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A39663 The fountain of life opened, or, A display of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory wherein the impetration of our redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun, carryed on, and finished by his covenant-transaction, mysterious incarnation, solemn call and dedication ... / by John Flavell ... Flavel, John, 1630?-1691. 1673 (1673) Wing F1162; ESTC R20462 564,655 688

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So that no man can be his own Priest to reconcile himself to God by what he can do or suffer And therefore one that is able by doing and suffering to reconcile him must undertake it or we perish Thus you see plainly and briefly the general nature and necessity of Christs Priesthood From both these several useful Corollarys or practical deductions offer themselves Corollary 1. This shews in the first place the incomparable excellency of the reformed Christian Religion above all other Religions known to or professed in the world What other Religions seek the Christian Religion only finds even a solid foundation for true peace and settlement of conscience While the Iews seek it in vain in the Law the Mahumetan in his external and ridiculous observances the Papist in his own merits the Believer only finds it in the blood of this great sacrifice this and nothing less than this can pacifie a dis●●●●sed conscience labouring under the weight of its own guilt Conscience demands no less to satisfie it than God demands to satisfie him The grand inquest of conscience is Is God satisfied If he be satisfied I am satisfied Woful is the state of that man that feels the worm of conscience nibling on the most tender part of the soul and hath no relief against it That feels the intollerable scalding wrath of God burning within and hath nothing to cool it Hear me you that slight troubles of conscience that call them fancies and melancholly whimsies if you ever had had but one sick night for sin if you had ever felt that shame fear horror and despair which are the dismal effects of an accusing and condemning conscience you would account it an unspeakable mercy to hear of a way for the discharge of a poor sinner from that guilt You would kiss the feet of that messenger that could bring you tydings of peace You would call him blessed that should direct you to an effectual remedy Now whoever thou art that pinest away in thine iniquities that droopest from day to day under the present wounds and dismal presages of conscience know that thy soul and peace can never meet till thou art perswaded to come to this blood of sprinkling The blood of this sacrifice speaks better things than the blood of Abel The blood of this sacrifice is the blood of God Act. 20.28 invaluably pretious blood 1 Pet. 1.18 one drop of it infinitely excels the blood of all other creatures Heb. 10.4 5 6. Such is the blood that must do thee good Lord I must have such blood saith conscience as is capable of giving thee full satisfaction or it can give me no peace The blood of all the Cattle upon a thousand Hills cannot do this What is the blood of beasts to God The blood of all the men in the world can do nothing in this case What is our polluted blood worth No no it 's the blood of God that must satisfie both thee and me Yea Christs blood is not only the blood of God but it 's blood shed in thy stead and in thy place and room Gal. 3.13 He was made a curse for us And so it becomes sin pardoning blood Heb. 9.22 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Rom. 3.26 And consequently conscience pacifying and soul quieting blood Col. 1.20 Eph. 2.13 14. Rom. 3.26 O bless God that ever the news of this blood came to thine ears With hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven admire that grace that cast thy lot in a place where this joyful sound rings in the ears of poor sinners What had thy case been if thy mother had brought thee forth in the desarts of Arabia or in the wastes of America or what if thou hadst been nursed up by a Popish father who could have told thee no other remedy when in distress for sin but to go such a pilgrimage to whip and lash thy self to satisfie an angry God! Surely the pure light of the Gospel shining upon this generation is a mercy never to be duly valued never to be enough prized Corollary 2. Hence also be informed of the necessity of faith in order to a state and sense of peace with God For to what purpose is the blood of Christ our sacrifice shed unless it be actually and personally applyed and appropriated by faith You know when the sacrifices under the Law were brought to be slain he that brought it was to put his hand upon the head of his sacrifice and so it was accepted from him to make an attonement Lev. 1.4 Not only to signifie that now it was no more his but Gods the propriety being transferred by a kind of manumission nor yet that he voluntarily gave it to the Lord as his own free act but principally it noted the putting off his sins and the penalty due to him for them upon the head of the sacrifice and so it implyed in it an execration as if he had said upon thy head be the evil So the Learned observe the Ancient Aegyptians were wont expresly to imprecate when they sacrificed If any evil be coming upon us or upon Aegypt let it turn and rest upon this head laying their hand at these words on the sacrifices head And upon that ground saith the Historian none of them would eat of the head of any living creature You must also lay the hand of faith upon Christ your sacrifice not to imprecate but apply and appropriate him to your own souls he having been made a curse for you To this the whole Gospel tends even to perswade sinners to apply Christ and his blood to their own souls To this he invited us Matth. 11.28 Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest For this end our sacrifice was lifted up upon the Altar Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life The Effects of the Law not only upon the conscience filling it with torments but upon the whole person bringing death upon it are here shadowed out by the stingings of fiery Serpents and Christ by the brazen Serpent which Moses exalted for the Israelites that were stun● to look unto And as by looking to it they were healed so by believing or looking to Christ in faith our souls are healed Those that looked not to the Brazen Serpent died infallibly so must all that look not to Jesus our sacrifice by faith It 's true the death of Christ is the meritorious cause of remission but faith is the instrumental applying cause and as Christs blood is necessary in its place so is our faith in its place also For to the actual remission of sin and peace of conscience there must be a co-operation of all the causes of remission and peace As there is the grace and love of God for an efficient and impulsive cause and the death of Christ our
sacrifice the meritorious cause so of necessity there must be faith the instrumental cause And these concauses do all sweetly meet in their influences and activities in our remission and tranquility of conscience and are all suo genere in their kind and place absolutely necessary to the procuring and applying of it What the near that the blood of Christ is shed if I have no interest in it no saving influences from it O be convinvinced this is the end the business of life Faith is the Phoenix grace as Christ is the Phoenix mercy He is the gift Joh. 4.10 And this is the work of God Ioh. 6.29 the death of Christ the offers and tenders of Christ never saved one soul in themselves without believing application But wo is me how do I see sinners either not at all toucht with the sense of sin and so being whole need not the Physitian or if any be s●●●g and wounded with guilt how do they lick themselves whole with their own duties and reformations as Physitians say of wounds let them but be kept clean and nature will find balsom of its own to heal them If it be so in spiritual wounds what need Christ to have left the Fathers bosom and come down to dye in the quality and nature of a Sacrifice for us O if men can but have health pleasure riches honours and any way make a shift to still a brawling conscience that it may not check or interrupt them in these enjoyments Christ may go where he will for them And I am assured till God shew you the face of sin in the glass of the Law Make the Scorpions and fiery Serpents that lurk in the Law and in your own consciences to come hissing about you and smiting you with their deadly stings till you have had some sick nights and sorrowful days for sin you will never go up and down seeking an interest in the blood of this sacrifice with tears But Reader if ever this be thy condition then wilt thou know the worth of a Christ. Then thou wilt have a value for the blood of sprinkling As I remember it 's storied of our Crook-back Richard when he was put to a rout in a field battel and flying on foot from his pursuing enemies he cried out O now said he a Kingdom for a Horse So wilt thou cry a Kingdom for a Christ. Ten thousand Worlds now if I had th●m for the blood of sprinkling Corollary 3. Is Christ your High-Priest and is his Priestood so indispensably necessary to your salvation then freely acknowledge your utter impotency to reconcile your selves to God by any thing you can do or suffer And let Christ have the whole glory of your recovery ascribed to him It 's highly reasonable that he that laid down the whole price should have the whole praise If any man think or say he could have made an attonement for himself he doth therein cast no light reproach upon that profound wisdom which laid the design of our redemption in the death of Christ. But of this I have spoken elsewhere And therefore Corollary 4. In the last place I rather choose to perswade you to see your necessity of this Priest and his most excellent sacrifice and accordingly to make use of it The best of you have polluted natures poisoned in the womb with sin those natures have need of this sacrifice They must have the benefit of this blood to pardon and cleanse them or be eternally damned Hear me ye that never spent a tear for the sin of nature if the blood of Christ be not springled upon your natures it had been better for you that you had been the generation of beasts the off-spring of Dragons or Toads They have a contemptible but not a vitiated sinful nature as you have Your Actual sins have need of this Priest and his sacrifice to procure remission for them If he take them not away by the blood of his cross they can never be taken away They will lie down with you in the dust They will rise with you and follow you to the Judgement seat crying we are thy works and we will follow thee All thy repentance and tears shouldst thou weep as many tears as there be drops in the Ocean can never take away sin Thy duties even the best of them need this sacrifice It is in the verture thereof that they are accepted of God And were it not God had respect to Christs offering he would not regard or look towards thee or any of thy duties Thou couldst no more come near God than thou couldst approach a devouring fire or dwell with everlasting burnings Well then say I need such a Priest every way Love him in all his offices See the goodness of God in providing such a sacrifice for thee Meat drink and air not more necessary to maintain thy natural life than the death of Christ is to give and maintain thy spiritual life O then let thy soul grow big whilst meditating of the usefulness and excellency of Christ which is thus displaied and unfolded in every branch of the Gospel And with a deep sence upon thy heart let thy lips say blessed be God for Iesus Christ. The TWELFTH SERMON HEB. X.XIV. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified AFter this more general view and consideration of the Priesthood of Christ method requires that we come to a nearer and more particular consideration of the parts thereof which are his Oblation and Intercession answerable to the double office of the High-Priest offering the blood of the Sacrifices without the holy place which Typed out Christs oblation and then once a year bringing the blood before the Lord into the most holy place presenting it before the Lord and with it sprinkling the mercy-seat wherein the intercession of Christ the other part or Act of his Priesthood was in a lively manner Typified to us My present business is to open and apply the Oblation of Christ. The efficacy and excellency whereof is excellently illustrated by a comparison with all other oblations in the precedent context and with a singular Encomium commended to us in these words from the singularity of it It is but one offering one not only specifically but one numerically considered But once offered and never more to be repeated For Christ dieth no more Rom. 6.9 He also commends it from the efficacy of it By it he hath perfected i. e. not only purchased a possibility of salvation but all that we need to our full perfection It brings in a most intire compleat and perfect righteousness All that remains to make us perfectly happy is but the full application of the benefits procured by this Oblation for us Moreover it 's here commended from the extensiveness of it Not being restrained to a few but applicable to all the Saints in all the ages and places of the world For this indefinite them that are sanctified is
savingly Inference 2. Have the believing meditations of Christ and his sufferings such heart melting influences the surely then proper order of raising the affections is to begin at the exercise of faith It grieves me to see how many poor Christians tug at their own dead hearts endeavouring to raise and affect them but cannot They complain and strive strive and complain pump and draw but no love to the Lord comes no brokenness of heart comes They go to this ordinance and that to one duty and another hoping that now the Lord will affect it and fill the sails but come back disappointed and ashamed like the troops of Tema Poor Christian hear me one word possibly it may do thy business and stand thee in more stead than all the methods thou hast yet used If thou wouldst indeed get an heart Evangelically melted for sin and broken with the kindly sense of the grace and love of Christ thy way is not to force thy affections nor to vex thy self and go about complaining of an hard heart but set thy self to believe reallize apply infer and compare by faith as you have been directed and see what this will do They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn This is the true way and proper method to raise the heart and break it Inference 3. Is this the way to get a truly broken heart then let those that have attained brokenness of heart this way bless the Lord whilst they live for so choice a mercy And that upon a double account First For as much as an heart so affected and melted is not attainable by any natural or unrenewed person If they would give all they have in the world it cannot purchase one such tear or groan over Christ. Mark what characters of special grace it bears in the description that 's made of it in that forementioned place Zech. 12.10 Such a frame as this is not born with us or to be acquired by us for it 's there said to be poured out by the Lord upon us I will pour on them c. There 's no hypocrisie or dissimulation in these mournings for they are compared to the mourning of a man for his only Son And sure the hearts of parents are not untouched when they behold such sights Nature is not the principle of it but faith For it 's there said they shall look on me i. e. believe and mourn Self is not the end and center of these sorrows It is not so much for damning our selves as for piercing Christ they shall look on me whom they have pierced and shall mourn so that this is sorrow after God and not a flash of nature as was discoursed from the former point And therefore you have cause to bless the Lord whilst you live for such a special mercy as this is And Secondly As it 's the right so it is the choisest and most pretious gift that can be given you for it 's rancked among the prime mercies of the new Covenant Ezek. 36.26 This shall be the Covenant A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh What wouldst thou have given sometimes for such an heart as now thou hast though it be not yet as thou wouldst have it And however you value and esteem it God himself sets no common value on it for mark what he ●aith of it Psal. 51.17 the sacrifices of God are a broken heart a broken and a contrite spirit O God thou wilt not despise i. e. God is more delighted with such an heart than all the sacrifices in the world One groan one tear flowing from faith and the spirit of Adoption is more to him than the Cattle upon a thousand hills And to the same sense he speaks again Isai. 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool where is the house that ye build to me and where is the place of my rest but to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word q. d. all the magnificent Temples and gloririous structures in the world give me no pleasure in comparison of such a broken heart as this Oh then for ever bless the Lord that hath done that for you which none else could do And what he hath done but for few besides you The TWENTY SIXTH SERMON ACT. II. XXIII Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain HAving considered in order the preparative acts for the death of Christ both on his own part and on his enemies part we now come to consider the death of Christ it self which was the principal part of his humiliation and the chief pillar of our consolation Here we shall in order consider First The kind and nature of the death he died Secondly The manner in which he bare it viz. patiently solitary and instructively droping divers holy and instructive lessons upon all that were about him in his seven last words upon the Cross. Thirdly The funeral solemnities at his burial Fourthly and Lastly The weighty ends and great designs of his death In all which particulars as we proceed to discuss and open them you will have an account of the deep abasement and humiliation of the Son of God In this text we have an account of the kind and nature of that death which Christ died as also of the causes of it both principal and instrumental First The kind and nature of the death Christ died which is here described more generally as a violent death Ye have slain him and more particularly as a most ignominious cursed dishonorable death ye have crucified him Secondly The causes of it are here likewise expressed and that both principal and instrumental The principal cause permitting ordering and disposing all things about it was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God There was not an action or circumstance but came under this most wise and holy counsel and determination of God The Instruments effecting it were their wicked hands This foreknowledge and counsel of God as it did no way necessitate or enforce them to it so neither doth it excuse their fact from the least aggravation of its sinfulness It did no more compel or force their wicked hands to do what they did than the Mariners hoising up his sails to take the wind to serve his design compels the wind And it cannot excuse their action from one circumstance of sin because Gods end and manner of acting was one thing their end and manner of acting another His most pure and holy theirs most malitious and daringly wicked Idem quod duo faciunt non est idem To this purpose a grave Divine will expresses it In respect of God
himself into their hands they thought it advisable to provide as well as they could for themselves and some where or other to take refuge from the present storm which had over taken him This was the nature and quality of the fact We enquire Thirdly Into the grounds and reasons of it Which were three First Gods suspending wonted influences and aids of grace from them They were not wont to do so They never did so afterwards They would not have done so now had there been influences of Power Zeal and Love from Heaven upon them But how then should Christ have born the heat and burden of the day How should he tread the Wine Press alone How should his sorrows have been extream unmixed and succourless as it behoved them to be if they had stuck faithfully to him in his troubles No no it must not be Christ must not have the least relief or comfort from any creature and therefore that he might be left alone to grapple hand to hand with the wrath of God and of men the Lord for a time withholds his incouraging strengthening influences from them and then like Sampson when he had lost his locks they were weak as other men Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might saith the Apostle Eph. 6.10 If that be withheld our resolutions and purposes melt away before a temptation as Snow before the Sun Secondly As God permitted it and withheld usual aid from them so the efficacy of that Temptation was great yea much greater than ordinary As they were weaker than they were used to be so the temptation was stronger than any they had yet met withal It 's call'd Luk. 22.53 Their hour and the power of darkness A sisting winnowing hour vers 46. O it was a black and cloudy day Never had the Disciples met with such a whirlewind such a furious storm before The Devil desired but to have the winnowing of them in that day and so would have sifted and winnowed them that their faith had utterly failed had not Christ secured it by his Prayer for them So that it was an extraordinary tryal that was upon them Thirdly And lastly that which concurred to their shameful relapse as a special cause of it was the remaining corruptions that were in their hearts yet unmortified Their knowledge was but little And their faith not much Upon the account of their weakness in grace they were called little ones in the Text. And as their graces were weak so their corruptions were strong Their Unbelief and carnal fears grew powerfully upon them Do not censure them Reader in thy thoughts nor despise them for this their weakness Neither say in thy heart had I been there as they were I would never have done as they did They thought as little of doing what they did as you or any of the Saints do and as much did their souls detest and abhor it but here thou maist see whither a soul that fears God may be carried if his corruptions be irritated by strong temptations and God withholds usual influences Fourthly and Lastly Let us view the issue of this sad apostacy of theirs And you shall find it ended far better than it began Though these Sheep were scattered for a time yet the Lord made good his promise in turning his hand upon these little ones to gather them The morning was overcast but the evening was clear Peter repents of his perfidious denial of Christ and never denied him more All the rest likewise returned to Christ and never forsook him any more He that was afraid at the the voice of a Damsel afterwards feared not the frowns of the mighty And they that durst not own Christ now afterward confessed him openly before Councils and rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his sake Act. 5.41 They that were now as timerous at Hares and started at every sound afterwards became as bold as Lyons and feared not any danger but sealed their confession of Christ with their blood For though at this time they forsook him it was not voluntarily but by surprizal Though they forsook him they still loved him though they fled from him there still remained a gratious principle in them the root of the matter still was in them which recovered them again To conclude though they forsook Christ yet Christ never forsook them he loved them still go tell the Disciples and tell Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee Mark 16.7 q. d. let them not think that I so remember their unkindness as to own them no more no I love them still The use of this is contained in the following Inferences Inference 1. Did the Disciples forsake Christ though they had such strong perswasions and resolutions never to do it then we see That self-confidence is a sin too incident to the best of men They little thought their hearts would have proved so base and deceitful as they found them to be when they were tried Though all men forsake thee saith Peter yet will not I. Good man he resolved honestly but he knew not what a feather he should be in the wind of Temptation if God once left him to his own fears Little reason have the best of Saints to depend upon their inherent grace let their stock be as large as it will The Angels left to themselves quickly left their own habitation Iude 6. upon which one well observes that the best of created perfections are of themselves defectible Every excellency without the prop of divine preservation is but a weight which tends to a fall The Angels in their innocency were but frail without Gods sustentation even grace it self is but a creature and therefore purely dependent 'T is not from its being and nature but from the assistance of some thing without it that it 's kept from annihilation What becomes of the stream if the fountain supply it not What continuance hath the reflection in the glass if the man that looks into it turn away his face The constant supplies of the spirit of Jesus Christ are the food and fewel of all our graces The best men will shew themselves but men if God leave them He who hath set them up must also keep them up It 's safer to be humble with one Talent than proud with ten Yea better to be a humble worm than a proud Angel Adam had more advantage to maintain his station than any of you For though he were left to the liberty of his own mutable and self-determining will yet he was created upright and had no inherent corruption to endanger him yet fell And shall we be self-confident after such instances of humane frailty Alas Christian what match art thou for principalites and powers and spiritual wickedness Be not high-minded but fear When you have considered well the example of Noah Lot David and Hezekiah men famous and renowned in their generations who all fell by temptations yea and that when one would
sort this is one Father forgive them c. In which we have first the mercy desired by Christ and that is forgiveness Secondly the persons for whom it is desired Them that is those cruel and wicked persons that were now in brewing their hands in his blood And Thirdly the motive or argument urged to procure that mercy from his Father for they know not what they do First The mercy prayed for that is forgiveness Father forgive Forgiveness is not only a Mercy a spiritual mercy but one of the greatest mercys a soul can obtain from God It is such a mercy that without it what ever else we have from God is no mercy to us So great a mercy is forgiveness that David calls him blessed or rather admires the blessednesses of him whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered This mercy this best of mercys he requests for them Father forgive them Secondly The persons for whom he requests forgiveness are the same that with wicked hands Crucified him Their fact was the most horrid that ever was committed by men They not only shed innocent blood but the blood of God the best of mercys is by him desired for the worst of sinners Thirdly The Motive or Argument urged to procure this mercy for them is this for they know not what they do As if he should say Lord what these poor Creatures do is not so much out of malice to me as the Son of God but it is from their ignorance Did they know who and what I am they would rather be nailed to the Cross themselves than do it To the same purpose the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2.8 Whom none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory Yet this is not to be extended to all that had an hand in the death of Christ but to the ignorant multitude among whom some of Gods Elect were who afterwards believed in him whose blood they spilt Acts 3.17 And now brethren I wote that through ignorance ye did it For them this Prayer of Christ was heard Hence the Notes are Doct. 1. That ignorance is the usual cause of enmity to Christ. Doct. 2. That there is forgiveness with God for such as oppose Christ out of ignorance Doct. 3. That to forgive enemies and beg forgiveness for them is the true Character and property of the Christian Spirit These observations contain so much practical truth that it will be worth our time to open and apply them distinctly DOCT. 1. That ignorance is the usual cause of enmity to Christ. These things saith our Lord will they do because they have not known the Father nor me Joh. 16.3 What things doth he mean Why kill and destroy the people of God and therein suppose they do God good service i. e. think to oblige and gratifie the Father by their butchering his Children So Ier. 9.3 They proceed from evil to evil and have not known me saith the Lord q. d. had they the knowledge of God that would check and stop them in their ways of wickedness and so Psal. 74.20 The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty Three things must be inquired into sc. what their ignorance of Christ was Whence it was And how it disposed them to such enmity against him First What was their ignorance who Crucified Christ Ignorance is twofold simple or respective Simple ignorance is not supposeable in these persons for in many things they were a knowing people But it was a respective particular ignorance Rom. 11.25 Blindness in part is happened to Israel They knew many other truths but did not know Jesus Christ. In that their eyes were held Natural light they had Yea and Scripture light they had But in this particular that this was the Son of God the Saviour of the world therein they were blind and ignorant But how could that be Had they not heard at least of his miraculous works Did they not see how his Birth Life and Death squar'd with the Prophesies both in time place and manner Whence should this their ignorance be when they saw or at least might have seen the Scriptures fulfill'd in him and that he came among them in a time when they were big with expectations of the Messiah 'T is true indeed they knew the Scriptures and it cannot but be supposed the fame of his mighty works had reacht their ears but yet First Though they had the Scriptures among them they misunderstood them and did not rightly measure Christ by that right rule You find Ioh. 7.52 How they reason with Nicodemus against Christ Art thou also of Galilee Search and see for out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet Here is a double mistake First they supposed Christ to arise out of Galilee whereas he was of Bethlehem though much conversant in the parts of Galilee And secondly they thought because they could find no Prophet had arisen out of Galilee therefore none should Another mistake that blinded them about Christ was from their conceit that Christ should not die but live for ever Ioh. 12.34 We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever and how sayest thou the Son of man must be lifted up Who is the Son of man That Scripture which probably they urge against the mortality of Christ is Esa 9.7 Of the increase of his Government and peace there shall be no end upon the Throne of David c. In like manner Ioh. 7.27 We find them in another mistake We know this man whence he is but when Christ cometh no man knoweth whence he is This likely proceeded from their misunderstanding of Mica 5.2 His going forth have been from of old from everlasting Thus were they blinded about the person of Christ by misinterpretations of Scripture-Prophesies Secondly Another thing occasioning their mistake of Christ was the outward meanness and despisableness of his condition They expected a pompous Messiah one that should come with State and Glory becoming the King of Israel But when they saw him in the form of a Servant coming in poverty not to be ministred unto but to minister they utterly rejected him We hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not Isa. 53.3 Nor is it any great wonder these should be scandalized at his poverty When the Disciples themselves had such carnal apprehensions of his Kingdom Mar. 10.37 38. Thirdly Add to this their implicit faith in the Learned Rabbies and Doctors who utterly misled them in this matter and greatly prejudiced them against Christ. Lo say they he speaketh boldly and they say nothing to him Do the Rulers know inde●d that this is the very Christ They pinn'd their faith upon the Rulers sleeves and suffer'd them to carry it whether they would This was their ignorance and these its causes Thirdly Let us see in the next place how this disposed them to such enmity against Christ.