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Mercy towards Mankind Though all were under the dominion of fin, and unable of themselves to become righteous, yet fome were more wicked than. others; great numbers of Men were carried away to commit heinous Impieties, through their own Ignorance, and the Example of others; and though the Heathen were never without excufe, yet they were chiefly inexcufable, because God had always a Revealed Will, which he would by fome means or other have brought them to the Knowledge of, if they had lived according to their Natural Knowledge of him, and of their Duty towards him; and though the Heathen had many opportunities of becoming acquainted with the Revealed Will of God, yet much allowance was to be made for the times of Ignorance before the Gofpel. God was pleafed to reveal himfelf from time to time; and at last by the Gospel, in a more wonderful and evident manner than ever he had done before, and to afford Men fuller means of Conviction, and greater measures of Grace to comply with it, and work out their own falvation. And God has made thefe Revelations of his Will, by enduing certain Men with a Power of Prophefying, and working Miracles, who were to declare his Will to others, and to certifie the rest of the World that it was indeed his Will and Commandments which they delivered.

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And this was the most proper Method, and most worthy of God. For, as I have proved, God would not create Mankind, and then take no farther care of them; fince, in the state of Innocence, they better deferved his Care, and have ever after stood in fo much need of it, and could at no time be happy, either in this World or the next, without it: And it cannot with any reafon be objected, by thofe who have never fo great a mind to cavil at the Terms and Means of Salvation by the Gofpel, That God should apply himself to every Perfon by a particular Revelation:

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both because fo much Condefcenfion and Indulgence would be ill bestow'd upon those who have fo little deferv'd it; and because it would have no better effect than Prophecies and Miracles have had towards the Converfion of Men; but a very ill one, in affording Pretences to all forts of Impotures: And where two feveral Means are alike futable to any End, no Man, furely, will prefume to prefcribe to Almighty God, and fay, that he ought to have used one rather than the other; much less when one is inconvenient, and the other the only proper Means to be used.

II. I proceed therefore to fhew, That Prophecies and Miracles are the most fitting and proper Means for God to difcover and reveal himself to the World by. It is evident, that they are not accompany'd with thofe Inconveniencies, with which immediate Revelations would have been; there is no Prophecy, nor Miracle, but it has the design'd effect upon many Perfons; the Majefty and Honour of God is not expofed to the Scorn of every profane and obftinate Offender; and there is as effectual Care taken to prevent Impostures, as poffibly could have been. And as Prophecies and Miracles have none of the Inconveniences which immediate Revelations would have had; fo I fhall fhew, that they have all the Advantage and Ufefulness which it can be fuppos'd that immediate Revelations would have had, if they had been granted to every Perfon in particular.. All that any immediate Revelation could do, is to afford Men the Means of Conviction, and Affurance that the Revelation proceeds from God, as certainly as that God himself is: And this Prophecies and Miracles do.

1. Concerning Frophecies, it is obfervable, That the Oracles and Lying Divinations with which the Devil has impos'd upon the World, fhew, That it is natural for Men to expect that God fhould reveal C 3 himself

himself by Prophecies: Which made them fo prone to receive falfe Prophecies from their falfe Gods. And this may teach us, That True Prophecies are to be expected from the True God. Many Prophecies are of that nature, that none but God Omnifcient could be the Author of them; and thefe, in their Accomplishment, muft carry an indifputable Evidence of Divine Revelation along with them. Such are the Predictions of Things to be fulfilled many Ages afterwards, which, in the fulfilling, depend upon the Counfels and Determinations of free Agents; and Predictions of the Sins of Men, which they could not be determined to, but by their own Choice. It is above the Capacity of Humane Understanding, to conceive how it is poffibe, that Things fhould be forefeen fo long before either the Actions or the Agents themfelves have any Exiftence, or how Contingencies can be the Object of Infallible Prescience: And therefore for God to foretel Things of this nature by his Prophets, is a moft proper and certain way of Revelation; because it is above the Power of any Finite Being to do the like. It is the Prerogative of him that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, to declare unto man what is his thought: The Lord, the God of Hofts is his name, Amos iv. 13. For which reason the Falfe Gods are challeng'd to foretel these Things; Sher the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are Gods, Ifai. xlii. 23.

But because Things foretold may fometimes come to pass by chance, or it may be in the Power of Evil Spirits to foretel them when they are in Defign and Agitation, and just ready for Action; or to difcern things done at diftant places, and to make probable Gueffes, which may prove true, from the various Circumstances of Affairs which they observe. in the World: we may therefore be affured, from the Confideration of the Divine Attributes of Good

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nefs and Truth, that God will not fuffer falfe Religions to be impofed upon the World, under his own Name, by Diabolical Predictions, without affording Means to discover them to be fuch. When a Prophet Speaketh in the Name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the Prophet hath Spoken it prefumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him, Deut. xviii. 22. This is the Mark of Diftinction between a Falfe and a True Prophet, That whatever the latter foretold in the Name of the Lord, fhould come to pafs; but whatever the first foretold in his Name, fhould not come to pass: which implies, that God will disappoint fuch Predictions, as he threatens Ezek. xiv. 9. and not fuffer them to come to pafs; otherwife the coming to pafs of Things foretold, could be no certain Mark of a true Prophet, because they might come to pass by chance.

The Prophet which prophefieth of peace, when the word of the Prophet fhall come to pass, then fhall the Prophet be known that the Lord hath truly fent him, Jer. xxviii. 9. * Maimonides delivers it, not only as his own Opinion, but as the received Doctrine of the Rabbins, that if a Prophet foretold profperous Events, and they did not come to pafs, it was a convincing Argument of a falfe Prophet: But if he threatned Judgments, tho' they were not inflicted, he might be a true Prophet. Which Do&rine they advanc'd from a Mifinterpretation of the Words of Jeremiah now mention'd. For the falfe Prophet Hananiah, having declar'd in the Name of the Lord, that Jeconiah and all the Captives of Judah, with the Veffels of the Temple, fhould within Two Years be brought back from Babylon to Jerufalem; Jeremiah

* Maim. de Fundamentis Legis. c. 10, §. 6, 7. Præf. in Seder Zerain. p. 8.

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tells him, that he heartily pray'd, that if it pleas'd God, this might prove true; but that it was no new thing to prophefie of Calamities, that were to befal a People, which was the thing, that had rais'd fo great Hatred against him. The Prophets, that have been before me, and before thee of old, prophefied both against many Countries, and against great King doms, of War and of Evil, and of Peftilence. The Prophet which prophefieth of Peace, when the Word of the Prophet fhall come to pass, then shall the Prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly fent him, Jer. xxviii. 8, 9. He speaks here of Peace with relation to this particular Cafe in queftion at that time, and fays that the Event would fhew who was the true Prophet but he lays down no Rule to detect falfe Prophets by the Prediction of Profperous rather than of Adverfe Events: which is directly contrary to God's exprefs Declaration by him. At what inftant I fhall Speak concerning a Nation, and concerning

Kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to deftroy it, if that Nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their Evil, I will repent of the Evil, that I thought to do unto them. And at what in ftant I Shall Speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it do Evil in my Sight, that it obey not my Voice, then I will repent of the Good, wherewith I faid I would benefit them, Chap. xviii. 7, 8, 9, 10. the righteous Man, that committed Iniquity, was to have no Benefits from the Promifes made to him; as the wicked Man, upon his Repentance, was not to fuffer the Punishment denounc'd against him, Ezek. xxxiii. 13, 18. So manifeftly contrary is this Rule of the Rabbins for the difcerning of falfe from true Prophets, to the exprefs Words of Scripture; and Maimonides confeffes it fail'd at the Deftru

Maim. de Fund. Leg. c. 1o. §. 7:

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