from their Conceptions so he had chose to reveal the Mystery of it in a method contrary to that which they used in the Propagation of their several Sects which occafroned the preaching of the Cross to be accounted foolishness Verse 18. Although if Men would have laid aside their unjust Prejudices they had sufficient reason to be convinced of the Reasonableness of this proceeding The truth of this the Apostle manifesteth not only by appealing to the Conscience of those who were perswaded of it and the secret Effects of that perswasion in the minds of Men but unto us which are saved it is the power of God but also by other external Arguments which by any considering Man cannot be rejected As that it was foretold by the antient Prophets particularly by Isaiah in XXIX Chapter Verse 4. For it is there written I will destroy the wisdom of the Wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent that it is abundantly justified by its admirable Success in the world to have been the best and most wise manner of proceeding being entertained by great numbers of Persons and going on apace in procuring its designed end the Reformation and instruction of Mankind whereas the Philosophy of the Gentiles and the elaborate Interpretations of the Mosaick Law made by the great Doctors of it gained no considerable Progress in the world and being confined to some small number of Sectaries and Disciples only manifested by their Unsuccessfulness that they were never designed by the infallible Wisdom of God for the universal Discipline or Religion of Mankind Where therefore is the Wise as the Apostle triumphantly upbraids them Ver. 20. Wheâ—…e is the scribe where is the disputer of this world who after all their laborious Searches missed of the Truth and could never propagate their Doctrines with Success Hath not God made foolish the Wisdom of this world Baffling all the elaborate Schemes of these opinionated Men and confounding their glorious Pretences of Wisdom in appointing a quite different method for procuring the Happiness of Mankind from what they had imagined and proposing it Successfully by means in their Esteem Contemptible by Persons illiterate and devoid of all Philosophy and curious Learning And that we may not conceive this way of procedure to be either unjust or unreasonable the Apostle proceeds in the 21. Verse to declare the Reason and Occasion of it For after that in the Wisdom of God the world by Wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe Since these Persons who had conceived so great an Opinion of their own Wisdom had apparently failed of discovering by the light of Reason the true God and the natural Duties of Religion owing to him however very easie and possible to them no wonder that the Mysteries of a revealed Religion should appear Foolishness to them and that God should as it were by way of Punishment confound their Arrogance and mortifie their Self-conceit by instructing and saving Mankind by a way directly contrary to their Suppositions namely by Preaching that is by supernatural Revelation not by their own proper Industry and Wit and by the foolishness of preaching and that considered in the matter of the Revelations which having nothing of extraordinary Abstraction or difficult Contemplation in them were in their Judgment accounted foolish or in the manner of proposing these Revelations which being different from their fond Conceptions appeared foolish and absurd to them the Jews requiring a sign that is the constant performance of glorious and pompous Miracles which might secure to them the Fruition and increase of that temporal Felicity which they vainly hoped to receive from the Messias And the Greeks seeking after Wisdom despising all Doctrines which were not recommended with the specious shew of Philosophical Subtilty and Mysterious Niceties or not proposed by Persons in the Opinion of the world Learned or Eloquent After all these preliminary Arguments the Apostle having thereby cleared the way and removed all Objections lays down this Conclusion in the words of my Text But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Gentiles foolishness That is we justly and we boldly do it neither valuing the Derision of the world nor distrusting the Justice of our Cause So then the words thus opened naturally and easily offer to us these two Considerations of which I shall in order Discourse I. The Reasonableness or just cause of believing and professing the Christian Faith notwithstanding its being a stumbling block to the Jews and to the Gentiles foolishness II. Our Obligation to Preach and openly profess this Faith without being offended with the Contradiction and Opposition of the Jews and Gentiles or being led away with the same Prejudices I. That we have reasonable and just Cause to believe and adhere to the Christian Faith or the Mystery of Christ Crucified notwithstanding the derision of the Gentiles and scandal of the Jews For that by the phrase of Christ Crucified is not so much meant the particular Mystery of the Death and Passion of our Saviour as the whole System of Faith revealed by Christ is manifest from the Context although the Crucifixion of our Lord as it is the grand Mystery of our Faith so was it of all others to the Jews most scandalous and to the Gentiles most ridiculous But the design of the Apostle being to vindicate the Christian Religion in general not this Mystery in particular I shall close with his Design and consider only the more general Prejudices and Objections upon account of which the Faith became a scandal to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles that so by manifesting the unreasonableness and inconclusiveness of them I may manifest the Justice and Reasonableness of our Belief notwithstanding their Opposition These Prejudices and Objections we before observed from the Apostles Discourse preceding my Text and they concern either 1. The matter of those Revelations which are the Object of the Christian Faith Or 2. The manner of revealing them and proposing them to the World In Relation to the first the Spirituality of the Christian Religion was a mighty Objection to the Jews which they could not easily overcome they being inured to gross and corporeal Conceptions of Divine Matters trained up in carnal Ceremonies and Ordinances expecting no other than temporal Rewards and vainly expecting the glorious appearance of a temporal Messias Then as to the manner of the Revelation nothing could be more surprizing to the Jews than to see it performed in an humble and gentle manner not with the voice of Thunder and Lightnings as the Law of Old at Mount Sina not by force of Arms or victorious Success of the Messias not by stupendious Miracles performed as often as the petulancy of a Stiff-necked People should require it nor yet by the Learning and Cunning of their great Doctors and Rabbies but by a few mean inconfiderable disarmed and unlearned Persons
them When ye have lift up the Son of Man then shall ye know that I am He. And this in some measure mitigates and excuseth the present ignorance of the Apostles that they had not yet seen the completion of the last and greatest Acts of Christ particularly his Resurrection Lastly To say no more the extraordinary Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghost were not yet poured forth Of these Gifts none of the least was a due preparation of Will and penetration of Judgment to conceive rightly the sence and meaning of all Divine Revelations and Mysteries This was afterwards plentifully poured down upon the Apostles as upon this Day but before that time was not conferred on them That the want of this extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost was a main cause of their Ignorance is plainly insinuated by all those Texts wherein Christ promiseth to the Apostles the Mission of the Holy Spirit to dispel their Ignorance and enlighten their understandings as in the words of the Text and John XV. 26. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall Testify of me and when He the Spirit of Truth is come He will guide you into all Truth The ordinary assistance of the Divine Spirit had indeed all along accompanyed the Apostles which had been abundantly sufficient when added to the Motives of Faith and advantages of Instruction which they received from Christ to inform them in all things necessary considered as private Persons if they had removed all prejudices and used due attention and reason but the extraordinary Inspiration of the Holy Ghost being not necessary was not yet conferred on them For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified St. John VII 39. These were the principal causes of that Ignorance of the Apostles which we proposed to inquire into of that misapprehension of the Nature of our Saviours Office and Design which so eminently appears in the context as we before explained it which disabled them from considering the consequence of his Miracles For their heart was hardned Mark VI. 52. by reason of which They understood none of these things his Passion and Resurrection and this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things that were spoken Luc. XVIII 34. which caused the words of the women relating to the Resurrection of Christ to seem to them as idle Tales and incredible Fables Luc. XXIV 11. and the indignation of which drew from Christ that sharp Exprobration O ye of little faith Mattâ—… VIII 26. That this Ignorance ought not in the least to surprize us or induce us to entertain any thoughts prejudicial to Christianity it self appears from the Reasons which I have already assigned to it but will more fully be manifested in considering the second Head proposed which was To shew That the permission of this Ignorance till the sending of the Holy Ghost was not in the least repugnant to the Divine Wisdom or the design of the Gospel This will evidently appear from these two Considerations I. That it would be incongruous to the Divine Wisdom to use any extraordinary methods in removing the Ignorance of the Apostles and perfectly informing their Understandings until such Information not being possible to be obtained by the ordinary methods of Instruction should become absolutely necessary to the being of the Church II. That such a perfect and plenary Information was not necessary to the Apostles till after the Ascension of Christ. The first of these Propositions naturally follows from that known truth and received principle that God never worketh Miracles without necessity nor recurreth to extraordinary causes while natural and ordinary will suffice However fully to evince this matter and clear all remaining doubts I will consider all the possible methods of perfectly instructing the Apostles before the Ascension of Christ when the natural and ordinary means failed and demonstrate that God could not use any one of them without being injurious to his Wisdom and Honour These extraordinary methods may be reduced to these three Heads First God by his Almighty power might have over-ruled their understanding and without expecting the assent of the Will violently imprinted a perfect knowledge of his Revelations in it or even forced the Will to assent to it although it had not yet discoverd the truth of it But nothing can be imagined more injurious to the honour of God than a proceeding of this kind to prepare the way for Religion by violating those Priviledges of reasoning and free will which he at first conferred on them which were in truth to make Mankind happy by destroying their Nature Secondly our Saviour having already abundantly convinced the Apostles of the Divinity of his Mission and consequently of his Infallibity might have plainly and openly revealed to them all the Mysteries of his Religion and future Actions to be yet performed and required their immediate Assent to them without taking care to satisfie them at the same time of the truth and reasonableness of such Revelations by their Conformity to all precedent Revelations or the Law of Nature but this also was irrational in it self and consequently unworthy of the Divine Wisdom and might justly have been esteemed unsatisfactory by the Apostles For as they were fully convinced that our Saviour was a Divine Person so were they no less that all the precedent Revelations were delivered by inspired men and consequently deserved the same degree of Assent which his could do So that if the least repugnance between the Doctrine or Life of Christ and the ancient Prophesies could have been difcovered they were not in the least obliged to assent unto them Nay to a full and unexceptionable Proof of the truth of his Revelations it was not only necessary that no repugnance between them and the predictions of the Old Testament were discovered but also that an entire Conformity should appear Since the true Messias was by God designed to the Jews under those two Characters of extraordinary Miracles and perfect agreement of Life Actions and Doctrine to the precedent Predictions and Revelations and consequently could not be evidently distinguished without the concurrence of both those Proofs And indeed such an arbitrary Command of a blind Assent to any Revelations confirmed by Miracles without a previous Examination of the truth of them is so absurd and repugnant to the Laws of reasoning that it could not be used by Christ himself even in respect of Heathens For such a resignation of the Understanding could rationally be made to no other Authority than an Authority founded upon Arguments of greater Credibility than can be found in any other Case But such is not the Authority derived from Miracles for all objects of Sense and necessary Deductions from reason include at least an equal many a greater degree of Credibility I mean not hereby that any truths whatsoever can have a greater certainty than
Promises of Reward annexed to Repentance because these ought so much the more to affect us by how much the more they concern us The Reward proposed to the Jews was no more than the temporary Possession of a fruitful Countrey to which perhaps some Men would not value their Title that they might gratifie their Lusts. Yet it is recorded as a heinous Aggravation of the impiety of the Jews That they thought scorn of that pleasant land and gave no credence unto his words In the Christian Religion more noble Rewards are proposed Rewards with which nothing in this World can stand in Competition and yet all bestowed upon this single Condition of Repentance which if it be neglected may we not reasonably conclude that the Reward it self is despised How then shall God oblige Men to his Service if this be ineffectual He propofeth eternal Felicity they preferr temporal Satisfaction a Satisfaction so far beneath true Happiness that it carrieth no Contentment along with it and in a short time becometh nauseous He grants this upon easie Conditions and yet Men think it not worth the while to bestow that easie Labour he bestows it upon sinful Men who are thereby his professed Enemies and yet they think not themselves obliged by the Gift of it They harden their Hearts against these powerful Impressions and suffer not themselves to be mollified by the most endearing kindness Men may perhaps imagine that it will never be too late to undertake the Acquisition of this Reward that it may be securely neglected till the last Scene of Life But surely it cannot but be highly unreasonable even to endanger the hopes of so great a Purchase for the sake of any worldly Pleasure which so infinitely transcends all the Satisfaction which this Life can afford Not to say that it is impossible to preserve any true Satisfaction in this Life without a probable assurance of the Fruition of the next Men may for a while stifle the natural Desires and Notions of their Souls and cloud the Dictates of Conscience Yet the Soul cannot but sometimes free it self from this affected Stupidity and being by the Light of Reason assured of its own immortal Nature look forward into the Ages to come and be folicitous of its future State It will then perceive that that future state is an Abyss of time in comparison to this present Life and remember the distinction of Bliss and Misery appointed by God to the departed Souls of good or wicked Men. What a dismal Prospect will it then be to a Soul employed in these Meditations to consider that the distinction of these States is most certain but the Application of either of them to themselves most uncertain unless the hopes of Happiness be secured by a timely Repentance Not to say that that Soul cannot appear before God without extream Astonishment which God by all his glorious Promises could not induce to Repentance and Obedience to his Laws when the Devil could tempt it by petty Lusts and foolish Pleasures to its own destruction If then the Propositions made by God to penitent Christians be infinitely more perswasive than all the Temptations to Sin and Disobedience surely to stand out against them and refuse to embrace them till we can Sin no more is a most foolish and deplorable Obduration Further the impenitent Sinner manifests the hardness of his Heart by contemning the dreadful Punishments denounced by God against him And in this beyond other Arguments consists that execrable Obduration which is charged upon Impenitence And upon this account Pharaoh is chiefly said to have hardned his Heart that when he had felt the most terrible Punishments inflicted upon himself and his Nation and saw others yet more grievous ready to be executed upon him after so many Plagues and Threats employed for his Correction he continued yet obstinate and as it were defied God Or that I may come nearer to my Text The most wicked Aggravation of the Obduration of the Jews in the wilderness was their contempt of the Divine Punishments To them the highest Punishment was a temporal Death And although by natural Reason they might conclude that a Judgment and more impartial Execution attended Sinners in another Life yet that was not revealed to them to whom as no more than temporal Rewards were promised so no other than temporal Punishments were threatned God had given frequent and terrible Instances of his Justice in this kind by destroying the most notorious Delinquents among them by Sword Pestilence Earthquake Fire from Heaven and many other ways yet far from being terrified by these and discouraged from displeasing God when their foolish Desires were not gratified in opposition to the Divine Pleasure they feared not openly to declare their Contempt of his punishments and themselves rather willing to undergo them than submit to his Commands As when they cryed out Numb XIV 2. Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness and more remarkably Numb XX. 3. Would God that we had died when our brethren That is Core Dathan and Abiram died before the Lord. A sober Man might perhaps imagine it impossible to parallel so enormous an Obstinacy did not the daily Experience of Christians confute his Supposition who dare withstand the Threats of eternal Fire and harden their Hearts against any impression from them It may perhaps not be unaccountable that resolute and desperate Persons should despise a temporal Death when not affrighted with any succeeding Judgment but to slight a Punishment extream in its sharpness and perpetual in its Duration is such a hardness of Heart as although acccompanied with no other Crimes might justly deserve to undergo the utmost Extremity of the Punishment For the most wise contrivance of God provided the Torments of Hell not only for the Punishment of the wicked after Death but also for the Correction of all in this Life that by the Fears of them they might be affrighted from the Commission of Sin and even enforced to Repentance if a most stupid Obduration of mind did not intervene To all these Aggravations of impenitence I should be unwilling to add that none of the least or less usual Causes of it is a perfect unbelief of the Revelations Promises or Threats of God all Professors of Christianity being unwilling that the sincerity of their Belief should be called in question did not the Apostle ascribe it to this cause who citing the words of my Text Hebr. III. and exaggerating the Obstinacy of the Jews ascribes it chiefly to their unbelief in the last Verse having before warned all Christians least there be in any of them an evil Heart of unbelief And surely not without reason For it cannot well be conceived that the Belief of these things should consist with a willful continuance in Impenitence that any Man should really believe that there are Rewards and Punishments prepared for Men in another Life both infinite and inexpressible
into those Mansions of which they had been by him sufficiently inform'd At this Thomas far from acknowledging any suchinformation complains in the 5th verse that they were ignorant both of the place and the way to it Our Saviour answers that the place was no other than the Society of his Father whom they had sufficiently known by conversing with Him This far from removing the mistakes of the Apostles gave occasion to the discovery of a far greater ignorance in them For in the 8th verse Philip desireth him to shew the Father to them thereby manifesting how widely he had hitherto mistaken the Doctrine of Christ and what gross notions of the Father he entertain'd So strange an ignorance drew a sharp expostulation from our Saviour Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not knoâ—…n me Philip ver 9. Thereupon declaring unto him what sufficient means he had already given them of knowing the Father and promising to enable them yet further to a more perfect knowledge of him by sending the Comforter the Spirit of Truth He assureth them of a more clear and express Revelation of this matter at his Resurrection by manifesting himself and consequently the Father to piously disposed Persons who loved him and kept his Commandments Although he intended not to manifest himself in the same degree and manner to the whole World At this Judas Lebbaeus seems to be astonished and in a passionate exclamation which includeth somewhat of despair in it saith unto him ver 22. Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World as imagining this illustrious manifestation to be no other than taking possession in a solemn and magnificent manner of that Glorious Worldly Kingdom which himself with the other Apostles in vain expected to be founded by their Master Such strange mistakes of which the meanest Christians would be ashamed in the present Constitution of the Church might justly be admired to have proceeded from those who were the familiar attendants of Christ through a Triennial Preaching Acquainted with all his Discourses and honoured with a familiar Conversation if we enquir'd not more narrowly into the causes of things and reasons of the divine dispensation OurSaviour himself seems not in the least to be surprized at it But only after a short answer to Lebbaeus his question hence taketh occasion to renew the promise of that remedy which he had ever design'd and often before promis'd I mean the Mission of the Holy Ghost in these words These things have I spoken unto you being yet present with you But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you As if he should say These answers I have briefly given to your doubts and scruples such as the shortness and necessity of the time would permit which still remains to me to be spent in your company I had before sufficiently explained all these Mysteries to you Provided your minds by removal of all prejudices by ordinary endowments of right apprehension and using due diligence had been rightly disposed to receive them But since you still continue ignorant of those great Truths and infinitely mistake my Doctrine And not only so but suffer your selves to be possess'd with terror and amazement at the news of my departure I will not forsake you or leave you destitute of the means either of consolation or better instruction but abundantly provide for both by sending to you after my Ascension another Comforter Even the Holy Ghost whom the Father at my Intercession and for my sake will send unto you He shall erect your drooping Spirits and remove your grief by administring consolation to you And dispel your Ignorance by enlightning your minds with clear notions and true Interpretations of whatsoever I have Taught unto you and recalling into your mind all those Doctrines and Lessons of mine which you may have forgotten These words being thus explained represent to us I. The promise of sending a Comforter II. The Person to be sent the Holy Ghost III The Office to be performed by the Holy Ghost when sent Which however various is perfectly included Either in the diverse significations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Comforter which may be taken as an Advocate a Monitor or a Consolator Or in the annexed action of Teaching thâ—…m all things and bringing all things into their remembrance whatsoever Christ had said unto them At present I shall consider no more than the latter branch of the Third Point that is the Office of Teaching the Apostles which was to be performed by the Holy Ghost And in handling this I shall in the first place inquire what were the Causes and Reasons of this prodigious Ignorance of the Apostles after so long and so excellent Instruction Secondly I shall prove that the permission of this Ignorance till the sending of the Holy Ghost was not in the least repugnant to the Divine Wisdom or the design of the Gospel Thirdly I shall draw some few conclusions from both First then the Causes and Reasons of this so long continued Ignorance of the Apostles Of these I take the chief and most fundamental one to have been their Ignorance of the true sense of Scripture For the better explaining of this Cause I will premise some few Observations As 1. The Conformity of the Life and Actions of Christ to the Prophesies of the Old Testament was to the Jews the best and principal Argument of the Divinity of Christ of his Divine Mission and the Truth of his Revelations Miracles indeed might create a great probability of the truth of these Articles But such a conformity alone could demonstrate it since Miracles were common to inferâ—…our Prophets and sometimes even to false Prophets But an intire agreement of the precedent Prophesies was appropriated to the sole Person of the true Messias This appears from the nature of the Old Testament and end of writing it which taken in all its parts is chiefly designed to point out the future Messias by certain plain Notes and Indications whereby he might easily be discover'd to the Jews The Historical Books are imployed in describing his Genealogy The Psalms and Prophets in foretelling the time of his coming the manner of his Life his Passion Resurrection and Doctrine Now it would be highly injurious to the Wisdom of God that he should professedly cause so many Books to be written chiefly to design the Messias And yet design him by such Characters as should not be proper to him alone but might be common to other Persons So that the agreement of those Prophesies to the Person of Jesus Christ was to the Jews a most demonstrative proof that he was the true Messias Miracles indeed were in their respect also necessary to him But that chiefly because it was before Prophesied of the Messias that great and
Antient predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messias And if so then it was not necessary that Christ should carefully instruct his Disciples before his Ascension in the true sense of Scripture and the antient Prophecies concerning him or elaborately explain to them the Mysteries of his Incarnation Passion and Ascension Since this conduced not directly to the end before mentioned and might more conveniently be effected when it should become necessary after his Ascension by the Descent of the Holy Ghost And accordingly we find not our Saviour in all his private Discourses and Instructions to his Apostles professedly explaining the Scriptures to them before his Resurrection He frequently admonished them of the dangers and afflictions they should undergo in executing their Mission of the Courage Patience and other Vertues wherewith they ought to be endued and the perpetual assistance which they might expect from him but seldom inculcated the consideration of those Prophesies which might bring them to a right apprehension of the nature and design of his coming into the World Or if at any time he mentioned and explained such Prophesies to them it was only by way of proposal without any such extraordinary illumination of mind and infused capacity of understanding them as was afterwards bestowed on them by the Mission of the Holy Ghost He never denyed to them indeed that ordinary Grace and Assistance which he is wont to give to all well disposed Persons who rightly ask it but the efficacy of that ordinary assistance was overthrown and stifled by the more potent resistance of inveterate prejudices and false preconceived Opinions concerning the Messias But if the Apostles received no extraordinary Instructions of the Holy Scripture from their Master before his Resurrection we cannot hope that they should obtain any competent knowledge of it by their natuâ—…al Strength or acquired Learning Mâ—…ny reasons had induced our Saviour to choose to him Disciples rather out of the meanest of the People than from the Learned Doctors and Expositors of the Law And at that time in the Jewish Church by an iâ—…tollerable corruption of Discipline the common People were by their Doctors and Teachers Studiously deprived of the means of an exact and accurate knowledge of Scripture They were deterred from a diligent search of Scripture by many artifices and pretences by amplifying the difficulty of their undertaking the obscurity of those Oracles and rashness of inquiring into those sacred Mysteries with unwashen Hands that is as themselves explained it without a tedious preparation of Learning and Education By these arguments the Scribes and Pharisees had engrossed the Study of Scripture to themselves and taking away the Key of Knowledge had suffered none to enter into a disquisition and examination of those sacred Prophesies Upon account of this Ignorance in the common people the Scribes and Pharisees in the VI. St. John ver 39. pretended that they were no competent Judges of the true Messias who could be known no otherwise than from Scripture But this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed We cannot imagine the Apostles to have been exempt from this common calamity but rather more deeply engaged in it than others if we consider the meanness of their condition the nature of their employments their gross and perpetual mistakes of our Saviours Doctrine and till the reception of the Holy Ghost their insuperable slowness of understanding If then a right knowledge of Scripture was absolutely necessary to a perfect understanding of the Nature and Office of the Messias if the Apostles were naturally devoid of this knowledge and not extraordinarily endued with it by Christ before the descent of the Holy Ghost all which we have already proved it must needs follow that the Apostles before the reception of that extraordinary knowledge were ignorant of the Mysteries and Designs of their Masters Mission And accordingly if we look into the History of the Gospel we shall find their ignorance of Scripture to be assigned as the chief cause of their mistakes in all other points So that what our Saviour said to the Jews Ye err not knowing the Scriptures was perfectly true of them Thus John XI 22. Our Saviour promising to raise up the Temple of his Body in three Days if it should be dissolved his Apostles understood not the true meaning of his words but when he was risen from the Dead then they at last remembred that he had said this unto them and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said They before even from their Infancy believed the Scripture in general that it was the Word of God and divinely inspir'd but now they understood and believed the true sense of Scripture the Ignorance of which had before caused them to fall into Errour Again S. John XII 16. These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Jesus was glorified that is after his Ascension Then remembred they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him Here the promise made in the Text is fully accomplished by a twofold Operation of the Holy Ghost the one recalling into the remembrance of the Apostles the Actions and Sufferings of Christ of which they had been witnesses in his Life time the other clearly proposing to them the intire conformity between those Actions and the precedent Prophesies which were written of him In like manner our Saviour reproving the Disciples of Emmaus for their amazement and despair of their Masters Resurrection upbraids to them their Ignorance of Scripture O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory Luc. XXIV 25 26. They doubted not of the Truth of those Prophesies but affixing false interpretations to them had perverted their sense and thereby in believing them assented not to the true Prophefies but to the fictions of their own Brains and thereby were hindred from understanding the necessity of Christs Suffering these things and entring into his glory I have now dispatched the first and chief reason of the A postles Ignorance I proceed to assign some other causes of it and among these the false notions and prejudices which they had received by their Education deserve more especially to be considered The Jews had ever even from the time of Moses lived in expectation of a glorious Messias who should be the Author of the most Illustrious benefits to their Nation rescue them from their afflictions and settle them in an exte nal State of Happiness This was typified by all their Rites and Ceremonies foretold by their Prophets and Celebrated in their publick Offices in the firm expectation of this their forefathers died and themselves continued their hopes under their greatest afflictions But then by false Interpretations of the Antient Prophesies the Doctors of the Jewish Law had long before the coming of our Saviour entertain'd and propagated mean and unworthy thoughts
those which are revealed by God supposing them to have been indeed revealed but only that any such Revelation is really made can appear no otherwise than by Arguments of probability Thirdly a perfect knowledge of all the Mysteries of Religion might have been extraordinarily obtained by the Apostles before the Ascension of our Saviour by conferring on them the same Gifts of the Holy Ghost as were afterwards poured on them on the day of Pentecost But neither was this convenient to the design of the Gospel nor the Wisdom of God Not to the former For the plentiful Effusion and Mission of the Holy Ghost was an Act of the Regal power of Christ which he commenced not till after his Ascension when he first began to exercise that Authority which he had obtained to himself by the obedience of Death And therefore our Saviour tells the Apostles S. Joh. XVI 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And in another place this is assigned as the Reason why the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified The Wisdom of God also was no less engaged which might justly have been arraigned if he had used so wonderful and signal a Miracle as was the Mission of the Holy Ghost for the extraordinary instruction of the Apostles before the Ascension of our Lord since no such Instruction was yet necessary which was the second Point I proposed to prove Namely II. That a perfect and infallible Information of the Apostles was not absolutely necessary till after the Ascension of Christ. For this was required in the Apostles for no other cause than that they might thereby be inabled to teach the Doctrines of our Saviour to the whole world and at last deliver them down in writing to succeeding Ages infallibly and without danger of any intermixed Enrour to the suspicion of which the Christian Religion would ever have been subjected if they had not been indued with such clearness of apprehension concerning every Point of it and attended by such an extraordinary assistance as might secure them from all possible danger of mistaking the Sense of that Doctrine which they were to deliver to the rest of Mankind To create this clear apprehension in the Apostles and convey down this assistance to them was the chief intention of sending the Holy Ghost as upon this day and the principal effect of that Mission at least as far as I am at present concerned So that since the sending of the Holy Ghost was designed purely to enable them to the due execution of their Office of preaching and propagating the Doctrine of Christ to the whole world which Office was not to be commenced till after his Ascension it manifestly follows that an exact and infallible knowledge of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion was not absolutely necessary to the Apostles before that time A perfect knowledge would have been useful indeed to them even before that time but useful to them only as private Persons not as bearing the publick Office and Character of Apostles whose Office before the Ascension of our Saviour consisted as we before observed in taking notice of the Actions Sufferings and Miracles of Christ that they might be able afterwards to testifie them to the whole world This Office of observing the Actions of Christ required no exact and perfect knowledge of all the Reasons of his Actions and Mysteries of his Doctrine but might be sufficiently discharged by any Persons who were not devoid of common Sense and Honesty The Mission of the Holy Ghost was necessary upon Reasons of another nature and would have continued necessary although the Apostles had perfectly understood all the Doctrine of our Saviour before his Ascension For however they might then sufficiently understand it nothing less than a perpetual extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost could infallibly secure them from all future Errour in delivering it to others or create such a degree of probability as might deserve the Assent and Belief of Mankind in all future Ages Thus I have shewn the Reasons of that Ignorance of the Apostles which is so remarkable through all the History of the Gospels and for which our Saviour promiseth so extraordinary a remedy in the words of my Text and withal demonstrated that there is nothing in all this Conduct of the Apostles continuing under that Ignorance till the Ascension and of our Saviour permitting it till that time disadvantageous to the Truth and Divinity of the Christian Religion It remains that I draw some few Conclusions from what hath been said which was the third and last Proposal First then if as we before shewed our Saviour and the Apostles who were unquestionably infallible never set up themselves for infallible Judges nor required from their Hearers a blind Assent to their Dictates if they submitted their Doctrines to the Examination of Scripture and Judgment of all private men in vain do any at this day pretend in vertue of an Authority derived from them to set up themselves for infallible Judges of Controversie from whom lyeth no Appeal either to Scripture or Reason and thereby exercise a Jurisdiction which they never claimed But I wave that Particular and choose rather to insist on some more practical Considerations Of which The first is That if the knowledge of the Christian Religion was so difficult to the Apostles who enjoyed so many and so great advantages under the Instruction and Government of their Divine Master the Author of this Religion if after the sight of his Miracles the Enjoyment of a triennial Conversation and the constant hearing of his Divine Discourses they continued ignorant of the true Spirit and Nature of Christianity this ought to excite us to great diligence in learning and studying the Mysteries of our Religion and enquiring the true Sense of those Revelations which our Saviour conveyed to the world It is indeed the peculiar Excellency and Glory of the Christian Religion that its admirable simplicity hath fited it to the Understandings and Capacity of all men that it is not such an abstruce Science as surmounts the ordinary reach of Mankind and must intirely be confined to the Discipline of the Schools and knowledge of Learned men the acquisition and understanding of it is possible and even easie to all men But then God in proposing this Religion intended not purely to supercede the Labours of men and consult their ease Some Conditions are also necessary on our side that we diligently search the Truth examine the Scriptures hearken to the instruction of our Pastors carefully weigh the Reasons of things and bring a mind ready disposed to assent to any Truths which shall evidently appear to us how contrary soever they may be to our Passions and Inclinations For although we labour not with those prejudices of a temporal Kingdom