, until Shilo come, and the gathering of the people be to him: Two things being here specified to come to pass, before the Scepter depart from Judah, or Judah cease to be God's Commonwealth.

• 1. The coming of the Messiah or Christ into the World.
• 2. The gathering of the People, Nations or Gentiles to him.

4. This Exposition, as it clears the Text from those difficulties, where∣with the Question of the Scepters departure is intangled and perplexed (to the hardening of the Jew in his mis-belief) so it clearly states the time of its Departure, (viz.) at the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish State, by Titus; when both these things were come to pass: Christ being come, and the Gentiles converted unto his Obedience. If it be objected that Christ was estated in his Kingdom over the Gentiles at his Resurrection; actually en∣ter'd upon the managing of it over the Gentiles at his calling of Cornelius, formally rejected the Jews at St. Paul's turning from them to the Gentiles, the Answer is easie, plain and full. 1. That by his resurrection God declared him to be that Person whom he had appointed to that Kingdom. 2. His actual entring upon the Exercise of his Royal Power, over the Gentiles in the Call of Cornelius, was his taking livery and seisure; and his rejecting the Jews, after that, as it is an argument, that he first provided himself a People among the Gentiles, before he outed the Jews; so his calling of the one, and rejecting of the other was not plenary but initiatory, or in part: the very

Mystery that St. Paul speaks of Rom. 9. and 10. that blindness in part was hap∣ned to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in, that so all Israel (the remnant of Israel after the flesh, that had renounc'd Judaism and become Christians; and the spiritual Seed, the Gentiles, coming in to the Gospel in a full body) might be saved. In which Interval, the carnal Seed were ene∣mies; that is, in part cast off; for the Gentiles sake (that they might be grafted in, in the room of those four Branches) but yet the election, the rem∣nant of them that believed, beloved, for the sake of the Fathers. God hav∣ing a kind of hankering after them (even the whole Nation) upon the ac∣count of their being the Off-spring of his friend Abraham, and therefore re∣taining the Nation, by the handle as it were of the Remnant, and rejecting them but in part, and by degrees, till he wholly cast them off, and remov∣ed his Court from them unto the Gentiles, having demolished his Palace a∣mongst them, and made the Throne of his Glory a perpetual desolation. Hence St. Austin states the Time of the Scepters departure, so as he makes Kingdom and Temple, and Priesthood, and Sacrifice, and that Mystical Unction (up∣on the account whereof their Kings were called [Christ's] or anointed) to de∣part all together: at that time, when the Resurrection of Christ having been preach'd to, and embrac'd by, the Gentiles; they were subdued by Vespasian From the ceasing of all which then, he argues, they were only Types of Christ; (de consensu Evangelist. l. 1. c. 13.) [Nec alia re magis claruit, illius Gentis Regnum, & Templum & Sacerdotium, & Sacrisicium, & unctionem illam mysticam—non fuisse nisi praenunciando Christo deputata; quàm quòd occisi Chri∣sti Resurrectio postquàm caepit credentibus gentibus praedicari, illa omnia cessaverant niscientibus Romanis per quorum victoriam, nescientibus Judaeis per quorum sub∣jugationem, factum est ut omnia illa cessarent. To this our Saviour hath re∣spect (and comments upon it) in his Prophecy of this Destruction of the Jew∣ish State (the Departure of the Scepter) (St. Mat. 24. 14.) where having nam∣ed some other things that were to precede it, he adds this as the last Sign. [This Gospel of the Kingdom (i. e.) of the Messiah) shall be preach'd to all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come:] i. e. the end of the Jewish State, when the Gentiles, by the preaching of the Apostles through the whole Roman Empire, should be gather'd unto Christ, then should the Jewish Church-Commonwealth (I mean that particular form of Go∣vernment which God prescribed to them, as a Nation admitted to the partici∣pation and fellowship of his Grace) with Junius (de politia Mosis, cap. 5.) be utterly dissolved; which till then had continued, united, under some Po∣lity or Form of Government under God as their King, from its first begin∣ning. The Jews (as Josephus (ant. 14. 10, 12.) affirmeth) and proveth (out of Strabo) that he might not be thought to flatter his own Nation) being till then not only in Judaea, under the Government of their own Nobles (having Judicatures erected by Gabinius, the Roman General; consisting of their own Elders, and proceeding by their own Laws) but in Cyrene, Egypt, and other places of their former Dispersions, having Magistrates of their own, and us∣ing their own Laws, no otherwise than in an absolute Commonwealth. But was, then, melted down into, and swallowed up by the Roman Empire; (Euseb. cron.) [deletis Jerusalimis Regnum Judaeorum defecit:] (the learned Scaliger mistakes the meaning of that term, (animadv. ad Eus. Cron. pag. 198. b.) for Eusebius means plainly, that Jerusalem being destroyed, the holy Kingdom, which God till then had erected over them, ceast. Their Thear∣chy then expired; their King-of-old broke up his Court amongst them, so as thenceforward they have had no King but Caesar: the right Scepter of that Kingdom of Judah, which God had wielded over them, then visibly depart∣ed, when the Palace of their great King was finally desolated: their holy State and Oeconomy was now rooted up, the divine Ordinances once planted amongst them were now extinguished; (Dr. Lightfoot parergon, 178.) and themselves banish'd Heaven and Earth (& coeli & soli sui extorres, sine homine, sine Deo, rege: (Tertul. advers. Gent. cap. 21.) without either man or God-king.

And instead of the Kingdom of the Messiah, which they expected would have been erected over them, at the expiration of that Divine Polity establish'd by Moses: (and rejected when it was come nigh them) they were brought under the Anti-Messiacal (if for illustration, I may here use that word, in place of [Antichristian]) Dominion of Vespasian. Judaei non receperunt Christum sus∣cepturi Antichristum: (Aug. ap. de diversis tom. 10. in die paschae.) Repulerunt agnum, eligerunt vulpem, ideo partes vulpium facti sunt (August. tom. 8. pag. 262.) The Jews rejected Christ, being afterwards to embrace Antichrist: they refused the Lamb, and chose the Fox; and therefore became the portion of Foxes, who had been God's portion: For Vespasian, whose Vassals they became, imposed himself upon them not only as the Emperour of Rome, but as their King Messiah; and was reputed so not only by the Romans, but by Josephus him∣self and the sober Party of unbelieving Jews; (vide Dr Hammond's note b. on Mat. 24.) and whatever the Zealots thought in secret, they were forc'd to make open Abrenunciation of their King of old; and to enter a Recogni∣zance, to accept of Caesar's Gods in his room; by the payment of that half-shekel to Jupiter Capitolinus, which was used to be paid to the Temple, while God was their King, as an acknowledgment of homage: upon no other but this new tenure, were they allowed the use of their old Laws. (Xiphilin. E. Dione Vespasian pag. mihi 537. ab eodem Tito jussi sunt quotannis didrachma〈…〉〈…〉 pendere Jovi Capitolino ii qui patrias leges eorum tuerentur.)

Doubtless we have too much gratified the mis-believing Jews, and laid Stumbling-blocks in their way, by our conceiving, that the departure of the Scepter implies primarily a change of the external Form of their Government, or deprivation of liberty, to use their own Laws, and to enjoy Judges of themselves; things but accidental to that [Theocraty,] Government wherein God presided more immediately and specially over them, than other Nations; which was exercised under several Forms, and with such variety (as to those Circumstances and external Privileges) as sometimes they enjoyed, sometimes were deprived of them. Grotius (de jure pacis & belli l. 1. cap. 4. par. 7. pun. 5.) proves, that the Manichees taking up Arms against Antiochus, can be de∣fended by no Plea, but that of extreme necessity; not from the Jews 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. For they had been subdued by Nebuchadnezzar; and brought un∣der an absolute, not conditional, Subjection to the Assyrian Empire. To which Supremacy over them, the Persians first, and then the Macedonians suc∣ceeded: and they did not stipulate with Alexander or his Successors, but came (without making any Conditions) under his and his Successor's Jurisdiction, as they had been under the Empire of Darius. And if they were at times per∣mitted, openly to live after their own Rites and Laws, that was from the Kings bounty (a precarious Right) not from any Law imposed upon the Em∣pire. Hence Tacitus (hist. l. 5.) gives them this Character. [Judaei dum As∣syrios penès Medósque & Persas Oriens fuit, vilissima pars servientium;] while the East was in the power of the Assirians, Medes and Persians, the Jews were the veriest slaves that the Empire had. And therefore he that discourseth with a Jew, on this Subject (of their Scepter) in that Notion, and upon that Prin∣ciple, shall hardly be able to hold his own against him, much less to convince him, that the Scepter (as to those Circumstances) was not departed before the coming of the Blessed Jesus. The granting of which to him (in Jacob's sence) wholly raseth the Foundation of our Religion; and adminsters to the Jew an occasion of baffling and deriding us. [Nil aliud proficiunt, nisi quod subsan∣nandi materiam praebent Judaeis, &c.] (Calvin in Gen. 49. 10.) This is that the Jews would have; and therefore I wonder (not to hear their Talmudists affirm that Judah's Septer departed in Herod the Great) but that some learned men should, upon their Authority, be of that opinion: and withal assert the Scepter's departure, to be a fore-runner of the Messias (as Goodwin in his Anti∣quities l. 1. c. 1.) Which Assertion as it directly oppugns the plain words of Jacobs Prophecy. [The Scepter shall not depart, till, &c.] So it gains the Jew time to suspend his belief, that Shilo is come, though it be never so ma∣nifest

that the Scepter be departed. For if Shilo be to come after that, he may possibly come a thousand years hence, for all that the Scepter departed a thou∣sand and an half ago.

§3. That we may therefore beat the Jew from those Subterfuges, that we have made him, It will be necessary that we hold to that Exposition of Jacob's Prophecy, which hath been premised (viz.) That the Tribe of Judah and those of Jacob's Posterity, who (in the defection of the ten Tribes from God and the house of David) adhered to the Kingdom of Judah, should continue one Body-politick, govern'd by their own Municipal Laws of divine Institu∣tion, as God's peculiar Lot, till he should set his only begotten Son (his King) upon the holy hill of Sion, and give him the Heathen for his inheritance (Psal. 2.) That God would not cast Judah off, as he did the ten Tribes (the Kingdom of Israel, those of his Father's Children that would not bow to Judah's Scepter; but cryed, [To thy tents, O Israel: look to thine own house David; what portion have we in the son of Jesse?] dissolving their whole Body Politick, and scattering it piece-meal over the face of the Earth, writ∣ing them [Loammi] ye are not my people, long before Shilo came. That (I say) Judah should not thus be rejected, till she had rejected her Messias, and the Gentiles should be gather'd to him. That, for all their provoking of their God to Jealousie (in the mean while) by them that were not Gods, he would not provoke them to Jealousie by them that were no people; till that no people, should become the people of Israel's God; till then the Jews should be a Nation of Kings and Priests to God. In order to his keeping of which Promise to the house of Judah, though that Kingdom (before the Babylonish Captivity) had corrupted it self with abominable Idolatry, more than the Kingdom of Israel; yet God took not that advantage against them: & it pleased him (in remembrance of his promise to Abraham, and that the Line of our Saviour might be more discernable) to purify them in the Babylonish Furnace from all Propensity to Heathenish Idolatry. Insomuch as since then No torments have had the power to warp them in the least towards it, (Dr. Heilin's Judea.) Yea so far did this Zeal of theirs against the Gods of the Gentiles carry them (when their zeal grew into dotage, and became to be without knowledg) as they would not acknowledg their own God, manifest in the flesh, upon this reason, because he was given out to be the God, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles; but at the hearing of it, rend their Cloaths, cast Dust in the Air, and cry, Away with the speaker from the Earth, he is not fit to live (Act. 22. 22.) So that from thence forward Ju∣dah did never directly, cast off the God of their Fathers; nor in gross, their Thearchy, though they vacated many of the Moral Precepts (by their Traditi∣ons) and the whole Ceremonial Law (in not looking to Christ the end and Substance of it.) Wherefore God continued their King, and they stood in relation to him, as his peculiar Inheritance; till they refused the Scepter of his Son; and by consequence his, who had set him up King. And then the Scepter departed by consent of both parties; The Jews saying, of the King's Son, This man shall not reign over us: and God, upon this their rejectment of his Christ, saying of them, I will not feed you, I will not be your shepherd, the ancient compellation of Kings. Thus the Angel comments upon Jacob's Prophecy (Dan. 9. 26.) [After the threescore and two weeks Messiah shall be cut off and not for himself,] as Master Mede expounds that Text. That is, not from life: for that had been done before the end (viz. in the middle of the last of those weeks: but from reigning as their King, cut off, from sitting upon that Throne of the house of David, by their refusing him to be theirs, and his casting them off from being his. God indeed had often (before this) sould them into the hands of their Enemies, into the hand of Jabin, Sisera, Eglon and at last of Nebuchadnezzar: but that was not an absolute sale, but a Mort∣gage for years; redeemable, after the Assyrian had received his pay of them, for the service he had done God, against Tyre and other of his proscribed Re∣bels:

that being all the consideration mention'd in that Bargain: wherein God did not pass away his Propriety in them, but entred a Proviso of recove∣ry, in that command to Jeremiah's Unckle, to preserve the Evidences, in to∣ken that that Captivity should return (Jer. 32. 7.) The equity of which Pro∣viso was grounded upon the insufficiency of that Consideration, as to God's passing away his Right of Inheritance, pleaded by the Church in that Capti∣vity (Psal. 44.) [Thou sellest thy people for nought, and hast not encreased thy wealth by their price.] They were not sold absolutely for nought, either in respect of their Demerits and Provocations; or altogether, in respect of Gods Truth (for he thereby saved the credit of his promise to the King of Assyria, that he should have his hire:) but comparatively they were sold for as good as nought in that God did not thereby increase his wealth, add to the heap of the Riches of that Grace he had made over (by Covenant) to Abraham and his Seed; in respect of which former Bargain (contracted with the Father of the Faithful) he could not (salvâ side) without suffering his Faithfulness to fail, without impairing his Truth; as well as in respect of his great name, [King of Saints] cast off the Carnal Seed wholly from being his Kingdom, till he had taken his Spiritual Seed into their room. And indeed God's punishing of his Rebels with total Rejection, before he had erected his Kingdom of Grace in the midst of his Enemies (the Gentiles) would have been the punishing of him∣self, with the forfeiture of his Visible Kingdom of Grace, and the stripping of himself into the bare Kingdom of his Providence. So far would God have been from encreasing his wealth by their price, as he would have made a losing Bargain, and bankrupt himself of a peculiar People; if he had cast off Judah before the accession of the Gentiles to his Scepter of Grace: which did not happen, till their flocking in to Christ's Standard; As is manifest from their Prophets speaking of this gathering of the Gentiles to Shilo (even to the last of them) as of a thing de futuro. [He shall lift up an ensign to the Gen∣tiles,] (Isa. 11. 12.) [Thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not: and na∣tions that knew not thee shall run unto thee,] (Isa. 55. 5.) [My name shall be great among the Gentiles,] (Mal. 1. 11.) So that at the Expiration of Old Testament Prophecy, this gathering was yet to come, It was yet in the shell of the Promise. And since Malachy, there hath not been any gathering of Gentile Nations to the God of Israel, to make his name great in all the Earth saving that of the Christian Flock, to that Shepherd whom the God of Israel is not asham'd to call his Fellow, his Equal; and of whom the Prophets have foretold, that he should bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, Hitherto therefore that Plea was prevalent; [We are thy people save us, thou never bar∣est rule over them.] If thou destroy this people [What will become of thy great name?] what will become of thy Promise to Abraham? of thy Kingdom of Grace? For God was obliged, by the Interest of his Glory, and by his Pro∣mise to the Patriarchs, not to remove the Scepter from Judah till Shilo come, and the Gentiles were gather'd to him.

But when Shilo was come, the Baptist forewarns Abraham's Children, not to trust any longer to that Plea, as their security against approaching vengeance [Think not to say (when you are consulting how to escape wrath to come) we are Abraham's children;] That Plea is now growing out of date: [For God is able to raise up children to Abraham (and a People to himself) of stones;] that is, out of the obdurate Gentile World, men as hard as Stones; and hi∣therto, in respect of Gods Covenant with Abraham and pre-ingagement, as uncapable as Stones, of becoming the People of the God of Israel in your room, of becoming, as you are now, the Kingdom of God: or (as Ireneus (Advers. her. lib. 4. cap. 16.) renders it) of them that worship Stones (as the Gentiles did) it being usual in the holy Dialect to call Nations, by the name of the Idols which they worship (as Bell boweth down, &c.) This God was ever able to do in respect of his absolute Power: but that Power being (as to the exercise of it) bounded by his Will (for it were Impotency in God to do what he will not) and his Will declared to Abraham; he became Debter

to his own Faithfulness and Truth so far, as he had not a Moral Power to do it; that is, could not do it without impeachment of his Truth, before this Fulness of Time came; wherein God is to raise up a new Seed to Abraham, and to call them a people that were no people; to make Japhet dwell in the tents of Sem, [ejecio scilicet Israele:] (St. Jerom in Gen. 9. 27.) i. e. to take the place of Israel, to graft the wild Olive Branches upon the Root and Fa∣ther of the Faithful; implied (as Isidore Pelusiota well observes) in the fol∣lowing words, [Now is the axe] (lib 1. epist. 64. Eulampio.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] to wit, of this acute and evange∣lical Decision (that every Tree that brings not forth good Fruit be hewen down:) [laid to the root of the tree;] not a Mattock to dig the Roots up, to make the Covenant with Abraham, touching his Seed, void; but an Axe, to cut off witherd Branches, after the Gentiles that were grafted in had tak∣en root.

By which Axe or two-edged Sword (as the Apostle stiles it (Heb. 4.) Is cut in pieces; that double Dilemma, whereby the carnal Jew deceived him∣self, and thought to intangle God:

• 1. If we be rejected, who have Abraham to our Father, God breaks the Covenant he made with him; And
• 2. Leaves himself destitute of a People, we being his peculiar People, and the only Nation in the World over whom he is King.

The Reply which the Apostles gave to this first Objection was; That the prime Article of God's Covenant with Abraham, was [That he should be a father of many nations, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be bles∣sed,] and therefore, should he not take the Gentiles into his Kingdom, (now that one Seed, that is, Christ was come) he would have broke Covenant with Abraham. As to the Jews, he sent Jesus Christ first to bless them: but see∣ing they refused to be blessed upon those Terms of Faith, upon which God blessed Abraham (thereby declaring themselves to be the Devil's Children; quarrelling with that Covenant (as the Devil did with that which God made with Adam) and not Abraham's; who without Hesitancy, tergiversation, or making his own terms with God, simply and unreservedly submitted to God's;) and seeing the Gentiles accepted of them; (thereby becoming the Children of faithful Abraham.) It was not consistent with God's Promise to Abraham, to leave him childless (as they, so far as lay in their power, had made him) much less would it stand with his Oath that he would bless them that blessed him, and curse them that cursed him,) not to bless those Heathens, (with the adoption of Sons, and reception into Abraham's Family) who bles∣sed Abraham with a spiritual Seed, and acknowledged themselves his Children (by becoming of his Faith, and treading in his Steps:) and that in favour of that fleshly Seed, which would have left him no Seed of the Promise, no Seed of his Faith; but have brought upon him (if they might have had their will) the Curse of Sterility, in that juncture of Time, wherein God had pro∣mised to multiply it as the Stars of Heaven, and to make him a Father of many Nations. (Act. 13. 46.) [It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken unto you (Jews) but seeing you put it from you, and judg your selves unworthy of everlasting life, loe we turn to the Gentiles: for so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth; (Isa. 49. 6.) and when the Gentiles heard this they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord.] And (Rom. 4. 16.) [That the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the Law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all (as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations.) Pa∣ralel or answerable to him whom he believed, even God, who quickneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were; who against hope, believed in hope that he should become the Father of many Na∣tions:

[answerable to him;] that is, as God is not the God of the Jews on∣ly, but also of the Gentiles; so should Abraham be the Father both of Jewish and Gentile-believers: the believing of which as to the Gentiles, was as no∣ble a degree of Faith as that whereby Abraham believed the Promise that in Isaac his Seed should be blessed; when he was about to sacrifice him, this be∣ing no more against hope, than that God would raise up a seed to him of Gen∣tiles dead in Sins.

And to the second they answered; that the Jew need not trouble his head with contriving how or where God would find Subjects, if he were reject∣ed; for the Gentiles were flocking in apace to the Standard of Messias, and ere long the Fulness of them would be come in, and so all Israel be sav∣ed: that is, (Dr. Ham. annot. in Rom. 11. 12. 25.) they should (every where act the Call of the Gospel) come in, in such numbers as they would (in every City and eminent Town) afford matter enough, for the consti∣tuting of Evangelical Churches, or visible Assemblies of Christians there: by which means the Jews will, at length, be provoked to believe; and so all the true Children of Abraham (Jews and Heathens both; but particularly, the Remnant of the Jews) shall repent and believe in Christ. And for them that will not be gain'd by these Methods, God may cast them off, upon gain∣ful Terms; having, in lieu of them, a great multitude of Subjects, which no man could number; of all Nations, and Kindreds, and People, and Tongues; (Rev. 7. 9.) Christ foretells that (upon the Builder's rejecting the precious Stone, and its becoming a Corner-stone) the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to another Nation; (Mat. 21. 42. 43.) And according to this Prophecy of Christ, and Application of Jacob's Prophecy, which Christ and his Apostles made to the time of Jerusalem's final Desola∣tion, God did, then, remove his Scepter from Judah: that ceasing then to be God's Kingdom, and the Kingdoms of the World becoming the King∣doms of God and of his Christ, within a few Centuries afterwards, when Christs Royal Law came to be established and protected by the Imperial San∣ction, and the Edict of Princes become Christian. In whose Territories (in the mean time) God had his imperial Cities, his Cities on Hills that could not be hid; Christian Churches so visible and conspicuous, as spake him to be King of all the Earth, in the same sence that he had been King of Judea; that is, in respect of his Kingdom of Grace, of his golden Scepter. Briefly there was such a gathering of the Gentiles to Shilo, before that rejected King's coming to destroy miserably those bloody Rebels, and to root out their Place and Nation; as he need not be to seek for Subjects, when he cast off Judah and chose the Gentiles: any more than when he refused the Taberna∣cle of Joseph, and chose the Tribe of Judah (Psal. 78. 67. 68.) for the Go∣spel had then been preach'd to, and brought forth fruit in, all the World. God manifested in the Flesh had been preach'd to the Gentiles, and believedon in the World, as hath been formerly shewed.

§ 4. But then this being laid for a Ground, that the Scepter's departure imports, properly and firstly, the Removal of the Thearchy from the Jews, and translating it to the Gentiles: and the time of its departure being thus stated, to have been in such a Juncture as wherein God might, and did, break up his Court in Judea, without impeachment of his Truth or Honour, which he could not do before. It will be obvious enough, that that Pro∣phecy; (consequentially to this) implies (as the effect of it) a gradual with∣drawing of their outward Polities, Liberties, and Privileges, thereon de∣pending; as the Sun being set, the light of it departs by degrees till it wholly disappear. Of which, though we can make no Demonstration, while it is in Motion (it takes such minute and insensible steps) much less from thence con∣vince an obstinate and captious Adversary, that the Sun is set (if it be not seen at its going down) till the Light of it be impair'd to a degree, beyond what the most gloomy Sky, the thickest Mist, or the most dismal Eclipse, can re∣duce

it to; yet when its Light is dwindled into such a degree of privati∣on, 'tis a palpable evidence, that the Sun (its Fountain) is departed our Horizon. As therefore I have been forc'd to prove that the Scepter (not∣withstanding any loss of Light it did, or could sustain, before the Gentiles flock'd in to our Saviour's Standard) was not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, departed, there having been from David to Christ no greater diminutions of its Light, then had been from Jacob to David: and therefore the Jew, upon the same reason that he will not look downwards, in Judah's Line for Shilo as low as our Jesus: must look upwards for him beyond David; for if those castings down of the Crown to the ground which it sustain'd, by the Apostacy of the ten Tribes, the Babylonish Captivity, the Persecution of Antiochus, the Dictatorship of the Macabees, or what else occurs in the History of that Interval, speak the de∣parture of the Scepter; much more must it be departed in the interval before David, in the Egyptian Bondage, or under the Judges, of which time their own Scriptures affirm that there was then no King in Israel.) Nor till our Savi∣our's time (which is my Herculean Argument) was there any such concourse of a new People to Israel's God, as could have justified him, from the imputation of making a losing Bargain, should he have cast off his far more numerous old, and have adopted that new People. Though I confess that great access of Proselytes in Solomon's Reign (said to be an hundred three and fifty thou∣sand, by Dr. Lightfoot in his Parergon of the fall of Jerusalem, cap. 12.) might occasion the Jew to think it was the Gentiles gathering to Shilo; and boaded the departure of the Scepter in the falling away of the ten Tribes: and doubtless those Gentile Converts (together with the Levites and those that feared God adhering to the house of Judah, being so numerous, as in the worst of times there were seven thousand of them) fill'd up the rent that was made in Judah's Royal Robe, by tearing off ten of its Skirts. But to return As I have been forc'd to prove, that before our Saviour the Scepter was not departed: and therefore this Prophecy of Jacob is not applicable to any before him. So I shall now shew it is not applicable to any since, by demonstrating the Scepter to have departed at that time; by such Effects of its departure, as are acknowledged for such by the Jew himself, and pointed to as such by his own Scriptures, and invelop that Nation in a Darkness that may be felt, and far exceeds the blackest Darkness which befel that State in its greatest E∣clipses.

The Sanctuary half Shekel paid to the Capitol.

It is Doctor Lightfoot's Observation out of Xiphilinus apud Dionem (in the Place fore-cited) that in acknowledgment of their Subjection to the Empe∣rour, the Jews were enjoyn'd by Vespasian to pay to the Capitol that Di∣drachma or Half-shekel, that they usually paid to the Temple for their Lives; [A ransom for their souls unto the Lord,] (Exodus, 30. 12, 13.) [The mony of the soul's estimation; of every one that passeth the account,] (2 Reg. 12. 4.) for I take both these places to speak of one and the same Shekel: though Master Weems makes them two, calling this latter [Argentum transeuntis,] that is, the Half-shekel which they paid to the Lord, when they were num∣bred by head: making a distinction, where there is no difference: for in that Text which he quotes for the first (Ex. 30. 12.) there is mention made that [that was to be payed when they were numbred (three times in two verses.] [When thou takest the sum of the Children of Israel, after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul, unto the Lord:] [when thou num∣brest them,] (ver. 12.) and (ver. 13.) [this they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbred.] Xiphilinus indeed does not expresly say, it was that Half-shekel that was paid to the Temple, that Vespasian appointed every Jew to pay to the Capitol: but Josephus speaks home (Bel. Judaic. 7. 26.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] i. e. [The Emperour Vespasian laid this Tribute upon the Jews, wheresoever they lived: that they should pay to the Capitol that Didrachma, which thitherto they had paid to the Temple.] 1. That this was the Half-shekel which they paid to the Lord for their Lives, as his Tribute is manifest from both those fore-quoted Texts, for Moses (Exod. 30.) or∣ders the high Priest, to imploy it in the service of the Tabernacle, and Jehoash appoints the Priests to repair the Temple with it (2. Reg. 12.) as also from another passage in Josephus (Antiqu. Judaic. 14. 12.) where he calls it sacred mony, because every Jew yearly paid it for his Life to God, and sent it to the Temple, from all parts of the World where they were dispersed; from whose numerousness (he saith) it came to pass, that Crassus found such vast summs in the Treasury of the Temple, when he plunder'd it: and that Mithridates surprized eight hundred Talents at Cons, which the Jews of the lesser Asia had deposited there, during those Wars, not daring to send them to Jerusa∣lem, lest they might be snap'd up in the passage? 2. And that this Shekel was never by any Conqueror, before Vespasian, required as Tribute, is mani∣fest, from Josephus, affirming that till then, it had been used to be paid to the Temple; from Pompeius reputing it so sacred as he durst not lay hands on it, when he enter'd into the Temple; from men's imputing Crassus his o∣verthrow, to God's avenging himself upon him, for robbing the sacred Trea∣sury where these Half-shekels were deposited: that it was paid to the Tem∣ple in Caligula's Reign, is manifest from that place of Josephus (Ant. 18. 12, 16.) where he writes, that the Jews of the Province of Babylon made choice of Neerda because of the strength and inaccessibleness of that place) for their sacred Treasury, where they deposited the sacred Didrachma; till at certain Seasons they could send it to Jerusalem; which they used to do with a Con∣voy of many thousands, both for the greatness of the charge, and danger of being robb'd by the way by the Parthians. But this is most clearly evinc'd from the sacred Gospels informing us that the Tribute-money (St. Mat. 22. 18. 19. St. Mar. 12.) imposed upon the Jews by the precedent Emperours, had Caesar's Image and Superscription upon it, and was a Roman Coin, hence stil∣ed (both in St. Matthew and St. Mark) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] by a Latine name, and the Tribute it self [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] census, in all printed Copies and Manuscripts that I have seen or heard of (save that old Greek and Latine M S. which Beza sent to the University of Cambridge (where it is [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Pole-mony) a word coin'd at the fingers end of the Scribe; for the Tribute laid upon them by Augustus or Pompey, and taken off by Agrippa was not paid by the head but by the house (as Josephus expresly affirmeth. (Josoph. Jud. Ant. 19. 5.) [Re∣misso ei tributo quod soliti erant in singulas aedes solvere.]

2. And, upon this very account, our Saviour determin'd it to be Caesar's due: in which determination he proceeded according to their own Concessi∣ons, as Lightfoot observes (Harmony. Sect. 77.) (quoting the Jerusalem Tal∣mud bringing in David and Abigail talking thus. Abigail said, [What evil have I or my Children done?] David answereth, [Thy Husband vilified the Kingdom of David:] She saith, [Art thou a King then?] He saith to her, Did not Samuel anoint me King?] She saith, to him, [The Coin of our Lord Saul is yet current.] And again in Sanhedr.—[A King, whose Coin is current in those Countreys—the men of the Countrey do thereby evidence, that they ac∣knowledge him for their Lord:—but if his Coin be not current, he is a Rob∣ber.]) And that with as much advantage as could be desired, in order to his convincing them, that the Tribute of that Denarium was due to Caesar; but the Tribute of the Didrachma due to God: that bearing Caesar's Picture with this Inscription (say Antiquaries;) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]—Caesar August. such a year after the taking of Judea, (Hammond ann. c. in Mat. 22.) But this, (if it were the Kings, or common, Shekel) being stamped on one side with a Tower, standing betwixt 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: the whole In∣scription, with that which was written beneath, amounting to this Motto. [Jerusalem the holy City;] the rundle being fill'd with this. [David King

and his Son Solomon King.] or if it were the Sanctuary-shekel, having on one side the Pot of Mannah, or Aaron's Censer, with this Inscription; [The Shekel of Israel:] on the Reverse side, Aaron's Rod budding, with this Motto in the Rundle, [Jerusalem the Holy City;] that is, Jerusalem the Royal City of the great King; (Goodwin antiq. lib. 6. cap. 10.) Beza (on Mat. 17. 24.) makes the same Description of that Shekel, which was given him by Ambrose Blaucerus. And Arias Montanus saith, that while he was at the Council of Trent, there was brought unto him by a friend an ancient piece of Jewish Coyn, with the very same Figures and Characters: weighing half an Ounce; vide Aster. sol. (in numb. cap. 3. 40. 47.) which soever it was in which they paid that Tribute for their Lives, it was Gods Coyn, and bare upon it God's Claim, and their Acknowledgment, of his peculiar Supremacy over them: and therefore, as Caesar's demanding of that Tribute of the Jews would have been, in truth, a taking away from God what was God's (as Goodwin well observes) so the Jews paying of it to Caesar, would have been a giving of Caesar what was Gods. This Tribute which Caesar exacted and Christ ordered them to pay, was not the Half-shekel due to God; for then Christ would have bid them give it to God, Weems: which I wonder they ob∣served not as well as Weems; there being so near a relation betwixt taking and giving, and their scruple propounded to and determination of it given by Christ, not respecting Caesar's Act in demanding, but their own in giving; that what was God's (as this Half-shekel was) must be given to God, not to Caesar. In which resolution of their Question, as Christ cleaves the hair be∣twixt not only God and Caesar, but the two extream and vitious Opinions touching Tribute, (the one of the Pharisees, Galileans, and Zealots, who de∣nied all Tribute to Caesar: The other of the Herodians or Court-party, who held all kind of Tribute to be Caesar's due;) so this very prudent and equal partition of his, is afterwards by malicious Persons improved into an accusa∣tion against him at his Arraignment before Pilat, (St. Luk. 23. 2.) as if he forbad to give Tribute to Caesar. A most false and groundless Suggestion; for he did not only pay that Tribute himself, but punctually determined Caesar's Right to Caesar's Penny.

3. As to that other Tribute (of the Half-shekel due to God) neither he nor his Countreyman paid it to (nor was it demanded of them by) Caesar; till their City was demolished, their Temple burnt, the Race of their Priests made unuseful (as Titus told them;) and the Lineage of David cut off by Ve∣spasian; but was paid to their own Collectors, for the use of the Temple: as is manifest not only by the Arguments before hinted, but these supernumera∣ry ones.

1. Our Saviour's Plea for Exemption from payment of that Tribute (Mat. 17. 25.) [The children of Kings are free,] cannot, with any colour, be ap∣plied to any other Tribute, but that of the Half-shekel, which that holy Na∣tion paid to their holy King, whose Son Christ was (and not of the Empe∣rour:) and therefore by the Rule of common Custom, was not lyable to pay that Tribute. It being the use of all Kings, to exact Tribute of Strangers (that is, of the children of other men (their Subjects) not their own.) For that by [Aliens and own] in Christ's Speech, is not meant Subjects and For∣reigners, is apparent, from Kings exacting Tribute from their own native Subjects, as well as from them that are become their Subjects by Conquest; yea from their own (that is) Subjects, and not from Forreigners. Christ pleads not here the privilege of being a Roman; or had he done so, that Plea would not have exempted them from paying the Tribute due to the Im∣perial Crown; had he indeed been the Emperour's Son, he had been exempt∣ed from paying it. From which Analogy he argues, that he being the Son of God, the Collectors of Gods (his Fathers) Tribute, should not have de∣manded that Tribute of him. Notwithstanding he being Man also, and un∣der an Obligation to fulfil the Law, rather than offend, in not paying his Church-duties, he fetched Money out of a Fishes mouth,

Briefly, the Tribute then demanded of, and paid by Christ, was both de∣manded for, and paid to that King whose son Christ was.

2. Had that been a Roman Tribute it would have been gather'd by the Roman Collecters, the Publicans, who in all probability would have been here named; whereas on the contrary, the persons are here stiled (as by a known Title) they that received the Didrachma [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] or (as Erasmus) [They that used to receive the Didrachme or Half-shekel.

§ 5. Hence I draw these Corrolaries.

1. Their reasoning is too short; who, from Tullies mentioning the Ro∣mans to have had the Tribute of Land in Syria, paid by way of Tythe; ar∣gue, that God's Tythe of Jewry was by Pompey diverted from his Treasury to the Roman Coffers A conclusion which as it wholly subverts the grand Foundation of Christian Religion (to wit, the Verity of the old Testament by asserting the Departure of the Scepter before the coming of our Jesus, (that is Shilo) (for what greater evidence of that, than their paying their King's (God's) Tribute unto any other, but himself;) so it appears to be without ground: for grant we the Assumption, That the Roman State tyth∣ed Judaea, yet it will not follow that they paid those Tythes in kind, which were due to God; but only that the Romans (at their Conquest of that Nati∣on) finding it under the Government of the High Priest (to whom the Tythes were payable by the Law of God) might demand a Tribute, in the same pro∣portion; and yet not the same in specie that was paid to the Temple: but leave that still to be received by the High Priest, for his maintenance, and those uses to which their own Law had appointed. Which that they did is manifest from the Decrees of Julius Caesar (Joseph. ant. 14. 17.) made when he was second time Consul; [that Hircanus and his Sons should enjoy the High Priesthood, with the same Rights and Privileges that his Ancestors had done:] and, when he was the fifth time Consul; [that Hircanus and his Sons, High Priests, should receive the Tythes, as till then their Ancestors had done:] A clear Testimony, that whatever Tribute Pompey and Crassus had imposed upon the Jews (albeit it were in proportion of Tythe) it was not the Tythe which belonged to the Priests; for that (saith Caesar) had, till then been paid to the High Priest.

2. That though the Jews had paid a yearly Tribute to the Emperour, bearing Proportion to that Didrachma, which they were by Law enjoyn'd to pay to God; yet it was not that in specie: the Didrachma being paid to the Temple, when that yearly Tribute was paid to Caesar, as hath been proved already so fully as no more need be added; only, because I am now in Jose∣phus, I shall, out of him, produce one unanswerable Argument to evince, that it was not the intention of the Romans (in the Tribute they imposed up∣on the Jews) to encroach upon God's Right, or to impede their payment of Church or Temple-duties. Julius Caesar (after he was created perpetual Di∣ctator) writes in his own, and Senate, and People of Rome's name to the Magistrates of the Parians, telling them how ill he resented their prohibiting the Jews to keep their sacred Conventions, and to collect Oblations and Mo∣neys for their Sacrifices; and lays before them the Decree of Sex. Caesar, who when he was Consul (though he interdicted all other Fraternities) yet he al∣lowed the Jews to hold Religious Meetings, and to gather Collections in or∣der to the maintenance of their Religious Services: and his own Example, who permitted the Jews to live after the custom of their Forefathers, and their own Laws; (Josephus Ibidem.)

Dolobella (after Caesar's Murder) writes to the Ephesians and all the Asians, that it was his pleasure (as it had been of all the Emperours his Predecessors) that the Jews should be permitted to use the Customs of their Fathers to meet for holy Exercises as their Law commanded, and to confer their accustomed Oblations towards maintaining their Temple and the Services thereof (Joseph.

antiq. 14. 17.) and (to spare other instances) Titus aggravated the Rebellion of the Jewish Priests (whom he charges to have been the Incendiaries of the War) from the favours which the Romans had shewed the Jews ever since their Conquest; amongst which hereckons this for one of the chief, That they had always been allowed to receive the Tribute which by their Law was due to God, and to collect free gifts for the use of the Temple: [Quódque maximum est, Tributum capere Dei nomine, ac donaria colligere permissimus:] (Joseph. Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 13.) There is no convincing of him that shuts his eyes against this Light.

3. The Jews therefore till Vespasian, were not commanded to pay the Di∣drachma to any but their own Collectors for the use of the Temple; which he, ordering to be paid to the Capitol, made a greater Incroachment upon their sacred Privileges than any former Conquerour had done, even to the utter subversion of their holy State; making (as much as in him lay) the God of Judah a Tributary King to the Gods of Rome. Not that he himself was conquer'd by those Gods (as Vespasian blasphemously implyed by trans∣ferring his Tribute to them) in the Conquest of his people the Jews (August. de consensu evang. l. 1. 14.) [Non quòd ipse sit victus in Hebraeo populo suo, qui Regnum ejus Romanis expugnandum delendúmque permisit:] whose Kingdom he permitted the Romans to carry away by force: For though the Conque∣rours at the present triumph'd over him, and made their Idols set their seet upon the subjugated Neck of this sleeping Lyon; yet it was not long ere he rouzed up himself, and having taken his Kingdom from that Prophetick Na∣tion (because then he was come who was promised by it) he (by Christ) sub∣dued to his name that Roman Empire, by which that Nation had been sub∣dued: and converted it, by the Force and Devotion of the Christian Faith, to the Overthrow of Idols: an admirable thing (saith St. Austin, de consensu evangel. lib. 1. cap. 14.) [That he whom the conquered had so offended, as he would no longer reign over them, and the Conquerours would not then receive for their King; is now worship'd of all Nations, and manifested to be that very God of Israel, of whom so long before was prophesied:] (Isa. 54. 5.) [The redeemer, the holy one of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called.] Now was fulfilled the Prophecy of Moses (Deut. 28. 64.) The Lord shall scatter thee a∣mong all people, from the one end of the earth unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other Gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. Let the Jew shew, if he can, in what other Dispersion, but this un∣der Vespasian, they served Gods of Wood and Stone. In the Babylonish Cap∣tivity they had that constantly in their mouth, [The Gods that made not hea∣ven shall utterly perish from under this heaven,] (Jer. 10. 11.) and were so far from falling down before their Idols, as they chose rather to be cast into the Lion's Den, into a fiery Furnace. Or in what sence, during this last and fa∣tal Dispersion, they have been induc'd to serve Gentile-Gods of Wood and Stone, but in their being forc'd to pay that homage of Soul-tribute to the Capitoline Gods, which was the holy one of Israel his due, while he stood in that relation to them: which being ceased, they as Slaves, become tributary not only to a foreign State (for that had been their frequent portion, without impeachment of God's peculiar Sovereignty over them, even then when he ruled over them in fury; that being a gracious Dispensation to bring them back into the Bond of the Covenant: they that formerly led them captive and tyrannized over them, were but as their Shepherd's Dogs to fetch them in again when they strayed away, and would not be reclaim'd by their Shep∣herd's Whistling to them in the Ministry of their Prophets) but forreign God's. Master Mede's Paraphrase upon the Text last quoted doth in part express my sence, that is, [they should serve them, not religiously but politically, inasmuch as they were to become Slaves to idolatrous Nations:] it being his Conceipt, that [Gods] are here put for [Nations serving strange Gods.] But (saving the honour I bear to the memory of that worthy Person, then whom few of Christ's Oxen have labour'd more strenuously on Christ's

Floor in not treading out his Master's Corn; the Encomium which St. Austin gives St. Jerom.) I humbly conceive, Titus with the point of his Spear, hath writ in the Dust of Jerusalem so clear a Comment upon this Text; as we need not fly to the refuge of a Trope for its Exposition: when we see that People become Servants not only to the idolatrous Ro∣mans, but the Idols of Rome; whom they serve, not Religiously, but po∣litically; being forc'd (their Conscience, the Seat of all Religious Wor∣ship, reclaiming) to do that Homage to them (while they pay the Tribute of their Soul to the Capitol) which was the God of Israel's due; but now as inacceptable to him, as the Tythe of the Whore's hire was of old: of which Philo Judaeus (lib. 2. de Monarchia) hath this Observation: [It was not with the Money that God found fault, but the person that offer'd it was together with her hire abominable: how vile therefore must she be in Gods sight whose Money he accounts prophane and adulterate:] may not we as ratio∣nally conclude, that God expressed his abominating the Jewish Nation, by his refusing to accept the price of their Souls, and his assigning them to pay it; (and thereby to accknowledg Fealty) to strange Gods; and such Gods (so it follows in Moses Prophecy) as neither they nor their Fathers knew; which could be no other than the Roman: for the Gods of Egypt Syria, Chaldaea, &c. (whither they had been formerly carryed captive) their Fathers knew too well, and had often gone a Whoring after them: But these Gods, whom Vespasian made them serve and become Tributary to, their Fathers scarce ever heard of, and themselves never acknowledg∣ed, till now that God set the wicked over them, and plac'd Satan at their right hand (Psal. 109. 6.) They who rejected their own King (to whom the Wise Men of the Gentiles paid Homage) are forc'd to bring those Presents into the Idol's Temple which formerly they had come with into God's Courts. Scaliger (appendice ad emendat. temporum, pag. 25.) applies to this business that of the Satyrist.

Omnis enim pòpuli mercedem pondere jussa est Arbor—

When he saith every Tree (to wit of the Jewish Oratories) payeth Tri∣bute, he alludes to that Tribute which ancient Boooks, Moneys and Martial mention.

Sed quod de Solymis venit perustis Damnatum modò: Mance tributum.

The Tribute now imposed upon the Jews is that which comes from their Temple consumed with fire; that is (saith Scaliger) the Half-shekel (which formerly they used to pay to the Temple, while it stood) they were injoyn'd after it was demolished, to pay to the Capitol. To which apper∣tains that Inscription of the Jewish Coyn (after this Tribute was released, and the Capitoline Gods turn'd out of doors.) [CALVMNIA FISCI JU∣DAICI SUBLATA:] the reproach of the Judaical Tribute remov'd: Had God spit in their faces it would not have been a greater reproach than their paying this Tribute was. How did God in this retaliate their scornful va∣luing of his Son at thirty Pieces; that goodly price was cast to the Potter: But here God appoints the price of their Souls to be cast to Devils, as long as there were any in the Capitol to receive it. By that he provided a Burying∣place for Strangers in the Land of Promise (a Dormitory with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for those of the East and West in whose eyes Christ was more pre∣cious than in theirs, that with them they might rest in hope of a Resurrecti∣on to Glory.) By this he declared his Rejection of the Children of the King∣dom, the disimparking of that Nation, and turning it into the Wild and Common of the World, the Demesnes of the God of this World. And that

according to the plain Exposition which their own Scriptures make: For this Tribute being formerly payable to God as a Ransom for their Souls (Ex. 30. 12.) what can their not paying it to God (but to him, out of whose hand God had ransom'd them) import less, than his turning them over into the hands of their old Lord? What could have been a clearer Evidence of God's casting up his Royalty over them, of his unwillingness to stand any longer engaged to protect them; than his ordering them (in his adorable Provi∣dence) to pay the Rent for their Lives to a strange God? As their Tythes were the Hedg of their Estates, and God stood bound by his gracious Promise, while they paid them duly by his appointment, to protect and prosper the Fruit of their Labours. (Mal. 3. 8, 9, 10.) [Ye are cursed with a curse, ye have robbed me in detaining Tythes: bring your Tythes and prove me herewith whether I will not open the doors of Heaven unto you, and pour you out a Bles∣sing, and I will rebuke the devourer for your sake and he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground, neither shall your Vine be barren.] So this holy Tribute was the Hedge of their Persons, and demanded of God to be paid to himself, that they might, by vertue of his Covenant, oblige him to secure them from Pe∣stilential Diseases; [that there be no plague amongst you:] (Exod. 30. 11.) And therefore the non-payment of it to God, was a casting down of the Fence of his special Providence, and a laying them open to the Dominion of Evil Angels. Israel's Watchman, by appointing his Stipend to be paid to another God, bid them in plain English, look to themselves: for he would take no farther care of them, or charge over them; his gracious Eye should be no longer upon them. [I will no more pity you, I will no more deliver you; that that dieth, let it die.]

CHAP. X.

More Signs of the Scepter's departure.

§ 1. Covenant-Obligationvoid. They return to Egypt, &c. § 2. Temple-Ves∣sels Prophanation revenged of old, not now regarded. § 3. Titus and Ve∣spasian rewarded for their service against the Temple. § 4. Judah's God deaf to all their Cries. § 5. They curse themselves in calling upon the God of Revenges. § 6. Jewish and Gentile Historians relate the Watch-word, [Let us depart.] § 7. Jacob thus expounded not by Statists, but the A∣postles.

§ 1. 2. GOd hath made evident Demonstration of his reprobating that accursed Nation in his accomplishment upon them that Threat of Moses (Deut. 28. 68.) [The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again by ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bond-men and bond-women (gratis) for nought, for no man will buy you.] god had promised them perpetual Li∣beration from Egyptian Bondage, (Exod. 14. 13.) so Junius and Tremelius; Calvin thinks that not only their not return to Egypt, but their not coming in that way (of the vast howling Wilderness) whereby they came from Egypt, is here hinted: and to that Objection, how could they go by Ships through the Wilderness? gives this in answer, that they might be shipp'd and cast up∣on the Shore, over against the Plains of Moab, and so trudg by Land through their old Walk. However, this is manifest, that though God had promised they should never again become Slaves to the Egyptian; Yet now the Jews having cast him off: he looks upon himself as disobliged from his Promises made to them; (Ergo illuc eos retrahens, gratiam redemptionis quodammodò de∣levit:] and forgetting the Covenant, now out of date, he makes good this Threatning upon them: partly by Titus, who sent all the Captive Jews bound to Egypt for Drudges and Slaves (Josephus Bell. Jud. lib. 7. 16.) Except some chosen young men of goodly Complexion and proper Bodies, whom he reser∣ved for Triumph: some Boys under sixteen, of which he sold as many as he could get money for; for there were more sellers than buyers (Haumer. in Euseb. Eccles. hist. lib. 3. cap. 8.). And some boysterous Carles, whom he al∣lotted through the Provinces for Spectacles and the Teerh of wild Beasts. Partly by the voluntary flight, of those who escaped the Conquerour's hands unto Alexandria and the Egyptian Thebes; at both which places, by men of their own Nation, there residing, they were either slain or delivered up to the Roman Sword (Joseph. Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 29.) And partly by Adrian, who (after he had made it death for any Jew to look towards the place where Jerusalem (then Ardianople) had stood) sent all the Jews he could not find Chapmen for, into Egypt, to sell themselves to their old Enemies for Bond-men bondwomen; but the price of a Jew then ran so low as they sold themselves gratis, for want of Chapmen (St. Jerom in Zach. 11.) Time was when that Prayer of Onias, Sirnamed the Just, was look'd upon as Canonical: [Oh God, the King of the whole World, seeing these that are with me are thy people, and those of the opposite Party are thy Priests; I beseech thee hear not the Prayers of either side against the other;] (Joseph. Antiq. l. 14. c. 3.) A Jew then could open and stop God's Ear, his Prayer was the Key to the divine Treasury of Mercies and Judgments. Nay God was wont to hear before they call'd; to see their Afflictions, and hear their Groans, under their Pressures, before they made their complaint to God. But since their Fathers God hath turn'd them off, to the Gods of the Capitol. (Though the Earth received the blood of 3024730. of them in the Jewish Wars (those Wars wherein Christ came to re∣quire

that Blood, at the Father's and Children's hands, the guilt whereof they had invoked upon their own heads at his Passion.) Though 970000. of them were in those Wars taken Captive; (Joseph. Bel. Jud.) yet neither the cry of the Prisoners, nor the Voice of the Blood of the Slain hath enter'd into the Ears of the Lord of Hosts; except it be to make Musick in them, while God laughs at their Calamity.

§ 2. Time was when Israel's God awoke to avenge himself upon Belsha∣zar, for alienating the Bolls of the Temple from that sacred use to which they had been dedicated; and making them either carowsing Cups at a com∣mon, or Instruments of Libations to Babel's Idols at a sacred Feast: for the Jews (saith St. Jerom, in locum:) have this Story. That Belshazar observ∣ing that the seventieth Year of the Captivity (that is of the first Captivity) being come, that yet the Jews were not redeem'd, thinking Jeremies Prophe∣cy to have been wind (in a Triumph over the Jews hope of Deliverance) made a great Feast, where he and his Nobles [Insultantes Deo Judeorum quòd, &c.] insulting over the God of the Jews, as too weak to grapple with their Bell, made Drink-offerings of thanksgiving to the God of Babel, in the Bolls sacred to the God of Judah, whom he blasphemed (in Rabsheca's curs∣sed Dialect) as being no more able, than the Gods of other Nations, to de∣liver his People out of the hands of the King of Babylon. But this despised, God chalked him up a Reckoning upon the Wall, before he rose from Ta∣ble: and made him pay it that night, at the price of his Life and King∣dom; both which he was deprived of, before he went to bed. Which Cir∣cumstance Xenophon (Cyri, institut. l. 7. c. 22.) thus relates. [When Cyrus his men entered the Royal Palace, they found the Guard tippling, by Candle-light, in the outward Room; against whom the Invaders using hostile force, the Cla∣mour being heard within, the Doors are instantly open'd by the Kings Command, to see what was the Cause of that Bustle; upon which advantage Cyrus his men rushing into the King's Chamber, found the King standing with his Sword drawn, whom they forthwith slew.] God then stirred up the Spirit of his a∣nointed Cyrus to avenge Judah, upon Babel, while he was but his Unkle Cy∣axeres (called in Daniel Darius) his General; and to order the Return of God's Captives, and the Rebuilding of his Temple as soon as he came to the Imperial Crown.

But Vespasian carried captive the holy Utensils of the second Temple: The Table of Shew-bread (whereon the twelve Tribes in the Tipe of twelve Loaves, had stood day and night under the favourable inspection of Israel's God:) The sacred Lamps (Emblems of that manifold and marvellous Light of divine Revelations which that Nation peculiarly enjoyed:) The holy Veil (that which fignified God's discriminating them, in point of special favour and intimate Communion, from all the Nations of the World.) And lastly, the Book of their Law of the Covenant that God made with their Fathers.) These, (saith one of their own, Josephus (Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 25.) Vespasian car∣ried in Triumph, after the Images of the Roman Idols, to the Temple of Ju∣piter Capitoline, and reposited them either in his Palace, or in that Temple of Victory, which he built in Memorial of his Conquest of Judah. And as Trophies of his Victory, not only over the Jews, but the God of the Jews, if their own Rabbies be to be believed, who (as they are quoted by Vicars in his Decupla in Psal. 94. 2, 3.) Compare Nebuchadnezzar with Titus, and affirm, that as the first gloried over the desolation of the First, saying, [Who is that God that can deliver you out of mine hand?] (Daniel 3.) so this second insult∣ed at the desolation of the Second Temple, saying, [The God of the Jews is gone a Voyage by Sea, let him land and give me Battel.] My thoughts are here distracted through plenty of Matter, and cannot tell where to begin to pitch their dazell'd Eye: whether upon that miraculous Providence whereby, in the midst of these Conflagrations, (which Massy Pillars of Brass could not re∣sist the violence of) were preserved such combustible things as the Veil, and

Book of the Law: by whose contrivance it came to pass, that in the vast Ru∣ines and Rubbish of the Temple, should be found the Table of Shew-bread and the Lamps, where so many things were buried of more bulk, of more va∣lue, both in common esteem, and in the opinion of the Jews. Or upon that secret (and to him unseen) guidance of the everlasting Counseller, that directed Vespasian to single out for his Triumph such sacred Utensils, as (of all others) were most lively Representations of the peculiar Privileges which that Nation had enjoyed under her great King; and altogether, the perfect Hieroglyphick of that holy State (a Corporation, consisting of twelve Tribes, (upon which the Eye of God was always fix'd) seperated from all other Kingdoms to be holy unto God, (as the Holy of Holies was from the Tem∣ple by the Veil:) Living under the fruition of divine Light (and in Cove∣nant with God, in black and white.) Or that all-ruling Power that guided the Scribe's hand, to give the World an account of the so solemn cancelling of the Bond between God and his sometimes Covenant-people, the taking away of the Veil of Partition betwixt that and other Nations; the removal of his Lamp from them, and them from his favourable Inspection. So that henceforth the Shew bread-table (whereon they were wont to be presented before the Lord) must stand before a God that hath Eyes, but sees not; their Jehovah having turned over his care for them to the Latian Jove: From henceforth the Veil of the Temple (whereon were painted Cherubims, those Eyes of the Lord that run to and fro through the Earth:) A Type of that difference which God put betwixt them and the rest of the Inhabitants of the Earth, must be hung up in the Capitol: as if, in scorn, God had sent the I∣dol-watchmen upon that Hill: this Type of his, to help their eyes; that they might look to their new Charge; or intended to signifie, that now the Capitoline Gods should peculiarly seperate these their new Clients, from all their old Worshippers: as in truth they did. For all other Nations gave them divine honour, thinking they were God's: But the Jews are forc'd to homage them, whom they knew were no Gods: and therefore were holy to these their new Lords, after a peculiar way of seperation. and different from all the People in the World. Henceforth their holy Lamps and Book of their Law must be deposited among the Gentiles, in their Metropolis, and perhaps, in the Emperour's Palace: that all Nations upon the Earth might vindicate God's severity against the Fedifrages, and proclaim the Equity of his Ways, after a Perusal of the Covenant betwixt God and them. That the Gentiles might be lighten'd to the acknowledgment of that Lord Christ, whom the Jews had rejected, to whom Lamp and Law would be more useful, than they had been to that blind Generation, which by malicious Ignorance had put out its own Eyes.

§ 3. But these wonders (that these Utensils should escape the Fire, should be singled out for Triumph; and a Jewish Priest's committing all this to per∣petual Memory; which so clearly expresseth God's cancelling his Covenant with the Jews, and his calling the whole World to be Witness of his giving them so full a discharge) have nothing worthy of admiration in them, in comparison of that, for which principally I made the premised Allegations, viz. That Judah's God should all this while hold his peace, if indeed he were at that time Judah's God; and had not renounc'd all Relation to those some∣times holy Things, holy People, nay and holy Name too: For the Roman Eagle flutter'd in Triumph equally over all these, That he should suffer the Actors of these Tragedies to reign in honour, to depart in peace: one of their own Priests urgeth this Argument; (Joseph. Bel. Jud. l. 6. cap. 11.) God was wont to avenge you on your Adversaries: but Vespasian may thank the Jewish Wars for the Empire: these Fountains (and for instance that of Siloam) which were dry to you, run so plentifully to Titus, as to afford Water enough for his Men, for his Cattel, and the flowing of the Grounds he has gain'd. Therefore, I believe, God hath left the Temple, and is fled from you, and takes part with

them with whom ye war.] I shall therefore prosecute this Argument more particularly. This, I say, can never be sufficiently admired, that Israel's (quondam) God, should suffer the great-Instruments of their Misery; to live applauded as the Delights and Darlings of Humane Kind, to die bewailed with no loss sorrowful resentment of the Publick, than that which men feel for, and express at, the loss of their own dearest and most intimate Relations, and to be followed to the Funeral Pile, with more Praise than Flattery her self could pour out upon living Princes, [Titus, cognomine paterno amor & deli∣ciae humani generis—Excessit, quod ut palàm factum est, non secus atque in do∣mestico luctu maerentibus publicè cunctis, Senatus tantas mortuo gratias egit laudés∣que, quantas congessit nè vivo quidem unquam atque praesenti:] (Suetonius: Titus, cap. 1. & 11.) Vespasian had no Mene Tekel writ against him: for that Appari∣tion he saw in his sleep (of a pair of Ballances hanging up in the Porch of the Palace, with Claudius and Nero in one, and himself and Children, in the o∣ther Scale) was a Vision of Peace, importing the Translation of the Imperial Crown out of the Julian into his, the Flavian Family; and the continuance of it in that Family, as long as it had remain'd in the former during the Reigns of Claudius and Nero; and that with such Felicity, as the happy and beneficial Reigns of him and his Sons, should counter-ballance the Mischiefs which the World receiv'd, by the male-administration of those two last degene∣rate Branches of the Julian Stock. By which Vision and other Portents, he was so well assured of his Son's Succession, as he was wont to ascertain the Se∣nate. [That in spight of all treasonable Attempts to the contrary, he was sure, his Son, or no body, should reign after him (Sueton. Vespasianus, cap. 25.)] Titus indeed complain'd at his death, that he had done one act for which he repent∣ed, and but one: [[Neque enim exstare ullum suum factum paenitendum exce∣pto duntaxat uno.] (Sueton. Titus, cap. 10.) So far was God from writing such bitter Bills against him, that might make his Countenance fall, his Joynts shake, and his Knees smite against one another (as he did against his Fellow∣blasphemer:) as he with hands stretched out to Heaven, and a naked Breast, complain'd to the God of Heaven almost in Job's Phrase; [I am cut off, but not for my iniquity; for I do not remember that ever I did any Act to be repented of except one:] What that Fact was, he neither discovered (saith mine Authour) nor is it easie for any man to tell: some thought it was his too much intimacy with Domitia, his Brother's Wife: but if that had been so, that impudent Woman would have boasted of her being nought with so great and good a Man; for she was a Woman not shy of keep∣ing her own Counsel in such Cases. If I may give my Conjecture, I suppose, it might probably be his seeking to obtain the Judaean Crown for himself; a Design which his Father was jealous he had in his head; and for which he in∣cur'd hatred and blame, while he served his Father in the Judaean Wars. How∣ever it could not be his slaughtering and captivating the Jews, his sacking their City and Temple, his carrying away the holy Spoils; for here were such a Multiplicity of Acts, as to have confessed himself guilty in those things, had been to have accused the greatest part of his Life, after he came upon the the open Stage: which was, in a manner, spent in Actions of this tendency. And had God, for vindicating the Glory of his sometimes-great Name, charg∣ed upon his Conscience the guilt of his challenging the God of Judah, he would have charged it so home as to have made him confess and give glory to God. And to speak the naked Truth, though the Rabbies put a blasphe∣mous Gloss upon the words of Titus, yet he did not thereby intend to af∣front that God who sometimes had been Judah's God: but knowing that he came against Judea at the call, and by the conduct, of that God: to dis∣hearten them and encourage his own men, he told them; [Their God was put to Sea,] that is, he had forsaken the protection of them and their Land; their strength was departed from them: upon which account he subjoyn'd; [Let him come and give me Battel;] that is, try if (with all your strongest cries) you can engage him to take your part, who, I am sure, takes mine a∣gainst

you. The words indeed sound like Nabsheca's or Nebuchadnexxar's, but the difference of the times make their sence as different from theirs, as Light from Darkness. The God of Heaven was then God of the Jews, and those Nations indivisible: and therefore they, in the name of their Idols, defied the God of Heaven, under the name of the God of Israel. But now the Relation of the God of Heaven to the Jews is ceased: so that that relative Title is not applicable (de praesenti) to him; and the thing signified by it is a mere Idol. And therefore Titus might in the name of the true God (who sent him) defie that Relation, and trample upon the Jew's Confidence in a bare and and (then) insignificant Name, the Relation being now out of doors. Which if it had not been, Divine Vengeance would not have slept all that while with∣out giving some hints, at least of God's displeasure, not only against these Emperours, but the Empire it self, for killing and dissipating his sometimes flock: As he manifestly did for its killing the Lord of Life; whose Blood he vindicated upon the Roman State, in his permitting Tiberius, after the Passi∣on of Christ, to vent those, to the Commonwealth, destructive Vices, which till then he had palliated, in his setting over the Empire that raging wild Beast Caligula, that noted Brute Claudius, that Monster of men Nero; in his in∣volving the Empire in those bloody civil Wars under Galba, Otho and Vitel∣lius: Whereas, on the contrary, as if their shedding the Blood of the Jews, had expiated the Guilt of Christ's, the Empire was never happier in any Succession of its Emperours, than of those who were Instruments of the Jews ruine, and their Successors.

§ 4. Lastly, where have been God's Mercies of old, where the sounding of his Bowels towards his ancient People (these so many hundred years) while they have been scatter'd, as Chaff before the Wind, to all the Points in the Compass, and made a Prey to the several Nations of the World, among whom they have been sojourning all this while: (If that be not improperly called sojourning, out of which that bewildred and benighted People shall never find Out-gate.) Would their Plea [We are thine, save us,] have been thus long unanswered, had not the old Relation betwixt God and them been out of date?

Ever since [Libanus open'd her doors that the Fire might devour her Cedars,] (Zach. 11. 1. &c.) since the Temple (built of the goodliest Cedars of Liba∣nus) opened its doors, on the night, on its own accord (Joseph. de Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 2.) to which Prodigy (happening a little before the Tem∣ple's Ruine) Rabbi Jochanan applied this Text of Zach. (Dr. Lightfoot on the Fall of Jerusalem:) and the sober Jews interpreted it to import the burning of the Temple: ever since this Prophecy and Prodigy took ef∣fect. There has been [an howling of the Fir-trees,] (the Vulgar Jews;) [of the Oaks of Bashan,] (their Heads and Chieftains;) [of their Shepherds,] their Priests, Levites and Princes;) [a roaring of the young Lions,] (the In∣fants of the Seed Royal; (St. Jerom, in Zach. 11.) The whole Nation high and low have been crying mightily to Judah's God; to return their Captivi∣ty, to avenge their Blood. [But Ego non sum ego,] I am not I, their Father's God will not now own the name of [Judah's God:] that Title is a mere I∣dol, a Nothing in the World; there's no such God in Heaven, as Judah's God; and they gain no more by invocating that Name, than if they were blessing an Idol, than if they were censing one of the Vanities of the Hea∣then, who have Eyes and see not, Ears and hear not; there's no voice, no hearing, no returns of answer: but the eccho of that fatal and seal'd decree (Zach. 11.) [I will no more pity you, I will no more deliver you out of the hand of your king, into whose hand I have delivered you; I will not feed you: that that dieth let it die. I will no more plead your cause with those your possessors (that slay you and hold themselves not guilty) with those your shepherds that pity you not.] You once had a Shepherd that did pity you, but you are gone a∣stray from him; and these into whose hands you are fallen will not pity you:

neither will I pity you, to rescue you out of their merciless hands: I will not scare them away from their Prey by my Judgments: [nihil mali pro tanta crudelitate patiebuntur;] (as St. Jerom renders it out of the Septuagint) they shall suffer no Punishment from me, for all the cruelty which they exercise upon you: [Let them sell you and grow rich by your impoverishing;] let the Extortioner catch all you have; let the stranger spoil your labour, the Stranger to whom you lend, the Creditour of whom you borrow; (Dr. Hamond in Psal. 109. vers. 10.) let whosoever you deal with oppress and in∣jure you, I will not right you; I will give no other word of command con∣cerning you, to those whom in fury I set over you, but this [pasce gregem occisionis,] feed the Flock of Slaughter; Let them graze till they be fat enough to kill; [nutriatur ut crescat qui posteà occidendus est:] If you spare and tole∣rate them to thrive and get Estates; do it not out of clemency, but with an eye to your own Profit, [non propter clementiam, sed pretium reservati:] All the feeding you shall have, shall be to make you fit for the Shambles; Upon all which St. Jerom hath this Note, [Audi, Judaee, qui tibi spes vanissimas repro∣mittis & non audis dicentem Dominum atque firmantem, non eruam te de manibus eorum; quòd Aeterna sit apud Romanos tua futura Captivitas: Et pascam pe∣cus occisionis; ut semper Judaei nutriantur ad mortem.] Hear, oh Jew, who dost again promise to thy self vain hopes of a return from this thy last Captivity: and mindest not what the Lord saith and affirmeth: [I will not deliver thee out their hands;] That, this thy Captivity (by the Romans) will be eternal, [feed the Flock of Slaughter:] that the Jews shall be always fed, that they may be slaughter'd. Sixteen hundred year's Experience hath commented upon these Menacies, during which time the Jews have been a Prey to any would put out the hand for them. Those of them that converse amongst the Eastern Christians, go in danger of their Lives; upon every tumultuous Assembly of of the common People: and constantly every Easter, wheresoever they be: Insomuch as if a Jew do but stir out of doors (betwixt Maundy-thirsday at Noon and Easter-Eve at night, the Christians among whom they dwell (though far fewer in number will be sure to stone them: (Heylin Geograph. Palestine.) Wheresoever that [Turba] Multitude of No-people have their place of aboad, they are without God, without a King, without Scepter, Sheep scatter'd upon the Mountains without a Shepherd; a prize to whom∣soever will assault them; a Generation hated of all men, and hating all men: whose hatred of Christ, blind zeal for now-mortiferous Ceremonies, and doting confidence in a dead Lyon (a Messias yet to come) put them daily upon those extravagant courses, as scarce a week passeth, wherein they do not render themselves obnoxious to the revenge of him that beareth the Sword, and administer just occasion to Magistrates of proceeding against them, either to Confiscation, Imprisonment, Banishment or Extirpation. And if Judgment be not speedily executed: [defertur non aufertur,] 'tis not forgiveness, but forbearance till their Punishment may be of more advantage to the Republick. So that whereever they have been allowed to reside, they have been kept (as Poultrey in a Coop) only till they were fat enough to kill and pluck, to have either Life or Estate taken from them; Christian States use them only for Spunges (as our King Henry did Emson and Dudley) permitting them to suck in great Estates (by Usury and Brokage) and when they are full, squeasing them into the Exchequer. Upon this point of State, after they had been plunder'd they were banish'd England (by Edward 1. an∣no 1290.) Out of France (by Philip the Fair, 1307.) Out of Portugal (by Emmanuel, 1497.) Out of Naples and Sicily (by Charles 5. 1539.) Under no less Vassalage are they in the Turk's Dominions; where, Achmad, the year after the Christians lost Rhodes, gave the Jews of Egypt no longer time, than while he stayed in the Bath, to deliberate upon this Question; Whether they would aid him with all they had (in his Rebellion against Sultan Selim) or provoke him to extirpate the memory of Israel from off the face of the Earth? (Scaliger Canon. Isagog. lib. 2. pag. 157.)

Ever since God's removing his Court from amongst them, they have been howling under these burdens of Oppression, but procure no relief; cannot obtain of God to revenge their quarrel; cannot prevail with him to pour out his threatned Judgments; [to smite with his plagues those people that have fought against Jerusalem:] this Jerusalem below, who is yet in bondage with her Children.) [Her adversaries flesh hath not consumed away, while they stood upon their feet, their eyes have not consumed away in their holes, and their tongues in their mouth;] (Zach. 14. 12.) [Haec passos non esse Romanos (qui Hierusalem subverterunt) omnibus perspicuum est. Nos autem dicemus, omnes persecutores qui afflixerunt Ecclesiam Domini, (etiam in praesenti saeculo) accipis∣se quae fecerint. Legamus Ecclesiasticas historias: quid Valerianus, quid Decius, quid Dioclesianus, quid Maximianus, quid saevissimus omnium Maximinus & nuper Julianus passi sunt: & tunc rebus probabimus etiam juxtà literam prophetiae veritatem esse completam:] (saith St. Jerom upon this Text) [That the Ro∣mans, who overthrew Jerusalem, did not suffer such things as these, is manifest to all men: but we Christians may say, that all Persecutors who afflicted the Lord's Church have received even in this world) the punishment of their Tyranny. Let us read, in Church-history, what Valerian, what Decius, what Dioclesian, what Maximianus, what (the most cruel of them all) Maximinian, and Julianus (the last of them) have suffer'd: and then we shall be able to prove from matter of fact, that the verity of this Prophecy hath received its accomplishment even ac∣cording to the letter.] See more instances, in Evagrius Scholasticus his Inve∣ctive against Zosimus the Ethnick for reviling of Constantine: (lib. 3. cap. 41.) For these that St. Jerom names. Decius, being defeated by the Goths, and his Son slain, was enticed by the Enemy into a Fen, where he was drown'd; (Carion. Cron. lib. 3.) Valerius, being perswaded by an Egyptian Priest to persecute the Church, and to offer humane Sacrifices, in the fourth year of his Reign, was taken Prisoner by Sapor King of Persia, who (for several years made use of him when he got on horseback, in room of an Horsing∣block; and in his extreme old Age fley'd off his Skin from the Neck to the Feet (Idem Ibid) Dioclesian and Maximian (vex'd, that all their rage could not suppress the Christians) laid down the Empire, and betook themselves to a private Life: from that time, unto his end, Dioclesian pined and wasted a∣way with diseases: but Maximian hanged himself; (Euseb. Ec. hist. lib. 7. 29. lib. 8. 2. 5. 14. 19. Socrates l. 1. c. 22.) Maximinian overcome by Licini∣us at Tarsus, died of the Lowsie Disease, in the midst of most cruel Tortures; a corrupt Matter (issuing from a Fistulá in his Privities) eating up his Bowels; and an unspeakable multitude of Vermine swarming out, and breathing a deadly stench (yielding an intollerable and horrible Spectacle to the Behold∣ers) such as the Physicians were not able to bear the noysomness of, but some of them were poyson'd with it; (Euseb. Eccles. hist. l. 8. cap. 16.) Julian, in a Battel with the Persians, was wounded in the Liver by an Arrow; but from what hand it came is not known: Calistus one of his Guard (who wrote his Life in Heroical Verse) saith it was some Devil that ran him through (So∣crates Scholast. l. 3. c. 19.) but he himself apprehended, it was the Arrow of Christ's revenge; and therefore taking the blood which ran from the wound in the hollow of his hand, he threw it up towards Heaven, and cried out [Vicisti tandem Galilaee,] now at last thou hast over-match'd me, oh Jesus of Ga∣lilee; and with that despairing voice breathed out his impure Soul. What such thing hath befallen the Prosecutors of the People of God's Indignation? What one Testimony of the Divine Displeasure hath been shown upon such as have made havock of that now-accursed Nation, which was sometimes so dear to God. as he that touch'd them had as good have touch'd the Apple of his Eye? At the hand of what Nation, of what Man, of what Beast, hath God required their Blood. And that all this was done in contempt of their Nation, not Law, and not because their Fathers God could not, but would not help them) is manifest, from his opening his ears and lending his hand (in that very juncture) to persons of other Nations who owned the God of Is∣rael;

of which we have a notable instance in Izates (King of the Adiabeni) whose Mother (Helena) releived the Jews in the Famine, in the Reign of Claudius. After whose departure from her Son, his Nobles, understanding that he was circumcised, dissembled their displeasure against him, till they had the opportunity of engaging Abias the King of Arabia to assist them in dethroning Izates: but he, trusting in the God of Israel, put his Enemies to a total rout, and brought his Rebels to condign Punishment. And when af∣ter this his Subjects (still disgusting him, because he had embraced a Foreign Religion) procured Vologesus, King of Parthia to come against him with so numerous an Army, as he blasphemously boasted, the God of Israel (whom he had chosen) was not able to deliver him out of the hands of his men. I∣zates return'd him answer; [that he knew his Forces were not comparable to those of Vologesus; but God was stronger than all Mortals:] and prostrating himself before God, (having enjoyn'd to himself, and Wife, and Children, a Fast) with Ashes on his head, he pours out his Prayer: [Oh Lord our Go∣vernour! If I have not fruitlesly dedicated my self to thy goodness, and chosen thee for the high and only God; come to my aid, not so much to defend me from mine enemies, as to repress their boldness, who with impious tongue have boasted against thy Power.] This Prayer God heard, and that night the Parthian Arms are diverted from him, to the defence of their own Country; of the Invasion whereof Vologesus received the News, as Izates was at Prayer: so that it is most apparent that Izates was preserved by divine Providence, saith Josephus (Jud. Anti. l. 20. c. 2.) Israel's God was not asleep to any that in∣voked him, but his own Rebels. For the Date of these Contingencies, see the Story of Vologesus in Tacitus (Annal. lib. 15.)

§ 5. Their own Doctors observe; that the Psalmist in his Repetition of God's Title and the Churches Imprecation; (Psal. 94. 1, 2, 3.) [O Lord God of revenges, O God of revenges shew thy self: how long, Lord, how long shall the wicked triumph?] hath reference to the destroyers of the First and Second Temple; (to the Chaldean and the Roman Captivities) and so doubt∣less he hath. But what then is become of the answer there given to that Im∣precation? (vers. 23.) [The Lord shall bring upon them their own Iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness;] for what Nation hath incurr'd ex∣cision for its violence against the Captives of the Second Temple? Nay their own Prophets wholly overthrow the Foundation of that Fifth Monarchy, which they erect the Model of, in their Fancy (and some Judaising Mungril∣christians help them to daub it, but with untempered Mortar;) in their pre∣senting the Roman Empire (by which their second Temple was destroyed) with Iron-soles, and therefore to stand as long as the World lasts; (see Slei∣dan's Reflections upon Daniel's four Beasts in the third Book of his Clavis, and Tertullian's Apology contrà gentes, (cap. 32.) Sleidan's discourse I com∣mend to my Reader, for its strength of Reason: but Tertullian's, for its Au∣thority; for he lays it down not as his private Opinion, but as the Belief of the Universal Church (in those primitive and purest Times:) Upon which was grounded the Custom of praying for the Prosperity of the Roman Em∣pire, though then Pagan. [Est & alia major necessitas nobis orandi pro Impera∣toribus, etiam pro omni statu Imperii rebúsque Romanis, quòd vim maximam u∣niverso orbi imminentem, ipsámque clausulam seculi, acerbitates horrendas com∣minantem, Romani Imperii comeatu scimus retardari. Itaque nolumus experiri, & dum praecamur differri, Romanae diuturnitati favemus.] [Besides the Obli∣gation that the Command (of praying even for our Enemies, of putting up Suppli∣cations for Kings and all that are in Authority) hath laid upon us, we have a greater engagement, even that of necessity, to pray for the Emperours and the whole estate and prosperity of the Empire of Rome; because by the interposition of the Roman Empire, we know is retarded that greatest Calamity impending over the whole World, and the end it self of the World; threatning most dreadful ve∣••ations, and such as we would not live to see; while, therefore, we pray for the

delay of those Calamities, which shall attend the last Fate of the World; we fa∣vour the Diuturnity of the Empire.] So wide do the Fools Bolts of Euthusia∣sticks fall of the primitive Mark, as they curse the world, in praying for the erecting of a Monarchy, after the Roman; and call for that Fire from Hea∣ven which will consume, not only their Hay and Stubble, but the whole Fa∣brick of this inferiour World. And no less wide of the Prophets sence falls the Jews Application of these Menacies to the destroyers of their second ma∣terial Temple, which manifestly belong to their own Nation, for destroying that Temple wherein the Godhead dwelt bodily, and which was raised up in three days; [for their gathering together against the soul of the righteous, and condemning innocent blood,] (Psal. 94. 21.) This cannot, with the least sha∣dow of Reason, be charged upon the Romans; for their Eagles (in the Jew∣ish Wars) gather'd together [to the Carcase,] to a People, whose high provo∣catious and rebellious attempts render'd them, fit to be a Prey to publick Ju∣stice, deservedly the Objects of the Revenger's Sword. Never was War more just than that of the Empire, undertaken for the chastising of most stur∣dy Rebels, and in the necessary defence of that power that God had set over them; as not only Josephus and the sober Party of the Jews, then confessed, but the thing it self and state of the Case speaks. [Non equidem recusabo dicere quae dolor jubet: Puto si Romani contra noxios venire tardassent, aut hiatus terrae devorandam fuisse civitatem, aut diluvio perituram, aut fulminum ac Sodomae incendium passuram; multò enim magis impiam progeniem tulit, quàm quae illa pertulerat: (Joseph. Bel. Jud. l. 6. c. 16.) I will not refuse to speak what grief compels: I think verily if the Romans had not come against those guilty Varlets that Jerusalem would either have been swallowed up off the gaping Earth, or over∣whelm'd with a Flood, or destroyed with Fire and Brimstone as Sodom was; for it harbour'd a Generation of men far more wicked than the Sodomites.] Briefly, the Romans were neither unrighteous in the vengeance which their Sword of Justice brought upon that Place and Nation; Neither hath God, or will God cut off that Empire as long as the World stands. But in the mean time, we have seen the Jews gathering together, against the soul of the righteous, a∣gainst the life of the Lord Jehovah (their Righteousness, while they were in the Bond of the Covenant) and we have seen the Lord cut them off; yea the Lord (sometimes their God) cut them off in, and for, this their wickedness. It is not therefore to be thought strange, that they should thus long, without audience, bellow out their second [quousque?] [how long?] that hitherto they have had no return of their Prayer to the [God of Revenges:] for while they stir him up to revenge his People, to render a reward to the proud, they do but mind him of their own sin and demerits, and solicit him to prolong their just sufferings, and never restore to them the departed Scepter.

§ 6. Of the departure whereof, as God hath given them all these De∣monstrations; So almost immediately before its removal, he gave them so fair a warning; as not only their own, but Gentile-historians took notice thereof; in that voice, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Let us depart hence;] which was heard in their Temple; not, as St. Jerom mistakes (palpably in contra∣diction to that Text of Josephus, which himself quotes; as Scaliger observes and proves by undeniable Arguments) at Christ's Passion; but at Pentecost (Joseph. Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 12.) before the desolation of the Temple: of which Tacitus (in the Pagan Style) thus writes (hist. l. 5.) [Expassae repentè delubri fores, & audita major humanâ vox, excedere Deos: the doors of the Temple open'd of their own accord, and a voice more than humane was heard, signifying that the Gods of that place were about to depart:] bating the Heathenishness of the Phrase, Tacitus his [deos] expounds the [migrentus] of Josephus: he rightly conceiving that voice to have proceeded from that host of Angels, the Cheru∣bins, who pitch their Tents over the Mercy-seat, betwixt whom the Shep∣herd of Isr••el dwelt, while he kept his Court in that sacred Palace: but (in

the Gentile Idiom) miscalling them Gods, who were only his Courtiers: and therefore foreknowing that their King was about breaking up his Court there, they prepare to depart with him. For what should they (whose Of∣fice is always to stand before, and behold the face of God) do there, when he withdrew his Face from the Ark of the Covenant, and that was no long∣er to be the Ark of his Presence? By all this it is apparent, that the Prophecy of Jacob (concerning the departure of the Scepter from Judah, after that the Messias should be exhibited, and the Gentiles be gather'd to him) received its accomplishment at the demolishing of God's House; the place of his resi∣dence, amongst the Jews, while it stood;) and that therefore the Apostles were well advised in the account they give us of such Circumstances as relate hereunto: An account which so perfectly suits the mind of the Prophecy, as to the time prefixed; that our fixing it there hath the evidence of Reason, the Suffrages of Jew, Gentile, and a Voice from the Oracle, to warrant and confirm it.

§ 7. If yet the Sceptick will cavil, that not the Apostles, but the Statists of after times (who made a political use of their Simplicity) accommodated the Evangelical History, and the Occurrences of the Christian Age to this Prophecy, I can stop his mouth with these two Animadversions upon this surmise.

1. This Application was made (as appears by the Testimonies alledged out of Tertullian and Clemens Alexandrinus) before any of the Politicians own'd the Gospel; while the Statists of the World did, with all their might, endeavour the suppression of the Christian Religion. as conceiving it to be in∣sociable, destructive to Political Communities, and repugnant to Maximes of Government.

2. The Evangelists and Apostles themselves (before Tertullian, or any o∣ther furnish'd with Humane Learning, had commented upon the Apostolical Writings) did, in the plain Text of Scripture, apply the accomplishment of this Prophecy, and assign the departure of the divine Scepter from the Jewish Nation, to that Period of Time, when the Gentiles being gather'd to Christ, the fall of Jerusalem should happen. St. Matthew (chap. 24.) reports from our Saviours Lips, amongst the Signs of his coming to destroy the Jewish State and the Place of God's Residence among them (a thing to be fulfilled within one Generation, and therefore not applicable intentionally to the day of general Judgment:) this for one (vers. 14.) that, [the Gospel of the King∣dom should (before that) be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all na∣tions; and then shall the end come:] And this for another (vres. 15.) [When ye shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place;] that is, as it is explain'd (ver. 28.) the Roman Ensigns, the eagles (let fly upon their Prey that Nation then ripe for Rejection;) or as St. Luke more clearly, and with∣out a Trope, lays down this Sign (Chap. 21. 20.) [When ye shall see Jerusa∣lem compassed about with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh:] Immediately after the Tribulation of which days (of Siege) the Jewish State is to be dissolved. Which Catastrophe of their Polity, Christ, in St. Mat∣thew (ver. 29.) expresseth in such Prophetical Phrases, as the Old Testament Prophets constantly used in their Descriptions of the Ruine of Kingdoms and Republicks; Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be dark∣ned, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken;] that is, that heavenly Polity establsh'd among the Jews shall wholly be dissolved. When the Gospel shall be preach'd in the Gentile World; or (as St. Paul explains this Text;) (1 Timothy, 3. 16.) when Christ shall be [preach'd to the Gentiles, and believed on in the world:] then shall Jerusalem be destroyed; and immediately after that, the Scepter departs from Judah; then shall Israel, after the Flesh, cease to be God's Dominion; and whosoever of them after that shall boast of the Covenant of Peculiarity, will, upon trial, be found Liars, not Jews (the

Portion of God) but the Synagogue of Satan (Rev. 3. 9.) they having left the Blessing of that name to another People of God (gather'd to their Messias out of all Nations, and called by a new name, [Christians] reserve the sound of it only, for a Curse to themselves, (Is. 65. 15, 16.) Could the Apostles, (in their assigning the time and other Circumstances of the Dissolution of the Jewish State) have thus comported with old Jacob's Prophecy thereof, had they been, such silly Animals as the Atheist pretends, and not persons of the deepest Reach, and solidest Judgments. Let the whole Tribe of them, who deride the Apostles for their Simplicity, put all their Heads together (and call in a Legion of Demons to be of their Council) they may study till they split their dura mater: and spill those few Brains they have, before they shall be able to make so solid and irrefragable an Application of this Propecy, to the time of any other Shilo, and the gathering of Gentiles to him, as the Apostles have made to the time of the Gentiles gathering unto Christ.

CHAP. XI.

The Prophecies of Daniel's Septimanes, and Haggai's se∣cond House, not applicable to any but the blessed Je∣sus.

§ 1. Porphyry and Rabbies deny Daniel's Authority: The Jews split their Messias. § 2. The unreasonableness of both these Evasions. § 3. Da∣niel's Prophecy not capable of any sence, but what hath received its accom∣plishment in our Jesus. § 4. Daniel's second Epocha. § 5. Christ the desire of all Nations fill'd the Second Temple with Glory. § 6. That Temple not now in Being. § 7. The conclusion of this Book.

§ 1. THat Prophecy of Daniel (chap. 9. 24.) [Seventy weeks are determi∣ned upon thy people and the holy City, to finish transgression, &c.] doth so precisely calculate the Time of the Messias coming, and so exactly (in every Circumstance) sutes our Saviour, as it cannot, with any shew of Probability, be applied to any other; nor be denyed to have received its Ac∣complishment in him. From which Text the Primitive Church made such clear Demonstration (to the Gentiles) of the Divinity of the Old, and (to the Jews) of the Divinity of the New; as Porphiry was forc'd to betake him∣self to this Reply to the Christians Arguments, [That these Prophecies fa∣ther'd upon Daniel, were writ long after his death (about the time of Antiochus) by some Jew; and are not Prophecies of things to come, but Naratives of things past:] (Jerom prefat. in Danielem.) Of which Surmise Eusebius, Appollo∣nius, and other Champions of the Christian Cause, shewed the unreasonable∣ness, by a two-fold Argument, (related not only by St. Jerom, in locum, but by our Sir Walt. Rawleigh par. 1. l. 3. cap. 1. § 2.) of the History of the World) viz. 1. The Seventy, above an hundred years before Antiochus, translated Daniel amongst the rest of the Jewish Prophets. And, 2. Jaddus the High Priest shewed to Alexander the Great that Vision of Daniel, (chap. 11. 3.) [A mighty King shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, &c.] where∣in Alexander is presented as the Subduer of the Persian and Erector of the Grecian Empire, as himself applied it, Joseph. Jud. ant. l. 11. c. 8.) It had been to small purpose to have shewed Alexander the Book, had it been un∣translated. I therefore, upon these Testimonies, rest so well assured, that the Seventy translated the whole Old Testament; as I conceive the discussion of that Question needless: and cannot strain my Invention, to find out, Ar∣guments to convince that Generation of men, who have Ignorance or Impu∣dence enough to resist the force of these Authorities, the least whereof

is able to weigh down all Prejudices to the contrary. Howbeit though the Churches Champions had hus baffled Porphyry; yet the Jew was glad to take take the like Subterfuge from the dint of this Prophecy, by ascribing to Daniel less Authority than to Moses and the Prophets; reckoning his Book among the Hagiographa composed by Ezra and his Synagogue. And when he was beaten thence, he had no way to ward off the force of the Christian's arguing, from this Prophecy, that our Jesus is the Christ: but by this distinction, viz. That Daniel's Prophecy (as also Zachary's) points to a Messiah in all points like to our Jesus. A Shepherd that was smitten, and not able to save himself, or Flock: a Messiah that was cut off, and ejected out of his Kingdom; not able to hold that Kingdom he usurped, (In Dan. vis. 8.) [—& non erit ejus popu∣lus, qui eum negaturus est: sive (ut illi dicunt) non erit illius imperium quod pu∣tabat se retenturum:] whereas Christ the Son of God (whom they yet ex∣pect) is described by the Prophets, as asking long Life of God, and obtaining it for ever; as asking, and receiving the Heathen for his Inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession; as one that will make his people willing, in the day of his power; and will come in that Majesty, as shall bear down all opposition before it. This Jewish Evasion Brough∣ton quotes out of the Talmud (in his Concent of Sacred Scripture, anno mundi, 3535.) A clear acknowledment, that Daniel's Text prescribes the Time of the Messias: and that that time so exactly sutes the coming of the blessed Jesus as neither Jew nor Gentile durst stand a Dispute with the Christian upon that ground: but, after some Bravadoes and light Skir∣mishings, retreated to such Boggy and Quagmire-fastnesses as these. Why do you urge us with the Authority of Daniel a spurious Prophet? (whose Book was not writ by him whose Name it bears; but by some false Jew (saith Por∣phyry) by Esdras's College of Elders (say the Jews:) and when the Jew is beaten hence, he grants the Argument, yields the Christian his Conclusion, and so leaves himself no way to escape a total Rout, but over the narrow and slender Bridg of this sorry Distinction: Our Scriptures foretell of two Messi∣asses; one base and mean, like your Jesus (the Son of Joseph the Carpenter;) another high and mighty, the Son of David the King; who shall repair the decayed Tabernacle of David, and sit upon his Throne for ever. These were the desperate shifts, which the Defenders of the Christian Faith put the Jews to; by their demonstrating (out of Daniel's Weeks) that the Fulness of Time (for the appearance of the Messiah) was then come, when our Saviour exhi∣bited himself; being put to this plunge, that they must either confess the Di∣vinity of Christ, or deny the Divine Authority of their own Prophetick Books, or split in two their Messias, whom those Books foretell.

§ 2. To shew the unreasonableness of both these Evasions would fall in, more methodically, in another place: yet that my Reader, while he is travel∣ling with me (through this Prophecy) in search of the Christ, may not fall under the least discouraging doubt of the Canonicalness of this Book, or un∣der the least fear of finding here a Messias; who is not the Son of David, as as well as the Son of Joseph; and the Son of God, as well as the Son of David: I shall now remove these stumbling-blocks.

As to the first Evasion (viz. the debasing the Authority of Daniel) it was a mere Pretence, taken up to blunt the Edge of that Prophecy, the Dint whereof the Jew was not able to avoid: For before the Christian took that Sword into his hand for the Defence of Christ, the Synagogue had as high an esteem of him as any other of the Prophets: of whose Faith, touching this part of the Old Testament-canon, Josephus (who lived to see the last hour of Daniel's Weeks expired) is an impartial Witness; who makes this clear and full Confession: (antiquit. 10. 12.) viz. Daniel was a most happy man, and a most excellent Prophet,—and after death obtained eternal Memo∣ry: for his Books, which he left writ, are at this day read among us: (this was in the Reign of Domitian, after the accomplishment of Daniel's Weeks;)

being such as give full proof of Gods vouchsafing to have familiar Conference with him. For he did, not only as other Prophets, foretell things to come, but define the precise time, when they were to fall out: which have had that Effect (in the certainty of Events) as hath procured him credit among all sorts of mortal Men; there being those Circumstances in his Writings, from whence the certainty of his Prophecies may be more clearly gather'd, than from any other of our Prophets. For the proof of which, having instanc'd in his Vision of the four Beasts, in his Prediction of the rising of the Roman Empire, and the desolations it was to bring upon the Jewish People; he con∣cludes thus. All these things being reveiled to him by God, he committed to Writing, and left to Posterity, &c.

Indeed had Josephus been silent, the Book it self speaks Daniel to be the Pen-man of it, where the Angel bids him seal the Prophecy; which sure was not a Blank, which Ezra and his Companions were to fill up! Nay the Jews silence (Mat. 24. 45. Mar. 13. 14.) when Christ quoted Daniel's Prophecy, gave Consent that he was the Author of that Book; which had they conceiv∣ed not to have been his Writing, but the Tradition of the Elders, they would not have failed to have bid our Saviour (who had so frequently rebuked them, for adhering to Tradition) wash his own hands of that Crime, which he objected to others.

Touching their other Subterfuge (their distinguishing of Messias) a man (inferiour to Solomon in Wisdom) may judg it a sufficient Evidence that that Child is none of theirs, whom they would have divided. For,

1. This halving of Christ wholly destroys him, whom their Prophets de∣scribe; to be Mortal, and Immortal; a Man of Sorrows, and the impassible God, in one Person; and to be exhibited in both Natures, at one and the same Fulness of time. Jacob's Prophecies of the Nation's gathering to Shilo as their King, and of the tying of a Foal the Colt of an Ass (upon which this meek and lowly King was to ride in Triumph) are utter'd with the same Breath, and bear the same Date (Gen. 49. 9.) The servant of God (in Isa∣iah) who (in regard his Visage was mar'd more than any man's, and his form more than the Sons of Men) was to be looked upon with astonishment and to be rejected of men, as one smitten of God: was notwithstanding to be extolled and exalted as the most High; was to be so full of resplendent Majesty, as Kings should shut their mouths at him (Isa. chap. 52. 13. 14.) The same Messiah (in Daniel) that within 70 Weeks is to make Reconciliation for Sin, by his Death; is to bring in everlasting Righteousness, by his Life the same individual Person, that within that Term of Years is to be cut off, is Messiah the Prince, and the most holy (Dan. 9. 24. 25.)

2. The Messiah that came, at the time described by Daniel, gave as full proof of his Divine Majesty, as he did of his Humane Infirmity; was as ma∣festly declared to be the Son of God (by the Miracles he wrought in his own Name, by his raising himself from the dead, by his visible inflicting his threatned Sentence upon his Crucifiers, and by his subduing the World to his Obedience;) as he was declared to be the Son of Man, by his hungring, thirsting, fainting, weeping, sorrowing, and suffering death. So that, he whom the Jews reject as an abject Christ, hath left nothing to be done by him, whom they yet look for, of all those glorious and stupendious works which the Prophets assign to the Messias.

3. If that Messiah (that came according to Time limited by Daniel) be not that very same, of whose Glory and Greatness the Prophets speak; when is he to come? what Prophet can say how long the World must travel in expectation of him? can any thing be more incredible, than that the Spirit of the Messiah (that was in the Prophets) should (so punctually) foretell the time of the appearance of this Puny and Dwarff-christ (as they blasphemously stile the blessed Jesus) and never communicate one word to any of them, touching the time of the coming of that Gyant-christ, that they look for.

§ 3. Thus having proved the Authentickness of Daniel's Prophecy: and the Subject of it to be the Messias; and that Messias whom it presignifies, to be Prince Messias. and having heard both Jew and Gentile confess that what Daniel foretells, both as to Time and Thing, is applicable to our Jesus, and none but him. I shall supercede any farther prosecution of this Argument, saving what this Observation may contribute towards the strengthening of it. viz. That the Terms of this Prophecy are not capable of any rational Con∣struction, but what is applicable to our Saviour, and impossible to be applied to any other.

1. If we understand the Decree from the going out whereof Daniel's Weeks commence, to be the Decree of Darius the Son of Hystaspis for the building of the Temple, the last of them will fall at our Saviour's Passion, ac∣cording to the Computation of Vossius, grounded upon the Chronology of Josephus (Vossii Chronolog. sacra.)

2. If we conceive this Decree to have been the Decree of Cyrus the Great, as Calvin, Broughton, Finch, Piscator, Allen, &c. imagine; and reckon the years of the Persian Monarchy after a middle rate with Allen (i. e.) 130. years, Daniel's Weeks end about the death of our Saviour: (Allen's Chrono∣logical Chain, period 7.) If with Finch we follow the Rabinical account of the Durance of the Persian Monarchy, i. e. 70. years, the Septimanes expire at the Fall of Jerusalem.

3. If we interpret the Decree to be the Decree of Darius Nothus, with Bishop Hall, Constantine L' Emperour, &c. and assign the first seven to the time of the cessation of Temple-work, betwixt the Decree of Cyrus the Great and Darius Nothus, the middle of the last Week falls at our Saviours Passion, saith Con∣stantine L' Emporour (Annotationes in Paraphrasim Josephi Jachiade in Danie∣lem) and that upon probable Chronological Grounds, though out of the common Road.

4. If We begin the Account at the Decree of Artaxerxes Mnemon (assign∣ing the first Septimane to the time of the Cities Walls lying ruinous) and follow the common Chronology from the Era's of Salmanasser, the Olympi∣ades, and Rome built, the last week's middle falls at our Saviour's Passion. See Functius, Perkins, Powel, Pontanus, Lydiat, &c.

5. If with Scaliger, Mede, &c. we interpret Daniel's [seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy City,] to import the duration of the Second Temple (which that clause does so manifestly, as every Child may perceive it; saith Scaliger, de emend. temp. l. 6. pag. 608.) and begin the com∣pute at the fixth year of Darius Nothus, when the second Temple was finish'd; following the most commonly received Chronology, we shall find saith Master Meed (upon Daniel's Weeks) that in all probability the Second Tem∣ple's desolation fell out precisely on the very middle of the last Week of the Seventy.

6. Lastly, If with Master Mede we make two Epochas in this Prophecy: the first of 70 Weeks beginning and ending with the Second Temple, the se∣cond of 62 Weeks and two Half-weeks; that is, 63 Weeks, beginning at the going forth of the Commission granted to Ezra and Nehemiah, and the middle of the last ending at our Saviour's Passion, we shall find an admi∣rable Correspondency betwixt the Prophecy and the Accomplishment; and and that Christ's Ministry began at the last of these Weeks, and continued precisely 3 years and an half: vide Meed upon Daniel's Weeks.

§ 4. The probability of which Conjecture appears.

1. From the bounds here fixed as to the beginning of this Epocha: [The going forth of a Command or Commission, to cause the Jews to return or reinhabit and to build: not the Temple (that part of Jerusalem whence in the former E∣pocha, of 70 Weeks, it is stiled the holy City) or some few houses only, but the whole Area, or Street, and the walls about it.] From such a Commission must

this second Computation be reckon'd; and that not only granted (for then we must begin the account at Cyrus the Great, who by Decree built not only the Temple but the City: (Isaiah 44. 28.) but taking effect as the Angel explains the former in the later words, [the street shall be built, and the wall.]

2. From the End or Period of this time, [unto Messiah the Prince;] that is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, (Luk. 23. 2. Mar. 15. 32.) or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Angel stiles him: for the Angel in this Text was the Precentor to that Choire, and put that Name of Christ into the mouth of the Angel, that declared his Birth to the Shepherds; there being no Prophecy (but this) in all the Old Testament. where that Name is directly given; or whence it could be ascribed by the Jews unto him, they looked for: and therefore Jerom deservedly taxeth that Whimsey of Eusebius (touching his Christos duces) as a singularity.

3. From the Angel's note of Attention prefix'd: [also know and under∣stand, that from, &c.] which as it speaks its passage to another Aera; so it implies that to be of more special note; the observation of that to be of more concern than the other; and that, not because it divides the gross Summ into parts (as some have thought;) but because, the Period there∣of falling earlier than of the former, it will sooner be accomplish'd, and prevent (if diligently observed) men's suspending their believing in the Messiah, till they see the other fulfilled (in the Ruine of Jerusalem) and therefore, that before the accomplishment of the first Prophecy (that ends there) men might have time to look about them, and to provide for their own safety (against that time) by embracing him that was to come: the Angel assigns a shorter Period, that should terminate in the mean while (to wit) at the Death, Coronation, and Covenant-tendring of the Mes∣siah; that men, by the Calculation of the time of this Branch of the Pro∣phecy, being convinc'd and throughly perswaded, that he that was to come, was come; might (by getting into the Ark) avoid wrath to come, save themselves from that untoward Generation, that was to be swept a∣way, with that flood and inundation of Judgments upon the unbelieving Jews.

4. From the Duration of Time intervening [shall be seven weeks; and sixty two weeks, &c.] that is (as Judicious Master Mede paraphraseth.) As from the building of the Temple, to its Destruction, there are to be many sevens of Weeks, even 70 Weeks; so from this After-Epocha (here men∣tioned) to wit, the Commission to build the Walls, and reform the Laws; unto Messiah there shall be likewise sevens of Weeks; even 62 Weeks. So that 62 Weeks are the full Measure of that time, that shall intervene be∣twixt those Terms; and the preceding Number [7 weeks] is not to be ac∣counted as a part of that Time: but to be taken distributively. For the Hebrews wanting distributive or divisive Numbers, (terni quaterni, &c.) supply their want thereof, most what, by Repetition, as septem septem; but not always; as may appear 2 Sam, 18. 4. [and all the people came out, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ad centum & millia;] that is, by hun∣dreds and thousands, 1 Reg. 18. 4. [Obadia hid an hundred prophets,] quinquaginta viros: here the Sept. retains the Cardinal Number, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, quinquagenos, by fifty in a cave: Gen. 6. 19. [of all flesh thou shalt bring into the ark (duo, i. e. bina) two's:] and therefore it is af∣terwards doubled, [duo & duo,] two and two. In all these Texts the Cardinal Number, in the Hebrew, is (in our Translation) rendred by the Distributive; and had not Noah put that interpretation upon the Divine Pre∣cept, in the last of them, a Vessel, of a very ordinary burthen, would have served his turn, as well; as his large Ark.

And so must that Text be rendred: (Ezr. 1. 9. 10.) [Thirty chargers of

gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, thirty basons of gold, silver basons four hundred and ten: and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and silver were five thousand and four hundred;] or it, is im∣possible to reconcile it to it self: for the Parcels will not come near the Summ total, except we turn the Cardinal Number [a thousand] assigned to the other Vessels, into the distributive, and make this to be the sence; and the other Vessels (of smaller quality) they were reckoned by thou∣sands, and amounted to four thousand wanting one hundred: we must not therefore account that thousand as parcel of the Vessels, but a Deno∣mination of the value, which the other Vessels were numbred by.

Of the Parcels of

• 0030
• 1000
• 0029
• 0030
• 0410

the Sum total is but

1499

To which if we add the other Vessels,

1000

The Sum will be

2499

which falls short of the Summ in the Text.

2901

Summ total of Vessels numbred by Name.

1499

Summ total of remaining Ves∣sels number'd by thousands.

3901

This makes up the Summ total in the Text.

5400

We want not then Parallel-texts, nor clear examples of that way of Interpretation; if we render the Angel's [seven] by sevens; and do not take it into the number of Weeks (as a Parcel thereof) but as a Denomi∣nation of that Proportion, by which the Weeks, both in the former, and this Epocha are reckoned: for as there are ten sevens in 70, so there are precisely nine sevens in 62 and two halves: that is in 63 weeks of years, And that the Septuagint retaining the Cardinal Number, in this Text, may not prejudice this Exposition; let it be noted that in all the places forequoted, except the first, it retains that Number.

5. From the Impossibility of making the Buckle and Thong meet, but upon this Hypothesis. For,

1. The Angel assigning a twofold Beginning of these Weeks (thirteen years distant one from the other) to wit, the going forth of the Command, to settle the Affairs of State, in the 7. and to rebuild the Walls of Jerusalem, in the 20. of Artaxerxes Mnemon, puts us upon a necessity of reckoning by different kinds of years (viz. Solar and Lunar) that the two Aera's (of that distance) may both meet, and end at the same Period. A distinction not of late Invention, but as old as Julius Affricanus and Clem. Alexandrinus; an evident Argument, that the primitive Church was solicitous, how to

reconcile the Periods of these two Commissions, so as they might termi∣nate at one, though they begin at divers Points.

2. If we comprehend, in this Epocha, seven Weeks and sixty two Weeks with two Half-weeks; (that is, the whole Summ of the seventy Weeks) the difference betwixt the Solar and Lunar years, in that distance, will amount to above 15. as Affricanus hath computed it, and is of it self manifest.

70 Weeks make	Years	490
Which being multiplied by the yearly overplus of	Days	11
Amounts to	Days	5390
Which summ divided by the days of a	Year	365
Make of those	Years	14
With the overplus of 280 days, which with 122½ (the intercalar days) make up of those	Years	15
And the remainder	Days	37½

And therefore a less distance must be found out, wherein such a number of Years occurr, as in them the Solar may exceed the Lunar thirteen years: to which the Angel's Summ of 62 Weeks does so well accord; as the e∣vent argues the time therein comprehended to be, that which is pointed out in this part of the Prophecy. Clemens Alexandrinus makes the diffe∣rence betwixt Solar and Lunar Years in the space of 490, to be but 2300 Days; but doubtless he hath suffer'd prejudice by his Transcribers: for so great a Clark could not so far mistake. For multiply 62 Weeks of years, i. e. 434 years, by 11. which is the overplus of Days in the So∣lar, beyond what the Lunar Year hath (that consisting of 365, this, but of 354 Days) and the Product will be 4774 Days; which divided by 365, the Quotient will be 13 Years, and the Remainder 29 Days: and there∣fore no other number of Weeks but 62 can (possibly) be pitch'd upon; in whose compass, the difference betwixt Solar and Lunar Years will not ei∣ther exceed, or come short of 13. the space of these two Commissions: which admirable Concordance cannot be ascribed to Chance, but to Di∣vine Providence, so ordering it, that these two Commissions might (in point of Chronology) be one and the same: For there are as many Lunar Years from Nehemiah's Commission (in the 20) as there are Solar from Ez∣ra's (in the 7 of Artaxerxes Mnemon) unto the Messiah, to wit, 434. He that cannot see what is the Angel's mind, by the help of this confederate Light both of Sun and Moon, he that misseth it, in measuring the time here specified; when 'tis so manifestly lined out by the Courses of both those Luminaries, which God hath set in the Firmament for Signs and Sea∣sons: must be a person either of so low a Capacity or strong Prejudice; as renders him uncapable of learning what he knows not, or of unlearning what he has been mis-taught: and therefore here is the end of my Travel to give such wayward Idiots satisfaction. To them that are piously, or but humanely disposed, the Demonstration of the accomplishment of the Angel's Prophecy, upon our Hypothesis, will be evidence sufficient of the truth of it; for which I refer them to the excellent Treatise of Mr. Meed upon Daniel's Weeks.

To be sure, none of these forenamed Prophecies can receive accomplish∣ment in any other; as Origen told Celsus his Jew, affirming that many Phanaticks (who said they were the Messias) alledged the Prophets appli∣cableness to them, as well as to Jesus; (lib. 1. calum. 24.) And there∣fore the Apostles in framing the Gospel so, as the History of it jumps thus exactly (in point of Chronology) with these Prophetick Weeks: wherein they present Christ's Passion, and the Preaching of the Gospel falling out,

at the very points of Time prefix'd so long before; and give us an account of Christ's foretelling the Fall of Jerusalem, at the time allotted by Daniel (which accordingly took effect.) This (I say) speaks them to have been Men in Understanding; that, of that Understanding, whereby they were led, there is no number (Psal. 147. 4, 5.) that they who could thus find out Number, had found out Wisdom (Eccles. 7. 25.) Wisdom it self joyn∣ing together Number and Wisdom as St. Austin observes out of those Texts, (de libero arbitr. lib. 2. cap. 8.)

§ 5. No less applicable to any but our Jesus are those Prophecies of Haggai; (cap. 2. 7.) [The desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory:] [The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former.] (Malachy, 3. 1.) [And the Lord whom we seek, shall suddainly come into his Temple.]

That this Prophecy denotes the coming of the Messias; is not only con∣fest by the Jews, but manifest from the whole series of the Texts.

1. From the appellation of him that is to come. [The desire of all na∣tions:] [He whom ye seek.] The whole World shall rejoyce at the coming and unction of Christ (saith R. David) in (Psal. 45.) and gives the reason thereof (vers. 18, 19.) because the Gentiles, in all Ages preceding his com∣ing, with a longing expectation waited for it; from whence that Psalm is stiled [A Song of Desires.] To this the Apostle hath reference (Rom. 8.) The whole creation groans and is in travel:] and the 70, in their rendring that passage in Jacob's Prophecy (Gen. 49.) [the expectation of the Gentiles [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] as a Title of the Messias: not that they did, di∣stinctly, either know or look for Christ; but only that he was the general and indefinite Object of the implicite desires of all men; he being the only Mean towards the obtainment of that Communion with God, wherein consists man's ultimate and compleat Happiness, and toward which (as their summum bonum) all men radically have an inclination: he is that Truth, they were enquiring for; that Way, they were seeking; that Life, they were in pursuit of; that Door to it, they were groping after. That he was the Expectation of the Jews, is clear, from the Question of John's Disciples [Art thou be that should come, or do we look for another?] from John's Hearers being in an expectation and a muse, whether he were the Christ or not: (Luk. 3.) by the Woman of Samaria's Speech to our Saviour [we know that the Messiah cometh, and when he cometh he will tell us all things:] from the Rulers sending to Christ, to enquire; whether he were not he that was to come? and from that posture wherein the Religious stood at Christ's Birth [waiting for the consolation of Israel,] ex∣plain'd by Simeon's Revelation, to be the Lord's Christ, and that in their waiting for him, they expected to see him come into the Temple, is as clear, from Hannah's waiting for him there, and from Christ's Brethren advising him to go up to the Feast, if he had a mind to be acknowledged for the Christ.

2. From the Occasion of the Prophets giving the Builders this encou∣ragement. [Is not this house as nothing in your eyes in comparison of the glo∣ry of the first house? yet now be strong, let not this discourage you: for the glory of this later house shall exceed that of the former.]

3. From his explaining, how the Glory of this should be greater than the Glory of that; (viz.) by the coming of the Messiah, by his exhibiting himself in it, and filling it with Glory. For, in all other things, Solo∣mon's Temple transcended this; being so far superiour to it, in point of Magnificence, as the old men who had seen that, wept bitterly at the lay∣ing the Foundations of this; as not taking up an equal proportion of ground; for that was all the then apparent difference betwixt them:

[ampliore ambitu & huic conveniente celsitudine, Joseph.] though had they lived to see the Top-stone laid, that would have renewed and augmented their grief (if their Hope, grounded on this Prophecy, had not suppressed it:) for it was as much inferiour to the other in height, as in breadth (full 60 Cubits as Herod the great told them. [Templo huic desunt ad priscam altitudinem 60 cubita:] (Jos. 15. 14.) It's true indeed, upon that ac∣count Herod pull'd down this Second Temple, and built another answera∣ble to that of Solomon, both in Circuit and Height: but as this was not re∣puted another Temple from the Second (by reason, not only that the same Utensils, were in that he built, as were in that he pull'd down; but be∣cause he did not quite pull down the Second (Vossii Chron. Sacra;) for Josephus (Antiq. 15. 14.) tells us, that the Tower of the Maccabees (by name) was only repair'd and built higher; and so (doubtless) were other parts of the Temple, that were strong enough to bear his Superstructures, and did not stand in his way to straiten the Circuit.) I humbly conceive, that Josephus his saying, that Herod pull'd down the Foundations of the old Temple, is commonly stretch'd too far beyond his meaning; which is no more than this; the Out-side being corroded by the Teeth of Time, especially in the upper part of the Wall (that being most weather-bearen) he did not only lay new Stones, in the room of the decayed ones, upon those that were found (as the repairers of Bow-steeple did after the Fire:) But pull'd down the out side of the Wall with the very Foundation; and at that end where he lengthen'd it, the whole Wall and its Foundation was demolish'd. But to pull down the Inside, that was as good as hands could make it: (except where it hindred his enlargement of the Length;) as it would have been a fruitless expence, so I question, whether the Jews would have permitted it; and more how we shall maintain that House, into which the Desire of all Nations came, to have been the Second House, if we have no better Foundations to build upon than those of Scaliger's laying: (Joseph. ant. 15. 14.) So notwithstanding all these costly Re∣pairs; which God, in his gracious Providence, put Herod upon (he there∣by making out that Propriety he here challengeth in Silver and Gold: [the silver is mine, and the gold is mine] and providing for the more august enter∣tainment of the Messias therein.) This second never grew up to the state of the first: for beside that 20 Cubits of the height (by the yielding of the Foundation) fell, by that time Herod had finish'd his Repairs; the first was inlaid with Gold, thence stiled Gold; [How is the gold become dim, the most fine gold changed;] (Lament.) [The stones of the sanctuary are powred out] (by melting) as if they had been all Gold: the second had only golden Doors, which set Titus his Souldiers Teeth a watering after the plunder of the Temple; supposing it had been within all of one piece: but they found it only cover'd with Silver; (Joseph. B. J. 7. 9.) Much less did it equal the first in internal Endowments and spiritual Privileges (as the Rabbies say;) the First being filled with a Cloud at its Dedication, having its Altar-fire kindled from Heaven, the Ark of the Covenant with all its appurtenances, the holy Oyl, the Vrim and Thummim, &c. as the Jews themselves say: From their Concessions therefore we assume, that these Glories of the First were not in the Second, till Christ (in whom the Godhead dwells bodily; in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom; that precious Corner-stone; anointed with the Oyl of gladness, above his fellows) presented in his own Person, the Substance of all those in that Temple: in respect of which his coming into it, and honouring it with his blessed presence, it exceeded the former House in Glory, the coming in of this King of Glory hath lift up the Gates of the Second Temple, in Glory, above the first. [Rex gloriae, id est, Arca, quia super eam habitabat Dominus gloriae inter Cherubim.] When the Ark removed, Moses said, Arise,

O Lord, and when it stood still, he said, Return, O Lord; (R. Da∣vid in Psal. 24.) Aben Ezra observes, that by that Repetition is intimat∣ed, the coming of the Ark into the First, and restoring the Ark (the true Ark of God's presence) unto the Second Temple, by the coming of the Messias: who is therefore called (in the later answer) [the Lord of Hosts,] without the addition of [mighty in battail,] because in the Reign of Christ men are to learn War no more (Is. 2.)

§ 6. But where is now this Second House that the Prophet points at (and even toucheth with his Finger) in this Prophecy? is it not long since laid in the dust, and made so desolate, that Travellers by, can discern no sign, that ever there was any such Fabrick? [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Jos. Bel. Jud. 7. 18.) Titus levelling the Temple and whole City to the ground except three Towers, (Phaselus, Hippicus, and Mariamne,) and that part of the Wall that en∣compassed the City on the West side; this last to be a defence for the Garrison he left there: the Towers, that they might indicate to Posterity, how well fortified a City the Roman Prowess had subdued: And Turnus Rufus, the same day Twelvemonth, ploughing up the place where the Temple stood to make good that Prophecy [Sion shall be ploughed as a field,] as appears by the constant and copious Testimony of the Jews them∣selves, quoted by Dr. Lightfoot

—fuit Illium, & ingens, Gloria Teucrorum— Jam seges ubi Troja—

Jerusalem's best days are past, now that her sacred Temples Area is be∣come a Corn-field: If she has not already, she never will, attain this Glo∣ry. If one knew where to find her rubbish, he may write in the dust thereof [Icabod Glory is departed.] It hath had all the Glory it is like to have. It is absolutely impossible, it should be fill'd with Glory, now that 'tis emptied of its self, of its very Being and Existence, I know the Jews expect the rising of this Phaenix out of its ashes, and dream of a Third House; wherein this Prophecy shall receive its accomplishment: [in domo tertiâ stabunt ad honorem Dei in aeternum:] (Aben Ezra, in Psal. 24.)

But 1. The Comparison here (in point of Glory) is betwixt Solomon's Temple (called the First House) and this of the return'd Captives build∣ing, called the Later House.

2. That Temple in the Air they build to themselves, is to be raised up (as they conceive) by their expected Messiah. But that Temple he was to fill with Glory, was to be in being before he comes; he is not to build it, but finds it built to his hand, and comes into it.

3. Say a Temple should again be erected in the place of this, it would not be this the Prophet speaks of, any more than this, was that which So∣lomon erected; but another (a Third House) essentially differing from this Second: for as this was called the Second House, because that of Solo∣mon's was utterly destroyed and brought to annihilation by the Babilonians, and this built anew from the lowest Foundation; [The hands of Zorobabel

have laid the foundation of this house:] this word (saith Isidore Peleusiota) of [laying the foundation] demonstrates, that the Babylonians, had razed the Foundation of the former (Epist. lib. 4. epist. 17.) So it being as ma∣nifest, that the Romans have not left one stone upon another, in this House; whatever House shall be built upon the Premisses, will be a new House, and specifically different from it, the Second being never to have a new birth as the same Isidore saith: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉—]

4. After such ploughing, the Jew hath no ground to hope for such a Crop: for the Prophets stile this [the last] and, that which is to continue for ever; that is, the ever of their Law: and that wherein the Sons of Aarou shall stand ministring, during the limited Eternity of Mosaical Ce∣remonies: till Messiah comes and renews all things, makes all old things pass away, introduces a new World, a new Heaven, and new Earth: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] (Is. Pel. lib. 4. ep. 17.) And therefore Vespasian's Reply to the Jewish Priests (suing for their Lives, after their Temple was sack'd) was more pertinent, and pat to the Idiom of the Old Testament, than (I believe) he was aware of: when he told them, that now their Temple was gone, it was fit they should perish with it; as be∣ing become wholly useless Creatures; that being destroyed, for whose sake only, they could desire to live: (Joseph. Bel. Jud. 7. 13.)

§ 7. The Conclusion of this Book.

These Arguments are commonly urged to prove the Divinity of our Religion; and they might pass for good Mediums still, in that Question; were not our modern Atheists grown to that degree of Ingenuity, in con∣triving their own everlasting perdition; as to put in all Exceptions ima∣ginable against the Evidences, brought for the Probate of the Common Salvation, and the Way to it (the Common Faith.) I have therefore so far gratified the delicate Scepticism, the versatile Wit of these Pretenses; as to draw no other Conclusion from these Premisses, but this: That the Apostles were men of sound Intellects, and not such silly Animals as they deem them. And seriously, if they deny me the Validity of this Argu∣ment, they will very much impair the Repute the World hath of them∣selves as men of Reason, and dis-enable themselves of all possibility of mak∣ing Indication of their own Wit: For if the Apostles notwithstanding their contriving the Gospel in such an admirable Compliance with whatso∣ever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, venerable, (as the Phi∣losophers esteemed Virtue) whatsoever things are just, pure, lovely, of good report, whatsoever things can be thought on as praise-worthy (Phil. 4. 8, 9.) (all which the Apostle affirms, the Philippians had learned, and received, and heard, and seen in him) must still pass for Fools: do they not teach the World to think themselves such, for all their witty contriv∣ed Plays and Romances. Sophocles was accused by his Children to have been grown into Dotage; but absolved by the Judges (when he produc'd a Tragedy which he then made) saying, Is this the work of a man besides himself? Good God! must he that can make five Acts of a Comedy hang together (and yet not all out so exactly, but that he is forc'd (ever and anon) to call down some God upon the Stage, to help his Invention at a dead lift) be writ A WITT With a double W, and double T, and a great A; and those men presented as Fools, that acted upon the Stage of the great World, that have made Mercy and Truth meet together, Righ∣teousness and Peace kiss each other; that have made all the Results of true Reason and Religion, that were in the World before them, scrape acquain∣tance

with, and take knowledg of one another; and, by joynt consent, do obeysance to Christian Philosophy. Shall the Fame of those Scavinger-in∣ventions go rumbling like a Wheel-barrow, that can scrape together the Obscenities of Aristophanes, the Impieties of Lucian, and lay their Dung on orderly heaps, before the Noses of their applauding Spectators: who, as also Alcaeus writ their Poems when they were drunk, saith Athenaeus in his Dipnosoph. lib. 9.) And the memories of these be turned into the silent Grave (with the Burial of an Ass) who have gather'd all the Daisies and Lillies of the Vallies (the natural Emanations of every vulgar Soul) all the rarer Flowers of the best cultivated Gardens (of the most refined and abstruse Philosophy) and bound them into one Posie, a Nosegay for the Bride of the King of Kings! Shall the more civilized Atheist (for the Steam of that Augean Stable, where those neighing Stone-horse-men stand; of that Hog-sty, where Epicurus his Herd wallow, does almost stifle me, and I hasten out of it) be stroak'd upon the head (as a person of a deep reach) who can frame his maximes of State sutable to theirs in St. Austin: [Nolunt stare rempublicam firmitate virtutum, sed impuritate vi∣tiorum:] (August. Volusiano, ep. 3.) to the humours of the half-witted Vulgar, of one Age, of one Province; and by temporizing therewith, keep the Cart on Wheels for a while; that is, till the Team find the Reins loose upon their Necks, and an opportunity of bringing the Wheel over their ungodly Drivers: for when the Horse comes to find his own strength (and he will quickly learn that if he be not kept in with Bit and Bridle) off goes his Rider: and give me leave to give our modern Statists this I∣tem; that there are a Generation of men in the World, that are subject not for Conscience sake, but Fear; and with these no Governour shall be longer good, than he has power over them, and they awed from calling him all to nought. Shall then (I say) these Tinker-Machiavilians (who in stopping one hole make two) pass for great Head-pieces? And the A∣postles be reputed to have had heads no better than that, which the Mon∣key played with in the Carver's Shop, who have laid down such an abso∣lute Model of Polity; so fitted to the universal, eternal, Rules of Rea∣son; so perfectly complacential to the Dictates of all men; so exactly li∣mitting Superiours and Inferiours, in all Ranks, of all sorts, to their pro∣per Bounds and Vocations: as it is impossible for any State, Kingdome, Empire, Corporation, Family, not to prosper and flourish under the due observation of it; or to subsist, under the neglect of it (execpt it be in judgment to themselves or others.) [Advertit Plato in omni sermone suo de reipublicae institutione proposito, infundendum animis justitiae amorem: sine qua non solum Respublica, sed nec exiguus hominum caetus, nec domus qui∣dem parva constabit:] (Macrobius in Som. Scipionis, lib. 1. cap. 1.) where he gives that, as the reason, why Plato and Cicero preface their Treatises of the Commonwealth, with the discourse of the Soul's Immortality and eternal Rewards.

Shortly; say the Gospel be a Fable, it is the most profitable one that ever was devised, and the most cunningly devised, that ever was shown to the World; and shown to the World at its Age of best Discre∣tion.

Let the whole College of Atheists frame such another piece of Work∣manship; a piece made up, of the Perfections of all other Writings: (as the Painters Venus, of all other Beauties;) in so perfect a Syme∣try of parts, as they cohere better in this Copy than they did in their several Originals. Celsus, indeed, made a faint offer to shew ma∣ny things in Christ, that speak him unlike that Messiah whom the

Prophets delineate: but this was but a Copy of his Countenance, a Flourish of his Pen (as Origen tells him) for he pulls in his Horns, as soon as he had shown them; and is content to wave that discourse; (Orig. Con. Cels. lib. 2. cal. 8.) In the date of whose Face, Times past, present, and to come, (Prophecy, History) bear that admirable propor∣tion; as the oldest age shews no wrincles, but only shadows youth: and the greenest Youth represents the sober look of gravest Age: where yesterday and to day, are the same. Let the whole brood of Helicon's Brats, the whole Fraternity of the Muses Sons compose such a Poem, and (with me) they shall be no longer Semi-pagani, half-witted Scio∣lists; provided that till then, the Apostles may not be such with them.

Notes

• * 1.1

  To my dark Cabin in the Stygean strand Dismiss me: or, if that be too much ease, Send me to Phlegethon, where I may stand (Rather than here) chin-high in fiery seas,
• * 1.2

  Haled from Styx to Thebes (my ancient seat) Had I my choice (hard choice) I would retreat.
• * 1.3

  If Heaven (the fire) and Earth the dam of things, Had been from Ever, whence is't no Poet sings Of Wars more old, than Troy; of Floods, than Noah; Of Rapes, than Jove; and thousand wonders moe? Had men nor hands to act, nor hands to write, During the seculum Prae-Adamite? Had Nile (for ages numberless) no Reed; Nor Bees, Wax; nor Trees, Bark; nor Hills, a breed of Sheep; nor Sheep, a Skin; nor Goose, a Quill; Nor Polypus his native Ink distil? Or Man, (the Goose of all) not wit to learn To make a Pen, much less to guide a Stern? Or build a Ship, or break a Horse, or bring The Oxe to th' yoke, the Hawk to lure; or string The warbling Lute, or count the Stars by name: Or other Arts, whose birth we know by fame, Whose growth we see come on with age?
• * 1.4

  We owe to thee (great Caesar) Triumphs many, More Temples built; and Temples that lay waste Repair'd: more Cities, Gods, and Shews than any: But most that thou hast taught Rome to be chaste.
• * 1.5

  Whom we invoke for Gods, ('tis Jove's decree) Were Men of Bounty once and Gallantry; But now, with highest Deities, attend On our affairs, and us toth' Gods commend.
• * 1.6

  The Father, Word, and Spirit; (God alone:) That Cotternal Three in one.
• * 1.7

  Thy will, Theodames: for Hecate, Forc'd by thy charms, dares not say nay.
• * 1.8

  Your Charms from me, against my will, commands These Responds—I have said: now loose my bands.
• * 1.9

  Judea worshippeth alone The God elsewhere unknown.
• * 1.10

  Him Pan men call, Because he succours all.
• * 1.11

  They lay on tepid Altars Babes, not born Of Mothers Wombs, but from their Bellies torn.