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 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
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Cornell University Library 
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THE 
 
 GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN RELIGION: 
 
 I N 
 
 ACOURSfiOF 
 
 SERMONS 
 
 ^RtACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXI'ORD, 
 
 At T H X 
 
 LECTURE 
 
 Bounded by the rev. john bampton, mja. late canojt 
 of salisbury! 
 
 a Y T H I 
 
 REV. RICHARD SHEPHERD, D.D. F.R.S. 
 ARCHDEACON of BEDFORD, 
 
 AND CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT REVEREND 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 tRINTED FOR LOCKYER DAVIS, IN HOLBORN J AND 
 DANIEL PRINCE, OXFjORD. 
 M.DCC.LXXXVIII. 
 
( iii ) 
 
 ]^xtraBfrom the laji Will and Teftament of the late Rev. 
 JOHN BAMPTON, Cfl»o« 0/ Salifbury. 
 
 — ^ — " I give and bequeath my Lands and Eftates 
 « to the Chancellor, Matters, and Scholars of th? 
 " Univerfity of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold 
 « all and fipgular the faid Lands or Ellates upon 
 " truft, and to the intents and purpofes hereafter 
 " mentioned ; that is to fay, I will and appoint, that 
 " the Vice-Chancellor of the Univerfity of Oxfor4 
 " for the time being ftiall take and receive all the 
 " rents, iflues, and promts thereof, and ^ (after all 
 " taxes, reparations, and neceffary deduftions made) 
 " that he pay all the remainder to the endowment of 
 " eight Divinity Ledfure Sermons, to be eftablilhed 
 " for ever in the faid Univerfity, and to be perforra- 
 " ed in the manner following. 
 
 " I diredt and appoint, that upon the firfl Tnrfday 
 " in Eafter Term, a Le<Sl:urer be yearly chofen by 
 " the Heads of Colleges only, and by no others, in 
 " the room adjoining to the Printing-Houfe, between 
 " the hours of ten in the morning and two in the after- 
 " noon, to preach eight Divinity Ledture Sermons, 
 " the year following, at St. Mary's in Oxford, be- 
 " tween the commencement of the lafl month in Lent 
 " Term, and the end of the third week in Adt 
 •■* Term. 
 
 " Alfo I direfl: and appoint, that the eight Divi- 
 *' nity Ledlure Sermons fhall be preached upon either 
 ," of the following fubjedfs — to confirm and eftablifli 
 ^' the Chriftian Faith, and to confute all heretics and 
 ^' fchifmatics — upon the divine authority of the Holy 
 f^ Scriptures — upon theauthority of the writingsof the 
 a . - -, ". primi- 
 
iv EXTRACT, ^c. 
 
 " primitive Fathers, as to the faith and pradlice of 
 " the primitive Church — upon the Divinit)' of our 
 " Lord a;nd Saviour Jefus Chrill — upon the Divinity 
 * of the Holy Ghofl: — upon the Articles of the Chrif- 
 " tian Faith, as comprehended in the ApoHles' and 
 " Nicene Creeds. 
 
 " Alfo I direft that thirty copies of the eight Di- 
 " vinity Ledture Sermons fhall be always printed^ 
 *' within two months after they are preached, and 
 " one copy fllall be given to the Chancellor of the 
 " Univerficy, and one copy to the head of every Col- 
 '•' lege, and one copy to the Mayor of the city of 
 " Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian 
 " Library; and the expence of printing them fhalt 
 " be paid out of the Lands or Eftates given for efta- 
 " blifhing the Divinity Ledture Sermons ; and the 
 •' Preacher ihall not be paid, nor be entitled to the 
 " revenue, before they are printed. 
 
 " Alfo I direft and appoint, that no perfon fhall 
 *' be qualified to preach the Divinity Lefture Ser- 
 " tnons, unlefs he hath taken the Degree of Mafter 
 " of Arts at leaft, in one of the two Univerfities of 
 " of Oxford or Cambridge ; and the fame perfon 
 " fhall never preach the Divinity Ledture Sermons 
 " twice." 
 
 DEDICA- 
 
( V ) 
 
 T O 
 
 THE RIGHT REVEREND 
 
 THOMAS THURLOW,D.D. 
 LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 X H E appointment, which 
 produced the following Difcourfes, will 
 in *fome degree fandion my ambition 
 to prefent them to the public under 
 the protection of your Lordfhip's 
 Name. It originated wi'th the 
 Univerfity of Oxford : and interefted 
 as your Lordfhip is in whatever may 
 
 b claim 
 
v'l DEDICATION 
 
 claim the leaft relation to a place, 
 where you pafTed many xy{ your early 
 years with a Propriety of Condud:, 
 that hath marked your. Charader 
 through life, you will I am fure ac- 
 cept with Condefcenfion the efforts 
 thus excited, to elucidate the Truth 
 and Purity of that Religion, of which 
 you have ever difcovered yourfelf in' 
 Heart and Pradice a warm and con- 
 fiftent Friend. 
 
 .•,^s--- .- -'^^^ 
 
 _I aril: well, aware, that I have ven-' 
 tured on ground already taken ; and- 
 ikfLt many valuable Treatifes have ap- 
 peared on the: fubjed:_ of the follow- 
 ing fheets. But there is a mode 
 of .writing peculiar to different pe- 
 riods : 
 
DEDICATION. tii 
 
 riods : and the Folios of the laft age 
 are ill relifhed by the defultory readers 
 of this. Hence it is, that fome of 
 thofe publications alluded to have fallen 
 into difefteem ; as being too difFufej 
 and appearing tedious : digrefllng in- 
 to extraneous matter on fome points 
 not very material, and treating with a 
 degree of languor others of more im- 
 portance. Thofe on the other hand;, 
 which are comprifed in the narrow li^ 
 mits of one or two Sermons, I conceive 
 to be in fubftance too comprefied, ^to 
 afford general latisfadiion ; the Brevity 
 requiring too many affumptions, to 
 obviate the doubts of Sceptical in- 
 quirers. Others again, though le- 
 commending, and enforcing founded 
 
 b 2 Truths 
 
vili DEDICATION. 
 
 Truths with Elegance and Perpicui- 
 ty, feem rather calculated to imprefs 
 the mind already perfuaded ^ than to 
 obviate the Exceptions of Cavil, and 
 fatisfy Scruple and Doubt. 
 
 Thefe obfervations have long in- 
 duced me to think fomething further 
 wanting : fomething on the fubjed in 
 form and matter clear, yet clofe and ar- 
 gumentative ; fuch as adverting to 
 Objections as they rofe, and thus clear- 
 ing the way to Truth, might com- 
 mand afTent on the alTured Ground of 
 Conviction. Purfuant of fuch defign, 
 I have, in the fubfequent inveftigation, 
 taken nothing for granted : proceed- 
 ing gradually from proof to proof, and 
 
 fhun- 
 
DEDICATION. u 
 
 jQiunning, as I proceeded, the difcuf- 
 iion of no difputable article that lay 
 in the way of my plan. 
 
 In thofe metaphylical difquifitions, 
 to which my fubjedt oecalionally led 
 me, I have particularly aimed at Per- 
 fpicuity : fenfible, that whenever a 
 writer involves his ideas in Obfcurity, 
 it will always remain a doubt whether 
 he be fatisfadtory to himfelf, and is an 
 abfolute bar to the convidion of others. 
 On fubjedts of that nature, it is not 
 eafy to write to the comprehenlion of 
 
 "TV 
 
 every reader ; but, as far as I was able, 
 I have attempted to do it, 
 
 c 3 And 
 
X DEDICATION. 
 
 And as new Adverfaries of a Reli- 
 gion, the Tenets of which are of a 
 nature to excite none, but fuch as are 
 Adverfaries to human Happinefs, are 
 continually aiming at new ObjeAions, 
 or vamping old ones up in new ftile and 
 figure ; I have, on every article, 4 more 
 particularly applied myfelf to the Ex- 
 ceptions of modern writers.^;. Every 
 futile objedrion, in the fhort form pre- 
 fcribed on the prefent occafion, it was 
 not pofTible to notice : of thofe that 
 have been propofed to the public with 
 moft Plaufibility, and retailed with the 
 greatefl Succefs, I have not designedly 
 paffed by any ; for indeed 1 have ob- 
 ferved none, that in the fair field of 
 argument might not fafely be met. 
 
 The 
 
DEDICATION. xi 
 
 The plan I propofed to purfue, and 
 which in the early Procefs of the Lec- 
 tures I communicated to your Lord- 
 fhip, you Were pleafed to regard in a 
 favourable light : I have now to wifh 
 the Execution may merit your equal 
 approbation. But this in whatever 
 degree your judgment may with-hold, 
 I am eafy in the perfuafion, that your 
 Lbrdfhip's known Zeal for the Interefls 
 of our common Religion will with 
 Candour regard a well-intentioned en- 
 deavour : ^B. zeal, my Lord, which you 
 have difplayed in every fituationi* of 
 life ; particularly in that exalted one, 
 which afforded you the more ample 
 fcope for exertion : not terminating 
 there in cold and languid Wifhes, but 
 
 C 4 exprefled 
 
ill DEDICATION. 
 
 expreffed in a cordial Attention to in- 
 digent and deferving Minifters in your 
 Dioeefe ; who have often found them - 
 felves promoted without ApplicatioA 
 on their Partj and often againft the 
 Application of Greatnefs and Power. 
 
 There is Merit in fupporting an infe- 
 rior Station withFirmnefs and Refigna- 
 tion : but much greater, as it is a much 
 more difficult part to fuftain^ in fil- 
 ling an exalted one with Propriety and 
 Attention; in -vhich the Claims of 
 Duty are more numerous, and the 
 Charge of greater Weight. Our Minds 
 indeed are formed with different Apti- 
 tudes : and fome there are, that Only 
 feel themfelves in elevated Situations ; 
 where there is Scope for Exertion, and 
 
 Room 
 
DEDICATION. xlii 
 
 Room to expand. But it is your Lord- 
 fliip's peculiar Felicity, to appear form- 
 ed, or more properly to form yourfelf, 
 for every Situation in life, to which you 
 have been occafionally called ; from 
 the literary eafe of academic privacy, 
 to the higheft honours of your profef- 
 fion : to have in every fltuation, 
 through which you paffed, conci- 
 liated Efteem, and left it with the 
 general Regret of thole, with whom 
 you have been refpedlively connected. 
 
 Thofe Inducements alone would 
 have directed my pen to this ^d- 
 drefsj if more powerful ones were 
 wanting : the Pleafure of acknow- 
 ledging the Favours, I have from your 
 Lordfhip my felf received ; and the Sa- 
 
 tisfadion 
 
xiv DEDICATION. 
 
 tisfadion of teftifying to the world, 
 how much, and how truly, I have the 
 Honour to be, 
 
 My Lord, 
 Your Lordfhip's dutiful, 
 Moft obliged. 
 And devoted fervant, 
 
 R. Shepherd. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 JtvEFERENCE having been made in the 
 Courfe of the following Difcourfes to a Para- 
 
 diliacal State, the Author has annexed to them 
 aLatin Sermon on the Subje6lj though written 
 on a different Occafion, and preached feveral 
 Years ago. 
 
j( xvij ) 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON I. 
 Introdu^Slory Difcourfe, diftinguilhing the Ex- 
 cellency of Chrifliauity from that variable 
 Rule of Duty, in the Pretenfions of moral 
 Fitnefs held out by the Deift ; and the 
 Chriftianity of the Gofpel, from that Species 
 of it adopted by the Nazarenes and Ebionitcs, 
 and by Socinus and his Followers revived. 
 
 Prov. iii. 13, &c. 
 
 Happy is the man that jindeth wifdom, and the 
 man that getteth under/landing : &c. 
 
 SERMON II. 
 The Exiftence of God demonftrated : His 
 Omnipotence, in the Superfedure of Nature, 
 vindicated : His Immateriality aflerted. 
 
 A 2 RoM. 
 
xvili CONTENTS. 
 
 Rom. i. lo, &c. 
 
 For the invlfible Things of Him from the Crea^ 
 tion of the World are clearly feen, being un- 
 der flood by ihe Things that' are made; even 
 His eternal Power and Godhead. 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 A Divine Super-intendence difpky^d in the 
 natural and moral Government of the World : 
 eftablifhing the Doctrine of a particular, as 
 well as general. Providence. 
 
 Job. xxxi. 4. 
 
 Doth He noe fee my ivays, and count all my 
 Jlepsf 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 The general Obligation of Religion : the 
 Ground and Neceffity of the Duty of Prayer: 
 the Connexion between Religion and the 
 focial Duties. 
 
 Ps. xcv. 6. 
 
 O come let us •worfhip and btw down ; let us 
 kneel bfore the hard our maker: for He is 
 onr God, and we are the People of His 
 Pafinre. 
 
 SERMON 
 
CONTENTS. iux 
 
 •SERM6N V. 
 
 An Enquiry into the Competency of the Light 
 of Nature, to afcertain the Duties of Reli- 
 gion ; or whether a more exprefs Revelation 
 of the Will of God in thofe Particulars b« 
 
 neceflary. 
 
 Isaiah lix. 9. 
 
 We wait for Li^ht ; but behold Obfcurlty : for 
 Brightnefs, but ive walk in Darknefs. 
 
 S E R M O N VI. 
 
 The Poflibility of a Revelation ; and the Cha- 
 radierlftic marks neceflary to illuftrate it: 
 with Confiderations on the Pretenfions of 
 the Revelation made to the Jews. 
 
 John iv, 2. 
 ' Salvation is of the Jews. 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 An Enquiry into the General Expedation of 
 a Meffiah : and Whether the Prophetic wri- 
 tings of the Jews reprefent Him to have 
 been a temporal Prince and Conqueror, or 
 fbmething greater. 
 
 Matt. 
 
^X; C Q JJ T E N T S. 
 
 A^AT T. Xxli. 42. 
 
 What think ye of Chriftf 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 An Enquiry into the general Scope and Tenor 
 of the Scriptures of the New Teflament, 
 refpefting the Nature and Chara£ter of 
 Chrift. 
 
 Matt. xxii. 42. 
 What think ye of CBrifi ? 
 
 CONCIO LATINA. 
 De Statu Paradiflaco. 
 
 EecLUs. vii. 30. 
 Hoc tantum invent \ quod Deus homines ferfeSlos 
 credvity ipji autem rafiocinia plurima invenerunt. 
 
 THE 
 
THE 
 
 Ground and Credibility 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 SERMON I. 
 
 pRov. iii. 13, &i:. 
 
 Happy is the man, that findeth ivifJom, 
 and the man that getteth underjianding : 
 Jor the merchandlje of it is better than 
 the merchandlje of Jiher, and the gain 
 thereof than fine gold. She is more pre- 
 cious than rubies, and all the things thou 
 canfi defre, are not to be compared with 
 her. Length of days is in her right hand, 
 and in her left hand riches and honour. 
 tier ways are ways of pleafantnefs, and 
 all her paths are peace. She is a tree of 
 life to them, that lay hold on her. 
 
 A H E original word nODPI, in this Sermon 
 place rendered, wifdom, is, in the firft .Jl^, 
 chapter of this book of Proverbs, ufed in 
 A the 
 
2 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Shrmom the plural number : which, according to 
 the Hebrew idiom, is fometimes fubfti- 
 tuted for a fuperlative degree. Wifdom 
 crieth 'without ; or, literally tranflated, 
 nvifdoms : the word mX:Dn there de- 
 noting the higheft and moft excellent 
 wifdom ; the wifdom of religion : which 
 is indeed fb far the higheft point of 
 wifdom ; that, though its roots be fixed 
 on earth, its branches reach to heaven : 
 it hath the promife both of this world, 
 and that which is to come. 'Tis the 
 fame kind of wifdom, that is defcribed 
 in my text ; and in this fenfe the word 
 is frequently ufed, both in this book of 
 Proverbs, and Ecclefiafles. The defcrip- 
 tion is highly luxuriant ; and were it as 
 true, as it is rich and elegant, one might 
 conceive it of fuch efficacy to captivate 
 mankind ; that no attention would be 
 witheld, no exertions fpared, to conci- 
 liate an ample plenary poUeffion of her : 
 at leaft that no wifhes would prevail, 
 no endeavours be exerted, to banifh fuch 
 a religion from the earth. 
 
 But 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 3 
 
 But With what religion will this en- Sermon 
 gaging imagery comport ? Not with the ^ ^^ ' 
 religion of nature ; for in different ages, 
 and different countries, the religion of 
 nature hath deviated into the grofleft 
 errors. It taught the Perfian, to pay 
 his adoration to the fun ; and fbme parts 
 of India, to worfhip the tremendous 
 power of darknefs and evil. It direded 
 the Egyptian, to fall down and humble 
 himlelf to the reptile, and the plant ; and 
 impelled mankind to fuperftitions, often 
 as immoral, as the rites themfelves were 
 ridiculous and vain. Whether the The- 
 ology of Greece and Rome were founded 
 in political artifice, or in the flights 
 of poetical imagination, the defcription 
 before us can not apply to that religion : 
 for it boaf1:ed not a fingle charafter of 
 wifdom, purity, or fatisfadtion. Nor 
 doth it aptly fuit the imperfedl, incom- 
 pleat religion of the Jews. Burthened 
 with a yoke of ceremonies, which, fays 
 the apoftie, neither we, nor our fathers 
 were able to tear ; by a rigid obfervance 
 A 2 of 
 
4 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILIT'S' 
 
 SsRMON of thofe ceremonies, expofed to innumer- 
 ^^' _j able and great hardfhips, and denied a 
 variety of gratifications, did they tread 
 the way of pleafantnefs : or cut off from 
 the reft of the world, hatiag their neigh- 
 bours, and in their turn defpifed and ri- 
 diculed by them, knew they the path of 
 peace ? The tree of life they had forfeit- 
 ed, and it had been removed far from 
 them ; nor did the inftitutions of their 
 religion, nor even its promifes, as under- 
 ftood by them, extend fo far, as to ena- 
 ble them to lay hold on it. 
 
 The divine Encomiaft looked farther, 
 and higher. Rapt into future ages, he 
 exhibits the piflure of a perfeft religion : 
 and if wc examine the traits of it, we 
 ihall find the animated defcription fuit 
 only the religion of Jefus Chrift ; 
 and fuit it in every particular. What 
 is the 7nerchandife oi Jiher and gold, and 
 precious Jlones, with 'all that is defirable 
 in life; when fet in competition with 
 the gain, which that rehgion propofes, 
 
 the 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ^ 
 
 the acquifition of the Kingdom of Hea- Sermon 
 ven ? In enjoining temperance, the foun- ,,_ ^J ^_ j 
 tain of health, and parent of longevity, 
 Ihe holds out length of days in her right 
 hand: and the general prohibition of 
 lenfual and worldly pleafures, ihe lujl of 
 ihejfleJJj, the dejire of the eye, and the pride 
 of life, which Chriftianity pronounces, 
 will, if complied with, in its natural con- 
 fequences, and according to the ordinary 
 difpenfations of Providence, condu£l us 
 to, what her left hand offers, riches and 
 honour. So eafy is her yoke, and light 
 her burden ; that her ways may be juftly 
 ftiled ways of pleafantnefs, and her paths 
 ihe path-way of peace. Through a Re- 
 deemer's fufFerings, we are re-inflated 
 in the poffeffion of the tree of life : and 
 it is in every Chriftian's power, to reach 
 out his hand, and lay hold on it. 
 
 If nature Incline men to wifh for 
 
 happinefs, and with the rules of fuch a 
 
 religion as this, a religion fo happily 
 
 calculated to promote it, they cannot be 
 
 A 3 brought 
 
6 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sbrmon brought univerfally to comply ; we have 
 ^,._^ to lament the intemperance of youth, 
 the worldly-mindednefs of age, and 
 perhaps above all to deplore the known 
 depravity of human nature, which can 
 beft account for fo inconfiftent a con- 
 duit. But that numbers fhould be 
 found, uninfluenced, as it may feem, by 
 any incentive, except the fiend-like 
 motive of counteracting the happinefs of 
 the human race, anxious to extirpate 
 fuch a religion from the world ; now 
 combating it with the force of argu- 
 guments, fuch as fubtilty fuppHes, now 
 employing the light weapons of irony 
 and ridicule againft it ; haranguing dif- 
 cipular circles in every place of public 
 refort, retailing infipid objections, which 
 have been a hundred times refuted, com- 
 pailing fea and land to make profelytes 
 to their opinions : this, did not experi- 
 ence inconteftibly prove the fa£t, would 
 tranfcend our belief ; as it almoft baffles 
 reafon to account for fuch exertions. 
 
 Some 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 7 
 
 Some motives however may be af- Sermo^j 
 figned, tending to excite thofe malevo- v.,,,.J_j 
 lent attacks : the affeftation of fingula- 
 rity, the love of novelty, the repug- 
 nance to whatever checks the tide of 
 prefent pleafures, the pride of feeming 
 wife ; the confcious meannefs of acknow- 
 ledging the charms of virtue, and at the 
 fame time ftooping to the pradlife of 
 vice, and, from thence derived, the au- 
 dacity of juflifying that pradlice by de- 
 flroying or confounding all principles of 
 religious truth. Thefe, acting on dif- 
 ferent minds, may influence correfpon- 
 dent habits of thinking ; and produce 
 and explain the illiberal infults which 
 religion fometimes fuftains : while reafon 
 fhudders at the defperate flake the rafh 
 adventurer rilks in an unequal conteft ;,. 
 where he can gain nothing, and may 
 Jofe every thing. 
 
 But amidft the various engines, that 
 
 have been let at work, to prejudice the 
 
 interefts of Chriftianity, none are more 
 
 A 4 mifchlevous 
 
S, THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon mifchievous than thofe ; which have 
 ^__^ fubftiuited fome fliew of religion in its 
 room. For attacks upon a religion fo 
 pure in its precepts, fo calculated to im- 
 prove the mind in virtue, and raife it 
 above mean, and felfilli, and narrow 
 purfuits, without the pretended intro- 
 dudion of fome other religion in its 
 place, can have no better effefts with fo- 
 ber and ferious men ; than to convince 
 them of fecret defigns, framed againft 
 virtue's felf, and tending to fet mankind 
 loofe from all reflraints of confcience, 
 and the fhackles of moral duty. 
 
 Againft fuch efforts the world is 
 guarded : and treat them as defperate 
 attempts to diffolve the bonds of focie- 
 ty, and introduce barbarifm, anarchy, 
 and confufion. And that this muft be 
 the confequence of principles of Athe- 
 ifm, or of that kind of Theifm, as de- 
 trimental to the morals of mankind as 
 Atheifm itfelf, which fuppofes God to 
 have no regard of human aftions, is a 
 
 truth 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 9 
 
 truth generally aflented to, and well Sermon 
 wnderftood. . ' . 
 
 Of thofe adverfaries of Chriftianity, 
 who advance with fchemes of religion 
 in their hands, I will mention only two. 
 The one is he, who difclaims all reve- 
 lation ; and bows down to the fantaftic 
 idol of moral fitnefs : an univerfal rule 
 of aftion, as he reprefents it ; and in all 
 inftances a fufficient one, as he affe£ts 
 to believe it. Under the other charac- 
 ter are underftood thofe, who beneath 
 the maik of Chriftianity employ their 
 fecret efforts againfl it : who infiduoufly 
 aflume its name, and fcarcely that ;* 
 who, while they fay. Lord ! Lord ! 
 are feduloufly undermining that Lord's 
 authority, dignity, and power. That 
 advances againft it, with the air and 
 port of an open and avowed enemy : 
 this enlifts under its banner, only to 
 
 * In common with the Mahometans and Jews, the 
 Socinians afieft tife appellation of Unitakians. 
 
 deceive ; 
 
10 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon deceive ; thus employing againft it the 
 ^,._.^i,^ double powers of hoftility and fraud : 
 that bids bold defiance; this, like the 
 falfe difciple, betrays with a kifs. We 
 will examine the general features of 
 each : their particular pretenfions will, 
 in the courfe of the fubfequent lectures, 
 be with more minutenefs inveftigated. 
 
 By thofe underminers of the Chrif- 
 tian Faith, it will be obvious to my au- 
 dience, that I have in my eye the fpawn 
 of the antient Ebionites, the revived fe£t 
 of the Socinians ; whofe principal aim is 
 not the denial of the Trinity, nor of the 
 Divinity, nor Pre-exiftence of Chrift, 
 nor of any other fingle article of Chrif- 
 tianlty : thofe may be fteps ; but their 
 malked defign is an objeft of larger ex- 
 tent. Some diflike one gofpel, and fome 
 another ; and of thofe, which they ad- 
 mit, they hold themfelves at liberty to 
 believe juft as much as they pleafe. They 
 were firft ftiled Cerinthians, Ebionites, 
 and Nazarenes: for thofe feveral fecfts, 
 
 though 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. JI 
 
 though differing ill appellation, fprung up Seemont 
 much about the fame time, and in their ^_.-J■,^ 
 fundamental dodrines were nearly the 
 fame. They acknowledged Jefus to have 
 been the Meffiah ; but acknowledged 
 him, with that defe£tive apprehenfion of 
 his nature and dignity, chara£terifed by 
 our Lord himfelf ; feeing theyfatxi, but did 
 not perceive ; and hearing, they heard, but 
 did not underjland. The uniform tenor 
 of the gofpel. evinces a requifition of 
 faith greater than the bare acknowledg- 
 ment, that Jefus was the Meffiah : his 
 true difciples were further required to 
 believe him to be the Son of God. Thus 
 when our Lord alked them, whom they 
 conceived him to be ; Peter anfwered, thou 
 art Chrijl, the Son of the living God. And at 
 his trial the high prieft in folemn terms 
 adjured him to tell them, whether he were 
 Qhr'tji, the Son of God. Hence we learn 
 what was the true faith ; and how far 
 that of the Ebionites was defe(5live. 
 They admitted him to be the Meffiah, 
 but rejedted the evangelical account of 
 
 his 
 
12 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon his Divinity : they pretended to believe 
 ,_,„^ him to have rifen from the dead, but 
 
 allov^red him no more than human 
 
 powers. 
 
 Thofe were the the tenets, on which 
 modern Socinianifm has been built : from 
 its origin to the prefent day, a very con- 
 trafted fe£t ; and in the long fucceflion 
 of feventeen hundred years continually 
 dying away, and reviving. Paul of Sa- 
 mofate, bifhop and patriarch of Antioch, 
 was their great luminary: with all the 
 influence of his ftation, he propagated 
 his doctrines ; in which, finding him- 
 felf refolutely oppofed, he with all the 
 meannefs of a temporalift abjured them. 
 The ftorm a little over, the reftlefs fpirit 
 of innovation induced in him a fecond at- 
 tempt to revive them : when the neigh- 
 bouring bifhops affembled themfelves 
 at Antioch ; and, after a fair and can- 
 did difcuffion, unanimoufly condemned 
 them : condemned thofe particular tenets, 
 the denial of Chrjfl's Divinity, and of 
 
 his 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I3 
 
 his defcent from Heaven. And the opi- Sermok 
 nion, the whole Chriftlan Church hi i^^^J_,_j 
 that early age entertained of thofe te- 
 nets, forms a powerful argument againft 
 them. 
 
 But I intend not in this difcourfe a 
 Hiftory of Socinianifm ; and therefore 
 pafs over Theodotus, Symmachus, Arte- 
 mon, and others ; even the great Soci- 
 nus himfelf, a man of fhrewd parts, but 
 who wanted much the ballaft of learn- 
 ing : only remarking, that the doctrines, 
 to which thofe Herefiarchs objefted, 
 themfelves plainly faw were founded on 
 the exprefs word of fcripture ; and 
 therefore the fcriptures, fo aflerting them, 
 fome rejected, and others endeavoured 
 to explain away. But it is not the re- 
 jection of this, or that fcripture doftrine, 
 which will fatisfy our modern Socinians : 
 with affcdled regard' for Chrift, their 
 brother, their teacher, and friend, they 
 difown him as their Lord ; and of his 
 fupremacy and original reject his own 
 
 account ; 
 
14 THE GROUND AND CREDIEILITV" 
 
 Sermon account : with pretended zeal for Chrif^ 
 
 I 
 
 , tianity, their inceflant labours are di- 
 rected to undermine the authority of 
 thofe fcriptures, on which Chriflianity is 
 founded. 
 
 Compared with modern Socinians, the 
 more decent Mr. Toland purfues the 
 fame point with modefty and modera^ 
 tion. All that he contends for is, the 
 right of interpreting fcripture figuratively, 
 'when occafion requires it.* We fee, to 
 what this will lead : for, every one judg- 
 ing for himfelf of the neceflity of fuch 
 figurative interpretation, both doctrines 
 and precepts will be ealily interpreted 
 away. Toland however keeps up a fhew 
 of reverence for the authority of the 
 fcriptures. But what fay our modern 
 Socinians ? Why truly, that the *' pro' 
 " Jigious divine apparatus of a particular 
 " infpiration of each facred writer [of 
 " the Golpels] was wholly unnecefla- 
 
 * Chriftianity not myfterious. 
 
 ry."* 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I5 
 
 *' ry."* Of courfe it was not conferred, Sermon 
 
 . . I 
 
 or, in their own words, *' this high ^_,_'_^ 
 
 *' notion of the infpiration of the fcrip- 
 
 " tures, oftheGofpel in particular, is 
 
 " contrary to fa<3:."t 
 
 But though the gofpels were not dic- 
 tated by particular infpiration ; " yet," 
 fays the author lail: quoted, " they may 
 " be termed in fome degree infpired writ- 
 *' ings, as they contain a faithful detail 
 " of the doftrine of Chrift, which he 
 *' received immediately from God." 
 Yes, admitting his reprefentation of them, 
 they are juft in fuch degree infpired, as 
 other true hiftorical details are. For, 
 according to the account of Chrift, which 
 thofe writers advance, where is the great 
 difference between him and Socrates ? 
 They were both endowed by God with 
 a greater degree of wifdom, than other 
 men pofleffed ; for all wifdom is from 
 
 * Prieftley's Harmony of the Gofpels. 
 
 f Lindfey's Addrefs to the two Univerfities. 
 
 God: 
 
i6 The ground and credibility 
 
 Sermon God : neither of them left behind hinJ 
 ^_/__j any works of his own ; and the Hiftory 
 of their Lives and Dodlrines was each 
 written by their refpe£tive difciples. The 
 gofpels therefore are juft upon an equal 
 footing of infpiration. with the dialogues 
 of Plato. And the religion, which In- 
 ftead of ftrift Chriftianity is under thefe 
 refinements propofed, in its full extent 
 amounts to thefe two points : the prac- 
 tice of the precepts of the gofpel, as 
 far as, confidered in the light of a fyftem 
 of morals, we approve them ; and a 
 belief of its do6lrines, fo far as we may 
 judge, the Evangelifts " had been care- 
 " ful to put down, with fidelity and 
 *' exaftnefs, what they had feen and 
 *' heard themfelves, refpedling their dl- 
 " vine mafter Jefus," (the denial of 
 whofe divinity by the bye is an elpecial 
 tenet of the writer, I am now citino-) 
 *' as alfo what they had learned from 
 " other competent witneffes."* 
 
 *Lindfey'8 Addrefs, fslc. 
 
 Here 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. IJ 
 
 Here we fee the defign fairly unfold- Sermon 
 cd ; which, as far as its influence may ,^_Lj 
 extend, muft weaken the obligation of 
 the gofpel precepts, and effectually do 
 its doftrines away : it fits thofe to every 
 confcience, and invalidates the authority, 
 that enforces thefe. Yet do the propa- 
 gators of thofe tenets affume the title of 
 Chriftians ; open conventicles to the pre- 
 tended honour of that Lord, whom they 
 have thus degraded ; and affe£t to form 
 their religion on thofe fcriptures, they 
 have robbed of the ftrongeft charafter- 
 jftic of truth. 
 
 Such is the unfix t, variable fyflem of 
 faith and morals, which the Socinian 
 holds forth. The Deift, more candid, 
 as more open, denies all revelation ; and 
 afFefts to own no other law, than that 
 of nature. He pretends the foundation 
 of his religion to be laid in regfon ; and 
 its rule of conduil to confift in the di- 
 rection of that reafon, and the apparent 
 aptitude and propriety of things. Mo- 
 B ral 
 
l8 THt GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon ral fitnefs, the object of his Idolatry, 
 ^}'_, beckons him to paths which fhe hath 
 Ihaped; and which, Ihe promifes, the 
 condu£t fhe prefcribes will ftrew with 
 flowers. She tells him, the fole end of 
 man's exiftence here is, like that of the 
 Leviathan in the deep, to fport and take hh 
 fajllme therein ; fhe bids him purfue and 
 enjoy his own temporal happinefs ; and, 
 faving his own happinefs, to confult for, 
 and promote, the happinefs of others. 
 She addrefTes him in the reprobated words 
 of the apoftle ; eat and drink, for to mor- 
 row we die. Enjoy the good things of 
 this world, while they are in thy power; 
 for this end were ye placed here, for 
 this end were they given : and who 
 knows what a day may bring forth. 
 
 Palatable reafoning this to the paflions 
 and appetites of human nature : and 
 captivating the religion ; which on fuch 
 eafy terms makes both worlds our own ! 
 For moral fitnefs, that meafures duty by 
 the line of reafon, which again is regu- 
 lated, or at leafl flrongly influenced, by 
 
 inclination, 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I9 
 
 inclination, will eafily perfuade her vo- Sermo^i 
 tary ; that by employing his fuperfluities ^_^ J \j 
 on objedts in need, by dealing out his 
 ■bread to the hungry, and cloathing the 
 naked wanderer, he purchafes a licence 
 to indulge himfelf in whatever practices 
 his reafon, thus bialled by appetite, may 
 feem to fan£lion. He may laugh at 
 fuperftition and indulgences : but were 
 matters fairly and honeftly explained ; 
 it would be difficult to determine, in 
 favour of which the divine voice of wif- 
 dom may decide, 
 
 The practice of a warm and difFuiive 
 benevolence is certainly a duty, highly 
 incumbent on us to difcharge : yet are 
 .we not to lay the whole ftrefs of religion 
 on it. Chriftianity reprefents it as only 
 one part, and the inferior part too, of 
 the law and the prophets : and reafon 
 taught the heathen, that, apart from the 
 focial and relative duties, there is a duty 
 and fervice owing only, and immediately, 
 to God. The duty of benevolence claims 
 B 2 ou? 
 
20 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon our regard, even as an aft of religion ; 
 
 ,_^,^^ but not exclufively : it demands our 
 obfervance ; but not to the negleft of 
 equally, or perhaps more, important 
 ones. It is among the things, which 
 ought to be done, but on account of which 
 others are not to be left undone. 
 
 There is however a brilliancy, it 
 muft be acknowledged, in this fafhion- 
 able religion ; which is made to confift 
 in a difcrimination of moral rectitude, 
 and a cultivation of the relative and 
 fecial duties, particularly that of chari- 
 ty. It lays hold on our tendereft affec- 
 tions, it interefts mankind in its favour, 
 it covers, not compen fates for, but con- 
 ceals, or hides, a multitude oijins. 
 
 The paflage juft cited, men, whofc 
 religion fits eafy on them, thofe good 
 cafuifts, who would fecure to themfelves 
 the next world, without giving up the 
 pleafures of this, are very apt through 
 ignorance to miftake, or mifreprefent 
 
 through 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 21 
 
 through defign : from thence alledguig Sermon 
 the fandlion of fcriptural authority, to v_*^ 
 juftify a kind of commutation for fin. 
 Whereas the apoftle's intention, in the 
 ufe of the expreffion, being to inculcate 
 the praftice of brotherly love and chari- 
 ty, which our Lord and Mafter had par- 
 ticularly prefled upon his difciples, de- 
 claring it Ihould be a badge of their dif- 
 ciplelhip, he makes ufe of that flrong 
 expreflion ; only as intimating, that it 
 was a virtue of fo bright and luminous a 
 nature, as would attra6t the notice, and 
 conciliate the good opinion of mankind, 
 hiding by its luftre a multitude of little 
 faults. 
 
 Take reafon, or revelation for your 
 guide ; and you will find both the one, 
 and the other, inculcate our duty to God, 
 as the firft and great duty : yet doth 
 this favourite religion of the Deift, with 
 all the focial virtues in its train, leave it 
 entirely out of the queftion. " Quod 
 *' fupra nos, nihil ad nos ;" is an apho-, 
 B 3 rifm 
 
22 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon rifm ever in the mouth of thofe, who 
 ^_^ '.^ . own no other religion than that. And 
 thus, under the afFe6lation of honour- 
 ing the Deity by a diftant humility, they 
 are led to regard >Him with indifference 
 and negle£l. " He is too elevated," 
 reafon they, " for us reptiles of a day 
 *' even in thought to approach him. 
 *' We are arguing in the dark, when 
 " we difpute about his nature and at- 
 " tributes : and without being acquain- 
 *' ted with his nature and attributes, we 
 *' cannot acceptably worfliip Him : but 
 " not to worfhip Him acceptably and in 
 " truth, is falfe religion : and falfe reli- 
 " gion is worfe than no religion at all." 
 
 But this fluent train of argument is 
 falfe in every article. In giving us rea- 
 fon to difcover that there is fuch a Be- 
 ing as God, our Creator hath declared 
 it a duty to employ our thoughts on 
 Him : and however little He hath been 
 pleafed to difcover of Himfelf ; that 
 little it is the highefl: prerogative of our 
 
 nature 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 23 
 
 nature to look up to, and the moft glo- Sermon 
 rious exercife of the intellectual faculties , _• 
 to inyeftigate. Nor are we on this fub- 
 je£t fo nauch in the dark, as fcepticifm 
 may pretend : want of dempnftration is 
 no proof of fallhood ; nor ought it to be 
 any dlfcouragement to the purfult of 
 truth. Without that perfect compre- 
 henfion of the divine nature, which hu- 
 itian prefumptlon may demand ; it is af- 
 ferted, that we may pay to our Creator 
 a reafonable fervice : and it is denied, 
 that a falfe religion Is worfe than no re- 
 ligion at all. It may be fo ; but not 
 necefiarily. Confidered in itfelf, and 
 apart from the accidental malignity of 
 its tenets, even a falfe religion is as much 
 more acceptable to God, than no reli- 
 gion whatever ; as an imperfeft endea- 
 vour to pleafe, is preferable to non-exer- 
 tion and negled. In a word, the know- 
 ledge of God, which, imperfect as it is, 
 He hath ftamped upon the human mind, 
 fufficiently evinces ; that to contemplate 
 Him, to acquaint ourfelyes with Him, 
 B 4 in 
 
Z4- THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon in order to inveftigate how in the moft 
 ^_'j acceptable manner to ferve Him, is not 
 
 above us : it is a duty incumbent on us ; 
 
 it produces in us a love of Him, and 
 
 fulfils the firft command. 
 
 If the excellent wifdom of that full 
 and perfect religion, which in doftrine 
 and precept the gofpel exhibits, we con- 
 traft with the two fubftitutes of it above 
 defcribed ; we (hall find it neither vague, 
 nor defeiSive. In refpe6l of our duty to 
 God, it teaches ; that to love him with 
 all our heart, and all our foul, and with all 
 our }}tind, and with all our Jlrength ; and 
 agreeably to fuch an inflamed, enlarged 
 affedtion, to ferve Him ; is the firft obli- 
 gation of man. And for the regulation 
 of our condu6t to our neighbour, a pro- 
 per difcharge of the focial and relative 
 duties, it lays down the completeft rules 
 in the (horteft compafs. " To love our 
 neighbour, as ourfelves ;" and "to do 
 " to all men, as we would they fhould 
 " do unto us ;" are maxims, that form 
 
 the 
 
OiP THE CHRISTIAN RElIGlON. 2^ 
 
 the ground work of the befl and com- Sermon 
 pleteft lyflem of Ethics, moral philolb- ..J*, 
 phy ever framed. 
 
 Its do£lrInes are authoritative and ex- 
 prefs ; its precepts clear and obligatory. 
 However mens appetites, inclinations, 
 humours, or caprice, may differ and va- 
 ry ; true religion will be always the 
 fame : a perfect unchangeable rule of 
 a£lion. And though its precepts and 
 doftrines we may pervert and wreft ; we 
 muft take heed, that in fo doing, we 
 wreft them not to our own deftru£tion. 
 Plain and fimple in its inftitution, it 
 feeks no adventitious colourings ; free 
 from defeats, it eludes not fcrutiny, nor 
 fhuns the light : but the more we fee, 
 and know, and are acq^iainted with it, 
 the more delireable doth it appear to us. 
 
 Reafon is the touchftone, on which 
 the truth of religion is to be tried. Let 
 the Mahometan fay, believe : and 
 guard the facred Koran from the fcru- 
 
 pulous 
 
?6 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon pulous eye of rational enquiry. Chrift 
 y^^J^ hath faid, fearcb the fcriptures ; for they 
 are they, which tejlify of me. And never 
 have books been more critically, and 
 more envioufly fearched, than they : 
 while from tbofe trials they have ac- 
 quired new ftrength ; rifing from the 
 fiery ordeals with all the acquifition of 
 luftre, trial and truth can give. Tl>e 
 religion, which declines an appeal to the 
 tribunal of reafon, is always to be fuf- 
 pe6led. To her the Chriftian commits 
 the guidance of his faith : her facred 
 principles will fupport its authority, 
 when from the faftidious countenance of 
 Deifnj the veil of prejudice fhall drop j 
 and the infidious fchemes of modern re- 
 finers fhall, like air-blown bubbles, float 
 for their moment, amufe light minds, 
 and die away : when unftable notions, 
 and vain conceits, by wild imaginations 
 fuggefted, and through love of novelty 
 entertained, fhall by fober judgment be 
 weighed, and in the cool hour of reflect 
 tion relinquilhed. Schemes of religion, 
 
 fuch 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 2/ 
 
 iuch as thefe, may continue for a time ; Sermom 
 but, for want of a folid foundation, at ^_' 
 length the bafelefs fabric muft fall. 
 
 I. On thefe principles, in the dif- 
 courfes, which on the prefent occafion 
 engage my attention, my defign is, by 
 a chain of arguments deduced from the 
 foundation of all religion, the divine ex- 
 iftence, fummarily to evince the ground 
 and credibility of the Revelation of Jefus 
 Chrift. In proof of that firft great 
 truth, the Being of a God, I fhall have 
 little occafion to dwell on arguments 
 againft the diredl Atheift : the fool, 
 who fays in his heart, there is no God. I 
 Ihall content myfelf therefore with ad- 
 vancing fuch only, as may be moft fa- 
 tisfactory and convincing : and pafs on 
 2dly to him, who, acknowledging the 
 Being of a God, by a denial of miracles 
 doth in effeil limit his power ; a fpecies 
 of Anti-Theifm fcarcely lefs wicked, 
 than direct Atheifm itfelf. And I will 
 3dly advert to that more refined Atheift ; 
 
 whofe 
 
^8 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon whofe defperate principles of Material- 
 , 1 ^ ifm tend to degrade the Divine nature. 
 
 II. From the evidence of God's exift- 
 ence, we will proceed to the proofs of 
 his fuperintending providence ; a par- 
 ticular, as well as general, providence : 
 that is, a providence, which not only 
 direds and upholds the world in that 
 ordinary courfe of nature, that fuccef- 
 lion of general caufes and efFedts, which 
 was in the firft arrangement of things 
 eftablifhed ; but fuch as with all-perva- 
 ding eye obferves, and guiding hand 
 direds each leffer movement ; every 
 minute occurrence, as well as every ex- 
 traordinary event. 
 
 III. And from thefe adduced proofs 
 of God's exiftence and providence, I in- 
 fer the duty of religion : that is, the 
 proper acknowledgment of God's crea- 
 tive power, and upholding goodnefs, by 
 ads of adoration and praife ; obligatory 
 
 on 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 29 
 
 on all beings endowed with a degree of Sermon 
 reafon, equal to that of man. u-ylj 
 
 IV. But though reafon be thus com- 
 petent to point out the neceffity of reli- 
 gion ; fa6ts and experience evince its in- 
 fufficiency to dire£l us aright in its doc- 
 trines and precepts, and the purity of 
 worfliip : from whence follows the ne- 
 ceffity of a Revelation. 
 
 V. And on this fubje£t I Ihall confine 
 my thoughts to the nature and extent 
 of the Revelation made to the Jews,: 
 the completion and perfection of which 
 were deflined in the Meffiah. 
 
 VI. In examining the ancient prophe- 
 cies of the Meffiah, my principal object 
 will be to note and illuftrate thofe par- 
 ticulars, in which the Jews had mif- 
 taken and mifinterpreted them : not 
 only in referring to worldly conquefts, 
 pomp, and power, defcriptions, which 
 with no human charader could com- 
 port ; 
 
3© THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon port ; but in their grofs mifapprehen- 
 fion of thofe prophecies alfo, which as 
 plainly allude to his humiliated and fuf- 
 fering ftate. And as thofe contrafting 
 prophecies never did meet in any other 
 of their great charafters, nor ever can, 
 but in one, vho lived the life, performed 
 the miracles, and experienced the fuf- 
 ferings, vi^hich Jefus did : they w^ill not 
 only demonftrate, that he was the Mef- 
 liah ; but as afluredly prove, that he 
 poffefl'ed powers more than human, and 
 exercifed an authority, that marked his 
 origin, as his miffion, divine. 
 
 VII. From the authorities of the Old 
 Teflament, refpe£ting the nature and 
 dignity of the Mefliah, I propofe to pur- 
 fue my inveftigation of the fubje<5t 
 through the Scriptures of the New; 
 and therein to enquire, ift, what is the 
 general fcope, and uniform tenour of 
 thofe fcriptures, refpe£ting the Pre-exift- 
 ence and Divinity of Chrift : and 2dly 
 to meet the dbjedtions to thofe do£lrines 
 
 in 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 3I 
 
 in the full force, in which the leaders Sermon 
 of a revived fe£t have preffed them. < ^-^-rj ^ 
 And in this inquiry may the fpirit of 
 truth direft me, through Jefus Chrlft 
 our Lord : &c. &c. 
 
 SERMON 
 
32 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 Rom. i. lo, ^c. 
 
 For the invijibk things of Him from the 
 creation of the world are clearly feen, 
 being underjlood by the things that are 
 made ; even his^ eternal power and God- 
 heads 
 
 Sermon A HE exiftence of God is fo clearly 
 ^_J^Z.. manifefted, and his creative power fo 
 far underftood, faith the apoflle ; that 
 even the Heathen are without excufe, 
 in not paying Him that purity of wor- 
 fhip, which his fublime nature and God- 
 head require. And indeed reafon doth 
 fupply us with fo cogent arguments of 
 fuch a being, and thofe attributes of in- 
 finite power, wifdom and goodnefs, in- 
 feparable from Him, which St. Paul 
 
 fliles 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 33 
 
 ftiles " the invifible things of God" ; as Sermon 
 nothing but the moi 
 judices can withftand. 
 
 nothing but the moft determined pre- ^__' 
 
 One would conceive that we need 
 but open, our eyes on the fair frame of 
 things about us, and queflion our hearts 
 how came they here : and our hearts 
 would anfwer, this hath God done ; per- 
 €eivmg that it was his 'work. The Athe- 
 ift however hath difcovered the way of 
 ■ making a world, without calling to his 
 affiftance the power and wifdom of 
 God. 
 
 *' Nullam rem e nihilo gigni divinitus unquam ;" 
 
 is the principle, on which he proceeds 
 to ereft his fpecious building : how far 
 it may be admitted, we will in the 
 fequel examine. 
 
 I. If at the firft, or from eternity, 
 NOTHING exifted ; there never could 
 have exifted any thing : fo far juft and 
 
 C true 
 
34 THE GROtJND AlMD CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon true is the poGtion above affuraed. 
 ^ ' Something therefore exifled from all 
 eternitj. 
 
 That SOMETHING vvas either matter ; 
 Or a fubflance different from matter. 
 Inertion being an eflential property of 
 matter, mere matter could never have 
 produced itfelf ; for felf-exiflence im- 
 plies aftivity : it could not have pro- 
 duced itfelf even in a Chaotic, fhapelefs 
 mafs. Something therefore muft from 
 eternity have exifted, pofleft of a£live 
 and higher powers, than matter pof- 
 felles. That something we flile God. 
 
 But admitting for a moment the for- 
 mer fuppofition, and conceiving of mat- 
 ter, as an eternal exiftence ; from 
 whence fhall we fuppofe it to have de- 
 rived thofe beautiful and varying fhapes, 
 which we now behold ? On the moft 
 favourable fuppoiition of its origin, a 
 rude, indigefted mafs ; from whence 
 did it become poiTeft of its power of di- 
 verfifying its motions and operations in 
 
 fuch 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 35 
 
 fuch a manner, as to produce the won- Sermon 
 
 T r 
 
 derful variety of beings, that are found i„J^ 
 fcattered upon the face of the earth ? 
 
 The atomifts faw the defed of this 
 fcheme of Atheifm : and therefore to 
 felf-exiftent matter they gave a power, 
 which does not belong to it ; they 
 conferred motion on it, and introduced a 
 million of felf-exiftent, dancing atoms : 
 a lyftem of heathen philofophy, which, 
 however blazoned with the ornaments 
 of verfe, is much of a piece with that 
 of their theology ; both highly poetic : 
 and, notwithftanding the encomium, 
 with which a modern hiftorian of no 
 fmall name hath diftinguifhed the preiiy 
 theology of Julian,* both exceedingly 
 abfurd. 
 
 Neceffary felf-exiflence is the prime 
 attribute of the Deity : fomething felf- 
 
 * Gibbon's Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 C 2 exideat 
 
36 The ground and credibilitv 
 
 Sermon exiflent is God. A million therefore of 
 
 TT 
 
 ^Ji^^ felf-exifting, felf-moving atoms, are a 
 million of Gods. And when thofe mil- 
 lions of atoms had danced themfelves 
 into fhapeable exiftences, feas, rivers, 
 mountains, trees, and the like : it was 
 natural enough for the plaftic powers of 
 poetic imagination, to perfonify thofe 
 eternal exiftences ; who, according to 
 the fcheme of Epicurean philofophy, 
 were Deities ready made to their hand : 
 and hence, their Oreades, Naiades, &c. 
 their Gods and Goddefles, of land, and 
 of rivers, and even of the bowels of the 
 earth. 
 
 But fuppofing for a moment the ex- 
 iftence of motion, without admitting a 
 mover : there is flill wanting defign. 
 For a fortuitous dance of atoms is no 
 more equal to the creation of a world, in 
 which there are fuch marks of infinite 
 wifdom, harmony, and defign, as this 
 of ours difplays : than a fortuitous jum- 
 ble of letters, to the compofition of an 
 
 epic 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 37 
 
 epic poem ; or of colours, to the deli- Sermon 
 neation of a regular pidlure. For on the ^,J}Lj 
 moft advantageoas idea of what matter 
 is, and motion can do : that is no 
 more than an inert, chaotic, mafs ; and 
 this a blind impulfe, eternally proceed- 
 ing without deftination. 
 
 To make one conceffion further, and 
 fuppofe, upon another fyftem of Atheifm, 
 matter to have eternally exifted in the 
 beautiful variety of fhape and form, m 
 which we now behold it ; without fome 
 external fupport, all thofe beautiful ap- 
 pearances of things muft long ago have 
 funk into their original nothing. For 
 matter, fuch as the world is cornpofed 
 of, being in itfelf liable to corruption, 
 animate fubftances, as well as inanimate, 
 having all their rife, their progrefs, and 
 dec3y; their felf-exiflence does not im- 
 ply a greater degree of abfurdity, than 
 their felf-fupport from all eternity i» 
 the fame form and ftate. 
 
 C 3 From 
 
38 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon From this view of the incompetence 
 {_,-^'-._, of matter, confidered in every light, to 
 ftlf-exiftence and eternity, we muft ad- 
 mit fome fuperior principle ; and ac- 
 knowledge an eternal felf-exiftfent caufe : 
 fomething of power to create matter, 
 which in itfelf poffefles no a£live pow- 
 ers, confequently not -the power of felf- 
 exiftence : an exiftent caufe, poffeffing 
 alfo wifdom and defign, equal to the 
 diverfification obfervable in this fair 
 frame of things about us. And that be- 
 ing is God. 
 
 To this beaut}^ order, and regula- 
 rity, fo difcernible in the univerfe, the 
 apoftle in my text particularly appeals ; 
 in proof of the exigence and perfedlions 
 of the Deity. And if this argument 
 could be thought to want any corrobo- 
 rative ; I m.ight inftance the univerfal 
 confent of mankind, in all ages of the 
 world, and in every region : which con- 
 currence of affent muft be a ftrong pre- 
 fumption of truth. 
 
 For 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 39 
 
 For it contradidts every principle of Sermon 
 reafon, to imagine that by the confti- ,__ 1^ 
 tution of human nature falfe principles 
 fhould have been generally and uniform- 
 ly infufed into our minds ; and that we 
 Ihould be naturally inclined to error : 
 that, in this great truth of God's exift- 
 ence, the whole world fhould be taught 
 to err ; except the few, whofe intereft 
 it may be, to wifh the do6lrine falfe, 
 that they may live to the full enjoy- 
 ment of their appetites and inclinations, 
 without the moleftation of confcience, 
 and the alarms of fear. Nor can any 
 other certain and general caufe be ai- 
 figned for fo general an opinion,- except 
 the nature of the human mind : which 
 hath this notion of a Deity born with 
 it ; and, as we may thence conclude, 
 flamped upon it by the author of na- 
 ture, the Deity himfelf. But I forbear 
 to purfue this argument ; or to dwell 
 longer on this part of my fubjedl: 
 haftening to the fecond propofition ; 
 which was to reconcile the fuperfedure 
 C 4 Qi 
 
,40 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon of the general laws of nature, in the 
 
 TT 
 
 ,___^^^ cafe of miracles, with the wifdodn and 
 goodnefs of that infinite being, who to 
 the operation of nature affigned thofe 
 laws. 
 
 II. To acknowledge a Deity., and yet 
 tie Him down by fuppofitions, which, if 
 puflied to their utmoft length, would 
 leave Him with limited powers ; is to 
 throw over Atheifm fo thin a veil, as 
 hides nothing of it, but its name. This 
 however is the tendency of an argument 
 againfl the reality of miracles, which 
 has been maintained with the greateft 
 confidence; and is founded on the jm- 
 fojjibilhy of them, confiftent with the 
 attributes of the Deity. A miricle be- 
 ing a fuperfedure or alteration of the 
 eftabUflied courfe of nature, it is con- 
 tended ; that if fuch alteration be for the 
 better, the courfe of nature was not 
 originally eftabfifhed Vv-ith Infinite vi^if- 
 dom ; if for the worfe, it is an alteration 
 not confiftent with infinite goodnefs. 
 
 This 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 4I 
 
 This arsfument, for it is a favourite Sermon 
 
 one, hath been offered in another form, 
 and with a happy change of words. 
 " God," it is argued *' cannot fuperfede 
 *' the courfe of things, he has eftablifli- 
 *' ed, without violating the laws of 
 " nature." The word, violate, adds no 
 new force to the argument : but it is 
 aptly calculated to fling imputed eenfure 
 on the oppofite opinion : as maintaining 
 the reality of thofe extraordinary opera- 
 tions, at the expence of violating the 
 facred laws of God and nature. 
 
 In form more full, and ftronger terms, 
 I offer the argument ; in the dire£b 
 words of a celebrated eflay, by zealous 
 partisans ftill dealt out in detail, and 
 held up in triumph. " A miracle is a 
 *' violation of the laws of nature : and 
 *' as a firm and unalterable experience 
 <' hath eftabliflied thele laws, the proof 
 " againfl a miracle, frorn the very na- 
 " ture of the fad, is as intire, as any 
 
 ** argument 
 
 II. 
 
42 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon " argument from experience can be 
 ^.„^^ *' poffibly imagined." * 
 
 The firft part of the proportion, it is 
 plain to obferve, is an ailertion without 
 proof : unlefs the fubfequent claufe be 
 intended to fubftantiate one, in the af- 
 fumption, that^fr^ and unalterable experi- 
 ence hath ejlablijhed theje laws. But firm 
 and unalterable experience conftitutes 
 fuch proof no longer, than till thefe 
 laws are fuperfeded ; and then firm and 
 unalterable experience proves in particu- 
 lar cafes and for fpecial purpofes, a devi- 
 ation from thofe general laws. And 
 fuch deviation is as ftrongly eftablifhed 
 by firm and unalterable experience, as the 
 former regularity itfelf. Nor can it, 
 being God's immediate operation, or at 
 leaft an a6t under his permiffion, with 
 more propriety be fliled a violation of 
 the laws of nature ; than the mountain- 
 ous waves of the fea, proudly overleaps 
 
 * See Hume's Effay on Miracles. 
 
 ing 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 43 
 
 ing the bounds which He had fet them, Sermom 
 deluging whole regions, and ingulphing . _^' 
 cities, — or the dark fpots, which aftro- 
 nomers obferve increafingly to incruft 
 the bright orb of the fun, in poffible 
 diminution both of its heat and light, — 
 can be charged on his works, as viola- 
 tions of the general laws, He had af- 
 ligned to their operation. 
 
 He, that had a power to dire£t nature 
 according to certain general laws, muft 
 alio have a power to control, and alter 
 her movements. And fuch alteration, 
 or control, is as much the aft, either 
 mediately or immediately, of infinite 
 povyer and wifdom, as the general law 
 itfelf. It is a part of that general law ; 
 which was formed with fuch a fpecific 
 deviation. Whatever weight therefore 
 may be afcribed to this argument ; it in 
 reality poflelfes none. It flands not in 
 our way in proof, that fuch fuperfedure 
 of the general laws of nature is impoffi- 
 ble ; as being incompatible either with 
 infinite wifdom or power. The only 
 
 queftion 
 
44 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon queftion then- is, whether human tefti- 
 ^_J^^ mony be fufficient to prove it : which 
 will fall under an article of future dif- 
 cufTion ; being a point of enquiry, with 
 which in the prefent cafe we are not 
 concerned. Nothing more is in this 
 flate of the fubjed contended for ; than 
 that God can fuperfede the general laws 
 of nature, without incurring the ra(h im- 
 putation of violating them. 
 
 But the author was led into this ar- 
 gument, by narrow notions of the divine 
 agency. He has adverted to the Deity, 
 as an artift ; and to the ftrufture of 
 this world, as a complicated machine, 
 of his framing ; confifting of a variety 
 of mechanic powers, which he puts 
 into motion, affigning general move- 
 ments to every diftinft part ; turns the 
 piece of finiftied mechanifm out of his 
 hands, and leaves it in its various parts 
 to purfue its deftined operations : which 
 it will invariably perform, unlefs fome 
 derangement of the parts impede and in- 
 terrupt 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 45 
 
 terrupt its motions. Now were this re- Sermon 
 prefentation of the Deity adequate and ^ _ ^ _!.^ 
 juft ; the argument adduced mufl: be 
 admitted of no inconfiderable weight. 
 For as the great machine miiffc, have 
 come out of the hands of its Creator 
 perfeftly good, and was left without fur- 
 ther attention to continue the courfe, He 
 had prefcribed to it ; every deviation 
 from the order and courfe, He had fo 
 prefcribed, would be a deterioration of 
 his work. 
 
 But doth fuch an idea comport with 
 the Creator of heaven and earth ? And 
 indeed w^zt human idea will ? Certainly 
 however the idea of God, at firft crea- 
 ting and giving movements to the world, 
 and then leaving it to purfue thofe mo- 
 lions no longer under his infpe£lion, 
 without his farther regard, without fup- 
 port : — fuch idea doth jfurely ill fult 
 the attributes of omnifcience and omni- 
 prelence. In his operations he knows 
 neither beginning, -middle, nor end. 
 
 With 
 
'46 The ground ani> credibility 
 
 Sermon With Him no diftance diftinguifhes 
 ^ ' , ^ time or place : He looks neither back- 
 wards nor forwards ; the idea of first, 
 or LAST, notes not his aftions : who is 
 always, every where ; and at one com- 
 prehenfive glance views every minute 
 movement of every part of his innume- 
 rable works, in every period of their 
 operations. 
 
 When at the firft, if, in application to 
 God, we may properly ufe fuch a term as 
 FIRST, He made the elem^ent of water 
 yield to the impreffion of the human 
 ftep ; He made it alfo on a particular oc- 
 cafion to refift it : and the one particu- 
 lar occafional power was as mvich the 
 given power of God, and as early given, 
 as the other. And this given power to 
 that part of nature, which performs it, 
 is his law. With the fame almighty 
 FIAT, which put the world in motion. 
 He for a moment flopped the movements 
 of fome of its parts. At the fame^mo- 
 ment, He faw them perform their accuf- 
 
 tomed 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 4^ 
 
 tomed revolutions, and faw them halt : Sermos 
 
 TT 
 
 when, in fcripture language, the fun ,^1^ 
 Jiood Jliil on Gibeon, and the moon In the 
 valley of Ajalon. At the fame inftant, 
 and with the fame glance, he fees the 
 fun travelling in his fbrength, and the 
 moon's reflefted beams enlivening the 
 gloom of night ; and alfo beholds, at 
 the deftined period of their difiblu- 
 tion, the one turned Into blood, and the 
 face of the other darkened: His hand 
 alike directs both operations. Refpe£l:- 
 jng Him, with whom time is not, when 
 we fpeak of periods and of times ; we 
 fhould keep ever in mind, that we ufe 
 thofe terms, becaufe we know not how 
 to exprefs our ideas of Him more fuit- 
 ably. But thus far our ideas of God 
 may attain : that a6ling always, as He 
 demonflratlvely does, and prefent every 
 where, as He neceffarily is, when the 
 operations of nature are moil eccentric, 
 equally as when moft regular, they per- 
 fornv the divine will : and the unerring 
 rciftitude, with which He rules, or flops, 
 
 her 
 
48 THE Gr.OUND ANp CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon her motions, ever preferves the courfe, 
 ^_ that nature may purlue, from the im- 
 putation of VIOLATION. 
 
 III. The point, which under the arti- 
 cle of God's exiflence I propofed in the 
 third and laft place to confider, was the 
 general principle of Materialifm : as of 
 tendency to degrade the divine nature. 
 For when we magnify matter above its 
 juft clairh and pretenfions, and afcribe to 
 it perfeftions, v/hich it doth not poffefs ; 
 when we attribute to it perception, me- 
 mory, refledion, thofe intellectual facul- 
 ties, a ray of divinity, if indeed the 
 image of God be in any degree ftamped 
 upon us : we muft take care we be not 
 led ftep by flep, at laft to degrade the 
 divine nature, and materialife even the 
 Deity himfelf. 
 
 That fuch dangerous tendency in the 
 principles of materialifm is not matter 
 of vain prefumption, but of faft ; the 
 dlreft acknowledgment of one of the 
 
 mod 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. » 49 
 
 raoft determined materialifts of this age Sermon 
 evinces ; who obferves, that " the doc- ^_,^l^ 
 *' trine of the materiality of man has 
 •' been charged with leading to Athe- 
 *' ifm."* And then in the very fame 
 workjwhile he afFe£ts to remove, he pro- 
 ceeds to eftablilh, the charge : employing 
 two feftions to prove, that " the nature 
 *' of the Deity is material." The an- 
 tient philofophy of Epicurus conferred 
 motion on felf-exiftent matter : the mo- 
 dern materialift, more bountiful, endows 
 It with perceptive and inteileftual powers.^ 
 If that were Atheifm ; I fear this will 
 rank little lower. Such principles, if 
 they lead men to conceive of God, not 
 as he is, but turn the glory of God into a 
 corruptible nature, are equally derogatory 
 from the fubiime nature of the Deity, as 
 diretfl Atheifm Itfelf. And the author's 
 candid acknowledgment of the exiftence 
 of fuch a charge is, on the fubje£l we 
 are now inveftigating, fufficient to juftify 
 
 * Prieftley's DifquifitlonE on Matter and Spirit. 
 
 ,: y^ D my 
 
50 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon my endeavours to guard againft princi- 
 ^ }l^ pies of fo defperate tendency. 
 
 The chain of reafbning, on which the 
 Materlalift proceeds, fuppofes, that to en- 
 able one being to zQ. upon another, they 
 muft each poffefs fome common proper- 
 ty : the mind therefore, if qualified to a£t 
 upon the body, muft have fome common 
 property of matter; and for the fame 
 reafon fo muft the Deity himfelf. But 
 what has the properties of matter, is mat- 
 ter. This is in brief the argument in 
 fupport of the doctrine of materialifm : 
 and fuch is the defperate length, to 
 which it goes. 
 
 Let us examine this train of reafon- 
 ing, and argue on the fa£t in the ex- 
 treme : let us fuppofe the truth of the 
 conclufion, that the Deity pofleffes fome 
 property common to matter ; and aflc 
 what known property it is. Not iner- 
 tion, moft affuredly : for every attribute 
 of the Deity implies adivity. Not fbli- 
 
 dity : 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. fl 
 
 <dity : for in Him, whether the Chrif- Sermon 
 tian's God, or the heathen philofopher's ^.^.^.^ 
 anima mundi, we live, and move, and hiwe 
 our being. Not ihape : for that has 
 bounds. In fhort, not any property of 
 matter, that can be afcertained. Every 
 power of the mind, and every property 
 obfervable in matter, are fo effentially 
 different ; that the idea of homogeneity 
 in the two fubftances is too extravagant 
 to be admitted on any other ground, than 
 a dire£): proof of the impoffibility of the 
 a<3:ion of fpirit on matter, without the 
 exiftence of fome common property. 
 Our incapacity to comprehend in what 
 manner fuch adion, fo circumftanced, 
 can be exerted, is not fufficient, againft 
 every appearance that it is fo, to deftroy 
 tlie poflibiUty of the faft. 
 
 Yet however bold the affertion is, that 
 fpirit cannot aOc upon matter without 
 pofleffing fome common property of it ; 
 and however falfe it may be : it muft 
 with proper diffidence be acknowledg- 
 D 2 ed, 
 
52 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon ed, that it is difficult to conceive how 
 ,^1., thought can come into immediate con- 
 tad with a fubftance fo apparently op- 
 pofite to it, as matter. But humbly 
 conlidering how little we know of the 
 laws, by which God governs the world ; 
 though ignorant of the caufe, may we 
 not, inftrufted by the efFedl, fuppofe fome 
 fecret law of nature exifting, fome fine 
 linkbetweenthetwofubftances, by which 
 the mind may receive its fenfations and 
 ideas ; and through which it may exer- 
 cife its operations, excite motions, and 
 perform aftions ? We know, in the 
 chain of material beings how nice the 
 links of nature ; we know, how nearly 
 the quadruped approaches the feathered 
 tribe ; how nearly the inhabitant of the 
 watery element him, that grazes on the 
 plain ; the vegetative the animal being. 
 And I conceive it not improbable, much 
 lefs impoflible, which is fufficient to 
 urge againft a dire£t impoffibihty ; that 
 there may be fome fine link between, 
 the material and the immaterial world, 
 
 fome 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 53 
 
 fomemediumofadlion, which, if known, Sermon 
 would fatisfy the doubts of philofophic ^^„lJ 
 arrogance. 
 
 My defign in this difcourfe has been, 
 to eftablifh the proof of God's exiftence, 
 as the foundation of all religion : and 
 with all humility fo far to inveftigate 
 the Divine nature, as forming an objed: 
 pf religious worlhip ; of that pure form 
 of worlhip efpecially, the truth of 
 which in the fequel of thefe difcourfes I 
 fliall proceed to evince. And if the 
 reflexions- on this fubjeft, which I 
 have now offered, have any weight j 
 they will conduce to mould our minds 
 to the ftudy of ourfelves. And when, 
 convinced of our own weaknefs and 
 imperfedion, we raife our thoughts 
 to the contemplation of the Deity ; we 
 fhall, from what we are, from what we 
 feel within, and behold without us, de- 
 rive irrefragable and increaling proofs of 
 hjs exiftence. We fliall learn to think 
 humbly of ourfelves, and exaltqdly of 
 D 3 thai 
 
54 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon that infinitely perfe£t and adorable Be- 
 ^__^; ing, who called us from nothing ; and 
 gave us all that we at pre fen t enjoy, or 
 in reverfion hope for. And when the 
 enlarged mind expatiates on his power ; 
 we fhall tremble at the idea of fixing 
 any thing like a limit to it : when we 
 endeavour to fearch into the infcrutable 
 treafures of his wifdom ; we fliall ex- 
 ert every fertile power of imagination, 
 to admire and revere it t and when we 
 prefume to employ our thoughts on his 
 nature ; we fhall feparate from it every 
 idea, that fuits not with the higheft ex- 
 cellence we can attribute to the moft 
 fublime and exalted Being : and after 
 all this ftretch of heart, and foul, and 
 ftrength, to think worthily of Him, we 
 fhall have to lament the weaknefs of 
 our conception, and the imperfection 
 of our ideas ; fatisfied that, high as the 
 enraptured mind can raife them, they 
 fall beneath, infinitely beneath, the 
 elevated fubjed, on which they are em- 
 ployed. 
 
 SER- 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ^5 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 Job, xxxi. 4. 
 
 Doih He not fee my ivcjys, and count all 
 my Jleps t 
 
 JrROM the evidence of God's exift- Sermok 
 ence, which was the fubje£t of my laft ^| f^ 
 difcourfe ; we will now proceed to the 
 proofs, we have of his providence. It 
 has been (hewn, that the world is the 
 production of a Being infinite in wifdom 
 and power, whom we ftile God : the 
 point of doctrine next to be proved is, 
 that this World, this whole fyftem of 
 created things, is fuper-intended, go- 
 verned, and direfted by that Almighty 
 God, who made it. And indeed there is 
 D 4 fuch 
 
56 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon fuch a natural and neceflary connecSioni 
 ,__^^^ between the belief of God's exifteace, 
 and fuperintendence ; that he, who be- 
 lieves the one, would he think confid- 
 ently, muft beheve the other likewife. 
 If we beheve there is a God, who made 
 the world ; we mufl likewife believe that 
 the fame God, who made the world, 
 doth govern it too. For matter is as in- 
 competent to fupport it's own exiftence, 
 as to create itfelf ; nor is chance better 
 qualified to govern a world, than to 
 make one : and we have already feen, 
 how unapt matter is for the active office 
 of creation ; and how unequal chance is 
 to the formation of a world, which dif- 
 plays fuch harmony, regularity, and 
 confiftence. , But from appearances let 
 us proceed to proofs. 
 
 The power of God, difplayed in the 
 government of the world, may be conli- 
 dered in a double view : 
 
 Firft, 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ^y 
 
 Firft, in refpeft to the material world ; Sermow 
 In which He is acknowledged as or- JV ■ 
 dering, and directing the changes and 
 revolutions of nature : His will, and 
 governing power, being the univerfal 
 law, which it obferves. 
 
 And fecondly we may confider the lu- 
 perintendence of God, as difplayed in a 
 moral and religious view ; in His dilpen- 
 fations and government, refpedling the 
 rational world : including the general 
 ilate, CEConomy, and condu6t of man- 
 kind. And under this head I propofe a 
 further enquiry into the reality of a parti- 
 cular, as well as general, providence : ad- 
 drefled to the confideration of thofe, who, 
 under the affedlation of enlarged ideas 
 of the Divine nature, pretend to fuppofe 
 it an opinion unworthy of Him, to 
 afcribe to his immediate interpofition oc- 
 currences, which are fometimes ftiled 
 providential ; but which, though appa- 
 rently extraordinary, fall within the 
 common . courfe prefcribed to nature, 
 
 however 
 
58 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon however hidden from us, and fecret may 
 
 Iff • 
 
 ^^^_^' be the immediate caufes of them. 
 
 I. Firft, then, the general notion of 
 providence is God*$ care of all the crea- 
 tures He has made ; which mufl confift 
 in preferving and upholding their beings 
 and natures, and in fuch a£ls of govern- 
 ment, as the good order of the world, the 
 arrangement of things, their fecret de- 
 pendencies, and correfpondent efFeils re- 
 quire. And that there is fuch a mani- 
 feft general ordination and adaptation of 
 things in the natural world, that they 
 exa£tly fuit the purpofes of each other, 
 and contribute mutually to the univerfal 
 good of the great whole ; that the comi- 
 mon neceffities of mankind are graciouf- 
 ly provided for, and fupplied in the ufa- 
 ul courfe of things, and according to the 
 general laws of nature, which infinite 
 wifdom and goodnefs originally eftablifli- 
 ed ; that the heavenly bodies are con- 
 ftkutsd, and their movements directed, 
 with exa£t proportion to one another in 
 
 their 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 59 
 
 their feveral ftations and circuits ; are Sermon 
 truths, that have with fuitable expref- ^ "^ 
 lions of admiration been obferved and ac- 
 knowledged by thofe, who have pene- 
 trated fartheft into ftudies and enquiries 
 of that kind. 
 
 When we proceed to a more particu- 
 lar inveftigation of this interefting doc- 
 trine of a divine providence, the mind 
 is ftruck with the obferved fubfiftence 
 of things in the fame ftrufture ; and 
 with the fame progreffion, through the 
 feveral ages of their being. In this con- 
 fideration is involved a two^fold circum- 
 ftance ; their ftability, and their arrange- 
 ment : the one inconceivable without 
 a£tive intelligence, and the other with- 
 out fupport. 
 
 Though neither matter, nor motion, 
 nor both united, have been found in 
 themfelves competent to the creation of 
 the world : there can be no doubt, but, 
 under the diredion of the Divine archi- 
 
 ted. 
 
6o THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY" 
 
 Sermon te£t, they conftitute the compoiition of 
 \ ^-^ -. ^ the vifible univerfe. It was not there- 
 fore wonderful, that fome phllofophers 
 fliould have conferred on them the prin- 
 ciple of felf-exiftence : and it was con- 
 fiflent with fuch opinion, to attribute to 
 them the powers of confervation and 
 fupport. But from the idea of matter, 
 attenuate and modify it as you will, inac- 
 tivity, it has been already obferved, is 
 infeparable. If therefore effentialiy paf- 
 five, and confequently not felf-exiftent, 
 but created ; impotent to produce, it mufi: 
 be equally impotent to preferve itfelf. 
 For in reality how doth produftion dif- 
 fer from prefervation, except as an adl 
 exerted from its continuance ? One mo- 
 ment of adlive being implies, in an in- 
 ert mafs, as confiderable a difficulty as 
 another. It requires the fame power to 
 confirm a fecond moment of aftion, as 
 to aflign a firft ; a third, as a fecond ; 
 and fo on through all the parts of dura- 
 tion . And if fo, from the fame princi? 
 |)le muft be derived the continuance 
 
 of 
 
III. 
 
 OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 6t 
 
 of the world's exiftence, as the origin Sermom 
 of it. 
 
 In the fame manner with regard to 
 motion ; we cannot conceive of it, with- 
 out admitting a caufe. From a blind 
 and fenfelefs caufe can proceed only a 
 blind and indefinite effedt : that is, in the 
 prefect inflance a tendency every way ; 
 which is plainly equivalent to a tenden- 
 cy no way, or to reft. A tendency, in 
 any given or definite way, denotes felec- 
 tion and direftion ; and thefe again, im- 
 mediately or ultimately, an external in- 
 telligent mover. How then can that, 
 which could neither begin, nor guide, 
 continue itfelf? There is befides in 
 every impulfe a diminution of motion : 
 fo that whatever momentum is commu- 
 nicated to the body impelled, re-a£tion 
 is known to take from the impellent. 
 What then can repair this continual lofs ; 
 er, in other words, fupport a conftant 
 motion, like the revolutions of the 
 globe in one regular tenor ; except an in- 
 
 ceffant 
 
62 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon ceflant adlioii : which brings us at once 
 ,_r^ to the Inceffant intervention of a fuper- 
 intending Deity ? 
 
 Let us next advert to the additional cir- 
 cumftance of arrangement. Survey, and 
 it is a delightful entertainment to fur- 
 vey, the productions and provifions of 
 nature : you will perceive on the firfl: 
 obfervation variety, curiofity, co-operati- 
 on, and mutual fubfervience ; fuccef- 
 fions without failure, greatnefs without 
 difproportion, complication without con- 
 fufion. Obferve particularly the nice 
 difpofition of the univerfe, of which this 
 orb of ours forms a part ; the diftribu- 
 tion of the larger planets in wider and re- 
 moter orbits, that their gravity may not 
 interfere with the fafety or velocity of 
 the fmaller ; the meafured diftance of 
 the earth from the fun, whofe approach 
 or recedure with any fenfible variation 
 might endanger its being, or all its com- 
 forts. 
 
 Them 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 6^ 
 
 Then let us bring; our reflexions Sermon 
 
 . Ill 
 
 nearer home ; and obferve this -globe of ,^_ __ "^ 
 
 earth that we inhabit, and its produc- 
 tions. What an elegant and beneficial 
 affemblage do we behold fpringing from 
 mere mould, a cold, lumpifh, crumbling 
 fubftance ; not grateful to any fenfe, nor 
 poffefled in appearance of any prolific 
 virtue ! With vvhat exquifite art, accom- 
 modating ftru£ture to character and ex- 
 ertion, are particular creatures organifed ; 
 feverally deftined to form and fill up a 
 compact, regular, and complete fyftem t 
 a fyftem, the compofition of which con- 
 fiding of materials infinitely numerous, 
 infinitely diverfified, hath flood for near 
 fix thoufand years one and the fame ; 
 uninjured in its form, unimpaired in its 
 parts, unobftrudled in its movements ! 
 Confider this complex wonder ; and who 
 can hefitate to conclude, that every thing 
 is fuftained, guided, and uniformly rein- 
 ftated,' by a vigilant providence, *' great 
 in council, and mighty in work." 
 
 For 
 
64 TKE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon For in fhort wherever there Is an ef- 
 .^_^^_^^_'^ feft, it muft have a caufe anfwerable ; a 
 determinate efFe£l, a determining caufe ; 
 a perpetual or periodical efFeft, a perma- 
 nent one. Thus order implies defign, 
 iymmetry contrivance, beauty work- 
 manfhip, regularity guidance, unerring 
 regularity wifdom, limitation influence, 
 xitility forecaft. And all thefe, exifting 
 in infinite circumftances, declare an 
 infinite mind, operating in the appoint- 
 ment of them with infinite dlfcernment, 
 and in the prefervation of them with 
 infinite attention ; which is In other 
 words, a prefiding providence. On this 
 fubjeft engaged, one cannot help giving 
 fcope to imagination, and reflefting on 
 the infinite pleafure it will give the 
 enlarged mind, when admitted to a 
 nearer view of things, than our converfe 
 in this world admits, to explore the 
 curiofities and exhauftlefs wonders of 
 nature : to view, with what art and con- 
 trivance each particular creature Is 
 made ; and how the feveral parts of this 
 
 great 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 65 
 
 great machine are fitted to each other, Sermon 
 
 - • III 
 
 and continue on from generation to ge- ^-.,,,-1^^ 
 
 neration a regular and uniform world. 
 
 Mutually conne£led and dependent, each. 
 
 is fitted to the ufes and purpofes of their 
 
 feveral natures, all ferviceable and affift- 
 
 ant to one another, and every individual 
 
 neceffary to the whole. 
 
 On fiich a furvey, to matter and mo- 
 tion, to every caufe a fertile imagination 
 can fuggeft, analogy will force us to add 
 defign. For by a fortuitous concourfe of 
 things we fee nothing regular effedted in 
 works of art : by what rule of reafoning 
 then are we to expe£l it in the opera- 
 tions of nature ? And with defign, we 
 muft admit of a defigner : that is^, a Be- 
 ing of wifdom, to plan ; and of power, 
 the extent of which we meafure by the 
 execution of the plan. In nature's 
 works confider the defign, and examine 
 the execution of it ; and impute them, 
 who can, to lefs than infinite wifdom 
 and power. Such were the refledions, 
 which, Claudian tells us, cured his 
 E doubts 
 
66 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon doubts refpeftlng a fuperintending pro- 
 \ J-^-^ vidence : the defcription is elegant, 
 and the reafoning juft ; with that de- 
 fcription, the elegance of the paflage^ 
 and the propriety of fentiment it con- 
 veys, will 1 truft plead my excufe for 
 concluding the argument drawn from, 
 obfervations on the material world. 
 
 '* Saspe * mihi dubiam traxit fenteiitia mentem,. 
 " Curarent fuperi terras, an nullus inefTet 
 " Reitor, & incerto fluerent mortalia cafu. 
 " Aft cum difpofiti quaefiflem fosdera mundi, 
 " Praefcriptofque mari fines, annifque meatus,, 
 " Et lucis noflifque vices j tunc omnia rebar 
 " Confilio firmata Dei, qui lege moveri 
 " Sidera, qui fruges diverfo tempore nafci, 
 *' Qui variam Phceben alieno jufferit igne 
 " Compleri, Solemque fuo; porrexerit undis 
 " Littora ; tellurem medio libraverit axe." 
 
 Claud, in Ruf. lib. liii, 
 
 II. I proceed 2dly to confider the fu- 
 perintendence of God as difplayed in a 
 
 moral 
 
 * Oft have I doubted, whether power divine 
 Diredl this world with wifdom and defign ; 
 
 Or 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. t"] 
 
 moral and religious view, in his difpenfa- Sermon 
 tions and government, refpecling the rati- ^_^,.^, 
 onal world ; including the general ftate, 
 oeconomy, and condudt of mankind. 
 
 And in this difcuffion the firft great 
 argument, that offers, is the general ad- 
 miniilration of the world in favour of 
 virtue. Vice is not always punifhed 
 here, nor virtue always rewarded ; nor 
 indeed ought it to be fo : for then this 
 world would be a ftate of rewards and 
 punifhments ; and not, as it is, a Hate 
 
 Or all things rife, decay, recede, advance, 
 Caufe and efFe<5l the random work of chance. 
 But when the frame of nature meets my mind, 
 It's various links harmonioufly combined ; 
 The bounds, that check the ocean's wild career, 
 The deftined periods of the meafured year ; 
 The btightly-beaming day, the fcowling night, 
 Succeeding darknefs, and returning light : 
 My doubts are banifti'd, 'gainft each vain furmife, 
 God ftands reveal'd, all-mighty, and all-wife. 
 By Him the bounties of the earth are given. 
 He framed the laws, that rule the orbs of heaven : 
 He bade the ocean, keep its channell'd place, 
 He hung the well-poifed world in empty fpace. 
 
 E 2 of 
 
68 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon of trial and probation : and thus 
 ^^. _ '_, would one of the clearefl and flrongeft 
 arguments in proof of a future ftate be 
 taken away. But though there be wife 
 reafons, why fome virtuous men fhould 
 be unhappy in this life, and fome vicious 
 men profperous ; for this world not be- 
 ing a place of judgment, but a ftate of 
 preparation, divine juftice does not re- 
 quire, that every good or bad man 
 fliould, according to his works, be re- 
 fpeftively recompenfed here : yet the 
 wifdom, and goodnefs, and juftice of God 
 do require, that in general virtue fhould 
 be rewarded, and fin punifhed ; and that 
 in fuch degrees, and in fuch a manner, 
 as fhall lay all reafonable reftraints ou 
 the lufts and pafiions of men, and pro- 
 portionably promote and encourage the 
 exertion of their virtues. How far the 
 face of things about us tends to confirm 
 this opinion, let us next inquire ; con- 
 tenting ourfelves, where demonftration 
 cannot be had, with the higheft degree 
 of probability. 
 
 It 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION; 69 
 
 It is impoffible to parcel out by Sermon 
 weight or admeafurement the quantity i.^,,,^ 
 of good and evil, that falls out in this 
 life to refpeftive individuals ; -fo as de- 
 monftratively to afcertain the fa£t, that 
 even in this w^orld there is a confiderable 
 preponderation of happinefs in favour of 
 virtue : but as the truth of this opinion 
 forms a very powerful argument, in 
 proof of a wife and good prefiding pow- 
 er ; I fubmit the following refleftions in 
 fupport of it. When we obferve man- 
 kind in general, the wicked as well as 
 the religious, him that f ear eth God, and him 
 that feareth Him not, fo anxious as they 
 appear to be, that their children fhould 
 purfue virtuous courfes ; we muft con- 
 clude fuch a general delire to have as ge- 
 neral a motive : which is their happi- 
 nefs and profperity in life. And though 
 this motive, which to the temporalift is 
 a leading one, be to the good and virtu- 
 ous only fecondary : its efFeft is in both 
 inftances the fame ; forming an argu- 
 ment from univerfal confent, that accord- 
 E 3 ing 
 
7° THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon ing to the prefent difpenfations of pro-^ 
 
 ^ '_^ vidence, or, if this mode of expreffion 
 
 appear an aflumption of the point in 
 doubt, according to the prefent courfe of 
 things, fuccefs even in this world is the 
 confequence of a virtuous condu£t. 
 
 In proof of this truth, permit me 
 to refer the argument, in another 
 Ihape, to the difcrimination of every 
 man's own judgment. Let us revolve in 
 our minds a certain number of our friends 
 and acquaintances, whom we know to 
 he men of virtue ; and an equal number, 
 whom we know, or have great reafon to 
 believe, to be vicious charafters : then 
 let us refled, whether the virtuous or vi- 
 cious charaders appear to enjoy the moft 
 happinefs in themfelves and their con- 
 nedions ; and from fuch refleftion con- 
 current opinion, I am perfuaded, will 
 confirm the truth of the affertion. " that 
 *' happinefs, in the ordinary and gene- 
 " ral courfe of things, is even in this 
 " life the handmaid and attendant on 
 
 " virtue." 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 71 
 
 " virtue." And Hich general difpenfa- Sermon 
 tion of things, in favour of virtue, is a v,„Vj 
 dcmonftration of a fuper-intending pro- 
 vidence, equally and infinitely wife and 
 good. 
 
 There was a fe£t of ancient philofo- 
 phers, who carried this opinion fo far; 
 that, to obviate the argument againfl: a 
 wife and good prefiding power, deduced 
 from the permiffion and fufferance of 
 evil, as happening indifcriminately to 
 all men, they denied the reality of it. 
 This caufed them to adopt fome extraor- 
 dinary tenets, which led to wild and 
 whimfical inferences. But both the 
 tenets and inferences were lefs pernici- 
 ous, and much nearer to truth, than thofe 
 oppofite doftrines ; that, to exculpate 
 providence from the apparent irregulari- 
 ties and inequalities in moral jdifpenfa- 
 tions, excluded Him from having any 
 concern in the government of the 
 world : referring it to the management 
 of an imaginary principle, which they 
 E 4 ftiled 
 
72 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon filled chance, and thousrht better cal- 
 
 III , . 
 
 ,^^„^__j culated to preiide in fuch a m'lxt and 
 
 inexplicable flate of things. For though 
 it muft be acknowledged, that there are 
 evils in life, and that they occafionally 
 happen to the virtuous, as well as the 
 wicked : yet would it on nice examina- 
 tion be found, that thofe evils are lefs 
 in degree, and in number fewer, than is 
 generally fuppofed ; and more frequent- 
 ly the confequences of human impru- 
 dence, than the querulous difpofition of 
 human nature will readily admit. 
 
 Scarcely indeed is there a more com- 
 mon fubje£l of declamation and" com- 
 plaint, than the inequality obfervable in 
 the temporal difpenfations of providence. 
 But giving fomething to felf-love, which 
 in our own eyes is apt to magnify our de- 
 fervings above their real value ; fome- 
 thing to difappointment, which often 
 fits heavier on our minds, than reafon 
 will juftify ; and fomething to that de- 
 pravity of heart, which inclines us to 
 
 make 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 73 
 
 make a falfe eftimate of our own happi- Sermoh 
 nefs, from comparifon with the apparent ,^ 
 happhiefs and profperity of others ; we 
 mufl acknowledge, there is a preponde- 
 fation of happinefs in this world, fuffici- 
 ent to prove the government of a wife 
 and good providence : involving at the 
 fame time fuch a mixture of evil, in the 
 various courfe of events, as clearly in- 
 ftrufts us to look beyond this fcene of 
 things for an exa£t adjuftment of rewards 
 and puniihments 
 
 In fhort from a fair and candid view 
 of things about us, however difcontent 
 may magnify prefent diffatisfaftions, in- 
 tricacies into irregularities, trials into 
 hardfliips, impunity into profperity ; it 
 appears inconceivable, without admit- 
 ting a fecret reflraint on anions or their 
 efFeds by the immediate interpofition of 
 a Divine providence, but that the good 
 would be far greater fufFerers, than they 
 are ; and that fociety, if not diflblved, 
 would be far mpre deranged and dif- 
 
 quieted. 
 
74 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon quieted, than we experience it : con- 
 fidering the prevalence of corruption, the 
 eagernefs of rapine, the turbulence of 
 ambition, the unirulinefs of paffion, and 
 the malignity of difappointment. 
 
 From the confideration of a genera], 
 let us next extend our enquiries to the 
 doftrine of a particular, providence : in 
 the admiflion of which the chief diffi- 
 culty feems to lie in a narrow mode of 
 conceiving of God, and inadequate terms 
 of expreflion. We are apt to confider 
 the care and management of the world, 
 agreeably to our ideas of care and ma- 
 nagement, as a laborious operation : and 
 the mode of expreflion, \vc ufe, contri- 
 butes to inculcate fuch ideas. We 
 fpeak of God's taking charge of the af- 
 fairs of the world, of His admin iftration 
 of them, of His adjuftment of caufes and 
 cffefts, and the like : terms, which we 
 are forced to employ, for want of fuch 
 ^s would better fuit that infinite and in- 
 comprehenfible mind ; which at once 
 
 glances 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. y^ 
 
 glances through time and nature, and Sermon 
 with omnipotence of will directs, go- ^^ ' 
 verns, and controls. 
 
 Such opinion of the government of 
 the univerfe, as a work of pains and 
 labour, was I conceive an argument of ad- 
 ditional weight to that already fuggefted ; 
 in inducing the Epicureans, a fe£t of 
 philofophers confiderable both for their 
 learning and numbers, to imagine the 
 government of the univerfe too trouble- 
 fome, to engage the attention of the 
 Deity. They confidered Him, as by na- 
 ture neceffarily and perfeftly happy, and 
 therefore above invefting himfelf with a 
 charge ; which to conduft with uniform 
 and confiftent regularity, they fuppoied, 
 muft occafion care and confideration, and 
 of courfe detradl from His felicity. The 
 idea is elegantly defcribed by the Latin 
 poet ; himfelf a zealous advocate for the 
 dodtrine, and the fed. 
 
 * Omnis 
 
76 THE GROUIJD AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon Omnis * enim per fe divum natura neceffe f 'ft 
 II^' Immortali aevo fumma cum pace fruatur, 
 
 ~'~ — ^ Semota ab noftris rebus, fejundtaque longe ; 
 Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis, 
 Ipfa fuis pollens opibus, nihil indiga noftri. 
 Nee bene promeritis capitur, nee tangitur Ira. 
 
 Lucretius, lib. i. 
 
 On this opinion, I have only to ob- 
 ferve a narrownefs of mind ; which 
 could fuppofe the direftion and manage- 
 ment of fo fmall a part of the unbounded 
 works of creation, a care and trouble to 
 its omnipotent Creator. Far be it how- 
 ever from man's prefumption, to affed: to 
 
 * The gods by fate and nature muft enjoy 
 Immortal life, and blifs without alloy ; 
 Sequefter'd far from earth, and earthly things. 
 The threats of danger, and of pain the flings : 
 In the perfedtion of their own high powers 
 Supremely happy, they require not ours ; 
 Our aftions all indifferently regard, 
 Hold up no fcourge, and tender no reward. 
 
 f The word necejft, in this paflage, feems to allude 
 to Fate : a neceflarian principle, which in the Epicurean 
 fyftem, controls even the gods themfelves. 
 
 point 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 77 
 
 point out in what manner, He direfis Sermon 
 
 • • 111 
 
 and governs His innumerable works ; of v..,^^ 
 
 which this univerfe of ours is but a 
 point : certainly not by toil and labour ; 
 nor by any means detradting from fu- 
 preme felicity. He governs ; as He cre- 
 ated : and the fublime * defcriptlon, 
 given by Mofes, of His creation of the 
 world, will perhaps beft fuit his govern- 
 ment of it too ; effected by the influ- 
 ence of an energetic volition, unimped- 
 ed by difficulties, unincumbered by dif- 
 traftion. 
 
 To fuppofe every diftrlbution of good 
 and evil, of happinefs and mifery, by 
 certain general laws to have been irre- 
 verfibly ordained to take place in this 
 life, when nature was firfl put in mo- 
 tion, is in efte£l to limit the operations of 
 Him, who impofed thofe laws on na- 
 
 * The paffage alluded to is noticed by Longinus, as 
 an uncommon inftance of the true fublime. 
 
 ture ; 
 
78 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon ture ; and by fuch reflrldions in a degree 
 ' to exclude Him from His own works : 
 it is taking from Him every other, 
 than a fuftaining power. Whereas 
 by referring fuch general fucceffion 
 of events to a concatenation of caufes 
 decreed at the formation of all things, 
 the wifdom and goodnefs of God in 
 particular inftances, and as occafions 
 prefent themfelves, applying the efla- 
 bliflied laws of nature to the benefit, 
 comfort, and correftion of individuals ; 
 we learn to reconcile the particular dif- 
 penlations of providence with the gene- 
 ral courfe of nature. Thus we know, 
 certain caufes will produce certain ef- 
 fedts : yet we fee in the moral world 
 varying efFefts often derived from an ap- 
 parent fimilarity of caufes. Infinite 
 wifdom fees what efFedls in particular 
 circumftances, and for particular, and 
 wife, and good reafons ought to follow ; 
 and thofe He direds to follow : and on 
 this ground is founded the poet's reflec- 
 tion, which has been abufed to falfe 
 
 and 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ^^ 
 
 and pernicious inferences, that " what- Sermon 
 *' ever is, is right." That is, whatever ^_J^^ 
 event takes place, it is the refult of cer- 
 tain fecret caufes ; wifely modified and 
 directed by the Almighty Governor of 
 the world, fo as to be the beft refult 
 that could happen from the caufes that 
 produced it. 
 
 Our eyes difcover to us nothing, and 
 from refledlion we know little, of the fe- 
 cret fprings, by which the occurrences 
 of this life are moved. In aflerting the 
 particular difpenfations of providence ; 
 we do not preclude their afpecl to other 
 objects and efFedts, than the fimple one 
 we particularly note. On the contrary, 
 we may with good reafon conclude, that 
 all the difpenfations of providence are 
 fo condufted, as to have a further influ- 
 ence ; than in any particular inflance, and 
 on the fingle individual, to which they 
 may appear to us to be principally direct- 
 ed. We may fuppofe each, like a link in 
 the vaft chain of nature's moral courfe, 
 
 to 
 
8o * THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon to have refpefl; to the great whole. For 
 \_„^^'_, who can fay, that the Author of nature 
 cannot fo manage both the natural, and 
 moral. courfe of things ; as to make the 
 bleffings and corredlions, He fhall will 
 to individuals, harmonife with His gene- 
 ral laws. And if no good reafon can be 
 produced in proof that He cannot do it, 
 that is, if fuch zO: imply no contradic- 
 tion ; we may juftly conclude He does it : 
 becaufe fuch operation enlarges our ideas 
 of His power, wifdom, and goodnefs ; 
 of which the utmoft reach of imagina- 
 tion will not enable us to think fuffici- 
 ently high. Every day's experience in- 
 forms us of efcapes from dangers, deli- 
 verances from diftrefs, the detection of 
 fecret fins fo unexpected, fo unaffigna- 
 ble to any known caufe, that we attri- 
 bute them to the immediate interpofi- 
 tion and interference of God : who muft 
 fee and obferve them, becaufe He is 
 always every where; and whofe ener- 
 getic power, unfuftained by which the. 
 courfe of nature would fail, what He 
 
 fees 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 8l 
 
 fees and obferves, muft dire£t and go- Sermon 
 vein too. . . 
 
 When men fpeak of the general laws 
 of nature; they can only underftand thofe 
 general caufes and effects, with which 
 they are acquainted. Thofe, we are not 
 to fuppofe, God will upon every light 
 occafion fufpend, or alter. But are there 
 not, may there not be, hidden caufes, 
 which we cannot fee; by which provi' 
 dence a£ls in his particular difpenfa- 
 tions ? Such in the moral world there 
 muft be. For the progrefs and direc- 
 tion of the paffions are in different men 
 combined with fuch a variety of adven- 
 titious circumftances ; as feem to require 
 from providence different degrees of en- 
 couragement, afhftance, and correction : 
 fuch different degrees, as cannot depend 
 upon any general fyftem, or courfe of 
 things predetermined by God ; and 
 therefore infer the neceflity of particular 
 difpenfations. And the moral courfe of 
 things, fo difpofed and attempered, pror 
 F duces 
 
82 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon duces that general harmony, which is 
 ^____^, experienced, and ealily reconciled, by 
 the admiffion of an interfering and inter- 
 pofing providence ; every where and al- 
 ways prefent as He is, noting all things 
 as He does, and univerfally energetic as 
 our beft conceptions of His nature re- 
 prefent Him, 
 
 In fhort to difcard the belief of a par- 
 cicular providence, is the next ftep to 
 throwing afide the belief of any provi- 
 dence whatever: for it muft be almoft 
 immaterial to individuals, whether there 
 be any providence, or not ; if every thing 
 be governed by predetermined laws. 
 On fuch a fuppofition, where is the af- 
 iiftance, to which patient merit may ap- 
 ply ? If one uniform tenor, without re- 
 fpe£l to particular perfons, and particular 
 cafes, prevail in the operations of na- 
 ture ; diftrefs has no where to look for 
 comfort, the workings of the pious heart 
 in prayer are inefficacious and vain. 
 
 Hence 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. S% 
 
 Hence then it appears, that the denial Sermon 
 of fuch a power to providence, in itfelf 
 the height of prefumption, leads to the 
 ioweft depths of desperation. For how 
 muft it mortify a thinking mind, for ^ 
 moment to imagine ; that the Almighty^ 
 after having created the univerfe, and 
 ordained laws for its general government, 
 fatisfied with having furniftied it with 
 inhabitants, and provided for their com- 
 mon fupport, fent them to fucceed each 
 other on this great ftage ; expofed to 
 innumerable evils, which it is not in their 
 power to fhun ; and deprived of the pro*- 
 teftion of that Being, who alone is able 
 to fhield us from them, or, what is more 
 deiireable, to convert them to our ad- 
 vantage. At that moment we ceafe to 
 be encouraged with the lively hopes, 
 that in our endeavours, if we deferve the 
 Divine affiftance, we Ihall enjoy it ; in 
 our dangers, if we merit deliverance, it 
 will be providentially vouchfafed us ; in 
 diftrefs, if virtue arm us, God will make 
 jhe gngry fhaft of adverfity, " Telum 
 F ? *' imbelle 
 
84 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon " imbelle fine idlu," fall harmlefs at 
 ^__^|^ our feet. 
 
 What hath been offered, eftabllfhlng, 
 as I have endeavoured to do, the doftrine 
 of a Providence, particular as well as ge- 
 neral, inculcates by pradlical confe- 
 quence the Chriftian fortitude of truft. 
 If the world be of God's creation, what 
 He created with power, He muft govern 
 with exaftnefs : and therefore we may 
 reft affured, there mull: be a meaning in 
 the permiffion, a propriety in the ten- 
 dency of every event. On this perfua- 
 fion let us repofe with fubmiflive and 
 patient truft, that whatever incidents 
 of affliiSion or furprife occur ; they are 
 founded in defign, and their end is ex- 
 pedient. An unerring fuper-intendant 
 ordains, an all-pervading eye obferves, 
 and omni-prefent power directs them* 
 To that adorable power let us look up ; 
 affured, that though in this mixt ftate 
 of things evil be unavoidable, that evil, 
 God can and does attemper with appen- 
 dages 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN R£LIG10N. $5 
 
 dages of good, fupplled by fecret means ; Sermok 
 thofe means conduced, with infinite j_J,^7. 
 wifdom and defign, with every poflible 
 attention to the deferving. 
 
 F 3 S E R- 
 
86 tliE GROtJND AND CREDtBILITlf* 
 
 SERMON IV 
 
 IV. 
 
 Pfalm xcv. 6, 
 
 come let us worjhlp and bow down ; lei 
 us kneel before the Lord our Maker : for 
 He is our God, and we are the people of 
 his faflure. 
 
 Sermon 1 N evidence, that the world was origi- 
 nally made by a Being infinite in wif- 
 dom and power ; and that a power, no 
 lefs perfe6l than that which made the 
 world, direds, governs and upholds it 
 in that harmony and regularity, which 
 is fo confpicuous through the whole 
 range of created beings ; the arguments 
 adduced have, I truft, been found to ap^ 
 proach very near to demonftration : as 
 a truth deducible from thefe dodrines, 
 ^ my 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Sy 
 
 my next fubjed of enquiry is the obli- Sermon 
 gation of religious worfhip. l_L^' 
 
 And in this inveftigation my delign 
 is firft to confider at large the general 
 propofition. 
 
 Secondly, to examine the principle, 
 that lifts up the pious heart to Heaven 
 in prayer. 
 
 And in the third and laft place to 
 evince the clofe connexion, that God 
 Almighty hath ordained between reli- 
 gion and the focial duties : fo clofe, that 
 without the former, civil fociety could 
 not fubfift. 
 
 I. Firfl:, then as to the general obligation 
 of religion. A capacity to difcover that 
 there is a God, who made and preferves 
 us : and that we are not able to do the 
 one or the other of ourfelves, indifpenfa- 
 bly requires us to love, honour, and ferve 
 that Maker and Preferver in every inftance 
 F 4 and 
 
IV. 
 
 SS THE GROUND AND CREDIBIIITV 
 
 SERMo^f and adion of our livesi For as longest 
 we regard exiftence as a bleffing ; fo 
 long do we acknowledge ourfelves la- 
 debted to the giver and preferver of life. 
 Now as we are able to infer an obliga- 
 tion for a benefit received ; fuch fufE* 
 ciency of knowledge in us, in regard to 
 the benefits, we have from our great 
 Creator received, is of itfelf a true and 
 proper foundation for religious worfbip : 
 and every creature capable of making 
 fuch an inference, as every reafonable 
 creature is, becomes therefore fubje£ted 
 to the duty of gratitude ; and from a 
 confcious fenfe of gratitude to God flow 
 the duties of religion. Thus conclufive 
 is natural reafon, in proving the necef- 
 fity of religious worfhip among all be- 
 ings, who pofTefs a degree of intelligence 
 equal to that of man. 
 
 And experience confirms that in fadl, 
 the propriety of which reafon evidences 
 to us in theory. For among all nations, 
 be their notions more or lefs refined, re- 
 ligious 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ©9 
 
 l^ious worfhip prevails. The moft bar- Sermon 
 barous and uncivilifed nations, as well , _^^ 
 antient as modern, if their ftate be 
 thoroughly enquired into, we fliall find 
 had a religion, though fometimes a very 
 depraved one ; and offered up prayers, 
 and made adorations, though the obje£t 
 of them has been a ferpent, or a calf. 
 lEven the wretched barbarians, in the 
 South Seas, whom the late difcoveries 
 of modern travellers have made known 
 to us,. though fome of them almoft 
 without: clothes, or houfes, were none 
 cf; them obferved to be without their 
 God. 
 
 From a pra6:ice fo univerfal it ap- 
 pears, that Grod has ftamped an image of 
 Himfelf on the human mind fo deeply, 
 that the greatefl corruption of mankind 
 has not been able entirely to erafe it ; 
 that He has naturally inculcated the me- 
 thod of acknowledging Him the fupreme 
 caufe of all things by prayer and adora- 
 tion lb ftrongly, as the loweft deprava- 
 tion 
 
90 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon tion of manners cannot abfolutely abo- 
 v,-^^ lifh. And hence we may infer, that re- 
 ligion is a reafonable fervice, and a duty 
 abfolutely required of us : or why did 
 God, who n^ade ws, and never a£ts in 
 vain, imprint fuch a notion on the hu- 
 man mind ; if it be a matter of no con- 
 fequence, and calculated for no ufe. 
 But is it a matter of no confequence, to 
 ofFqr up our tribute of praife to that 
 great fountain of goodnefs, from whom 
 all our blefiings flow ? Is it a matter of 
 no confequence, to afcribe to Him the 
 honour due unto His name : to pay jufl 
 homage to Almighty God, the Lord 
 of Lords, and King of Kings ? Or, is it 
 not rather natural to conceive, that the 
 infinitely great Creator of all things, 
 when in fuch manifeftation of His ado- 
 rable perfedlions He defigned the gene- 
 ral happinefs, alfo involved in it a difplay 
 of his own glory : willing that they 
 Ihould be acknowledged and reverenced, 
 loved and praifed by intelligent creatures ? 
 And fuch acknowledgment accordingly 
 
 becomes 
 
of THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. pS 
 
 becomes a natural duty, and has the firfi: Sermon 
 moral claim to univerfal obfervance. ^^XLj 
 For as honour in general is the homage 
 paid to confpicuous excellencies, and ef-- 
 pecially to beneficent virtues : fo religion, 
 which is the higheil: honour, is appro- 
 priately due to God ; the mofl abfolute 
 Being in all perfections, and our fove- 
 reign Benefador. 
 
 Our homage can not indeed add to 
 the greatnefs of the Almighty : it can 
 Contribute nothing to His glory. He 
 alfo knows our neceffities without our 
 information ; He knows what we have 
 need of, before we afk ; and how to im- 
 part to us good things, better than we 
 to alk them : fo great are our ideas of 
 the majefty of an all-wife Almighty 
 God. Yet to refufe that homage, 
 would be a finful omiffion in us : as it 
 is a conllant acknowledgment of the ex-^ 
 iftence of a God, a continual memorial to 
 us of our own littlenefs and dependence, 
 and of His tranfcendent greatnefs and 
 
 fuperintending 
 
92 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon fuperintending providence. We offer 
 ^_\^'_^ praifes and thankfglving to God for His 
 mercies daily and hourly reached out to 
 tis ; not that He can receive any addi- 
 tional honour from the praifes, that duft 
 and afhes can beftow ; but to make fuch 
 difplay of His honour and glory, as ra- 
 tional creatures are enabled to proclaim ; 
 to teftify a grateful fenfe of His mercies 
 reached out to us, and our own inability 
 to render more : as a proof that we feel 
 thofe mercies, and exercife the faculties, 
 He hath conferred on us, in a becoming 
 manner, and according to their proper 
 ufe. We implore His prote£lion in 
 dangers. His deliverance out of afflictions, 
 and His fupport againft the force of 
 temptations, not that we fuppofe Him 
 ignorant of our weaknefles or our wants : 
 but in pious atteftation of our entire 
 dependence on Him for every evil we 
 avoid, and for every good we in this life 
 enjoy ; as a pledge of our belief in His 
 omnipotence, of our reliance on His mer- 
 cies, our refignation to the difpenfations 
 
 of 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 93 
 
 of His providence : and In teftlmony of Sermom 
 a full affurance of His provident concern ,,,*j 
 for His v^^hole creation. 
 
 Thus general is the fenfe of religion : 
 and fo univerfal the obfervance of it. 
 And thus clearly doth it prefs on us, 
 as an indifpenfable duty. The objedt of 
 religious worfhip, it is acknowledged, is 
 not always the fame ; nor even the 
 principle of it : fome worfhip the fun, 
 and fome a crocodile ; fome a good be- 
 ing, and fome a bad one ; fome through 
 love, and fome through fear. Yet fuch 
 variety proves nothing agalnfb the gene- 
 ral truth of religion, and the confequent 
 obligation to obferve it. On the con- 
 trary, like counterfeit coins, it tends to 
 prove one of real value ; of value to be 
 counterfeited. And if there be one reli- 
 gion, which fhlnes with more extraordi- 
 nary charafters of truth, than the reft ; 
 it forms a fubje<51:, of every thing on this 
 fide the grave moft worthy of ferious in- 
 
 veftlgation ; 
 
94 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon veiligation : for without religion we are 
 
 IV 
 
 . not men. 
 
 Reafon indeed is generally fuppofed to 
 be the diftinguifhing mark or charafte- 
 riflic of human nature : but perhaps 
 religion is a much better. Reafon, brutes 
 have in common with mankind, and 
 fome brutes a confiderable degree of it : 
 or at leaft they poffefs fomething fo 
 much like realbn, that it is difficult to 
 draw the line of diftinftion between 
 them. But no traits of religion do we 
 difcover in any of them. Religion, thd 
 knowledge and fervice of God, is the 
 prerogative of man : it is the mofl: rea- 
 fonable and honourable employment, of 
 which human nature is capable : it leads 
 to an intercourfe with God himfelf; 
 which, while mankind acknowledge a 
 God fupreme, if they would acknowledges 
 fiitn to any good purpofe, the voice of 
 reafon and the impulfe of nature, excits 
 them to cultivate by afts of adoratiotv 
 and prayer. 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 95 
 
 II. This fubjedl of prayer hath exer- Sermok 
 cifed the pens both of poets and philo- ^^_,lj 
 fophers in the the heathen world. And 
 amongft the infpired writers the prince 
 and poet of Ifrael is moft frequent in 
 his exhortations to it : and his expreffions 
 always mark the fervour of an intersfted 
 heart. " O Thou, that heareft prayer, 
 * fays he^ ; to thee fhall all flefh come." 
 It is indeed a duty fo univerfal ; that, all 
 mankind with an unforced affent agree in 
 the obfervaace of it. Let us then, as 
 was propofed in the fecond place, with 
 ibme minutenefs enter into the principle 
 of a duty, that in every age and country 
 hath obtained fo univerfal obfervance. 
 
 In the common intercourfe of life be- 
 tween man and man, between fuperiours 
 and inferiours, it will often happen that 
 favours are conferred; which thofe, on 
 whom they are conferred, have not 
 ability to repay. Yet fome return the 
 common principles of juftice require, 
 and prompt the perfon who receives 
 
 them 
 
g6 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY" 
 
 Sermon them to make. What return then fhall 
 ^^V. extreme impotence render ; and the be- 
 nefaftor's knowledge of that impotence 
 demand ? What, but the tribute of a 
 grateful mind. The fame reafoning will 
 apply to the Deity ; only in an infinitely 
 higher degree : as infinitely higher, as 
 the bleffings of creation and prefervation 
 are above thofe accidental enjoyments, 
 that depend on them. And fuch affec- 
 tion of the mind, as mankind feels for 
 thofe ineftimable bleffings, naturally pro- 
 duces that glow of gratitude ; which the 
 enraptured heart pours out in the efFu- 
 fions of pious praife. Hence is dedu- 
 cible the duty of prayer : which refting 
 on the do£trine of a particular provi- 
 dence, that doftrine in my laft difcourfe 
 I particularly applied myfelf to eftablifh : 
 intending, under the prefen't article of 
 enquiry, a more particular difcuffion of 
 the duty refulting from it, 
 
 Man feels a thoufand wants, which 
 he cannot of himfelf fupply ; he forefees 
 
 dangers, 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 97 
 
 dano^ers, which he knows not how to Sermon 
 
 ... TV 
 
 fhun ; he finds himfelf involved in v__^..^ 
 difficulties, from which he perceives all 
 human art and power incompetent to 
 relieve him. In this emergency, nature, 
 that In indelible characters hath graven 
 the exiflence of God on the human 
 heart, teaches him likewife the ufe of 
 that innate knowledge, by fecret admo- 
 nitions to invoke his Creator's aid. If 
 the former notion be natural to the 
 human rhind, and what is univerfal mull 
 be fo; the latter, which is only the 
 application of the former, muft be fo 
 too. Thofe prayers, fuggefled by the 
 impulfg of nature in fhort ejaculations, 
 the exercife of reafon afterward matured 
 into form, with length and expreffive 
 folemnity : and, from the ufe of private 
 votaries, they became extended to public 
 affemblies. And fuch public celebration 
 of divine worfhip, more or lefs fimple, 
 as the refpedlive people are more or lefs 
 civilifed, or rude, hath extended as far 
 as the empire of reafon prevails, 
 
 G Now 
 
pS THE GROUND AND CREDIBfLlfV 
 
 Sermon Now this duty of prayer, fo natural 
 ^^ rn.-^ to the human mind, and by comrtiuni- 
 ties fo univerfally pradtifed, is fupported 
 on the reality of a particular providence. 
 For if at the time, the world was made, 
 the laws of nature were given ; general, 
 invariable laws, which nature was bound 
 to purfue ; the Deity enthroned in ma- 
 jefty fublime, aloof as it were from his 
 ,own works, or at moft an una£tive fpec- 
 tator of them, never interpofing his 
 power through fecond caufes, to divert 
 evil, to inflift correiStion, to fave and to 
 deftroy ; on what ground fhould we 
 addrefs the throne of heaven, for pro- 
 tedlion in time of danger, for fupport 
 amidfl temptations, or in times of diflrefs 
 for deliverance out of trouble : fubjedts, 
 which, while we live in the world, muft 
 form a part of our daily prayers ? The 
 world under fuch circumftances of gene- 
 ral government, where would be the 
 ufe of prayer ? And without the ufe, 
 how Ihall we account for the apparent 
 univerfality of it ? On fuppofition that 
 
 every 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 9^9 
 
 every diftributlon of good and evil, of Sermon 
 happinefs and mifery, is irreverfibly or- ^^^. 
 dained to take place in this life, according 
 to certain general laws impofed on nature, 
 which in no inftance wliatever admit of 
 any alteration in our favour : what futi- 
 lity, what weaknefs, I had almofl: faid 
 what folly were it, to throw up any par- 
 ticular petition to the Almighty for any 
 occafional bleffing, we may ftand moft in 
 need of; which, to our prayers, though 
 ever fb ardent and importunate, on the 
 fuppofed exclufion of a particular provi- 
 dence, we know will not, cannot be 
 granted. 
 
 Such uncomfortable confequences as 
 thefe, the admiffion of a providence act- 
 ing every where, and, if it aft any 
 where, it mud aft everywhere, pei-vading 
 every minuteil: particle in nature, ever no- 
 ting and direfting every movement of the 
 moral world, efFeftually precludes. This 
 important, exhilerating truth communi- 
 cates encouragement to virtuous purluitSj 
 G 3 adds 
 
loo THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon adds vigour to good endeavours, beams 
 
 IV . 
 
 n_._^^ comfort to diftrels ; and awes the front 
 
 of profligacy with a control luperior to 
 
 the menace of racks and tortures, or the 
 
 check of worldly fbame. 
 
 And apart from the immediate blefl- 
 IngS, prayer draws down on the relying 
 votary, the praftice of it is calculated to 
 improve the mind in virtue ; exalting hu- 
 man nature by communications with the 
 Divine. It habituates us to look up to 
 God, as the author of all good, infufes 
 the love of Him in our hearts, and im- 
 prints the confcioufnefs of his perpetual 
 prcfence on our minds : which is the moll 
 efficacious prefervative againft the admit- 
 tance of impure thoughts, and the per- 
 petration of flagitious aftions. Thus to 
 contemplate the Deity, and hold com- 
 munion with him in the manner reafon 
 dire£ts, is ufing our intelledual facul- 
 ties, as to the higheft reach, fo to the 
 trueft purpofe of them. It would be 
 difficult to affign any other good, point- 
 
 tedly 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. lOl 
 
 tedly and effentially good, ufe of them ; Sermon 
 and it is impoffible to affign a better. ,__ _', 
 
 III. To fupport the argunaents already 
 offered in proof of the obligation of reli- 
 gion on all beings poffeft of intelleftual 
 powers equal to thofe of man ; I proceed 
 in the third and laft place to obferve the 
 connection, that God Almighty hath or- 
 dained between the acknowledgment of 
 Him, expreffed in the duties of religion ; 
 and the good order of fociety, and com- 
 forts of life from thence refulting, the 
 praiftice of the focial and relative duties. 
 
 Of this truth the proof muft reft 
 ciiiefly on hiftorical reprefentation : and 
 to this we may appeal in evidence, that 
 where there has been found little fenfe 
 of God and religion, or where the no- 
 tions of religion have been greatly de- 
 bafed and corrupted ; there the manners 
 of the people have been moft favage and 
 bjTUtifli. On the contrary, where the 
 jxifteft and moft lively fenfe of a Deity 
 G 3 and 
 
102 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon and providence prevailed ; there the 
 ^^ ' fecial and relative virtues have raofl 
 flourifhed, the moft worthy and gene- 
 rous aftions have been performed, and 
 the manners have been ever the mofh 
 humane and civilifed. This is fo clear 
 and acknowledged a truth, and fo forci- 
 bly ftruck a great Heathen, that " if 
 *' piety towards God were removed, he 
 *' declares it his opinion, that there 
 *' would be an end of all fidelity, of the 
 " bonds of all human fociety, and even 
 " of juftice itfelf, the fum and compre- 
 " henfion of all moral virtues."* The 
 refle£tion is worthy of a Chriftian philo- 
 fopher : and, the queftion properly ftated, 
 the foundeft divinity would with the 
 great Roman decide on it. 
 
 The queftion is not, whether a parti- 
 cular thoughtful fpeculatift may not fee 
 
 * Atque baud fcio an, pietate adverfus Deos fublata, 
 fides etiam, et focietas humani generis, et una excel- 
 lentiffima virtus juftitia, toUatur. 
 
 Cic. de Nat. Deor. Lib. i. 
 
 the 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELISION. lOJ 
 
 the fitnefs of many moral adions, and Sermon 
 perform them accordingly ; without re- y^", 
 gard to any other confideration, without 
 refleding on a prefiding, governing, re- 
 munerating, chaftifing power : though 
 even on this reftrifted ftatement of the 
 cafe, an impartial obferver of human na- 
 ture would not hefitate to declare in the 
 negative. But the fubje£l of enquiry is ; 
 whether, uninfluenced by the apprehen- 
 fion, of fomething diftinfl from this 
 principle of mere fitnefs or congruity of 
 adlions to the nature of things, of fome 
 being, on whom the exiftence of things 
 themfelves, and confequently their na- 
 tures, and the congruity of one to ano- 
 ther, depend, the generality of men could 
 ever poffefs fuch firm notions of good 
 and evil, as would conftitute a fufBcient 
 principle of reftraint from the one, and 
 impulfe to the other. And this quef- 
 tion is no fooner alked, than the anfwer 
 follows : that moll alTuredly the love 
 and dread of that something, by whofe 
 power the things themfelves exift, and 
 G 4 by 
 
104 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon by whofe will the congruity of them to 
 one another was fixed, is that principle ; 
 which a6i:ing uniformly, and univerfally, 
 forcibly and clearly too, influences the 
 bulk of mankind by the powerful mo- 
 tives of hope and fear. 
 
 And the knowledge we have of the 
 human mind, derived from leflbns of 
 experience, inftrudls us ; that without 
 fuch belief of a fupreme intelligent Be- 
 ing, on whom the nature of things de- 
 pends, who has a power of exa£ling 
 from all free agents a conformity of 
 conduit to that law of nature, whicli He 
 has eflablifhed, and will fome way or 
 other take cognizance of them ; or, in a 
 fhorter form of words, without religion, 
 fuch a law, as is fuppofed to arife mere- 
 ly from the fitnefs of things, would have 
 but very little influence. It would be 
 as infufficient and unimpreflive to the 
 greatefl: part of mankind ; as a human 
 law, without a fandion annexed to it, 
 
 or 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I05 
 
 or the apprehenfion of a magiflrate to Sermon 
 
 • • • IV. 
 
 put It m execution. t-v— » 
 
 It is poffible that feme men may pof- 
 fefs fuch focial benevolence, and fuch 
 generous fentiments of public good, as 
 to be a law to themfelves ; and at the 
 fame time be endowed with fuch dif- 
 tinguilhing judgment and acutenefs of 
 mind, as may enable them clearly to fee, 
 and voluntarily to a£t, as the beft human 
 laws would direct them. But what is 
 this to the bulk of mankind ? We are 
 in the prefent argument to take human 
 nature as it generally is, and to conlider 
 what fort of belief or perfuafion has the 
 moft prevalent and univerfal influence 
 over it : and if we do fo, we fhall find 
 that the rejedion of religion, and its 
 leading principles, is inconfiftent with a 
 perfect morality on two accounts. 
 
 Firft, if there be no belief of a God, 
 and His prefiding power, nor any ex- 
 pedation from that inviiible Being of 
 
 future 
 
I06 THE GROUNB AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon future rewards and punifhments, there 
 y_ ^ ^ cannot be in the conception of common 
 fenfe, any fufBcient bond of morality 
 between man and man. And fecondly, 
 if there be really a God, that has any 
 concern with us, or for us ; a compleat 
 morality muft neceflarily refpeft Him, 
 as well as our intercourfe with one 
 another. 
 
 Firft, if indeed the a£tions of men 
 were dire£ted by inftin£l, and by inftindt 
 only, like the a&ions of brutes ; and had 
 no dependence on any invifible principle 
 in the mind ; morality would in that 
 cafe be nothing elfe than living accor- 
 ding to that natural infl:in£t : nor would 
 any kind of faith or belief be neceffary. 
 But this is not the morality of beings 
 endued with underftanding, and freedom 
 of will ; nor is it what gives them fuch 
 confcioufnefs of the merit or demerit of 
 their own adlions, as is capable of raif- 
 ing pleafure or diffatisfafton within 
 themfelyes, on account of them. It is 
 
 a circum- 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. IO7 
 
 a circumftance or confideration of a Sermou 
 much higher nature, that acSs thus : re- ^_, _^_'^ 
 quiring reafon and refle(Stion, and feme 
 attention to things paft and future, as 
 well as the prefent ; and fuppofing con- 
 fequentlj a belief of fomething invifible, 
 by which we are moved to a rational 
 courfc of afting. And fuch confidera- 
 tion further implies a comparifbn of 
 actions with fome antecedent rule or 
 law, for the obfervance or tranfgreffion 
 of which we inwardly judge ourfelves 
 rewardable by, or accountable to, that 
 fuperiour Being ; who is, by fome 
 means we cannot comprehend, as con- 
 fcious of what we do, as we are our- 
 felves. It is this principle ; which, as 
 in one point of view we have found it 
 move on ftronger hinges, than moral 
 fitnefs and the congruity of things, is in 
 another that, which diftinguiflies reaibn 
 from mere inftin6t, ranks mankind above 
 the brute creation, and renders them 
 accountable beings. 
 
 Confider 
 
I08 THE GROUND AND CREDI6ILITT 
 
 Sermon Confider fecondly, the force of felf- 
 ^^^^^ love : and that alone will be found of 
 tendency fufficlent to fubvert the refti- 
 tude of moral actions ; did they not de- 
 pend on the acknowledgment of princi- 
 ples remote from fenfation, and more 
 powerful than mutual convenience. It 
 is the fecret fenfe we feel of an obliga- 
 tion to the fteady performance of cer- 
 tain a£lions, founded on the belief of an 
 intelligent legiQator, who is alfo an in- 
 fpe£lor of our behaviour ; which gives 
 efficacious impulfe to them. For de- 
 fine virtue in what manner we pleafe j 
 let it be the- love of order, harmony, or 
 proportion of mind ; let it be a habit or 
 temper of living agreeably to the perfec- 
 tion of nature, or of nding for the good 
 of the whole human race, of which we 
 are but a part ; call it as we may, by 
 whatever fpecious name : yet the quef- 
 tion ftill recurs; who conftituted this 
 order of things : who firft effected this 
 harmony or proportion : or, who is the 
 author of this courfe of things, which 
 
 we 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. IO9 
 
 we call the courfe of nature ? for He Sermom 
 muft be the ultimate legiflator : and ^ Vj . 
 this law of nature, this rule of morality, 
 which we are taught to obferve, muft 
 be His will ; directed by His fupreme 
 authority ; and muft therefore in the firft 
 inftance refpedl Him. 
 
 Under fuch perfualion, it is his influ- 
 ential power, that adluates us in our de- 
 terminations, and the execution of them : 
 and not the order, fitnefs, and propriety 
 of the things themfelves. Without the 
 powerful co-operation of this principle, 
 how weak would be the influence of mo- 
 ral confiderations ! If, by an a£t of private 
 injury, we could indulge a prefent grati- 
 fication ; eafily would the plea of felf-in- 
 -dulgence break through the cobweb tex- 
 ture of exa£l propriety : and weak would 
 be the voice of mutual convenience ; 
 whenever felf-intereft interfered. It i» 
 confcience alone, that can combat temp- 
 tations ; and triumph over the ftrong 
 principle of felf-love, in whatever fhape it 
 m^y aflault us. And confcience is folely 
 
 founded 
 
no THE GROUND AND CR2DIBILITV 
 
 Sermon founded on a confcioufnefs of a fupreme 
 ^ ' inteiiigent Being, the framer of thofe 
 laws of morality; and of our account- 
 ablenefs to Hiiv; for the breach of them. 
 And naturally and clofely united with 
 our belief of fuch a divine exiftence is 
 the opinion or perfuafion, that this fu- 
 preme Being is a witntfs of what we do 
 even in our moft fecret receffes ; and 
 confiders our adlions with favour or dif- 
 pleafure : for without this confideration, 
 it vtould be difficult to conceive, how 
 our own confciences fhould be afFe6led 
 with fhame or fatisfa£lion, not dependent 
 on the eftlmation of the world, but en- 
 tirely our own : a fhame, though men 
 applaud us, when we do ill ; and a fatis- 
 fa£lion, though men cenfure us for wor- 
 thy adtions. 
 
 Thefe effects of confclence imply a 
 telief of the intimate and conftant pre- 
 fence of one, whofe favour or difpleafure 
 is more to be regarded, than any out- 
 ward confideration. And it hence fol-* 
 
 lows. 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGIO^f. III 
 
 lows, that whatever opinion fets us loofe Sermow 
 from the reftraint of confcience, will ^ "^ 
 render our juftice, fidelity, gratitude, 
 and all other virtues refpefting our fel- 
 low creatures very precarious ; and that 
 therefore an avowed difregard of reli- 
 gion, and its influence, muft be necef- 
 farily deftruftive of that morality, which 
 regards our intercourfe with one ano- 
 ther ; and fubverfive of civil fociety. 
 
 Such is the natural relation of reli- 
 gion to morality ; of fuch importance 
 to this is that, in force and ufe. What 
 therefore God hath connected and joined 
 together, not all the cafuiftry and device 
 of man can put afunder. Morality can- 
 not be compleat and perfeft, without a 
 difcharge of what is due to, without a 
 regulation of behaviour, fuiting and be- 
 coming, every relation, in which we ftand 
 to every being ; the duty we owe, rifing 
 in exigence proportionate to the excel- 
 lence of the being, to whom we owe it. 
 The firfl-, the moft diflinguiflied, part of 
 
 relative 
 
112 THE GROUND ANI> CREDIBILITY" 
 
 Sermon relative duty therefore muft be in proper 
 ^,^..^^^ ads of devout homage to that firft and 
 fupreme Being ; from whom we derive 
 all that we poffefs, even the principle, 
 that teaches us this duty, the power of 
 reafon itfelf : and thofe adls of homage 
 conftitute religion. 
 
 With fuch irreftible light doth reafon 
 illuftrate the general obligation of reli- 
 gious duties. 7'hotigh heaven and earth 
 fafs away ; religion, whatever the weak 
 and the vain may afFed to think of it, is 
 a feryice, that will continue for ever. It 
 is the employment of fuperior beings ; 
 and will continue, when this perifhable 
 globe of ours fhall be no more. There, 
 may be thofe, their time devoted to plea- 
 fure, or engaged by bufinefs, who afted 
 furprife ; that any fhould be found fo 
 weak, as to trouble themfelves about its 
 dodrines, or take a ferious part in its 
 pretenfions. But if there be a God; 
 religion is a ferious thing. And if its 
 pretenfions be examined with becoming 
 
 ferioufnefs, 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. II3 
 
 lerioufnefs, and its merits without preju- Sermon 
 dice decided on ; we fhall find, that to ^^.^^ 
 believe its doftrines, and to praftice its 
 precepts aright, is the wifeft thing, that 
 can engage a wife mail's attention ; and 
 the nobleft principle, that can influence 
 his condudl. Gratitude enjoins the obfer- 
 vance of it as a duty ; and the objedt 
 renders it the firft and great duty. Hope 
 warmly interefts good men in its favour : 
 and juft apprehenfion (hould teach all 
 men with reverence to regard it. The 
 wit and ingenuity of man may have been 
 employed againft this, and that, and 
 every mode of religion ; which tends to 
 reftrain the appetites and inclinations of 
 mankind. But we may defy the wit, 
 and ingenuity, and malice of human na- 
 ture, to produce a fingle argument ; in 
 difproof of the obligation of religion on 
 all beings, pofleft of a degree of intelli- 
 gence equal to that of man. 
 
 Knaves may deteft, and fools deride, 
 the wife man will always revere, it. Cre- 
 
 H ating 
 
114 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon atin? fatisfaftion, it fanftions the en- 
 
 IV . . ... 
 
 i^^..^,^ joyments of life : infpiring fortitude, 
 
 it renders the evils of life fupportable ; 
 and opens the ampleft profpedl of fair 
 and reafonable hopes. Let us hold it 
 fafl: : to the faftidious fneer, and the ca- 
 lumnious cavil, let no falfe refpeft for 
 politenefs, or even greatncfs itfelf, deter 
 us from giving an anfwer. And that we 
 may at all times, and on all occalions, 
 be ready with our beft exertions to de- 
 fend its facred truths, and to evince them 
 in our lives ; May God of His infinite 
 mercy grant, through Jefus Chrifl: our 
 Lord. 
 
 SER^ 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. IIiJ 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 Ifaiah lix. 9. 
 
 We watt for light ; hut heboid ohfcurity : 
 for hrlghtnefsy hut we walk in dark' 
 nefs. 
 
 JL HE prophet, la the beginning of Sermon 
 this chapter, exclaims ag-^inft the vices ^.^^.^ 
 of his people ; and laments their deplo- 
 rable depravation of manners, immerfed 
 as they were in the darknefs of igno- 
 rance and fin. Thence ftretching for- 
 ward his anxious eje to the expelled 
 coming of the Meffiah, deftined to re- 
 move the cloud that veiled their under- 
 ftanding, we wait, fays he, for light, but 
 Jlill behold ohfcurity ; expectant of bright- 
 jiefs, we continue to walk in the devious 
 H 3 path 
 
ii6 
 
 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermok path of error and fin. At length, his 
 ,__,^,],_^ mind as it were exulting in a full profpe£l 
 of that day, when the fun of righteoufnefs 
 fjiall arfe^ and the redeemer appear In Zion ; 
 in the fpirit of prophecy he pronounces, 
 that the extended world from eaft to 
 weft fhall acknowledge his fway. So 
 fhall they fear, fays he, the name of the 
 Lord from the wejl, and his glory from the 
 r'ifing of the fun : when the enemy pall come 
 up like a flood; the fpirit of the Lord Pall 
 fet up a pandard again/l him. And the re- 
 deemer fhall come to Sion ; and unto them 
 that turn from tranfgrepon in Jacob, 
 
 Something, fimilar to this refle£tion of 
 the prophet, flrikes us in the fecond Al- 
 cibiades of Plato : in which Socrates in- 
 forms his difciple, that they were to 
 wait for a teacher, who would inftruft 
 them more perfe£lly in the duties of re- 
 ligion. This remarkable paffage has 
 by an elegant writer * of our own nation 
 
 * Mr. Addifon. 
 
 been 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.' JI7 
 
 been made the fubjedt of criticifm : and Sermon 
 other commentators have concurred with ^,^,!^ 
 him, in fuppofing it to bear fome allu- 
 fion to that life and immortality, which 
 Jefus Chrifl: afterwards brought to light 
 through his go/pel. Be that as it may ; 
 confidering the obfcurity and perplexity, 
 with which the philofopher expreffes 
 himfelf on the fubjedl of prayer, I think 
 it clearly inferrible from thence, that he 
 conceived the light of nature, or the bare 
 apprehenfion of reafon, infufficient to 
 direfl mankind fully and fatisfaftorily in 
 that great important duty : fo great and 
 important in that wife heathen's opinion, 
 as to require more information than the 
 world at that time poflefled. 
 
 In accommodation to minds of a cer- 
 tain completion, on which the authori- 
 ty of an eminent heathen, I know not 
 by what kind of perverfenefs, has more 
 weight than that of writers, whom 
 we juftly ftile divine ; of the paflage, 
 to which I have above alluded, I will 
 H 3 take 
 
2l8 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon take occafion to enter into a more mi- 
 nute difcuffion. Ai/ayxaioi' ouk tri TTEpipai/ji)/, 
 
 TTouf (fiKXBirSai. * Socrates muft from 
 hence either mean to infinuate ; that we 
 were to wait for the future appearance 
 ofaperfon, to inftruft mankind in the 
 duty of religion, of more genera] know- 
 ledge, higher natural abilities, and greater 
 reach of underftanding, than himfelf, or 
 any one, who had appeared before him, 
 pofieffed : or, that we muft wait for fome 
 perfon, who fhould for that purpofe be 
 by God particularly delegated. 
 
 In refpeft to his own natural abilities, 
 and reach of underftanding ; it is pretty 
 clear, our philofopher did not think very 
 meanly of himfelf. Many of his co- 
 temporaries objected to him the charge 
 of vanity : and one in particular termed 
 him, " of the few good men, the beft ; 
 
 * Wherefore we muft be forced to wait till fome one 
 fliall inftruft us, how we ought to condudl ourfelves to- 
 wards the Gods and men. 
 
 « and 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, I19 
 
 " and of many vain ones, the vain- Sermon 
 " eft." * Notwithftanding the afFefted y^J^ 
 humility of that celebrated acknowledg- 
 ment, " that all he knevi^, was, that he 
 " knew nothing :" confident as he ever 
 appeared in the reditude of his own opi- 
 nions, and obftinate in maintaining them, 
 he certainly entertained no contemptible 
 notion of his own fuperiour wifdom- 
 And the ignorance he confefled, feems 
 only to have been a trap to gain ap- 
 plaufe : or at moft it was no other than 
 an ignorance of particular fubjefts, of 
 that phyfical knowledge, of which the 
 philofophers ufed to boaft themfelves ; 
 fuch as the nature of the Gods, the 
 principles of things, &c. And accord- 
 ingly the confequence, that the fophifts, 
 or philofophers, alTumed from their af- 
 feded fcience in thofe ftudies, he derifo- 
 rily contrafted by an avowed ignorance 
 of them : quitted thofe vain, unfatisfac- 
 
 H 4 tory 
 
120 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon tory fubjeits of inveftigation, and confined 
 n_ ^ ' his philofophical difquifitions to ethics. 
 
 Competent as he was to judge of 
 the powers of the human mind, and 
 reafoning from analogy, he could have 
 little ground to expe£l, or even hope ; 
 that the bare ftrength of unaffifled rea- 
 fon would in any individual ever reach 
 that perfe£tion of knowledge, which 
 fhould be able to inveftigate the nature 
 of God, and to afcertain the duties of 
 inan from fuch inveftigatlon refulting. 
 He faw, what human reafon from fuch 
 refearches had efFefted ; and from thence 
 judged, what it could do. We muft 
 therefore conclude, that he did not ex- 
 pe6t a man of that very fuperiour reach 
 of underftanding ; which fhould be able, 
 from the natural powers of human rea- 
 fon, to fet mankind aright in their know- 
 ledge of God, and the immediate duties 
 that relate to Him. 
 
 What then did he expeft, what did 
 he teach his difciple to look for ? Plain- 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 121 
 
 ]y for a perfoii endowed with powers Sermon 
 of mind, enlarged beyond the ordinary ^___J^J 
 ftretch of human capacity ; and dele- 
 gated to the office of inftru£ling man- 
 kind in their immediate duty to God. 
 And as fuch qualification of courfe in- 
 volved a more perfe(5l knowledge of the 
 Deity, than philofophy had ever taught ; 
 fo likewife did it imply a more perfect 
 praftice of the duties immediately flow- 
 ing from our relation to Him, than 
 mankind had before been accuflomed to 
 obferve. And fuch defignation, and fuch 
 knowledge, chara£lered a perfon charged 
 with a divine revelation. 
 
 I do not call to my afliftance in this 
 argument the foreknowledge of events, 
 to which this philofopher occafionally 
 made pretenfions ; and fuppofe his ob- 
 fervation, on the reafonable expectation 
 of a future infl:ru6for, a prophecy. I 
 prefs it no further than in proof, that 
 the wife heathen was convinced of the 
 neceffity of a revelation : and we may 
 
 be 
 
122 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon be .bold to fet the opinion of the man, 
 ^__^,^_, whom antiquity proclaimed the wifeft 
 of mankind, againfl all that the philofo- 
 phic pride of this, or any other age, 
 hath faid or written againfl: it. And 
 fuch the opinion of Socrates, is very re- 
 concileable with the general notions of 
 prophecies, miracles, and myfteries ; to 
 which all nations have occafionally pre- 
 tended, and attributed them to the ope- 
 ration of their Gods : and therefore is 
 liable to no objedion, on account of the 
 fuppofed lingularity of it. 
 
 From this eminent chara£ler of anti- 
 quity, let us defcend to one of more mo- 
 dern date : from whom I have to offer 
 an argument, though of a different na- 
 ture, in point and purpofe the fame : I 
 mean the learned and able author of the 
 " Religion of Nature delineated." It is 
 an argument, his own labours fupply ; 
 and his own acknowledgment fupports it. 
 *' Here, ' fays that able writer, fpeak- 
 ing of the immortality of the foul,' I be- 
 
 " gin 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I23 
 
 " gin to be very fenfible, how much I Sermon 
 ** want a guide. But as the religion of t,_ ^-^ 
 " nature is my theme, I muft at pre- 
 " fent content myfelf with that light, 
 *' which nature affords." * And in- 
 deed the neceffity of fuch a guide, as he 
 alludes to, his laborious inveftigation of 
 the fubje6l, on which he writes, abun- 
 dantly evinces. For if a knowledge of 
 the divine nature, and man's duty to God 
 from thence refulting, were neceffary to 
 human happinefs ; and fuch a courfe of 
 argument, as he purfues, were the only 
 means natural reafon pointed out for at- 
 taining to it : fo few are capable of be- 
 ing inftrudted by fo abftrufe a method, 
 as renders evident the further want of 
 fome more compendious, clear, and rea- 
 dy means of communicating it ; and 
 demonftrates, that a revelation was ne- 
 ceffary for the general inftrudion of 
 mankind. 
 
 * Wollafton's Rclig. of Nat. feft. 9. 
 
 On 
 
124 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon On the nature of the Deity, the pre- 
 i^^" , fent ftate of man, and the duties in- 
 cumbent on him, as deduced from the 
 principles of cultivated reafon, per- 
 haps no writer ever thought fo well, 
 or fo fatisfaftorily addrefied himfelf 
 to the underflanding, as Wollafton. 
 But why hath he, or rriany other mo- 
 derns that might be cited, thought and 
 written of the religion of nature fb 
 much better, than the antients have 
 done : except that they had a light, 
 which thofe wanted ; the light, that 
 chriftianity hath holden out to them : 
 with which many have emblazed their 
 idol, reafon ; overlooking, like the vota- 
 ries of the moon, the great fource from 
 whence all its light is derived ? Look in- 
 to the writings of the antients, and fee 
 how far their abilities in every branch 
 of literature, that doth not depend on 
 experiments, mock the feeble efforts of 
 later ages to excel, or rival them ; and 
 then let thofe, who can, produce a rea- 
 fon, why the moderns have written fo 
 
 much 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I25 
 
 much better on the fubje6ts of morality Sermon 
 and religion, than the antients have ^_Jj._j 
 done, except the reafon I have affigned. 
 
 In my former difcourfes, I endea- 
 voured to evince the creative, and pre- 
 ferving power of God ; and to deduce 
 from thence, the obligation of religi- 
 on on all beings poffeffing intelledlual 
 faculties in a degree equal to that of 
 man. The fhort queftion now before 
 us is, whether the light of natural rea- 
 fon be fufficient to inftruft us in the du- 
 ties of religion ; or a more exprefs reve- 
 lation of God's will in thofe particulars 
 be necelTary. 
 
 And in this difcuffion, our firft object 
 of enquiry will be, how far, on a full 
 and fair inveftigation of the powers of 
 realbn, uncultivated by fcience, and com- 
 mon to mankind, they are calculated 
 to lead us to that perfect knowledge of 
 God ; which is neceffary to produce a 
 correfponding knowledge of the duties 
 
 we 
 
126 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 ■RM 
 
 V. 
 
 Sermon vve owe Him ; fuch a firm undoubting 
 
 knowledge, as ftiill have a proper influ- 
 ence on our pradlice. 
 
 I propofe in the fecond place, to con- 
 firm the refult of fuch enquiry ; by- 
 evincing from fadls and experience, how 
 far unaffifted reafon hath gone in pro- 
 moting divine knowledge, and religious 
 practice, among the characters moft re- 
 puted for wifdom in the heathen world. 
 
 And in conclufion, we fhall thirdly 
 find it, from thofe enquiries, follow ; 
 that the beft and pureft fyftem of religion, 
 which unaffifted reafon can frame, will 
 be defe£live in perfpicuity, efficacy, and 
 univerfality. 
 
 I. For the more clear elucidation of 
 the argument I am now purfuing, It 
 may be necefTary to explain the terms. 
 By the religion attainable by the pow- 
 ers of reafon. Is underftood natural reli- 
 gion ; a term ufed in diflin6lIon from 
 
 revelation^ 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 12/ 
 
 revelation. And by natural religion Sermon 
 I confequently underftand, not a lenfe ^_^ ' 
 of religiovis duty flamped upon the hu- 
 man mind, and judging with innate dif- 
 crimination of right and wrong : for, in 
 this acceptation of the terms, the fenfe of 
 religious duty would be general and uni- 
 form, however the practice was. But 
 the terms, in my conception of them, 
 denote an obligation of duty, arifing 
 from our relation to our Creator, to 
 which the mind is fuppofed to give an 
 unerring affent ; thereto induced by a 
 natural aptitude, and congruity of our 
 ideas to the divine nature and attributes. 
 And thus confidered, the mind mufi: per- 
 fetflly comprehend the nature of the ob- 
 ject, and ground of that relation, from 
 whence thofe duties flow. 
 
 In what degree of perfection the mind 
 might originally have come out of the 
 hands of its Creator, how clear in its 
 decifions of right and wrong, how com- 
 petent to judge of moral relations, to 
 j^ fway 
 
128 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon fway, and direft, our aftions ; while 
 . • confcience affifted as a faithful monitor, 
 unblafled by prejudice, not warped by 
 bad example ; is a matter of too much 
 difputation, thereon to build an argu- 
 ment. With whatever readinefs of mind 
 I may aflent to the dodlrine of primaeval 
 perfedion ; * I mean not to argue from 
 it, as a fa£t. We are to confider the 
 powers of the human mind as we now 
 find them, and as known experience 
 from hiftory reprefents thjem. 
 
 From the creative and preferving 
 power of God, it has been already proved, 
 that all religious duties flow : the mind 
 therefore muft be perfedlly clear in its 
 conception of thofe truths, in order per- 
 fe£tly to afcertain the duties that refult 
 from them. How far competent natu- 
 ral reafon, that is, reafon in its unculti- 
 vated, unimproved ftate, reafon operating 
 
 • Vid. Concio de Statu Paradifiaqo. 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 129 
 
 on the mind in the mafs of mankind, is Sermon 
 to the difcovery and comprehenfion of y^yi, 
 thofe two great and fundamental truths, 
 on which hinge all the duties of reli- 
 gion ; the train of reafoning already ufed 
 on thofe fubjefts will clearly evince. 
 And while it is demonflrable, that with- 
 out a full, and clear, and comprehenlive 
 knowledge of thofe fundamental doc- 
 trines, it is impoffible to know the du- 
 ties that refult from them : it will fol- 
 low, that a fliorter, and ealier method 
 of inculcating the knowledge of thofe 
 docStrines, i^ neceffary to a general com- 
 prehenfion of the duties fo refulting ; as 
 a clear coraprehenfion of the duties, is 
 neceffary to the pradlice of them. 
 
 With regard to the exiftence of the 
 Deity, I would not have it underftood, 
 as from hence colledted ; that this mo- 
 mentous do£trine, the foundation of all 
 religion, is abfolutely undifcoverable by 
 human reafon : confcious as I am of the 
 rational evidence, by which it may be 
 I demonftrated 
 
130 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon demonftrated. But the general prevalence 
 ,^___j of afl'ent to this gteat truth, in all ages of 
 the world, hath, I conceive, been rather 
 owing to an innate idea of fuch an ex- 
 iilence, than a conviction of it by reafon 
 and argument. It may with certainty 
 be affirmed, that the common capacity 
 of mankind, is not capable of making 
 this difcovery by the mere force of rea- 
 fon : becaufe it is only to be made in 
 the ufe of fuch abflrafted ideas, and 
 fuch abftrufe reafoning and manner of 
 deduftion, as is far beyond the reach 
 and powers of mind, obfervable in the 
 generality of men. And it would be 
 unneceffary to repeat the arguments, 
 that have been already produced in proof 
 of that doftrine ; or to offer fuch others, 
 as might be propofed ; to evince, that 
 the plainefl arguments of conviftion, of 
 which the nature of the fubjeft is capa- 
 ble, it is above the level of an ordinary 
 capacity, to frame, or even to compre- 
 hend the procefs and force of them. 
 
 The 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 n^ 
 
 The fame conclufion is equally ia Sermow 
 proof, refpefting the governing and pre- ,,„,,J.,^ 
 fiding power of the Deity. Yet it mufh 
 alfo, in regard to this doftrine, be ac- 
 knowledged ; that there are topics in 
 great variety, which, if properly attended 
 to, and by the inquifitive and cultivated 
 mind purfued, afford ample convidion 
 of the reality of a divine providence. 
 And the evidence, which fuch argu- 
 ments carry with them, has obtained 
 the alfent of the wifefl, the mod learned, 
 and the beft men ; among thofe, who 
 poffeffed not the advantages of revela- 
 tion. But they are not arguments, that 
 can be purfued by the generality of 
 mankind : they are not fo obvious, fb 
 {hon, and clear ; as to ftamp that con- 
 vidlion on the rude, unlettered/ vulgar 
 mind ; which vulgar minds require. 
 The difficulties of reducing the proof of 
 this great truth to any demonftrative 
 and fcientific evidence are fuch, aS not 
 only exceed the utmoft reach of capacity 
 ja the illiterate multitude ; but fuch, as 
 I z lie 
 
132 THg GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon He not very level to thofe even of pene- 
 x^„„.J„^ tration and learning, who may not have 
 
 accuftomed themielves to inveftigations 
 
 and ftudies of that kind. 
 
 Under fuch difadvantages, well might 
 the grofs of mankind, whole countries, 
 run into wild idolatries and vain con- 
 ceits : trembling under ideal apprehen- 
 fions of evil, and miftaking the fountain 
 of all good. Hence proftrations that 
 degraded, and pollutions that depraved 
 human nature : hence the libidinous 
 rites inftituted in honour of the Gods, 
 whofe nature and whofe pleafures their 
 grovling votaries held of a piece with 
 their own : and hence the pradtifers of 
 every vice were taught to juftify their 
 conduft by the example of fome of their 
 Gods : hence the blind dread of offended 
 powers, and altars ftained with human 
 blood, to avert the effects of divine dif- 
 pleafure : and hence, in fine, the verleft 
 works of Hell, done under a blind pre- 
 tence of pleafing Heaven. 
 
 Indeed 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I33 
 
 Indeed what better efFeft could mere, Sermon 
 unaffifted, human reafon have been ex- ,_^ "^ 
 pe£ted to produce in the world : indeci- 
 five and unfatisfaftory as its powers have, 
 on the moft accurate inveftigation of 
 them, been found ; when employed on 
 tliofe elevated fubjc£ls, the nature of 
 the Deity, and the duties of man refult- 
 jng from his relation to Him ? Nor is 
 fuch light incompetent to dire£t the ' 
 mafs of mankind only, the ignorant and 
 vulgar, in their duty to the Deity ; but 
 even the wife and learned, who had no 
 better guide, thofe who had made the 
 acquifition of knowledge the bufinefs of 
 their lives ; even thofe men we fhall 
 find confirming the refult of the prece- 
 ding enquiry : as I propofed in the fe- 
 cond place to exemplify, and from fa6ts 
 and experience to evince, how far they 
 in their refpeilive ages went, in promO' 
 ting divine knowledge, and religious 
 pradiqe. 
 
 II. The firft great authority I will 
 
 cite, was Anaxagoras ; who appears to 
 
 I ^ have 
 
134 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Ser!*,ion J^ave been the firft materialift on record 
 w— vl^ in the world. He fuppofed inatter to 
 have been felf-exiftent, a rude chaotic 
 rnafs : from whence he raifes a fubli- 
 mated principle, which he ftiles Intelli- 
 gence, who fought this ftubborn mafs ; 
 and the ifllie of the confli£l was the fair 
 frame and order of things, which we 
 behold. From fuch* an idea of the Su- 
 preme Being, we may expert a confift- 
 ent notion of the duties of religion. 
 And fo it was : as may be colledled from 
 his anfwer to a very important queftion, 
 and much to the purpofe of our prefent 
 inveftigation. The queftion was, " for 
 " what purpofe man was created ?" and 
 our wife man's anfwer was, " to con- 
 " template the Sun, Moon, and Hea- 
 '* vens." Vain, futile philofopher ! 
 And is this the vaft extent, to which rea- 
 fon will fear ? Afk the poor unlettered 
 difciple of Chrifl: the queftion ; and 
 he will return a very different anfwer. 
 He will tell thee, man was made, to 
 proclaim his great Creator's praife ; 
 
 with 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I35 
 
 with heart-felt raptures to adore that Sermon 
 power and goodners, which called him i^^ ^'- ^ 
 into exiflence ; to endeavour in his pro- 
 per ftation, by an interefted difcharge of 
 the fecial and relative duties, to contri- 
 bute to the general happinefs of the 
 creation, to watch and to fubdue each 
 irregular ftart of paflion, to purify and 
 fit the foul for a ftate of higher blifs. 
 
 Examine the notions of Ariflippus, 
 and the Cyrenaic fedc, concerning the 
 Deity : and what do they tend to incul- 
 cate ; but principles of Atheilm, and 
 polytheiftic praflice : an accommoda- 
 ting creed, without any influence on 
 our life and aftions : no conception of 
 benefits received from God, nor of du- 
 ties on the part of man exaded in ac- 
 knowledgment of them. They had no 
 general line of condufl: : but each was 
 ready with quaint apothegms * to defend 
 
 * Habeo Laida ; non habeor a Laide. 
 
 Vid. Cic. in Epift. et z. de Fiii. 
 
 I 4 the 
 
^3^ THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 V 
 
 Sermon the practices, to which inclination ref- 
 peftively led him. Each was a law unto 
 himfelf ; gluttonous, licentious, often- 
 tatious or mean, as they felt themfelves 
 individually by humour, habit, and dif- 
 pofition addided. 
 
 Ariflotle, than whom the fchools of 
 philofophy never boafted a more nice 
 enquirer into the nature of things, ac-- 
 knowledged indeed the immateriality of 
 the Divine Being, and his providence 
 too ; but limited that providence to the 
 charge of the coeleflial bodies, which he 
 fuppofed by fympathy to influence and 
 dire£t the courfe of the world, we inha- 
 bit : an idea this, which removes the 
 Deity at a diftance from us ; and is 
 therefore a principle ill- calculated, where- 
 on to ground religious duties. * 
 
 Plato caught a glimmering of light 
 from the father of moral philofophy. 
 
 * Vid. Diog. Laerr. Vir. Philofoph. 
 
 He 
 
or THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I37 
 
 He affigned the dire£lion of human af- Sermon 
 fairs immediately to the care of the (_^lj 
 Gods : and feemed to have a more ade- 
 quate conception of the nature of the 
 Deity, of the human, mind, and other 
 truths connefted with thofe fublime fub- 
 je6ts, even than the inquifitive Ariflotle 
 himfelf. But he had travelled into 
 ^gypt in queft of knowledge : might 
 there have gleaned fome fcattered frag- 
 ments of traditional truths, which the 
 Jews in their long commoration in that 
 country had left behind them ; and de- 
 rived the fuperiour illumination of his 
 mind from a llronger light, than unaf- 
 fifted reafon affords. 
 
 What fhall we fay of Socrates ? That 
 he conceived an idea of the unity of the 
 Deity : whom he infulted by a weak 
 adherence to a ridiculous ijftem of po- 
 lytheifm, 
 
 I will not rake farther into the follies 
 and extravagances of a number of other 
 
 fages ; 
 
138 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILIXr 
 
 Sermon fages ; who took upon them the arduous 
 ^___^^^ talk of inflrucling mankhid In the know- 
 ledge of God, the nature of the human 
 mind, and the duties of life from the 
 relation of man to his creator arlfing. 
 The preceding refleftions will fufficient- 
 ly evince this refulting truth : that the 
 natural powers of the uninformed mind 
 are not competent to that clear compre- 
 henfion of God and providence ; which 
 is necefiary to eflablifh fuch conviftion, 
 as fhall produce amongft mankind a 
 uniform and conliftent practice of religi- 
 ous duties. 
 
 This has been proved on the incon- 
 trovertible authority of fa£t and experi- 
 ence, in the varying and doubtful opi- 
 nions, not of the rude illiterate vulgar '; 
 nor yet of chiefs and ftatefmen, whofe 
 jninds may have been fuppofed too much 
 engaged in fcenes of aftive life, to have 
 allowed leifure for fober fpeculative pur- 
 fuits ; but of thofe learned and beft-in- 
 formed characters, who had facrificed 
 
 all 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I39 
 
 all worldly avocations to the ftudy of Seh.mo» 
 wifdom, and made the acquifition of v,__l_, 
 knowledge not only the chief, but the 
 fole bufinefs of their lives. 
 
 III. But fuppoiing the opinions of 
 phllofophic men to have been more uni- 
 form and confiftent, than we have found 
 them : flill a religion deduced from 
 them would want, as was obferved in 
 the third and laft place, perfpicuity, ef- 
 ficacy, and univerfality. 
 
 I. It mufl: want perfpicuity ; confift- 
 ing, as it has been fhewn, in a long train 
 of abftrad: reafoning : which to different 
 perfons would appear more or lefs obvi- 
 ous, as individuals are more or lefs 
 perfpicacious, apprehenlive, and acute. 
 Thofe arguments likewife would be al- 
 ways liable to mifconceptions and mif- 
 conftrudion ; and diffidence in opinion 
 would produce diverfity in praflice. The 
 fundamental truths of religion muft be 
 plain aiid clear : a dired declaration of 
 
 fads. 
 
140 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon fa£ls, not fupported by abltrufe reafon- 
 n^ '^ ing; but by, what would conftitute a 
 much firmer foundation, a direft appeal 
 to the fenfes in the pertormance of mi- 
 racles. The doftrine, in this cafe pro- 
 pofed to be believed, is a plain affertion : 
 and my affent is grounded on what I feel, 
 or hear, or fee. Thus, if ourreafon can 
 comprehend, that fafts may be as they 
 are reprefented ; if our fenfes be con- 
 vinced, that they are fo ; this is all 
 the fatisfadion, the mind can require : 
 and this is a convi£tion fviited to every 
 mind. 
 
 II. In relpedl to its efficacy, as the 
 doftrines, on which fuch a religion refts, 
 muft confifl of very difputable points, 
 and doubtful difquifitions : they would 
 not carry with them convidtion flrong 
 enough to Influence the prafllce of thofe, 
 to whom they are addrefled ; fcarcely 
 of thole, who themfelves might propofe 
 them. They might believe them : but 
 belief and conviftion are very different 
 
 principles. 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I4I 
 
 principles, and will be found on pradlice Sermon 
 to have very different efFefts. Elfe the v^-^Io 
 great heathen philofopher, above alluded 
 to, at the awful hour of diflblution, 
 when he was going to meet that ineffa- 
 bly great and glorious Exiflence, whom 
 his conception had figured to him as 
 the Creator and Preierver of Heaven and 
 Earth, would not have ventured to in- 
 fult Him with negledl ; and, in weak 
 and fervile compliance with his coun- 
 try's filly fuperftitions, dire£t a facrifice 
 to be offered to an imaginary individual 
 of a ridiculous polytheiflic tribe. Would 
 a converted chriflian, under the fame 
 circumflance of prejudice in favour of 
 his country's ceremonious rites, at fuch 
 awful period have been induced by any 
 confideration to trample on the crofs of 
 Chrifl: ? This is not a queftion of fpe- 
 culation ; the affirmative of which on one 
 fide is as good, as the negative on the 
 other : we can produce fadls and expe- 
 rience in a hundred inftances, to prove 
 he would not. 
 
 HI. And 
 
14^ THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon IJI. And laftly, fuch a religion mufl 
 ^„„.,^..^ want univerfaiity : for it is a religion 
 calculated not for the generality of man- 
 kind, but for a nation of philofophers. 
 For thofe philofophers, were they ever 
 fo' throughly perfuaded of the truth of 
 it themfelves, could not explain it to the 
 ignorant multitude : they could never 
 bring thofe arduous doctrines of refined 
 fpeculation to a level with rude unculti- 
 vated minds. And though, from the 
 reputation of their wiidom and know- 
 ledge, they fhould poffefs fufficient in- 
 fluence with the vulgar, to obtain a 
 tacit confent to the dc£lrii)es they taught : 
 as they could propofe them with no 
 other force, than merely the weight of 
 their own private opinions; they could 
 be fuppofed to have little influence on 
 the lives and morals of thofe, to whofe 
 inferlour underftandings they were ad- 
 dreffed. Stooping with pliant minds to 
 their opinions, fome might believe ; 
 others would doubt ; and, as fuch a reli- 
 gion muft depend on dedudions of reafon, 
 
 others 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I43 
 
 Others apain would form different con- Sermon 
 clufions. Self-love and felf-fatisfadlion, \,„^.i^ 
 under the guidance of natural inclina- 
 tion, would individually communicate 
 different appearances to doctrines of mere 
 opinion : and fcarcely one fingle point 
 of duty would be received with fuch 
 concurrent confidence and common af- 
 fent ; as to influence praiflice, againfl 
 prefent interefl, the follicitation of plea- 
 fure, the indulgence of cafe. 
 
 But if, after all that has been urged, 
 we are ftill to be told, " that a wife and 
 good God cannot impofe on mankind 
 any thing relating to religion, that may 
 not be difcovered by the human mind 
 without the affiftance of foreign inflruc- 
 tion, or that is not immediately founded 
 in the nature of things :" * having fhewn, 
 from the greateft authorities in the moft 
 polifhed parts of the ancient world, that 
 the cafe is otherwife ; that certain duties 
 
 * Chriftianity as old as the Creation. 
 
 are 
 
144 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon are required of mankind, founded on 
 \,„^,^^^ do£lrines and relations, which natural 
 reafon does not clearly make known : I 
 might alk, in turn, in what period of the 
 world it was generally otherwife ; when 
 thole characters exifted, who, by the na- 
 tural powers of the mind, difcovered the 
 doftrines and duties of pure religion ? 
 And I know but one fatisfadtory reply 
 that could be made ; which would be, 
 by confronting hiflorical evidence with 
 hiftory. 
 
 There is an antient hiftory, that in- 
 forms us of the primaeval ftate of man : 
 when he lived in perfe£t innocence and 
 happinefs. In that ftate indeed he muft 
 have been poflefled of a perfed; know- 
 ledge of his duty, " without any foreign 
 inftrudion." For without knowing it, he 
 could not perform it : without performing 
 it, he could not have been perfeftly inno- 
 cent : and unlefs perfedlly innocent, he 
 could not have been perfectly happy. 
 Thus exadly confonant with the fenti- 
 
 mentj 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I45 
 
 meat, which from the lip of fcepticlfm Sermon 
 I have jiift cited, do we find this very y_7[, 
 antient hiftory defcribe the primitive 
 ftate and condition of mankind. Agree- 
 able to it, God is reprefented as im- 
 pofing on man no duty, of which he did 
 not know and comprehend the force. 
 
 The account of human nature and 
 human manners, which that hiftory fup- 
 plies, informs us, that though God created 
 man perfect, he had found out many devices. 
 That is, that he poflefled at his creation 
 powers of mind, competent to difcern 
 what was right, and fufficient reftitude 
 of inclination to prompt him to purfue 
 it. But that, notwithftanding fuch com- 
 petence to know, and ability to perform, 
 his duty, he had deviated in his condu6t 
 into many devices ; into pofitive afts of 
 difobedience : that a deterioration of his 
 nature fucceeded ; that his underftanding 
 became obfcured, and a fenfe of right and 
 wrong lefs fenfibly afFe<9:ed him. And, 
 confiftent with this hiftorical narrative, 
 K thQ 
 
146 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 StRMON the proofs, tbjt have been above offered, 
 ,___2J!^ extracted chiefly from the antient bio- 
 grapher * of thofechara<5ters,whofe learn- 
 ing and love of wifdom obtained to them 
 the diftinguiflied appellation of philofo- 
 phers, abundantly evince ; that in the 
 deteriorated, depraved (late of human 
 nature, they were acquainted neither 
 with the dodrines, nor duties, of pure 
 religion. 
 
 In confideration of fuch experienced 
 Corruption, fuch deterioration of human 
 nature, this volume proceeds to unfold 
 the difpetifations of Divine Providence ; 
 and explain thofe myfteries, that meet in 
 the moral conduct of mankind. It in- 
 ftruds us, that to fupply the defe6l in 
 the natural light of reafon, God pro- 
 mifed, and according to his promife 
 gave, mankind an additional light ; or, 
 to preferve the words of the author in 
 the fentiments quoted above, a foreign 
 
 * Diogenes Laertius. 
 
 "S, 
 
 mJlruC'^ 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 14/ 
 
 inftrtiSlion; * conveyed in fo clear and ex- Sermon 
 plicit terms and manner, that nothing is \_ ^-Lj 
 wanting to tlie comprehenfion of it, but 
 an eye that will fee, and a heart difpofed 
 to underftand. 
 
 I have mentioned this hlftory, and 
 
 this little abftradl from it, only as the 
 
 fuggeftion of an obje£t v/orth invefti- 
 gating : as it may tend to reconcile to 
 
 truth, and to explain the favourite opi- 
 nion of thofe, who affert that God muft 
 have endowed' man with natural powers 
 of mind, fufficient to enable him to know 
 His will, and to pradiie it. If the truth 
 of it, as relating to a primeval ftate of 
 perfeftion, be queftioned ; I might, in 
 fupport of fuch do6lrine, cite antient 
 poets and philofophers, of mofl eminence 
 in the heathen world, inculcating the 
 fame opinion +• If the prefumed autho- 
 rity of that volume be treated witn an af- 
 fected air of ridicule ; we may tell thole 
 
 * See page 143. 
 
 ^ Vide Concio de Statu Paradifiaco, 
 
 K 2 who 
 
148 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon who treat it thus, and it would furprlze 
 x,^„.J,^ many, who take their fhadowy religion on 
 the credit of others, to be told ; that fome 
 of the ableft and njoft learned men, this 
 country ever produced, have not only 
 been private believers, but public de- 
 fenders of the doftrinal truths, which 
 that volume contains. And it would be 
 equally mortifying on their part, to ob- 
 ferve to them ; that the adverfaries of 
 revealed religion, in this country, have 
 been generally men of very fuperficial 
 learning; fuch as have feldom waded into 
 the depths of fcience, or contributed to 
 the advancement of erudition and know- 
 ledge in any material article : contenting 
 themfelves, by an afFedation of fmgu- 
 larity, a love of cavil, and parade of 
 words, with a cheaper purchafe of fame. 
 That by men of this defcription we may 
 never fufFer ourfelves to be laughed out 
 of our religion, out of our prefent com- 
 fort, and our future hopes, may God of 
 His infinite mercy grant, &c. 
 
 SER^ 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. J49 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 John iv. 2. 
 Salvation is of the yews. 
 
 ± O afcertain, how far natural reafon Skrmont 
 
 was competent to difcover the duties of ^ ^' j 
 
 pure religion, was the obje£l of my laft 
 
 difcourfe : which, flowing from a juft 
 
 apprehenfion of the divine nature, and 
 
 the relation in which we ftand to- the 
 
 Supreme Being, muft depend for their 
 
 propriety and uniformity on the reach 
 
 of our ideas, as dire£led to that fub- 
 
 lime fubje£l: ; and the equal extent of 
 
 them. If they be inadequate to the 
 
 fubjeft, the duties will be imperfed ; if 
 
 they vary in individuals, larger and more 
 
 comprehenfive in fome than others, the 
 
 K 5 rule 
 
150 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY" 
 
 Sermon rule of duty founded on them mull: be 
 ^_____^ vague and varying. And from the pre- 
 ceding inveftigatlon it was by proof and 
 example evinced ; that not only the 
 mafs of mankind, but even the wife and 
 ., learned, entertained very different notions 
 of the divine nature, and had varying 
 and very imperfe£l ideas of the relative 
 duties of man to his Creator : that, 
 from fuch difcrepance of opinion, no ge- 
 neral rule of pradice could be formed ; 
 nor on the moral condu£l of mankind 
 could fuch imperfect knowledge, as they 
 pofl'effed, of God and religion, have fuf- 
 iicient influence. 
 
 Many of them conceived falfe and in- 
 jurious notions of God : and the opi- 
 nions even of thofe, who might be 
 nearer the truth, were too much in- 
 volved in doubts and obfcurity, to be 
 efficacious in gaining them to a ftrict and 
 uniform.ly religious life ; much lefs in 
 promoting the practice of religion among 
 the multitude. Yet the creative and 
 
 prefer V in g 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.^ I5I 
 
 preferving goodnefs of God, It was in- Sermoh 
 ferred, * demand from beings endowed _ ^ ' 
 with a degi-ee of reafon, equal to that of 
 man, a return of rational fervice ; or, 
 in other words, the oblervance of reli- 
 gious duties. And to pra£tife religion 
 in purity and truth, we.muft underftand 
 its do£trines and commands. We muft 
 comprehend them clearly, we muft be 
 throughly convinced of the divine au- 
 thority, that inftituted and enjoined 
 them : or they will have no efficacy on 
 our lives. If therefore the light of na- 
 ture be not competent to this efFedt ; 
 God, who conferred that light on us, as 
 he eafily could, fo we muft conclude as 
 readily would, confer on us a fupplemen- 
 tal aid, fome ftronger and clearer light. 
 How fuch fupplemental aid may be con- 
 ferred, we will next proceed to enquire. 
 
 He, who endowed the cultivated mind 
 with fufficient powers, by long and la- 
 
 * Sec page 86, &c. 
 
 K 4 borious 
 
15^ THE GROUND AND CREDIBILlTTf 
 
 Sermon borious operations of reafon to learn to 
 . _J' know Him, can no doubt as eafily 
 communicate to the mind fuch know- 
 ledge of Himfelf fome fhorter way, by 
 immediate illumination ; a ray of in- 
 tuitive knowledge, lighting to certain 
 truths, to any truths, that are not above 
 the natural grafp of that mind. For in- 
 ftance, the mind can conceive the idea 
 of a firft caufe, infinitely aftive and 
 powerful. This knowledge may be ac- 
 quired, through the medium of a long 
 chain of reafoning : or it may be com- 
 municated to that mind fupernaturally 
 and immediately. But to comprehend 
 the manner of God's exiftence, exceeds 
 the reach of human intelligence. This 
 is a degree of knowledge, which can- 
 not be acquired by any exertions of rea- 
 fon : nor can ii be immediately and fu- 
 pernaturally communicated to the hu- 
 man mind. For to receive fuch degree 
 of knowledge, the mind itfelf muft be 
 altered, its capacity enlarged, its nature 
 changed : but change the nature of the 
 
 mindy 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I53 
 
 mind, and you unmake the man. Hence Sermom 
 then we find no apparent difficulty in i,*^ 
 conceiving a fupernatural communica- 
 tion of knowledge : and we alfo learn, 
 what kind and degree of knowledge 
 may be to the mind thus fupernaturally 
 and inftantaneoufly communicated ; viz. 
 any knowledge, which the mind by the 
 operation of reafon is capable in a na- 
 tural way of acquiring. And the man 
 thus divinely illuminated is as capable 
 of communicating to others fuch illumi- 
 nation of knowledge, as he who may 
 have acquired it in the ordinary way : 
 and indeed with greater weight ; for he 
 feels it, and communicates it as a divine 
 impreffion, and therefore an incontro- 
 vertible truth. 
 
 But the mere belief of internal illumi- 
 nations, is no proof that we pofiels 
 them : for thofe fancied feelings, that 
 ^re boafted by many of weak heads and 
 warm imaginations, are as impreffive as 
 real ones '. we may be deceived by them 
 
 ourfelves, 
 
154 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon oiirfelves, and thereby led to deceive 
 ^_^^-'_( others. There is need therefore of fome 
 external proof of the truth and reality of 
 our pretenfions : and no furer or more 
 fatisfa6tory one can be conceived, than 
 the performance of a£ts, which exceed 
 the ordinary powers of nature. They 
 are diredt appeals to the fenfes ; and 
 when the experience of internal illumi- 
 nations is attended with fuch chara£ters 
 of external evidence ; it a£ts with all 
 the force of convi£tion truth can give, 
 and has a claim to rational aflent. In- 
 deed it is capable of proof, that internal 
 illuminations cannot exift, unattended 
 with fome external charafter of authen- 
 ticity. For whom would the perfon, 
 who could produce no other proofs of 
 the reality of his mental illuminations, 
 than his own feelings, convince ? And 
 without the power of convincing others, 
 what would be the ufe of fuch illumina- 
 tions ? And without a ufe, or purpofe, 
 and a good one too, it is hard to con- 
 ceive that God, who does nothing in 
 
 vain, 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I55 
 
 vain, fliould diftinguiih any individual Sermon 
 with fuch fupernatural gifts and powers. ^....,^,J 
 
 The poflibllity of divine illuminations 
 heing thus evinced, and the charafterif- 
 tic marks dlftingqifhed, which autho- 
 rife their currency, and eftablifti their 
 truth ; the next point of enquiry is, 
 whether any fuch illumination, reveal- 
 ing God's will in a more exprefs, and 
 clear, and concife manner, than by ar- 
 guments and abftrufe reafoning, hath 
 ever taken place ; and whether the pur- 
 pofe to be promoted by it was fuch, as 
 would juftify the divine interpofition. 
 
 Nations and countries have not varied 
 more in their civil, than in their religi- 
 ous lnftit\itioi:is. Some nations, in their 
 opinions of the divine nature, have di- 
 vided it into a multiplicity of Gods : 
 and fome have m^ateriallfed it ; for the 
 Creator miftaking, and worfhipplng, his 
 works. Great and vain men have taken 
 advantage of this general principle of re- 
 ligion, 
 
156 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon Hgion, which poffeffes the minds of all 
 ^.^.^_, mankind ; pretended the ufeful arts they 
 invented, or their fucceffes in war, thofe 
 to have been the communications of 
 their Gods, and thefe atchieved by their 
 affiftance : and from thence obtained, 
 amongft their refpedtive countrymen, 
 the opinion of being the diftinguifhed 
 favourites of Heaven, and after death 
 the honours of Deification. 
 
 The moft antient people, of which 
 prophane hlftory profeffes to give us any 
 account, are the ^Egyptians and Chal- 
 dasans : and of their hiftorles the earlieft 
 period, to which we can refer, is the 
 time of Sefoftris ; about a thoufand, or, 
 as fome contend, fifteen hundred, years 
 before Chrift. And the earheft repre- 
 fentation, which the page of hiftory 
 holds out to us, of their religion and 
 morals, difcovers them to have been im- 
 merfed in the groffeft idolatry. Nor 
 do the records of Greece afford us a 
 more advantageous account of their moft 
 
 priftine 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. \ ^J 
 
 priftine ftate. The imaginary exigences Sermon 
 of deceafed men were the only Gods, ^^ '^ 
 they knew ; their will, when living, 
 the only rule of morals the people ac- 
 knowledged ; and their vices, after they 
 were dead, the fanflion of inceft, ambi- 
 tion, and outrage of every kind. 
 
 If, amidft fuch an idolatrous world, 
 there were a people, who thought and 
 adted otherwife ; who acknowledged 
 one only God, the Creator and Uphol- 
 der of all things ; who paid Him a con- 
 fiftent fervice ; who lived in the ha- 
 bitual pradtice of duties refulting from a 
 proper knowledge, a love, a fear, a re- 
 verence of Him : we can account for 
 fuch knowledge^ and fuch confiftent 
 praftice, only two ways. One is, that 
 thofe people muft have been more wiie 
 and pious, not only than any other 
 nation under Heaven ; but than a na- 
 tion, could fuch an one be conceived, 
 compofed of individuals the moft dif- 
 tinguiftied for fuperiour wifdom and 
 
 erudition. 
 
15^ THE GROOND AND CREDIJSlLlTY 
 
 SERMO^f erudition, a feleft nation of philofophers. 
 
 ,^^^ . ' Or elfe, that extraordinary degree of 
 knowledge, they poflelTed, muft have 
 been communicated to them fome other 
 way ; than by the mere exertion of the 
 natural powers of reafon. The firft of 
 thefe fuppofitions certainly was not the 
 cafe. The Jews affuredly did not pof- 
 fefs more learning, than the reft of the 
 nations, among whom they lived : bttt 
 it may on the contrary be afierted, that 
 in the early periods of that nation, before 
 their emigration from ^gypt, indeed tilL 
 the reigns of David and Solomon^ they 
 poflefled lefs. The higheft encomium 
 on their great prince and legiflator ref- 
 pefting his erudition was, that he ixxi^ 
 Jkilled in all the learning of the JEgyptiam : 
 a dire£l acknowledgment, that he had 
 not acquired his learning and knowledge 
 from his own countrymen ; but from a 
 people more learned and intelligent than 
 they were ; and of courfe more capable 
 of inftrufting him. The latter hypo- 
 tLeiis mufi: be therefore the true one v 
 
 and 
 
OF th'e christian religion. 159 
 
 and it confequently follows, that their Sermou 
 knowledge of God and religion had ^Yv. 
 been communicated to them by fome 
 fhorter, clearer, more convincing, more 
 influencmg way. 
 
 And as fuch fupernatural interpofition 
 of God, in revealing his will to mankind 
 by an immediate illumination of the 
 mind, that is, by infpiration, muft have 
 a fufficient affignable caufe : if we en- 
 quire the purpofe to be promoted in the 
 inftance before us ; we fhall find it the 
 nobleft, the moft important, that can be 
 conceived worthy to engage the divine 
 interference. It was to keep alive in 
 the human mind the almoft extinguished 
 principles of true religion ; to teach and 
 inforce the knowledge of God, and the 
 relative duties of all rational beings from 
 thence refulting : that the moft elevated 
 point of human knowledge ; and this 
 the firft great duty of mankind. In 
 pity to human weaknefs and infirmity, 
 which to the moft vile and abjed prof- 
 
 trations 
 
l6a THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon trations had reduced the original perfcO: 
 c— v^ ^rid dignified character of man, was this 
 revelation made. Formed with a mind 
 competent to know, and taught to com- 
 mune with, his Creator ; flill bearing 
 the faint impreffion of His goodnefs, but 
 loft to every proper idea of His nature ; 
 he had humbled himfelf to the worfhip 
 of an animal, a plant, a ftock, or a ftone. 
 And from that abyfs of ignorance to re- 
 cover and reinftate him in the rank of 
 intelligence, he once pofleffed ; was a 
 purpofe abundant to juftify the interpo- 
 fition of God, in employing the only 
 means equal to fuch an efFeft. 
 
 But befides the end or purpofe affign- 
 able for fuch divine interference : fome 
 further evidence of the reality of it, as 
 hath been already premifed, is wanting. 
 And no evidence can be produced fo 
 eafy of conception, and fo affuredly to 
 be depended on, as miracles : the poffi- 
 bility of which having in a * former dif- 
 
 * See Sermon xi, 
 
 courfe 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. j6l 
 
 courfe been evinced, * we will now en- Sermon 
 ter farther into the fubjedt, and confider ,__^,V. 
 the circumftances neceflary to authen- 
 ticate the performance of them. 
 
 By a miracle, we underftand a fenfl- 
 ble effe£b exceeding the known powers 
 of nature. But as we are utterly igno- 
 rant, how far the powers of beings, good 
 or bad, in fuperior clafl'es of intelligence, 
 may extend ; we cannot be certain, that 
 fome phoenomena, which appear, and 
 are, to us really miraculous, may not 
 have refulted from their agency. And 
 it therefore follows, that miracles are 
 not feparately, and in themfelves, proofs, 
 that the workers of them are delegated 
 meffengers of God, Yet as it is highly 
 repugnant to all our natural notions of 
 the divine goodnefs, to fuppofe that He 
 can leave men, who defire to know and 
 follow truth, deftitute of the neceflary 
 
 ■* See Sermon ii. p. 38, &c. 
 
 h means 
 
l62 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon means of difcriminating it from falfe- 
 ^Z^ hood ; it alfo follows, that there muffc 
 ever be fome difcernible traits and ad- 
 junfts, which mark and manifefl- His 
 interpofition. By what charafters then 
 are the miracles of true religion diftin- 
 guifhable from deceptions ? By plain pe- 
 culiarities, as I conceive, in their nature, 
 manners, and tendency. 
 
 We are, it is eonfeffed, ignorant how- 
 far the power of evil fpirits may extend : 
 but "ve know how far it cannot extend : 
 we know it is infinitely inferiour to the 
 power of God. Upon this principle^ 
 re.ikn, concurring with fcripture, ap- 
 propriates fome wonderful a£ls of a par- 
 ticular kind to God Himfelf, and as pro- 
 ceeding only from Him : fiich as the 
 prediftion of diftiint contingencies, de- 
 pending upon the wills of tree agents ; 
 and the ability with unerring knowledge 
 of difclofing the privacy of human 
 thoughts. That an idea prevailed in the 
 heathen world, of the poflibility of thofe 
 
 fadls, 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 163 
 
 fails, appears from the endeavours ufed Sermom 
 to eftabliOi the belief of them. What ,,J!^ 
 elfe was the pretence of their oracles ? 
 How vain and futile fuch attempts, I 
 will not go about to prove. I will not 
 intrude on your time by expofing the 
 futile boafts of augury, and the vain pre- 
 tenfions of fuch pillars of the art, as 
 Nzevius : his arrogated knowledge of 
 human thoughts, a plain, palpable, col- 
 lufive juggle between his prince and him, 
 to procure confidence from an ignorant 
 multitude, without authentic vouchers, 
 without fufficient end ; 
 
 ■ " Nodus non Nvmine dignus," 
 
 An obfervation this, which leads me to 
 confider fome attendant circumftances 
 in extraordinary a6i:s, as conftituting 
 another proof of their immediate proce- 
 dure from God. As, when they are 
 public, performed openly before great 
 numbers ; and when the refult of them 
 is a notorioufly permanent effcd:. Thefe, 
 if not equally infallible marks of the 
 L 3 finger 
 
164 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon finger of God, as the fuper-natviral ope- 
 \jr-: j\ _ i ration Itfelf, are corroborating proofs, 
 amongft others, that they proceed from 
 divine power ; that they are true and 
 real miracles, and not, like thofe afcribed 
 to magicians, oracles, and heathen au- 
 gurs, the illufions of artifice, and preten- 
 fions of falftaood and impofture. 
 
 The tendency of thofe wonderful a6:s, 
 or the purpoies for which they were 
 wrought, is likewife, as hath been in- 
 timated, a teft of tlicir divinity. A mi- 
 racle, that tends to no purpofe, or to a 
 bad one, is on thofe very accounts iuf- 
 picious. If the all-v/ife and good God 
 ever fufpeiid, or alter, the eftablifhed 
 courfe of nature ; it muft be for fome 
 wife and good caufe : for fome impor- 
 tant end, which could not otherwlfe b« 
 obtained. It muft be immediately, or 
 ultimately, for the removal of fome per- 
 nicious and fpreading errors, or the con- 
 firmation of fome momentous truths ; in 
 order to render mankind wifer and bet- 
 ter. 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. l6^ 
 
 ter. When therefore we are convinced, Sermon 
 that miracles bear the charafters above ^^ " ^ 
 reprefented, are alio attended with the 
 marks and diftinftions juft defcribed ; 
 and that the ends, which in this enume- 
 ration of circumftantial evidence I have 
 fpecified, are intended by them : we 
 may be affured, that they proceed not 
 from wicked fpirirs, fuch fuppofitioji 
 implying a contradiction in ideas ; as it 
 is contrary to their nature to promote 
 good : and by confequence, that they 
 are, and can be, only from God, 
 
 After thefe premifed obfervations, let 
 us proceed to take a general view of the 
 revelation made to the Jews. All na- 
 tions have in their refpedive religious 
 inftitutions pretended to prophecies, mi- 
 racles, and myfteries ; and confidered 
 fuch powers and difcoveries to have been 
 conferred on favoured individuals by the 
 prediledtion and good- will of their Gods : 
 which, though it do not prove, that the 
 world in every fpecial part of it has had 
 L 3 a re» 
 
l66 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon a revelation ; yet plainly evinces, that, 
 ^^,._ '_j by the judgment of the whole world, 
 there was reafon to expeft, and believe 
 one. Till the time of Mofes, the records 
 of hiftory were traditional : at leaft, we 
 have no affurance, till then, of any written 
 ones. He firft digefted the antient ac- 
 counts of hiftorical fa6ls; and committed 
 
 > 
 
 them to writing. And in regard to the 
 narrative of antient fafts, which he deli- 
 vers, and had received from tradition ; it 
 is to be obferved, that thofe traditions, 
 from the longevity of the Ante-diluvians, 
 had not in the courfe of defcent palled 
 through many reporters : * and the hif- 
 torian feems to have related them without 
 the leaft prejudice or partiality to himfelf 
 or his nation. Nor doth tradition, permit 
 em to obferve, carry an inconfiderable 
 weight with it ; or claim a moderate de- 
 gree of afient, when there appears nothing 
 to confront, or difprove it. And this is 
 
 ■ * See Pafcal's Thoughts. 
 
 fo 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 167 
 
 fo far the cafe in the inftance before us, Sermon 
 
 that fucceeding hiftorkns have in general ^ 
 
 points followed Mofes's relation. Tiiey. 
 have followed him in his record of the 
 creation of the world from a rude chaotic 
 mafs ; of a paradifiacal age ; of the dete- 
 rioration of the world, through the vices 
 of mankind ; of an univerfal deluge. 
 
 From the diluvian period, this hiflory 
 informs us, that in one particular family, 
 that family which furvived the general 
 cataftrophe, the belief of the unity of 
 God, creator and preferver of the world, 
 obtained : that in one particular branch 
 of that family, amidft its various migra- 
 tions, in its profperous and depreffed 
 ftate, whether independent, or in bondage, 
 amidft idolatrous people, oppreffed by the 
 tyranny of. idolatrous mafters, it ftill re- 
 tained, and of all the nations of the world 
 alone maintained, that doftrine. It was 
 this doftrine, that united them fo clofely 
 to one another, and fo continuedly fepa- 
 L 4 rated 
 
l68 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Shrmon rated them from all the world ; as in k- 
 ^ ^ "^ lelf forms a perpetual miracle. 
 
 In the time of Mofes, this family was 
 increafed to a numerous people : and as 
 they had before been feparated from the 
 reft of the world by their religious prin- 
 ciples, they were then to be divided from 
 it in fituation, and by an appropriated 
 inheritance ; to be delivered from fervi- 
 tude, and become a diftind: and inde- 
 pendent nation. For that purpofe the 
 God, whom they ferved, raifed them up 
 a deliverer ; and empowered him, by a 
 lignal difplay of miraculous powers, to 
 lead out from amidft a powerful and war- 
 like nation an oppreffed, unarmed, de- 
 fencelefs multitude : who were thus led 
 forth, feparated, and fupported, to pre* 
 ferve, and difFufe among the reft of the 
 world, the almoft obliterated notions of 
 true Theifm, and the pure worftiip of 
 the One God. And if any purpofe, if 
 any end, could juftify the fupernatuml 
 interpofition of Almighty God in the 
 
 - diljplay 
 
OP THE CfiPRISTlAN RELIGION. 169 
 
 difplay of miracles, this unqueflionably Sermon 
 did. . ^^- . 
 
 The rchgion of the Jews hid been 
 hitherto plain and fimple : confifting in 
 the knowledge of the Divine Unity, and 
 the nature of that fpiritual worfhip, which 
 was due to Him. But the people were 
 now to become a great and powerful na- 
 tion : and their religion, deftined within 
 its pale to comprehend, and to blefs the 
 whole world, was now to take a new 
 form; its effentials to be fenced with 
 rites, and ceremonies, and ufages, which 
 had a furtheriafpeii than Mofes faw, and 
 led to a wider extent. Whatever of al- 
 legory there may poffibly be in fome 
 part of that prophet's writings, and fuch 
 there probably is ; it militates not againft 
 the fundamental truth of the relation : 
 the fafts reprefented under thefe allego- 
 ries are plain ; and have, as well as the 
 more nude reprefentation of things, an 
 unqueftionable claim to our alTent. And 
 in his general detail of fa£ts, fo allego- 
 rifed and reprefented, it may be further 
 
 obferved, 
 
170 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon obferved, that fome of the graveft and 
 beft informed philo 
 have followed him 
 
 ■^ beft informed philofophers of antiquity 
 
 This religion refolves itfelf into a triple 
 divilion : the prophetic, moral, and cere- 
 monial : they are well defigned parts in 
 one great building ; each of diftinfl pur- 
 pofe; and defign ; and all necefiary to the 
 perfection of the whole. The prophecies 
 ftamp on it the character of divinity : 
 without the moral part, as a rule of con- 
 du£t it would be defedive : and the cere- 
 monial part illuftrates the prophetic. 
 
 As to the prophetic declarations of 
 Mofes, and the fucceffion of prophets, 
 that followed him, they have in the moft 
 exa£l and unequivocal manner been ful- 
 filled : down from the firft prophecy of 
 ihe 'Woman s feed, which Jhould bruife the 
 Jerpent's bead; to that dreadful monition 
 of the future defolation of their city ; 
 with the aggravating circumflance of the 
 people being reduced to fuch extremity 
 "^i* ~ . of 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I7I 
 
 of diftrefs, as to be forced to eat the Jlefh Sermon 
 
 VI 
 
 of their fons and their daughters : a pro- ^ _ ' 
 phecy, which was dreadfully fulfilled at 
 the fiege of Jerufalem by Titus. Exa- 
 mine other predi£tions, refpefting more 
 recent times ; and you will find fome 
 fulfilled, and others every day fulfilling. 
 
 The moral part, an unlverfal rule of 
 conduft, was to continue the fame al- 
 ways and every where : cuftom cannot 
 change it, time cannot render it obfolete, 
 nor will even the plea of neceffity excufe 
 the obfervance of it. 'though heaven and 
 earth pafs away, not one jot, or one tittle, 
 of the moral law /hall fail. 
 
 But the ritual and ceremonial part of 
 that religion was figurative and typical ; 
 even in the perfon of the great legiflator 
 himfelf. He was fent by God to be a 
 deliverer. But out of Sion, as the apof- 
 tle argues, came the true Deliverer : a 
 Deliverer in that extenfive fenfe of the 
 word, in which the Meffiah is defcribed 
 
 by 
 
1/2 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon by the prophets : a Deliverer, through 
 w-^^ whom all the world {hould be faved. 
 The inftltution of facrifices, which ori- 
 ginated in the earliefl: ages of the world, 
 and in every part of it prevailed, apart 
 from reverence to that great facrifice 
 deftined to be made in the perfon of 
 the Meffiah, is of all ftrange prac- 
 tices the moft inexplicable. On any 
 other ground confidered, the cuftom of 
 offering up flaughtered animals, to expi- 
 ate human offences, muft appear to have 
 proceeded from the wildeft liotions, the 
 imagination of man had ever conceived. 
 But an enthufiaflic conceit, without any 
 reafonable pretence, feldom lafis long; 
 and never could become univerfal. The 
 univerfality of the praftice therefore 
 adds to the improbability, (hall I call if, 
 or impoffibility of it ; except founded 
 in reafon and truth. And the reafoa 
 and the truth of it can only confift, in 
 its afpe£l to the great facrifice deflined 
 in Chrift ; and are evidenced in the long 
 continuation of the pra6tice prefigured. 
 
 The 
 
of" THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I73 
 
 The deliverance from the bondage of Sermon 
 
 . . *= VI. 
 
 ^gypt IS a type of the deliverance of u-v-— » 
 
 mankind from the bondage of fin ; each 
 preceded by fimilar circumftances, one 
 of the Pafchal feaft, and the other of 
 Chrift's laft fupper ; the one plainly 
 prefigured by the' other, and both con- 
 spiring to mark, beyond the poffibility of 
 miftake, the grand ante-type of our re- 
 demption. What do their frequent ab- 
 lutions fignify, but what Chrift feems 
 to allude to; the purity of the heart? 
 Te hypocrites, fays he, ye are very careful 
 in wajijing the outjide of the cup and platter ; 
 hut within ye are full of all uncle anlinefs. 
 That is, ye blind, who can carry ypur 
 eye no farther than the type ; than the 
 mere ordinance, perfectly infignificant 
 without a reference to the reafon, the, 
 ground, and the fubftantiality of it. In 
 Ihort, it is not difficult, in moft of their 
 ceremonies, to difcover an afpedl to a 
 future reality : thofe temporary inftitu- 
 tions tending, like fo many elucidating 
 circumftances, to point out that Re- 
 deemer : 
 
174 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon deemer ; in whom they were taught to 
 
 VT 
 
 ,__*_j expe£l: a final and compleat falvation. 
 
 And thofe external obfervances whofe 
 references and allufions lay lefs open 
 to explanation, fo rigidly exafted, and 
 fo ftriftly obferved, do in no fmall 
 degree contribute to ftamp on it the 
 evidence of divine authority. Burthen- 
 fbme as they certainly are, ridiculous 
 as in fome inftances they may appear, 
 lilly and fantaHrical as they have' fome- 
 times been held ; even thofe rites and 
 ceremonies, contribute like under-parts 
 to the one great defign ; the proof, 
 that it is of more than human infti- 
 tution. Befides the typical reference 
 fbme of them contain : others have 
 been obferved * to ftrike at idolatrous 
 cufloms ; and were calculated to guard 
 the true Theift from heathen pradices, 
 and every tendency to idol fervice. 
 
 * Vid. Spencer de Leg. Heb. 
 
 And 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 175 
 
 And confidered alfo in another view, Sermos 
 they equally demand our admiration, (__,^. 
 and claim a rational affent to the divine 
 original of the inftitution. For what 
 private man can be fuppofed, without 
 the authority of llation, unfupported by 
 the arm of power, to have had fuch in- 
 fluence .over a whole nation ; as, by 
 his bare recommendation, to induce them 
 to burthen themfelves with fuch a grie- 
 vous load of vain rites and futile ordi- 
 nances, vain and futile if confidered on- 
 ly with a view to the iaftitutlons them- 
 felves, as the Jews bound themfelyes to 
 obferve ? What individual, unlefs di- 
 vinely authorifed, would have prefumed 
 £0 perfuade a whole nation, to abridge 
 themfelves of fo many gratifications, 
 which the reft of the world enjoyed ; 
 and to fubmit implicity to fuch re- 
 ftraincs, particularly refpe6ling the obfer- 
 vance of the Sabbath, as might be, and 
 was often really, prejudicial to them not 
 only in a private, but a public capacity ? 
 And, with lefs than divine fupport, what 
 
 individual 
 
l-jb THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon individual could in fo arduous an under- 
 ^_ • taking have prevailed ? What other 
 motive, what weaker authority, what 
 inferiour power, can human fagacity 
 conceive ; of fufficient urgency, to in- 
 fluence a numerous people to obferve the 
 ceremonies above alluded to, from the 
 firfl: period of their inftitution to the pre- 
 fent day, through a fucceffion of more 
 than three thoufand years, with that 
 uninterrupted and rigid adherence, with 
 which the whole nation of the Jews 
 have embraced them ? 
 
 Examine the dire(St and immediate 
 miracles of Mofes, from tne time of 
 croffing the Red Sea to the approach 
 of the people to the promifed land, 
 the principal of which are recapitu- 
 lated by him in the 1 1 th chapter of 
 Deuteronomy, according to the criteria 
 above laid down : and you will find 
 in them every intrinfic mark of genuine 
 truth and authenticity. They were 
 fenfible efFefls, exceeding the known 
 
 powers 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I77 
 
 powers of human nature : they were Sermon 
 fo plain that every fenfe was convinced j_,^^ 
 of them ; and as public, as the prefence 
 of multitudes could. render them. They 
 were inftantaneous and compleat : and 
 the refult of them was a notorious and 
 permanent effect. The internal charac- 
 ter of divine power, difplayed in the 
 performance of them, is marked by the 
 do£lrine,- which they tended to eftablifh ; 
 the doctrine of pure Thelfm : and the 
 effeft, that hath been already experi- 
 enced from them, is the acknowledg- 
 ment of that do£trine by the much 
 greater part of the globe. 
 
 What then do we coUeft from the 
 preceding obfervations, refpefting the na- 
 ture and extent of the religion of the 
 Jews ? Briefly this : that it is founded 
 in truth, imperfe£l in its inftitution, ex- 
 tenfive in its influence. It was not a re- 
 ligion, confining of fopperies borrowed 
 from different nations, framed by different 
 perfons, and put together at different 
 M times. 
 
I7S THE GROUND ANt) CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon times, one fuperadded to another. It 
 
 VI 
 ^^ • was the flupendous work of one man : 
 
 by him propofed to a numerous people ; 
 from the moment it was propofed, by 
 that people univerfally received ; and to 
 theprefent period of time uninterruptedly 
 obferved. The purity of it was guarded 
 with uncommon caution : for fear of in- 
 troducing corruptions into it, the interefts 
 of policy were difregarded, and national 
 advantages overlooked ; the people were 
 reftricted from intermarriages with other 
 nations, and thereby precluded from 
 ftrengthening themfelves by thofe ad- 
 vantageous alliances, which from fuch 
 ties are often derived. A numerous and 
 refpe£lable priefthood was inflituted and 
 fupported : their fole charge the confer- 
 vation of the pure religion committed to 
 them ; the employment of their lives the 
 duties and fervice of it. It involved 
 their whole law, and by the priefts was 
 read and expounded to the people every 
 week. And does not all this form, and 
 care, and ceremony; this fo expedite, 
 
 pro- 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Ijg 
 
 promulgation, fo ready and general ac- Sermon 
 ceptance of it, even had it wanted thofe ^ _^ 
 genuii>e characters of divinity, which 
 miracles ftamped on it, mark its pre- 
 eminence to every other religion of the 
 world ; and demonftrate its truth ? 
 
 But with all thofe charafters of di- 
 vinity and truth, it was imperfedt. Its 
 rites and ceremonies difcovered nothing 
 intrinfically wife and good : they were 
 plain allufions to fomething that was to 
 fucceed. And even its moral part, though 
 far as it went compleat, was deftined to 
 receive improvement. It was very inde- 
 cifive in its dodlrine of a future ftate : 
 its promifes were national, temporal ; 
 as to period of time uncertain, and pro- 
 bably diftant. To fome future period 
 they were taught to direft their views : 
 and thither they looked, as for the com- 
 pletion of their greatnels, fo likewife for 
 the perfetElion of their knowledge. They 
 wanted direct and fatisfadlory informa- 
 tion on many points : left by the provi* 
 M z dencQ 
 
l8o THE GROUND AND CREDIEILITY" 
 
 Sermon dence of God, on many important ar- 
 ,____^_j tides, involved in a degree of darknefs ; 
 in order to add luftre to the advent of 
 that eminent perfonage, they were taught 
 to expeft, the Meffiah ; who, when he 
 came,, would teach them all things. 
 
 As to the influence of this religion, 
 ■whether regarding time or place, fo ex- 
 tenfive was it ; that it was deftined to 
 reach from pole to pole, and to con- 
 tinue to the end of the world. All 
 nations were comprehended in its pro- 
 mifes ; and the gradual performance of 
 them, proceeding with time, was or- 
 dained to be completed and perfefted in 
 immortality. 
 
 This religion, in its rites and ceremo- 
 nies, in whatever parts of it were prefi- 
 gurative and typical, is now a dead re- 
 ligion ; no longer engaging the atten- 
 tion of mankind, or claiming their ob- 
 fervance of it. But its moral parts, far 
 as its dodrines go, are unchangeably 
 ■ L.. good. 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. l8l 
 
 sood. Let us therefore confider it as a Sermon 
 
 • • • VI 
 
 valuable relic : let us regard it with that ^ ^ ' 
 
 reverence, it merits : a light, firft fhining 
 in an obfcure place, but from the time, 
 when it was given, increafing in bright- 
 nefs more and more ; and in its deftined 
 period breaking out in meridian luftre : 
 its rays ftill continuing to diverge ; un- 
 til its light /hall lighten the Gentiles, and 
 all the world (hall acknowledge the 
 GLORY OF Israel. 
 
 M 3 S E R- 
 
182 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 VII. 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 Matt. xxii. 42. 
 W/jat think ye ofChriJl ? 
 
 Sermon XN the great concern of inflrufting 
 mankind in the knowledge of God, and 
 the duties from thence refulting, we 
 have feen how far the powers of reafon 
 went : its incompetence to that efFedt 
 hath been proved from fa£t and expe- 
 rience ; and the confequent neceffity of 
 a revelation inferred. From that infe- 
 rence, without defcending to a compa- 
 rative view of fuch revelations, as have 
 refpedlively urged their claim to divinity ; 
 which, with great judgment and erudi- 
 tion, hath, on the occafion that now en- 
 gages my attention, been already done ; * 
 
 * See White's Sermons, 
 
 I pro- 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 1 83 
 
 I proceeded to examine the merits of Sermow 
 that revelation, which hath the moft ^__^. 
 undoubted pretenfions to it : and, I truft, 
 fatisfadorily evinced, that the revelation 
 made to the Jews, though in the firffc 
 period of its promulgation refl:ri3:.ed to 
 a fingle nation, was deftined in its if- 
 fue to become univerfal : and even in 
 the mean time, amidft the viciflitudes 
 of that people, in their migrations from 
 one country to another, whether in a 
 ftate of conqueft or captivity, they left 
 fcattered remnants of the truths com- 
 mitted to them wherever they went. 
 And hence have thole adumbrations of 
 antient fadls, which may be traced in 
 prophane hiflory, embellifhed by poetic 
 imagination, contributed not a little to 
 the various fyftems of Heathen mytho'- 
 logy. Even the expeftation of a Meffi- 
 ah extended farther, than the religion of 
 the Jews : towards the period of Chrift's 
 appearance in the world, the attention 
 of the Heathen was in fome degree ex- 
 cited to the advent of an illuftrious cha- 
 
 rader^ 
 
184 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon rader, who fhould form the world to 
 
 ^_^„^___^ happinefs ;• teaching them all thuigs that 
 
 it was expedient to know, and perform- 
 
 "^ing all that was neceHarv to be done, in . 
 
 order to promote, univerfal blifs, and ef- 
 
 feftuate the profperity of mankind. 
 
 y. 
 And as this general expectation of the 
 Jews, declared by a feries of prophecy, 
 fupported the truth' of that Meffiah's 
 appearance, when Chrift came, and 
 in that charafter profefled himfelf ; no 
 exertions have been fpared, to invali- 
 date the force of fuch expeftations. It 
 hath been alTerted, that it was very na- 
 tural for people under oppreffion to look 
 forward, and flatter themfelves with the 
 hopes of fome great characftd'r ; who 
 fhould rife up among them, and break 
 their fervile yoke : — that the Jewifh 
 priefts by their enigmatical oracular de- 
 clarations cherifhed thofe expectations 
 in the people, in order to quicken their 
 exertions; — and that the Jews were a 
 credulous, enthufiaftic people, always 
 
 open 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. JS^ 
 
 open to the deceptions of the crafty Seemom 
 priefthood. . J3L» 
 
 In my prefent difcourfe, therefore, I 
 propofe, ifl, to confider the general ex- 
 peftation of a Meffiah, that prevailed 
 amongft the Jews ; and in this difcullion 
 to examine diftiadlly the Objeftions to it, 
 as already flated. 
 
 And to enquire, 2dly,: whether their • 
 prophets reprefent him to have been a 
 temporal prince and conqueror, or fome- 
 thing greater. 
 
 I. The firft of thefe points, it is obvi- 
 ous, regards thofe, who deny the truth ot 
 revelation ; and who, to invalidate the 
 doftrine of a promifed Meffiah, a doc- 
 trine on which the Chriflian religion 
 refts, defcribe the Jews as a credulous, 
 enthufiaftic people, oppreffed by .their 
 -conquerors, impatient under their fuffer- 
 ings, and taught by former deliverances, 
 .often great and unexpeded, fo much be- 
 yond 
 
l86 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon jt'(J«</ all that they hoped for, to look for- 
 
 ^____^_j ward to fome future Mofes, Jofhua, or 
 
 Zerubbabel ; the deliverer a fiditious 
 
 charadler, and the do£trine a delulion of 
 
 prieftcraft and Impofture. 
 
 If only when fmarting under the op- 
 preffiye arm of conqueft, in their forlorn 
 migrations, or in their various fcenes of 
 captivity, thofe prophetic declarations of 
 a future deliverer had been pronounced ; 
 there might have been fome degree of 
 pertinency in the reflexion, that attri- 
 butes them to delufive expedlations, de- 
 rived from defperation and diftrefs. But 
 in the mofh flourifhing and profperous 
 ftate of the nation, during their moft 
 brilliant periods of conqueft and fuccefs, 
 regularly and uniformly did their pro- 
 phets predid the advent of an illuftrioug 
 perfon of their own nation ; deftined to 
 ejlahlijh a kingdom that Jhould endure for 
 ever. Even the moft fuccefsful and 
 powerful princes themfelves, in the fpirit 
 of prophecy, declared the time would 
 
 come J 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 187 
 
 come ; when under a powerful prince, Sermon 
 whom the Lord would fend to vilit v._.J, 
 Ifrael, all nations Jhould be gathered under 
 God: that he would then fet up a Idng- 
 dom, which Jhould never be deJlroy»d\ and all 
 that Jhould fee them, when the kingdom 
 of their Meffiah fhould be eftablifhed, 
 Jh all acknowledge them, that they are a feed 
 blejed of the Lord. In fhort, the whole 
 tenour of the Old Teftament points out, 
 and the great fcope of it feems particu- 
 larly dire£led to, that firft and great pur- 
 pofe, the eftablifhment of a belief in one 
 particular perfon, defined to reign and 
 profper ; and execute judgment andjujiice on 
 the earth: whofe title, importing his 
 high office, was to be, THE LORD 
 OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS: who was 
 to poflefs dominion, and glory, and a king- 
 dom, fo univerfal ; that all people, nations, 
 and languages Jhould ferve him. His do- 
 minion is defcribed as an everlafting do- 
 minion, which Jhould not pafs away ; and 
 his kingdom that, which Jhould not be de- 
 Jiroyed. 
 
 Nor 
 
188 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon Nor was this notion entirely confined 
 i___T], to the Jews : Tacitus, in his account of 
 that people, fpeaks of it as an expedation 
 entertained by- many ; but refers the 
 foundation of it to certain doftrines con- 
 tained in the fcriptures of their priefts. 
 *' Pluribus perfuafio inerat, antiquis fa- 
 *' qerdotum littcris contineri, eo ipfo 
 *' tempore fore, ut valefceret Oriens, 
 *' profeftique Judaea rerum potirentur : 
 " quae ambages Vefpafianum et Titum 
 *' praedixerant." * + 
 
 Jofephus has the fame obfervatlon : 
 and imputes to the influence of fuch 
 prediction the vigorous exertions of the 
 Jews, in the courfe of that fatal war, 
 which ended in the defolation of their 
 
 city. " To Se nroi^av ccvth; [/.xXi^tx Trpo; rov 
 
 * Tacitus Hift. lib. v. 
 
 •f A general perfuafioii prevailed, that in the antient 
 fcriptures of their priefts it was declared ; the power of 
 the Eaft fliould be eftablifhed, and from Judaea thofe 
 fliould proceed, who would obtain the fovereignty of the 
 world : which myfterious predl£lion was fulfilled in Vef- 
 paiiaD and Titus. 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. tSg 
 
 *' TToXt^OV, 711/ p/^irjUO; «jU.(plSoXof OjMOlWf £1/ TCiJ OERMOW- 
 
 Vll. 
 
 iifoii; evprifAivog yfXf^y.a.iTiv, cog koctk rov xaipoi/ ^_ _ ■ 
 
 " ixiivov, uvo T»)i yw^xz tj? avruv o-^^n t»ij oixou- 
 " jwsmj. TouTo 01 f/tse aj oixiiQU s^sKtzSo]/, jcai ttoA- 
 " A.01 Tai/ (Tutpuu nrXa.vA^r\!Ta,v 7r£/)i t-iIV xficriv, 
 *' EcTjjAa S oii/,a. T'/if TTfpi OuffTrajiai/a to Aoytov Jiyf- 
 " fMOviav, a.7ro^it^^£]irog nri lov^sioc; avroxoX' 
 " ropoi, * -j~ 
 
 Cicero, in a letter to Lentulus, alludes 
 to a Sibylline oracle, purporting the fame 
 event ; which he applies to Ptolomy. 
 " Cum earn [ nempe JMexandriam ] 
 " pace prafidiifque firmaris, Ptolomaeus 
 " redeat in regnum ; ita fore, ut per te 
 
 * Jofeph. lib. vi. cap. xxxi. 
 
 ■\- But what chiefly excited their exertions, and fup- 
 ported their perfererance in the war, was an equivocal 
 oracle, which appears to have been found in their antient 
 fcriptures ; purporting, that about that time fome one 
 from that country fliould fway the fceptre,of the world, 
 And the perfon, fo defigned, they underftood to be one 
 of their own nation : a circuraftance, in which many 
 of their mod: learned were deceived. For it is very clear, 
 that the prediftion referred to the fovereignty of Judaea 
 poffeffed by Vefpafian. 
 
 «i 
 
 refti- 
 
iga THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon " reftltuatur, quemadmodum fenatus 
 ^J' *' initio cenfuit : et fine multitudine re- 
 " ducatur, quemadmodum homines re- 
 *' ligiofi Sibyllse placere dixerunt." * -j" 
 
 Nor will the pretended character of 
 the Jews, as being a credulous and en- 
 thufiaftic people, add any weight to the 
 preceding obje£tion ; founded on the 
 feelings of defperation and diftrefs. 
 Enthufiafm and credulity might have' 
 prompted them to take up arms, and lift 
 under the banner of every adventurous 
 chief, who fliould have ambition or ad- 
 drefs fufficient to fet himfelf up for that 
 Son of Promife. It is the nature of en- 
 thufiafm and credulity, to prompt to rafli 
 and daring enterprifes. They allow no 
 
 * Cic. lib. I. Epift ad Lent. 
 
 ■f- When you have efFeded the peacse ftablifhment of 
 Alexandria, and properly garrifoned it. Let Ptolomy 
 return to his kingdom : fo will he appear to be reftored 
 by you, as the fenate at firft determined ; and to be 
 brought back without tumult or violence, as religious 
 men have fuppofed the Sibyl predided. 
 
 <timQ 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ipt 
 
 time to reafon and reflect : they warm Sermos 
 the heart with a fort of hallowed fire ; ,Y™. 
 that impetuoufly preffes forward with a 
 power fuperiour to the love of glory, 
 and vanquiflies doubt by a principle 
 more efficacious than the dread of (hame. 
 Actuated only by the goad of defpera- 
 tion, and the influence of enthufiafm 
 and credulity, the Jews would not fo 
 paffively have borne their hopes and ex- 
 pe£lations for fo many ages, as they 
 were known to have done : their pro- 
 phets in a long fucceffion continuing to 
 promife them a Mefliah, and they in 
 full conviction of the truth of fuch pro- 
 mifes patiently continuing age after age 
 to expedl him. 
 
 Nor do the accounts, with which the 
 annals of that people furnifh us, of a 
 banditti of profligate and diforderly men, 
 aflembled under the conduit of this or 
 that defperate chief, who might boaft 
 himfelf of confequence, and affume the 
 charadler of a deliverer, afFed the truth 
 
 of 
 
192 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon of the above remark. No ftate is free 
 . • from partial iiifurreftions of men ruined 
 and defperate ; who frame grievances, 
 and oppofe order, for the fake of rapine 
 and plunder. Thofe riotous mobs do 
 not invalidate the argument, againft the 
 imputation of enthufiafm, credulity, and 
 defperation ; founded on the quiet, paf- 
 five, general expeftation of a Meffiah : 
 by their prophets defcribed in charadlers 
 very different- from thofe, which mark 
 the ruffian leaders, that in the Jewifh, 
 as well as every other ftate, may have 
 occafionally drawn together a rabble for 
 purpofes fuch as thefe. Or, if indepen- 
 dent of every motive of licentioufnefs 
 and rapine, the bare pretence of Mcffi- 
 ahfhip had power and influence enough 
 to draw together a company of men, 
 ready at the hazard of their lives to fup- 
 port fuch an expeftatlon ; the cffeQ: 
 evinces the ftrong and efficacious per-, 
 fuafion of the real advent of a promifed 
 Meffiah. 
 
 An4 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I93 
 
 And as to the pretence of fuch pro- Sermon 
 
 • • \7 T T 
 
 mifes having been the forgery of their ,..,__lj 
 priefts, calculated to call forth the exer- 
 tions of the people under any enterprif- 
 ing chief that might occafionally arife, 
 of courage to attempt, and conduit to 
 execute, a plan of deliverance from cap- 
 tivity or bondage, and eftablifh once 
 more their kingdom by conqueft ; thofe 
 prophecies, to afford any ground for the 
 fuppofition, muft have been confined to 
 the day of tribulation : which has been 
 already" obferved not to be the cafe. 
 Their priefts alfo in the commiffion of 
 fuch a£ls of forgery, their priefts muft 
 have been wretched politicians ; a reflec- 
 tion this, which does not appear founded 
 in exa£t truth ; and their chiefs and civil 
 officers very negligent and remifs, in fuf- 
 fering fuch incentives to anarchy and 
 confufion to be propofed to the people. 
 We mufi: therefore conclude, that the 
 predictions in the old teftament of a 
 Mefliah, the prophecies of kings and 
 princes, declared in times of profperity, 
 as well as in periods of diftrefs, regular- 
 N. Ij 
 
194 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITIT 
 
 Sermon ly continued in a courfe of near two 
 ,^^ "^ thoLifand years, v^ere not the forgeries 
 of priefts : and, that the people's belief 
 in them, was not the effect of enthu- 
 iiafm and credulity, but a rational af- 
 fent ; an aflent, which neither the va- 
 rying circumftance of affluence or pe- 
 nury could alter, the falfe pretenfions 
 of perfons, who had at different times 
 affumed that chara6ter, could remove, 
 nor difappointment of any kind induce 
 them to relinquifli. For what is it, that 
 could effe6l this, but a rational ground of 
 belief ; what is it, that could render 
 fuch a notion fo efficacious and univer- 
 fal, but the genuine ftamp of divinity 
 and truth ? 
 
 If however we be to have it eternally 
 in our ears, that the Jews are an enthu- 
 liaflic and credulous people : without 
 allufion to the conlequences, let us free- 
 ly examine the objeftion itfelf ; and l£ 
 will be found to a degree futile and ab- 
 furd. An individual or two may be cre- 
 dulous and enthufiaftic. A whole family, 
 
 tbroush 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I95 
 
 through fome fucceffions, held in igno- Sermon 
 
 ranee, and biafled by the early prejudice , " ^ 
 
 of parental example, rnay poflefs minds 
 ftrongly tindlured with enthufiafm and 
 credulity. It (hall even be allowed that 
 a whole nation, while they continue im- 
 merfed in barbarilm, and involved in ig- 
 norance, may from thofe circumftances 
 derive an enthufiaftic zeal and bigotry in 
 fupport of falfe tenets, which they may 
 have creduloufly adopted. But that na- 
 ture fhould as it Were have moulded the 
 minds of a whole nation with a pecu- 
 liar difpofition to believe abfurd, and 
 fancy vain, things ; a nation, who have 
 lived, at various periods, among the 
 moft polifhed and fcientific people of 
 the world ; who among themfelves have 
 boafted many charafters eminent for 
 their great erudition ; who have with 
 freedom canvaffed, and with abilities 
 inveftigated, the volume, that contains 
 their own religion ; have, in their ad- 
 mifficrn of the contents of that volume, 
 difcrirainated truth from falfhoFod, fadts 
 from pretences, records of authenticity 
 N 2 from 
 
196 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon from doubtful relations ; and, what may 
 y_^^ '^ weigh moft with the charafters, to 
 whom thefe refleftions are particularly 
 addreffed, a liberal-minded people, who 
 had their free-thinkers, as well as we : 
 that credulity and enthufiafm fhould be 
 the conftitutional chacadleriilics of fuch 
 a people, is a paradox, which fober rea- 
 fon can never explain. But any thing it 
 feems is to be admitted, rather than a 
 dodrine tending to fupport the credibi- 
 lity of a religion, whofe univerfality le- 
 vels the diftindion of illiterate and wife ; 
 whofe large pale, exalting virtue where- 
 ever found, comprehends every good 
 heart, and willing mind : humiliating to 
 philolophic pride ; and at the fame time 
 fo inconfiftent with the purfuits of the 
 voluptuous, that they mull: either re- 
 nounce, their pleafures, or give up all 
 the advantages their religion propofes. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to obviate 
 the objeftions, that have been advanced 
 againft the doftrine of a promifed Mef- 
 
 fiah ; 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Ip/ 
 
 fiah ; it would be a vain intrufion on Sermon 
 
 1 • 1 r 1 VII 
 
 your time, farther to particulanle the ,__^^ 
 fcriptural prediftions importing fuch a 
 promife, or more at large to infift on 
 proofs of the univerfal credit, the Jews 
 themfelves gave to the dodlrine ; look' 
 ing forwards to the-deftined period with 
 animated hopes. * It is a do6lrine by 
 their prophets fo plainly revealed, and 
 fo earneftly enforced ; that if, deaf to 
 the voice of prophecy, blind to the ap- 
 peal of miracles, without one good rea- 
 fon for fo perverfe a condudt, the Jews 
 had rejedted it ; defervedly would they 
 have incurred the reproach of the mod 
 invincible ftupidity, that ever marked a 
 devoted people. It was uninterruptedly 
 inculcated by all their prophets, down 
 from Mofes to Malachi : who uniform- 
 ly predided a particular kingdom, that 
 God would eredt, which fhould never 
 be deftroyed ; and a particular perfon, 
 whof^ dominion was to be an everlafting 
 dominion. One particular king, and 
 {)Qt a race of kings, is throughout the 
 N 3 whole 
 
198 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon whole line of prophecy defigned. The 
 n^_^_^ Jews vinderftood it fo ; and from fuch 
 interpretation of the predidions con- 
 cluded, that the Meffiah fhould never 
 die. Accordingly when our Saviour 
 gave intimation of his death : the Jews 
 immediately replied, we have heard out 
 of the law, that Chr'tfi abideth for ever ; 
 how fayejl thou then, that the fon of man 
 mufi he lifted up ? And when he talked 
 to his difciples of his death and fuffer- 
 ings ; Peter could not bear a refledlion 
 that fo fhocked his hopes, and anfwered, 
 that be far from thee. Lord. 
 
 And after prophecy was filent ; that 
 is, from the time of Malachi to the ad- 
 vent of our Lord, the expectation of If- 
 rael did not ceafe. Indeed, as the time 
 deftined for the completion of this im- 
 portant prophecy approached ; the hope 
 of the promife became more and more 
 lively. Some of the heathen oracles 
 caught the ray of illumination : and 
 3.bout the time, that our Saviour vifited 
 
 the 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I99 
 
 the world, the expe£ted appearance of a Sermon 
 
 VII 
 great and powerful prince became fo ^_,„^\ 
 
 common ; that it was applied, as hath 
 been already intimated, to feveral hea- 
 then princes. And from that fo general 
 and prevalent expeftation, forae have at- 
 tacked the doftrine on the ground of its 
 novelty : as a notion, which firft ob- 
 tained credit about the time of Herod. 
 
 But, fays Voffius, we muft go farther 
 back for it : fo far as the time, when 
 Pompey made himfelf mafter of Jerufa- 
 lem : fifty nine years before Chrift, and 
 exactly on the completion of Daniel's 
 {ixty fecond weqk.* Suetonius fpeaks of 
 a prediction, previous to the birth of 
 Auguftus ; *' Regem Populo Romano 
 *' naturam parturire." -j- And Cicero 
 alludes to the fame oracle, as well in 
 the epiftle to Lentulus cited above, as iii 
 the following paffage in his treatife on 
 
 * Voffius de fibyllinis oraculis lib. iv, 
 ■j- That nature- was in labour of a king deftined to 
 rule the Romans. 
 
 N 4 divina-* 
 
200 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon divination. * " Sibyllae verfus obferva- 
 ,J^J}^ " nius, quos iila furens fudiffe dicitur. 
 *' Quorum interpres nuper falfa quaedam 
 *' hominum fatna difturus in Senatu 
 " putabatur: cum, quern revera regem 
 *' habebamus, appellandum quoque efle 
 *' regem, fi falvi eflevellemus." -f- This 
 oracle was applied to Julius Caefar : on 
 which interpretation Cicero, glowing 
 with the flame of patriotifm, proceedsf 
 *' Cum autiftltibus agamus, et quidvi^ 
 *^ potius ex illis libris, quam regem 
 " proferant : quem Romae pofthsc neC 
 " dii, nee homines efle patientur.-'| 
 After the death of Cajfar, this illuftrious 
 
 * Lie. de divinitatione lib. ii. 
 
 •f Obferve the verfes of the Sibyl, which the frantic 
 priefiefs is faid to have diftated ; whofe interpreter was 
 thought to have drawn from thence in the fenate falfe' 
 conclufions ; fuggelling, that he, whom we in reality 
 admitted as king, muft be acknowledged and ftileda 
 king, if we wifh to be faved, 
 
 J But might I exchange a word with the priefts, I 
 Vould recommend it to them, rather to produce any 
 thing from their books, than a king : whom neither 
 Gods or meu will ever fuffer hereafter to exift in Rome. 
 
 prophecy 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. gOl 
 
 prophecy was applied to Auguftus : Vir- Sermom 
 gil compliments his friend and pa- . ^ ' 
 tron Pollio with the application of it 
 to his infant fon : and others again fub- 
 fcribed to the grofs adulation of Jofe- 
 phus ; who condefcended to betray the 
 high privileges of his nation, and ap- 
 plied the promife to Vefpafian. Many 
 extraflis might be made from the Sibyl- 
 line books, alluding to different circum- 
 fiances attending that promifed event ; 
 but I will content myfelf with produ- 
 cing the lingle one, adverted to by the 
 authors, whom I have cited above. 
 
 Avrxp iTTis P«jtA)) re xxi AiyuTrrs 'Bcts'iXiix 
 
 Eij iv J'i9ui'!J(r«, TOTE Ji) Baa-iXsia, ft.iyis'n 
 
 A^avxrs Bairi^iof ett' «i/6|0W7roi«-i cpavitrui ' 
 
 H^Ei S^ etyvoi ava,^ sroicrni; yn<; a-yfrnnpa xpa.rno'uv 
 
 E»j «»wv«j irxi/rxg E7r£i<yojt*£voio ^poiioio. 
 
 K«t TOTE AocTivuv XTTOipoiiTriTo; ^o\og 0CI/SpUV, 
 
 Tpni Pwfcjiv otxrprt jKOifii x»r»SriXn<Tovroii. * 
 
 From 
 
 * Orac. Sibyl, lib. ii. 
 
 But after Rome and Egypt fliall unite 
 
 Their 
 
202 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITT 
 
 Sermon From what has been above obferved, 
 ^__^^ it is beyond contradiction evident ; that 
 the do<£lrine of a promifed Meffiah is 
 not only afferted in the fcriptures of the 
 Old Teftament, but by heathen oracles 
 declared ; not only believed by the 
 Jew^s, but admitted and adverted to by 
 profane authors, of the firft rank, and 
 the moft polifhed ages. Let us then 
 proceed to the fecond article of enquiry : 
 •which was, whether the prophets repre- 
 fent the Mefliah as a temporal prince 
 and conqueror, or fomething greater. ■ 
 
 II. In fuppofing the Meffiah to ap- 
 pear in the chara(3:er of a powerful and 
 triumphant prince, who fhould eftablifh 
 the kingdom of Ifrael on fo fure and 
 
 Their powers, and an extended empire rife ; 
 A prince immortal (hall the fceptre fway : 
 A king immaculate ; whofe realms no line 
 Shall circumfcribe, his reign no point of time. 
 Inexorable then the rage of Rome : 
 And under three the power of Rome (hall fall. 
 
 folia 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 20^ 
 
 Iblld a foundation, that it fhould through Sermom 
 all ages continue miftrefs of the world, ^_^ * , 
 and that all nations (hould finally fubmit 
 to it ; the Jews had one great difficulty 
 to encounter : and this was the ftate of 
 humiliation, in which fome prophecies 
 reprefented him. An opprefled and de- 
 fpifed Saviour, fuffering infults, and nei- 
 ther in word or aft vindidively retali- 
 ating, difplaying not the indignant fpl- 
 rit of an earthly conqueror, but an ex- 
 emplar of meeknefs, patience, and hu- 
 mility, was little calculated to affume 
 the port of worldly grandeur ; and, by 
 the workings of a bold and daring mind, 
 to keep a profligate world in awe : it 
 confounded their expectations, and croff- 
 ed the proud and towering hopes, they 
 had entertained of him. 
 
 A State of fuch defcriptlon as this did 
 by no means comport even with the 
 flattering ideas, his own difciples at firft 
 formed of his future greatnefs. De- 
 preffed and difpirited at his crucifixion, 
 
 they 
 
204 "^HE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon they gave up every thing for Jofl: : 
 
 i„_^^_^ aad mourned their difappoiuted hopes in 
 
 their crucified mafter ; whom they then 
 
 deplored, that they had vainly thought 
 
 to have been him, whoJJjould have redeemed 
 
 Jfrael. But this erroneous opinion we 
 
 find fbon corre£led : for after he had ex- 
 plained to them the fcriptures concerning- 
 
 himfelf; they, who on his apprehenfion 
 had denied, and on his crucifixion had 
 loft all hopes in him, after his refurrec- 
 tion and their frequent converfations 
 with him, ftood boldly forth in his de- 
 fence; : publickiy arraigned the Jews for 
 their impiety in having murthered an 
 innpcent perfon, and Him their own 
 Meijiah, the Lord of life ; and gloried 
 i!> fufFering ignominy and ftripes for his 
 fake. So clearly did thofe fcriptures, 
 properly underflood, point out a fuffer- 
 ing Saviour. 
 
 This fulFering ftate of the Meffiah, 
 defcribed in terms lb explicit, as fome 
 thought could not be denied,^ and fo 
 
 glaringly 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 205 
 
 glaringly contradifting the idea of that Sermoh 
 glorious ftate, in which all expeded ^_^.J^ 
 their Mefliah to appear, raifed' a diffi- 
 culty ; which to obviate, two methods 
 have by the later Jews been devifed : one 
 explaining it away, and the other deny- 
 ing the application of it. 
 
 I . Firft, in evafion of thofe prophecies, 
 fo injurious as the Jews conceived them 
 to the dignity of their Saviour and De- 
 liverer ; the do£lrine of the fuppofed 
 advent of two different Meffiahs was 
 adopted : the one an afflifted, fufFering 
 Meffiah, deftined to teach them patience 
 and refignation ; and the other a great 
 and glorious prince, lent to reward them 
 for their fufFerings. But this notion has 
 not the leaft foundation in the fcrip- 
 tures : where the Meffiah is conftantly, 
 uniformly, and clearly reprefented, as 
 the one Redeemer, the Holy One of Ifrael : 
 the Lord [aid unto my Lord, thou art a 
 ■priejl for ever : and the like. It is a 
 futile and vain conceit, without any au- 
 
 thoritv 
 
i2o6 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon thority from their moft antient and ge- 
 
 VII . . f. 
 
 ^_.^-^ nuine writings to fupport it. And they 
 
 may with equal pretence admit a num- 
 her of Meffiahs, as two ; Elijah, Jere- 
 miah, and every afflicted fufFering pro- 
 phet, that was fent to them. * 
 
 2. The other mode of interpretation 
 denies the application of thofe defcrip- 
 tions to the Mefliah : referring them to 
 their nation at large, as figurative repre- 
 fentations of it in its feveral periods of 
 captivity and oppreflion. But if the 
 prediftions of the glorious appearance 
 of the Mefliah be taken in a literal 
 fenfe ; we have the fame ground for 
 applying a literal meaning to thofe 
 prophecies, that defcribe his humiliation. 
 
 * Vid. Pocock Appen. ad. Coitim. in Malachi ; 
 Ch. iii. V. I. Ecce ego mitto angelum meum, et pra- 
 parabit viarn meam, et ftatim veniet ad templum fuum 
 Dominus, quem vos quaeritis, et Angelas Fsederis, 
 quem vos vultis j ecce venit, dicit Dominus Exer- 
 «ituum. 
 
 Who 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 207 
 
 Who of the Tews, antient or modern, Sermom 
 
 VIE 
 ever doubted of the following reprefen- <.„.^^ 
 
 tations being defcriptive of the Meffiah ? 
 Unto us a child is born, unto us a fbn 
 is given : and the government fliall 
 be upon his fhoulders ; and his name 
 fhall be called Wonderful, Counfel- 
 lor, the Mighty God, the Father 
 of the everlafting Age, the Prince of 
 Peace : of the increafe of his govern- 
 ment and peace there fhall be no end, 
 upon the throne of David, and upon 
 his kingdom to fix it, and to ellablifh 
 it, with judgment, and with juftice, 
 henceforth and for ever." Again : 
 The fpirit of the Lord fhall reft upon 
 him, the fpirit of wifdom and under- 
 ftanding, the fpirit of counfel and , 
 
 ftrength ; the fpirit of the knowledge 
 and fear of Jehovah : and he fhall be 
 of quick difcernment in the fear of 
 Jehovah, fo that not according to the 
 fight of his eyes fhall he judge, nor 
 according to the hearing of his ears • 
 fliall he reprove ; but with righteoui- 
 
 " nefs 
 
2o8 THE GROUND AND CREDIBlLIXy 
 
 Sermon " nefs (hall he iudsje the poor, and with 
 VII . JO 1 ^ ^ 
 
 v.- --.'_; " equity Ihall he work convidion oa 
 *' the meek of the earth. He fhall 
 *' fmite the earth with the blaft of his 
 *' mouth, and with the breath of his 
 " lips (hall he flay the wicked." Is 
 there any one, that affixes to thofe de- 
 fcriptions of Ifaiah a figurative meaning ? 
 Certainly not : and for this juft reafon ; 
 becaufe the literal fenfe is plain and ob- 
 vious, admitting no doubt, and involving 
 no difficulty. There is nothing forced, 
 or ftrained, or incoufiftent in the literal 
 meaning ; and therefore every rule of 
 found criticifm witholds us from flying 
 to a figurative interpretation. 
 
 If by the fame rule of criticifm we 
 judge the fame prophet's reprefentation 
 of the humihated flate of the Meffiah ; 
 we fliall find it charaftered in as ftrong 
 lines in the 53d chapter of Ifaiah, as his 
 exalted fl:ate has been noted in the paf- 
 fages above adduced. Indeed this de- 
 fcription, taken in a literal fenfe, is not 
 
 only 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 209 
 
 only plain throughout, and uniformly Sermon 
 perfpicuous : but in affixing a figurative ^JvZi, 
 meaning to it, and applying it to the 
 Jewifli nation, there are parts of it, fuch 
 as refer to the atonement of the Meffiah ; 
 which are perfedtly, irreconcileable with 
 every accommodation of common fenfe. 
 For inftance : *' furely our infirmities 
 *' hath he borne ; and our forrows, he 
 " hath carried them : yet we thought 
 *' him judicially ftricken, finitten of 
 ** God, and afflidled. But he was 
 *' wounded for our tranfgreffions : he 
 *' was fmitten for our iniquities. The 
 *' chaftifement, by which our peace is 
 *' efFe£ted, was laid upon him ; and by 
 " his bruifes we are healed." Take this 
 paffage figuratively : and I conceive it 
 will be very difficult to prove the con- 
 nedtion, the neceflary conneition be- 
 tween the fuffering ftate of the Jewiffi 
 nation at one period, and its eafy, peace- 
 ful, happy ftate at another ; or by what 
 jjice and fecret train of caufes and effects 
 O this 
 
210 THE GROUND AND CREDlBltlTV 
 
 Sermon this depended on, and was efFedted by, 
 JJ^ the other. 
 
 What conclufion then do thefe reflec- 
 tions produce ? Clearly this. That the 
 abfurd device of the later Jews to obvi- 
 ate the; predictions of the humiliated ftate 
 of the Meffiah, by the admiffion of two 
 Mefllahs, tends to eftablifh the belief of 
 a fufFering Meffiah. And with regard 
 to the other opinion of fuch defcription, 
 as figurative of the Jewifh nation ; the 
 letter is fo irreconcileable with the fi- 
 gure, as to deftroy every attempt at ac- 
 commodation. And the inference from 
 thence muft be ; that, thofe prophetic 
 defcriptions of the Meffiah being in both 
 inftances literal, in him muft meet the 
 abafement of a meek, humble, oppreffed, 
 perfecuted perfon, and the auguft glories 
 of a prince, whofe government and king- 
 dom fhall laft for ever. 
 
 Full as the Jews were of the idea of a 
 Saviour and Deliverer, a powerful and 
 
 puiflant 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 2H 
 
 puiflant prince, who fliould obtain for Sermom 
 them univerfal empire ; we are not fur- ^^^' 
 prifed to find them endeavouring by 
 every means, determined by any forced 
 and foreign conftrudion, to get rid of 
 the doctrine of a fufFering Meffiah. 
 But we have alfo feen, that the very 
 fame arguments, which prove his glori- 
 ous and exalted ftate, are equally flrong 
 in evincing his humiliation. And ob- 
 ftinate as they have been in reje£ling the 
 declarations of their own prophets re- 
 fpeding the one ; we will next enquire, 
 whether their notions refpeding the 
 other be more confonant with their fcrip- 
 tures. Their opinion is briefly this : 
 " that an illuftrious prince fhould rife 
 " up among them, and by force of 
 *' arms eftablifh his kingdom :. that 
 " under his aufpices they fhould tri- 
 " umph over their enemies, and that 
 " even to the lateft period of time Jerufa- 
 *' lem fhould give law to all the world." 
 With this opinion I proceed to confront 
 ioaxe of thofe prophecies, which are 
 '■;)• O z unani-' 
 
212 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon unaniraonfly confidered as defcriptive of 
 ^ ^^ the ftate and charadler of a glorious and 
 exalted MefTiah. 
 
 And firft, had they well confidered 
 the whole fcope of the prophecies rela- 
 ting to the kingdom of the Meffiah ; 
 they would have been convinced that a 
 fpiritual, and not a temporal, kingdom 
 was pourtrayed. Righteoufnefs and equity^ 
 according to the prophecies already cited, 
 are the conftant marks of it ; and not 
 conquefts charadtered in blood : with 
 judgment and jujltce it was to be fup- 
 ported ; and not by the oppreflive arm 
 of ftrength : by the knowledge and fear of 
 fehovah it was to be maintained, and 
 not by the rod of earthly power. / the 
 ■ Lord, faith Ifaiah, have called thee In 
 righteoufnefs, and will hold thine hand, and 
 will keep thee ; and give thee for a covenant 
 of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to 
 open the blind eyes, and bring out the prifon' 
 ers from the prifon, and them, who ft in 
 darknefs, out of their prifsn houfe. His 
 
 office 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 213 
 
 office is liere plainly defcribed to confift Sermon 
 in the diflemination of true knowledge : ^^...J^ 
 he is marked out, or called forth, as it is 
 expreffed, not by exploits of conqueft, 
 but as an exemplar of righteoufnefs : his 
 deftination is, not to controul the world 
 with - the authority of a chief and con- 
 queror, but to dlffeminate heavenly 
 knowledge even among the Gentiles ; 
 and by the illumination of the fpirit to 
 open the underftanding of the blind, and 
 releafe them from the prifon houfe of 
 ignorance and fin. And how compleatly 
 he Ihould be qualified for thefe high of- 
 fices another prophecy declares : ^bere 
 Jhall come forth a rod out of the fiem of 
 Jejfe, and a branch Jhall grow out of his 
 root ; and the fpirit of the Lord Jhall refl 
 upon him, the fpirit of wifdom and under- 
 jlanding, the fpirit of counfel and might, the 
 fpirit of knowledge and piety, and the fear 
 of the luord. 
 
 The text, I have next to produce, 
 
 feerns particularly addreffed to their pre- 
 
 3 judiced 
 
214 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon judiced opinion of a temporal prince and 
 ^^^, mighty conquerour. Hejhall not cry, or 
 more properly, Jhout, which the original 
 word pyif* in this place fignifies, and 
 under it the fhout of war is alluded to, 
 nor lift up, nor caiife his voice to be • heard 
 in the Jireets : a bruifed reed JJoall he not 
 break.) nor quench the fmoakingfiax ; hut he 
 Jhall bring forth judgment unto truth : he 
 fhall not be crufoed, nor difcouraged, till he 
 hath fet judgment in the earth, and the Gen- 
 tiles fhall BELIEVE IN HIS NAME. This 
 
 prophecy is not only defcriptive of what 
 the Meffiah Ihould be, but declarative of 
 what he ihould not be. It declares that 
 his appearance Ihall not be in the cha- 
 radler of a warrior ; an invader of ter- 
 ritories, to which he has no right, and a 
 flormer of peaceful cities : but that fo 
 inofrenfive (hould he appear, fo far from 
 exertions of power, fo far from leading 
 war and deftruftion in his train ; that 
 he fliould not even break a bruifed reed, 
 Ihould exercife no a6t of violence, nor 
 carry defolation into the moft impotent 
 ftate ; implied under the figure of extin- 
 
 guifhing 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 21^ 
 
 guifhing the feeble light of an expiring Sermon 
 lamp. The objeft of atchievement, to ,_^*^ 
 which he was deftined, was not to ren- 
 der the Gentiles tributary to Jerufalem, 
 but to bring the Gentiles into a common 
 hope in Jerufalem's Meffiah ; to conci- 
 liate a BELIEF in his name, a truft and 
 confidence in the divinity of his miffion. 
 
 If we examine the 45th pfalm, which 
 the Jewifti doftors unanimoufly acknow- 
 ledged to be prophetic of the Meffiah, 
 notwithftanding the figures of worldly 
 majefty under which he is defcribed, it 
 is plainly declared that He {hall profper 
 and reign because of his truths and meek-' 
 nefs, and righteoufnefs ; that his throne 
 fliould be for ever and ever : and, as a 
 charadteriftic of his kingdom, that the 
 fceptre of it Jhould be a fceptre of righte- 
 otJSNEss. The I roth pfalm has the fame 
 general evidence of the learned Jews, 
 in proof of its reference to the Meffiah. 
 He is there reprefented, as an everkfting 
 high prieft : a term fignificant of his 
 N 4 holinefs : 
 
2l6 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon holinefs : and termed by David, hi 
 ^2^^ Lord ; who fliould fit at the right hand 
 of God, there to contemplate the fubju- 
 gation of his enemies. Doth this de- 
 fcription comport with the character of 
 an earthly conqueror ? And doth it not 
 comport with that of a heavenly dele- 
 gate ? And as the nature of heavenly 
 greatnefs is indefcribable by an earthly 
 pen, it was natural to cloath it under 
 images of mortal glory. And what 
 fcene of earthly glory equals that of tri- 
 umphant power and conquefl ? 'The Lord 
 Jh all fend the rod of thy Jlrength out of Zioti', 
 rule thou in the midft of thine enemies. J'he 
 Lord at thy right hand fh all flrike through 
 kings in the day of his wrath : Hefhallfill 
 the places with the dead bodies : He.Jhall 
 wound the heads over many countries. 
 
 Let us next examine the prophecy of 
 
 Nathan ; the former part of which di- 
 
 reaiy points to Solomon : he Jhall build 
 
 me a houfe, and I will ejiablifh his throne 
 
 for ever. The prophet then, in the fpl- 
 
 rit 
 
OF THE C«RISTIA^f RELIGION. 21^ 
 
 rit of divination, inftead of dwelling on Sermom 
 his fubjedt, rapt with divine enthufiafm ,_,,Jv, 
 at the profpeft prefented to his mind, di- 
 rects his predidion to the endlefs dura- 
 tion of that kingdom under the Meffiah : 
 declaring that God ivould be His father, 
 and He Jhould he His fon : that He would 
 fettle him in his houfe and in his kingdom for 
 ever. Good kings, and prophets, God 
 fometlmes denominates his lervants. So 
 was Mofes ftiled, and David. But no 
 one, except Chrift, was ever fliled in an 
 efpecial and particular manner His fon. 
 The term father, had it flood alone, 
 might perhaps have by fome been fup- 
 pofed to denote the tendernefs and affec- 
 tion, which God promifed to Ihew him : 
 but the antithetic term son difcovers a 
 more marked and reftrifted meaning. 
 It was too diftinguifhing a title, to be 
 conferred on a mere human prince and 
 governor. It was never applied to either 
 of the charadters noticed above ; and 
 could with much lefs propriety be afcri- 
 bed to an inferior one, as was Solo- 
 mon ; 
 
2l8 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon mon : inferior in pietv, in zeal for 
 
 vir . ' 
 
 . ' God, and concern for his people. ^ Mofes 
 
 was a prince and leader, and David a 
 
 king : both of them delegated by God 
 
 for high purpofes, and both of them 
 
 prophets. Yet thus diftinguiflied, they 
 
 were never ftiled the fons of God. Son 
 
 OF GOD, was the referved appellation of a 
 
 fuperior charader : but what charadler 
 
 could be fuperior to both thefe, but 
 
 fomethingfupra-humau or divine ? That 
 
 other expreffion, I will fettle him in my 
 
 HOUSE, feems to bear an allufion to that 
 
 particular holinefs of charafter, which 
 
 fhould diftinguifh the Meffiah : and 
 
 which, in the preceding quotation, was 
 
 noted by the office of an everlafting 
 
 priefthood. 
 
 Behold, faith Ifaiah, the prophet from 
 whom I have extradted moft of the pre- 
 ceding quotations, and wliofe predic- 
 tions, though confeffedly delivered feven 
 or eight hundred years before the ap- 
 pearance of Chrift, are more like a hif- 
 
 tory 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 219 
 
 tory of his life, than a prophecy ; behold, Sermoh 
 a king Jhall reign in righteoufnefs, and k_ ^-^ -^ 
 princes, that is princes under him, his 
 minifters, Jhall rule in judgment. Jere- 
 miah in ftill ftronger colours charafter- 
 ifes the Meffiah : and this is his name, 
 faith he, 'whereby he Jhall be called, the 
 Lord our righteousness. The word 
 is, Jehovah our righteoufnefs : He, in 
 whofe exalted merits fhall be our righ- 
 teoufnefs ; He, in whom we look for 
 falvatlon : a falvation not placed in his 
 conqueils, in his military prowels and 
 exploits of valour, but in his righteoul^ 
 nefs, holinefs, equity, in all thofe virtues 
 calculated to raife the mind, and fit it 
 for univerfal blifs and endlefs happinefs. 
 
 And is this the charafter, deftined by 
 a feries of martial exploits to obtain the 
 fovereignty of the world ; and by His 
 prowefs hold that fubjedl world in awe? 
 Are thofe the means calculated to eftab- 
 lifh an univerfal monachy ; and to crufli 
 the visrorous exertions of rival and con- 
 
 tendins^ 
 
a?-0 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon tending powers ? Let the nation of If- 
 yj }j, rael queftion itfelf; whether holinefs, 
 righteoufnefs, equity, and judgment, 
 were the means, by which it eftabHlhed 
 even its narrow domiilion in Paleftine. 
 Aflc them whether they did not wade 
 through blood, through havock, and de- 
 vaftation, to that eftabUfhment ; which 
 they efFe£ted, under their puiffant hea- 
 ven-favoured chiefs and princes, Mofe^, 
 Jofhua, David, and others. The obje£t, 
 the important objedl, we acknowledge, 
 juftified every flep they took : an obje<3:, 
 of all that can concern mankind, the 
 greateft : the confervation of the know- 
 ledge of God ; and, from thence de- 
 rived, a fenfe of the love we owe Him, 
 of the reverence with which we ought 
 to regard Him, of the fervice we are 
 bound to pay Him. 
 
 Let them difpaflionately fearch their 
 own fcriptures, and enquire whether 
 they do not uniformly reprefent the do- 
 minion of the Meffiah, as founded, and 
 
 confifting 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 221 
 
 Confifting in riehteoufnefs : whether they Sermom 
 
 • • • VII 
 
 do not charafter His glory, In a ftlle fu- 
 
 peiror to that of earthly grandeur ; His 
 hngdom, as not of this world. It may 
 indeed appear urange, that thofe, who 
 Ihould feem moft interefted in what their 
 prophets had declared, and whom one 
 might conceive poffefled of the greateft 
 helps' to underftand them ; that thofe, 
 to whom the glad tidings were firft fent, 
 Ihould flop their cars againfl them. But 
 giving fbmething to prejudice, and mvich 
 to felf-intereft, for they had learned to 
 expeft prefent honour and advantage, we 
 may in fome meafure account for that 
 obftinacy ; which fhut up their hearts 
 againfl; every impreffion of truth. And 
 when we hear their own prophets, in 
 words infpired by God himfelf, de- 
 claring ; hear ye indeed, but underjland not ; 
 and fee ye indeed, hut perceive not : the 
 heart of this people is fat, and their ears 
 heavy, and they fhut their eyes; lefi they 
 fhould fee with their eyes, and hear with 
 : their ears, and underfiand with their heart, 
 
 and 
 
222 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon and convert and be healed: the efFe£t i^ 
 
 VIT 
 
 ^^ _ /, explained ; and their predi£ted miftake 
 of the Mefliah affords an additional ar- 
 gument to us,, of the truth of His mif- 
 fion : which fo pointedly meets the de- 
 fcription of their prophets ; and with 
 the added particular of their own rejec- 
 tion of Him. 
 
 From the preceding refleftions I will 
 offer only one fhort inference, the infe- 
 rence of the great Apoflle to the Qen- 
 tiles, drawn from fimilar reafoning : 
 ivherefore if God [pared not the natural 
 branches f take heed left He /pare not thee. 
 If the Jews, with eyes fo blinded, and 
 hearts hardened againft the voice of 
 truth, viftims to invincible obftinacy, 
 and inveterate prejudices, experienced 
 fuch a feries of evils, as in no other nati- 
 onal inftance ever marked a devoted peo- 
 ple : let us profit by their example ; and 
 jiot by a fimilar conduit draw down upoa 
 ourfeives fimilar, or greater, evils: let us 
 not, through love of pleafure and difii- 
 
 pation^ 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 223 
 
 pation, neglect to know and to under- Sermon 
 fland the lacred records of our religion; jY 
 nor through vanity, and the little catch- 
 ings at admiration, by daring to do, what 
 really wife, and truly good men, would 
 not do, affeft to treat them with fcorn. 
 Let not the contemptuous air of irony 
 and ridicule, nor any other motive what- 
 ever, divert us from ftudying, and from 
 profefling to ftudy thofe volumes; on 
 which a Newton, a Locke, and a Boyle 
 were not afhamed to employ their great 
 abilities, and valuable time. If any 
 learning be worth purfuing ; it is that, 
 on which the interefts of another world 
 depend. Search the fcriptures ; for in them 
 are the words of eternal life. And the 
 farther we fearch them, of this truth we 
 fliall be the more convinced ; and con- 
 vidiion will add new incitement to our 
 labours : and the more we ftudy, and 
 the better we underftand, the more we 
 Ihall learn to value, them. 
 
 SER- 
 
224 "^^^ GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 SERMON VIIT. 
 
 Matt. xxii. 42. 
 What think ye ofChriJi f 
 
 Sermon UnDER this general fubjed, the 
 u -v—j queftions difcuffed in my laft difcourfe 
 were, firft wherher the general expedla- 
 tion of a Mefliah was founded in reafon 
 and truth : and fecondly, whether that 
 Son of Promife, deftined to vifit and re- 
 deem Ifrael, was to be a mere mortal, 
 an illuftrious prince and conquerour, or 
 fomething greater ; of nature fupra-hu- 
 man, and divine. And in this latter In- 
 veftigation I referred to the prophecies of 
 the old Teftament ; which the Jews 
 were found moft wretchedly to have 
 miftaken, and raifreprefented : and, in 
 
 ConfequencQ 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 225 
 
 confequence of fuch mifinterpretations, Sermon 
 to have rejetted a faviour, and with filly i__^^ 
 expeftation looked forward to a con- 
 queior. Misjudging nation ! Was it 
 for this, that Jehovah led you forth from 
 the land of afflldlion ; and by a train of 
 Iplendid miracles conduced you through 
 the pathlefs fea, and wafte wildernefs, to 
 your promifed inheritance ? Was it for 
 this the light of prophecy fhone forth ; 
 beaming bleffings on mankind, and pro- 
 claiming a new asra of happinefs to the 
 world ? Had thofe prophecies no farther 
 afpe6l, than to conqueft and extended 
 dominion ; to private ambition and pub- 
 lic injury ? 'Wretched politicians! Or 
 ye would have known ; a warlike prince, 
 fuch as your narrow prejudices figu- 
 red your Mefliah, though conqueft like 
 a Have feem chained to his triumphal 
 car, is the greateft fcourge an oppreffed 
 nation can experience. Did increafed 
 extent of public territory ever produce 
 an increafe of private happinefs : or is It 
 not notorioufly otherwife ? Be that as it 
 P may ; 
 
226 THE GROUND AND CRETDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon may : the Jews in general entertained 
 ^^, ^ _ ^ na other idea of their Melliah, than that 
 which worldly fplendor fuggefted ; the 
 range of greatnefs and power. 
 
 And there is a fe6t of Chriftians alfo, 
 that hold dodlrines much the fame : if 
 indeed thofe are to be called Chriftians, 
 who regard Chrift with fcarcely more 
 reverence, than even the Mahometans 
 themfelves ; who deny to him every 
 character of divinity, and every degree 
 of diftindtion, above Peter, James, and 
 the reft of his followers, except that of 
 mafter and difciple. " It is evident, 
 ' fay they,' that the Jews themfelves 
 *' expected nothing more than a mere 
 " man for their Meffiah," And then 
 is commonly cited in proof of it this 
 prophecy of Moles : a prophet JJiail the 
 Lord your God raife up unto you from 
 among your brethren^ like unto me. 
 And this likenefs they conclude to con- 
 fift in dignity of character, rank, and na- 
 ture : whereas the expreffion alludes to 
 
 the 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 22/ 
 
 the office only ; and the true and literal Sermon 
 tranflation of the original is, " a pro- v.,,^,^ 
 phet not like unto me, but as I am w? 
 ilj^h one who fliall fuftain the prophetic 
 office, as I do, Jliall the Lord God ra'ife up 
 unto you^ from among your brethren. And 
 if inftead of a loofe tranflation, the ori- 
 ginal had been confulted ; it would 
 have precluded fuch ground of Socinian 
 cavil. 
 
 With regard to th^ general afiertion, 
 that " the Jews expedled iiothing more 
 *' than a mere man for their Meffiah ;" 
 it is very readily acknowledged : and 
 the conclufion follows ; that as they 
 were charged by their own prophets, 
 with having miflaken the fcriptures ; 
 and that charge was renewed agalnfb 
 them by our Saviour ; their opinion is 
 no proof of the truth of the dodtrine 
 they entertained. On the other hand, 
 
 * See Prveftley on the Influence of Philofophy ot> 
 Chriflianity, p. 310, 
 
 Pa if 
 
228 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon if It appear from the fcriptures of the 
 ^^_ ^ •, new Teftament, that Chrift is there re- 
 prefented as fomething more than mere 
 man ; the contrary opinion of the Jews 
 tends to confirm the apparent do£lrine 
 of the new Teftament, and to fulfil the 
 prophecies of the old. To this invefli- 
 gation, then let us now proceed, and 
 enquire into the nature and charatler of 
 Meffiah the Chrift, as the fcriptures of 
 the new Teftament reprefent him ; with 
 one previous obfervation : which is, 
 that fome line is to be drawn, according 
 to which we muft admit, or reje£t, figu- 
 rative conftrudions. And the proper rule 
 of admittance I conceive to be, when 
 the literal one implies a contradidlion to 
 reafon ; or to other clear, dired:, and 
 pofitive texts of fcripture. For if, as 
 fancy prevails, figurative meanings be 
 arbitrarily affigned ; the dodtrines of the 
 new Teftament could not be confidered 
 as a general rule of faith or praftice : 
 but muft be liable, as whim and imagi- 
 nation 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 229 
 
 nation led, by every fanciful reader to be Sermon 
 frittered away. ul^^w 
 
 The method, I propofe in the fequel 
 to purfue, is ; firft, to enquire what is 
 the general fcope and tenor, which the 
 fcriptures of the new Teflament, on the 
 fubje6t of our prefent inveftigation pur- 
 port and propofe : and fecondly, to meet 
 the objedlions to Chrift's pre-exiftence 
 and divinity, in the full force in which 
 certain readers of a revived fedt have 
 preffed them. 
 
 I. To begin with the birth of Chrift, 
 which the hiftories of the Evangelifts, 
 Matthew and Luke, declare to have been 
 in an eminent manner fupernatural, we 
 find him introduced into the world with- 
 out a human father ; and therein cha- 
 radtered with a plain mark of individua- 
 tion, which difcriminates him from all 
 other men, and places him above the 
 rank of human beings. 'The Holy Ghojl 
 Jhall come upon thee, and the power of the 
 P 3 highe/i 
 
230 THE GROUND AND CEEDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon hlghejl Jhall overjhadow thee : therefore alfo 
 1 ^ ' J that holy thing, ^'° "'*' '''° yivui^evpv si.yiov, not 
 Bpfo?, not that holy infant, child, or Ion ; 
 but tliat holy thing, or- being, which 
 Jhall be ham of the^, pall be called the 
 Bon ofG.od. Derived from a fource thus 
 divine, the produftjon muft neceffarily 
 partake of its divine origin : he was 
 accordingly called^ that is, he was, in 
 a peculiar manner was, the Son of God. 
 Look through nature, and obferve if we 
 have not as plain and powerful an argu- 
 ment in fupport of this dodlrine, as 
 analogy can afford. The Evangelifl 
 John alfo, in his account of the origin 
 of Chrift, as plainly as words can ex-' 
 prefs a meaning, aflerts his divinity, and 
 alfo his pre-exiftence : declaring that he 
 was with God m the beginning ; and that 
 by his inftrumentality all things were 
 made. This could not be affirmed of 
 a mere man : and that this procemium 
 of St. John's Gofpel did refer to Chrift, 
 
 it 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 23I 
 
 it would lead me too far from mv prefent Sermon 
 
 ' VIIT 
 
 fubje£l to go about to prove.* ^_ ^ "j 
 
 Agreeable to fuch divine origin is the 
 next account we have of him, when the 
 Holy Ghoft in a bodily form defcended 
 on him ; and a voice from Heaven pro- 
 nounced him to be the beloved Son of 
 God. And uniformly and confiftently 
 with the coeleftial declaration, when 
 there is occafion to fpecify his nature, 
 and teftify who he really is, he both 
 fliles himfelf, and is acknowledged by 
 his difciples as, the Son of God. The 
 condition addreffed to the Ethiopian 
 eunuch, previous to his baptifm, was, 
 if thou believeji. His anfwer evinces the 
 extent of the implied queftion : / believe 
 that fefus is the Son of God. + Adam it 
 is true was alfo ftiled the Son of God : 
 
 * See " Free Examination of the Socinian Expofition 
 " of the prefatory verfes of St. John's Gofpel." 
 Printed for W. Flexney. 
 
 f See Sermon I. 
 
 P 4 becaufc 
 
232 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon becaufe God was his immediate author,, 
 4..,,.^^^ But Chrift, notwithftanding Adam's pri- 
 ority in the flefh, is ftiled uio? tt/iototoxoc. 
 A diftinftion this not without a difference, 
 and the difference is plain : Adam was 
 created by God, a mere human creature ; 
 and, being produced without father or 
 mother, was therefore ftiled in the gene- 
 alogical account of Chrifl, the Son of 
 God. But the difference of Chrift's 
 procedure from God, is marked. by the 
 fl:rong term tcjco?, begotten : a term 
 plainly expreffive of a communication of 
 nature. 
 
 In the account of the tranfadion at 
 the wedding at Cana, there is in the 
 aufwer of our Lord to his mother fome- 
 thing very declarative of a fuperiority 
 of nature, above what appearances might 
 challenge. PToman, not mother ; what 
 concern have you with me f What influ- 
 ence do you claim over me : to what de- 
 pendence on you am I fubjedt .' And 
 much to the faijie purpofe we find him 
 
 continually 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 233 
 
 continually exprefling himfelf, on any Sermon 
 claimsof earthly kindred. When, argu- ^_,^ ^_^ 
 ing with the do£tors in the fynagogue, 
 it was told him ; that his mother and 
 brethren flood without^ dejiring to /peak with 
 him, he anfwered, who is my mother ; and 
 •who are my brethren ? And Jlr etching forth 
 his hands to his difciples, he Jaid ; behold 
 my mother, and my brethren ! The pa]P- 
 fage, connedted with other refleftions, 
 that had at different times occafionally 
 dropped from him, may in fome fuch 
 terms as the following be paraphrafed. 
 *' Whatever appearances may fpeak me : 
 *' earthly connexions have I none. I 
 *' am a Arranger in this world ; without 
 *' a home, or refidence in it, where! 
 " may lay my head ; without one na- 
 *' tural relative, to engage me with the 
 " tender tie of affection ; without 
 " other bufinefs here, than that which 
 •' I received in commifiion from above." 
 Thus alfo on his mother's expoft'ulation 
 with him on another occafion ; thy fa- 
 ther and I have fought thee forrowing : hia 
 
 anfwer 
 
234 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY^ 
 
 Sermom anfvver is firnilar and uniform. Why is 
 ,_^ ' //, thai ye fought me P And then, in- 
 dire<9:ly declaring Jofeph not to be his 
 father, he adds ; have ye not known, are 
 ye yet to learn, that I mujl be about MY 
 father'j bujinefs : that 1 am now acting 
 in my proper fphere, that I am now 
 about my real father's bufinefs, that I 
 muft be employed as I am ? 
 
 No mere man, no prophet ever af- 
 fumed the power of forgiving fins : the 
 forgivenefs of fins was univerfally held 
 to be the prerogative of God alone ; and 
 therefore when our Lord exercifed that 
 authority, the Scribes we find accufing 
 him of blafphemy.* Hence then it 
 follows, that arrogating to himfelf a 
 power, which did not belong to man, 
 he either afTumed a greater authority 
 than he had a right to exercife ; or that 
 he was fupra-human, and therefore took 
 upon him no higher power than what 
 ftridlly belonged to him. 
 
 * Man. ix. 3. 
 
 Whea 
 
Ot THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 235 
 
 When It Is faid, Matt. xi. 27. that Sermok 
 no one knoweth the father, except the fon : ^ V^ 
 it is very clear, that the nature of the 
 father is iptended. And in the fame 
 verfe when it is declared, that no one 
 hnowith the, fin, but the father ; the con- 
 text fhews, that the nature alfo of the fon 
 is alluded to. For as to his office, many 
 knew him to be the Meffiah ; and ac- 
 knowledged him as fuch. But the 
 knowledge, here impliedj appears to be 
 of a very different and fuperior kind : a 
 knowledge delivered immediately by the 
 father ; a knowledge, which man did 
 not pofTefs, for even his difciples do not 
 appear to have beeq compleatly ac- 
 quainted with it, till after his refurec- 
 tion ; even the knowledge of his eter- 
 nal power and godhead. ^U things are 
 delivered to me of my father ; and no man 
 knoweth the fon, but the father. 
 
 After our Lord had filenced the Sad- 
 ducees, on the fubjeft of a refurre^ion ; 
 the Pharifees we are told entered into 
 
 controverfv 
 
^2^ THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon controverfy with him : to whom He 
 ^ _ /j propofed the queftion in my text. They 
 in reply returned him the ufual anfwer : 
 on which he prefled them with the 
 prophetic declaration of David ; ibe 
 Lord faid unto my Lord, Jit thou on my 
 right hand, until I make thy foes thy foot- 
 Jlool. And he then argues on the words 
 with fuch force ; that if he did not ef- 
 fe£t the convidlion of his hearers, he 
 at leaft left them without the power of 
 reply. We might riik the ifliie of the 
 prefent controverfy on this fingle paf- 
 fage : fo decifive is it in point. The 
 fcope of it appeals too plain to be mif- 
 taken : I will therefore only enlarge on 
 the words, and leave it to the moft de- 
 termined opponent of Chrift's divinity, 
 to find a different meaning. 
 
 Our Lord's general queftion was, 
 " what think ye of the Meffiah ?"-^ 
 " We confider him, anfwer the Phari- 
 *' fees, as an illuftrious prince defcended 
 " from that glorious king of Ifrael Da- 
 « vid."— 
 
 " And 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 237 
 
 *' And nothing more, rejoins our Lord, Sermon 
 
 • . VIII 
 
 " than a great man, an illuftrious (.,«y_^ 
 
 *' prince ?" — The reply is, " no." " If 
 *' that were the cafe then, faith our 
 *' Lord f with what propriety could 
 that great and glorious monarch, the 
 greateft that ever filled the throne of 
 Ifrael, in the fpirtt of prophecy declare 
 of him, declare of any mere human be- 
 ing, however exalted in rank, or blazon- 
 ed with victories, " that he was his 
 *' Lord: and that Jehovah would feat 
 *' him on his right hand?" Confider 
 the juft degree of profound reverence, 
 with which the Jews contemplated Je- 
 hovah, whofe adorable perfe<5l:ions no 
 epithet will fuit ; whofe name, except 
 on the moft folemn occafions, they fear- 
 ed to pronounce, and never heard it 
 without a reverential bow : and the force 
 of our Lord's argument applies with 
 irrefiftible power; in demonftrating that 
 the Meffiah muft be by nature fuperior 
 to David, fomething more than man.- 
 And if we be alked what effedl this ar- 
 gument 
 
238 THE GROUND AMD CREDIBILITY 
 
 SiRMON gument had on his hearers muids : the 
 ^_ *, effed was f,;ch, as truth rrjuft ever pro- 
 duce on minds which obftinacy had 
 feared with impenetrable eallofity, the 
 forced aflent of iilencc. I'hey were not 
 able to anfwer Him: they could not refute 
 his arguments ; nor, without giving up 
 their prejudices, and retracting their er- 
 roneous opinions concerning the nature 
 of the Meffiah, could they admit the 
 force of them : they therefore made him 
 no reply. Nor durji any man from that 
 day forth afk him any more quejlions. 
 
 Of that day, and that hour, faith St, 
 Mark, knoweth no man ; no, not the an- 
 gels which are in heaven, neither the Jon, 
 hut the FATHER. Though we may not 
 prefume to ground a do6trine on verbal 
 conftru£tion, it rnay be alledged as a 
 circumftantial evideace of the truth of it, 
 when grounded on a firm^er foundation : 
 and as fuck I fubmit to* coniideration the 
 preceding clhnax ; which reprefents the 
 nature of Chriftj not only as diftinft from,. 
 
 and 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ^39 
 
 and fuperior to that of mere man, but Sermow 
 even above the angelic nature itfelf. ^ '^ 
 
 The Evangelifts Matthew and Luke 
 mention the circumftance, of John ha- 
 ving fent two of his difciples to enquire 
 of Jefus ; whether he were that great 
 prophet, John had been taught to ex- 
 pert, or not. Our Lord in anfwer re- 
 fers them to his works ; leaving their 
 mafter from ■ them to form his judg- 
 ment of him. When they were gone, 
 he very naturally addreffed to thofe, 
 who were about him, fome refle£lions 
 on the charafter of John : which He re- 
 prefented to have been fo high, that 
 among thofe who were born of woman 
 there was not a greater prophet than he. 
 Then with allufion to his own nature, 
 rank, and dignity, which the queftion 
 aiked by John's Difciples very aptly in- 
 troduced, he added ; but he, that is leafl 
 in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than 
 he : in the kingdom of heaven, in that 
 kingdom, where previous to my exift- 
 
 cnce 
 
240 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon ence here on earth I enjoyed glory 
 I _ .^ with my father, who is in heaven : 
 great prophet as he is, of Courfe he 
 is very inferior to me. In fupport of 
 this expoiition I will only add, that the 
 common gloffes on the paflage give no 
 pertinency to the lafl claufe ; nor do 
 they obviate an apparent falfity in the 
 claufe preceding : for if Chrift had not 
 confidered himlelf, of a nature and dig- 
 nity fuperior to that of a mere prophet, 
 he mull: at leail have excepted himfelf 
 as a miich greater prophet than John. 
 
 If from the evangelical hiftories of 
 Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we proceed 
 to that of John ; the fcope and tenor of 
 his gofpel we fhall find ftill more clearly 
 declarative of the divinity and pre-exift- 
 ence of Chrifl. To inculcate that doc- 
 trine, appears to have, been the particular 
 defign of it. The prefatory verfes of 
 that gofpel, as hath been already intima- 
 ted, are full in point ; and feem to hav« 
 been dire*!lly levelled at the oppofite 
 
 error. 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 24I 
 
 error. In the beginning was the word. Sermon 
 dnd the word was with God, and the y__ "j 
 word was God. And, as if to enforce 
 a doftrine that had by fome been quef- 
 tioned, he repeatb it : outo?, this very 
 word, was in the beginning with God. 
 All things were made by him, and with- 
 out him was not any thing made, that was 
 made. And the word was madeflejh, and 
 dwelt among us. And this dodrine, adds 
 the Evangelift, was confirmed by John 
 the Baptift ; who allowed him prefer- 
 ence in honour, in confequence of fuch 
 his priority of exiftence : He was prefer- 
 red above me, for he was before me. 
 
 No man hath afcended up to heaven^ 
 but he that came down from heaven, even 
 the Son of man which was in heaven. For 
 the expofition of this verfe, obferve the 
 context : for fcripture is heft explained 
 by fcripture. Verily, verily, filth our 
 Lordf we fpeak that we do know, and ief- 
 
 John iii, 13, 
 
242 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon t'lfy that we have feen ; and ye receive not. 
 
 VIII . 
 
 ^^ "^ our wltnefs. If I have told you earthly 
 
 things, and ye believe not ; how Jhall ye 
 believe, if I teh you of heavenly things. No 
 man ever afcended up to heaven, and 
 there received in an enlarged mind the 
 communication of divine knowledge : 
 except him vv^ho came down from hea- 
 ven, to whom alone that knowledge 
 was communicated, even him, who had 
 his firft exiftence in heaven.* The force 
 of this paflage cannot be better afcer*- 
 tain.d, than by the figment fabricated, 
 by Socinus to elude it : who fuppofed 
 Chrift to have taken a journey to hea* 
 veil after his baptifm ; and afterwards to 
 ha.ve returned to the earth, and entered 
 upon his rainiftry. 
 
 The Baptift in dire£l words teftifies in 
 acknov'ledgment of Chrift's fuperiority, 
 that He came from above : and then, as 
 
 * O wi/ £v Tw Hfoci/di. The participle prefent here, 
 as in various other paflages, has the fignification of an 
 impcrfeft. 
 
 it 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 243 
 
 it were in explanation of the term he Sermot* 
 had made ufe of, by the word a,vu9iv ~_^ ' 
 from above, he inftrudts his hearers, 
 that he meaned heaven. He, that cometh 
 from above, is above all: he, that is of the 
 earth, is earthly, and fpeaketh of the earth : 
 He, that cometh from heaven, is above all. 
 
 And in this declaration of our Lord, 
 / came down from heaven, not to do mine 
 own will, but the will of Him that fent 
 me ; he plainly alTumes the do£lrine of 
 his having defcended from heaven, as a 
 truth, to which that full affent, he had 
 repeatedly demanded, he fuppofed was 
 Implicitly paid : and declares his motive 
 far fuch an humiliation to have been 
 obedience to his father's will; and his 
 defign, a full determination in every arti- 
 cle to purfiK it. And in a few verfes 
 diftant diflinguifliing himfelf, by the 
 particular communication he bad enjoy- 
 ed with the father in heaven, as alone 
 competent to know and teach the per- 
 fed will of God, he adds ; it is indeed 
 0^2 written 
 
244 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon written in the prophets, that all men flmll 
 y^^ ' be taught of God: not that any man hath 
 Jeen the father, fave he which is of God, 
 he hath feen the -father ; he is inti- 
 inately acquainted with the nature and 
 effence of God, he alone exadlly knows 
 his will, and deep defigns, his hidden 
 counfels, fecret, and unfathomable by 
 the human mind. 
 
 This doctrine of Chrift's divine na- 
 ture and pre-exiftent ftate appears to 
 have given offence to fome of his follow- 
 ers : which however we find him very 
 far from retracing, or explaining away. 
 On the contrary, with an indignant re- 
 proof he adds, does this offend you ? 
 And then perfeveringly maintaining the 
 dodrine, he had clearly allerted, he 
 foretels his future afcenfion to thofe 
 manlions, he had formerly left : and 
 alks them, if fuch an appeal to their 
 fenfes would fatisfy their doubts ; what 
 and if ye fh all fee the Son of man afcend 
 up, where he was before? 
 
 His 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 245 
 
 His fuperiority of nature, in a chapter Sermon 
 or two following, is in terms the moft ,.__^^ 
 unequivocf.l again afferted : ye are from 
 beneath^ I am from above ; ye are of this 
 'world, I am not of this world: and ^as the 
 chain of fubfeqaeut reaioning fupplies) 
 if you will not believe this account of 
 myfelf, which I have fo expreflly and 
 repeatedly declared ; ye fhall die in your 
 fns. "Then faid they unto him., who art 
 thou f .To which queftion, expreffive of 
 the moft invincible obftinacy on their 
 part, he made them no other reply than, 
 the very fame, that I faid unto you from ihe 
 beginning, that I have conftantly and uni- 
 formly declared myfelf ; the Son of 
 God, that came down from heaven to do 
 my father's will, and redeem "ou from 
 your fins : which great truth ye will not 
 believe, and muft therefore die in your 
 fins. This paffage evidently declares 
 the reafon, why they fliould die in 
 their fins ; becaufe they did not believe 
 him to be the Son of God, and to 
 have come down from heaven, to do his 
 0^3 father's 
 
246 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon father's will, and to redeem them from 
 J[^|^ their fins. And if their difbelief in that 
 article was a fin ; the doftrine, in which 
 they were fo urgently required to be- 
 lieve, was a truth. 
 
 Towards the clofe of the fame chap- 
 ter, we find the fiime do6lrine again in- 
 fifted on ; and in terms fo exprefs, that 
 his hearers, though they would not 
 believe him, appear by their rude pro- 
 ceedings to have perfectly underftood 
 his meaning : for irritated at the claim 
 of divinity, which he arrogated, they 
 took up Jiones to caji at him. The of- 
 fenfive declaration was a dired affertion 
 of his pre-exiftence : before Abraham was^ 
 I am. 
 
 In a converfation with his difciples, 
 the plain fcope of which was to prepare 
 them for his departure, and confole them 
 under their lofs, he tells them that in 
 this world he counted not his origin, nor 
 was the condition he had here affumed 
 
 his 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 247 
 
 his true and proper ftation ; and that, in Sermon 
 removing hence, he was only going to ' 
 
 the place of exalted happinefs and glory, 
 which in coming hither he had fo lately 
 left. / came forth from the Father^ and 
 am come into the world: again, I leave 
 the world, and go to the father. * The 
 antithefes evince the literal meaning , 
 of the above paffage beyond a doubt. 
 The world he was going to leave, was 
 the very fame world into which he a 
 little before -had come ; and the world, 
 or ftate of exiftence, with the father, 
 into which he was going to remove, was 
 the world, or ftate of exiftence with the 
 father, which, when he came to vifit 
 this world, he had left. This the Dif- 
 ciples, to whom the words were par- 
 ticularly addrefled, underftood to be fo 
 clear and intelligible ; that they imme- 
 diately obferved, lo, now fpeakejl thou 
 plainly, and fpeakejl no parable. 
 
 *" John xvi. 28. 
 
 0^4 I will 
 
24^ THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Sermon I will clofe this general examination of 
 the hiftories of our Lord's life with a 
 paff^ge in that remarkable prayer, im- 
 mediately preceding his apprehenfion ; 
 which throughout fpeaks the heart, and 
 mind, and defign, and intereft of an in- 
 habitant of another world, a flranger 
 and fojourner here. Jltid now, O Fa- 
 ther, glorify thou me with thine own 
 felf, with the glory which I had with 
 thee before the world was, Thefe words 
 plainly declare his pre-exiftence, and his 
 pre-exiftence alfo in a ftate of glory ; 
 with the a^'owed confcioufnefs of the 
 glories of that his pre-exiftent condition. 
 And as the generality of readers, I will 
 fay farther from the perfpiculty of the 
 paffage, every impartial and unprejudiced 
 reader, mult fo underftand the import 
 of the words : it follows, either that 
 the declaration is calculated to deceive, 
 or that it is abfolutely true ; either that 
 Jefus arrogated in it a degree of pre- 
 eminence, to which he had no claim, or 
 
 that 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 249 
 
 that he was of a nature fupra-human, Sermon 
 pre-exiftent, and divine. (J^Tllj 
 
 After his refurre6lion he was conftant- 
 ly and uniformly preached by his apof- 
 tles, as a fuperior being ; not a fepa- 
 rated foul in hades, nor a drowfy foul 
 fleeping away a long period of exiftence 
 in the grave : but as enjoying glory 
 with God, that ftate of glory he had 
 affirined to have enjoyed with Him be- 
 fore his hurniliadon on earth. And the 
 apoftle Paul, in his Epiftle to the Colof- 
 fians, doth in the plaineft language con- 
 firm the doftrine of his pre-exiftence ; 
 and, in that pre-exiftent Hate, of his in- 
 ftru mentality in the creation of the world 
 For in him were all things created, that are 
 in heaven, and that are on earth, viftble 
 and invifihk, whether they be thrones, or 
 dominions, or principalities, or powers, all 
 things were created through him and for 
 him. * And I the rather cite this paf- 
 
 * Col. i. 16. and 17. 
 
 fage, 
 
2^0 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon Tage, as it forms a kind of comna£nt ; 
 ^^^^" explaining, and confirming a fimilar af- 
 fertlon in St. John's Gofpel in its pri- 
 mary and literal acceptation. AH things 
 were made by him, and without him was 
 not any thing made that was made.* 
 
 * 
 
 On thefe words of the Evangeliil; Sb- 
 cinus remarks, that " the words, all 
 *' things, are not to be admitted in fo 
 " general a fenfe as is commonly fup- 
 " pofed, denoting the original formation 
 " of the world." — " They are not to 
 *' be taken, ' continues he,' in their 
 " primary fenfe, as if referable to the 
 " material world ; but are to be applied 
 " to the publication and reception of 
 " the gofpel : as if John had faid, all 
 " thefe fpiritual and divine tranfadions, 
 " which are feen among us in the world, 
 *' are derived from no other fource than 
 *' the preaching of the gofpel of Jefus 
 
 * John i. 3, 
 
 *' Chrift; 
 
(C 
 
 OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. H^l 
 
 Chrift ; and were effected by his in- Sermoh 
 " fluence and power." ^ -.- Ij 
 
 That fuch interpretation of the words 
 of the Evangelift is as falfe, as it is 
 forced, foreign, and jejune, the preceding 
 ^affage cited froni St. Paul demonftrates. 
 It doth moft clearly afcertain the literal 
 interpretation of the paffage in the Evan- 
 gelift, and enforce the truth of it : evinc- 
 ing that the words could not be ufed in 
 that figurative fenfe, Socinus hath affixed 
 to them ; nor referred to moral habits, 
 and fpiritual improvements. Things in 
 heaven, as well as on earth, invijible, as 
 well as 'vifible, whether they be thrones, do- 
 minions, principalities, or potvers, refer to 
 a mors extenfive creation, than thjat of 
 new moral habits, a reformation of 
 manners in this world ; and difprove the 
 idea of reftridion to this world, or any 
 thing fokly connedled with it. 
 
 The general fcope and uniform tenor 
 of the fcriptures of the new Teftament, 
 
 relpefting 
 
2^2 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon refpcdiijg che doctrine of Chrift's divH 
 ^__/__J nity and pre-exiflence, having thus en- 
 deavoured to evince ; I proceed, as was 
 propoied in the fecond place, to obviate 
 fome objedlions, that by certain writers 
 of the prefent day have been advanced 
 againft it. #» 
 
 II. One obje£lion to this dodlrine is 
 founded on the appellative man, in 
 fome parages of the new Teftament ap- 
 plied to our Lord : as in A£ls ii. 1 2. "Je- 
 fus of Nazareth, a man approved of God 
 among you : and again, He hath appointed 
 a day, in the which he will judge the "world 
 by. that man, whom Me hath .ordained. 
 A£ls, xvii. 31. And to thefe pafiages, 
 from the Epiftle of Paul to Timothy, I 
 will add another ; there is one mediator 
 between God and man, the man Chriji Je^ 
 fus : remarking on this laft palTage, that 
 the idea of a mere man being delegated 
 to the high and important office of me- 
 diator between God and man, that is, 
 between God and himfelf, is lefs agree? 
 
 ablg 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 253' 
 
 able to reafon, than the dodtrine of a Sermon 
 fuperior and divine exiftence, by inhe- ^Jj7\ 
 ritance fo claiming, or fo ordained. 
 
 Refpefting the general application of 
 the denominative man to Chrift, we 
 know that the Evangelift John fays, he 
 ivas made, or became, man: and as fuch, 
 he is in fcripture frequently ftiled man. 
 But who is he, that St. John declares 
 was made, or became, this individual 
 man ? Even that Divine Being, that ex- 
 ifted with the father from the begin- 
 ning. Acknowledging therefore with 
 the Evangelifl, that he was man ; why 
 are we not to believe the fame Evangelift, 
 who in fubfequent words affures us, he 
 was, prior to fuch ftate of humiliation, 
 exiftent with the father ? He was made 
 jiejh : and how is he, who hath ftirined 
 his divinity in the veil of manhood, to 
 be otherwife denominated, than as man ? 
 Such humiliation of himfelf, while fa- 
 Ihioned in the form and figure of a man, 
 whatever degree of divinity he might 
 
 under 
 
§54 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon under that fhade poffefs, would in hif^ 
 ^}}\ torical detail charadlerife him as a man. 
 Thus, Gen. 1 8. the three angels, one of" 
 whom is fliled the Lord, that is the im- 
 mediate meflenger err angel of the Lord, 
 appearing in the form and fubftance of 
 men, are ftiled men. And, in the next 
 chapter, of the angels, that in the af- 
 fumed fh^pe of men vifited Lot, it is 
 laid ; and the men put forth their hands, 
 and pulled Lot into the houfe to them, and 
 Jhut thr door. Gen. 32. ^ man is faid to 
 have wreftied with Jacob : yet that man 
 we learn was no otht r, than the anj^-^el of 
 the Lord. For Jacob called the name of 
 that place Penuel ; becaufe he had there feen 
 God face to face. 
 
 A fecond objeftion to this doftrine is 
 urged in terms to the following purport. 
 *' If a divine being, ' in the inftance of 
 *' Chrift,' had really animated a human 
 *' body ; it piuil have appeared in the 
 *' courle of his hiftory, that fuch an ex- 
 *' traordiaary meafure was necelTary." 
 
 Now 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 255 
 
 Now I really fee not the neceffity of the Sermok 
 confequence inferred. If the fa£t really ^ ^f^ 
 were fo, I conclude it expedient and 
 neceffary, that it fbould be fo ; without 
 feeing fuch iieceffity 'in terms afferted. 
 However it happens, for the fatisfa£tion 
 of the objector ; that the neceffity is 
 abfolutely declared : though he has been' 
 fo unfortunate, as to overlook the decla- 
 ration. Him Godraifid up, hailing loofed 
 the pains of death, becaufe it was not pojjible 
 he Jhould be holden of it. Adls ii. 24. 
 But if mere man, why not poffible ? 
 The abfolute impoffibility therefore be- 
 ing thus afferted, according to this wri- 
 ter's requifition, by his own argument 
 proves our Lord's divinity. 
 
 It is further objected againfl Chrift's 
 divinity, that his apoftles are frequently 
 reprefented as on a level with hlmfelf ; 
 and that many paffages of fcripture ex- 
 preflly :6.y, they will be advanced to fi- 
 milar, if not equal honour. Unfortu- 
 nately however for the bold allerter of 
 
 this 
 
256 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 SEHMeN this extraordinary remark, the very pai^ 
 ^_JV' fages, adduced by him in proof of fuch 
 equality, militate dire61:ly againft it. 
 Such are the following : That they may 
 he one; as thou, father^ art in me, and I in 
 thee, that they may be one in us, -— And the 
 glory, which thou gaveji me, I have given 
 them ; that they may be one, even as we are 
 one : I in them, and thou in me, that they 
 may be made perfeSi in one ; and that the 
 world may know that thou has fent me, and 
 hajl loved them, as thou haft loved me. 
 The import of the petition is, " that 
 *' clofely connefted as he was with the 
 *' father in love and obedience, fo his 
 " difciples might be in love and obedi- 
 " ence to the father and him." The 
 nature of the unity implied is further 
 explained, in the fubfequent claufe that 
 ihey may be perfeSi £i? iv, unto one thing; 
 *' that they may unite in delign and 
 *' operation to that one great end, the 
 ** redemption of mankind." And fo 
 far from declaring his difciples on a 
 level with himfelf, the words imply a 
 
 marked 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 257 
 
 marked inferiority to him : in as much Sermon 
 
 1 1 -1 • r • VIII 
 
 as ne, who gives glory, is iuperior to v_„^j 
 
 him, to whom he gives it. The glory, 
 here fpoken of, is the power of working 
 miracles ; a power, which as the father 
 had given him, he had exercifed a fimi- 
 lar authority, and given to his difciples, 
 in teftimony to the world, that he had 
 received his commiffion from the father ; 
 and in proof that the father, in permit- 
 ting that power to be delegated to them, 
 had loved them, not in the fame degree, 
 but )£«9wf, as, even as, manifeftly as, thou 
 ha/i loved me. 
 
 *' Other parts of this remarkable 
 *' prayer, ' adds the author,' are in the 
 *' fame ftrain." For the fatisfaftion of 
 my audience I will fubjoin fome of 
 thofe parts alluded to. I have given unto 
 them the words, which thou gavejl to me : 
 and they have received them, and have 
 known furely, that I came out from thee, and 
 they believed that thou hajl fent me. In 
 this ejaculatiou how does our Lord here 
 R charac 
 
258 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 SfciiMON characleiire his difclples ? Not as im- 
 y ^ '_f mediately coming themielves from God ; 
 but as acknowledging him the imme- 
 diate delegate of God, and knowing that 
 he was fo. Here is a manifeft diftiuc- 
 tion obferved between them : A diftinc- 
 tion wide as the different degree of ho- 
 nour, in being the immediate delegate 
 of God, come from the prefence and a 
 participation of the glory of the father, 
 to reveal his will to men ; and one of 
 thofe, to whom fuch revelation was 
 made, and who acknowledged it : a dif- 
 tindion obvious as the difference implied 
 in receiving a kingdom, and being ap- 
 pointed to employs of honour in that 
 kingdom under him, who received it. 
 
 I. Cor. It;. 24. Chrifl's kingdom is 
 faid to have an end : and from thence 
 an argument is formed againfl his pre- 
 exiftence. T^hen cometh the end, when he 
 Jhall have delivered up the kingdom to God^ 
 even the Father, And when all things 
 \Jl:(ill be Juhdued unto him, then Jhall the Son 
 
 alfo 
 
«F THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 259 
 
 alfo himfelf be fubjeSl unto him, that put Sermon 
 all things under him, thai God may be all J^.[!fj 
 in all. "•■ This, ' fays the objedor,' 
 " is what we fhould hardly have ex- 
 " pefted, if Chrift had been the firft of 
 " all created Beings : by whom all 
 *' things were made, and who upholds 
 " and governs all things." It is fuffi- 
 cient to draw up this argument in form, 
 to expofe the weaknefs of it. " If 
 " Chrift exifted from the beginningiof 
 " his kingdom there could be no end. 
 " But the fcriptures allure us, that of 
 *' Chrift's kingdom there will be an. 
 '^ end : therefore he could not have ex- 
 " ifted from the beginning." How the 
 termination of Chrift's kingdom, ere£ted 
 on the redemption of mankind, fhould 
 depend on the date of his firft exiftence, 
 it is not eafy to conceive. When the 
 CEConomy of that redemption fliall be 
 completed, andChrift's mediatorial king- 
 dom of courfe ceafe : by no rule of rea- 
 foning doth it follow, that Chrift ihall 
 not continue to exift, accompanied with 
 R 2 every 
 
26o THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon every appendage of univerfal foverelgn- 
 ^ __^ ty, in the plenary enjoyment of an eter- 
 nal weight of Glory. 
 
 In proof of Chrift's abfolute and real 
 humanity another argument is founded 
 on a paflage in the epiftle to the He- 
 brews, which in our tranflation runs 
 thus. JVe fee J ejus, who was made a 
 little lower than the angels, for the fuffer- 
 ing,.of death ^ crowned with glory and ho- 
 nour. Heb. 2. 9. The original is, Toi/ h 
 
 Spcc^X) Ti TTOcp' ccyyiXo-Ji riKarruiABVov SXiwofxsv 
 
 Ijio-ouk, Siaro 7rx^yiiJ,x tou ^scvcrov '. and the lite- 
 ral tranflation, for we fee Jefus, who was 
 for a little lime lejfened below the angels, 
 for, or by, or on account of the fuffering 
 of death. The word 5iA«TTW|t4£;/ov is very 
 lignificant of his pre-exiftence, and in a 
 fuperior ftate. And the paflage not only 
 proves, that, previous to his prefent hu- 
 miliation, he did exift in a fuperior 
 ftate ; but in fome meafure afcertains 
 the degree of fuperiority he pofleflTed, 
 viz. a ftate of nature above the angelic. 
 
 It 
 
OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.' 25l 
 
 it alfo evinces the particular, in which Sermon 
 he was leffened : not by any privation ,_^_ ^ _ ^ 
 of his divinity, but in being fubjecfled 
 to the fufFering of death, the angels 
 enjoying a blefled immortality. 
 
 To the fuppofition of Chrift having 
 exlfted in a prior ftate and fuperior 
 ftation it is objefted, that St. Luke men- 
 tions in him an mcreafe of wifdom and 
 Jiature : which, on fuch fuppofition, the 
 obje£tor finds a difficulty in reconciling 
 to his idea. There may be a difficulty ; 
 but it is certainly fuch as implies no 
 impoffibility. Let us therefore hear 
 what fcripture fays in explanation of 
 it. 
 
 The apoftle to the Philipians ch. ii. 
 V. 6. obferves of Chrift, that iv i^op^yi 
 
 The word jw.op9>i fignifies not only the 
 external form or furface ; but often the 
 whole fubftance, and effential nature. 
 And fuch is plainly the import of it in 
 R 3 the 
 
262 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY" 
 
 Sermon the paflage before us : the word in any 
 ,__J^ other fenfe being unapplicable to God. 
 According to this interpretation then of 
 the word [j-opipTi, the meaning of the paf- 
 fage is obvious : " who, when he was 
 " of divine nature and effence, emptied 
 *' himfelf, that is, diverted himfelf of 
 " his glory, taking the nature of a fer- 
 " vant. 
 
 Let us next examine, how this paffage 
 of St. Paul correfponds with what the 
 evangelift John hath faid on the fame 
 fubjedl : for fcripture is the beft com- 
 ment on fcripture. John i. i. O xoyog nv 
 
 Trpof TOi/ Qsov, jcai ©log tiv Xoyo?. — nai Xoyog 
 
 c-ap^ lyti/ero. 'J'he tvord, that was with 
 God, and that was God, was made, or be- 
 came, ^2^^. 
 
 Now if the logos, which the Evan- 
 gelift fays was God, and the Apoftle af- 
 firms to have been of the nature and effence 
 of God, according to that Evangelift be- 
 came, or was made fiejh, and accor4ing 
 
 to 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 263 
 
 to the Apoftle took the nature of man : Sermon 
 he took with it all the infirmities and ^_A^ 
 afFedlions of human nature ; and muil 
 neceffarily have experienced the imbe- 
 cility of infancy, and with maturing age 
 an increafe of the powers of body and 
 mind. 
 
 If it be queftioned, in the language of 
 Chrhl's fceptical vifitor, how thefe things 
 can be ; how fuch an abfolute converfion 
 of the logos into manhood could be ef- 
 fefted : with humble diffidence in our own 
 capacity, let us ingenuoufly acknowledge 
 we cannot explain it. But it hath been 
 proved to be expreffly aflerted : and where 
 the affertion implies no impoffibility, I 
 may on fufficient authority believe a fa£t, 
 though I can neither explain, nor account 
 for it. I have the affurance of an apoftle, 
 that gnat is the myjlery of Godl'mefs, God 
 manifejl in the Jlejh : as fuch I acknow- 
 ledge it, without endeavouring to pry 
 into fecrets, perhaps known only to God 
 himfelf ; and without prefuming, with 
 R 4 the 
 
264 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITy 
 
 Sermon the key of human knowledge, to lay open 
 n^^_^j that, which the fpiiit of God hath de- 
 clared a myftery. Our prefent Invefti- 
 gation is no farther concerned, than in 
 proving it the doftrine of fcripture. As 
 fuch, other arguments, and another train 
 of reafoning, will fupply abundant proof 
 that it is the dodrinc of truth. 
 
 In vain prefumption to fix the bounds, 
 within which divinity may expofe or 
 conceal its nature, another argument 
 againfl: the divinity of Chrifl: is urged 
 from the improbability *' of a man, who 
 " died on the crofs, having been the ma- 
 " ker of the world." It is improbable 
 too, that a Being, who, though in the 
 appearance of man, was produced by the 
 energetic influence of the holy fpirit, and 
 born without a human father ; who could 
 penetrate into the hidden fecrets of mens 
 hearts, who could control or fufpend the 
 powers of nature, bid the fea be ftill, and 
 be obeyed, and by divefting himfelf of 
 gravity, or giving a temporary folldity' 
 
 ta 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 265 
 
 to the water, walk upon the fwelling Sermon 
 furge ; who could exercife even a crea- ^_. ^_^ 
 tive power, in feeding feveral thoufand 
 people on fome morfels, in themfelves 
 infufficient to fatisfy a few individuals ; 
 and laftly who, having died on a crofs, 
 after his burial revived, and in embodied 
 form and fubftance exercifed all the 
 functions of life, for the fpace of forty 
 days converfed freely with his friends, 
 and after that afcended openly before 
 them into heaven ; it is improbable, that 
 he, who was poffeft of fuch powers as 
 thofe, Ihould be that weak, impotent, li- 
 mited being, a mere and abfolute man. 
 
 I will mention only one objection 
 more : which is founded on the argu- 
 ment from analogy. From the affumed 
 denial of the pre-exiftence of human 
 fouls, it is inferred that the foul of Chrift 
 could not have pre-exifted : analogy re- 
 quiring, " that the whole human fpecies 
 " be upon one footing, in a cafe, which 
 '' fo very nearly concerns the firft and 
 
 ** confti- 
 
266 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITY 
 
 Sermon " conftituent principles of their nature." 
 
 VIII 
 ,_^,_^ _lj It IS freely confeffed, that no argument 
 
 can be produced in proof of the pre- 
 
 exiftence of human fouls : and on the 
 
 other hand it is equally clear, that no 
 
 argument of weight can be advanced 
 
 againft the dodtrine, except the want of 
 
 confcioufnefs : a defe£t, as hath been 
 
 already obferved, * from which the fupe- 
 
 rior nature and mind of Chrifl: were 
 
 free. 
 
 As to the pre-exiftence of human 
 fouls, notwithftanding the many inge- 
 nious conjedlures, that have been urged 
 in fupport of it, conceding to this writer 
 his full poftulatum of its being a falfe 
 and erroneous doftrine ; no argument 
 can be framed from the analogy of human 
 nature to that of Chrift. The difference 
 of Chrift's nature from that of mere 
 man, is the great point in controverfy : 
 and to build an argument on the fup- 
 
 * See page 248. 
 
 pofed 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 267 
 
 pofed equality of th'em, is begging the Sermow 
 queftion. What equality of nature is ^,_^^ 
 there in a mere man, and him, who was 
 produced by the efficiency of the holy 
 fpirit, without a human father ; between 
 him, whofe feeble powers are contained 
 within narrow limits, and . controled by 
 pofitive laws, and him whofe powers 
 feemed to kno\v no bounds, and, inftead 
 of fubmitting to, fuperfeded the laws of 
 nature ; between him, whofe body putri- 
 fies in the grave, and whofe feparated 
 foul exifts where the common courle'of 
 mortality claims it, and him who tri- 
 umphant over death rofe from the grave, 
 his foul not left in Hades, Mor his body 
 fubjedled to corruption ? And in beings, 
 wherein fubfifts fo little equality, no ar- 
 gument can be founded on a fuppofed 
 analogy : no, not even in the particular 
 cafe, with which the argument we are 
 now confiderlng is qualified, " in the 
 *' firft and conftituent principles of na- 
 " ture." 
 
 Such 
 
268 
 
 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV" 
 
 Seri&on Such are the principal objeftions, I 
 ^,- ^ ^ have in modern writers * obferved, to the 
 doftrine of the pre-exiftence and divi- 
 nity of Chrift : and to the objections 
 of modern authors, on every fubjeft in 
 the courfe of the preceding ledlures dif- 
 cuffed, I have particularly applied my- 
 felf. And novv' in a few words to prefs 
 on you the fubjeft of thofe difcourfes, 
 ' let me obferve ; that, if there be a God, 
 who made, and preferved us, and who 
 will take account of our condudt, there 
 muft be fuch a duty as religion ; and that 
 it is both a ferious, and a neceflary thing : 
 fo ferious, and fo neceffary, that as its re- 
 gards extend to eternity, eternal happi- 
 nefs or mifery attend our right election 
 of, and correfpondent condudl in it. 
 Freely inveftigate it : examine the vo- 
 ; lume, in which as with the finger of 
 God I think, and have fuppofed, it writ- 
 ten. Though it may contain fome 
 
 * Dr. Priellley, Mr. Lindfey, isfc. 
 
 thinss 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGIOlJ. 269 
 
 things harr! r ue underftood ; it holds Sermom 
 forth much, that if pradiced will im- u-y— Li 
 prove our nature : enouj^h fo chearing 
 and intelligible, as tc excite our endea- 
 vours to underftann it more and more. 
 The dodlrinal parts of religion are Icien- 
 tific : and where is the Icience, that 
 hath not 't- myfteries ? The moft de- 
 monftrable of all fciences, even mathe- 
 matics, has them. 
 
 Look through nature, as fhe lies 
 before you in the works of this our 
 world : and myflerv meets the mind at 
 every flep. And will you extend youp 
 thoughts,, beyond the confines of this 
 habitable globe, to God, and a world to 
 corner and not expert to find fome 
 myflery there ? Shall we reje£l as falfe 
 whatever we cannot comprehend ? To 
 how narrow a compats then fhall we re- 
 duce truth ? Doth human reafon rank 
 fo high : or is God fo level with the 
 capacity of mankind ? Shall we quef- 
 tion his declarations, becaufe we cannot 
 
 accom« 
 
270 
 
 THE GROUND AND CREDIBILITV 
 
 Sermon accommodate to the {ize of our minds the 
 ^_ '__^ defign and propriety of them ? Shall 
 we faftidioufly refule affent to what He 
 hath been pleafed to reveal ; becaufe He 
 hath not revealed more ? Or fhall we 
 not rather with due gratitude and hu- 
 mility acknowledge the goodnefs of God, 
 who hath by the revektion of Jellis 
 Chrifl revealed fo mncn : who hath 
 condefcended to unveil the blaze of di- 
 vine majefty in fuch degree, as to enable 
 mankind acceptably to ferve Him ; and 
 fo far made known the nature of another 
 world, as to quicken our exertions, 
 amidft the various manfions there to at- 
 tain to a flation of blils and glory, 
 through the applied merits and media- 
 tion of the fame Jefus Chrifl our Lord ? 
 
 Such is the anchor of hope, we have 
 in Chrift : and fuch in fum and fub- 
 flance the do£trine, which in anfwer to 
 the words of my text the fcriptures dic- 
 tate. It is not in the ability of man to 
 
 mend 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 271 
 
 mend them * ; nor fhall human devices Sermom 
 prevail in refining them. In plain legi- ^,-^, ,.'_, 
 ble characters, thgy contain the words, all 
 the words, of eternal life. 
 
 * See Lindfey's fequel to his apologv page 119. 
 
 DE- 
 
( 273 ) 
 
 D E 
 
 STATU PARADISIACO. 
 
 C O N C I O 
 
 IN ECCLESIA BEAT^ MARI^ 
 
 APUD OXONIENSES 
 
 H A B I T A. 
 
 Eccl 
 
 TX. 
 
 US. Vll. 3OJ 
 
 Hoc tantum invent ; quod Detts homines 
 perfeSios creavit, ipji autem ratiocinia plu' 
 rima inyeneruntt 
 
 TeRRARUM hie ftbfier orbis, &; Concio 
 qtiicquid in orbe viret, quicquid ultra 
 hujufce mundi fines aut oculus affequi, 
 aut mens deprehendere poffit, Deum 
 optimum maximum arguit : tanta fapi- 
 entia, tanta ubique patet Fotentia. O 
 orbem frelicem, fummi artificis, omni- 
 bus abfolutum numcfis, opus ; cui herba 
 S quasque 
 
274 t)E STATU 
 
 GoNcio quagque leviffima, cui quicquid a^Urtti 
 1 ^-1.- !^ pecudumqtie ufquafri inVenitur, aut'pilP'' 
 chritudinem aut ulum fuppetit ! O hb- 
 miiium foeliciffiiiium genus ; cui tot 
 utitia, tdt perpulchra ferviunt ! Atlonge 
 aliter fe res liabet : tot tam^^ie prarclara 
 et benevolentise et fapieritiae Dei ar- 
 guhienta malum multiforme inquinat. 
 Morbofum numerofa cohofs, nee arte 
 nee mediciiaa depellend'a, humana corpora' 
 obfidunt ;.; animos pravi affeftus detur- 
 pant : dura adeb legevivitur, Mt fcelicif-' 
 Jimus file, c[ui mnils mfer. -^ ^''' 
 
 5 Quo £bnte idetivata mala hasc, ut di- 
 cuntur, tam naturalia,- quam moralia, 
 vitam humanftm miferiis Jerumnlfque 
 obruerunt : quo pado homines fcelicitate 
 exciderunt, quos foelicitatis perfruendas 
 gratia in lueem evocavit Deus, et olim 
 et nunc temporis varie contendltur. 
 Hinc alii, quales funt Manichsei, om- 
 nipotentia Dei denegata, daeraonem alte-^ 
 rum poteutem quidem, fed malefua- 
 dum et maleficum, fingunt : cui ordinis 
 
 per- 
 
PARADISIACO, 
 
 275 
 
 perttirbatio cordi eft* Quodcunque bonl Concio 
 aut cxcogitavit, aut efFecit Dcus ; ut hoc }^- 
 inquinet, illud ut miffum faciat, hie 
 malorum opifex pro viribus ufque labo- 
 rat : et artis qhymicas ratlone quafi in- 
 verla, ut ex optimo quoque malum 
 eruat, huic labor atque opus eft. 
 
 . Alii jwteatiam Dei fummam effe ag- 
 nofcuiit, providentiam ejus omnino tol- 
 Imit. Deum taletn delignant, cujus majef- 
 tati,rerum humanarum moderamen ne 
 minime conveniretj cuju§fcelicitasneper- 
 fedta et continuata fieret, hujufmodi curaa 
 quam maxime obftarent ; naturze divinas 
 seftimatores pravi, quippe qui, uti de 
 EpicLireis teftatur Cicero, * verbis reliu- 
 quunt, re auferunt Deos ; nihil curare 
 eos: nee fui, nee aiieni, fingentes. 
 
 Ipla Dei exlftentla prorfus fublata, 
 
 noduni alii audaciter refolvunt. Si De- 
 
 us fit, iicut hi ratiocinantur, ab operi- 
 
 bus-fuis cur malum haud procul amovit ? 
 
 .:a'l - 
 
 Vid. Cic. dc Nat, Deor, 
 
 S i Aut 
 
276 DE STATU 
 
 CoNcio Aut nequivit fane, aut uoluit. Vel po- 
 rlf^^ teftas ejus, vel benevoleatia eft finita : 
 Ens vero, quoquo modo finitum, nequit 
 efle vera et abfolute Deus. Ratiocinio 
 igitur fi huic affentiamur, rerum hie lu- 
 cidus ordo nullo moderan:iine certo geri- 
 tur ; fed fors omnia verfat. 
 
 Hifce variis de mail origine hypotliefi- 
 busaccedit altera ; quje naturam huma- 
 nam ita effe comparatam affirmat, ut a 
 rnalo feparari et fejungi humanitatis fors 
 emnino nequeat. Animis, hac veri fpe- 
 cie delinitis, malum quafi de effentia ho- 
 minis effe videtur^ et crimina quaequ^ mi- 
 fericordia potius, qu^m poen^ digna putan- 
 tur. Hinc, non me malum ! fed me mife- 
 rum ! clamare quifque in promptu ha- 
 bet : hinc neminem conlitentem habe- 
 mus reum ; dum peccata quifque non 
 fua deflet, fed quee humana parum cavit 
 natura. Hominum vero crimina in na- 
 turam hunianam dtim temere transfe- 
 rant ; ne in authorem naturae culpa ad 
 extremum recidat, ifti parum cavent 
 philofophi. 
 
 Opi' 
 
PARADISIACO. 277 
 
 Opinlonum, quas fupra memoravi- Concio 
 mus, prioribus tribus jam prsetermiffis, ^!^v_^ 
 ad refellendam banc pofleriorem, quippe 
 quas neotericis quibufdam prascipue ani- 
 det, fententiam potius accingor. 
 
 Hom'inum genus e creatoris fumml 
 maiilbus, adeo appetens mali, adeo im- 
 potens bene beateque vivendi, adeo im- 
 perfe£tum evafifle fingunt hujufce ^fen- 
 tentia? pronugnatores ; ut innocentiae 
 perfe£l£e et foelicitatis flatus nee fuerit 
 unquam, nee fore poterlt. Si vero Mo- 
 feos de Statu Paradifiaco, atque autorum 
 ethnicorum de astate aurea, fcriptis quid 
 veri infit ; philofophorum iftorum hy- 
 pothecs reipsa refellitur : et, ratioeinii 
 fui fundamipe fublato, calTum ruit quod- 
 cunque fuper extruitur. Statu m igi- 
 tur naturae innocentise et foelicitatis effe 
 ftatum, ac forte tali beatum hominum 
 genus dim floruiffe, hac in condone 
 contenditur : cujus tripliciter divifae hsec 
 norma fervabitur. 
 
 S 5 Quid 
 
•27S ©E STATir 
 
 I. Quid de hominum coiiditione prim^ 
 a:ijndi aetata, in fccris fcfipturis traditum 
 accepitnus, primo .exponendum. eft. .: 
 
 II. Au<flores profatios, tum poetas, turn 
 philofophos, eadem fufFragantes deiade 
 proferam. - ; ,. , 
 
 III. HiEc tandem dogmata de Statu Para- 
 difiaco, ab antiquiflimis fcriptoribus tra- 
 dita, ration! effe coufentanea tertioxrbm- 
 probabitur. r. ibjji 
 
 i' --■- ■' '■■• if >'" 
 
 I. Sermonis itaque hujufce. praedi^tam 
 mihi fervantinormam, quid de primigeua 
 hominum conditione, fctiptura facra tra- 
 dit, primo inveftigandum-eft. Fabrica- 
 tionem (^v(j.eewr.v depiugens Mofes, * liasc 
 1 refert ; 
 
 * In ifli narrat^one quaedara effe parabolica, non- 
 nulli exiftimant : alii etiam ferraonem totum exemplar 
 artificiofum efle volunt ad res veras eXplicandas; neinpe 
 naturse primx ftatum ■Paradifiacum, & ejufdetn dege- 
 nerationem, necnon humani geivfris novitarem. Alii 
 quafi hiftoriara fumma fide dignam^ narrationem totam 
 
 fenfu 
 
IX. 
 
 PARADISlAt:0. 3^79 
 
 refert ; ^' Deus omnia, quaecunque •; fa- Concio 
 *' bricaverat, afpexit ; et ecce omnia bo- 
 na :" omnia nempe ad -aflequendum fi.- 
 nem, cujus gratis creabantur, in fefe fat 
 poteftatis habueruiit. > Ipnocentiam pri- 
 moevam, etmalioriginemhiftoricus ideijj 
 divinus plane et enucleate exponit. Porro 
 ratio vitae, quam parentes primi agebant, 
 morum (implicitatem et fecuritatem, ab 
 innocenti^ omnino o'rtam, hifce verbis 
 tradita, lucuknter - defignat, '*' Ambo 
 *' erant nudi Adam et uxor ipfius, neque 
 •' illos pudebat *." Naturam nempe du- 
 cem et magiftram fecuti, nee labisullius 
 .^oi'ifcn, nulla veffciumninFolucra^uaer^- 
 bant ; neque iis vitio fiiit nuditas, dum 
 
 fenfu omnino aJ literam expreflbcompleQuotur. Exgji- 
 eatio c^uxnam fit veriffim.a, hie loci non inveftigandutn 
 duco : talem, qualis contenditur, extitifle {latum, de- 
 generationem poftea contigiffe, fententia utriufque 
 propugnatores pariter agnofcunt.^ 
 
 » Hiftorici facri fententiae ifli haec Platonis confisca- 
 
 S 4 imagd 
 
28o DE STATU" 
 
 CoNcio imago Dei, forma iiumaua eluceflens, 
 
 TV" 
 
 iJ^Lj peccato intaminata ftetit. 
 
 Neque his foils claufulis Status Paradi- 
 fiaci dogma innititur : fcripturis facrjs 
 • excerptse, fenteistiae aliae proferri poflent, 
 quas creationis mundi liifloriam, licut a 
 Mofe ^raditam accepimus, non folum in- 
 nuere, fed plane affirmare naturae humanse 
 perfeftionem, fatis arguunt. Innocentiae 
 et foelicitatis primorum parentum fidem 
 apud Judaeos fummam valuifle hinc prze- 
 cipue liquet ; quod Apoftoli de forte ifta 
 beati, traditionlbus accepta, Mofe lucu- 
 lenter expofita, pfophetarum monitis 
 munita, non obfcure, dubitanter, et 
 quafi ambagibus, fumma vero cum fidu- 
 cia, loquuntur : quippe quod pro certo 
 ufque habebatur. Sententias hue fpec;- 
 tantes, in novo foedere paflim difperfas, 
 ut plurimas omittam ; haec Pauli verba 
 hujulce dogmatis argumentum ampliffi- 
 mum praebent. " Sicut uno homine 
 " peccatum in mundum introivit, mors 
 " quoque peccati causa, &c," ac in 
 
 codeni 
 
PARADISIACO. 281 
 
 eodem caplte paulum infra, " ficut ho- Concio 
 minis unius inobedientia plurimi fiebant ^' 
 peccatores, &c." Quibus ex claufulis 
 Apoftolum, lit fatisfaftionem Chrifti 
 on:ines complefti omnis aeetatis homines 
 probaret, foehcitatis primje jafturam uoii 
 inodo nude et fimpliciter affirmare con- 
 ftat ; hoc vero ex dogmata, quafi re cog- 
 nita et univerfim cbncefsa, ad alias pro- 
 bationes progreditur. Sed in re apertil^ 
 fima diutius cur immorandum ? Turn 
 foelicitatem primgevam, turn faslicitatis 
 iftius jadluram, fcriptura facraii alibi uf- 
 que taceret ; ad utramque probandam 
 przediflae folze clauful^ abunde fufficiunt, 
 et quafi vim habent demonftrationis. 
 Sententias ergo fupra memoratas haec, de 
 qua jam concionamur, claudat. " Hoc 
 *' tantum inveni, quod homines perfec- 
 " tos effinxit Deus ; ipfi autem ratioci- 
 *' nia plurima invenerunt.'* 
 
 Claufulis iftis casterifque plurimls, 
 quae, idem fpeftantes, in fcripturis facris 
 inveniuntur, fibi invicem collatis ; haec 
 
 dogmata 
 
282 DE^STATt!'' 
 
 CoNcio dogmata fummatim exindfe fedui habcn- 
 
 TV ... . . 
 
 ^^/\^ tur. Mundi origine prima homines, 'uti 
 alia fingula fapientiffiml et omnipotentis 
 auftoris opera, perfe^i creabant-ur. • Ap- 
 petitus fingulos,' ad foelrcitatem afl'equen- 
 dam, ad promoveridam virtutem unice 
 fpedlantes, et mutio et amice confpirantes, 
 ratio gubernarrix adrtiiniftrai^itA'' Satis et 
 ad foelicitaterh et ad virtutem-^alebaht: 
 "dum'^hanc excolant, ilia truuiltur ; hac 
 laesa, ilia amittitur. Libera bene beate- 
 que vivendi datur poteftas ; nulla impo- 
 nltur neceffitfes : cuique incoafta fua ftetit 
 voluntas. Miims ifiorigeWS denique le 
 jr^bue'riint, imperium Dei repugnaruut, 
 juffaque detredarunt : Iiiobedientiae fus 
 "pasnas luebant.^ Hinc malum oritur ; et 
 vires acquirens eundof longQ latequ^ in- 
 gruit. Hoc fonte derivata,"* clades om- 
 nige'n'a^ubique -difFunditur ; hinc, quic"'- 
 quid vitam humanam niiferam ailt ihfu- 
 avem reddit,^^ quale qttale infit amari, id 
 totum accipit ; ferofque' in nepotes deflu« 
 ens, contagii inftar, riaturam humanattt 
 '^'- ■'■ commutafl"s~ 
 
fARADlSIACO; ^83 
 
 commutaffe videtur ; immo, fi fas fit Concio 
 vera loqui, commutavit. ^ }^, 
 
 II. Scnfu fcrlpturae faprat de prima ho- 
 minum conditione ita breviter expofito ; 
 quid de eadem. autores profani confcrip- 
 ferunt, fervato prppofito, proxime invef- 
 tigandum eft : rerum enim antiquiffima- 
 rum, quas in Uteris f^cris continentur, 
 biftoriam, apud omnes gentes, quamvis 
 plerumque obfcuram, remanfifle conftat. 
 Gurpque conciqais noftrse norma clau- 
 fulas ex fpriptoribus ethnicis plures, 
 quam in hujulqe generis , fcriptis com- 
 fnendat uliis, proferri poftulet ; apud 
 hunc confeffumme excufatum iri fpero- 
 A philofophi% Igitur ac hiftqricisj quippe 
 queis major; quam poetis fides habetur, 
 initium fumendum duco. Qups inter 
 praeetpuus Plutarchus, philofophus idem 
 et hiftoricus, regionis cujafdam, notis 
 Paradifi diiiindlaB, nomine infularum 
 beatarura defignatae, defcriptionem exhi^ 
 bet : cui orbis terrarum portiuncula om- 
 
 nino 
 
284 tiE STATU 
 
 CoNcio nino nulla nunc temporis convenit.* 
 
 TV 
 
 " Imbres, inqu'it ilk^ rarl et am«ni hlc 
 
 loci deciduat ; dum venti molliter fpi- 
 
 rantes, et rore qiiafi alatl, infulam per- 
 
 vagentur : quibus efficitur, ut ftudio et 
 
 labore nullo eJiciti, omnigenae herba; 
 
 fruftufque jucundiffimi fuapte nafcau- 
 
 tur." Defcriptioni huic fententiam 
 
 proxime fequentem hifloricus infuper 
 
 addit. " + Adeo ut fides ufque ad bar- 
 
 " baros perlata firma eft, illic campos 
 
 ** effe Elyfios, et beatorum fedes quas 
 
 " Homerus decantavit." HincdePara- 
 
 difo, five beatorum fede quid fenfit Plu- 
 
 tarchus,- quid etiam barbari fenfere, 
 
 liquet. 
 
 * Ofi|3gou" Si ^^Uficvcu ft,ir^ioiT rvtiviurt t» Si 'rrXinrTa 
 
 Plut. in Vir. Sert. 
 
 TiOi TO igXtictov Eivat in^ton, x«> iriti tuv ivien^uituv oi'iiig^K, 
 r.n O11J150; vjivwii' Ibid. 
 
 Eadena 
 
PARADI3IACO. 285 
 
 Eadem fere, quze de infulis fortunatis Concio 
 Plutarchus, da infula Toprobana afferit ^^ 
 Diodorus Siculus : hoc infuper addito, 
 nempe quod hujufce regionis incolae ex- 
 pertem morborum vitam agebant. Nee 
 prafetertnittendum duco, qu6d de morte 
 Tbbrobanitarum hiftoiicus idem tradit : 
 utpote fententiam baud omnino ifti diffi- 
 milem, quam fcriptores quidamChriftianl 
 de morte, vel potius e vita exceffu, in 
 ftatu paradifiaco (i homines ufque per- 
 manfiffent, ftatuere. *" Duplex apud eos 
 *' nafcitur herba; cuifiquisindormiat,cru- 
 " ciatus omnis et doloris expertem mors 
 *' grata fuavifque fupervenit." Sententia 
 ifta Diodori Mofaicse arboris vha fixpli- 
 eationem fortaffe veriffimam prasbet ; 
 quippe qua ab origine narratio ilia pri- 
 mitus derivatur. Mors, (i hiflorico facro 
 fidem habeamus, non humanitatis con- 
 ditio, fed peccati pcena, plane conftituta 
 
 ;]9;ks(. Diod. Sic. lib. 3. 
 
 fuit. 
 
 ft;. 
 
286 
 
 DE STATU 
 
 CoNcio fuit. Arbori vitae igitur talem quid vetat 
 ,^^_>^ inefle vim, qualis fru£tum ejus guftanti 
 
 tranfitum facilem atque fuavem ad im- 
 
 mortalitatem conciliaret ^ 
 
 s 
 
 Paradifura quendam in Africa fi.tum 
 Procopius fingit ; fontibus amcenisirriga- 
 tum, fylvis ornatum, yiridantibus ufqye, 
 quaeque ufque dulce redolebant; dum 
 aerem tepentem frigiduU veuti continuo 
 mulcerent. Talem denique fl^tum, qua- 
 lis hac in concione contenditur, olim 
 revera extitiffe, non folos inter tiebraeos^ 
 aut jfEgyptos, aut Graecos fides vaiuit ; 
 in idem confentientes Indp^ quoque 
 habemus: qups apud Calanus Alexan- 
 drum magnum ita alloquens a Straboue 
 inducitur.* " Tritici hordeique olim 
 
 * To vaAaioj/ •^xtr '/ii a^^itm nect aJisVfut n'^tigit, xctiairif 
 ^' aMat, H«> ejiotui «i j*n /xe^ito;, «t ^ otioVf t»e; $ 
 
 nt^i hx 9rovou Tor ^io> ant^u^t. Strab, lib. 1 5. 
 
 *' erant, 
 
PARAJ3ISIACO. 287 
 
 " emnt, ficut nunc pulveris, otniiia pie-; 
 " na i fontes quoqOe, alii aqua, la£te alii,; 
 *' alii melle, alii vino, nonnulli oleo flue- 
 " bant : donee ob fatletatem luxuriamque 
 " homines in contumeliam fefe tradide- 
 ** runt. -Statum igitur prasfentem Ju- 
 " filter exofus, omnia abolevit ; * 'vitanh 
 *' queiaboredegendaminjiituit." Nemo, 
 ut opinor, haee legens, quo ex fonte 
 manarint, diu dubitabit. 
 
 Scrlptoribus iftis, regiohem natura 
 plane eandern, fitu loci utcunque diver- 
 fam, defignaiitibirs' phildlbphum gravem 
 et inftar omniuto Platonem jam tandem 
 liceat mihi fubjicere. In didlogo ifto, 
 cui titulus lioA.n'ixor adfcribltut-, quippe 
 qui, procemium veluti, libris fequentibus 
 noXiT£4«r y-«,i vo|Wwi/ praeponitur, de origine 
 politiae philofophus fuse diflerit. Et re 
 alt« repetita, hominem a Deo creatum 
 conditioiae prima beatiffim^ et vere aurfeS 
 
 * Vi(j. Genef. Cap. 3 Com. 19. 
 
 potltum 
 
28S 
 
 BE STATU 
 
 CoMcio potitum efle docet. ^tatis aureze et 
 ^^^^^ faelicis defcriptionem y-u^ov appellat ; tra- 
 ditionem aliunde defumptam ifto nomine 
 defignans : ne quis forfan pro figriieftto et 
 fomniis quafi ^jXoo-o^aKTor narrationem ha- 
 beat. Fidem acauthoritatena quam huic 
 fivS-u conciliatam vellet, hasc lua; teftan- 
 tur verba.* " Ifta nobis tradiderunt primi 
 " illi majorum noftrorum, qui primam 
 " mundi revolutionem proxime continge- 
 " bant. Horum fermonum teftes prasco- 
 '-^ uefque illi extiterunt." Platonicze ifti 
 primaevae foelicitatis tabellae, coloribus 
 adeo vividis depidae, baud abs re erit 
 pauIo diutius immorari ; in qua £ veri- 
 tatem ipfam non deprehendanius, veri- 
 tatis faltem veftigia nemo fere non ag- 
 nofcet. t" -^ate ifta, nihil erat ferum j 
 
 " neque 
 
 * A7rt[>,>Yifx,a}itviro ^' viro run vii*.iregui> w^ayatuv TUt ttjuthi*. 
 
 It riKtVTU<n f*S» Tl) 7r§0T£J» "ITt^t^O^a, Ton i^TIi Xi""" Ey'TO- 
 
 »o>9 D/ilJ TiiiK t\oyait. Plato rioAiT : 
 
 ■j- Tote wa ay^ion ovhi, ours «^^»)^li;l/ E^tiSai, ^■o^E^05 ovu 
 mil) ou^t ZTaa-ti T(nr«5«ffa». — ©eoj ik/aev bvtou;, auTOj 
 
PARADISIACO. 289 
 
 (t 
 
 neqne alias alias anlmantes vorabant : Concio 
 •' aberat bellum penitus atque feditio. r™^ 
 
 *' ' Deus homines pafcebat ; ipfe erat 
 
 " et paftor eorum et cuftos : ipfoque 
 *' eos regente, civitatura conflitutiones 
 
 *' nullae extabant. Fruftus illis, et 
 
 " poma et fruges, arbores et fertile folum 
 *' fpoute fui fubminiftrabant." De Sa- 
 turni regno alia pluritna philofophus 
 idem fcribit ; qusj ftaturn paradifiacum 
 quam veriffime deiignant. Alia, ut ipfe 
 reftatur, innumera, et iilis longe mirabi- 
 liora, ab ejufdem ftuSou quad fonte perma- 
 nant : longinquitate vero temporis, par- 
 tial fuijt exoleta, partim difperfa atque 
 diffipata perturbate dicuntur. 
 
 DcfcriptionI illi uberrima fi quid am- 
 plius deerit, quo Piatonis fententia de 
 hac re plenius enitefceret ; Tifxctis, live 
 7rf/i» puo-fwr dialogi,pars ifta, in qua de ho- 
 minum creatione agitur, argumenta hue 
 
 it afdonvf six"' *"■<> Ts i^ut x.a.1 ttoWdjs kAjj? aXAj);, tvn 
 
 fpec- 
 
2gq DE STATU 
 
 CoNcio fpe£i\intia aippliffirna prsebet ; ubi dft 
 ^_ „-^^ i«ali causa et o-rigine argute difl'eritur. 
 Ex Javolucris taadem, quibus Veritas fere 
 obruitur, hoc veri erui poteft : homines 
 bene, jufte, et honefte vixjire contendi- 
 tur, dum in femet impreffam dei iimili- 
 tudinem puram atque intaminatam con- 
 fervarent ; mal^ vero, poftquam cupidi- 
 tatibus craffis et corporeis femet ipfos in- 
 volviflent. 
 
 Ab hiftoricis et philofophis ad poetas 
 defcendere, ac Flomerum Eiyfios campos 
 depingentem in primis audire, erit opersc 
 pretium. 
 
 Vits hie humanae ratio jucunda paratur ; 
 Nee fera tempeftas, nee nigri nubila casli 
 Inficiunt sthram, tranquilla luee ferenatn : 
 Suaviter aft Zephyri fpirantes arva falutant, 
 Et leviter ftringunt recreata filentia ponti. * 
 
 Quid de hortis Alcinoi dicam ? Noniie 
 et hi et illi ab eodem fonte derivan- 
 
 * T>) 'TTc^ 5)ii«Ti /StOTii 5r£X£i citi^uireia-if 
 
 Ov ri^EToi, out" »{' ^it/jiiit TToAv;, outs Tror HnZfisi* 
 
 tur? 
 
PARADISiACO. 291 
 
 tur ? Vana omnlno fiftaque cecinlffe Concio 
 
 • • IX 
 
 poetam grex totus cnticorum negat. y^ ,..,^^ 
 
 Quo vero pi£lura ilia amoeiii,, immo 
 
 amoenitatis, horti referenda eft ? Non, 
 
 ut iidem fingunt, ad infulas Atlanticas ; 
 
 neque vifquam regionum praeter earn, ab 
 
 hominibus primis enarratam, a primls 
 
 fcriptoribus depictam, praeter Paradifum. 
 
 Genus hominum priniigenoruni de- 
 cantans, locum Homero proximum He- 
 fi'odus fibi vendicat ; ejufdcm, ut aliqui 
 volunt, ut alii, aetatis prioris fcriptor. 
 
 Tunc homines divum vivebant more ; neque illos 
 Anxia curarum moles, operumque labores 
 Laflabzlnt : aberat morbus, triftifque Senedlus. 
 Igneus aft ollis vigor ; et dum corpore vires 
 Regnabant folido, convivia lata placebant. 
 Mors fimilis fomno fuit, atque uberrima tellus 
 Omnia liberius nullo cogente ferebat 
 In commune bonum, nee quifquam invidit habenti. * 
 
 Nemo, 
 
tgZ DE STATU 
 
 Nemo, ut opinor, fcriptonim Chriftl- 
 anorum ftatum Paradifiacum plenius et 
 melius depinxit, quam in iftis verfibus 
 Hefiodus. ^tatem auream ab Ovidio 
 in libro primo metamorphofium expref- 
 fam, utpote omnibus .notam, praetermit- 
 to. Neque de regno Saturnio tacet 
 Virgilius: .3*3*1;,, 
 
 Ante jovem nulli fubigebant arva coloni : 
 Nee fignare quidem, aut partiri limite campuRI 
 Fas erat ; in medium qusrebant : ipfaquc tellus 
 Omnia liberius, nullo pofcente, ferebat. 
 
 Ad calcem libri proxirae fequentis fcili- 
 cet fecundi Georgicorum, hi verfus idem 
 quoque fpedlant. ., 
 
 Ante etiam fceptram Didasi regis, et ante 
 Impia quam csefis gens eft epulata iuvencis ; 
 Aureus banc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat. 
 
 TejirotT et 6a\iviat, xaxuy sxto^cd a^anur, 
 ©»«;xoi< J «; vmia ^eJjiAD^evoj' ccrSAa h irantt 
 
 Hef. Efy. Kal K/<ij. 
 
 Ett 
 
PARADISIACO. 293 
 
 En matufeftam flatus Paradifiaci notam : 
 quum homines nondtim animalium car- 
 ne, fed folis terrse fru£tibus vefcerentur I 
 Scntentiae iftas varis, ex fcriptoribus an- 
 tiquis excerptae, fuaviloquis hifce verbis 
 Lucretianis jam tandem claudentur. 
 
 lamque adeo afffefta eft astas, affcetaque tellus, 
 Vix animalia parva creat, quse cunda creavit 
 Saecla, deditque ferarum ingentia corpora partu. 
 
 PrEEterea nitidas fruges, vinetaque laeta 
 Sponte fua pritnum mortalibus ipfa creavit. 
 Ipfa dedit dulces foetus, et pabula lasta : 
 Qtiae nunc vix noftro grandefcunt aufta labbre. 
 
 Statum hominum primigenium eo, quo 
 nunc degitur, perfediorem epce ipfum 
 Epicuri difcipulum plane agnofcentem 
 habemus. Neque ftatum naturae talem 
 poeta ifte agnoViflet, niii ut rem fide dig- 
 niffimam : rem universa traditione ac- 
 ceptam, graviffimorum hominum au£lo- 
 ritate fancitam. Narrationes igitur iftas, 
 ^uibus ipfe Lucretius fufFragatur, pro 
 T 5 aiiili 
 
*94 ^E STATU • 
 
 CoNcio anili fabella ecquis dufcet ? Scrlptorerti 
 
 .^_^_/j ilium, qui animum fabulis vanis ar£lif- 
 
 que religionis compagibus occupatum 
 
 exfolvere jaftat, ilium inquam creduli- 
 
 tatis arguere, ecquis in animum inducat ? 
 
 De ftatu Paradifiaco quas tot tanti- 
 que fcriptores protuleruut, alii pene 
 innumeri, {i res poftularet, et locus 
 ferret, eadem fuffragantes allegari poflent. 
 Quid, ifta omnia de conditione homi- 
 nuni primigenia pro figmentis poeticis 
 habenda putabimus ? Nonne philofo-? 
 phos, nonne hifloricos, viros eruditos 
 graviffimofque in eadem confentientes 
 habemus : lingulos, fi non vera, certe 
 Verifimilia proferetites ? Atque iftas fin- 
 gulas de regno Saturni, astate aurea, et 
 fimilibus defcriptiones, obumbratas qui- 
 dem et variis erroribus implicitas, hif- 
 torias Mofaicae veftigiis infiftere et in- 
 fequi nullus dubito. Ab extremo fonte, 
 nempe a primzevis hominibus derivatas, 
 veriffimas aetatis prima; narratioaes ac- 
 
 cepit 
 
PARADISIACO. 295 
 
 cepk Noa : eafdemque, a Noas filiis tra- Cdncio 
 ditas, pofteros accepifle, conftat. * ««-v-U; 
 
 III. Tertio probandum reftat, ut hifto- 
 riEB iftae de Statu Paradifiaco, a primisho- 
 miftibus acceptae, fcriptoribus turn facris, 
 tumprofanis confirmatas, minime futiles 
 effe et ineptae demonftrentur : immo e 
 contra, ration! confentanea, natura Hu- 
 mana digna, Deo optimo maximo dig- 
 iiiffima efle hypothcf;3 ifta conteuditur. 
 Omne ens, ut loquuntur fcholaftici, eft 
 perfeftum : quo dognrate perfedtio rela^ 
 tiva, non abfoluta, fignificatur. Quod* 
 cUnque a fapientiffimo Deo creatum eft, 
 id omnibus numeris abfolutum creari 
 neCeffe eft: dum lingulae cujufque ani- 
 mantis facultates atque organa, inopiis 
 fuis fubveniendis, fuis optatis potiundis 
 aptae et idoneas, foelicitati propriiE infer- 
 
 * PrimAm hominis yitam cum fimplicitate fuiife, et 
 mido corpora, docebant ec ^Egyptii ; unde aurea poeta- 
 rum astas, etiam Indis celcbrata, ut apud Strabonem eft. 
 Grotius dever Re!. Chr. lib. 1. Sccl. i6. 
 
 T 4 viant. 
 
Zg6 BE STATU 
 
 .CoNcio viant, ad foelicitatem propriam affequen- 
 l^ _^..'_, dam omnino fufficiant. Hoc experien- 
 tia docet ommum, qui in ftudiis hiftoriae 
 phyficse verfantur : hoc, quaquaverfum 
 oculos circumferamus, adeo conft.it ; ut 
 fi David! liceat jure exclamare, ' O Do- 
 mine, in faplmtid omnia fecifti : haud in- 
 juria exclamationem alteram fiabjecit, 
 Urra, Dcmine, plena eft benevohitid tud. 
 
 O infoelicem humanze naturae fortem, 
 
 O homines infortunatos : qui, hujufce 
 
 orbis dominatores conftituti, in hoc orbe 
 
 miferi foli deprehenduntur ; qui tot ani- 
 
 maliumprincipes, uniufcujufque fuaqua- 
 
 teuus poftulat natura perfefti, imperfedti 
 
 foli effiuguntur 1 Guinam enim bono 
 
 .^ux ifta et jucundiffima comes vitze, ut 
 
 vaiie garriunt philofophi, ratio infervit ? 
 
 Quapropter diviuae ifta auras particula 
 
 nobis concefl'a eft ? Anne, ut perfec- 
 
 .tionis iilius, iftius virtutis apicem homi- 
 
 i)ibus oftendat, quem natura humana 
 
 nequit attixigere ; _anne ob ea ut excruciet 
 
 -homines, qu^ hominum natura efFugere 
 
 nequir, 
 
PARADISICO. 
 
 297 
 
 nequk, commlffa ; anne ut miferos ho- Concio 
 mines reddat ? 'Talia, Domine, procul ^_J^^ 
 ttbi abjint conjilia ! Adionum ergo hu- 
 manarum moderatrix ifta conceditur, ut 
 aftiones morales dirigat, ut appetitus co- 
 hibeat, ut vitam fuavem atque jucundatn 
 reddat. Ei itaque afl'equendo fini aut 
 fufficit ratio, aut non. Si non, impar 
 eft fini inftituto ; ac homines, quibus 
 hujufce finis gratia ratio conceditur, ea- 
 tenus funt imperfe£li : Omne vero ens 
 e manibus creatoris perfedum evafit. 
 Fini igitur propofito fufficit ratio : nunc 
 autem tcmporis fini ifti rationefti haud- 
 quaquam fufficere experientia quotidiana 
 teftatur ; ergo olim fe rem ita habuifle 
 necefle eft. Atque ex his ratiociniis fe- 
 quitur, talem fuifle primaevum naturae 
 hum.an2e ftatum, qnalem a primis fcrip- 
 toribus expreffum accepimus. 
 
 Quantum miferiarum vitam hominum 
 obfidet, neminem latet : ac prsevidentia 
 ipfa miferiarum qus eludi nequeunt, 
 
 quas 
 
ZgB DE STATU 
 
 CoNCio quas ncque prudentia effugere, neque 
 ^^_/_^ ipfa virtus repellere valet, aerumnas iftas 
 graviores reddit. Ferarum vita in malis 
 verfatur; illas vero nee praeteriti recor- 
 datio, neque timor futuri excruciatas 
 tenet ; natura illis largita eft jucunda obli- 
 via vitse. Aft morbi, dolores, mors, at 
 pallida malorum cohors, non modo ho- 
 minutn veftigia comites certiffimi infe- 
 quuntur, oculis autem continue obver- 
 fantur, et mentibus quad inhaerent. Et 
 fi partem alteram vitae humanae, lucl- 
 dam nempe et fplendidiorem, contem- 
 plemur, certa homines ne minima quidem 
 voluptas manet. Hoccine vero creatoris 
 benevolentis, hoecine eft Dei optimi 
 rriaximi ; ut animantes crearet, quas 
 magna et plurlma neceflari6 premunt 
 mala ; quarum vitas voluptates parvulae 
 tantijm, breves, et fortuitas mulcent ? 
 
 Quid, nonne hominls vita^ affedlibus 
 cum ratione bellum civile gerentibus, 
 certamine perpetuo verfatur? MeliorJt 
 laudare atque probare, deteriora fequi, 
 
 humanum 
 
PARADISIACO. 299 
 
 humanum eft. Spes, Timor, Ira, Grex Conci© 
 totiis afFeftuum oi<rui/rx^ia,v ciens, viciffim \_„-^i,^ 
 dominatur ; dum ratio, gubernatrix veluti 
 timida et pufilla, fervis Iftls rebelllbus 
 po'i-iam hominis internam adrainiftran- 
 dam tradit. Facultatum hanc humana- 
 rum dominam et reginam, quid verum 
 eft atone decens monentem, hom^ines 
 male adverfantur : iis, prava jubentibus, 
 aures I'aciles praebent ; qnodcunque mali 
 conluiunt, obtemperare heu nimis parati I 
 Hebefcentibus deaiqtie et qnaii defatiga- 
 tis appetitibus torva afpici redit ratio; 
 deliitique nos tunc lero pudet, piget, 
 poenitetque. Quid multis ? Peccare, et 
 poenitere, atque iterum peccare, vitam. 
 humanam mifera viciflitudine diftinguit. 
 
 Human! generis Pi(Sur2e tali tabellam 
 alteram et longe diverfam jam tandem 
 conferre liceat : hominis imaginem, In- 
 nocentias et foelicitatis compotem. Cor- 
 poris atque animi vires puta apte amice- 
 que confpirantes : mentem fcientia om- 
 nigea^ inftrudtam ; arbitrium voluntati 
 
 Dei 
 
300 DE STATtr 
 
 CoNcro Dei iiiferviens ; appetltus congrua et con- 
 ,___^^^ fentanea quaerentes, afFedusdenique fum- 
 miflbs et rationi obtemperantes : facul- 
 tatibus humatiis ita ordinatis, (et facul- 
 tates refte ordinari quid vetat ?) harmo- 
 nia Platonica inde fequitur : hinc Mo 
 feos Status Paradifiacus; hinc aetas aurea 
 poetarum. 
 
 Perfectionis iftius apicem, in qua ho- 
 mines priraitus crcari demonftrat ratio, 
 ipforumque conditionem, quam experien- 
 tia hodierna probat, qui perpenderunt 
 philofophi, tantae metamorphofeos caufas 
 hiac et inde quaefivervint Quin talis 
 ciFeftafuit Morum atqye Indohs Muta- 
 tio, nemo fere dubitavit ; caufa ufque 
 latebat. Nodum iflum refolvere, nodum 
 hercle Deo vindicedignum, veritatis fons 
 et principlum Deus ipfe dignatus eft : 
 Nubefque inter et ienebras, qu<s obvolvunt 
 eum, tequiiatem et juji'itiam Jolo ejus infidere^ 
 demonjlravlt. Et ecquis adeo iniquus 
 eft rerum asftimator, qiii oeconomiae divi- 
 nas explicationem talern iiullius ponderis 
 
 aut 
 
PARADISIACO. 301 
 
 aut ufus leviufculi pendit ? At nihilne Cowcio 
 
 TV 
 
 intereft, ut de Deo et nobis ipfis redte 4j~^ 
 lentiamus ? Nihilne intereft, ut nobis 
 innotefcat, qiiani ob culpam in hunc 
 mundum, veluti in carcerem, Deus ho- 
 mines relegavit ; miferlis innumeris ob- 
 litos, foelicitatis verae vix umbris releva- 
 tos ? Haec denique nefcientibus, foeli- 
 citatem eorum futuram ecquse argumen- 
 ta compertam facient ? Si hie mifer 
 lim, et id unde fiat, nefcio ; quomodo 
 fciara me non pofthac quoque miferuna 
 futurum? Dubitationes iftas curafque 
 follicitas, quibus tenetur quifque cui fua 
 foelicitas cordi eft, Deus jam benigne 
 diffipavit ; et formidinis loco fpes novas 
 fuppeditavit, Verbum igitur Dei, in 
 fcripturis facris quafi jubare confcrip- 
 tum, iu queis reteguntur arcana, mundi 
 ab origine prima caliginofi erroris nebulis 
 obvoluta, in queis folummodo falus, in 
 queis nuda limplexque Veritas deprehen- 
 ditur, animo facili gratoque amplefti, 
 iioftrum eft. Hoc duce-ufa, vires novas 
 ' ratio 
 
202 . I>E STATU, tic. 
 
 CoNcio ratio depromet ; quae, fi male fafiiidiofa 
 ^^- ducem fequi dedignetur, in errorutn 
 turbine tumultuante illico immergitur : 
 quo fit, ut nihil fere adeo abiurdum in- 
 veniatur, quod non aliquis ^zoXoyd\nuv nof- 
 ftratum affeveravit. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 
 
 For PraElife read PraElice 7 
 
 PFeaknejfes read Weaknefi 92, 
 
 Man read II. Man 96 
 
 Diffidence read Diffidence 139 
 
 Sermon XI. dele 160 
 
 fw read wf 166 
 
 Reverence read Reference 172 
 
 /ay read /zV 1 74 
 
 i and cotijidered, dele fnd 175 
 
 «o>* ^0 read neither do 191 
 
 Their Priejls dele 1 93 
 
 Lie. de Divinitatione read Cic. de Di- 
 
 vinatione 200 
 
 termed read Jiiled 216 
 
 TpoTOTOJcoj read frpuTOToxoj 232 
 
 — — Refure5iion read RefurreBion 235 
 
 /^^w read /^^w aa/ay 271 
 
 elucejfens read elucefcens 280 
 
 'Tobrobanitarum read Taprobanitarum 285 
 
 h<ee xezd hac 287 
 
 affiataque read effataque 293 
 
By the Author may be had^ 
 Vol. 
 
 1. Mifcellanies. Price 3s. 
 
 2. Letters on the Nature and Origin of 
 
 Evil. Price 3s. 
 
 3. RefledVions on the Dodtrinc of Mat.e- 
 
 rialifm. Price 3s. 
 
 4. A free Examination of the Socinian 
 
 Expofition of the Prefatory Verfes of 
 St. John's Gofpel. Price 2s, 
 
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