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
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
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
come he will tell us all things Whereupon our Saviour though we hear no such thing from him in Ierusalem or Iudea or to Nicodemus yet here to this Samaritan Woman he in plain and direct words owns and declares that he himself who talked with her was the Messiah v. 26. This would seem very strange that he should be more free and open to a Samaritan than he was to the Jews were not the reason plain from what we have observed above He was now out of Iudea with a People with whom the Iews had no Commerce v. 9. Who were not disposed out of Envy as the Iews were to seek his Life or to Accuse him to the Roman Governour or to make an Insurrection to set a Iew up for their King What the Consequence was of his Discourse with this Samaritan Woman we have an Account v. 28. 39-42 She left her Water-pot and went her way into the City and saith to the men Come see a man who told me all things that ever I did Is not this the Messiah And many of the Samaritans of that City BELIEVED ON HIM for the saying of the Woman which testified He told me all that ever I did So when the Samaritans were come unto him they besought him that he would tarry with them And he abode there two days And many more believed because of his own word And said unto the Woman Now we believe not because of thy saying For we have heard him our selves and we know i. e. are fully perswaded that it is indeed the Messiah the Saviour of the World By comparing v. 39. with 41 42. it is plain that believing on him signifies no more than believing him to be the Messiah From Sichar Jesus goes to Nazareth the place he was bred up in and there Reading in the Synagogue a Prophecy concerning the Messiah out of the LXI of Isaiah he tells them Luke IV. 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears But being in danger of his Life at Nazareth he leaves it for Capernaum And then as St. Matthew informs us Chap. IV. 17. He began to Preach and say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Or as St. Mark has it Chap. I. 14 15. Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe in the Gospel i. e. believe this good News This removing to Capernaum and seating himself there in the Borders of Zabulon and Naphtali was as St. Matthew observes Chap. IV. 13-16 That a Prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled Thus the Actions and Circumstances of his Life answered the Prophesies and declared him to be the Messiah And by what St. Mark says in this place it is manifest that the Gospel which he preached and required them to believe was no other but the good tidings of the Coming of the Messiah and of his Kingdom the time being now fulfilled In his way to Capernaum being come to Cana a Noble-man of Capernaum came to him v. 47. And besought him that he would come down and heal his Son for he was at the point of death v. 48. Then said Iesus unto him except ye see signs and wonders you will not believe Then he returning homewards and finding that his Son began to mend at the same hour in which Iesus said unto him thy Son liveth he himself believed and his whole House v. 53. Here this Noble-man is by the Apostle pronounced to be a Believer And what does he believe Even that which Jesus complains v. 48. They would not BELIEVE except they saw Signs and Wonders Which could be nothing but what those of Samaria in the same Chapter believed viz. that he was the Messiah For we no where in the Gospel hear of any thing else had been proposed to be believed by them Having done Miracles and cured all their sick at Capernaum he says Let us go to the adjoyning Towns that I may preach there also for therefore came I forth Mark I. 38. Or as St. Luke has it Chap. IV. 43. He tells the multitude who would have kept him that he might not go from them I must Evangelize or tell the good Tidings of the Kingdom of God to other Cities also for therefore am I sent And St. Matthew Chap. IV. 23. tells us how he executed this Commission he was sent on And Iesus went about all Galilee teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and curing all Diseases This then was what he was sent to Preach every where viz. The Gospel of the Kingdom of the Messiah and by the Miracles and Good he did let them know who was the Messiah Hence he goes up to Ierusalem to the second Passover since the beginning of his Ministry And here discoursing to the Jews who sought to kill him upon occasion of the man whom he had cured carrying his Bed on the Sabbath-day and for making God his Father He tells them that he wrought these things by the Power of God and that he shall do greater things For that the Dead shall at his Summons be raised And that he by a Power committed to him from his Father shall Judge them And that he is sent by his Father And that whoever shall hear his Word and believe in him that sent him has Eternal Life This though a clear Description of the Messiah yet we may observe that here to the angry Iews who sought to kill him he says not a word of his Kingdom nor so much as names the Messiah But yet that he is the Son of God and sent from God He refers them to the Testimony of Iohn the Baptist to the Testimony of his own Miracles and of God himself in the Voice from Heaven and of the Scriptures and of Moses He leaves them to learn from these the Truth they were to believe viz. that he was the Messiah sent from God This you may read more at large Iohn V. 1-47 The next place where we find him Preaching was on the Mount Mat. V. and Luke VI. This is by much the longest Sermon we have of his any where and in all likelihood to the greatest Auditory For it appears to have been to the Peple gathered to him from Galilee and Iudea and Ierusalem and from beyond Iordan and that came out of Idumea and from Tyre and Sidon mentioned Mark III. 7 8. and Luke VI. 17. But in this whole Sermon of his we do not find one word of Believing and therefore no mention of the Messiah or any intimation to the People who himself was The reason whereof we may gather from Mat. 12. 16. where Christ forbids them to make him known which supposes them to know already who he was For that this XII Chapter of Matthew ought to precede the Sermon in the Mount is plain by comparing it with Mark II. beginning at v. 13. to Mark III. 8. And comparing those Chapters of St. Mark with
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
have I spoken to you in Proverbs i. e. In General Obscure Aenigmatical or Figurative terms All which as well as Allusive Apologues the Jews called Proverbs or Parables Hitherto my declaring of my self to you hath been obscure and with reserve And I have not spoken of my self to you in plain and direct words because ye could not bear it A Messiah and not a King you could not understand And a King living in Poverty and Persecution and dying the Death of a Slave and Malefactor upon a Cross you could not put together And had I told you in plain words that I was the Messiah and given you a direct Commission to Preach to others that I professedly owned my self to be the Messiah you and they would have been ready to have made a Commotion to have set me upon the Throne of my Father David and to fight for me that your Messiah your King in whom are your hopes of a Kingdom should not be delivered up into the hands of his Enemies to be put to Death And of this Peter will instantly give you an Example But the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Parables but I shall shew unto you plainly of the Father My Death and Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Ghost will speedily enlighten you and then I shall make you know the Will and Design of the Father What a Kingdom I am to have and by what means and to what end v. 27. And this the Father himself will shew unto you For he loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from the Father Because ye have believed that I am the Son of God the Messiah That he hath anointed and sent me Though it hath not been yet fully discovered to you what kind of Kingdom it shall be nor by what means brought about And then our Saviour without being asked explaining to them what he had said And making them understand better what before they stuck at and complained secretly among themselves that they understood not They thereupon declare v. 30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask thee 'T is plain thou knowest mens Thoughts and Doubts before they ask By this we believe that thou comest forth from God Iesus answered Do ye now believe Notwithstanding that you now believe that I came from God and am the Messiah sent by him Behold the hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scattered And as it is Mat. XXVI 31. and shall all be scandalized in me What it is to be scandalized in him we may see by what followed hereupon if that which he says to St. Peter Mark XIV did not sufficiently explain it This I have been the more particular in That it may be seen that in this last Discourse to his Disciples where he opened himself more than he had hitherto done and where if any thing more was required to make them Believers than what they already believed we might have expected they should have heard of it there were no new Articles proposed to them but what they believed before viz. That he was the Messiah the Son of God sent from the Father Though of his manner of proceeding and his sudden leaving the World and some few particulars he made them understand something more than they did before But as to the main design of the Gospel viz. That he had a Kingdom that he should be put to Death and rise again and ascend into Heaven to his Father and come again in Glory to Judge the World This he had told them And so had acquainted them with the Great Council of God in sending him the Messiah and omitted nothing that was necessary to be known or believed in it And so he tells them himself Iohn XV. 15. Henceforth I call ye not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord does But I have called ye Friends for ALL THINGS I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you though perhaps ye do not so fully comprehend them as you will shortly when I am risen and ascended To conclude all in his Prayer which shuts up this Discourse he tells the Father what he had made known to his Apostles The Result whereof we have Iohn XVII 8. I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and THEY HAVE BELIEVED THAT THOV DIDST SEND ME Which is in effect that he was the Messiah promised and sent by God And then he Prays for them and adds v. 20 21. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also who shall believe on me through their word What that Word was through which others should believe in him we have seen in the Preaching of the Apostles all through the History of the Acts viz. This one great Point that Jesus was the Messiah The Apostles he says v. 25. know that thou hast sent me i. e. are assured that I am the Messiah And in v. 21. 23. he Prays That the World may believe which v. 23. is called knowing that thou hast sent me So that what Christ would have believed by his Disciples we may see by this his last Prayer for them when he was leaving the World as well as by what he Preached whilst he was in it And as a Testimony of this one of his last Actions even when he was upon the Cross was to confirm this Doctrine by giving Salvation to one of the Thieves that was crucified with him upon his Declaration that he believed him to be the Messiah For so much the words of his Request imported when he said Remember me Lord when thou comest into thy Kingdom Luke XXIII 42. To which Jesus replied v. 43. Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paridise An Expression very remarkable For as Adam by sin left Paradise i. e. a state of Happy Immortality Here the believing Thief through his Faith in Iesus the Messiah is promised to be put in Paradise and so re-instated in an Happy Immortality Thus our Saviour ended his Life And what he did after his Resurrection St. Luke tells us Acts I. 3. That he shewed himself to the Apostles forty days speaking things concerning the Kingdom of God This was what our Saviour preached in the whole Course of his Ministry before his Passion And no other Mysteries of Faith does he now discover to them after his Resurrection All he says is concerning the Kingdom of God And what it was he said concerning that we shall see presently out of the other Evangelists having first only taken notice that when now they asked him v. 6. Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel He said unto them v. 7. It is not for you to know the Times and the Seasons which the Father hath put in his own power But ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come
Jews especially hated him because he testified of it that the works thereof are evil And that his time was not yet fully come wherein to quit his reserve and abandon himself freely to their Malice and Fury And therefore though he went up unto the Feast it was not openly but as it were in secret v. 10. And here coming into the Temple about the middle of the Feast he justifies his being sent from God And that he had not done any thing against the Law in curing the man at the Pool of Bethesday v. Iohn V. 1-16 on the Sabbath-day Which though done above a year and an half before they made use of as a pretence to destroy him But what was the true reason of seeking his Life appears from what we have in this VII Chapter v. 25-34 Then said some of them at Jerusalem Is not this he whom they seek to kill But lo he speaketh boldly and they say nothing unto him Do the Rulers know indeed that this is the very Messiah Howbeit we know this man whence he is But when the Messiah cometh no man knoweth whence he is Then cryed Iesus in the Temple as he taught ye both know me and ye know whence I am And I am not come of my self but he that sent me is true whom ye know not But I know him for I am from him and he hath sent me Then they sought an occasion to take him but no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet come And many of the people believed on him and said when the Messiah cometh will be do more miracles than these which this man hath done The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him and the Pharisees and Chief Priests sent Officers to take him Then said Iesus unto them Yet a little while am I with you and then I go to him that sent me Ye shall seek me and not find me and where I am there ye cannot come Then said the Iews among themselves Whither will he go that we shall not find him Here we find that the great fault in our Saviour and the great Provocation to the Jews was his being taken for the Messiah and doing such things as made the People believe in him i. e. believe that he was the Messiah Here also our Saviour declares in words very easie to be understood at least after his Resurrection that he was the Messiah For if he were sent from God and did his Miracles by the Spirit of God there could be no doubt but he was the Messiah But yet this Declaration was in a way that the Pharisees and Priests could not lay hold on to make an Accusation of to the disturbance of his Ministry or the seizure of his Person how much soever they desired it For his time was not yet come The Officers they had sent to Apprehend him charmed with his Discourse returned without laying hands on him v. 45 46. And when the Chief Priests asked them Why they brought him not They answered Never man spake like this man Whereupon the Pharisees reply Are ye also deceived Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him But this people who know not the Law are cursed This shews what was meant by Believing on him viz. believing that he was the Messiah For say they have any of the Rulers who are skilled in the Law or of the Devout and learned Pharisees acknowledged him to be the Messiah For as for those who in the Division among the People concerning him say That he is the Messiah they are ignorant and vile wretches know nothing of the Scripture and being accursed are given up by God to be deceived by this Impostor and to take him for the Messiah Therefore notwithstanding their desire to lay hold on him he goes on And v. 37 38. In the last and great day of the Feast Iesus stood and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow Rivers of living water And thus he here again declares himself to be the Messiah But in the Prophetick stile As we may see by the next Verse of this Chapter and those places in the Old Testament that these words of our Saviour refer to In the next Chapter Iohn VIII all that he says concerning himself and what they were to believe tends to this viz. That he was sent from God his Father And that if they did not believe that he was the Messiah they should die in their sins But this in a way as St. Iohn observes v. 27. that they did not well understand But our Saviour himself tells them v. 28. When ye have lift up the Son of Man then shall ye know that I am he Going from them he Cures the Man born blind whom meeting with again after the Jews had questioned him and cast him out Iohn IX 35-38 Jesus said to him Dost thou believe on the Son of God He answered who is he Lord that I might believe on him And Iesus said unto him Thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee And he said Lord I believe Here we see this man is pronounced a Believer when all that was proposed to him to believe was that Jesus was the Son of God Which was as we have already shewn to believe that he was the Messiah In the next Chapter Iohn X. 1-21 he declares the laying down of his Life for both Jews and Gentiles But in a Parable which they understood not v. 6. 20. As he was going to the Feast of the Dedication the Pharisees ask him Luke XVII 20. When the Kingdom of God i. e. of the Messiah should come He answers that it should not come with Pomp and Observation and great Concourse But that it was already begun amongst them If he had stopt here the sense had been so plain that they could hardly have mistaken him or have doubted but that he meant that the Messiah was already come and amongst them And so might have been prone to infer that Jesus took upon him to be him But here as in the place before taken notice of subjoyning to this the future Revelation of himself both in his coming to execute Vengeance on the Jews and in his coming to Judgment mixed together he so involved his sense that it was not easie to understand him And therefore the Jews came to him again in the Temple Iohn X. 23. and said How long dost thou make us doubt If thou be the Christ tell us plainly Iesus answered I told you and ye BELIEVED not The works that I do in my Father's Name they bear witness of me But ye BELIEVED not because ye are not of my sheep as I told you The BELIEVING here which he accuses them of not doing is plainly their not BELIEVING him to be the Messiah as the foregoing words evince and in the same sense it