by their hands xiv 3. And in the same manner at Corinth Colosse Philippi and all other places the Divine power wrought in them mightily i. Colos 29. upon which account they call themselves with great reason Witnesses OF GOD 1 Cor. xv 14 15. If Christ be not risen our preaching is vain yea and we are found false witnesses of God which had been a most horrible thing because we have testified OF GOD that he raised up Christ They testified every where what God had done by Jesus and for him particularly that he had raised him from the dead Now that they did not take upon them to be Gods Witnesses when they had received no authority from him nor were guilty of belying God as the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports the Spirit that wrought in them evidently proved by the gifts of Languages of Prophecy of Wisdom and Knowledge of Miracles and healing all manner of Diseases Which made the Angel say when S. John was going to worship him by no means see thou do it not I am but thy fellow servant one of thy Brethren that bears witness to Jesus as thou dost For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy xix Rev. 10. that is those gifts which the Apostles were endued withal showed whose ministers they were and that being the servants of the most High God as well as the Angels they owed no such respect to them as S. John was about to give and by those Divine gifts they gave a testimony to Jesus and proved he was the Son of God wherein they were equal to the Angels who could no more than testifie to him and be his ministers to report the glory wherein he was Upon which errand not only this but many other Angels appeared to S. John who together with the rest of the Apostles bare record of the Word of God as I have noted before and of the testimony of Jesus and of all things that he saw i. Rev. 3. And herein they were labourers together with God 1 Cor. iii. 9. who testified the same and wrought as effectually in S. Peter among the Jews as he was mighty in S. Paul towards the Gentiles ii Gal. 8. For God wrought special miracles by his hands xix Acts 11. and made the Gentiles obedient by word and deed through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the SPIRIT of God xv Rom. 18 19. So that the Faith of that Age it is plain did not stand in the wisdom of men as S. Paul speaks 1 Cor. ii 5. but in the power of God They that believed saw evidently that God was with the Apostles nay they felt many of them the power of God in themselves as you have heard before when the Apostles communicated this vertue to others which they had received from Jesus Christ Which was such a Testimony to him as no counterfeit or false witness could ever imitate For it hath been a constant observation that they who by Magick astonished the People by wonderful feats not only did them for their own gain and reputation rather than for any benefit to the World but also kept this secret to themselves and would not communicate their power to others That would have spoiled their trade and made them less admired or at least less rich than they designed But our Lord on the contrary had promised his Disciples that what he did when he was in the world they should do also after he was gone Nay more than that he tells them Greater things shall ye do And which is still more he promises that not only they but others also should do those works if they believed on him xiv Joh. 11 12. Believe me for the very works sake Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go to my Father Now thus it came to pass as our Saviour foretold Not only the Apostles but others also who believed through their word received the Holy Ghost For as S. Peter confidently invited his Crucifiers to come and repent of what they had done and be baptized every one of them in his Name and they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ii Act. 38. So it proved that they who gladly received his word were baptized ver 41. and were all filled with the Holy Ghost iv 31. This was the thing that amazed that famous Sorcerer Simon Magus whom the Samaritans admired as the great power of God till S. Philip came thither and perswaded even him by the miracles and signs which he did to believe in Jesus as a greater power of God than himself But when the Apostles also came and by laying on of their hands the Holy Ghost was given to several persons He plainly saw that he was no body and would have given any Money for such a power as he had not the least shadow of viii Act. 10 11 c. But all that I shall say of this matter shall be out of one of the ancient defenders of the Christian cause who thought he might challenge all the world to show him any thing like that which our Saviour did or give an account how it might be done if he was not the Son of God most high It is Arnobius I mean who in his first Book against the Gentiles having delivered in a Catalogue of our Saviour's miracles and shown they could not be the effect of Magick at last concludes with this great demonstration the substance of which I shall briefly relate All these wonders which I have summed up though not as the greatness of them required Jesus not only performed himself but which is a greater miracle gave many others power to do them in his Name For he fore-seeing there would be indeavours to detract from the glory of his famous actions that he might leave no suspicion in the minds of those that heard of him as if he were a Sorcerer chose out of that vast multitude of People that followed him with no small admiration certain Fishermen poor Labourers and other Country People who going through all Nations might without any tricks false colours or invoking the assistance of Spirits work all those miracles over again which they said he had wrought himself As He commanded Devils to come out with a word of his mouth in the same manner did they lay their commands upon them and they obeyed As He did but put forth his hand and touch a Leper or bid him be clean and his flesh was restored like a little Childs in the same manner did they smooth the skins of such loathsome persons and restore them to the welcome society of their friends and neighbours It would be too tedious to number all things particularly that they did and which is more I may add gave power to other Christians to do in their Master's Name They stopt the progress of cruel eating Cancers they closed up
saith that if he went away he would send the PARACLETE that is his Advocate unto them whose office it should be to convince the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment Of this place I shall be able I hope to give a full account hereafter together with all those that relate to the Holy Ghost and therefore I shall say no more of it now than this That the end of the PARACLETE'S coming was to plead the Cause of our Saviour to maintain his innocence and to prove against all accusers that though he was condemned by men yet he was acquitted by God and had said nothing but the truth For observe but the crime whereof he was accused and for which he was sentenced by the Jews and you will soon see that nothing could clear him so much as this The great thing they laid to his charge as you have heard already was that he affirmed when they adjured him to speak his thought that he was the Christ the Son of the Blessed This was the blasphemy which they pretended wounded their hearts with grief when they heard it and for which they adjudged him to be worthy of death Now what could demonstrate the vileness of this calumny and prove him not guilty more than such a power possessing his followers even after he was dead as they saw in himself when he was alive Nay a far greater which declared as they truly said that he was Lord of all x. Acts 36. He could not have done such things as they beheld were wrought at the invoking of his Name if he were not truly the Son of God The Apostles might have called long enough upon him before they had made a man lame from his Mother's womb walk up and down and leap and praise God if he whom they crucified were not exalted by God's right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour And it had been the vainest thing of all for the Apostles to go and preach up the authority of a dead man and who was ignominiously crucified as a great Malefactor if they had not known that the Holy Ghost from him was ready at hand in every place and time to be his ADVOCATE and take his part against all gain-sayers This Heavenly Witness never failed to appear when there was need of him to justifie our Saviour and to set all things right in the opinion of the World by reversing their false judgment and by establishing and verifying the sentence he had passed on himself when he said that he was the Son of God The Tables were now turned by the appearance of this PARACLETE who pleaded so strongly and convincingly that many who had before accounted him an evil doer were now forced to alter their mind and confess him to be a righteous person They who had reviled him now gave him worship and honour They that cried Crucifie him said as the Centurion when they heard the HOLY GHOST speak on his behalf Sure this was the Son of God And all those who were so hardy as to resist the Holy Ghost vii Acts 51. were fain to oppose it with rage and throwing stones for in any other manner they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit whereby S. Steven a man full of the Holy Ghost spake to them and reasoned with them vi Acts 9 10. So great a testimony was this of the HOLY GHOST to Jesus that the Apostles were not fit to be his Witnesses till they had received it xxiv Luke 48. i. Acts 8. But after it came upon them and joyned its testimony with theirs then they defended his cause so successfully that a great company of the Priests the greatest enemies to it yielded themselves and became obedient to the faith vi Acts 7. Then if any one asked how dare you contradict the sentence of the High Court to which all men are bound upon pain of death to submit xvii Deut. 9 12. what can you say to justifie this presumption in maintaining his Righteousness whom the Grand Council of the Nation hath condemned to suffer death They could soon make this reply Let the HOLY GHOST answer you hear what he says to you If He do not speak enough for us and for Jesus to satisfie you then we refuse not to die you may deal with us as the despisers of God and his Law And so mightily were they astonished and perplexed by the pleadings of the HOLY GHOST that the Sanhedrim the Supreme Court of Judicature among them knew not what to say to the Apostles nor what to do with them They only clapt them in prison for preaching Jesus iv Acts 3. and threatned farther severity if they did not desist ver 21. but they durst not proceed to pass the sentence of death upon them according as the Law directed the people glorifying God so heartily for what they saw them do by the power of the Holy Ghost Nay so much were some of this great Council staggered that according to the perswasion of Gamaliel a great Master among them they let the Apostles go free after a second imprisonment lest perhaps they should be found fighters against God ver 39. If this be an humane project says that wise man do not trouble your selves about it for it will come to naught as the vain attempts of others have done who at the first drew much people after them But if these men prove to be authorized by God and he will have it so who can overthrow it We had best take heed how we proceed in a business wherein we may chance to have God against us It is better in my judgment to be quiet and see what the issue will be lest in stead of contending with men we be found to oppose God Almighty himself III. And the issue was this which is the last thing that by the power of this Advocate alone and no other our Lord Jesus actually obtained a Kingdom in spite of all the opposition that could be made against him This was the greatest testimony of the Holy Ghost to him which effectually proved him to be a King by winning him a Kingdom and perswading men to submit unto him though he was invisible and not like to reward their services in this World at all but only in another It proclaimed him all abroad in the World to be the Lord of life and glory and by the mere preaching of the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven as S. Peter speaks 1 i. 12. the Nations were subdued to him and acknowledged him for their Sovereign The High Priest and Council of Jerusalem as it there follows in v. Acts 40. desiring to discourage the Apostles in this preaching ordered them to be beaten and then commanded them to speak no more in the name of Jesus for fear of a worse punishment that might follow Alas vain men that thought to choak this Truth and bury this report concerning Jesus Did they think it was in their power to murder his
but continued blinder than the Egyptian Magicians when it did so many wonders would shut their eyes against any other means of conviction which could not be expected it must also be remembred because God himself had no higher evidence to give them than this of his SPIRIT But then you must not understand this speech of our Saviour as if he meant that those persons to whom he spake these words had run themselves at that instant into this unpardonable sin but that if they still proceeded to blaspheme it when the SPIRIT had finished its testimony that is done all those things which still were behind for their conviction then they would fall into it and remain in it irrecoverably For you must remember that under the word SPIRIT is comprehended the power that raised Christ from the dead and presented him to God in the Heavens that he might receive of him the promise of the Holy Ghost which he shed upon the Apostles abundantly as a witness of his Resurrection and glorious Exaltation If after this that Jesus was risen again from the dead ascended into Heaven and showed himself to be there by sending the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles they did not believe but still blasphemed the holy name of Jesus and the SPIRIT of God saying That they were drunk who were filled with the Holy Ghost as here they said Jesus had a Devil then they were uncapable of obtaining remission of sin because there was nothing more to be done for their conversion but they must be abandoned to the hardness and impenitence of their hearts This I am sure must be the meaning because our Lord himself after he had pronounced the Pharisees unpardonable who spake against the SPIRIT whereby he cast out Devils tells them expresly that there was one sign more remaining to convince them which is a demonstration they had not yet sinned incurably nor could not till that sign was past and that was the sign as you heard of the Prophet Jonas ver 39 40. which he grants them again xvi 4. should not be denied them Now every body understands by this His Death and Resurrection with those things that followed upon it the sending of the Holy Ghost to enable his Apostle to go and teach all Nations as Jonas went after he came as we may say out of his grave and preached to the great City Nineveh But then this was still the SPIRIT that was thus continued to them by that our Lord being raised and it working wonders also at his Death which if they continued to resist when it had fully done the whole office of a witness and was all poured forth then they were under the absolute sentence of condemnation In brief To blaspheme the SPIRIT in this comprehensive sence of the Word including the Resurrection and that which followed to prove it was the unpardonable sin and none else And thus our Saviour's meaning is to be expounded if one should speak a word against the Son of man that is Him despising him because of his poor Parentage and calling him the Son of a Carpenter or some such name this though blameable might be pardoned propter corporis vilitatem as S. Hierom speaks because of the meanness of his outward appearance Nay if a man proceeded so far as to call him a glutton a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners this also might find pardon because he did not hitherto speak evil of the works proper to a God but only of those belonging to a man And more than this should he call him deceiver or seducer when he heard him teach the people it would not be unpardonable because no man is to be believed merely upon his own word But if when these men saw the mighty works of the SPIRIT justifying his preaching to be Divine they still continued to speak evil of him this was a very dangerous blasphemy because they could not after this call him a seducer or false Teacher but they must reproach the holy SPIRIT as well as him and call that the work of the Devil which was performed by the power of the Spirit of God And if when the HOLY GHOST was come from Heaven upon the Apostles witnessing that he was quickned by the SPIRIT and by the same SPIRIT presented to God in the Heavens they still went on to speak evil of him then there was no hope of remission because they blasphemed the last remedy for their recovery which was the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven to perswade them to repent and believe on his name And that we must take our Saviour in this sence is further apparent from the name of the HOLY GHOST which he uses when he speaks of this unpardonable sin never calling it the blasphemy against the SPIRIT but always the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST which you know was not as yet given when our Saviour spake these words In the beginning of this discourse xii Matth. 28. he mentions only the SPIRIT But then coming to describe the danger of blaspheming it he doth not say that the blasphemy of the SPIRIT simply that is of those present works of his was unpardonable but that the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST when it was come should never be forgiven Which must needs be understood as I have already argued concerning the contempt and reproachful usage of those following witnesses the Resurrection Ascension and the preaching of the Apostles endowed with power from on high because though the SPIRIT now wrought among them yet the HOLY GHOST was not come to be his ADVOCATE and plead his cause and therefore could not as yet be blasphemed by them By HOLY GHOST then in our Saviour's language here I suppose is meant all that was left still to be done for his Justification and that it is so wide a word in this place as to include in it the SPIRIT also For he was speaking before of the SPIRIT and therefore when he alters the phrase he doth not leave out the testimony of that but imbraces it within the compass of a larger word which it was necessary to use that he might show when that sin which they had begun in a desperate manner would be so complete that it could never be undone And that was when the HOLY GHOST had consecrated the Apostles to their great office which supposes his Resurrection and filled them with all Divine gifts among which you know was a power xiv John 12. to do greater works than these which our Saviour is here speaking of called the SPIRIT Then if they did not believe there was no remedy but they must perish in their infidelity But till then they to whom our Saviour speaks were not arrived at this hopeless condition because they had hitherto only blasphemed the SPIRIT not the HOLY GHOST which was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified But when it was given and they reproached that as they had done the SPIRIT then they were under irrecoverable condemnation
does it sneak into nothing when we look up unto Jesus and remember that He was the Son of God and yet endured it as he tells his Apostles xv John 18. and thought himself never the less glorious It cannot be help'd but we must be scorned sometime or other if we will follow him unless we could perswade all men to bear us company But this is our comfort and encouragement that this is the way to glory and that now we are conformed to our Saviour who by the shame of the Cross hath got himself immortal honour and that the Father at present approves us the Word delights in us the Spirit of God and of Glory rests upon us all these Heavenly Witnesses esteem and love us and are pleased to see us behave our selves worthily as Jesus did 2. And if from hence we pass through many tribulations and encounter such troubles and hardships as we are all desirous to avoid they will not be able to affright or daunt him who hath this faith thus planted in his heart For greater is He that is in us than he that is in the WORLD Did not the ancient Worthies and great Warriers against the WORLD wade through very great difficulties in the strength of a Faith which was much weaker than this of ours How did all those brave men whom you read of Hebr. xi obtain a good report but through faith when it had not received this promise ver 39. Surely we that understand more than they did we who know the Son of God is come not only by WATER but by BLOUD and who know that Eternal life is in him and have received the Holy Ghost and are made partakers of such glorious Revelations in the Gospel of his grace and who know the certainty of those things wherein we are instructed we I say cannot but take the courage in the power of such a Faith to behave our selves valiantly and with Christian resolution in such like straits and dangers as made their fidelity so remarkable Read what S. Peter says to encourage us 1 iii. 14 15. But if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you As if he should have said It may seem a strange folly to suffer so much as you do and you may begin to be startled at the troubles which befall you but bear a reverend regard towards God who hath called you to this state of Christianity do but stand in awe of his Authority who hath bid you hear that is obey Jesus whatsoever it cost you and do but tell every Man what reason you have for what you do and suffer and what hope you have in him upon this account And then they will either cease to trouble you or you will cease to be troubled for what they make you suffer Now what are the reasons of our Christian hope and patience but these which we are here treating of If we alledge these to our selves or to others it will soon appear that we are no fools in exposing our selves to any dangers for righteousness sake The Father hath bidden us be true to it so hath the Word and so hath the Holy Ghost every one of the other three also call upon us to be couragious for it is a worthy cause wherein we are ingaged and we shall not lose our reward Here are reasons enough and they are stronger than all their adversaries The World hath nothing to oppose so weighty as these Witnesses every one of which I might show you if it would not prove too tedious lay an obligation on us not to be moved from our stedfastness but to take up our Cross and to follow Jesus And I the rather pass by these because I think they are generally of less force than the other part of the WORLD which uses to assault Mankind more dangerously 3. I mean the alluring and inticing enjoyments here below which we are too prone to comply withall They are of an inveigling and insinuating nature and may get admittance by their soft violence when the other cannot prevail by more rough opposition We are apt to fortifie our selves against evil things and are many times angry they should attempt to over-master us but to the good things of the WORLD we lye naked and open and there is a treacherous party within that is willing they should enter nay ready to open the doors to them And they are of three sorts as the forenamed place in this Epistle tells us the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life ii 16. All that the WORLD contains in it for the captivating of an earthly Mans affections and satisfying his desires is comprehended under one of these three Names For the understanding of which you must know that the Hebrews have a manner of speech which expresses the Object by the Act and the clearest interpretation of these words is grounded on that use of theirs So that by LUST we are to understand all those things that gratifie some appetite of pleasure wealth or greatness and by FLESH which is not here as it is sometimes a general word it is most agreeable to understand the lower and duller senses which lye most in the flesh and are affected with things that have some grosness in them And then the whole phrase LUST OF THE FLESH that sort of things which give content to the touch the taste and smell such as are meat and drink and perfumes and other voluptuous enjoyments which I need not name but are sometimes particularly called FLESH And then by the LUST OF THE EYES we are to understand such things as belong to the higher and more renned sense of seeing viz. Gold and Silver precious Stones and Jewels Lordships and large possessions noble Houses and rich Furniture beautiful Pictures and fair Gardens fine clothes and costly attire all that is comprehended under the name of Riches which as Solomon observes yields only this satisfaction to the owner that he beholdeth them with his eye There is little in these things but what is all lodged in this sense and therefore they are called the lust of the eye because it loves to look upon them and when that is done they can do more for him Only they may prefer a man to that which he calls the PRIDE OF LIFE which signifies all those things that flatter and please the inward sense our fancy or imagination Such as are great offices and places of Dignity noble Titles all the Honour and Glory of the World together with the esteem at least the applause and commendation of men which is wont to follow them One or more of these three sorts of things every man naturally hunts after and his desires prick him forward in its pursuit For these are mens
shamefully bow down to it and worship it Let but any man remember when he reads these words LOVE NOT THE WORLD for all that is in the WORLD the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the World And the world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever Or when he reads any other lesson in the holy Books let him but remember that thus says the Father of all and thus says his WORD and this is the voice of the Holy Ghost and of all the rest of the Witnesses who testifie that Jesus who teaches these things is the Son of God and then he will never be perswaded to yield to the fairest thing that ever eye beheld or the sweetest thing the mouth can taste or the greatest pleasure any other sense is capable to feel if it must be enjoyed by the breaking of any of these commandments No he will yield himself unto God vi Rom. 13. and lay himself at the feet of his WORD and submit to the dictates and sentence of the Holy Ghost and follow the example of Christ's purity and be made conformable to his Death and be led by his Spirit and think it an honour to be conquered by such Defendants of the cause of Jesus O how hateful would every sin be to us though it dress up it self never so beautifully and court us with never such promises of pleasure or greatness did we but at the same time reflect upon these Witnesses and remember what they have testified to us How should we desire it How passionately should we tear all its gaudy dresses in pieces How heartily should we despise all its temptations which would have us slight all these great Witnesses who tell us the Son of God is come and that he is come for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John iii. 8. Every unlawful enjoyment would look like a manifest jeer to all these and as if a man should say to them Why do you trouble your selves this is our Darling our God and all your perswasions shall not prevail with us to let it go It would appear a contempt of God a laughing of his WORD to scorn who came upon so needless at least fruitless an errand a manifest challenge to the Holy Ghost who by every sin is boldly opposed And what heart can endure to think of being guilty of such madness which throws dirt into this pure Water I mean the life of Christ and treads his Bloud under feet and miscalls the Spirit of grace as if it were not the Truth but had deceived the world when it told them that this is the will of God even our sanctification For God says S. Paul hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness He therefore that despiseth despiseth not Man but God who hath also given unto us his holy SPIRIT 1 Thess iv 3 7 8. To conclude this you know what is commonly said and it is a certain truth of those who are bit with a kind of Spider in Italy which they call a Tarantula that there is no way to cure them of their pleasant frenzy but by such Musick as is appropriate to the motions which their poison makes in the brain of him into whom it is infused Let this be an Emblem of the truth I have now delivered that the old Serpent having envenomed mens Souls poisoned their principles perverted their affections and depraved their lives there is nothing of efficacy sufficient to recover them but only such charms as these which by this six stringed Instrument as I may call it God hath provided for our Cure And this will certainly do it by infusing the Faith of Jesus into us which is the victory whereby we overcome the WORLD Do but hearken diligently to these Witnesses do but mind their sweet consent their harmony and agreement in the testimony they give to this great truth that Jesus our Master is the Son of God and there is no venome so deadly which this Faith will not expel no love to the WORLD so strong which it will not vanquish and subdue It will recover us to our selves and make nothing seem so ridiculous as the folly and frantickness of worldly men yet it will advance us to a Divine and Heavenly spirit so that we shall not be apt to receive such pestilent infusions any more but keep our selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life VI. For I must add now in the last place that this Faith is so far from being unable to conquer all temptations which would hinder us from obeying our Saviour's commands that it gives us power and strength to do our duty with chearfulness So S. John here tells us when he adds to what he says of the keeping of his Commandments that HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE NOT GRIEVOUS For as Oecumenius well glosses what load is it for a man to love his Brother What great burden is it to visit him if he be in prison God doth not command thee to deliver him but only to visit him He doth not bid thee knock off his chains but see how he bears them Nor doth he bid thee cure a sick man but only comfort and relieve him Nor provide dainties for a poor man but only feed him nor give rich apparel to the naked but only cloath them And so we may conclude of the rest that it is rather an ease than a burden to be sober and chaste in all enjoyments of pleasure to be content with a small portion of those things which others desire with a greedy and ravenous eye to bear with that patiently which we cannot remedy to be careful for nothing but in every thing to make known our requests to God with Prayer and Thanksgiving to be meek and peaceable amongst contentious people to forgive those that injure us to envy no man's greatness and with an humble modesty to satisfie our selves though we be not equal to them These and such like qualities wherewith Jesus would invest us are in themselves most desirable and though richer than cloath of Gold are like our ordinary garments which are no load to those that wear them But they are the less grievous to those that believe in Jesus who are endued with power from above by receiving the testimony of so many Divine Witnesses who assure them they are in the way of God in the company of his Son under the conduct of the Holy Ghost in the direct rode to that glorious place where Jesus is and therefore why should not they rejoyce and be exceeding glad to find themselves thus happy That load which to a sick man seems intolerable if it be laid on the neck of one in health is so easie that he can run away with it with pleasure And so it is in the case of keeping God's
resolving it either way to give with their own mouths so great an advantage to him whom they questioned and opposed But by saying nothing they plainly confessed that if they had gone on to dispute with him He would have had the better of them and have made it appear from John Baptists testimony that He had an authority far greater than that which they must have acknowledged in him For though our Saviour thought good for brevity-sake to propound this argument to them by way of question and so let them reason it out within themselves yet it was as forcible they plainly felt as if he had pleaded with them in this manner My Authority which you call in question is every evident I have it from Heaven and not from Men as I prove by this argument If the Baptism of John be from Heaven then from thence I come now you cannot deny if you will speak out that his Baptism is from thence and therefore I make the conclusion that my Authority is Divine The consequence was as clear as the Sun that if John was sent by God then so was Jesus in that quality wherein he appeared because John as you shall see gave this testimony to him which could not be questioned after they had granted him to be a Prophet The only thing that could be denied in this Argument was that John's Baptism was from Heaven or that God authorized him to say and do what he did But this they durst not oppose because then to rid themselves of one Enemy they should bring the whole Nation as we say about their ears who did not take John for a counterfeit but thought that he was a Prophet INDEED xi Mark 32. Nay they themselves never adventured to call John before their Council much less advised how they might put him to death as they did our Saviour But on the contrary many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to his Baptism iii. Matth. 7. They were as inclinable to reverence him as the people For God who had spoken heretofore to that Nation so long by Prophets whom they thought themselves bound to believe had plainly manifested him to be one Nay he was not a common Prophet but one of an extraordinary rank The Prophet of the Highest his Father calls him and more than a Prophet in the language of our Saviour as you shall hear presently What should they do then which way should they turn themselves now that they durst not deny the Proposition upon which this consequence evidently depended that Jesus was the Christ Their only resuge was silence For though thereby they acknowledged him too hard for them and suffered his Divine authority to stand supported by this unanswered Argument yet they had rather part so and shamefully break off the disputation which they themselves had begun than let him go away with their express confession and testimony that if the Prophet of the Highest might be believed he was their Christ It was no disadvantage to our Saviour but to their own cause that they answered they could not tell whence John's Baptism was For hereby it appeared He had so much to say for himself that if they would say any thing in this matter and not obstinately hold their peace they must say as He did that He was the Son of God For John Baptist whose Heavenly authority they durst not deny though they would not confess it received all men into this belief when they came to him that there was one COMING after him who should gather Disciples as he did and that he was the Christ This he told them was the very end of his Preaching and Baptizing to prepare the way of the Lord to make them fit and ready to entertain the next Prophet that should appear as greater than him even as the Son of God And therefore when Jesus did openly appear and come to his Baptism and John saw the Spirit descend and remain on him then he told them in plain terms that this was the person whose way he came to prepare and that they must receive him as the Son of God and the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world i. John 29 30 34. And that which he said at this time there is no doubt he declared at all times when the people came to be baptized For thus the Jews describe Jesus when they disputed with some of John's Scholars about his Baptism iii. Joh. 25. HE TO WHOM THOU BAREST WITNESS behold the same baptizeth c. ver 26. Thence he is frequently called one of his WITNESSES and said to come for this end that he might be a WITNESS to him that ALL men through him might believe that is might be perswaded that Jesus was the WORD of God by this testimony of John i. John 6 7 8. And our Saviour afterwards appeals to this Testimony of his and bids the Jews consider it v. John 32 33. For you know says he that he bare WITNESS to me when ye sent to him And I know that the WITNESS which he WITNESSETH of me is true And great reason there was that they should consider it and be convinced by it For John was a burning and a shining light as it there follows ver 35. and they themselves were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light If that fit was over and now they were less delighted in him it was merely because he testified of Jesus There was nothing else to damp their affection for otherways they could not but confess him to be an illustrious person Who shined with the greater splendour because He was miraculously conceived in his Mothers old Age and his Birth was predicted by an Angel and his Father struck dumb because he believed not his Word and this Angel appeared in the very Temple at the Altar of Incense and therefore was not like to be a delusion And his Father was indued with the Spirit of Prophecy and his tongue unloosed when this Child came to be Circumcised Then He spake concerning his quality by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and John appeared to be prophetically endowed from a child God also took care of his education in the Wilderness where he was trained up to a resemblance of Elias so that his life and manners transcended all in that Age and his Spirit and Doctrine was so powerful and convincing that it was hard for them to say who he was the people admiring his sanctity and preaching held him for a Prophet and some of the Priests and Levites having such an esteem of him that it was a question among them whether he was not the CHRIST They were sent you know from Jerusalem to enquire about it i. John 19 20 c. and yet this Person who shined with such a lustre whom Jesus himself calls the greatest that had been born of women of whom he was baptized declares to these persons who came to ask who he was that he was not worthy so much
know you will not pass such a judgment on your own disciples and therefore this fact of theirs condemns your partiality and proves my Divine vertue Nay the Devils themselves we find 5. were so astonished at this power which they felt in his name that thereupon they acknowledged him to be the CHRIST For that 's their meaning when they confessed him to be the HOLY ONE of God i. Mark 24. And so S. Luke expounds it iv 41. The Devils also came out of many crying out and saying Thou art the Christ the Son of God And 6. the most unprejudiced people who could not be worse than Devils took this miraculous work of the SPIRIT to be an argument of it xii Matth. 23. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a Devil blind and dumb and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw And all the people were amazed and said Is not this the Son of David By that name they called their KING whom they expected with the power of working more miracles than any Prophet before had done vii John 31. And therefore 7. when Cornelius and his company were desirous to hear of S. Peter all things that were commanded him of God x. Acts 33. he refers them to this in the first place after he had mentioned his being anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power as an argument why they should believe in Jesus that he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil And he offers himself together with others as witnesses of all things that he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem Which were the more wonderful I must add 8. in the last place because he was a person of such mean education Nothing like to Moses in this who was bred up in Pharaohs Court and acquainted with all the learning of the Egyptians But Jesus was bred up privately and in an homely manner having no advantages at all from a liberal institution Which was the cause that the people of his own Country who knew how he had been trained up were astonished saying xiii Matth. 54 55. Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works Is not this the Carpenter's Son is not his Mother called Mary and his brethren James and Joses and Simon and Judas And his sisters are they not all with us whence then hath this man all these things That is do not we know him and all his kindred How comes he to be wiser and more powerful than they His parentage is poor his breeding was in a Carpenters house he never learnt of any of the Doctors and Masters in Israel nor was otherways disciplin'd than we our selves where then did he learn his skill and who gave him this power This was a just cause of astonishment but none at all of offence as S. Matthew in the following words ver 57. tells us it proved That which made them stumble should have rather drawn them to him and wrought faith in them when they saw such wonderful things done and such excellent things said by one that could not have them unless it were from God It could be no part they might easily think of the Devils craft to dispossess himself and therefore they ought to have concluded that he was the enemy of the Devil and indeed the destroyer of him whom God promised to send into the world And so they would have concluded had not their eyes been blinded with the splendour and pomp of this world and with the love of riches and such like things Which made them readier to follow a man that by the force of arms and their assistance promised to subdue the Roman Legions than him who by one word speaking they saw could cast out Legions of Devils Which naughty temper of mind is that which still prejudices men against the faith and makes their hearts indisposed to receive Christianity They prefer the world before God and love their bodies better than their souls otherwise they would find themselves inclined to believe in the name of Christ If they considered what God is what honour is due unto him and what it is that will make a Soul truly happy and desired this above all other things they would presently see that none ever glorified God so much as our Saviour none so plainly taught the world what worship honour and observance is to be given to him none ever so contrived the improvement and happiness of our immortal Spirits and so they would be disposed to hearken with due reverence and serious attention to what these Witnesses say concerning him Nay did they but prudently consult the good of their bodies only and had respect not merely to their present satisfaction but to their perpetual felicity it would certainly provoke them to examine carefully the Testimony which God hath given him because he promises to change these vile bodies and make them glorious by that power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself And there is not the least reason to doubt of his power now that he is in Heaven since it was so miraculous while he was here upon Earth that He frequently raised the dead Which is the second thing of which I am to speak a few words II. And there is nothing of this kind like to that of Lazarus his rising to life again after he had been dead four days and was already so far putrified as his friends thought that they disswaded our Saviour from having his Tomb opened lest it should prove offensive and noisom to him For with this S. John concludes all that he had to say of our Saviours miraculous works there being nothing that could be thought of beyond it For it never entred into the mind of any man to think that a person really dead as Lazarus undoubtedly was could be restored to life by any power but that which gives us life the power of Almighty God And therefore our Lord plainly designed this as the last thing he could do for their satisfaction while he was on Earth to prove that he was the Son of God Else Lazarus had not died but he would have gone and prevented it as he did in many other cases For when he heard that Lazarus was sick he would not stir from the place where he was notwithstanding the love he had both for him and for his two sisters So S. John observes when he tells us xi John 5 6. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus When he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was This is a strange reason for his making no more haste being at a great distance also from him One would think that he should have said THEREFORE he began his journey presently into Judea that he might come time enough to save him whom he loved But he resolved the quite contrary because the Son of God was to be glorified
by this sickness ver 4. Therefore he stayed so long before he would move towards him that Lazarus might be dead before he got to Bethany and He might get more glory by his resurrection than he had done by healing so many sicknesses and casting out such a number of Devils For this proved that he had power not only to break but utterly to destroy the works of the Devil and to tread him quite under foot who had the power of death For which reason he tells his Disciples that he was glad for their sakes that he was not there when Lazarus died to the intent they might believe ver 15. Have their faith that is more confirmed in him by seeing such an illustrious miracle wrought upon Lazarus after he was dead than it could have been by healing his sickness and preserving him from death They had seen many desperate diseases cured but never any man raised to life after he had been so long dead Some of the Jews indeed objected this to him that he ought to have been so kind as to have saved his friends life if he had had the power which he pretended Could not this man say they which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died ver 37. They do not by these words express their Faith but their unbelief and upbraid him with weakness or want of love The latter could not be imputed to him for by his tears just before mentioned ver 35 36. they all observed how much he loved him But from thence some of the company took occasion to disparage his power and to ask the rest of their neighbours how they could believe that he had opened a blind mans eyes as was commonly reported Chap. ix when he suffered one whom he loved so much to want his help and perish If he had done the former how easie had it been for him to do the latter In which he failing though his affection could not but move him to do his utmost for his Friend they took it to be a demonstration that he was not such a mighty Man as the People imagined This perverse reasoning moved our Saviour very much so that he groaned again in himself v. 38. to see their deplorable obstinacy and malice as much as he had done before v. 33. to hear their pitious lamentations which they made for the dead These mens condition was far more pitious because he foresaw there was but little hope that they would be moved when they saw their frivolous cavil answered by the Resurrection of Lazarus Which would show there was good reason why he let him dye that he might express never the less love to him but more to them and to all Mankind by restoring his life which was a more Divine work by much than to have saved him from Death To this therefore he immediately applies himself and bids the Sister of the deceased whose faith it seems began to stagger not doubt but she should see the glory of God vers 40. such a stupendious instance that is of the power of God in him as would move many to give glory to God that sent him For wherein could the Majesty of God appear more to their astonishment than in such a marvailous work as this which when he entred upon he first lift up his eyes to him and called him Father on purpose that the People might believe he came from God and was his Son when they saw him answer his Prayers in this manner vers 41 42. Where if you read the place you will see he gives this reason why he made a publick acknowledgment to God for hearing him so often not because he doubted of his presence with him now but meerly that the by-standers might know by whom he did such miracles and ascribing them to no other power but his might believe that he had sent him What should they believe else when they heard him after this address to God commanding Lazarus with a loud voice expressing his assurance and authority to come forth and when they beheld him who could not lately move himself in his Bed rise up out of his Tomb and walk about not only restored to life but in perfect health This struck the hearts of many of the Jewes who were there present so powerfully that they believed on him vers 45. that is concluded he was more than a Prophet no less than the Messiah himself And those Cavillers before mentioned who still persisted to maintain their infidelity by the absurdest imaginations were so startled at it that they went presently and told some of the Great Sanhedrim what Jesus had done wishing them I suppose to look to themselves and not suffer these proceedings vers 46. For they were so alarmed with this news that a Council forthwith is called and they enter into a solemn Debate what course to take with him seeing plainly how powerful this Miracle was to win him Proselytes and draw the People to him vers 47. It had had that effect upon many already as you have heard and they were afraid it would increase the number of his Disciples so much that it would prove their utter ruine For they say vers 48. If we let him thus alone all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and Nation That is the People will proclaim him their King and thereby we shall incur the indignation of Caesar who will send an Army and cut us off till he leave neither root nor branch as it is iv Mal. 1. but destroy both us and our Temple That place they were resolved to preserve though it were with his destruction whose death they now determine as soon as ever they could catch him For so their consultation ended first they decreed v. 53. that for the publick good as they called it He should be put to death and then that if any knew where he was v. 57. they should give notice of it that he might be apprehended in order to his trial Thus their blind malice turned the most powerful means of their conversion into the ground and reason of his destruction For because he did so many miracles v. 47. they did not think it fit to let him live when-as for that very cause they ought to have believed on him and thought him worthy to live eternally For I think these Three things are very considerable wherewith I shall conclude this part of the SPIRITS testimony I. First this Miracle wrought upon Lazarus was so evident a token that he was the Son of God that it had in it all the conditions which the Gentile King whom the Jews speak of in the Book COSRI * Part. 1. Sect. 8. requires in a prodigy sufficient to perswade men to believe that God speaks by him that works it Our mind says he cannot be brought to think that God enters into society with flesh and blood unless it be by such a miracle
to prove the truth of that which the person that wrought them delivered And therefore as their miracles demonstrated the truth of that message which Moses and the Prophets brought from God So our Saviour's evinced the truth of his which was that they were only the Servants but He the Son of God This was as strongly attested by what he did as any thing the Men of God taught in former times was by their works Yea his miracles bare as fair a proportion in their bigness and number to this high and great thing which they were to prove that he was Gods Son as the miracles of Moses and the Prophets bare to those lesser truths which they were brought to establish And here for to put a period to this part of my discourse it will be very useful to observe the different way of proceeding for the establishing and promoting a Religion instituted by men and a Religion whose author is God This I find very well noted to my hand in a learned Writer of the Jewish Nation whom I have already mentioned * Sepher COSRI Part 1. sect 80 c When men says he make Laws and setle a Religion whose original is from their own minds and devised by themselves though they may pretend that it comes from God yet they are not able to make it take place without the power of the Sword or the countenance and assistance of some Prince who by his Authority shall cause it to be received But a Religion that is indeed Divine is planted in a Divine manner When Laws are derived from God he establishes them by his power and might and over-aws men by such wonders as without any humane force procure obedience Thus says he our Religion began When the Children of Israel were in grievous servitude and when the Land promised to their Fathers was in the hand of potent Kings God sent Moses and Aaron armed with no power but that of working miracles changing the ordinary and usual course of Nature and inflicting in a moment grievous plagues upon the Water the Earth the Air the Plants the Beasts and the Bodies of Men throughout all the Land of Egypt whereby the Prince that kept them in bondage was forced to let them go And in their Journey they were conducted by the guidance of a bright Cloud and they passed through the Sea and they were fed with Manna in the Wilderness XL. Years and saw one Miracle after another which convinced them they ought to submit to that Word of the Lord which Moses spake unto them To this purpose that Writer very rationally discourses Now just as He shows that Moses proved his Mission from God so I have briefly related how our Saviour likewise demonstrated that he was the Royal Prophet whom Moses foretold God would send into the World In an Age when they not only groaned under the Roman Yoke but were also superstitiously inthral'd to a number of Rites and Ceremonies devised by their Elders superadded to all the burden of the Law of Moses and moreover grievously oppressed by the Devil as all the rest of the World likewise were far more than they God raised up a mighty Salvation to them out of the house of his servant David Our Lord that is on a sudden appeared as a Redeemer and Deliverer from the bondage in which they lay not with any worldly policy or force but meerly with the Spirit and Power of God 1 Cor. ii 5. who sent an Herald but without the power of Miracles to proclaim his coming And as soon as he had done crying his mouth being stopt by Herod's throwing him into Prison our Lord presently came forth shining most gloriously in the illustrious works that he did every where which were such as that time called for as Moses his miracles were proper to the occasions and necessities of his days And some of them were very like those wrought by Moses and others bear as great a resemblance to them as twins are wont to do to each other who lie together in the same womb He healed more than Moses killed He turned their water into wine as Moses did the water of the River into bloud He walkt upon the very surface of the Sea and called one of his Disciples to accompany him there He fed multitudes with a little quantity of bread as Moses had fed the Israelites in the Wilderness This he did more than once and that in a Desart too showing what he was able to do if there had been the like need that there was in former times Then they should not have asked what sign shewest thou equal to Moses they mean what dost thou work vi John 30. For it was plain enough he could have fed them forty years in that manner as well as once which was the thing they seem to desire when they say in the next words ver 31. Our Fathers did eat Manna in the Desart as it is written He gave them bread from Heaven to eat That is He did not feed them for one day or two as thou hast done but a long time and that from Heaven let us see thee do so that we may leave him and follow thee And if he had not done enough already to work faith in them and they had lived now alway in a Desart as their Fathers did then no doubt he would for that he could was evident else how should he have fed them thus miraculously at all Many other miracles also declared that he had the same power in the Air that he had on the Earth and could as easily have brought bread from Heaven as multiplied the Loaves which had now filled so many of them The very Devils were as subject to him as the meanest creature in the World And He raised the Dead by his powerful word which Moses never did All which is recorded by the Apostles to show what cause they had to believe in Jesus and how his Religion was planted and propagated in the world as the other wonders are recorded by Moses to show with what authority he came and how he setled the Israelites in the belief of his Laws And there is no more cause to question whether Jesus be the Son of God the Lord of the World who came with such a SPIRIT than there was then to doubt whether Moses was his servant and the Lawgiver of that people among whom he did such wonders Nor so much neither for the greater his pretences were the greater reason there was that they should have been discountenanced by such a SPIRIT as was in him if they had not been true It is incredible that God should let the world be abused so long by so many miracles and so great that never was the like without any the least confutation and abused by a lye of so dangerous a nature and so reproachful to his Name and so directly opposite to his Government which this Person if he were an Impostor and said he was his Son
when the Israelites bade him prove it But our Lord needed not to call for any Witness John the Baptist a great Prophet as they themselves allowed was ready of himself for it was his office to declare openly that he saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and abiding on him He saw and bare record that this is the Son of God as the Voice from Heaven in his audience also pronounced him Which a great many People if need were could afterward certifie who concluded that an Angel spake to him as you have heard from S. John's testimony .xii. 29. 2. Now if you proceed further and ask for some Witness of Moses his authority like to that of the WORD the second Witness to our Saviour who can hear any thing of it Do we ever read a word of Moses his appearing in such a Glory as our Lord Jesus did to his first Martyr S. Steven and to S. Paul and to his beloved Disciple Nay where are the Witnesses that say he was so much as transfigured when he was upon the Mount or doth he himself ever affirm it When was his Rayment made as white as Snow or where as I shall examine more hereafter was the bright cloud covering the Mount which was all cloathed with darkness we read indeed that when he came down his face shone but not in so bright and glorious a manner as our Saviour's did when he went up into the Holy Mount and especially after he ascended into Heaven Then S. Steven as I have said saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand an honour never given to any Angel in Heaven And the Apostle of the Gentiles saw him again in a light greater than that of the Sun at Noon-day And to S. John he appeared as the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS in such a Majesty as he was not able to bear but made him fall at his feet as dead He that weighs such things as these will see that all the glory of Moses to use S. Paul's words 2 Cor. iii. 10. was no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth 3. Then if you look for the Testimony of the HOLY-GHOST I have already noted that it never came down upon him as it did upon the Founder of our Religion Much less did he send it upon some select Men after he was dead who should do as great wonders as himself And still much less did he bestow it upon all the People as our Lord did for a while upon all Believers There is not the smallest foot-step of any such Honour or Power that he had For He did not communicate a portion of his Spirit to the LXX Elders who were chosen to be his Assistants but the Lord said to him I will come down and take of the Spirit which is upon thee and put it upon them xi Num. 17. which words do not signifie it is true that he had less but only that they had more of the Spirit than before yet He did not so much as lay his hands upon them that they might receive it but God took of the Spirit which was on him and gave it to the LXX Elders even to those two who were not there present at the Tabernacle but remained still in the camp ver 25 26. 4. If you go therefore next to the Testimony of WATER how transparent is the Purity of our Saviours Doctrine above that of Moses Whose Laws though they contained nothing dishonest yet burdened the people to prevent a greater mischief of their running into Idolatry with a number of precepts which in themselves had no goodness at all to commend them Nay the Letter of the very moral Law laid restraints only upon the outward man so that they who were subject to it little regarded the purifying of their spirits from those irregular passions and naughty affections which our Lord expresly prohibits There were many things also indulged in those days which our Lord doth not allow Whose design was not only to purge the heart and make the spirit of men much better by all his precepts but to advance them to the noblest degree of purity and goodness Where do you read in the Books of Moses such precepts of meekness of mortifying fleshly lusts of kindness to all and tender compassion of trust in God of contentedness with the present and hope of his mercy in another world as are frequent and obvious in the Gospel of Christ Nay in what place of the Law do you find so much as one command or exhortation to Pray much less to Pray without ceasing and to Pray not for riches and victory over enemies and long life but for the Divine Grace and favour for the Holy Spirit for remission of sins and for Eternal Life And now I mention that word I cannot but desire you to consider how low and poor the Promises of Moses were compared with those of our Saviour who hath brought in a better Hope Of which they could see so little so dim was the light in the Law of Moses that a whole Sect of men who believed in him and received his Law cast away all hope of obtaining good things in another life and denied the Resurrection of the Dead And we must add to all this that Moses was but the Light of that one Nation whereas our Lord says more than once I am the Light of the WORLD viii John 12. ix 5. Moses washed the Bodies of the Jews but now the hearts of the unclean Gentiles are purified by Faith xv Acts 9. And if you enquire further into the purity of Moses his life you will find it was not without flaws and blemishes for he spake unadvisedly with his lips and could not bring the people to their rest But our Lord was perfectly free from all spot the Lamb of God without blemish who never spake the least word amiss no not in the midst of such torments as Moses never endured 5. For if you pass on to consider what sufferings and BLOUD testifie Alas what is the Bloud of Bulls and of Goats to the precious Bloud of Jesus Did Moses seal that Covenant of which he was the Minister or did he sprinkle the Book of the Covenant with his own bloud Did he purge away the sins of the people by himself as our Saviour we read did 1. Hebr. 3. or sanctifie them by the offering of his own body once for all as it is x. Hebr. 10 Did he die to bear Witness to the Truth or witness such a good confession before Pharaoh as Jesus before Pontius Pilate Was it ever heard that by the enduring of a shameful and cruel death he declared to all the certainty of his Prophecy Upon what Altar was he offered And for what cause did he become a sacrifice This was peculiar to Jesus to suffer such things as no man ever did and for this very cause because he said He was the Son of God 6.
words as these Lay not up your treasures upon Earth and the luxurious are told that he who soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and the proud are told that he who exalteth himself shall be abased the angry are exhorted when one cheek is smitten to turn the other they that live in discord are taught to love their enemies the superstitious are instructed that the Kingdom of God is within us to the curious it is said continually look not at the things that are seen but to those which are not seen and lastly it is said to all Love not the world nor the things that are in the world if these things are read throughout the world if they be chearfully heard with great veneration if after so much bloud such fires so many crucifixions of Martyrs the Church is grown more fertile and hath propagated it self to the most barbarous Nations and to omit the rest if men are every where so converted to God that every day all mankind answers almost with one voice LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS UNTO THE LORD why should we drowsily still continue in a sottish unbelief There is nothing can be said in the excuse of such Souls as having received notice of such a marvellous Love of God to mankind and such evident proofs that it is no fancy will not be perswaded to entertain the belief of it But when light is come into the world chuse to remain in darkness and will be guided merely by themselves when there is a revelation come from God Which ought to be entertained with the greatest joy as the thing which the world wanted and wisht for and without which they could meet with no resolution of their doubts nor certain directions how to please God whom they had so highly offended In this the Christian Religion gives us full satisfaction and propounds nothing to our practice but what the wisest men ever said was best to be done and took for the most excellent piety As for that which it propounds to our belief it is all made credible by this one great Truth which is proved by a number of Witnesses that Jesus is the Son of God We ought to receive that which such a person taught either with his own mouth or by those whom he inspired and sent in the same manner as the Father sent him For if it be so reasonable as I have demonstrated to be a Believer then it is as unreasonable to be an Unbeliever and no man will be able to open his mouth to justifie such a sin against so many Witnesses as will appear to testifie that they called him to the faith by the clearest and the most powerful evidences that ever were For if the Jews were bound to believe in Moses having no more testimony from God than you have heard we are much more bound to believe in Jesus who hath more and greater Witnesses that he not only came from God but is gone to God and hath all things given into his hands whether in Heaven or in Earth As it was said of them therefore xiv Exod. ult that they believed the Lord and his servant Moses so let it be said of every one now that we believe the Lord and his Son Jesus For this very end were these words written by S. John that we may believe on his Name ver 13. And this is the summ of what God would have us to do the Commandment he hath given us That we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another iii. 23. If we do the former we shall see an evident consequence of the latter For when we are perswaded that He is the Son of God we cannot but see that we ought to receive every word that he says with affectionate reverence and to let every thing that is said concerning him into our very hearts so that we fear him and love him and become obedient to him and depend upon his word and as he himself hath taught us honour him as we do the Father Almighty For we are assured by those who heard him and were with him from the beginning and were witnesses of his Resurrection and received the Holy Ghost from him that He was the WORD MADE FLESH and that the Word was God and all things were made by him and is the Son of God not by office only but in his nature and essence and having assumed our Flesh therein reigns Lord of all for ever For what reason should we refuse to receive that which is so credibly witnessed to be the very Truth of God They that report these things were so pious as I have proved that they cannot be suspected to have invented them nay the very end for which they published them quits them from all suspicion of fraud and forgery For they aimed at nothing but by making man sensible of his great Dignity and the high honour God hath put upon him to possess his heart with an ardent love to God and to his Neighbour and to make him perfectly subject unto his will And is there not great reason if we believe what these Witnesses say that we should apply our best endeavours to please him by living soberly righteously and godly and by abstaining from the least appearance of evil Think what Jesus was and then resolve with your selves what regard is due to his Word Will not the wicked man tremble when he hears him say that none shall go to Heaven but they that do the will of his Father which is in Heaven Then he does not believe that these are the words of the Son of God or does not mind what he reads Who can with any face call him Lord Lord and not acknowledge that he ought to do the things that he says And to acknowledge this and not do those things what a madness is that if we believe our Lord is able to call us to a severe account for our neglect of his will What is there that can recommend chastity and purity of heart to our affection together with mercifulness meekness peaceableness poverty or contentedness of spirit the humility of little children saith in God's providence and such like vertues if this will not that the Son of God hath preacht them to the world as the most amiable qualities in the eyes of God without which we shall never see him nor inherit his Heavenly Kingdom Are not these his words Do not his Sermons teach us these Lessons And if we do these things does he not say we shall have everlasting life and enter into his joy and see the glory which God hath given him For what cause do we question whether this be the way to happiness Do not the same Witnesses which tell us that he is the Son of God testifie withall that he came to teach us Gods will and that this is his will which by the Gospel is declared unto us Why do we not seriously believe it then let me ask again
profanation This was a preface as he calls it to the utter subversion and extinction of the rest of their Ordinances and their legall Worship The consequence of which was as he likewise notes that the knowledge and service of God according to the Law which had been so long circumscribed and shut up in one city and country being to be abolished that worship which by the Passion of our Saviour was revealed was to be established and spred to the uttermost parts of the Earth And therefore the rending of the veil did as good as proclaim to all the world and cry with a loud voice saying Come hither and behold the invisible things Come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the sight of the divine Mysteries from whence you have been so long excluded Here is free leave for you all to enter who have as much right as any to that which before was inaccessible And since this most holy place was a type of Heaven God commanding Moses to make all things according to the pattern in the Mount the shutting up of this from the people and hiding the things contained in it by a veil drawn before their eyes was an acknowledgment that by the legall worship there was no entrance into the heavens but the way was unpassable by those that stuck onely to its rites and ceremonies And therefore the tearing of this veil by the death of Christ signified as plainly that the obstacle was removed and preached to the world as with the sound of a trumpet that every one of us by his BLOUD may hope to come thither For He that emptied himself for this very cause as the same Photius writes and took upon him our flesh and suffered all things for our sake Christ I mean our God hath opened a new passage into the kingdom of heaven by his life-giving death Which both dissolved that old Religion as the very same thing you see foresignified and introduced such an one as will certainly bring us into the high and holy place whether Jesus our forerunner is entred for us And that this tearing of the veil in sunder was the effect of our Saviour's passion and precious BLOUD-shedding is visible from the relation which the Evangelicall story makes of this Prodigy So I call it because you reade that it was not rent from the bottom to the top as it would have been if the Earthquake as some may be prone to suspect had been the cause of it but from the top to the bottom xxvii Matt. 51. This evidently shews it was an hand from above that made this breach which following immediately upon our Saviour's giving up the ghost was as sensible a token that it depended upon no other cause but that The most impious are not able to devise any other reason of so strange an accident Which could have no naturall cause as an Earthquake may but proceeded from a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Photius his phrase is Divine vengeance which gave the veil this stroke and cut it quite in two as an indeleble proof that it was the BLOUD of an innocent person which they now had shed And indeed the Earthquake there mentioned was so far from being the cause of this rent that it followed after it that Power from on high which first slit the veil next of all shaking the earth and cleaving the rocks in sunder To which I think it may be fit to adde that the Jews themselves tell us the gates of the Temple used after this to open of their own accord forty years before its destruction * Tzemach David ad an 3785. Which made R. Jochanan ben Zaccai cry out O Temple Temple why dost thou affright thy self I know that thou shalt be destroyed in the end for Zachariah prophesied of thee Open thy doors O Lebanon that the fire may devour thy Cedars xi 1. Which new prodigy confessed by many of their Writers together with the extinction of the Lamp that used to burn there was a witness that God was going away from that place and intended no longer to dwell in it but would shew his Glory which for many years had heretofore filled that house to all the Earth Now then if the Partition-wall was thus broken down through the BLOUD of Jesus and all laid open and common that we might enter upon the possession of the Divine promises as well as others it is certain by the Witness of this BLOUD that there is an Heavenly Inheritance for us for Earthly there is none Either we must obtain Eternall Life by him that died for us or nothing at all For there is no land of Canaan nor any thing like it given to us Gentiles who are now called to inherit the promises We have no assurance of any worldly purchaces no portion of money vine-yards olive-yards or other goods of that nature assigned to us as there was to the ancient Israelites But quite contrary they that enjoyed the very first-fruits of the Divine Love were told that every one who would live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution and take up their cross and forsake all if they would be his followers Accordingly we have examples of those who sold their lands and when they had done gave away the price of them so far were they from thinking of any temporall rewards Undoubtedly then the Blessing which Jesus purchased for us by his BLOUD whereby he laid waste all former inclosures can be nothing else but great Possessions in another World where we have the promise of an eternall Inheritance This we ought to expect with the most assured confidence for we cannot make any doubt of it unless we will look upon the BLOUD of Jesus as more ineffectuall then the bloud of bulls and goats whereby they held the Earthly Canaan VIII And now let us once more look upon the BLOUD of Jesus as the bloud of a Sacrifice whereby all Covenants were anciently sealed and without which there could be no entrance no not for the High-priest himself into the Holy place where God dwelt Those inspired persons whom as I said before our Saviour bids all men hear and reverence frequently call his Death by this name And common reason also leads us to have the same thoughts of it For if it was not the BLOUD of the most precious and acceptable Sacrifice which He offered upon the Cross how could it put an end as it hath done to all the old Sacrifices which had stood so long by God's appointment and make all the bloud that was afterward offered of no force at all for their preservation from ruine That it did so is manifest by the experience of near sixteen hundred years And the Hebrew Writers themselves confess that the scarlet tongue as they call it that is the list of that colour and figure which was hung between the Scape-goat's horns or as others will have it at the door of the Temple and always used to turn white according to that in Isaiah
they are one with him as light is with a candle Which had little truth in it till Christ our PASSEOVER was sacrificed for us when the mystery was explained and he invited all men to come and eat of his flesh and drink of his bloud and thereby have such a fellowship with him in his death that he might communicate to them his life For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Alex. speaks * L 11. Paedag. cap. 2. This is to drink the bloud of Jesus to partake of the Lord's immortality And so our Lord explains himself when he adds in the next words ver 57. As the living Father who being the authour of life can give it again to the dead hath sent me and I live by the Father shall rise again though I give my flesh to be slain so he that eateth me believeth on me though crucified shall live by me that is be raised again to life by me as I by the Father For he gave his flesh as he says at the beginning of this discourse ver 51. that is delivered it to be made a bloudy sacrifice for the life of the world i. e. that all mankind might have remission of sins and eternall life Which he will as certainly give to those who do not refuse to participate of this Sacrifice by believing in him as the Father of life raised him from the dead to live for evermore These words seemed hard to some of his Disciples ver 60. who could not understand that there should be such virtue in his flesh as to give life unto the world But our Lord tells them there was no cause of being offended at this discourse for if they would but stay a while they should be convinced that he did not ascribe too much to it ver 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before That is What will you say if you behold me raised up from the dead and ascend into heaven where I was before I took this flesh Will you not then confess that my Death which is meant by his giving his flesh to them had an exceeding great virtue in it being so acceptable to God as to be thus highly rewarded Will it then seem incredible to you that I should obtain thereby a power to raise the dead and to give eternall Life This sure will be a convincing argument that I have not said too much of my BLOUD nor promised greater things then it can doe for you You will then if you consider it joyn your selves heartily to me though now you are ready to fly off and not think my Cross such a scandall that it should hinder you from being Christians X. And that will be one of our next works in the following Chapter to shew the power of Christ's Resurrection to perswade us that by his Death He will give life to the world Let us first onely briefly consider that there are some other Circumstances besides this now mentioned which declare there was something exceeding remarkable in the Sufferings of Christ on the Cross to procure him great glory For we find that Nicodemus one of their Senatours who durst not publickly own our Saviour while he was in great savour with the people came now that he was crucified and exposed to scorn and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about an hundred pound weight xix Joh. 39. to honour his Corps withall Which would be a stronger argument of the thorough conviction already wrought in his mind if there be any truth in the conjecture of a learned Man * Jac. Alâ—ing Schiâ—â— l. w. p 26. that these spices were intended not to embalm him but as the manner was upon great occasions to burn at his funerall Thus far he is certainly in the right that the honour of having sweet spices burnt at their funerals appertained to no other persons but onely their Kings 2 Chron. xvi ult and the Head of all the Doctours the Nasi as they called him of their Academies And he notes likewise truly out of Joseph ben Gorion that when the funerall pomp of Herod the Great was carried forth fifty of his servants are said to have scattered all the way they went those very things which Nicodemus brought viz. Myrrh and Aloes and all other sweet spices But whether we can hence conclude that Nicodemus now honoured him by these as the King of Israel and the Prince of all the prophets I cannot tell because the Evangelist ver 40. seems to tell us that the use they made of these spices was to imbalm his body which they wound in linen cloaths with the spices as the manner of the Jews was to bury Yet this we may safely conclude that he would never have put himself to so great a charge and laid out so much upon his dead body if he had not seen something which convinced him that this was that King of Israel who would give him a reward for his love and open confession of him in his heavenly Kingdome There was nothing to move him to such an expence upon such an hated person but onely a perswasion that Jesus was what he pretended and an assured hope that by this flesh which now lay dead the World should be restored to life Yea such power there was in his Death to affect mens hearts that not onely the Centurion confessed him to be a righteous man but all the people who were come together to that sight beholding the things that accompanied his sufferings were prickt in their consciences and smote their breasts xxiii Luk. 47 48. They could not that is but express their sorrow for this horrid fact of shedding his BLOUD and dread the dismall consequences of it Insomuch that Gem. Sanh c. vi though it was forbidden by the Constitutions of the Sanhedrin to make any lamentations for a malefactour yet they were not able on this occasion to forbear it Their own Writers tell us that it was a part of the honour they did to a deserving person when his funerall was carried out to accompany him with sighs and groans and tears and beating themselves and such like tokens of their inward grief for his loss With which the Holy Scripture agrees when it names this as part of the Curse of God upon Jehojakim that none should so much as sigh at his buriall nor make the usuall lamentation saying Ah my Brother Ah Lord or Ah his glory xxii Jer. 18. From whence it is likely they passed a Decree that when any person suffered by a publick sentence for a crime none should presume to grace him with any ceremony nor use the least outward sign of heaviness though in their hearts they might mourn for him But this Decree and Custome settled by the Authority of their supreme Court the esteem which our Saviour wone to himself even when he hung upon his Cross forced the people to break Their affection to him was stronger then all Laws and they