6. OF PARADISE, AND THE LOSS OF IT BY SIN, That God, after the formation of the earth, created man at first spright and innocent, and placed him in a happy and paradifiacal Aate, where he enjoyed plenty and abundance of all things without labour or forrow, and that fin was the original cause, that now on the contrary the very "ground is curfed and barren for our fake, "and in forrow we eat of it all the days of our life; that thorns "alfo and thistles are brought forth to us, and in the fweat of our "face we eat bread, till we return unto the ground," Gen. iii. 17, 18, and 19; this likewife is very reafonable and credible in itfelf; as appears, not only from the abstract confideration of the nature of the thing; but also from the general opinion that the ancient learnedeft Heathens entertained, upon very obfcure and uncertain tradition, that the original ftate of man was innocent and fimple, and the earth, whereon they dwelt, * fruitful of itself, and abundant with all plenty; but that God, for the fin of man, changed this happy conftitution of things, and made labour neceffary for the fupport of our lives.

7. OF THE FLOOD.

That, in procefs of time, after the first entrance of fin into the world, men by degrees corrupted themfelves more and more, till at length God, for the punishment of their fin and incorrigiblenefs, brought upon them a general flood, which deftroyed them all, except a few perfons, preferved for the rettoration of human race; is a truth delivered down to us, not only by authority of Scripture, but alfo by the concurrent teftimony of almost all heathen philo fophers and poets; and the hiftories of all nations backwards terinate in it; and (which is the most remarkable thing of all, becaufe it is a demonftrative and ocular proof of the univerfality of Some fuch kind of diffolution) the prefent vifible frame and contitution of the earth throughout; the difpofition and fituation of the feveral ftrata of different kinds of matter, whereof it is compofed; the numberlefs fhells of fithes, bones of other animals, and parts of all kinds of plants, which in every country and in almost every place are at great variety of depths found inclofed in earth, clay, in ftones, and in all forts of matter; are fuch apparent demonftrations of the earth's having been in fome former times (the whole furface of it at leaft) in a ftate of fluidity, that whofoever has teen the collections of this kind made by the very ingenious Dr. Woodward and others, muft in a manner abandon all use both of his fenfes and reafon, if he can in the leaf doubt of this truth.

* Τὸ παλαιὸν πάντ ̓ ἣν ἀλφίτων καὶ αλεύρων, πλήρη, καθάπερ εὲ νῦν κάπως" μὲ κεῖνοι δ' ἐξένον, οἱ μὲν 9,qda ruîe d'ăñdæi" » Gjeldus al pair palaise, al 3 chiu, salg & Hala izi sinopsis 26 τροποι και τρυφῆς, εἰς ὕπριν ἐξετε το Zide di pushoes shy xurús asi, hijance modha, x) die zine thy me Calanus Indus apud Strabon. lib. XV.

Η μπει δὲ ἡ τί δε μὲν μοίρα ἐξήτηλῶν ἐγίγεῖν ἐν αὐτοῖς, πολλῷ τῷ θητῷ τὰ πολλάκις αναπτρες ὄρη, τὸ ἐν ἀνθρώπινον ἦθος ἐπικράτει, τότε Θεὸς ὁ Θεῶν Ζεύς, ὅτε δυνάμενος, καθ εν τὰ τοιαῦτα, fro; èminxès dŷning didiifijnvoy, diam abraïs inbrīva, padus, &c. Patin Critia five

tlantico.

8. OF GOD'S REVEALING HIMSELF TO THE PATRIARCHS, AND GIVING THE LAW TO THE JEWS.

That God, after the flood, made particular revelations of himfelf and of his will to the Patriarchs, is a thing very credible in itself, for the fame reasons that I have before fhewn in general, that the expectation of fome revelation from God was a reafonable and probable expectation. And that, after this, God fhould vouchfafe by express revelation to give a law to the whole nation of the Jews, confifting very much in facrifices, and in external rites and ceremonious obfervances, cannot with any juft reafon be rejected as an incredible fact; if we confider, that fuch a kind of inftitution was neceffary, in thofe times and circumftances, to preferve that nation from the idolatry and worship of falfe Gods, wherewith the countries around them were overfpread; that thofe rites and ceremonies were typical of, and preparative to, a higher and more excellent difpenfation; that the Jews were continually told by their prophets, that their obfervance of thofe rites and ceremonies was by no means fo highly acceptable to God, nor fo abfolutely and indifpenfably infifted upon by him, as obedience to the moral law; and that the whole matter of fact relating to that revelation is delivered down to us in a history, on which the polity of a whole nation was founded, at a time when nobody could be ignorant of the truth of the principal facts, and concerning which we can now have no more reafon to doubt than of any hiftory of any ancient matter of fact in the world. The most confiderable and real difficulty, viz. why this favour was granted to that fingle nation only, and not to all the reft of the world likewife; is to be accounted for by the fame reasons, which prove (as has been before fhewn *) that God was not obliged to make known the revelation of the gofpel to all men alike. 9. OF THE OTHER PARTICULARS OF SCRIPTURE-HISTORY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

That all the other particulars of Scripture-history contained in the Old Teftament are true relations of matter of fact (not to infift now on the many arguments which prove in general the antiquity, genuinenefs, and authority of the books themfelves), will to a rational enquirer appear very credible from hence, that very many of the particular hiftories, and fome even of the minuter circumftances alfo of those hiftories, are confirmed by concurrent teftimonies of profane and unquestionably unprejudiced authors; of which Grotius f, in his excellent book of "The Truth of the Chriftian Religon," has given us a large collection. As particularly; that the manner of the formation of the carth out of a chaos, is mentioned by the ancientest Phoenician, Ægyptian, Indian, and Greek hiftorians; the very names of Adam and Eve, by Sanchoniathon and others; the longevity of the Antediluvians, by Berofus and Manethos and others; the ark of Noah, by Berofus; many particulars of the flood, by Ovid and others; the family of Noah, and two of every kind of animals entering into the ark with him, mentioned ↑ Lib. I. c. 16. and Lib. III. c. 16. where fee the citations at large.

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* Page 211.

by Lucian himself as a tradition of the ancient Grecians; the dove which Noah fent out of the ark, by Abydenus and Plutarch*; the building of Babel, by Abydenus; the burning of Sodom, by Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo, and Tacitus, and others; feveral particulars of the hiftory of Abraham and the reft of the patriarchs, by Berofus and others; many particulars of Mofes's life, by feveral ancient writers; the eminent piety of the most ancient Jews, by Strabo ↑ and Juftin; divers actions of David and Solomon, in the Phoenician annals; fome of the actions of Elijah, by Menander, and confeffed by Julian himself; the hiftory of Jonah, under the name of Hercules, by Lycophron and Encas Gazæus; and the hiftories of the following times, by many more authors. Befides that (as learned men have upon exceeding probable grounds fuppofed) many of the most antient Scripture-hiftories are acknowledged and afferted in the writings of the poets both Greeks and Latins, the true hiftories being couched under fictitious names and fabulous reprefentations. 10. OF GOD'S SENDING HIS SON INTO THE WORLD FOR THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND.

That God, in the fulnefs of time; that is, at that time which his infinite wisdom had fore-appointed, which all the ancient prophecies had determined, and which many concurrent circumstances in the ftate of the Jewish religion, and in the difpofition of the Roman empire, had made a fit feafon for the reception and propagation of a new inftitution of religion; that God (I fay) at that time fhould fend his only-begotten Son, that Word or Wifdom of the Father, that divine perfon by whom (as has been before fhewn) he created the world, and by whom he made all former particular manifeftations of himself unto men; that he fhould fend him to take upon him our human nature, and therein to make a full and particular revelation of the will of God to mankind (who by fin had corrupted themfelves and forfeited the favour of God, fo that by the bare light of nature they could not discover any certain means by which they could be fatisfactorily and abfolutely fecure of regaining that favour), to preach unto men repentance and remiffion of fin, and, by giving himself a facrifice and expiation for fin, to declare the acceptablenels of repentance, and the certainty of pardon thereupon, in a method evidently confiftent with all neceffary vindication of the honour and authority of the divine laws, and with God's irreconcileable hatred against fin; to be a mediator and interceffor between God and man; to procure the particular affiftance of God's holy fpirit, which might be in men a new and effectual principle of a heavenly and divine life; in a word, to be the Saviour and judge of mankind, and finally to bring them to eternal life: all this, when clearly aud

* Δευκαλίων φασι περιφερὼν ἐκ τῆς λάρνακος ἀρισμένην δήλωμα γενέσθαι, χειμῶνες μὲν εἴσω πάλιν Budvouémy, suding & &nonläsav. Plutarch: utrum Terreftria an Aquatica animantia plus habeant folertiæ.

† Οἱ δὲ [Μωσίν] διαδ ξάμενοι, χρόνος μέν τινας ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς δίμεινον δικαιοπραγονες, καὶ θεοσεβές ὡς ἀληθῶς ἔλλες" Επας' &c. lin. XVI.

See Stilling fleet's Origin. faeræ, lib. III. cap. 5; and Bocharti Phaleg, & Volïus de Laglolatria.

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exprefsly.

exprefsly revealed, and by good teftimony proved to be fo revealed, is apparently agreeable and very credible to right and true reafon : as (because it is the main and fundamental article of the Christian faith) I fhall endeavour to make out more largely and diftinctly, by fhewing in particular, that none of the feveral objections, upon which fpeculative unbelievers reject this doctrine, do at all prove any inconfiftency in the belief of it with found and unprejudiced reafon.

THAT IT IS NOT UNREASONABLE TO SUPPOSE GOD MAKING A REVELATION OF HIS WILL TO MEN.

For, firft, it cannot be thought unreasonable to be believed in the general, that God fhould make a revelation of his will to mankind; fince, on the contrary (as has been before proved at large), it is very agreeable to the moral attributes of God, and to the notions and expectations of the wifeft and moft rational men that lived in the Heathen world.

THAT IT IS NOT UNREASONABLE TO BELIEVE, THAT Gon WOULD APPOINT A SACRIFICE OR EXPIATION FOR SIN. Secondly, it cannot be thought unreasonable to be believed, that in fuch a revelation, wherein God freely proclaims remiffion of fin, and the accptablenefs of repentance, he fhould nevertheless have appointed fuch a facrifice or expiation for fin, as might at the fame time be a fufficient teftimony of his irreconcileable hatred against it. For though, by the light of nature, it was indeed exceedingly probable and to be hoped for, that God would forgive fin upon true repentance, yet it could not be proved, that he was abfolutely obliged to do fo, or that he would certainly do fo. On the contrary, there was reafon to fuppofe, that, in vindication of the honour and dignity of his laws, he would require fome further fatisfaction and expiation. And accordingly we find the cuftom of facrificing to have prevailed univerfally over the Heathen world in all ages; which, how unreasonable foever an expectation it was, to think that the blood of beafts could truly expiate fin; yet thus much it plainly and undeniably fhews, that it has been the common apprehenfion of mankind in all ages, that God would not be appeafed, nor pardon fin, without fome punishment and fatisfaction; and yet at the fame time they had good hopes, that, upon the repentance of finners, God would accept fome other fatisfaction instead of the deftruction of the offenders. It is, therefore, plainly agreeable to right reafon, to believe that God, in vindication of the honour of his laws, and for a teftimony of his hatred against fin, fhould appoint some facrifice or expiation for fin, at the fame time that he forgives the finner upon his true repentance.

THAT IT IS NOT UNREASONABLE TO BELIEVE, THAT a MeDIATOR SHOULD BE APPOINTED BETWEEN GOD AND MAN. Thirdly, it cannot be thought unreasonable to be believed, that a mediator or interceffor fhould be appointed between God and man, through and by whom the prayers of finners may be offered up fo as to be acceptable in the fight of God. It is well known, the generality

Q3

nerality of the wifeft heathens thought it agreeable to reafon to make ufe of fubordinate intelligence, dæmons, or heroes, by whom they put up their prayers to the fuperior gods, hoping that by the mediation of thofe interceffors, the unworthinefs of their own perfons, and the defects of thefe prayers, might be fupplied; and they might obtain fuch merciful and gracious anfwers to their prayers, as they could not prefume to hope for upon their own account. Wherein though thofe Pagans laboured indeed under very great uncertainty, in doing a thing for which they had no fufficient warrant, and in ufing mediators whom they neither knew diftinctly to have any being, nor could they however have any good fecurity that fuch mediation would be acceptable to the fupreme God; yet, at the fame time this undeniably proves, that it is by no means inconfiftent with right reafon, to believe that a mediator may by divine authority be appointed between God and finful men, to be their interceffor and advocate with a juftly offended God.

OF THE OBJECTION DRAWN FROM THE DIGNITY OF THE PERSON WHOM WE BELIEVE TO BE OUR MEDIATOR AND REDEEMER.

Fourthly, the greatest real difficulty in this matter, to the judgement of right reafon, feems to arife from the confideration of the dignity of the perfon, whom we believe to have given himself a facrifice and propitiation for the fins of mankind; viz. how it is poffible, that the only-begotten Son of God fhould be incarnate and become man, how it is conceivable that God fhould condefcend fo far as to fend, and the Son of God condefcend willingly to be fent, and do fuch great things for his creatures; and, above all, how it is confiftent with reafon to fuppofe God condefcending to do fo much for fuch frail and weak creatures as men, who, in all appearance, feem to be but a very fmall, low, and inconfiderable part of the creation. And here indeed it muft readily be acknowledged, that human reafon could never have difcovered fuch a method as this, for the reconciliation of finners to an offended God, without exprefs revelation. But then neither on the other fide, when once this method is made known, is there any fuch difficulty or inconceivableness in it, as can reafonably make a wife and confiderate man call in queftion the truth of a well-attefted revelation merely upon that account; which, indeed, any plain abfurdity or contradiction in the matter of a doctrine pretended to be revealed, would, it must be confeffed, unavoidably do. For, as to the poffibility of the incarnaton of the Son of God; whatever myfterioufnefs there confeffedly was in the manner of it, yet, as to the thing itfelf, there is evidently no more unreafonablenefs in believing the poffibility of it, than in believing the union of the foul and body, or any other certain truth which we plainly fee implies no contradiction in the thing itself, at the fame time that we are fenfible we cannot discover the manner how it is effected. Again; as to the incredibility of the doctrine, that God fhould make fo great a condefcenfion to his creatures ; and that a perfon of fuch dignity as the only-begotten Son of God

fhould