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fifted upon both by the fecret and open enemies of our religion.

The objections against his incarnation I have elfewhere confidered. [John i. 14. Serm. XLIII.] And therefore fhall proceed to the next, viz.

Secondly, As to the time of our Saviour's appearance, it is objected, If he be the only way and means of falvation, why did he come no fooner into the world; but fuffer mankind fo long without any hopes or means of being faved? This was objected by Porphyry of old, and ftill fticks in the minds of men. To this I anfwer,

1. It is not fit for creatures to call their Creator to too ftrict an account of his actions. Goodness is free, and may act when and how it pleaseth; and as God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, fo he may have mercy at what time he pleafeth; and is not bound to give us an account of his matters. This is much like the objection of the Atheist against the being of God; that if there were fuch an infinite and eternal Being, he would furely have made the world fooner, and not have been without all employment for fo long a duration; fuch another objection is this against our Saviour, that if he had been the Son of God, he would have begun this great and merciful work of the redemption of mankind fooner, and not have delayed it fo long, and fuffered mankind to perish for four thousand years together.

But it feems in the one as well as the other, God took his own time, and he best knew what time was fitteft. The fcripture tells us, that in the fulness of time, God fent his Son; when things were ripe for it, and all things accomplished that God thought requifite in order to it. In judging of the actions of our earthly governors, thofe who are at a distance from their counfels, what conjectures foever they may make of the reafons of them, will nevertheless, if they have that refpect for their wifdom which they ought, believe, that how ftrange foever fome of their actions may feem, yet they were done upon good reason, and that they themselves, if they knew the

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fecrets of their councils, fhould think fo. Much more do we owe that reverence to the infinite wifdom of God, to believe that the counfels of his will are grounded upon very good reafon, though we do not fee many times what it is.

2. It is not true that the world was wholly deftitute of a way and means of falvation before our Saviour's coming. Before the law of Mofes was given, men were capable of being received to the mercy and favour of God, upon their obedience to the law of nature, and their fincere repentance for the violation of it, by virtue of the Lamb that was flain from the foundation of the world. Men were faved by Chrift both before and under the law, without any particular and exprefs knowledge of him. There were good men in other nations, as well as among the Jews, as Job, and his friends alfo, feem to have been. In all ages of the world, and in every nation, they that feared God and wrought righteousness were accepted of him. The facrifice of Chrift, which is the meritorious caufe of the falvation of mankind, looks back as well as forward; and God was reconcileable to men, and their fins were pardoned, by virtue of this great propitiation that was to be made. In which fenfe perhaps it is, that Chrift is faid to be the Lamb flain from the foundation of the world, Heb. ix. 25, 26. The Apoftle intimates to us, that if this facrifice, which was offered in the last ages of the world, had not been available in former ages, Chrift must have often fuffered fince the foundation of the world: But now bath he appeared once in the conclufion of the ages, to put away fin by the facrifice of himself.

3. He did appear at that time in which the world ftood most in need of him; when the whole world, both Jews and Gentiles, were funk into the greatest degeneracy, both in opinion and practice, and the condition of mankind feemed to be even defperate and paft remedy. This was the needful time, when it was most seasonable for this great phyfician to come, and fhew his pity and his skill in our recovery. God could have sent his Son many ages before; but he thought fit to try other ways firft, and to re

ferve this powerful remedy to the laft; laft of all he fent his Son.

4 The time of our Saviour's appearing was of all ages of the world the fittest season for his coming; whether we confider,

1. That the world was at that time beft prepared and difpofed for receiving the Chriftian religion: Or,

2. That this was the fitteft feason that ever had been, for the eafy diffufing and propagating of this religion. I affign these reafons as tending to give men fome fatisfaction, why this great bleffing was delayed fo long; it being rather an argument of wifdom and goodness, than of the want of either, to defer things to that time, in which they are most likely to have their effect. Not but that perhaps other and better reafons may be given. To be fure, God had very good reafons for this difpenfation, whether we can hit upon them or not. In the mean time these feem not to be altogether inconfi derable:

1. That the world was at that time beft prepared and difpofed for receiving the Chriftian religion. All the while our Saviour's coming was delayed, God's providence was difpofing things for it, and training up mankind for the entertaining of this great blef fing. The Jewish religion was always very burdenfome, but much more fo, towards the expiration of the Jewish ftate, partly by the intolerable multitude of external obfervances, which were daily multiplied upon them, under pretence of traditions from their fa thers; and partly by reafon of their fubjection to the Romans, which made the exercife of their religion in many refpects more difficult.

And the Heathen world was in a very good meafure prepared for Chriftianity, by being civilized. About the time of our Saviour's coming into the world, philofophy and learning had been fo diffufed by the Roman conquefts, as had brought a great part of the world from barbarifm to civility. Befides, that their philofophy had this effect upon men, to refine their

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reafon, and in a good degree to detect the follies of the Heathen idolatry and fuperftition.

It is true indeed learning and philofophy flourished a great while before, in the time of the Grecian empire, and perhaps before that in fome other nations; and the conquefts of the Grecians were very fpeedy and of vaft extent: But yet they were neither fo univerfal, nor fo well fettled ; nor did they propagate their philofophy and civility together with their conquefts, as the Romans did. So that there was no age of the world, wherein mankind were fo generally prepared and difpofed for the receiving of the gofpel, as that wherein our Saviour appeared.

2. This was likewife the fitteft feafon for the eafy diffufing and propagating of the Chriftian religion. The Romans, together with their conquefts, did very much propagate their language, which made the ways of communication far more eafy; and by the long and frequent correfpondence of the feveral parts of that empire one with another, the ways of travel and paffage from one country to another were more ready and open. So that no age can be inftanced, in all refpects fo convenient for the fpeedy propagating of a new religion, as that wherein our Saviour appeared, viz. when the Roman empire was at its height. And it was very agreeable to the goodness and wisdom of the divine providence, that the braveft and moft virtuous people in the world (infinitely beyond either the Perfians or Grecians) fhould be chofen by God, as one of the chiefeft means for the spreading of the best and most perfect revelation that ever God made to the world.

Thirdly, It is objected, that we have not now fufficient evidence of the truth of Chriftianity, the main arguments for it relying upon matters of fact, of which at this distance, we have not, nor can be supposed to have, fufficient affurance. To this I anfwer,

1. That men not only may have, but have an undoubted aflurance of matters of fact, ancienter than thefe we are speaking of; and the distance of them from our times creates no manner of fcruple in the

minds of men concerning them. That there was fuch a man as Alexander the Great, and that he conquered Darius and the Perfians; that Julius Cæfar invaded our nation, and in fome measure fubdued it; and that he overcame Pompey in the battle of Pharfalia; and innumerable other things which I might inftance in, that were done before our Saviour's time, are firmly believed without any manner of doubt and fcruple by mankind, notwithstanding they were done fo long ago. So that ancient matters of fact are capable of clear evidence, and we may have fufficient affurance of them. And where there is equal evidence, if we do not give equal belief, the fault is not in the argument, but in the paffion or prejudice of thofe to whom it is propofed.

2. We have every whit as great affurance, (nay, greater, if it can, or needed to be) of the matters upon which the proof of Christianity relies, as of those which I have mentioned. The matters of fact upon which the truth of Chriftianity relies, are, That there was fuch a perfon as Jefus Chrift; that he wrought fuch miracles; that he was put to death at Jerufalem under Pontius Pilate; that he rofe again from the dead, and was visibly taken up into heaven; that he bestowed miraculous gifts and powers upon the Apoftles, to make them competent witneffes of his refurrection, and of the truth of that doctrine, which they published in his name; that accordingly they preached the gofpel to the world, and in a fhort fpace, without any human advantages, did propagate it, and gain entertainment for it in moft parts of the then known world.

Now these matters of fact have the fame teftimony of histories, wrote in thofe times, and conveyed down to us, by as general and uncontrouled a tradition, as the conquefts of Alexander and Julius Cæfar. So that if we do not afford equal belief to them, it is a fign that we have fome prejudice or interest against the one more than against the other, though the evidence for both be equal. Nay, I go farther, that the evidence for thefe things, which are the foundation of Chriftianity, is fo much the greater,

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