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3. OF THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE.

That the univerfe, the heavens and the earth, and all things that are therein, were created and made by God; and this, through the operation of his Son, that divine word, or wifdom of the Father; by whom, the Scripture fays that God" made the worlds;" Heb. i. 2. that by him God created "all things;" Eph. iii. 9. that "by "him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in "earth, vifible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, "or principalities or powers; all things were created by him and "for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things con« fift;" Col. i. 16. that "all things were made by him, and with"out him was not any thing made that was made:" John i. 3. All this, likewife, is very agreeable to found and unprejudiced reason. For, that neither the whole, nor any part of the world; neither the form, nor motion, nor matter of the world, could exift of itself, by any neceffity in its own nature; is abundantly demonftrable from undeniable principles of reafon, as has been fhewn in my former difcourfe. Confequently, both the whole world, and all the variety of things that now exift therein, muft of neceffity have received both their being itself, and alfo their form and manner of being, from God the alone fupreme and felf-exiftent caufe; and must needs depend upon his good-pleafure every moment for the continuance and prefervation of that being. Accordingly, if we fet afide the Epicureans (whofe abfurd hypothefis has long fince been given up even by all Atheists themselves); and fome very few others, who with no lefs abfurdity (as I have alfo at large fhewn) contended that the world was in its prefent form felf-exiftent and neceffary; all the philofophers of all ages (even not excepting those who held the eternity of the world) have unanimoufly agreed in this great truth, that the world evidently owes both its being and prefervation to God, the fupreme caufe and author of all things. And then, that God made the world by the operation of his Son; though this could not indeed be known certainly without exprefs revelation, yet is it by no means incredible, or contrary to right reafon. For, to the judgement of reason, it is one and the fame thing, whether God made the world immediately by himself, or mediately by the miniftration of a fecond principle. And what Plato and his followers have faid concerning the eternal Nes, or mind, whom they frequently ftyle Azupyos, the minifter or workman by whom God framed all things, proves undeniably thus much at leaft, that the doctrines delivered in Scripture concerning this matter cannot be rejected as inconfiftent and irreconcileable with right reafon.

4. OF THE FORMATION OF THE EARTH.

GEN. i. 2.

That, about the space of 6000 years fince, the earth was without form and void, that is, a confufed chaos! out of which God framed this beautiful and ufeful fabric we now inhabit, and stocked it with the feeds of all kinds of plants, and formed upon it man, and all the other fpecies of animals it is now furnished with; is also

very agreeable to right reafon. For though the precife time indeed, when all this was done, could not now have been known exactly, without revelation; yet even at this day there are remaining many confiderable and very strong rational proofs, which make it exceedingly probable (feparate from the authority of revelation) that this prefent frame and conftitution of the earth cannot have been of a very much longer date. The univerfal tradition delivered down from all the most ancient nations of the world, both learned and barbarous; the conftant and agreeing doctrine of all ancient philofophers and pocts, concerning the earth's being formed within fuch a period of time, out of water or a chaos; the manifold abfurdities and contradictions of thofe few accounts, which pretend to a much greater antiquity; the number of men, with which the earth is at prefent inhabited; the late original of learning and all useful arts and sciences; the impoffibility, that univerfal deluges, or other accidents, should at certain long periods have oft-times deftroyed far the greatest part of mankind, with the memory of all former actions and inventions, and yet never have happened to deftroy them all; the changes that must neceffarily fall out naturally in the earth in vaft length of time, by the finking and washing down of mountains, the confumption of water by plants, and innumerable other fuch like accidents; thefe (I fay) and many more arguments, drawn from nature, reafon, and obfervation, make that account of the time of the earth's formation exceedingly probable in itself, which from the revelation delivered in fcripture-hiftory we believe to be certain.

5. OF THE CONTINUAL GOVERNMENT OF PROVIDENCE. That the fame God who created all things by the word of his power, and upholds and preferves them by his continual concourse, does alfo by his all-wife providence perpetually govern and direct the iffues and events of things; takes care of this lower world, and of all, even the fmalleft things that are therein; difpofes things in a regular order and fucceffion in every age, from the beginning of the world to its final period; and infpects, with a more particular and especial regard, the moral actions of men; this, as it is far more exprefsly, clearly, and constantly taught in fcripture, than in any of the writings of the philofophers; fo it is alfo highly agreeable to right and true reason. For, that an omniprefent and infinitely wife Being cannot but know every thing that is done in every part of the universe, and with equal eafe take notice of the minuteft things as of the greateft; that an infinitely powerful Being muft needs govern and direct every thing in fuch manner, and to fuch ends, as he knows to be beft and fitteft in the whole, fo far as is confiftent with that liberty of will, which he has made effential to all rational creatures; and that an infinitely juft and good Governor cannot but take more particular and exact notice of the moral actions of all his rational creatures, and how far they are conformable or not conformable to the rules he has fet them; all this (I fay) is most evidently agreeable to right reason, and, as has been before fhewn, deducible from it.

VOL. IV.

6. Or

6. OF PARADISE, AND THE LOSS OF IT BY SIN. That God, after the formation of the earth, created man at first upright and innocent, and placed him in a happy and paradifiacal ftate, where he enjoyed plenty and abundance of all things without labour or forrow; and that fin was the original caufe, 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 reasonable and credible in itself; as appears, not only from the abstract confideration of the nature of the thing; but alfo 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.

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OF THE FLOOD.

That, in process of time, after the first entrance of fin into the world, men by degrees corrupted themselves 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 restoration of human race; is a truth delivered down to us, not only by authority of Scripture, but alfo by the concurrent teftimony of almoft all heathen philofophers and poets; and the hiftories of all nations backwards terminate in it; and (which is the most remarkable thing of all, because it is a demonftrative and ocular proof of the univerfality of fome fuch kind of diffolution) the prefent visible frame and conftitution 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 fifhes, bones of other animals, and parts of all kinds of plants, which in every country and in almoft every place are at great variety of depths found inclofed in earth, in 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 least) in a state of fluidity, that whosoever has feen the collections of this kind made by the very ingenious Dr. Woodward and others, muft in a manner abandon all ufe both of his fenfes and reafon, if he can in the leaft doubt of this truth.

* Τὸ παλαιὸν πάντ ̓ ἦν ἀλφίτων καὶ αλεύρων πλήρη, καθάπερ καὶ νῦν κόνεως· καὶ κρῖναι δ ̓ ἔῤῥεον, αἱ μὲν ὕδατος, γάλακος δ ̓ ἄλλαι καὶ ὁμοίως αἱ μὲν μέλιτος, αἱ δ ̓ εἶναι, τενές δ ̓ ἐλαίε· ὑπὸ πλησμονῆς δ' οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ τρυφῆς, εἰς ὑβριν ἐξέπεσον. Ζείς δὲ μισήσας στὴν κατάςασιν, ηφάνισε πάντα, καὶ διὰ πόνω τὸν βίον απέδειξε. Calamus Indus apud Strabon. lib XV.

† Επεὶ δὲ ἡ τῷ δεῖ μὲν μοῖρα ἐξήτηλος ἐγίγνετο ἐν αὐτοῖς, πολλῶ τῷ θητῷ καὶ πολε λάκις ανακεραννυμένη, τὸ δὲ ἀνθρώπινον ἦθος ἐπεκράτει, τότε Θεὸς ὁ Θεῶν Ζεὺς, ετε δυνάμενος καθαρᾶς τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἐννοήσας γένος ἐπιεικὲς αθλίως διατιθέμενον, δίκην αὐτοῖς ἐπιθεῖναι βοληθείς, &c. Plato in Critia five Auantico. 3

8. Of

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 himself 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 forme revelation from God was a reasonable and probable expectation. And that, after this, God should vouchsafe by exprefs 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 neceflary, in those times and circumftances, to preserve that nation from the idolatry and worship of falfe Gods, wherewith the countries around them were overfpread; that those 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 reason to doubt than of any hiftory of any ancient matter of fact in the world. The moft 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 reafons, 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, genuineness, and authority of the books themselves), 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 unqueftionably unprejudiced authors; of which Grotius t, in his excellent book of " The Truth of the "Chriftian Religion," has given us a large collection. As particularly; that the manner of the formation of the earth out of a chaos, is mentioned by the ancienteft Phoenician, Egyptian, Indian, and Greck hiftorians; the very names of Adam and Eve, by Sanchoniathon and others; the longevity of the Antediluvians, by Berolus, 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

• Page 211.

Lib. I. c. 1 6. and Lib. III. c. 16, where fee the citations at large.

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 encient 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 Æneas 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 representations. 10. OF GOD'S SENDING HIS SON INTO THE WORLD FOR THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND.

That God, in the fulness of time; that is, at that time which his infinite wifdom bad fore-appointed, which all the ancient prophecies had determined, and which many concurrent circumftances 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 himfelf 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 difcover 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 himfelf a facrifice and expiation for fin, to declare the acceptablenets 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 and

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* Δευκαλίωνι φασι περιφερὰν ἐκ τῆς λάρνακος αφιεμένην δήλωμα γενέσθαι, χειμῶνος μὲν εἴσω πάλιν ἐνδυομένην, εὐδίας δ' εποπλᾶσαν, Flutarch: utrum Terreftria an Aquatica animantia plus habeant folertia.

+ Οἱ δε [Μωσιν] διαδεξάμενοι, γεένες μέν τινας ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς διέμενον δικαιοπραγείες, καὶ θεοσεβεῖς ὡς ἀληθῶς ἔνες· Επειτ' &c. lib. XVI.

I See Stillingfleet's Origin. facræ, lib. III. cap. 5; and Bocharti Phaleg, & Voffius de Idololatria.

2

exprefsly

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