contrary Life And so they are joyned together Acts III. 19. Repent and turn about Or as we render it be converted And Acts XXVI Repent and turn to God And sometimes turning about is put alone to signifie Repentance Mat. XIII 15. Luke XXII 32. Which in other words is well expressed by Newness of Life For it being certain that he who is really sorry for his sins and abhors them will turn from them and forsake them Either of these Acts which have so Natural a connexion one with the other may be and is often put for both together Repentance is an hearty sorrow for our past misdeeds and a sincere Resolution and Endeavour to the utmost of our power to conform all our Actions to the Law of God So that Repentance does not consist in one single Act of sorrow though that being the first and leading Act gives denomination to the whole But in doing works meet for Repentance in a sincere Obedience to the Law of Christ the remainder of our Lives This was called for by Iohn the Baptist the Preacher of Repentance Mat. III. 8. Bring forth fruits meet for Repentance And by St. Paul here Acts XXVI 20. Repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance There are works to follow belonging to Repentance as well as sorrow for what is past These two Faith and Repentance i. e. believing Jesus to be the Messiah and a good Life are the indispensible Conditions of the New Covenant The Reasonableness or rather Necessity of which as the only Conditions required in the Covenant of Grace to be performed by all those who would obtain Eternal Life that we may the better comprehend we must a little look back to what was said in the beginning Adam being the Son of God and so St. Luke calls him Chap. III. 38. had this part also of the Likeness and Image of his Father viz. That he was Immortal But Adam transgressing the Command given him by his Heavenly Father incurred the Penalty forfeited that state of Immortality and became Mortal After this Adam begot Children But they were in his own likeness after his own image Mortal like their Father God nevertheless out of his Infinite Mercy willing to bestow Eternal Life on Mortal Men sends Jesus Christ into the World Who being conceived in the Womb of a Virgin that had not known Man by the immediate Power of God was properly the Son of God According to what the Angel declared to his Mother Luke I. 30-35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over shadow thee Therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called THE SON OF GOD. So that being the Son of God he was like his Father Immortal As he tells us Iohn V. 26. As the Father hath life in himself so hath be given to the Son to have life in himself And that Immortality is a part of that Image wherein these who were the immediate Sons of God so as to have no other Father were made like their Father appears probable not only from the places in Genesis concerning Adam above taken notice of but seems to me also to be intimated in some Expressions concerning Iesus the Son of God In the New Testament Col. I. 15. He is called the Image of the invivisible God Invisible seems put in to obviate any gross Imagination that he as Images use to do represented God in any corporeal or visible Resemblance And there is farther subjoyned to lead us into the meaning of it The First-born of every Creature Which is farther explained v. 18. Where he is termed The First-born from the dead Thereby making out and shewing himself to be the Image of the Invisible God That Death hath no power over him But being the Son of God and not having forfeited that Son-ship by any Trangression was the Heir of Eternal Life As Adam should have been had he continued in his filial Duty In the same sense the Apostle seems to use the word Image in other places viz. Rom. VIII 29. Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren This Image to which they were conformed seems to be Immortality and Eternal Life For 't is remarkable that in both these places St. Paul speaks of the Resurrection And that Christ was The First-born among many Brethren He being by Birth the Son of God and the others only by Adoption as we see in this same Chapter v. 15-17 Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heirs And Ioynt-Heirs with Christ If so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together And hence we see that our Saviour vouchsafes to call those who at the Day of Judgment are through him entring into Eternal Life his Brethren Mat. XXV 40. In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren And may we not in this find a reason why God so frequently in the New Testament and so seldom if at all in the Old is mentioned under the single Title of THE FATHER And therefore our Saviour says Mat. XI No man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him God has now a Son again in the World the First-born of many Brethren who all now by the Spirit of Adoption can say Abba Father And we by Adoption being for his sake made his Brethren and the Sons of God come to share in that Inheritance which was his Natural Right he being by Birth the Son of God Which Inheritance is Eternal Life And again v. 23. We groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body Whereby is plainly meant the change of these frail Mortal Bodies into the Spiritual Immortal Bodies at the Resurrection When this Mortal shall have put on Immortality 1 Cor. XV. 54. Which in that Chapter v. 42-44 he farther expresses thus So also is the Resurrection of the dead It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption It is sown in dishonour it is raised in Glory It is sown in Weakness it is raised in Power It is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body c. To which he subjoyns v. 49. As we have born the Image of the Earthy i. e. As we have been Mortal like Earthy Adam our Father from whom we are descended when he was turned out of Paradise We shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly Into whose Sonship and Inheritance being adopted we shall at the Resurrection receive that Adoption we expect Even the Redemption of our Bodies And after his Image which is the Image of the Father become Immortal Hear what he says himself Luke XX. 35 36. They who shall be
THE REASONABLENESS OF Christianity As delivered in the SCRIPTURES LONDON Printed for Awnsham and Iohn Churchil at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row 1695. THE PREFACE THE little Satisfaction and Consistency is to be found in most of the Systems of Divinity I have met with made me betake my self to the sole Reading of the Scripture to which they all appeal for the understanding the Christian Religion What from thence by an attentive and unbiassed search I have received Reader I here deliver to thee If by this my Labour thou receivest any Light or Confirmation in the Truth joyn with me in Thanks to the Father of Lights for his Condescention to our Vnderstandings If upon a fair and unprejudiced Examination thou findest I have mistaken the Sense and Tenor of the Gospel I beseech thee as a true Christian in the Spirit of the Gospel which is that of Charity and in the words of Sobriety set me right in the Doctrine of Salvation ERRATA Page 35. line 22. read on the. p. 62. l. 26. r. Bethesda p. 63. l. 26. r. little of any thing p. 64. ult r. it was p. 65. l. 6. r. them at Ierusalem Ibid. l. 10 r. ing in that place p. 67. l. 17. r. that remained p. 69. l. 23. r. a king or rather Messiah the King p. 75. l. 6. dele these Ibid. l. 14. r. nor 〈◊〉 p. 112. l. 4. r. Bethesda p. 161. l. 2. r. and of p. 165. l. 20. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present World p. 194. l. 11. r. availed not Devils p. 217. l. 11. r. In his Sermon in the. p. 263. l. ◠r. before observed p. 264. l. 24. r. custom p. 271. l. 2. r. apophthegms Ibid. l. 24. r. themselves and deduces p. 282. l. 〈◊〉 r. No touch of p. 284. 1. 〈◊〉 confusion p. 287. l. 17. r. life and. p. 295. l. 22. r. the Apostles p. 203. l. 20. r. Treatise p. 304. l. 4. ◠abstract Ibid. l. 14. read them The Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures T IS obvious to any one who reads the New Testament that the Doctrine of Redemption and consequently of the Gospel is founded upon the Supposition of Adam's Fall To understand therefore what we are restored to by Jesus Christ we must consider what the Scripture shews we lost by Adam This I thought worthy of a diligent and unbiassed search Since I found the two Extreams that Men run into on this Point either on the one hand shook the Foundations of all Religion or on the other made Christianity almost nothing For whilst some Men would have all Adam's Posterity doomed to Eternal Infinite Punishment for the Transgression of Adam whom Millions had never heard of and no one had authorized to transact for him or be his Representative this seemed to others so little consistent with the Justice or Goodness of the Great and Infinite God that they thought there was no Redemption necessary and consequently that there was none rather than admit of it upon a Supposition so derogatory to the Honour and Attributes of that Infinite Being and so made Jesus Christ nothing but the Restorer and Preacher of pure Natural Religion thereby doing violence to the whole tenor of the New Testament And indeed both sides will be suspected to have trespassed this way against the written Word of God by any one who does but take it to be a Collection of Writings designed by God for the Instruction of the illiterate bulk of Mankind in the way to Salvation and therefore generally and in necessary points to be understood in the plain direct meaning of the words and phrases such as they may be supposed to have had in the mouths of the Speakers who used them according to the Language of that Time and Country wherein they lived without such learned artificial and forced senses of them as are sought out and put upon them in most of the Systems of Divinity according to the Notions that each one has been bred up in To one that thus unbiassed reads the Scriptures what Adam fell from is visible was the state of perfect Obedience which is called Justice in the New Testament though the word which in the Original signifies Justice be translated Righteousness And by this Fall he lost Paradise wherein was Tranquility and the Tree of Life i. e. he lost Bliss and Immortality The Penalty annexed to the breach of the Law with the Sentence pronounced by God upon it shew this The Penalty stands thus Gen. II. 17. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die How was this executed He did eat but in the day he did eat he did not actually die but was turned out of Paradise from the Tree of Life and shut out for ever from it lest he should take thereof and live for ever This shews that the state of Paradise was a state of Immortality of Life without end which he lost that very day that he eat His Life began from thence to shorten and wast and to have an end and from thence to his actual Death was but like the time of a Prisoner between the Sentence past and the Execution which was in view and certain Death then enter'd and shewed his Face which before was shut out and not known So St. Paul Rom. V. 12. By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin i. e. a state of Death and Mortality And 1 Cor. XV. 22. In Adam all die i. e. by reason of his Transgression all Men are Mortal and come to die This is so clear in these cited places and so much the current of the New Testament that no body can deny but that the Doctrine of the Gospel is that Death came on all Men by Adam's sin only they differ about the signification of the word Death For some will have it to be a state of Guilt wherein not only he but all his Posterity was so involved that every one descended of him deserved endless torment in Hell-fire I shall say nothing more here how far in the apprehensions of Men this consists with the Justice and Goodness of God having mentioned it above But it seems a strange way of understanding a Law which requires the plainest and directest words that by Death should be meant Eternal Life in Misery Could any one be supposed by a Law that says For Felony you shall die not that he should lose his Life but be kept alive in perpetual exquisite Torments And would any one think himself fairly dealt with that was so used To this they would have it be also a state of necessary sinning and provoking God in every Action that men do A yet harder sense of the word Death than the other God says That in the day that thou eatest of the forbidden Fruit thou shalt die i. e. thou and thy Posterity shall be ever after uncapable of doing any thing but what shall be sinful and provoking to me and shall justly deserve my wrath and
indignation Could a worthy man be supposed to put such terms upon the Obedience of his Subjects much less can the Righteous God be supposed as a Punishment of one sin wherewith he is displeased to put Man under a necessity of sinning continually and so multiplying the Provocation The reason of this strange Interpretation we shall perhaps find in some mistaken places of the New Testament I must confess by Death here I can understand nothing but a ceasing to be the losing of all actions of Life and Sense Such a Death came on Adam and all his Posterity by his first Disobedience in Paradise under which Death they should have lain for ever had it not been for the Redemption by Jesus Christ. If by Death threatned to Adam were meant the Corruption of Humane Nature in his Posterity 't is strange that the New Testament should not any where take notice of it and tell us that Corruption seized on all because of Adam's Transgression as well as it tells us so of Death But as I remember every ones sin is charged upon himself only Another part of the Sentence was Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground For out of it wast thou taken Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return This shews that Paradise was a place of Bliss as well as Immortality without toyl and without sorrow But when Man was turned out he was exposed to the toyl anxiety and frailties of this Mortal Life which should end in the Dust out of which he was made and to which he should return and then have no more life or sense than the Dust had out of which he was made As Adam was turned out of Paradise so all his Posterity were born out of it out of the reach of the Tree of Life All like their Father Adam in a state of Mortality void of the Tranquility and Bliss of Paradise Rom. V. 12. By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin But here will occur the common Objection that so many stumble at How doth in consist with the Justice and Goodness of God that the Posterity of Adam should suffer for his sin the Innocent be punished for the Guilty Very well if keeping one from what he has no right to be called a Punishment The state of Immortality in Paradise is not due to the Posterity of Adam more than to any other Creature Nay if God afford them a Temporary Mortal Life ' 't is his Gift they owe it to his Bounty they could not claim it as their Right nor does he injure them when he takes it from them Had he taken from Manking any thing that was their Right or did he put Men in a state of Misery worse than not being without any fault or demerit of their own this indeed would be hard to reconcile with the Notion we have of Justice and much more with the Goodness and other Attributes of the Supream Being which he has declared of himself and Reason as well as Revelation must acknowledge to be in him unless we will confound Good and Evil God and Satan That such a state of extream irremidiable Torment is worse than no Being at all if every one ones sense did not determine against the vain Philosophy and foolish Metaphysicks of some Men yet our Saviour's peremptory decision Matt. XXVI 24. has put it past doubt that one may be in such an estate that it had been better for him not to have been born But that such a temporary Life as we now have with all its Frailties and ordinary Miseries is better than no Being is evident by the high value we put upon it our selves And therefore though all die in Adam yet none are truly punished but for their own deeds Rom. II. 6. God will render to every one how according to his deeds To those that obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil v. 9. 2 Cor. V. 10. We must appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done whether it be good or bad And Christ himself who knew for what he should condemn Men at the last day assures us in the two places where he describes his proceeding at the great Judgment that the Sentence of Condemnation passes only on the workers of Iniquity such as neglected to fulfil the Law in acts of Charity Mat. VII 23. Luke XIII 27. Mat. XXV 42. But here is no Condemnation of any one for what his fore-father Adam had done which 't is not likely should have been omitted if that should have been a cause why any one was adjudged to the fire with the Devil and his Angels And he tells his Disciples that when he comes again with his Angels is the Glory of his Father that then he will render to every one according to his works Mat. XVI 27. Adam being thus turned out of Paradise and all his Posterity born out of it the consequence of it was that all men should die and remain under Death for ever and so be utterly lost From this estate of Death Jesus Christ restores all mankind to Life 1 Cor. XV. 22. As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive How this shall be the same Apostle tells us in the foregoing v. 21. By man death came by man also came the Resurrection from the dead Whereby it appears that the Life which Jesus Christ restores to all men is that Life which they receive again at the Resurrection Then they recovered from Death which otherwise all mankind should have continued under lost for ever as appears by St. Paul's Arguing 1 Cor. XV. concerning the Resurrection And thus men are by the Second Adam restored to Life again That so by Adam's sin they may none of them lose any thing which by their own Righteousness they might have a Title to For Righteousness or an exact obedience to the Law seems by the Scripture to have a claim of Right to Eternal Life Rom. IV. 4. To him that worketh i. e. does the works of the Law is the reward not reckoned of Grace but OF DEBT And Rev. XXII 14. Blessed are they who do his Commandments that they may HAVE RIGHT to the Tree of Life which is in the Paradise of God If any of the Posterity of Adam were just they shall not lose the Reward of it Eternal Life and Bliss by being his Mortal Issue Christ will bring them all to Life again And then they shall be put every one upon his own Tryal and receive Judgment as he is found to be Righteous or no. And the righteous as our Saviour says Mat. XXV 46. shall go into eternal life Nor shall any one miss it who has done what our Saviour
have heard it out of his own mouth And That had been his Publick Doctrine to his followers Which was openly preached by the Apostles after his Death when he appeared no more And of this they were accused Acts XVII 5-9 But the Iews which believed not moved with envy took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the City in an uproar And assaulted the House of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people And when they found them Paul and Silas not they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the Rulers of the City crying these that have turned the World upside down are come hither also whom Jason hath received And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caefar saying that there is another King one Iesus And they troubled the People and the Rulers of the City when they heard these things And when they had taken Security of Jason and the other they let them go Though the Magistrates of the World had no great regard to the talk of a King who had suffered Death and appeared no longer any where Yet if our Saviour had openly declared this of himself in his Life-time with a train of Disciples and Followers every where owning and crying him up for their King the Roman Governour of Iudea could not have forborn to have taken notice of it and have made use of their Force against him This the Jews were not mistaken in and therefore made use of it as the strongest Accusation and likeliest to prevail with Pilate against him for the taking away his Life It being Treason and an unpardonable Offence which could not scape Death from a Roman Deputy without the Forfeiture of his own Life Thus then they Accuse him to Pilate Luke XXIII 2. We found this fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is the Messiah a King Our Saviour indeed now that his time was come and he in Custody and forsaken of all the World and so out of all danger of raising any Sedition or Disturbance owns himself to Pilate to be a King after having first told Pilate Iohn XVIII 36. That his Kingdom was not of this World And for a Kingdom in another World Pilate knew that his Master at Rome concerned not himself But had there been any the least appearance of truth in the Allegations of the Jews that he had perverted the Nation forbidding to pay Tribute to Caesar or drawing the People after him as their King Pilate would not so readily have pronounced him Innocent But we see what he said to his Accusers Luke XXIII 13 14. Pilate when he had called together the Chief Priests and the Rulers of the People said unto them You have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the People and behold I having examined him before you have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof you accuse him No nor yet Herod for I sent you to him and lo nothing worthy of death is done by him And therefore finding a man of that mean Condition and innocent Life no mover of Seditions or disturber of the Publick Peace without a Friend or a Follower would have dismissed him as a King of no consequence as an innocent man falsely and maliciously accused by the Jews How necessary this Caution was in our Saviour to say or do nothing that might justly offend or render him suspected to the Roman Governour and how glad the Jews would have been to have any such thing against him we may see Luke XX. 20. The Chief Priests and the Scribes watched him and sent forth spies who should feign themselves just men that might take hold of his words that so they might deliver him unto the Power and Authority of the Governour And the very thing wherein they hoped to entrap him in this place was paying Tribute to Caesar which they afterwards falsely accused him of And what would they have done if he had before them professed himself to have been the Messiah their King and Deliverer And here we may observe the wonderful Providence of God who had so ordered the state of the Jews at the time when his Son was to come into the World that though neither their Civil Constitution nor Religious Worship were dissolved yet the Power of Life and Death was taken from them Whereby he had an Opportunity to publish the Kingdom of the Messiah that is his own Royalty under the name of the Kingdom of God and of Heaven Which the Jews well enough understood and would certainly have put him to Death for had the Power been in their own hands But this being no matter of Accusation to the Romans hindred him not from speaking of the Kingdom of Heaven as he did Sometimes in reference to his appearing in the World and being believed on by particular Persons Sometimes in reference to the Power should be given him by the Father at his Resurrection And sometimes in reference to his coming to Judge the World at the last day in the full Glory and completion of his Kingdom These were ways of declaring himself which the Jews could lay no hold on to bring him in danger with Pontius Pilate and get him seized and put to Death Another Reason there was that hindred him as much as the former from professing himself in express words to be the Messiah and that was that the whole Nation of the Jews expecting at this time their Messiah and deliverance by him from the Subjection they were in to a Foreign Yoke the body of the People would certainly upon his declaring himself to be the Messiah their King have rose up in Rebellion and set him at the Head of them And indeed the miracles that he did so much disposed them to think him to be the Messiah that though shrouded under the obscurity of a mean Condition and a very private simple Life and his passing for a Galilean his Birth at Bethlehem being then concealed and he not assuming to himself any Power or Authority or so much as the Name of the Messiah yet he could hardly avoid being set up by a Tumult and proclaimed their King So Iohn tells us Chap. V. 14 15. Then those men when they had seen the Miracles that Iesus did said This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the World When therefore Iesus perceived that they would come to take him by force to make him King he departed again into a Mountain himself alone This was upon his feeding of Five Thousand with five Barley Loaves and two Fishes So hard was it for him doing those miracles which were necessary to testifie his Mission and which often drew great multitudes after him Mat. IV. 25. to keep the heady and hasty multitude from such Disorder as would have involved him in it and have disturbed the course and cut short the time of his Ministry and drawn on him the Reputation
words v. 47. 54. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day The sum of all which Discourse is that he was the Messiah sent from God And that those who believed him to be so should be raised from the Dead at the last day to Eternal Life These who he spoke to were of those who the day before would by force have made him King And therefore 't is no wonder he should speak to them of himself and his Kingdom and Subjects in obscure and Mystical terms and such as should offend those who looked for nothing but the Grandeur of a Temporal Kingdom in this World and the Protection and Prosperity they had promised themselves under it The hopes of such a Kingdom now that they had found a man that did Miracles and therefore concluded to be the Deliverer they expected had the day before almost drawn them into an open Insurrection and involved our Saviour in it This he thought fit to put a stop to they still following him 't is like with the same design And therefore though he here speaks to them of his Kingdom it was in a way that so plainly bauk'd their Expectation and shock'd them that when they found themselves disappointed of those vain hopes and that he talked of their eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood that they might have Life the Jews said v. 52. How can this man give us his flesh to eat And many even of his Disciples said It was an hard saying who can bear it And so were scandalized in him and forsook him v. 60. 66. But what the true meaning of this Discourse of our Saviour was the Confession of St. Peter who understood it better and answered for the rest of the Apostles shews When Jesus asked him v. 67. Will ye also go away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life i. e. Thou teachest us the way to attain Eternal Life And accordingly We believe and are sure that thou art the Messiah the Son of the living God This was the eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood whereby those who did so had Eternal Life Sometime after this he enquires of his Disciples Mark VIII 27. Who the People took him for They telling him for Iohn the Baptist or one of the old Prophets risen from the Dead He asked what they themselves thought And here again Peter answers in these words Mark VIII 29. Thou art the Messiah Luke IX 20. The Messiah of God And Mat. XVI 16. Thou art the Messiah the Son of the living God Which Expressions we may hence gather amount to the same thing Whereupon our Saviour tells Peter Mat. XVI 17 18. That this was such a truth As flesh and blood could not reveal to him but only his Father who was in Haven And that this was the Foundation on which he was to build his Church By all the parts of which passage it is more than probable that he had never yet told his Apostles in direct words that he was the Messiah but that they had gathered it from his Life and Miracles For which we may imagine to our selves this probable Reason Because that if he had familiarly and in direct terms talked to his Apostles in private that he was the Messiah the Prince of whose Kingdom he preached so much in publick every where Iudas whom he knew false and treacherous would have been readily made use of to testifie against him in a matter that would have been really Criminal to the Roman Governour This perhaps may help to clear to us that seemingly abrupt reply of our Saviour to his Apostles Iohn VI. 70. when they confessed him to be the Messiah I will for the better explaining of it set down the passage at large Peter having said We believe and are sure that thou art the Messiah the Son of the living God Iesus answered them Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a reply seeming at first sight nothing to the purpose when yet it is sure all our Saviour's Discourses were wise and pertinent It seems therefore to me to carry this sense to be understood afterwards by the eleven as that of destroying the Temple and raising it again in three days was when they should reflect on it after his being betray'd by Iudas You have confessed and believe the truth concerning me I am the Messiah your King But do not wonder at it that I have never openly declared it to you For amongst you twelve whom I have chosen to be with me there is one who is an Informer or false Accuser for so the Greek word signifies and may possibly here be so translated rather than Devil who if I had owned my self in plain words to have been the Messiah the King of Israel would have betrayed me and informed against me That he was yet cautious of owning himself to his Apostles positively to be the Messiah appears farther from the manner wherein he tells Peter v. 18. that he will build his Church upon that Confession of his that he was the Messiah I say unto thee Thou art Cephas or a Rock and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Words too doubtful to be laid hold on against him as a Testimony that he professed himself to be the Messiah Especially if we joyn with them the following words v. 19. And I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven And what thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and what thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Which being said Personally to Peter render the foregoing words of our Saviour wherein he declares the Fundamental Article of his Church to be the believing him to be the Messiah the more obscure and doubtful and less liable to be made use of against him But yet such as might afterwards be understood And for the same reason he yet here again forbids the Apostles to say that he was the Messiah v. 20. From this time say the Evangelists Jesus began to shew to his Disciples i. e. his Apostles who are often called Disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the Elders Chief Priests and Scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day These though all marks of the Messiah yet how little understood by the Apostles or suited to their expectation of the Messiah appears from Peter's rebuking him for it in the following words Mat. XVI 22. Peter had twice before owned him to be the Messiah and yet he cannot here bear that he should Suffer and be put to Death and be raised again Whereby we may perceive how little yet Jesus had explained to the Apostles what Personally concerned himself They had been a good while witnesses of his Life and Miracles
time bringing him out to them after he had whip'd him Iohn XIX 4. 6. And after all When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but that rather a Tumult was made he took Water and washed his hands before the multitude saying I am innocent of the Blood of this just man see you to it Mat. XXVII 24. Which gives us a clear reason of the cautious and wary Conduct of our Saviour in not declaring himself in the whole course of his Ministry so much as to his Disciples much less to the Multitude or the Rulers of the Jews in express words to be the Messiah the King And why he kept himself always in Prophetical or Parabolical terms He and his Disciples Preaching only the Kingdom of God i. e. of the Messiah to be come And left to his Miracles to declare who he was Though this was the Truth which he came into the World as he says himself Iohn XVIII 37. to testifie and which his Disciples were to believe When Pilate satisfied of his Innocence would have released him And the Jews persisted to cry out Crucifie him Crucifie him Iohn XIX 6. Pilate says to them Take ye him your selves and Crucifie him For I do not find any fault in him The Jews then since they could not make him a State-Criminal by alledging his saying that he was the Son of God say by their Law it was a Capital Crime v. 7. The Iews answered to Pilate We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God After this Pilate was the more desirous to release him v. 12 13. But the Iews cried out saying If thou let this man go thou art not Caesar 's Friend Whosoever maketh himself a King speaketh against Caesar. Here we see the stress of their Charge against Jesus whereby they hoped to take away his Life viz. That he made himself King We see also upon what they grounded this Accusation viz. Because he had owned himself to be the Son of God For he had in their hearing never made or professed himself to be a King We see here likewise the reason why they were so desirous to draw from his own mouth a Confession in express words that he was the Messiah viz. That they might have what might be a clear Proof that he did so And last of all we see the reason why though in Expressions which they understood he owned himself to them to be the Messiah yet he avoided declaring it to them in such words as might look Criminal at Pilate's Tribunal He owned himself to be the Messiah plainly to the Understanding of the Iews But in ways that could not to the Understanding of Pilate make it appear that he laid claim to the Kingdom of Iudea or went about to make himself King of that Country But whether his saying that he was the Son of God was Criminal by their Law that Pilate troubled not himself about He that considers what Tacitus Suetonius Seneca de Benef. l. 3. c. 26. Say of Tiberius and his Reign will find how necessary it was for our Saviour if he would not dye as a Criminal and a Traytor to take great heed to his words and actions that he did or said not any thing that might be offensive or give the least Umbrage to the Roman Government It behoved an Innocent Man who was taken notice of for something Extraordinary in him to be very wary Under a jealous and cruel Prince who encouraged Informations and filled his Reign with Executions for Treason Under whom words spoken innocently or in jest if they could be misconstrued were made Treason and prosecuted with a Rigor that made it always the same thing to be accused and condemned And therefore we see that when the Iews told Pilate Iohn XIX 12. That he should not be a Friend to Caesar if he let Iesus go For that whoever made himself King was a Rebel against Caesar He asks them no more whether they would take Barrabbas and spare Iesus But though against his Conscience gives him up to Death to secure his own Head One thing more there is that gives us light into this wise and necessarily cautious management of himself which manifestly agrees with it and makes a part of it And that is the choice of his Apostles exactly suited to the design and fore-sight of the Necessity of keeping the declaration of the Kingdom of the Messiah which was now expected within certain general terms during his Ministry And not opening himself too plainly or forwardly to the heady Jews that he himself was the Messiah but leaving it to be found out by the Observation of those who would attend to the Purity of his Life and the Testimony of his Miracles and the Conformity of all with the Predictions concerning him without an express promulgation that he was the Messiah till after his Death His Kingdom was to be opened to them by degrees as well to prepare them to receive it as to enable him to be long enough amongst them to perform what was the work of the Messiah to be done and fulfil all those several parts of what was foretold of him in the Old Testament and we see applyed to him in the New The Iews had no other thoughts of their Messiah but of a Mighty Temporal Prince that should raise their Nation into an higher degree of Power Dominion and Prosperity than ever it had enjoyed They were filled with the expectation of a Glorious Earthly Kingdom It was not therefore for a Poor Man the Son of a Carpenter and as they thought born in Galilee to pretend to it None of the Iews no not his Disciples could have born this if he had expresly avowed this at first and began his Preaching and the opening of his Kingdom this way Especially if he had added to it that in a Year or two he should dye an ignominious Death upon the Cross. They are therefore prepared for the Truth by degrees First Iohn the Baptist tells them The Kingdom of God a name by which the Jews called the Kingdom of the Messiah is at hand Then our Saviour comes and he tells them of the Kingdom of God Sometimes that it is at hand and upon some occasions that it is come but says in his Publick Preaching little or nothing of himself Then come the Apostles and Evangelists after his Death and they in express words teach what his Birth Life and Doctrine had done before and had prepared the well-disposed to receive viz. That Iesus is the Messiah To this Design and Method of Publishing the Gospel was the choice of the Apostles exactly adjusted A company of Poor Ignorant Illiterate Men who as Christ himself tells us Mat. XI 25. and Luke X. 21. Were not of the Wise and Prudent Men of the World They were in that respect but meer Children These convinced by the Miracles they saw him daily do and the unblameable Life he lead might be disposed to
accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither marry nor are given in marriage Neither can they die any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the SONS OF GOD being the Sons of the Resurrection And he that shall read St. Paul's Arguing Acts XIII 32 33. will find that the great Evidence that Jesus was the Son of God was his Resurrection Then the Image of his Father appeared in him when he visibly entred into the state of Immortality For thus the Apostle reasons We Preach to you how that the Promise which was made to our Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us in that he hath raised up Iesus again As it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee This may serve a little to explain the Immortality of the Sons of God who are in this like their Father made after his Image and Likeness But that our Saviour was so he himself farther declares Iohn X. 18. Where speaking of his Life he says No one taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again Which he could not have had if he had been a Mortal Man the Son of a Man of the Seed of Adam Or else had by any Transgression forfeited his Life For the wages of Sin is Death And he that hath incurred Death for his own Transgression cannot lay down his Life for another as our Saviour professes he did For he was the Just One Acts VII 57. and XII 14. Who knew no sin 2 Cor. V. 21. Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And thus As by Man came Death so by Man came the Resurrection of the Dead For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive For this laying down his Life for others our Saviour tells us Iohn X. 17. Therefore does my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again And this his Obedience and Suffering was rewarded with a Kingdom which he tells us Luke XXII His Father had appointed unto him And which 't is evident out of the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. XII 2. he had a regard to in his Sufferings Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Which Kingdom given him upon this account of his Obedience Suffering and Death He himself takes notice of in these words Iohn XVII 1-4 Iesus lift up his eyes to Heaven and said Father the hour is come glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie thee As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And this is Life Eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Iesus the Messiah whom thou hast sent I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians Chap. II. 8-11 He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth And that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord. Thus God we see designed his Son Christ Iesus a Kingdom an Everlasting Kingdom in Heaven But Though as in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive And all men shall return to Life again at the last day Yet all men having sinned and thereby come short of the Glory of God as St. Paul assures us Rom. III. 23. i.e. Not attaining to the Heavenly Kingdom of the Messiah which is often called the Glory of God as may be seen Rom. V. 2. XV. 7. II. 7. Mat. XVI 27. Mark VIII 38. For no one who is unrighteous i. e. comes short of perfect Righteousness shall be admitted into the Eternal Life of that Kingdom As is declared 1 Cor. VI. 9. The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And Death the Wages of Sin being the Portion of all those who had transgressed the Righteous Law of God The Son of God would in vain have come into the World to lay the Foundations of a Kingdom and gather together a select People out of the World if they being found guilty at their appearance before the Judgment-seat of the Righteous Judge of all men at the last day instead of entrance into Eternal Life in the Kingdom he had prepared for them they should receive Death the just Reward of Sin which every one of them was guilty of This second Death would have left him no Subjects And instead of those Ten Thousand times Ten Thousand and Thousands of Thousands there would not have been one left him to sing Praises unto his Name saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever God therefore out of his Mercy to Mankind and for the erecting of the Kingdom of his Son and furnishing it with Subjects out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation proposed to the Children of Men that as many of them as would believe Iesus his Son whom he sent into the World to be the Messiah the promised Deliverer And would receive him for their King and Ruler should have all their past Sins Disobedience and Rebellion forgiven them And if for the future they lived in a sincere Obedience to his Law to the utmost of their power the sins of Humane Frailty for the time to come as well as all those of their past Lives should for his Son's sake because they gave themselves up to him to be his Subjects be forgiven them And so their Faith which made them be baptized into his Name i.e. Enroll themselves in the Kingdom of Iesus the Messiah and profess themselves his Subjects and consequently live by the Laws of his Kingdom should be accounted to them for Righteousness i.e. Should supply the defects of a scanty Obedience in the sight of God Who counting this Faith to them for Righteousness or Compleat Obedience did thus Justifie or make them Just and thereby capable of Eternal Life Now that this is the Faith for which God of his free Grace Justifies sinful Man For 't is God alone that justifieth Rom. VIII 33. Rom. III. 26. We have already shewed by observing through all the History of our Saviour and the Apostles recorded in the Evangelists and in the Acts what he and his Apostles preached and proposed to be believed We shall shew now that besides believing him to be the Messiah their King it was farther required that those who would have the Priviledge Advantages and
directed the Lawyer who asked Luke X. 25. What he should do to inherit eternal life Do this i. e. what is required by the Law and thou shalt live On the other side it seems the unalterable purpose of the Divine Justice that no unrighteous Person no one that is guilty of any breach of the Law should be in Paradise But that the wages of sin shold be to every man as it was to Adam an Exclusion of him out of that Happy state of Immortality and bring Death upon him And this is so conformable to the Eternal and established Law of Right and Wrong that it is spoke of too as if it could not be otherwise St. Iames says Chap. I. 15. Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death as it were by a Natural and necessary production Sin entred into the World and death by sin says St. Paul Rom. V. 12. VI. 23. The wages of sin is Death Death is the Purchase of any of every sin Gal. III. 10. Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them And of this St. Iames gives a Reason Chap. II. 10 11. Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all For he that said Do not commit Adultery said also do not Kill i. e. He that offends in any one Point sins against the Authority which established the Law Here then we have the standing and fixed measures of Life and Death Immortality and Bliss belong to the Righteous Those who have lived in an exact Conformity to the Law of God are out of the reach of Death But an Exclusion from Paradise and loss of Immortality is the Portion of Sinners of all those who have any way broke that Law and failed of a Compleat Obedience to it by the guilt of any one Transgression And thus Mankind by the Law are put upon the issues of Life or Death As they are Righteous or Vnrighteous Iust or Vnjust i. e. Exact Performers or Transgressors of the Law But yet all having sinned Rom. III. 23. and come short of the glory God i. e. the Kingdom of God in Heaven which is often called his Glory both Iews and Gentiles v. 22. So that by the deeds of the Law no one could be justified v. 20. it follows that no one could then have Eternal Life and Bliss Perhaps it will be demanded Why did God give so hard a Law to Mankind that to the Apostles time no one of Adam's Issue had kept it As appears by Rom. III. and Gal. III. 21 22. Answ. It was such a Law as the Purity of God's Nature required and must be the Law of such a Creature as Man unless God would have made him a Rational Creature and not required him to have lived by the Law of Reason but would have countenanced in him Irregularity and Disobedience to that Light which he had and that Rule which was suitable to his Nature Which would have been to have authorized Disorder Confusion and Wickedness in his Creatures For that this Law was the Law of Reason or as it is called of Nature we shall see by and by And if Rational Creatures will not live up to the Rule of their Reason who shall excuse them If you will admit them to forsake Reason in one point why not in another Where will you stop To disobey God in any part of his Commands and 't is he that Commands what Reason does is direct Rebellion which if dispensed with in any Point Government and Order are at an end And there can be no bounds set to the Lawless Exorbitancy of unconfined men The Law therefore was as St. Paul tells us Rom. VII 12 holy just and good and such as it ought and could not otherwise be This then being the case that whoever is guilty of any sin should certainly die and cease to be the benefit of Life restored by Christ at the Resurrection would have been no great Advantage for as much as here again Death must have seized upon all mankind because all had sinned For the Wages of Sin is every where Death as well after as before the Resurrection if God had not found out a way to Justifie some i. e. so many as obeyed another Law which God gave which in the New Testament is called the Law of Faith Rom. III. 27. and is opposed to the Law of Works And therefore the Punishment of those who would not follow him was to lose their Souls i. e. their Lives Mark VIII 35-38 as is plain considering the occasion it was spoke on The better to understand the Law of Faith it will be convenient in the first place to consider the Law of Works The Law of Works then in short is that Law which requires perfect Obedience without any remission or abatement So that by that Law a man cannot be Just or justified without an exact performance of every tittle Such a perfect Obedience in the New Testament is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Righteousness The Language of this Law is Do this and live Transgress and die Lev. XVIII 5. Ye shall keep my statutes and my judgments which if a man do he shall live in them Ezek. XX. 11. I gave them my statutes and shewed them my judgments which if a man do he shall even live in them Moses says St. Paul Rom. X. 5. describeth the righteousness which is of the Law that the man which doth those things shall live in them Gal. III. 12. The Law is not of Faith but that man that doth them shall live in them On the other side Transgress and die no dispensation no atonement V. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them Where this Law of Works was to be found the New Testament tells us viz. in the Law delivered by Moses Iohn I. 17. The Law was given by Moses but Faith and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Cap. VII 19. Did not Moses give you the Law says our Saviour and yet none of you keep the Law And this is the Law which he speaks of where he asks the Lawyer Luke X. 26. What is written in the Law how readest thou v. 28. This do and thou shalt live This is that which St. Paul so often stiles the Law without any other distinction Rom. II. 13. Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law are justified 'T is needless to quote any more places his Epistles are all full of it especially this to the Romans But the Law given by Moses being not given to all Mankind How are all men sinners since without a Law there is no Transgression To this the Apostle v. 14. Answers For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do i. e. find it reasonable to do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the
of the Scripture all along put Messiah for Christ. Christ being but the Greek name for the Hebrew Messiah and both signifying The Anointed And that he was the Messiah was the great Truth he took pains to convince his Disciples and Apostles of appearing to them after his Resurrection As may be seen Luke XXIV which we shall more particularly consider in another place There we read what Gospel our Saviour Preach'd to his Disciples and Apostles And That as soon as he was risen from the Dead twice the very day of his Resurrection And if we may gather what was to be believed by all Nations from what was preached unto them we may observe that the Preaching of the Apostles every where in the Acts tended to this one Point to prove that Jesus was the Messiah Indeed now after his Death his Resurrection was also commonly required to be believed as a necessary Article and sometimes solely insisted on It being a mark and undoubted Evidence of his being the Messiah and necessary now to be believed by those who would receive him as the Messiah For since the Messiah was to be a Saviour and a King and to give Life and a Kingdom to those who received him as we shall see by and by there could have been no Pretence to have given him out for the Messiah and to require men to believe him to be so who thought him under the Power of Death and Corruption of the Grave And therefore those who believed him to be the Messiah must believe that he was risen from the Dead And those who believed him to be risen from the Dead could not doubt of his being the Messiah But of this more in another place Let us see therefore how the Apostles preached Christ and what they proposed to their Hearers to believe St. Peter at Ierusalem Acts II. by his first Sermon converted Three Thousand Souls What was his word which as we are told v. 41. they gladly received and thereupon were baptized That may be seen from v. 22. to v. 36. In short this Which is the Conclusion drawn from all that he had said and which he presses on them as the thing they were to believe viz. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified Lord and Messiah v. 36. To the same purpose was his Discourse to the Jews in the Temple Acts III. the design whereof you have v. 18. But those things that God before had shewed by the mouth of all his Prophets that the Messiah should suffer he hath so fulfilled In the next Chapter Acts IV. Peter and Iohn being examined about the Miracle on the lame Man profess it to have been done in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth who was the Messiah in whom alone there was Salvation v. 10-12 The same thing they confirm to them again Acts V. 29-32 And daily in the Temple and in every House they ceased not to teach and preach Iesus the Messiah v. 42. What was Stephen's Speech to the Council Acts VII but a Reprehension to them that they were the Betrayers and Murderers of the Iust One Which is the Title by which he plainly designs the Messiah whose coming was foreshewn by the Prophets v. 51 52. And that the Messiah was to be without sin which is the import of the word Just was the Opinion of the Jews appears from Iohn IX v. 22. compared with 24. Acts VIII Philip carries the Gospel to Samaria Then Philip went down to Samaria and preached to them What was it he preached You have an account of it in this one word The Messiah v. 5. This being that alone which was required of them to believe that Iesus was the Messiah which when they believed they were baptized And when they believed Philip 's Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and the name of Iesus the Messiah they were baptized both Men and Women v. 12. Philip being sent from thence by a special call of the Spirit to make an Eminent Convert out of Isaiah preaches to him Jesus v. 35. And what it was he preached concerning Iesus we may know by the Profession of Faith the Eunuch made upon which he was admitted to Baptism v. 37. I believe that Iesus Christ is the Son of God Which is as much as to say I believe that he whom you call Jesus Christ is really and truly the Messiah that was promised For that believing him to be the Son of God and to be the Messiah was the same thing may appear by comparing Iohn I. 45. with v. 49. where Nathanael owns Jesus to be the Messiah in these terms Thou art the Son of God Thou art the King of Israel So the Jews Luke XXII 70. asking Christ whether he were the Son of God plainly demand of him whether he were the Messiah Which is evident by comparing that with the three preceding Verses They ask him v. 67. whether he were the Messiah He answers If I tell you you will not believe but withal tells them that from thenceforth he should be in Possession of the Kingdom of the Messiah expressed in these words v. 69. Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God Which made them all cry our Art thou then the Son of God i. e. Dost thou then own thy self to be the Messiah To which he replies Ye say that I am That the Son of God was the known Title of the Messiah at that time amongst the Jews we may see also from what the Jews say to Pilate John XIX 7. We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die because he made himself THE SON OF GOD i. e. by making himself the Messiah the Prophet which was to come but falsely and therefore he deserves to die by the Law Deut. XVIII 20. That this was the common signification of the Son of God is farther evident form what the Chief Priests mocking him said when he was at the Cross Mat. XXVII 42. He saved others himself he cannot save If he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe him He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the SON OF GOD i. e. he said he was the Messiah But 't is plainly false for if he were God would deliver him For the Messiah is to be King of Israel the Saviour of others but this Man cannot save himself The Chief Priests mention here the two Titles then in use whereby the Jews commonly designed the Messiah viz. Son of God and King of Israel That of Son of God was so familiar a compellation of the Messiah who was then so much expected and talked of that the Romans it seems who lived amongst them had learned it as appears from v. 54. Now when the Centurion and they that were with him watching Iesus saw the Earthquake and those things that were done
and thereby being grown into a belief that he was the Messiah were in some degree prepared to receive the Particulars that were to fill up that Character and answer the Prophesies concerning him Which from henceforth he began to open to them though in a way which the Jews could not form an Accusation out of The time of the accomplishment of all in his Sufferings Death and Resurrection now drawing on For this was in the last Year of his Life he being to meet the Jews at Ierusalem but once more at the Passover who then should have their will upon him And therefore he might now begin to be a little more open concerning himself Though yet so as to keep himself out of the reach of any Accusation that might appear Just or Weighty to the Roman Deputy After his Reprimand to Peter telling him That he savoured not the things of God but of man Mark VIII 34. He calls the People to him and prepares those who would be his Disciples for Suffering Telling them v. 38. Whoever shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the holy Angels And then subjoyns Mat. XVI 27 28. two great and solemn Acts wherein he would shew himself to be the Messiah the King For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall render every man according to his works This is evidently meant of the Glorious Appearance of his Kingdom when he shall come to Judge the World at the last day Described more at large Mat XXV When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall be sit upon the THRONE of his Glory Then shall the KING say to them on his right hand c. But what follows in the place above quoted Mat. XVI 28. Verily verily there be some standing here who shall not tast of Death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom Importing that Dominion which some there should see him exercise over the Nation of the Jews was so covered by being annexed to the preceding v. 27. where he spoke of the Manifestation and Glory of his Kingdom at the day of Judgment That though his plain meaning here in v. 28. be that the appearance and visible exercise of his Kingly Power in his Kingdom was so near that some there should live to see it Yet if the foregoing words had not cast a shadow over these later but they had been left plainly to be understood as they plainly signified that he should be a King And that it was so near that some there should see him in his Kingdom This might have been laid hold on and made the matter of a plausible and seemingly just Accusation against him by the Jews before Pilate This seems to be the reason of our Saviour's inverting here the order of the two Solemn Manifestations to the World of his Rule and Power thereby perplexing at present his meaning and securing himself as was necessary from the malice of the Jews which always lay at catch to intrap him and accuse him to the Roman Governour And would no doubt have been ready to have alledged these words Some here shall not tast of Death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom against him as Criminal had not their meaning been by the former Verse perplexed and the sense at that time rendred unintelligible and not applicable by any of his Auditors to a sense that might have been prejudicial to him before the Roman Governour For how well the Chief of the Jews were disposed towards him St. Luke tells us Chap. XI 54. Laying wait for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him Which may be a reason to satisfie us of the seemingly doubtful and obscure way of speaking used by our Saviour in other places His Circumstances being such that without such a Prudent carriage and reservedness he could not have gone through the Work which he came to do Nor have performed all the parts of it in a way correspondent to the Descriptions given of the Messiah and which should be afterwards fully understood to belong to him when he had left the World After this Mat. XVII 10 c. He without saying it in direct words begins as it were to own himself to his Apostles to be the Messiah by assuring them that as the Scribes according to the Prophecy of Malachy Chap. IV. 5. rightly said that Elias was to Usher in the Messiah So indeed Elias was already come though the Jews knew him not and treated him ill Whereby They understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist v. 13. And a little after he somewhat more plainly intimates that he is the Messiah Mark IX 41. in these words Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my Name because ye belong to the Messiah This as I remember is the first place where our Saviour ever mentioned the name of Messiah and the first time that he went so far towards the owning to any of the Jewish Nation himself to be him In his way to Jerusalem bidding one follow him Luke IX 59. who would first bury his Father v. 60. Iesus said unto him let the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God And Luke X. 1. Sending out the Seventy Disciples he says to them v. 9. Heal the sick and say the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you He had nothing else for these or for his Apostles or any one it seems to Preach but the good News of the coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah And if any City would not receive them he bids them v. 10. Go into the streets of the same and say Even the very dust of your City which cleaveth on us do we wipe off against you Notwithstanding be ye sure of this that the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you This they were to take notice of as that which they should dearly answer for viz. That they had not with Faith received the good Tidings of the Kingdom of the Messiah After this his Brethren say unto him Iohn VII 2 3 4. The Feast of Tabernacles being near Depart hence and go into Judea that thy Disciples also may see the works that thou doest For there is no man that does any thing in secret and he himself seeketh to be known openly If thou do these things shew thy self to the World Here his Brethren which the next Verse tells us did not believe in him seem to upbraid him with the inconsistency of his carriage as if he designed to be received for the Messiah and yet was afraid to shew himself To whom he justified his Conduct mentioned v. 1. in the following verses by telling them That the World meaning the
is evidently meant in the following Verses of this Chapter From hence Iesus going to Bethabara and thence returning to Bethany upon Lazarus's Death Iohn XI 25-27 Jesus said to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever So I understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answerable to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Septuagint Gen. III. 22. or Iohn VI. 51. which we read right in our English Translation Live for ever But whether this saying of our Saviour here can with truth be translated He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die will be apt to be questioned But to go on Believest thou this She said unto him yea Lord I believe that thou art the Messiah the Son of God which should come into the World This she gives as a full Answer to our Saviour's Demands This being that Faith which whoever had wanted no more to make them Believers We may observe farther in this same story of the raising of Lazarus what Faith it was our Saviour expected by what he says v. 41 42. Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me And I know that thou hearest me always But because of the people who stand by I said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me And what the Consequence of it was we may see v. 45. Then many of the Iews who came to Mary and had seen the things which Iesus did believed on him Which belief was that he was sent from the Father which in other words was that he was the Messiah That this is the meaning in the Evangelists of the Phrase of believing on him we have a demonstration in the following words v. 47 48. Then gathered the Chief Priests and Pharisees a Council and said what do we For this man does many miracles And if we let him alone all men will BELIEVE ON HIM Those who here say all men would BELIEVE ON HIM were the Chief Priests and Pharisees his Enemies who sought his Life and therefore could have no other sense nor thought of this Faith in him which they spake of but only the believing him to be the Messiah And that that was their meaning the adjoyning words shew If we let him alone all the World will believe on him i.e. believe him to be the Messiah And the Romans will come and take away both our Place and Nation Which Reasoning of theirs was thus grounded If we stand still and let the People Believe on him i.e. receive him for the Messiah They will thereby take him and set him up for their King and expect Deliverance by him Which will draw the Roman Arms upon us to the Destruction of us and our Country The Romans could not be thought to be at at all concerned in any other Belief whatsoever that the People might have in him It is therefore plain That Believing on him was by the Writers of the Gospel understood to mean the believing him to be the Messiah The Sanhedrim therefore v. 53 54. from that day forth consulted for to put him to death Iesus therefore walked not yet for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and so I think it ought here to be translated boldly or open-fac'd among the Iews i.e. of Ierusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot well here be translated no more because within a very short time after he appeared openly at the Passover and by his Miracles and Speech declared himself more freely than ever he had done And all the Week before his Passion Taught daily in the Temple Mat. XX. 17. Mark X. 32. Luke XVIII 31 c. The meaning of this place seems therefore to be this That his time being not yet come he durst not yet shew himself openly and confidently before the Scribes and Pharisees and those of the Sanhedrim at Ierusalem who were full of Malice against him and had resolved his Death But went thence unto a Country near the Wilderness into a City called Ephraim and there continued with his Disciples to keep himself out of the way till the Passover which was nigh at hand v. 55. In his return thither he takes the Twelve aside and tells them before hand what should happen to him at Ierusalem whither they were now going And that all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man should be accomplished That he should be betrayed to the Chief Priests and Scribes And that they should Condemn him to Death and deliver him to the Gentiles That he should be mocked and spit on and scourged and put to Death and the third day he should rise again But St. Luke tells us Chap. XVIII 34. That the Apostles understood none of these things and this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things which were spoken They believed him to be the Son of God the Messiah sent from the Father But their Notion of the Messiah was the same with the rest of the Jews That he should be a Temporal Prince and Deliverer That which distinguished them from the Unbelieving Jews was That they believed Jesus to be the very Messiah and so received him as their King and Lord accordingly We see Mark X. 35. That even in this their last Journey with him to Ierusalem two of them Iames and Iohn coming to him and falling at his Feet said Grant unto us that we may fit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy Glory Or as St. Matthew has it Chap. XX. 21. in thy Kingdom And now the hour being come that the Son of Man should be glorified he without his usual Reserve makes his Publick Entry into Ierusalem Riding on a Young Ass As it is written Fear not Daughter of Sion behold thy King cometh fitting on an Asses Colt But these things says St. Iohn Chap. XII 16. his Disciples understood not at the first But when Iesus was glorified then remembred they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him Though the Apostles believed him to be the Messiah yet there were many Occurrences of his Life which they understood not at the time when they happened to be fore-told of the Messiah which after his Ascension they found exactly to quadrate And all the People crying Hosanna Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the Name of the Lord This was so open a Declaration of his being the Messiah that Luke XIX 39. Some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him Master rebuke thy Disciples But he was so far from stopping them or disowning this their Acknowledgment of his being the Messiah That he said unto them I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out And again upon the like occasion of their crying Hosanna to the Son of David in the Temple Mat. XXI 15 16. When
the Work for which he hath sent me To confirm them in this Faith and to enable them to do such Works as he had done he promises them the Holy Ghost Iohn XIV 25 26. These things I have said unto you being yet present with you But when I am gone the Holy Ghost the Paraclet which may signifie Monitor as well as Comfortor or Advocate which the Father shall send you in my Name he shall shew you all things and bring to your remembrance all things which I have said So that considering all that I have said and laying it together and comparing it with what you shall see come to pass you may be more abundantly assured that I am the Messiah and fully comprehend that I have done and suffered all things foretold of the Messiah and that were to be accomplished and fulfilled by him according to the Scriptures But be not filled with grief that I leave you Iohn XVI 7. It is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Paraclet will not come unto you One Reason why if he went not away the Holy Ghost could not come we may gather from what has been observed concerning the Prudent and wary carriage of our Saviour all through his Ministry that he might not incur Death with the least suspicion of a Malefactor And therefore though his Disciples believed him to be the Messiah yet they neither understood it so well nor were so well confirmed in the belief of it as after that he being crucified and risen again they had received the Holy Ghost And with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit a fuller and clearer Evidence and Knowledge that he was the Messiah And were enlightned to see how his Kingdom was such as the Scriptures foretold though not such as they till then had expected And now this Knowledge and Assurance received from the Holy Ghost was of use to them after his Resurrection when they could then boldly go about and openly Preach as they did that Iesus was the Messiah confirming that Doctrine by the Miracles which the Holy Ghost impowered them to do But till he was dead and gone they could not do this Their going about openly Preaching as they did after his Resurrection that Iesus was the Messiah and doing Miracles every where to make it good would not have consisted with that Character of Humility Peace and Innocence which the Messiah was to sustain if they had done it before his Crucifixion For this would have drawn upon him the Condemnation of a Malefactor either as a stirrer of Sedition against the Publick Peace or as a Pretender to the Kingdom of Israel And hence we see that they who before his Death preached only the Gospel of the Kingdom that the Kingdom of God was at hand As soon as they had received the Holy Ghost after his Resurrection changed their stile and every where in express words declare that Iesus is the Messiah that King which was to come This the following words here in St. Iohn XVI 8-14 confirm Where he goes on to tell them And when he is come he will convince the World of Sin Because they believed not on me Your Preaching then accompanied with Miracles by the assistance of the Holy Ghost shall be a Conviction to the World that the Iews sinned in not believing me to be the Messiah Of Righteousness or Justice Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more By the same Preaching and Miracles you shall confirm the Doctrine of my Ascension and thereby convince the World that I was that Iust One who am therefore ascended to the Father into Heaven where no unjust Person shall enter Of Iudgment Because the Prince of this World is judged And by the same assistance of the Holy Ghost ye shall convince the World that the Devil is judged or condemned by your casting of him out and destroying his Kingdom and his Worship where ever you Preach Our Saviour adds I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now They were yet so full of a Temporal Kingdom that they could not bear the discovery of what a kind of Kingdom his was nor what a King he was to be And therefore he leaves them to the coming of the Holy Ghost for a farther and fuller discovery of himself and the Kingdom of the Messiah For fear they should be scandalized in him and give up the hopes they had now in him and forsake him This he tells them v. 1. of this XVI Chapter These things I have said unto you that you may not be scandalized The last thing he had told them before his saying this to them we find in the last Verses of the precedent Chapter When the Paraclet is come the Spirit of Truth he shall witness concerning me He shall shew you who I am and witness it to the World And then Ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning He shall call to your mind what I have said and done that ye may understand it and know and bear Witness concerning me And again here Iohn XVI after he had told them they could not bear what he had more to say he adds v. 13. Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and he will shew you things to come He shall glorifie me By the Spirit when he comes ye shall be fully instructed concerning me And though you cannot yet from what I have said to you clearly comprehend my Kingdom and Glory yet he shall make it known to you wherein it consists And though I am now in a mean state and ready to be given up to Contempt Torment and Death So that ye know not what to think of it Yet the Spirit when he comes shall glorifie me and fully satisfie you of my Power and Kingdom And that I sit on the right hand of God to order all things for the good and increase of it till I come again at the last day in fulness of Glory Accordingly the Apostles had a full and clear sight and perswasion of this after they had received the Holy Ghost And they preached it every where boldly and openly without the least remainder of doubt or uncertainty But that they understood him not yet even so far as his Death and Resurrection is evident from v. 17 18. Then said some of the Disciples among themselves What is this that he saith unto us A little while and ye shall not see me And again a little while and ye shall see me and because I go to the Father They said therefore what is this that he saith a little while We know not what he saith Upon which he goes on to Discourse to them of his Death and Resurrection and of the Power they should have of doing Miracles But all this he declares to them in a Mystical and involved way of speaking as he tells them himself v. 25. These things