or will he do it with Equity and Candor as one plainly inclined to shew all reasonable favour Answ. He will be the most Fair Equitable and Candid Judge our Hearts can wish for He is our Judge who is our Advocate and has all along espoused our Cause our Friend that Loved us better than his Life and shed his Blood for us So that when we are brought before him we may promise our selves all the Favour that is consistent with Justice Quest. Will he favourably interpret our Performances when they come before him and make the best of every thing that it can justly bear and be as ready to note what may make for us as what may make against us Answ. Yes for in the Description of the last Judgment Mat. 25. he assigns good deeds to those on his Right-hand viz. the Feeding and Cloathing and Visiting him which in strict Truth they had not done having never seen him but only by a favourable interpretation from their having done so to his Brethren for his sake which shews had they seen him in that want they would much more have done it to himself Come ye Blessed of my Father for I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat thirsty and ye gave me Drink c. And when they shall answer Lord when saw we thee to do any of these things for thee He tells us he will reply in as much as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me v. 34. to 41. Nay to assure us further of his extraordinary Favour in Censuring of his Friends behold his marvellous Candor in judging of the worst Actions of his Enemies and that too at a Time when if ever he should have been prone to pass a hard Construction For representing the most Barbarous Murder of himself to God as he hung upon the Cross and had a most pungent sense of it he imputes it to the most Pardonable Principles and says they acted so through Ignorance the only possible thing that could be suggested for their excuse censuring that horrid Act which he of all Men had cause to make the worst of not as an Accuser but rather like a retain'd Advocate Luk. 23. 34. Thus in that Day will the most benign Judge be of Counsel for all the Prisoners and spye all their Virtues and make the best he reasonably can of every bad Case And as for good Men he will impute their Failures to the most pardonable Causes and Remember their good Services when they have forgot them setting them off by a kind interpretation and thinking better of them than their own Humility and Modesty would allow themselves to do Quest. But what say you to the seeming Rigor of his own Laws which require us to Love and serve him with all our Heart and strength And if this be drawn out to a full stretch and strained to mean our utmost Possibilities no Candor to our Performances can construe them to come up to this pitch Answ. The seeming Rigor of that Expression he will interpret with great condescension to the Measures of Men. He will reasonably allow and abate for our many Temptations and Distracting Thoughts our Natural Backwardness and Forgetfulness and other Frailties so incident to our present State and Circumstances And when all that is candidly deducted the rest which in our Circumstances we are honestly and fairly able to Do will pass for serving him with all the heart and strength according to the Commandment Quest. How will you make that out Answ. Because the Scripture Declares he will bear in Reason with our Infirmities Heb. 5. 2. And because he has done so in several judged Cases expresly declaring of several that they have kept this Commandment when they needed these abatements Thus of Asa it is said that his Heart was Perfect before God 1 King. 15. 14. And of David that he followed God with his whole Heart Yea that he turned not aside from any thing he commanded him all his days except in the matter of Uriah 1 King. 14 8. and c. 15. 5. And of Josiah that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord neither declining to the Right Hand nor to the left 2 King. 22. 2. And of Zachariah and Elizabeth that they walked before God in all the Ordinances of the Law Blameless Luk. 1. 6. Now all these were Persons of our own Frailties and Infirmities They were defective in their Care as we are and though they went beyond the pitch of others yet fell below the utmost of their possibilities as the Scriptures have recorded of them in several instances They served God indeed with all their Souls in one sense of the Precept as that notes their adhering only to his Worship and allowing no part of their Heart to any Idol God. But as it note◠the intireness of Degrees in serving him Such failings as were pardonable under humane Circumstances and infirmities were first taken out and so much as they were able to do after that abatement was judged their serving God with all their Heart according to the Commandment Quest. Will Christ then after he has thus made the most of their good Performances make reasonable Allowances also for mens Slips and Failures either in committing ill or in omitting Good things Answ. Yes when they fail in either through some innocent and well meant Error or Ignorance Or when they slip through pure haste and unadvisedness and are surprized into some ill Thoughts or sudden Passions or rash words but correct themselves as soon as they consider what they have done and do not continue in it with Observation He will then have Compassion on these when he comes as our Judge as now he has when he acts as our Priest and intercedes for us For as the Jewish Priests had so can he have compassion on the Ignorant and Erroneous or as the †word notes he can Suffer in moderation or reasonably bear with them Heb. 5. 2. Quest. But what if men are Ignorant because they neglect to learn their Duty nay perhaps stop their Eyes and Ears and Refuse to see or be told of it Answ. Then that will be no excuse to them where they fail of performing it they being as St. Peter says willingly Ignorant 2 Pet. 3. 5. Quest. I perceive he will shew Favour towards our involuntary Failures But this will not avail us if he be Strict and Rigorous in judging of that Involuntariness For alas what man doth all that is Possible to prevent Ignorance or Surprize And if we do not all we can against them he may say they come through our own wills and sufferance if he will judge in Srictness Will he therefore shew Candor in judging any escapes to be Pitiable and unwill'd Miscarriages without which all his Candor in other Things will not support us in his Presence Answ. Yes He will shew all Reasonable Favour in admitting Actions for involuntary
any Church locks up her Publick Prayers and Offices in an unknown Tongue good People must seek out another where they may offer up the same Services in a Language their Spirits can joyn in and Worship as the Scripture requires to Edification 1 Cor. 14. 26. We must not separate as I said from a sound Church only because it seems less edifying But we must separate when there is no Devotion but what is directly contrary to Edification Quest. If we may not separate where there are such real Faults in a Church then much less for the dislike of received Customs Rites and Usages when confessedly as you said in indifferent matters Answ. Most certainly To rend the Body and make disturbance for light things shews an ill Member in all Societies Not to yield to an innocent Custom as I noted before from St. Paul shews a man to be no lover of peace but a lover of contention 1 Cor. 11. 16. Nay if any man would shew himself a Catholick Christian he must not only readily comply with the indifferent Rites and Usages of his own Church which has Authority over him but as he has occasion to pass by them or converse among them with the Usages of other Churches or Christians tho' very different from his own so long as there is no sin in them a Catholick Christian must have a Catholick Spirit and be ready to shew he owns all other Christians 'till they are regularly cast out of Christ's Church for Brethren and fellow-members and never stick out from exercising with them the common Christianity whereby all Christians serve and honour Christ by reason of the particular Rites in any Church or Place which are no offence to him Quest. If we may not lawfully separate from a Church whose Constitution has some Faults yea some great ones as were among the Churches in the Apostles times I suppose we may much less separate when the Church it self in its constitution is faultless meerly for the ill and scandalous Lives of its Members Answ. Most certainly And accordingly St. Paul is most severe against the Schisms at Corinth tho' in the same Church he complains of the horrible prophaneness of many among them who came drunk to the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11. 21. and of the Wraths Envyings Strifes Back-bitings Swellings Tumults unrepented Uncleanness Laciviousness and Fornication for which he feared God would humble him when he came among them 2 Cor. 12. 20 21. The Church of God in all times under the Ancient Patriarchs and afterwards in the Nation of the Jews was a mixt Society of good and bad livers And in Christianity it is compared to a Net that catches Fish of every kind and to a Field sown with Tares as well as Wheat and wherein both must grow together till the Great and General Harvest 'T is always its misfortune here together with some true Saints to have some Hypocritical Professors So that were we to separate from a good Church for this Cause we must separate from all Churches and could hold Communion with no Church on Earth And therefore men must never think of leaving a good Church because it happens to have some corrupt People or scandalous Ministers From the Sins we must separate which give the scandal but unite and adhere to the Church which condemns them the good must not desert it because the bad will not obey and be ruled by it Quest. But what if it doth not use the Rod of Discipline to correct them Answ. We are not to separate notwithstanding as the Apostles told the Churches where the Sins were too strong And the Sinners too numerous for Discipline or the Pastors too remiss in using it Thus the Pastors were at Corinth who instead of mourning over the incestuous Person were rather puff'd up with him 1 Cor. 5. 2. And yet for all this St. Paul would not bear to hear of any tendenoies towards Schism among them 1 Cor. 3. 3. Thus also it was at Pergamus where several were infected with the scandalous Doctrines of the Nicolaitans Rev. 2. 15. and at Thyatira where the followers of Jezabel the False Prophetess were suffer'd to go on in their Spiritual Fornication and Sacrificing to Idols v. 20. And in other Churches which either out of necessity or neglect relaxed the reins of Discipline and tolerated scandalous Persons in the Apostles own times But yet no plea for separation would ever be admitted by them on this pretence In these cases the Church must answer for the neglect of its power and scandalous Sinners for the scandals they give but as for any private Christians whilst they neither help on their scandals nor imitate them their Consciences are not defiled with them Besides the growth of Schism has been one of the greatest weakners of Discipline one Congregation admitting and harbouring men when another rejects them And therefore to pretend want of Discipline for separation is not only a most dis-ingenuous thing but the way to bring Discipline which they complain of as too little already to be none at all Quest. By what you have discoursed on this Point I perceive we are never Guilty of Schism in separating from any Church when we have just cause But that all breaking off from any Part of Christ's Body is Schismatical which is Causeless Answ. Yes And so is all Driving others into Separation by imposing sinful Terms as the Condition of their Communion And then which is the last thing I shall note concerning it Schism from any Churches is most compleat when we do not only separate from their Religious Assemblies and Divine Offices but withal deny them to be Members of Christ's Body or Parts of the Catholick Church This is the Highest step in Separation and leaves not the least Ground for Church-Communion For 't is only the Members of Christ's Body that must Communicate under him their Head in the proper Offices of Christianity and the Communion of Saints profess'd in the Creed is only within the compass of the Catholick Church So that if we cut off any Societies from being Members of Christ and a true Church we must have no more Communion with them than if they were profest Heathens And this was the Sacrilegious Breach of the Donatists and Novatians the Consummation of whose Schism was their confining the Catholick Church to their own Party and allowing no Church no Sacraments or Promise of Salvation but among themselves Quest. There remains yet one instance of the Communion of the Primitive Christians mentioned by St. Luke viz. Continuing in the Apostles Fellowship Act. 2. 42. I pray you what is meant by that Answ. Owning their Authority and continuing under their Government They were appointed by Christ as his Deputies to Govern his Church and therefore adhering to them as the Delegates of Christ is call'd living in their Fellowship Quest. But how can we live in their Fellowship and adhere to their Government now they are dead Answ. By adhering to and
them Isaiab represents the Men of Messiab's Age as an Infidel and hard-hearted Generation that would not believe his report but hide their faces from him in the extremity of his affliction Jeremy as having made void God's former covenant and therefore needing a second to be introduced by him Malâ—â—hi as having lost even natural affection between Parents and Children which Elias must go before to restore among them Daniel as persevering under his appearance to sin on and provoke God to that height as would cause him shortly after to cut them off and destroy both the City and the Sanctuary by a most just and terrible judgment Nay so far were the sins of the People from being an hindrance to his coming in the sight of God that as the Prophets plainly declare they were to be the cause and reason of it The coming or anointing of the most holy says Daniel is to make an end of sins or sin-offerings and make reconciliation for iniquity Dan. 9. 24. to offer up his soul an offering for sin to bear the iniquity of us all to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities that through his stripes we may be healed says Isaiah 53. 5 6 8 10. His coming was to be for the expiation of sin to open a fountain to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. And coming thus to expiate and cure sin there is no more reason to stay him beyond the time because sin grows strong than in the increase of a Disease to delay the use of Remedies or stop the coming of the Physician Quest. But doth not God say when he speaks of building up or exalting any â—ation if they do evil in his sight he will repent of the good wherewith he said he would benefit them Jer. 18. 9 10. Ans. Yes and so he doth in all those Promises which he makes upon Mens supposed virtues and on condition of their good carriage But the Promise of Messiah was absolute and intended as appears on no such prospect For God declared he should come among a People full of sin and instead of being deâ—erred by their wickedness should be sent because of it to atone and heal it Besides if only the Fathers sins had stopped his coming their Posterities Repentance would have removed that impediment and have brought him down which they see for above this 1600 Years it has not done Quest. I see the ancient Prophecies declare Jesus to be the Christ by prefixing the exact time of his coming wherein they are so particular and punctual as might suffice in a History of things already passed But I pray before you leave this point of the exactness of time how can the Jews who believe all these Prophecies shut their Eyes against them Ans. The elder Jews who lived before Christ did see them as appears from their general expectation of him about that time and from what the learned Grotius relates of Rabbi Nehumias who living fifty Years before Jesus Christ came declared that within fifty Years Messiah must come because in that time Daniel's Weeks prefixt for him were to determine But as for the later Jews who lived since our Saviour they turn by all of them by one rule whereby at their pleasure they may turn by any thing that is by not medling at all with them nor suffering any to interpret or collect the time of his coming from them This is the meaning of that severe Anathema which some have noted from the Thalmud Let his puft up Bones burst that shall meddle in computing the periods of times And accordingly the rule of the great Maimonides their second Moses concerning the days of Messiah is to believe surely that he will come and if he prove slow still to expect him and never to fix him any time or so to explain any Texts of Scripture as to infer the time of his appearance from them Quest. That indeed is a clear reason for the plainest words can never convince those that will not read or understand them But besides that the ancient Prophecies prove Jesus to be Christ by prescribing the exact time of his coming you said also that they demonstrate it further by assigning many peculiar and most visible notes whereby he may be demonstratively pointed out from all other Men. What are those peculiar and notable marks whereby they so effectually describe him Ans. They are certain eminent and most observable things belonging to him or to be performed by him which as they were most visible in him so were peculiarly his and never found in any other Man. Quest. What things are those which were so notable in him and peculiarly belonging to him Ans. Not only that he should be born of the lineage of David Isaiah 11. 1 10. and in the city Bethlehem Mic. 5. 2. which especially in conjunction with the exact time before-described are very discovering circumstances to the time when adding the very Family and Place where he should be born that all might know the very Town and Kindred amongst whom in that Year they were to seek for him But more particularly that he should be set off by these signs following Quest. What are they Ans. First That he should be born of a Virgin which was a thing never known before or since and so was sure to point him out demonstratively from all other Men. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son saith God by the Prophet Isaiah and shall call his name Immanuel Isaiah 7. 14. Quest. But the word which is there rendred Virgin say the Jews may signifie only a young Woman denoting her Age not Condition and then this having in it nothing peculiar can be no proof to him Ans. It doth not appear that it signifies any thing else in Scripture but a Virgin the place alledg'd for a laxer sense well admitting that interpretation But if it did it must needs signifie a Virgin that is one that has not known man in this place For not only the Septuagint that were all Jews and lived long before our Saviour translate it Virgin but this conception is here given for a sign or a miraculous thing which would be none at all were it spoken only of a young Woman especially among the Jews whose custom it was most early to contract their Daughters and Marry them as soon as their Age would suffer them When Achaz refused to tempt the Lord in asking a sign the Lord himself says Isaiah shall give you a sign Behold a virgin shall conceive c. verse 12 14. Quest. This shews it was spoken of some Virgin. But yet may it not be understood as the Jews say of some one that only was a Virgin at the time of the Prophet's speaking who before she could lose her Virginity conceive a Son and the Child come to any understanding God would work the deliverance which they desired of him
Gentiles together with their abominable Idolatries they walked in lasciviousness excess of wine revellings 1 Pet. 4. 3. as the Israelites joyning themselves to the Idol Baal Peor committed whoredoms Num. 25. 1 2 3. They served Moloch that is Saturn by most horrible and unnatural cruelties dropping their own Children into the Fire through the Hands of his Statue and so burning them alive to him which the Scripture calls making them pass through the fire to Moloch as a burnt-offering Lev. 18. 21. Jer. 19. 5. But the True God is most utterly opposite to all such impositions He commands nothing but what is pure and virtuous and for our own good and advantage what is honorable and perfective of our Natures nay what is worthy not only of Men but of Angels and when he would submit to any Laws as he did when in Christ he became Man of God himself Quest. This shews the excellency of his Laws But what say you to the equity of them Are they not rigorous and over-burdensome requiring more than we are able to perform Ans. No though he requires great things yet together with that he offers such help and grace as will render them not only possible but tolerably easie to us His commandments are not grievous 1 John 5. 3. His yoke is easie and his burden light Matth. 11. 30. Quest. Is God Righteous also as a Judge that is when he comes to Judgment will he impartially execute his Laws without favour or respect of Persons Ans. Yes For in his Righteous Judgment he will render to every Man according to his deeds To those who by continuance in well-doing sought Glory eternal Life But to all that obey unrighteousness and are impenitent sinners wrath and anguish and that on every one that doth evil without respect of persons Rom. 2. 5. to 12. Quest. What will become then of all those that break his Laws Ans. Unless they make their peace by Repentance they must be condemned to that eternal Death which his Law threatens Quest. But doth not God sometimes punish one Man for another's sin as the Children for the Parents or the Parents for the Children whereas the rule of Justice is to give every Man his own Ans. No in all his allotments he assures us the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Behold saith he all souls are mine as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son and one shall not suffer for another but the soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. 4 19 20. Indeed if a Father shares in a Child's fault by setting an evil example to it or by being too indulgent and not seasonably correcting it then he shall suffer as Eli did but this is not for his Child's but for his own sin in as much as he concurred to it And if a Child follow his Father's sin he shall partake in his punishment as is implied in Ezekiel chap. 18. 14. but that is not because his Father sinned but because he imitated it But if we do not communicate in the sins of other Men we shall not answer for their guilt for every man shall bear his own burden Gal. 6. 5. Quest. But what say you when God punishes a wicked Parent with want or an infirm body doth not that transmit Diseases or Poverty to his innocent Posterity Or when he scourges a sinful Nation with the Sword Famine or Pestilence do not those involve the innocent in common with the Criminals Ans. Yes but these not being directed by Almighty God upon themselves but seizing them through the necessity of second causes and course of things by reason of their joynt Interests and Relations they are not vindictive strokes nor in the way of punishments but only their calamities and misfortunes 'T is their mixt Interests not God's Justice which brings these upon their heads Quest. But when Men have forfeited by their own sins is not God who would otherwise spare oft-times moved to exact the forfeiture for the sins of others who will be afflicted and are intended to be punished in their misfortunes Ans. Yes and that 't is like may be a reason why when God says in the Second Commandment he will punish the sins of Idolatrous Fathers who are particularly called haters of him on the Children he limits it to the third and fourth generation For 't is very possible the Parents may live so long to see their Sufferings and so be punished themselves in beholding what their unfortunate Posterities endure for their sakes But since in this case God only takes just forfeitures and withholds undue favours and forbearance when he has great and wise reasons it is no reflexion at all on his Justice or other Attributes Quest. I see God doth not misplace punishments by punishing one for another's offences But may he not seem to misproportion them when he punishes momentany sins with eternal torments Is that consistent with Rules of Justice Ans. Yes whatever punishments are justly proposed may be justly exacted For what a just and wise Law-giver denounces a just Judge may execute And if Men feel the smart of it they can only blame themselves For why would they deserve it The punishment was denounced to the sin before they had made themselves guilty of it And this denunciation was intended to restrain them from committing it And if they would by God's help they might have been restrained by it So that be their suffering hard or their punishment what it will they have none to accuse but themselves for having voluntarily called it down upon their own heads Quest. But is it just to propose and denounce such heavy punishments Ans. Yes because there is need of them and Mankind will not be restrained by less For so strong is the sinful byass and inclination of our Natures so many and great our temptations and so much the advantage of sensible and present pleasures above future and unseen recompences that Men would never forego the pleasures of their sins on smaller Considerations Not only the offers of all temptations but also the reluctancies of our own Natures are to be out-weighed and the great disadvantage of remote and unseen things is to be compensated by the immensity and eternal duration of these punishments So that less than these would not discourage any numbers in our circumstances Nay alas how few do these hinder and discourage as the general wickedness of those who profess to believe them is a lamentable and abundant evidence Quest. But between sin and punishment as 't is usually said there should be some proportion Whereas sins that are soon at an end and sufferings that have no end bear no proportion Ans. Since sins and sufferings are no material bodily things they are not capable of being proportioned to each other by weight or measure to be weighed out equally in Scales or measured by a Rule and Line as Bodies are Their
the Tenor of Christ's own Laws For then they only speak the Language of Christ's own Rules and as Tertullian says are a true anticipation or Fore-hand Draught of the great Judgment And when his Officers only pronounce and say after him there is no doubt but he will confirm what they have pronounced in his Name Quest. But from what you have formerly discoursed I perceive that some things in Religon being against the Prime and Fundamental Doctrines are so Damnable in themselves as not to be capable of any Favour or Allowances And that others being only against inferior Truths are Damnable only as accompanied with an Evil Mind but capable withal of being incurred under Pardonable circumstances Now in these last Points many Persons that mean well and serve Christ sincerely in the main and essentials of a Christian may yet be unhappily mislead into wrong Opinions or Practices And if for their fixedness and obstinacy in these they happen to be cast out of any Church do you think they are always cut off from Christ too and that he will Finally Anathematise and condemn them in his Sentence Answ. No. For the Church as all humane Judges being unable to see into Mens Hearts give sentence in these cases according to outward Actions But Christ in his judgment of them looks also at the mind and heart of the Actors Rateing exactly not only the Punishableness of the Offences but also the Degrees of voluntary and involuntary which makes a Pardonableness or Punishableness of the Offenders And making these Allowances on such scores as fall not under their Notice 't is reasonable to believe he will still own and receive several compassionably mislead who are cast out on these accounts by the Churches Censures Quest. This validity and effect of Church-Censures you say is when they proceed according to Christ's own Rules and upon just cause But if they bind where the Gospel says they should loose and Excommunicate against Reason I suppose those Censures are meer Scare-crows that may serve to make a show but bring no hurt with them Answ. Very true Blessed are ye says our Saviour when Men shall separate you from their Company and expunge or cast out your Name as evil for the Son of Mans sake for so persecuted their Fathers the Prophets Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy for your Reward is great in Heaven Luk. 6. 22 23. If good Christians are Excommunicated in any Church for not going against the Scriptures and complying with it in ill things as poor Protestants are by the Romish Church they lose nothing thereby with God who will not ratifie a wrong sentence but will increase their Reward for having bravely suffer'd in his Cause Quest. By what you have said I see how God forgives Sins But when they are committed against us we are bid to forgive them too and that as we our selves hope to be forgiven I pray you what doth that imply Answ. Not our remitting Future punishments which lye at God's mercy not in ours Nor always that we sit still without offering to defend our selves when we are assaulted or to seek redress when we are injured But only that we bear no malice to them in our hearts and if the case require Redress that we seek it not in Spiteful ways and that beside the Reparation of our own Wrong we aim not at our Adversary's Prejudice nor seek his hurt afterwards nor Pray to God or to the Magistrate for vengeance as the Jews might to ease an angry mind when we are able to do no more against him our selves Quest. What use must we make of this Belief of the Forgiveness of Sins Answ. Admire the mercy of God who can forgive such Profligate and Provoking Offenders And the wonderful love of Jesus Christ who could dye to procure this Forgiveness for his utter Enemies And not despair of mercy but stedfastly hope there is place of Pardon after any of our sins And above all to shew true Repentance and forgive others and perform all those things which are the condition and Terms of Forgiveness thereby to secure it to our selves Quest. And when we are once forgiven may we embolden our selves from God's readiness to forgive to Repeat our sins Answ. No by no means Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound in pardoning God forbid Rom. 6. 1 2. Now thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee said our Saviour Joh. 5. 14. Such ingratitude and abuse of Grace is not only most provoking to the Spirit and tempts him to withdraw from us and calls down from God heavier and surer Punishments But also it brings in force against us all the old scores which were all struck off as I said only on presumption of our Perseverance in repenting of them CHAP. XI Of the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting The Contents The Resurrection not meerly of our Spirits from sin but of our Bodies from the Grave This to be brought about by the Almighty Power of God. The Perfections of Glorified Bodies viz. Immortality Spirituality and Glory The Bodies of the Wicked Immortal And exquisitely sensible Some Inferences from the Resurrection of our Bodies Good Souls carried straight-way into a Place of Bliss Of Eternal Life wherin there is Full and unmixed Happiness Of the satisfaction of their Senses Their clear and distinct Knowledge Perfect Holiness And without Reluctance Blissful Companions Perfection of Love and Kindness Honour and Eminence of Place All these to be injoy'd in the Highest Heavens without satiety or weariness For evermore Of the miseries of the Damned in Tormenting Passions The worm of Conscience Fire and Flames Disgrace Under all which no favour of God. No company but of Tormenting Devils and damned Spirits None to condole when they cannot relieve No rest and sleep for Recruit of Spirits No end of their miseries The Use of this Quest. WHat is the Eleventh Article of the Creed Answ. I believe the Resurrection of the Body Quest. May not the Resurrection be interpreted only of a Spiritual Resurrection from sin Answ. So some taught of old as St. Paul testifies saying the Resurrection is passed already i. e. when Men rose from a State of sin to the fear of God and these says he get credit and overthrow the Faith of some 2 Tim. 2. 18. But the Resurrection we expect is a Resurrection of the Body Our Bodies after we have laid them down by Death shall at the Day of Judgment be quickned and raised up again Then all that are in the Graves shall hear Christ's voice and come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Joh. 5. 28 29. This mortal Body must put on immortality and this corruptible must put on Incorruption that so all that being revived which Death destroyed Death may be swallowed up in Victory 1 Cor. 15. 53 54. Quest. The
Persons in his days but only of all that will be his true followers and govern themselves according to Prince Messiah's Laws and Practice For that which shall prevent all doing hurt among them says Isaiah is the full knowledge of the Lord which restrains only such as will practise what they understand Isaiah 11. 9. And they who shall beat their swords into plow shares says he again are the many people whom Messiah shall rebuke which according to the usual Phrase of Scripture may imply their amending upon his rebuking them Isaiah 2. 4. They were the sincerely devout and honestly obedient who say to one another Let us go up to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in them verse 3. But as for the inviolable maintenance of this Probity and Peace by those who are only his nominal Servants or by the universality of Men in his days that doth not follow from these places nor doth it well comport with the present state of human Nature which is mixt with many angry and incroaching Passions nor suit with other Prophecies before-mentioned that speak of much wickedness after Messiah's coming and of many still retaining their old genius which Predictions must all be accomplished as well as these Quest. But if this Peace and Probity are to be so limited and conditionate in the event how come they to be expressed so generally and absolutely in the Prediction Is it not odd to speak of an effect as universal under Messiah which shall not appear universally in all under him but only in those that will hearken to him Ans. No for in an effect wherein both he and they are joyntly concerned his saying all shall do it implies they shall so far as concerns his part and that he would do all which behoves him towards it And this Jesus has done giving a Law as apt to engender and preserve Peace as any Law can be and taking away all separating and dividing rites introduced by Moses which were apt to make difference between Jews and Gentiles And to say all Men shall do a thing when God has done his part to make all do it though through their obstinate wickedness many of them will not do it in the event is a form of Speech usual in Holy Scripture Thus it is particularly in Ezekiel when God foretels the taking away all detestable Idols and yet in the same place speaks of several who would still retain them and thereby incur his heavy indignation Ezekiel 11. 18 21. And in Jeremy when God foretels his peoples living again in their own land after the captivity most piously and peaceably Jer. 32. 37 c. although through their stubborn wickedness which nothing would amend things fell out contrary Quest. But though these Prophecies do not imply that every Man shall live so when Messiah comes yet however they seem to note that many will who would not otherwise and that Godliness Peace and Justice shall mightily increase in the World by his appearance And has this been fulfilled by Jesus Ans. Yes it was eminently verified in the first times For then the Christians were remarkably as the most virtuous livers and honest dealers so most kind and friendly among themselves See said the Gentiles how the Christians love one another They were absolutely the best Neighbours being so far from offering any injuries that they durst not requite them but with Prayers and Kindnesses They were indisputably the most tame and peaceable Subjects overcoming all the outragious violence and oppressions of their Persecutors not by fighting their way through them but by Faith and Patience under them And like effects his Religion has produced in all other times upon all those who were true followers both of him and them and were Christians in very deed not only in name and profession It has improved all peaceable tempers and sweetned many sowre and smoothed many rough ones and brought Men of the most different Complexions Estates Interests and Abilities to live fairly and sociably together Indeed all Men are not thereby made godly just and tame as we must not expect they ever will be in this World for Men will be Men and shew human passions and errors under any institution But yet the common estate of the World is much amended and things generally much more fairly and equitably managed and the true God more duly and devoutly worshipped and all Virtue and Piety in greater repute and Injustice much curbed and both private and publiâ—… Quarrels much more frequently prevented and more fairly and speedily composed since Christ's coming amongst us than they were before So that although the improvement of these Virtues among us is little in respect of our aids and opportunities yet is it great in comparison with the former face of the World and may pass for a New Righteous and reformed Statâ— in respect of what it was in days of Heathen ignorance And this is as much accomplishment as 't is reasonable to require in such Prophecies which being made of men who have frail and corrupt Natures and converse in the midst of temptations ought not to be strained beyond what is consistent with the condition of this World and with human Nature and Circumstances But if the above cited Prophecies did really speak of a more universal effect than has been hitherto accomplished there is time enough still behind ere Christ resign up the Kingdom to the Father wherein to make it good For of the things predicted to fall out under Messiah some came to pass at first and others in the long flux of time ever since have still been successively fulfilled but many are still behind and to have no accomplishment till near the day of Judgment Quest. You have fully shewed how Jesus appears to be the Christ from ancient Prophecies whereby I plainly perceive how deserved 〈◊〉 in the Revelations the Spirit of Prophecy is called the testimony of Jesus Rev. 19. 10. But do the Jews to whom these Prophets all spake and who not only had the keeping but were also most diligent and careful in examining these Oracles understand these places as Predictions of Messiah which appear to have had such clear and undeniable accomplishment in our Jesus Ans. The old Jews who lived before Christ generally did as is plain from Rabbi Nehumias and others and from their general expectation of him about the time prescribed according to those Prophecies And so did numbers of their earliest and most renowned Doctors since as learned Men have shown abundantly from their Writings But many of the later Rabbins not daring to denie the suitableness of the events in Jesus have chose rather to wrest those places against their plain meaning and the opinions of their Ancestors to other purposes and deny them as spoken of Messiah And what should make this difference and cause later Men to go off from ancient times even from those who lived near to some
of the Prophets themselves who if they gave any hints and interpretations of what they delivered in their own days were most likely to gather up and understand such traditionary Explications The reason of this difference is pretty obvious For those ancient Jews living before Christ looked only to the Prophecies themselves and the general sense and expectation raised about them by the Prophets But among the Jews since Christ several look also at personal prejudices and had rather deny any thing than own Jesus to be Messiah which they cannot well avoid doing if those places are spoken of him CHAP. III. Proving Jesus to be the Christ from other Divine Testimonies The Contents Jesus proved to be the Christ 2. From the testimony of John the Baptist. John knew this by Revelation and had it confirmed by a sign He was an acknowledged Prophet and of most clear and currant fame And gave this testimony before he was personally acquainted with Jesus 3. From the testimony of Jesus himself several considerations shewing the validity of this testimony though it were in his own case This not impugned by Christ's words John 5. 31. nor gives any colour or advantage to Fanatical Enthusiasts 4. From his Miracles These no lying wonders as may appear because shewn in several instances not imitable by Demons As 1. Foretelling future Contingencies An account of Demon-Predictions among the Gentiles 2. Discerâ—ing Hearts and Thoughts 3. Raising the Dead 4. Casting out Devils of most stubborn ranks and in greatest numbers and combinations It may also appear from their iâ—â—ent and design and from their numbers and the manner of working them No opposing the Miracles of Moses against Christ's Miracles because they were wrought to set aside the Law of Moses That Law was given with a design to be altered An account how for all that several of its Precepts are justly called Statutes for ever 5. From the testimony of the Father who declared Jesus to be the Christ by audible voices And by raising him from the dead and shewing him in full possession of his pretences Question BUT besides this proof of Jesus being the Christ from ancient Prophecies you said the same would be evidently made out by several Divine Testimonies other ways Pray what are those Testimonies Ans. The Testimony of John the Baptist who was sent into the World to give Witness to it the Testimony of Jesus himself which very well deserves to be trusted the Testimony of his miraculous works which are an evidence drawn up by the Finger of God and to name no more the Testimony of God the Father who himself became a Voucher of it So that he must give the lye both to Heaven and Earth to God and Men who shall disbelieve or gainsay it Ans. Did John the Baptist testifie Jesus to be the Christ Ans. Yes and that upon a most publick occasion when the great Council of the Nation the Sanhedrim sent Priests and Levites to him on purpose to know whether he himself were the Christ John 1. 19. For then his answer was That he was not the Christ verse 20. but that the Christ was come and was then among them verse 26 27. Yea the next day seeing Jesus coming to him he points at him and declares to them all that he is the Person Behold saith he the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world This is he of whom I said after â—e comes a man which is preferred before me verse 29 30. which Testimony he repeats again the next day upon another occasion verse 35 36. And this Testimony Jesus alledged for himself when he reasoned with the Jews in vindication of his own Authority Ye sent unto John viz. in the message from Jerusalem and he bare witness unto the truth John 5. 33. Quest. But how came John to know it and why in this case must we take his word Ans. Because he was a Prophet all the Jews as the Scriptures testifie held John for a Prophet Matth. 21. 26. Nay as Christ says he was one of the greatest of Prophets for of all that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist Matth. 11. 9 11. And he declares that the Spirit revealed this to him nay that for his greater confirmation it gave him a visible and most illustrious sign saying unto him Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descend and remain on him that same is he And this Spirit John declares he did see descend in a bodily shape upon Jesus at his Baptism and at the same time as S. Matthew adds heard a voice from God calling him his beloved Son for his fuller conviction John 1. 32 33. Yea since as the Nazarene Gospel relates it upon this descent presently there shone a great light about the place and a fire was lighted in Jordan wherein John Baptized him as Justin the Martyr testifies what would still be a more assuring proof to John in this case this bodily descent of the Holy Ghost was in a body of Light and dazling Splendor the usual Glory wherein God himself was wont to appear which hovering over our Saviour as a Dove doth when it lights and darting forth its bright Beams round about him did plainly represent what the Jews call the Schechinah and proclaim him to be a Divine Person Thus did John know Jesus to be the Messiah by an evidence infallible and every way convincing And this he testifies of him not as a thing by the bye but says it was the very Errand whereon he was sent and for declaration whereof he was called out by God to be a Prophet That he should be made manifest to Israel says he therefore am I come John 1. 31. Quest. Indeed if John had such Revelations of this matter as he declares 't is plain he was not deceiv'd about it himself but spoke out of sober knowledge and certain grounds So that if there is no cause to question his honesty there is no getting off from his Testimony But what can you say to show him a true and honest Man who would not feign things to deceive others Ans. His Sanctity and Integrity were the honour and admiration of his own times He led a most mortified rigid Life neither caring how hard his Fare was nor how coarse his Habit. He neither eat Bread nor drank Wine whence in Scripture he is said to come neither eating nor drinking i. e. not living upon the usual Diet of other Men Matth. 11. 18. compared with Luke 7. 33. His meat was locusts and wild hony and all his rayment of camels hair girt about him with a leathern girdle Matth. 3. 4. And thus voluntarily abandoning I will not say the pleasures but even the ease and common conveniences of the Flesh he was not capable to be tempted by them He was eminently above all affectation of Power or Praise insomuch that when all were ready to receive him for Messiah he told them he