that he was the Son of God the King of glory able to reward his patient servants and moreover sent Letters by him to several Churches of the Saints testifying the very same things which He made him see and hear in several visions They are recorded in that Book which tells us in the very first words of it that it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ which he sent and signified by the Ministery of his Angel to his servant John Who had already born record so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be rendred ver 2. of the WORD of God and of the testimony of Jesus and of all things that he saw Had declared that is in his Gospel Jesus to be the WORD of God and made known that which he testified to be Gods will concerning men together with all the evidences by Miracles and other ways which he had seen of the truth of that which Jesus testified There could not be a fitter person than he who perhaps also was the only Apostle now remaining in the world to hold communication with this WORD of God and receive new revelations from Jesus He being at this time likewise banished and confined to the Isle which is called Patmos ver 9. for the cause now named that is for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ In this lonesome place separated from the rest of the Earth our Lord opened Heaven to him and shewed him the glory which he had there For he fell into a rapture on the Lords day ver 10. and heard one speak behind him with a voice as loud as a trumpet saying I am before and after all things that is God blessed for ever Write what thou seest in a Book and send it to the seven Churches which are in Asia whose names are there expressed ver 11. Whereupon he turn'd about to see whence this voice came and then he beheld in the midst of seven golden Candlesticks representing those Churches a very glorious person appearing in the most royal majesty and power He did not ask him as S. Paul did who he was for he had been long acquainted heretofore with that countenance and knew him perfectly well to be our blessed Saviour Who by his very habit wherein he appeared declared himself to be as he had said the Lord of all who had no superiour nor any second in that Kingdom which God the Father had given him but disposed all things according to the sole pleasure of his will For he beheld him clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the paps with a golden girdle c. ver 13 14 15 16. He saw that is as Irenaeus truly expresses it L. 4. cap. 37. Sacerdotalem gloriosum regni ejus adventum him appear in his Priestly and glorious Kingdom For a long Robe and a golden Girdle belonged both to Kings and to the High-Priest in the Jewish Nation And all the rest of the description it were easie to show is a plain representation of a person shining in the glory of God the Father and invested with such an irresistible power in the Heavens as might justy make all his Friends rejoyce who acknowledged him to be the Son of God most high and all his Enemies quake and tremble who opposed his sovereign Authority In short so glorious was the sight that S. John himself was not able to bear it but when he saw him fell at his feet as dead ver 17. till the WORD as Irenaeus speaks in the same place on whose breast he had reposed himself at his last Supper revived and comforted him with these gracious words Fear not I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keys of Hell and of Death As much as to say Thou wast not deceived when thou thoughtest thou saw the Son of man appear to thee It is I indeed therefore be not so afraid though now thou beholdest me in such Heavenly Majesty and Divine glory for thou oughtest rather to rejoyce to think that I am the eternal God I whom thou knewest when I lived upon Earth and whom thou sawest shamefully put to death am now alive as thou seest also never to die any more and am intrusted with a power to rescue you from death and raise you out of your graves It would be too long if I should tell you all that he says in his Letters to those Churches to assert his title to the Name of the Son of God which he expresly takes to himself in one of them ii Rev. 18. and to declare his royal power which he exercises in all the world especially in his Church the house of the living God where he hath such an absolute authority expressed by having the keys of the house of David c. iii. 7. that none can contradict him either by preserving any man in the Divine favour if he reject him or by excluding any man from it if he receive him It may suffice to observe these two things First that there is not one of those Letters but it begins with some such description of our Saviour's sovereign Majesty as this now mentioned For the character he had given of himself in the first Chapter is again repeated by parts in the following messages to the Churches Where he sometimes calls himself He that walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks ii 1. that is inspects and governs them Sometime the first and the last which was dead and is alive ver 8. that is the Lord God who can raise him from the dead who parts with his life for me And to name no more he calls himself ver 12. He that hath the sharp sword with two edges to cut in pieces either them or their enemies according as they deserved of him And indeed it being the office of a King which is the second thing to be observed or a supreme Governour to punish offenders and to reward vertuous persons he constantly assumes both these powers to himself in every one of these seven Letters telling them what evil should befall them from his hand if they did not amend and what blessings he would bestow upon them if they did overcome Which is a plain declaration of his Regal power and authority which he now hath at the right hand of the Throne of God There S. John saw him in a second Vision as Irenaeus calls it v. Rev. 6. where he appears in such power with God that none hath the like For there was a majesty represented to the Apostle sitting on a Throne with a Book in his right hand ver 1. which none could open or read or so much as look into And then behold this Lamb of God who had been slain comes and appears in the midst of the Throne being the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah as one of the Elders calls him ver 5. that royal person whom
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
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
The Resurrection of Iesus Mat 28 2 And behold there was a great earthquake for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven came rolled back the stone from the doore and sate upon it And for feare of him the keepers did shake became as dead men And the Angel sayd unto the woman Fear not ye for I know that ye seek Iesus that was crucified He is not here for he is Risen as he sayd JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION Justified by Witnesses IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH In Two Parts The First shewing That Jesus is the SON OF GOD the Second That in him we have ETERNALL LIFE By SYMON PATRICK D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrysost in Johan Hom. lxvii Printed for R. Royston MDCLXXVII THE Witnesses TO CHRISTIANITY THE WITNESSES TO CHRISTIANITY OR The Certainty of our FAITH and HOPE In a Discourse upon 1 S. JOHN v. 7 8. BY SYMON PATRICK D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty at the Angel in Amen-Corner 1675. TO The most Reverend Father in God GILBERT By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council c. May it please Your Grace TO permit these Papers to go abroad under your Name which are writ in defence of that most holy Religion of which your Grace is the prime Minister in this Kingdom They contain an explication but of a very few words yet in them lies the whole Evidence for the Christian Cause I hope I have done something to clear their sence and to illustrate divers other passages in the holy Books I have at least done my endeavour and opened the way to the plainest and most Apostolical method of asserting the truth of our Religion They that come after may supply the defects and rectifie the mistakes which they find in this account that I have given of the Witnesses to Christianity Who speak so fully and with such Authority that it is a matter of just wonder there should be any Infidels in Christian Countries We can find no other cause of it but that in stead of considering upon what grounds our Faith relies they scornfully presume that it hath none If they would but lay aside their lightness and become serious and if they would be so humble as to think it is possible they may learn of one of the despised Ministers of Jesus Christ I doubt not they would with a little study soon see him to be so great a Lord that they ought to have a due respect to the meanest of his Servants for his sake Nay they would not envy to them such high Dignities as your Grace worthily holds in the Church of Christ For the Lord himself is honoured in the honour that is done to his Ministers And thereby they are made capable to do him still better service and with the more authority to promote the honour of his Religion Of which how much your Grace hath deserved by your prudent care and vigilance for its preservation and by the countenance and encouragement you give to those that labour in its service posterity perhaps may be better judges than this present Age. Though that cannot be so ungrateful as not to acknowledge your great Munificence and Bounty of which there are such publick and lasting Monuments as declare you to be Primate of all England not only in the dignity of your Office but which is more in the generosity of your Spirit Long may our Soveraign enjoy such a wise Counsellor the Church such a Prudent Governour Learning such a liberal Patron and Benefactor and when through mere Age you must resign and exchange it for a higher and better place your See such a Successor As for my self if your Grace will be pleased to pardon this Address and reckon me in the number of those that reverence your Vertues as well as your Greatness I shall not doubt but my Design in this Work will obtain your Graces approbation and that your known Candor will pass a favourable Judgment upon the weak endeavours of the Churches and Your Graces affectionate Servant SY PATRICK THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE scope of this Discourse which is to prove that Jesus is the Son of God pag. 1 c. The meaning of that phrase in this place p. 8. and in some other places of Scripture p. 10. derived from the Old Testament p. 14 15. many passages in that relating to this matter explained Ib. and p. 16 17 c. A Prayer p. 22 c. CHAP. II. Concerning the Witnesses in general p. 25. and particularly of the testimony of the FATHER p. 29. which was given three times p. 30. first at his Baptism which is explained p. 30. unto 42. Secondly in the Holy Mount which is explained at large in many remarkable circumstances which accompanied it to p. 56. Thirdly in the way between Bethany and Jerusalem to p. 66. There the pretences of the Jews to a Bath Col under the second Temple is considered and confuted to p. 78. The difference between this voice which testified to our Saviour and that in ancient times p. 78. to the end A Prayer CHAP. III. Concerning the Testimony of the WORD p. 85. Who the WORD is p. 86. Why so called p. 87. First testimony he gave to S. Steven p. 90. The second to S. Paul p. 101. Christ's first apparition to him considered and expounded at large p. 104. a second p. 115. others p. 116 c. Third testimony of the WORD to S. John p. 122. Several other visions he had of him p. 128 c. An Answer to an objection about the Authority of the Revelation p. 135. To another which gives an account of the sence of two places in S. John 's Gospel which seem opposite p. 137. A Prayer 142. CHAP. IV. Concerning the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST p. 147. First at our Saviour's Baptism p. 148. When the SCHEKINAH or Divine Glory descended Ib. what it was 149 c. of its coming down p. 153. like a Dove 155. and making his abode in him p. 159 c. which was never known before p. 164. Whereby he was anointed p. 165. And now began his reign 168. The Alcoran confesses this descent of the holy Ghost p. 173. Whereby he became the Temple of God 176. As appears by six demonstrations of a Divine Presence in him from p. 177. to 198. The second Testimony of the HOLY GHOST on the day of Pentecost 199. explained by three observations 201. to 225. The last Testimony of the HOLY GHOST 225. to 238. A Prayer 239. CHAP. V. Concerning the Witnesses on EARTH 245. First of the WATER 248. As it signifies the purity of Christ's Doctrine and Life 249. The purity of his Doctrine 250. And the purity of his Life 261. Both these proofs of his Divinity 267. to 275. The Testimony of
together to believe it Were they drawn away with mere words And with the danger of their lives followed a poor despicable Preacher when they saw nothing that was wonderful for strange to perswade them to this worship What vain senseless imaginations are these Therefore they believed and suffered themselves to be torn in pieces rather than deny it because they saw all these things done by him and by his Preachers who were sent through the whole world to carry the benefits of our Father to mankind and to bestow the gifts of healing both on their Souls and Bodies But our Writers have not set these things down faithfully They have extolled small matters and ambitiously magnified them beyond their just proportions Why so I beseech you By what reason shall we believe any of your writings if this History of ours must be rejected In which but a few things of the many that were done are recorded by men of truth and honesty Did any God come down from Heaven and write with his own hand the stories that you believe Or is there any thing of that nature writ against ours Then you believe men and so do we Your Books were writ by men and so were ours And whatsoever you will say of ours look for the same to be retorted upon your own Will you have all things contained in your writings to be true so are all contained in ours Do you say ours are false the same we say of yours And how will you help your selves You cannot say that you saw the things that you believe no more than we But others saw them and therefore you believe them and so do we But ours were writ by rude and unlearned men and therefore not to be believed Consider if this be not an advantage to our cause and a stronger reason to conclude that these writings are stained with no lies but delivered with a simple mind ignorant how to amplifie things and so set them off with deceitful dresses As for that which follows concerning the trivial sordid stile wherein they said the Apostles writ it does not in the least render the faithfulness of their relations suspected and therefore I pass it over and omit his reply to it though I cannot well neglect this pertinent observation of Erasmus in his Preface to his Paraphrase upon S. Lukes Gospel The language says he of the Gospel is so simple and rude that if any body compare it with the History of Thucydides or Livy he will want abundance of things and be offended at as many How many things do the Evangelists pass by How many do they but just touch in two or three words In how many places do they disagree in the order of their Narration and in how many others do they seem to thwart one another These things might make a Reader less like them and not give such credit to what he reads For on the contrary they that wrote humane Histories how solicitous were they about their entrance upon their work How scrupulously did they weigh their words What care did they imploy to observe a decent order to set down nothing but what was plausible and exactly described And with what art do they endeavour to set things lively before our eyes With what pleasures do they intice and detain the minds of the Readers that they may not at all grow weary of them And yet these elaborate Monuments for the greatest part are lost and those that remain are not read with any assurance that they report nothing but the truth For who is so credulous as to believe that Titus Livius tells never a tale in his History But there are millions of men found who had rather die ten times than think there is one sentence false in the Evangelical story Is it not plain by this that it is not a business of humane power and prudence but conducted by a Divine vertue What Philosopher is there that ever had the confidence to propound such Paradoxes as these with hope to be believed That one Jesus was crucified and by his death saved mankind that he was God and Man born of a Virgin that he rose again from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father that he taught they were blessed men who mourned hungred and thirsted were afflicted ill-spoken of and killed for the profession of his name and that one day they should live again and see him sit in judgment to give immortality to the pious and endless pains to the ungodly What is there plausible and taking in all this And yet the humble low stile of the Gospel perswaded men of this so that thousands millions will rather forsake their lives than this plain truth which a few private unknown poor mean disciples of his delivered to the World What should move us then to distrust these records of the faithful WITNESSES of Christ which are come down to us through the hands of all Ages since so as they were delivered to them What do we see now more than our Forefathers did in Arnobius his days or those which succeeded that gives us any cause to suspect their truth Are they altered from what they were If any company of men had been so bold as to venture at such a change they would first have mended the stile no doubt and placed things in greater order and method according to the exactest rules of art But that they are untained an uncorrupted and in no material passage vary from what they were in former Ages appears by what all Christian Writers have transcribed out of them into their Books which agrees with that which we now read They are the same now that ever they were They contain a relation of those things which converted as Arnobius says the incredulous world who did not want wit nor learning no more than we but saw great reason to renounce all the fables which had been told of their Gods and to believe what they read here concerning Jesus For it is the testimony of God Almighty they evidently perceived that is recorded in those Books Which when we receive our faith will not be less divine than theirs in the first Age because we both receive the Witness of God only they saw or heard it and we read the record of what they saw and heard Which makes no considerable difference 〈◊〉 the nature of the testimony For the 〈◊〉 â—â—ny of any man standing upon aâ—â—â—â—ed record is as good an evidence 〈◊〉 he were alive in person to give it No man loses his cause when his Witnesses die if they have already given their evidence in any Court of Record And therefore there is no reason that our Lord Jesus should lose his authority among us because the Apostles his WITNESSES have left the world and so has the WITNESS of the Spirit and the Holy Ghost since that which they testified to mankind stands upon authentick record in the holy Gospel which cannot with any show of reason be
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
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
of Heaven and Earth the Fountain of all that is good and amiable in this world who here entertains us with so many pleasures that by them we may guess what he is able and willing to doe for them who have no greater care then above all things to please him They shall be fixed in a stedfast sight that is enjoyment of him to their infinite satisfaction IV. And if we mark the words of S. John who speaks this more fully and tells us in the place before named we shall see him AS HE IS which he makes the reason and cause of our being like him they will imbolden us still to seek into a farther meaning of this phrase And since we can enjoy nothing without a knowledg of it preceding we are to understand that to see God as he is will be to have our minds filled with a knowledg of him so clear so distinct and strong that it will even turn us into his own Nature Life and Bliss We shall not behold that is know him as we do now by similitudes resemblances and expressions borrowed from other things which is all our natures are here able to bear but by a clear notion of him formed in our minds wherein our hearts will be infinitely pleased and feel his happiness come flowing into them My meaning may be thus explained As it is an imperfect sight of a man which we have in a Picture though drawn by the most curious hand and strongest fancy and the man himself if he stand before a Looking-glass will in a moment draw an Image more like him then the skilfullest Artist can delineate all his life long especially if he never saw the person but onely had a description of him in a book or by report just such is the sight or knowledg that we have of God in this world either by his Word or by his Works or by the Idea's of our own mind a very imperfect thing and much like the picture of a person which we never yet had before our eyes But hereafter when he will be pleased to appear to give us a more immediate sight of him without these helps and present himself to our mind as the face to a glass this will be to know him indeed and to see him as he is Now as the sight of a Friend when he presents himself to the eye doth marvellously refresh and comfort us and there is a sense of pleasure imparted to us in the very beholding a rare beauty which we are not like perhaps to see any more so this Seeing God is no barren thing but instantly infuses the highest satisfaction and delight into pure hearts who by knowing his blessed Nature will find it imprinting it self as it were upon them and making every one of them to be the blessed Image of it Look what God is that they by the sight of him shall be He will dwell in them as the image of a thing does in the glass And they shall be possessed of him of his life of his joys by having a sensible perception of the Wisedom the Goodness the Purity and all the other Perfections that shine in himself V. Or if this be too hard to be understood let us content our selves to know that to SEE GOD as he is is to enjoy him as he is in heaven that is according to that manner and measure wherein he shews and manifests himself in those celestiall places Pious Souls shall really perceive all the effects of his Bounty Wisedom and Power which are known and communicated in that other world Which as it is higher then this so hath more of God to be seen in it then can be discovered here All that the holy Angels see and enjoy of him all that Good which he lets forth out of himself in that glorious place wherein above all other he is said to be shall be the portion of those happy Souls who may be said therefore to see him AS HE IS They shall not enjoy him in so low a manner as the highest and the most highly beloved persons have enjoyed him in this world where there is but little of him but in the noblest manner that he can be enjoyed so as the heavenly Ministers yea our ever-Blessed Lord are made partakers of him For when our Lord prays that his Disciples may behold or see his glory which the Father had given him xvii Joh. 24. his meaning is according to what I have said of the word Seeing that they might have their share at last with him in his Happiness and be admitted to take a part with him in that supreme Dignity to which he was ready to be advanced And thus when St. John invites others into the Christian Society telling them that their fellowship was with the Father and his Son jesus Christ 1 Joh. i. 3. it is as much as to say that they could no-where be so happy because it is the singular priviledge of Christian people to be admitted unto a partnership with God and our Saviour in their most happy life and to have hopes and expectation to partake with them in their eternall Bliss VI. Which may very well give me occasion to adde that since Grace Mercy and Peace come to us now from God the Father Son and Holy Ghost we may hope in this Vision of God to have as well a clear Knowledg of that ever-Blessed Trinity as a full communication from their ineffable Love We shall understand that Holy Mystery which now the sense of our weakness forbids us to pry into and be able perhaps to unfold how the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost is one God without any diversity or separation of nature Epist cxii ad Paulinam cap. 19. Homil. de Martyre Mamante as St. Austin expresses this Mystery which I durst not in my former Treatise adventure to explain For St. Basil had taught me to mark this in those words of our Saviour x. Joh. 27. My sheep hear my voice that he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hear not question or dispute They believe he is the Word of God but do not ask how nor say if he was alway then he was not begotten or if he was begotten then he was not alway These are not the words of the Sheep of Christ who receive his voice and enquire no farther And I had learnt also from a great Divine of our own Nation D◠Jackson Pres to Cathol Church to whose grave judgment I thought there was a greater veneration due then to the little forward Censurers of this Age that the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity is an Argument more fit for Meditation in Prayers and Soliloquies then for Controversie or Scholastick Discourse We believe one Divine Nature in three Persons and that the Divine Nature in the Person of the Father required Satisfaction for the Transgressions of men against his Holy Laws and that the same Divine Nature in the Person of the Son undertook to make
and let it into the dwelling of God as soon as he should put off his mortality There he beheld Jesus standing whereas he is commonly represented as sitting at God's right hand that he might know He was ready to meet his Spirit and entertain it into his heavenly mansions as well as that He was coming to destroy his persecutors and put an end to their power and nation And he saw also the Glory of God as the Crown he should win by his Martyrdom which had as sensible an effect upon his heart for the confirming of his faith and constancy as if he had heard the Almighty call to him and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not faint-hearted O Stephen nor suffer any degenerous thoughts to enter into thy breast Though there is no man to stand by thee no Friend on earth to assist thee in this distressed season yet I with my beloved Son behold what is a doing A happy Rest and repose is ready for thee The gates of Paradise stand wide open to thee Have patience a while and leaving this temporary life make hast to that which is eternall Still thou seest God is in humane Nature a thing beyond all worldly thoughts Thou hast been taught by the Apostles that the Father hath a genuine beloved Son behold I shew him to thee as much as thou canst bear And he stands at my right hand that by the very site of the place thou mayst know the dignity he hath It was a scandall heretofore to many that God should be on the Earth cloathed with flesh But behold him now with me on high in a celestiall supercelestiall condition still having the form of man to confirm thee in the belief of the gracious dispensation which is now compleated Be not disturbed be not dejected though for his sake thou beest stoned Beholding the Dispenser of Rewards do not fear the combate Forsake thy body and despising it as an earthly Prison as a ruinous house as a potter's vessel easily broken come run hither being set at liberty to the portion and inheritance here reserved for thee For the crown of brave atchievements is ready and expects thee Step over from the earth to heaven and take it Leave thy body to the bloudy murtherers as a morsel to dogs Leave the mad inraged multitude and come to the quire of Angels In these words Asterius expresses the sense of this heavenly Vision Encomium in Protomart wherein God shewed himself to this valiant man that he might not be struck with any fear by the greatness of the danger For this cause he did not send an Angel to assist him as to the Apostles in prison nor any ministring power and fellow-servant as he speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he presented himself that being the first-fruits of the Martyrs he might leave a noble example to all that followed And indeed what could more incourage them then to hear so holy a man departing the world with these words in his mouth I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God This was a notable Testimony which the heavenly WORD gave that he was possessed of ETERNALL LIFE whereby he animated this blessed Martyr from what he saw Him enjoy to doe as He had done Which could have no force in it to persuade him unless his meaning had been that he should no sooner leave the World but ascend up thither where he was And so St. Stephen understood it for as they were stoning him the greatest punishment the Jews could inflict he called upon our Saviour saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit vii Act. 59. He doubted not of audience when he beheld him who is sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high i. Heb. 3. in another posture Proclus Orat. xvii not sitting but standing there What was the business to use the words of another ancient Bishop that made him rise thus out of his Father's throne He saw this noble Combatant in his Agony and rose up to crown his victory And it was as if he had said Fear not Stephen there is none shall beguile thee of thy reward I am risen out of my throne to reach thee my right hand Beholding me who was crucified grapple with the danger that presents it self to thee I am he whom thou sawest hanging on a tree by virtue of that crucifixion I will reward thee I preside in these Combats and deal the Crowns to Conquerours Fear not therefore those that go about to stone thee they do but rear thee a ladder against their wills to heaven Do not fear them the stones will be but as so many steps to that blessed place where thou seest me It is not for thee to fear the stones who art built on me the chief Corner-stone and therefore canst not fare worse then I do who am in glory for ever and ever With such thoughts as these this good Man laid down his life which is as great an argument as any of this nature can be that Jesus both can and will give Eternall Life to his followers For else a person so full of Wisedom that they were not able to dispute with him vi Act. 10. would not have ventured his life and endured the worst of deaths having nothing to comfort him in his agony but onely the hope he had from Jesus that he would receive his Spirit This was it that gave him such boldness and full assurance of faith With these words in his mouth he would have died but that he pitied those who did not see as much as he did Which made him expire in prayer for his persecutours wishing them no worse then that they might not be hindred by this sin from believing in Jesus and going thither where he hoped presently to be received So the same Asterius rightly understands those words LORD lay not this sin to their charge He doth not wish them absolute impunity which had been openly to oppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Ordinance and constitution and to correct the judgment and decree of the most Just who hath appointed a deserved punishment to murtherers but he begs of God that notwithstanding this crime he would give them true compunction and bring them to repentance It being as if he had said Do not let them die in their uncircumcision Draw them by repentance to the acknowledgment of thee Kindle the flame of the Spirit in their hearts By the means of my bloud let them be converted that being washed in the laver of thy grace and in thy bloud they may be delivered from their iniquities A most pious conclusion of this bloudy Tragedy one of the principal Actours in which was presently after so miraculously touched from heaven that it was visible our Lord had heard the devout prayer of his Martyr in this particular and therefore had not denied his other request but received his Spirit also unto himself II. For if any thing could be clearer
pragmatically inquire after those things which the Holy Ghost it self hath not mentioned in the Scripture Thou who knowest not all that is written why dost thou busy thy self curiously about those things which are not written Let it suffice thee to know that God hath but one onely-begotten Son Be not ashamed to be ignorant of the rest for thou art ignorant of it together with the Angels Which is the same with what a more modern Writer hath said Nescire velle quae Magister Maâ—imus Docere non vult erudita est inscitia To be willing not to know what our Supreme Master will not teach is a learned Ignorance With which I shall content my self and not envy to those who have a list to handle these things more nicely their ignorant Learning They may venture as far as they please if they think it safe but ought not to be angry with those who had rather expect farther discoveries in the other world where we shall be more knowing by a purer and more perfect illumination of the most high Trinity Oâ—at xi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as St. Greg. Naz. speaks elsewhere and yet more modest and apt to adore the incomprehensible God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Whose Testimony is so full to satisfy us there will be such an happy State that before I pass to the other Three Witnesses on Earth I cannot but rest a while and consider what a great way we are advanced towards a strong and settled belief of Eternall Life if these things be well digested in our minds If we would but always lay before our eyes these Records and were as well acquainted with them as we are with our Evidences for our Estates if they were as fresh in our minds as the words of a Record which we are to plead in some Court where we have a Cause to be heard or the Title to our whole Estate tried and determined I do not see how we should possibly doubt of this Promise which our Lord hath made to his followers nor how we should lose the joy and comfort of it in this world of sorrows Let all those who have taken the pains to reade thus far in this Treatise be so kind to themselves as on all occasions to recollect what they have read and in their quiet thoughts to put themselves often in mind that the Father hath said this is true by a voice from heaven at severall times when Jesus was baptized when he was upon the holy Mount and before a multitude of people He testified that ETERNALL LIFE is in him The Word also hath shewn us this glorious State when he appeared to St. Stephen to St. Paul to his beloved St. John who have all communicated their knowledge to us and told us that he assured them He lives and that we shall live by him The Holy Ghost likewise hath declared this by coming down upon Him and upon his Apostles and upon his faithfull ones And then they cannot chuse but rely most firmly upon such ample and unquestionable Testimonies and be very much affected with this full assurance of Faith which God works in us There would be no reason I am sure why they should not as strongly believe and expect the glory that Jesus will give us though they do not now see it as we all do the performance of the promise of any person of known honesty and ability though at a great distance from us No doubt the faith of Christians would be immovable did they ponder these things they would never call it into dispute after such demonstrations whether there be another Life or no. Yea they themselves would become immovable and stedfast and abundant in the work of our Lord because the very same Witnesses tell them that this is the onely way to eternall Happiness which cannot be compassed by any means but by patient continuance in well-doing How well then would it be with them could we but prevail with all Christian Souls to spend some time every day in calling to mind what they have heard these Heavenly Witnesses say If they would but cast up their eyes every morning towards heaven and think There Jesus is there he lives in great honour and glory there he sits at the right hand of the Throne of God there St. Stephen saw him in such glory St. Paul and St. John beheld him from thence they heard him speak and make most gracious promises to them he sent the Holy Ghost from thence to be his Witness there he is preparing a place for all them that have the heart to follow him thither he will receive our Spirits to behold his glory and with him shall all good men live for ever in unconceivable joy How would these thoughts inspire and ravish their hearts How would they change and transform them into quite other things How mean and contemptible would our petty injoyments which now so tempt us seem in comparison with that divine condition How impossible would it be to perswade us to yield to the breach of any of his commands and thereby forfeit such happiness Yea how easy sweet and pleasant would it be to doe as he bids us in hope of such an incomparable recompence I leave every one to make triall of it that he may be able to tell if he can what power and force there is in this settled belief It is reported by him that writes the Life of Laurentius Justinianus that when he was a youth about nineteen years old which is an age you know most slippery and subject to danger he thought he saw one day or night I know not well whether a very beautifull virgin approaching towards him and thus addressing her speech to him Why dost thou O young man thus disquiet thine heart and wast thy strength in a vain pursuit of many things whereon thou pourest forth thy affections why dost thou seek for rest in such triviall injoyments That which thou art so desirous of is in my power to bestow upon thee And if thou wilt resolye to take me for thy Spouse I promise to bring with me such a portion of peace and contentment as no other person can inrich thee withall The young man you may well suppose was much taken with so rare a feature and such fair promises which moved him to crave that he might know her name and the family from which she was descended To which she answered I am the Wisedom of God that is my Name thence is my Parentage if thou wilt accept of the offer I will be thine and give all I have to thee The youth says the story instantly consented and after he had drawn a contract between them thought she took her leave of him and went away to provide for the wedding Upon this he awaked and imagined the Vision instructed him to betake himself to a Monasticall life Which he presently vowed concluding that in that retirement he was to compleat his marriage to the
thy Majesty O thou most mighty Jesus whose power is not the power of flesh and bloud but the power of God who raises those to life who are dead Great was the joy which filled thy Disciples hearts when they first saw thee alive from the dead and called thee their God Georg. Nâ—comed Serm. ix None can understand the beauty of that sight O the brightness of that appearing What a light diffused it self then through the whole Creation What a fragrant smell did the very earthquake breath forth when like a publick crier it proclaimed the Resurrection What was the savour of the ointment which was then poured out How was the whole world then transformed and made new The Angels themselves leaped for joy to see it How sweet was the sound then of their doxologies With what divine splendours were they then adorned How beautifull did those preachers of thy resurrection appear and how great was the glory and the happiness which they came then to proclaim O those Words of theirs which brought us the news of victory over the Enemy which proclaimed the destruction of Death and published thee to the World the Resurrection and the Life O that sweet and above all things desirable voice of thine which by the women that were carrying spices to thy grave sounded joy to the World The Heavens then opened their gates and received the glad tidings which were brought to us as if they had been their own The Intellectuall powers rejoyced and took a pleasure in our happiness The Spirituall as well as Sensible World was inlightned The clouds of sadness were dispelled from one end of the world to the other and the rays of joy possessed all Guilty Nature put off the robes of heaviness and was cloathed with garments of light The hand-writing of the Curse was torn in pieces and promises of Blessing were sealed in the room thereof By that new Salutation when thou saidst ALL HAIL the world was filled with the sweetest and everlasting joy For thou art the Preacher and the Cause and the very Exultation of all joy the Authour of good things the giver of pleasure the joy which can never be taken away the sweet light the spectacle above all others desirable the intellectuall tranquillity and peace Wisedom it self and Power Incorruption and Eternity Security and Delight the onely unchangeable and inconceivable Beauty Sanctity it self and Honour and Righteousness and Glory above measure glorious O how many Names would my Mind bring forth to express thine unutterable excellency It is onely my weakness that hinders and want of words But thou who art the infinite not to be named Good far above all the titles that Mind can invent who regardest not words but rather an inflamed heart who thy self broughtest the joyfull news of thy Resurrection shine now into our Minds by the bright beams of thy appearing Let us see intellectually the superexcellent beauty of the intellectuall Sun Let us inwardly injoy the incomparable sight of our Lord and Master Let us hear his divine voice speaking some sweet and joyfull word to us O thou gracious Lord come and draw us from these present thiâ—â—◠〈…〉 deeps and 〈…〉 never-decay 〈…〉 the quires of those that keep perpetuall festivals above For thou art both light and life and resurrection and the joy of those that triumph in the heavens To thee it becomes us to give together with the Father and the Holy Ghost glory honour and adoration now and ever world without end Amen CHAP. XII Concerning the Testimony of the Holy APOSTLES of our Lord. THere is nothing now wanting to compleat this Discourse unless it be to shew that if the Testimony of the APOSTLES of our Lord be at all intended when St. John saith He CAME by Water and Bloud and the Spirit as in the former Treatise I proved we have reason to think it is they also bear Witness to this Truth and by them God hath given us this Record that we have Eternall Life and that this Life is in his Son That Jesus had Disciples the Talmudists themselves confess who tell us in the same place where they speak of his being hanged on the evening of the Passeover that they were five MATTHAI Talmud Bab. Tit. Sanhed c. vi NETZER NEKAI BUNI and THODA They do not love to speak the truth but to the Four Evangelists to which perhaps they have respect they have added one more and report not one of their names aright except the first and in the last have a little varied from the Name of Judas the Brother of St. James But thus much we gain from their own Records that known Disciples our Saviour had who professed to believe on him and owned him for their Lord and Master These persons we can make no question would be carefull to communicate to the World what they had received from him because they lookt upon him as the Son of God and estemed his words as so many Oracles which his Crucifixion could not disparage Accordingly there are Books that pass under their Names besides the four Gospels which no man ever laid any claim to or pretended to be the Authour of but onely themselves and therefore we have no cause to think they were not of their inditing Now if you examine them you will find that after his Ascension to heaven and the coming of the Holy Ghost their business was to go about and preach this Truth and the certainty of it to all the World as their Lord and Master had delivered it to them They were so fully perswaded of it that they could not forbear to publish such glad tidings of great joy to the whole Earth It was the very end of their Apostleship and that which moved them to undertake so great a task as St. Paul tells us when he calls himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of Life which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. i. 1. appointed by God that is to publish the promise of Eternall Life which he had received from Christ Jesus who would certainly give it to all that believed on him And it is the very Character which the other great Apostle gives of himself 1 Pet. v. 1. that he was a Partaker of the glory that shall be revealed This incouraged him to be a Witness of the sufferings of Christ as he saith just before and not to be daunted as he had been though he followed him to a cross because now he clearly saw he had a right as a Friend of his so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Philem. 17 * Vid. Scipion. Gentil ibid. to a share in that unseen glory where He was which should one day be revealed In this they desired that all mankind might have a portion with them 1 Joh. i. 3. by becoming Members of their Society And therefore it was the constant strain of all their Sermons to invite them to it by shewing that Jesus
hear plainly shewed they were not merely big words which they spake of being with God and our Saviour to see the Glory which the Father had given him but things which they heartily expected For does any man find such inclinations in himself as should make him imagine they would have left their trades their houses their possessions their wives kindred friends all that is desirable in this world and perswade those who were the dearest to them to doe so too if they had not had an assurance upon such grounds as were apt to convince others as well as them of the recompence they should meet withall hereafter in a better life Who can believe that St. Paul would have quitted all his Dignities his hopes of greater preferment his esteem and reputation with the wisest and chiefest persons in the Nation his ease and quiet and every thing else and betaken himself to the troublesome service of a despicable Master if he had not known and seen it as clearly as the Sun in the firmament that Jesus whom he served was raised from the dead and made the King of Glory and would prefer all those that proved faithfull to him unto the greatest honour in the heavens For what reason should those good men live as having nothing and all the time be as chearfull as if they possessed all things Did they not look upon themselves think you as heirs of a Kingdom which could not be taken away from them Reade St. Paul's description of himself to Timothy 2. iii. 10 11. who he says had fully known his doctrine and manner of life not onely what he had been wont to teach but how he had followed his own instructions what his purpose and aim had ever been his fidelity his lenity towards offenders his charity to all Christians his patience under troubles of all sorts for he was persecuted and endured great afflictions by that means at Antioch where they thrust him out of the city at Iconium where an assault was made upon him to stone him at Lystra where they actually stoned him And in how many other places he had been vilely used Timothy he says could not be ignorant having been a companion with him in his travels xvi Act. 3. Now what think you of such a person as this Do you take him for a dolt and an ignorant sot Was this great Apostle a mere lump of clay who was sensible of nothing and imagined others so senseless as that he might without any reason propound this example to Timothy for his imitation How came they to be so stupefied as to chuse rods and whips and stones and all other miseries when they might have lived in ease and peace Nay to glory in these things alone as if there had been nothing that could have done them such honour 2 Cor. xii 5 They did both hunger and thirst as I noted from the same Apostle in my former Book 2 Cor. iv 11. they were naked and buffetted they had no certain dwelling-place they laboured working with their own hands being reviled they blessed being persecuted they suffered it they were made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things Which things no body in his wits can think men of their understanding would have endured if they had not been provided of meat which the world knew not of and been nourished and sustained with the hope of glory and assured of eternall mansions in the heavens and known that they should inherit a blessing and be made more honourable and glorious with Jesus for ever then the World for the present could make them vile and contemptible These things are so clear that the bare recitall of them is sufficient to satisfie us they were no deceivers nor men of light belief who took things upon trust without good evidence but had the greatest reason to endeavour to baptize all Nations into this belief as they did by an indefatigable diligence which was no small testimony of the power and glory of the Lord Jesus II. And their BLOUD speaks as much For as none of them saith St. Paul xiv Rom. 7. lived to himself so none of them died to himself but consecrated even his bloud to the Service of Christ if he pleased to command it Whereby they sealed to this Truth and shewed they were so far from doubting of immortall Life by the Lord Jesus that they unfeignedly desired to be dissolved and to be with him Witness St. Stephen who was stoned because he said he saw the Lord Jesus in the highest glory which he was never more assured of then when he died for then he recommended his Spirit to him as our Saviour had done his to God the Father Witness Antipas a faithfull Martyr Witness all those Souls whom St. John saw beneath the Altar who had all learnt from our Saviour what they must expect in his Service when he said The Brother shall deliver up the Brother to death and the Father the Child and the Children shall rise up against their Parents and cause them to be put to death And ye shall be hated of all men for my Name 's sake Under which afflictions they had nothing to support them but that which he immediately adds He that endureth to the end shall be saved x. Matth. 21 22. These few words were a sufficient incouragement to them and made them not regard their lives for the sake of Christ Jesus who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospell For the which cause saith St. Paul I suffer these things and am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day 2 Tim. i. 10 12. And for this cause he would not have Timothy to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of him his prisoner ver 8. but to imitate him by being partaker of the afflictions of the Gospell which he endured as he adds in the next Chapter ver 10. for the elects sake that they also might obtain the Salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternall glory The Apostles nothing doubted that they themselves should obtain Salvation and immortall glory this way and they hoped likewise by their constant sufferings even to the death to draw others also to the faith or confirm them in it that they might have a share with them in this happiness and be willing to suffer for it For it is a faithfull saying he adds that if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him ver 11 12. I shall conclude this with that Discourse of St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 30 31 32. where he alledges this among other reasons to confirm that Church in the belief of the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come that He and the rest of the preachers of Christian Religion would not
who have offended them to pass by injuries and to do good for evil and especially to be kindly affectioned one to another in the love of the Brethren in honour preventing one another For which end endue us all with true humility of Spirit with very contented minds and moderate desires Let no covetousness no ambition or love of any pleasure betray us to dishonour thee hurt our neighbours or abuse our selves Help us to possess our bodies in sanctification and honour to preserve our hearts chaste and pure to be temperate in all things to mortifie our members that are on the Earth to put away all foolish talking and corrupt communication out of our mouth and to abstain from all appearance of evil Finally whatsoever things are sincere and true whatsoever things are grave and honest whatsoever things are just and equal whatsoever things are pure and modest whatsoever things are amiable and endearing whatsoever things are of good fame and well spoken of if there be any occasion to exercise a vertue if there be any thing laudable dispose us to have these things always in our mind and to be readily prepared for them That so we may be good in every relation Governours and Subjects Priests and People Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants doing their duties faithfully and to their mutual comfort joy and satisfaction And if thy wise Providence call any of us to part with any thing for thy names sake O that our Love may give an eminent proof of its sincerity by resolved and patient suffering with an humble meek and chearful submission to thy holy will Then shall our Souls rejoyce and triumph in thee when we not only call thee Lord and Master but do those things that thou sayest It will be our exceeding joy to think that thou lovest us as thy children and delightest to behold thine own Image in us We shall rejoyce that thou reignest and rejoyce again in hope that we shall reign with thee Blessing honour glory and praise shall we be for ever giving unto thee who hast washed us from our sins in thy own bloud and redeemed us from all iniquity that we should be holy and unblameable before God in love looking for thy mercy unto eternal life Amen and Amen CHAP. VI. Concerning the Second Witness upon Earth the BLOVD COME we now to hear what the next Witness says which we shall find to give in an Evidence as strong as the former and that is the BLOUD By this word every body presently understands the Sufferings and DEATH of Jesus when his Bloud you know was shed upon the Cross in a most ignominious manner For that envy which began to rise in the Pharisees hearts as I observed in the end of the foregoing Chapter from iv John 1. when they saw him baptize so many disciples never ceased boiling till it turned into perfect Gall and the rankest hatred and malice in the World which was never satisfied till they had baptized him as S. Luke speaks xii 50. with his own bloud For the present indeed as you read there and in many other places he avoided their snares and went out of their way when he thought they intended to apprehend him because he would preserve himself till he had preached all the Country over But when that was done he suffered them to take him at a publick feast and delivering up himself into their hands let them do with him just as their murderous malice inclined them Now this voluntary Oblation and Sacrifice of himself to suffer what they pleased to inflict was such an evidence that in truth he was the Son of God as he had made his disciples believe that there is a particular mark set upon it to this purpose both by himself and by his Apostles He himself in his discourse with Pontius Pilate just before his crucifixion and when he stood before him condemned by the Jews for saying he was the Son of God expresly affirms that for this end he was born and therefore he came into the world that he might bear witness to the truth xviii John 37. Which was as much as to declare that he had rather die than lose the end for which he had lived thus long which was to speak the Truth and particularly this Truth that he was indeed a KING as you there read the very Son of God This was the thing he would justifie whatsoever he suffered for it God had appointed him to seal this with his death and to attest it in the most solemn manner even before his Judge here on Earth and when he was going to be judged by God and therefore he would not for all the world deny it or not confess it We ordinarily say when we would affirm any thing very strongly that if it was the last thing that ever we should speak we would not stick to maintain it And just so did our Saviour I came says he into the world for this end to bear witness to the truth and here I take it upon my death that I do not swerve from it in the least when I say that I am the Son of God S. Paul also as I have noted already takes particular notice of this when he remembers Timothy 1 vi 13. how Jesus did WITNESS a good confession before Pontius Pilate That is asserted this Truth that he was a KING though not of this world by confessing it before him who sate in judgment upon him with the apparent danger of his life He durst not retract any thing which he knew to be a truth though he knew withall it would prove so costly that he must defend it with his bloud He stood in this to the very last that he was the CHRIST and durst not to save such a precious life speak one word otherwise for then he knew that he should have been a lyar like the Jews who denied it This that hath been thus premised to the following discourse is very serviceable to the demonstrating what a Witness his BLOUD was because it calls to mind that which is necessary to be here again considered how he lost his life for nothing else but merely because he confessed that he was their CHRIST the Son of the Blessed Many causes of death were industriously sought for and sundry false witnesses boldly rose up against him and yet none of their testimonies when they came to be scan'd were found to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Mark 's expression is xiv 56 59. equal to the endictment or charge that was brought against him and to the intended judgment which was to pass upon him There was nothing ponderous enough of sufficient weight to justifie such a sentence as that of death which they were desirous to pronounce upon him and therefore they despaired of attaining their end unless they could have such words out of his own mouth as in their opinion would prove him a blasphemer for which they might justly condemn him
Which of you says he himself viii John 46. convinceth me of sin No when they must either prove him a sinner or themselves for apprehending him without a cause they were not able no not by the help of a great sin in bringing false witnesses into open Court to fasten any crime upon him which would touch his life All that they could find to warrant a sentence so heavy was nothing but what they got out of his own mouth by adjuring him in the name of God to tell them whether he were the CHRIST His affirming this was the thing for which he was adjudged by the great Council of Jerusalem to suffer death This was the only truth they told Pilate when they brought him into his Court that he made himself CHRIST a KING xxiii Luke 2. xix John 7. This was the inscription over his head the Title upon the Cross THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS xxiii Luke 38. This was the thing they scoffed at after they had condemned him themselves xxvi Matth. 68. and which they taught the souldiers to mock him withall after he was condemned by Pilate xv Mark 18. and which the Chief Priest with the Scribes and Elders made the subject of their taunts and jeers as he hung upon the Cross xxvii Matth. 40 41 42 43. Read all these places and you will see that the asserting of this being the cause of his sufferings and shame S. John had reason to alledge his BLOUD as a great evidence or Witness to this Truth Now that the strength of its testimony may the better appear let these things following be distinctly considered I. First that Bloud is the life of every living Creature and therefore the pouring out of this is the losing of ones life It is not only a frequent Precept in the Law of Moses that they should not eat the bloud because it was the life of the Beast but common observation teaches us that it is the Vehicle or Chariot wherein the Spirits ride their Circuit round the Body and that if it lose its way and run out of the Body all motion ceases the Spirits flying away together with it II. Consider then further that nothing is so sweet as Life and that of all other things we naturally most abhor death All that we eat and drink is to prevent it and men are too much inclined to do unworthy things to escape it because it robs us of all our enjoyments here though never so near to us Skin upon skin says he who hath the power of death ii Job 4. one skin after another though it be never so tender and delicate and never so painful to part with it Yea all that a man hath will he give for his life III. Life therefore being a thing so pleasant and desirable and Death so dismal and affrightful no man sure in his perfect health and perfect wits will be perswaded to part with the one and run headlong into the other for a mere fancy by which he received no benefit at all while he lived and can hope for none when he is dead What rational man is there as our Saviour appears to be by all his discourses and actions who knows the value of Life who that is not in a frenzy the least spice of which is not discernible in him will chuse to part with his life and so part with all his Friends who are infinitely desirous of his company when he may innocently save it and comfortably enjoy those lovers friends and acquaintance and all other things which he must leave by dying Ask your selves that 's the best way is Life such a trifle that any of you are inclined to throw it away in a mere humour Is it so contemptible that a serious man and one that need not be miserable will studiously lose it only to be talkt of Nay would any of you take the most cruel pains and torments in your way to Death and pass out of the world with all the disgrace imaginable merely because you will when it is as much in your power to free your selves from them all and to live in pleasure honour and good repute among your neighbours VI. Much less would any man that is not beside himself die for a lye Death being uncomfortable in it self would become still more dismal if it should be for that which we saw proved an untruth but most of all black and dreadful if it must be endured for a lye that is for such an untruth as we had devised our selves and knew to be a falsity and whereby we intended to deceive and might have chosen whether we would have told it or no. If any man should be tempted to tell a lye yet what should tempt him to endure the rack yea to suffer death for it when neither He nor any man else shall get any thing by it and he might live far more honourably by telling the truth Make your selves Judges and enquire of your own minds whether you can think of any thing that hath such a power of perswasion in it No no we all love life better than so When a man will give all that he hath for it as the Tempter himself said it were very strange if he should not part with a vain lye that he might enjoy it And therefore the Apostle here bids us consider this that Jesus CAME not by WATER only but by Water and BLOUD That is He did not only preach this and by his holy Life justifie his integrity in what he said but He died to attest this and make it good If the WATER be not enough to perswade us that he did not falsifie yet the Water and BLOUD together are sufficient to confirm us in a strong belief of his sincerity For should the tongue of an honest man chance to slip and to speak on a sudden what he knew to be false yet he would never be such a fool and a villain too as to die to make it good whereas Jesus both said and took it upon his death that he was Gods Son in neither of which such a person as he could possibly design to deceive us He was not so shallow but he could easily see that a lye would sometime or other be disproved for all men naturally hate it and when they have any suspicion can never be at rest till they have discovered it And therefore if he proposed to himself glory and honour fame and a great reputation after a shameful death he could never be secure that he should win it but rather had just cause to fear the forgery would be detected And then it would have proved a greater blot upon him and more reproached his name that he was a wilful obstinate Lyar than the Cross or Gibbet the buffetings spittings cruel mockings and all the other indignities that he endured This would have branded him with eternal infamy and have made his name stink throughout the world Nothing could have stigmatized him like this unless it