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النشر الإلكتروني

284

PART

II.

CHAP. V.

Of the particular Syftem of Chriftianity; the Appointment of a Mediator, and the Redemption of the World by him..

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HERE is not, I think, any thing relating to Chriftianity, which has ww been more objected againft, than the Mediation of Christ, in fome or other of its Parts. Yet, upon thorough Confideration, there seems nothing lefs juftly liable to it. For,

I. The whole Analogy of Nature removes all imagined Prefumption against the general Notion of a Mediator between God and Man 2. For we find all living Creatures are brought into the World, and their Life in Infancy is preserved, by the Inftrumentality of Others: And every Satisfaction of it, some way or other, is bestowed by the like Means. So that the visible Government, which God exercises over the World, is by the Inftrumentality and Mediation of Others. And how far his invifible Government be or be not fo,

a 1 Tim. ii. 5.

it is impoffible to determine at all by Reason. CHA P. And the Suppofition, that Part of it is fo, V. appears, to say the least, altogether as credi-✔ ble, as the contrary. There is then no Sort of Objection, from the Light of Nature, against the general Notion of a Mediator between God and Man, confidered as a Doctrine of Christianity, or as an Appointment in this Difpenfation: fince we find by Experience, that God does appoint Mediators, to be the Inftruments of Good and Evil to us; the Inftruments of his Juftice and his Mercy. And the Objection here referred to is urged, not against Mediation in That high, eminent and peculiar Senfe, in which Chrift is our Mediator; but abfolutely against the whole Notion itself of a Mediator at all.

II. As we must suppose, that the World is under the proper moral Government of God, or in a State of Religion, before we can enter into Confideration of the revealed Doctrine, concerning the Redemption of it by Chrift; fo that Suppofition is here to be distinctly taken Notice of. Now the divine moral Government which Religion teaches us, implies, that the Confequence of Vice fhall be Mifery, in fome future State, by the righteous Judgment of God. That fuch confequent Punishment fhall take Effect by his Appointment, is neceffarily implied. But, as it is not

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PARTin any fort to be supposed, that we are made II. acquainted with all the Ends or Reasons, for which it is fit future Punishments should be inflicted, or why God has appointed, fuch and fuch confequent Mifery.fhould follow, Vice; and as we are altogether in the dark, how or in what Manner it shall follow, by what immediate Occafions, or by the Inftrumentality of what Means; there is no Abfurdity in fuppofing, it may follow in a Way. anlaogous to That, in which many Miseries follow fuch and fuch Courfes of Action at prefent; Poverty, Sickness, Infamy, untimely Death by Diseases, Death from the Hands of civil Juftice. There is no Abfurdity in fuppofing future Punishment may follow Wickedness of Course, as we speak, or in the Way of natural Confequence from God's original Conftitution of the World; from the Nature He has given us, and from the Condition in which he places us: Or in a like Manner, as a Perfon rafhly trifling upon a Precipice, in the Way of natural Confequence, falls down; in the way of natural Confequence, breaks his Limbs, fuppofe; in the way of natural Confequence of this, without Help, perishes.

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Some good Men may perhaps be offended, with hearing it fpoken of as a supposeable thing, that the future Punishments of Wickedness may be in the way of natural Confe

quence:

quence: as if this were taking the Execution CHAP. of Juftice out of the Hands of God, and V. giving it to Nature. But they fhould remember, that when things come to pass according to the Course of Nature, this does not hinder them from being His Doing, who is the God of Nature: And that the Scripture afcribes thofe Punishments to divine Justice, which are known to be natural; and which must be called fo, when distinguished from fuch as are miraculous. But after all, this Suppofition, or rather this Way of speaking, is here made ufe of only by way of Illustration of the Subject before us. For fince it must be admitted, that the future Punishment of Wickedness is not a Matter of arbitrary Appointment, but of Reason, Equity and Juftice; it comes, for ought I fee, to the fame thing, whether it is fuppofed to be inflicted in a Way analogous to That, in which the temporal Punishments of Vice and Folly are inflicted, or in any other Way. And though there were a Difference, it is allowable, in the present Cafe, to make this Suppofition, plainly not an incredible one; that future Punishment. may follow Wickedness in the way of natural Confequence, or according to fome general Laws of Government already established in the Universe.

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III. Upon

PART III. Upon this Suppofition, or even withII. out it, we may obferve fomewhat, much to ww the prefent Purpose, in the Conftitution of

Nature or Appointments of Providence: the Provifion which is made, that all the bad natural Confequences of Mens Actions, should not always actually follow; or that fuch bad Confequences, as, according to the fettled Courfe of things, would inevitably have followed if not prevented, fhould in certain Degrees, be prevented. We are apt prefumptuously to imagine, that the World might have been so constituted, as that there would not have been any fuch Thing as Mifery or Evil. On the contrary we find the Author of Nature permits it: But then he has provided Reliefs, and, in many Cafes, perfect Remedies for it, after fome Pains and Difficulties: Reliefs and Remedies even for That Evil, which is the Fruit of our own Misconduct; and which, in the Course of Nature, would have continued, and ended in our Deftruction, but for fuch Remedies. And this is an Instance both of Severity and Indulgence, in the Conftitution of Nature. Thus all the bad Confequences, now mentioned, of a Man's trifling upon a Precipice, might be prevented. And though all were not, yet fome of them might, by proper Interpofition, if not rejected: by Another's coming to the rafh Man's

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