entrance into the world to his going out The meanness of his Birth did not protect him from being persecuted by Herod He was after this a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and there hath been no sorrow like unto his sorrow He fasted and was tempted he was acquainted with hunger and with thirst with great poverty and contempt He met with false friends and implacabe enemies He was always doing good and recieveing evil And after all at the close of his life he was a most eminent sufferer If there be any suffering in great pains and agonies in being scoffed and derided in being buffeted and scourged in a bloudy sweat or a bitter cup In a crown of Thorns in the Spear and in the Nails He suffered if to be forsaken and betrayed to be unpitied in trouble and to be denied to be flouted and scoffed at be any thing of a suffering He suffered if to die be to suffer and to die upon a Cross among malefactors If the bloud of the Cross if the shame and curse of it if the pain and scandal of it speak any sufferings our Lord did indeed suffer From the sufferings of our Jesus it does appear that he is the Christ I do not mean that the bare sufferings of Jesus are an argument that he is the Christ For sufferings are not a sufficient argument alone And though the Messias were to suffer yet so might and so did Impostors also But as the Messias was to suffer so it was predicted what he should suffer and we shall find that our Jesus did suffer those very things which the Messias was to suffer and all things duely considered we shall find this especially in conjunction with what hath been and is to be said a very good proof that Jesus is the Christ And this I take to be the meaning of our Saviour's words to his Disciples going to Emmaus Ought not Christ to have suffered These things And of his words to the Apostles afterward Thus it is written and Thus it behoved Christ to suffer Luk. 24.26 46. St. Peter tells the Jews that those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his Prophets that Christ should suffer he hath so fulfilled Act. 3.18 Our Saviour himself said Thus it must be Mat. 26.54 56. To the same purpose we find the Disciples saying For of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to doe whatsoever thy hand and thy Council determined before to be done Act. 4.27 28. We shall find afterward that Jesus did suffer all that which the Christ was to suffer And some of these sufferings were such as were not likely to have been the portion of Jesus But so it was though Herod and Pontius Pilate though the Jews and the Gentiles had an hand in the sufferings of Jesus they did at the same time though they designed it not fulfill some Prophecies of old and this was so eminently done that we have from hence a very great proof that Jesus is the Christ I shall not look over all the sufferings of Jesus from the time of his birth to the moment of his death I shall begin no sooner than the last week of his life and shall more especially consider those particulars which attended upon his death We have a remarkable Prophecy in the Prophet Zechariah and the words are these Rejoice greatly O Daughter of Zion shout O Daughter of Jerusalem Behold thy King cometh unto thee He is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the foal of an Ass That this place is a prophecy of the Messias no Christian can doubt and the Jew ought not to deny R. Solomon confesses frankly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. It is impossible to interpret it but of King Messiah R. Solom in Zech. 9.9 And as it is very agreeable to the words to expound them of the Messias These words of R. Solomon are translated by Raymundus in his Pugio fidei pag. 656. in to words which contradict the sense of them viz. Non potest hoc exponi de Rege Messia when he affirms that they ought not to be expounded of any other person And that the Jews do understand these words of the Messiah is â—â—â—ved at large by Bochart de S. S. Animalibus lib. II. c. 17. so it well agrees with the sense of the Ancient Jews too For it was the sense of the Jews that this place was meant of the Messias and we find among the writings which we have of theirs plain intimations of it There is a fabulous relation that the Ass which Abraham sadled Gen. 22. was created on the evening of the Sabbath Pirke R. Eliezer cap. 31. and that Moses rode upon the same Ass when he came into Egypt and farther the Son of David shall ride upon the same they say hence it is said Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion c. From this fabulous relation it is evident that this place was understood of the Messias Beresith Rabb in Gen. 49.11 To the same purpose the words are understood by another ancient writer who represents it as the sense of their Rabbins It was upon the tenth day of the first month when our Saviour rode upon an Ass into Jerusalem and fulfilled this Scripture and in the Passeover-week in which he suffered Our Saviour was now ready to be Sacrificed for us and as the Paschal Lamb in Egypt was taken up on the tenth day so did our Lord our Paschal Lamb on that very day present himself in that City where the same week he was sentenced to death For the rest of the words of the Prophecy they do very well agree to our Jesus as it is certain they were meant of the Messias Thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having Salvation lowly Never were there any persons to whom these words could so duely belong as our blessed Saviour He was a King indeed and denies it not before Pontius Pilate though he professed that his Kingdom was not of this world As such a person the Messias was promised of old and it was foretold that he should erect an everlasting Kingdom in the Prophet Daniel The Jews expected a temporal Prince indeed they being themselves a carnal people Our Lord did not appear like an earthly Prince but as one born from Heaven and that would erect an heavenly and spiritual Kingdom in the world A King he was in the best and the highest sense and when he was crucified the main of his accusation written on his Cross was that he was King of the Jews That he was just malice it self cannot deny of our blessed Saviour He was for giving both God and Caesar their due He paid Tribute when it was demanded and would not excuse himself from the publick payment to which he was not yet strictly obliged And
Messias is promised again and it will be worth our while to consider with what variety the promise is made The promise in one place runs thus In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed Gen. 12.3 This was the first promise which was made to Abraham But then we find this promise renewed afterward but yet differently expressed In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Gen. 22.18 The reason of which variety seems to be this that when the first promise of the Messias was made to Abram Isaac was not born and therefore it was said in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed But after this Abram's name is changed and Isaac the Son of the promise is born and Abraham had in obedience to God offered up this Son and now God renews to him the promise of the Messias In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed God had just before promised Abraham to multiply his posterity v. 17. but then what follows v. 18. is to be understood with a particular reference to Isaac and therewithall as containing a precise and particular promise of the Messias Gal. 3.16 For those words In thy seed v. 18. are not to be understood in the latitude that the same words thy seed v. 17. are to be understood in but in a particular and restrained sense as takes in Isaac and in him the Messias And this observation by the way may serve for the better understanding those words Gal. 3.16 Nor is this all the variety neither in these several promises of the Messias For Gen. 12.3 't is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall be blessed But Gen. 22.18 't is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall bless themselves And after the same manner is the promise renewed to Isaac Gen. 26.4 That is they shall think themselves blessed in the Messias the source and fountain of blessing And thus as the Messias was promised at first as the seed of the woman and a conquerour of the serpent so he was promised to Abraham and to Isaac as the fountain of blessing And then if we proceed we shall find that Isaac in his blessing to Jacob does not forget to transmit the blessing of Abraham to him and to his seed with him Gen. 28.4 which was confirmed by God v. 14. This blessing Jacob does not forget at such time as he blessed his Children but mentions it in the blessing of Judah and withall gives some account of the time of the appearance of the Messias under the name of Shiloh and of the obedience that should be yielded to him Gen. 49.10 After this we have a prediction from the mouth of Balaam who was sent for indeed to curse the Israelites yet does he bless them and predict the great blessing of the Messias There shall come a star out of Jacob and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Seth Numb 24.17 Again we have still a more particular account that the Messias should be a great Prophet and that we have from Moses the greatest Prophet The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me Deut. 18.15 And it follows and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him v. 18 19. After this the Messias is promised under the character of a King 1 Sam. 2.10 And a King of the house of David 2 Sam. 7. 1 Chro. 17. Psal 72. and 132. So that now we have some account of the office and of the lineage and family of the Messias He is promised as a Prophet by Moses as a King to David and as a Priest too in the Book of Psalms Psal 110.4 His offices and his tribe and lineage being thus predicted we shall find afterwards and especially as the time of his appearance drew near many particulars predicted and sometimes very minute ones also relating to his birth and to his life to his miracles and the place of his converse to his death and sufferings his resurrection and ascension and the great success of his undertaking upon the Gentile world That he should be born in Bethlehem the Prophet Micah tell us Mic. 5.2 And of a Virgin the Prophet Isaiah Isa 7.14 That he should come before the Jewish polity were quite destroyed Jacob had predicted Gen. 49.10 And that he should come while the Second Temple stood Haggai assures us Hag. 2. And that the time of his appearing was about the time when our Saviour Jesus appeared we may learn from the Prophet Daniel Dan. 9. And that he should come suddenly into his Temple the Prophet Malachy assures us Mal. 3.1 We have a prediction of his forerunner Isa 40. Of his coming back from Egypt Hos 11.1 And of the slaughter of the Innocents Jer. 31. That the Messias should converse much in Galilee is foretold Isa 9.1 What works the Messias should doe is predicted Isa 42.7.35.5 6. That he should be a great Prophet Deut. 18. That he should be a prince of peace Isa 9.6 A most righteous person Isa 11.5 That he should not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets Isa 42.2 That he should be lowly is foretold Zech. 9.9 That the Messias should be despised and rejected by his own people that he should appear in a low servile and despicable condition is also foretold Isa 52. and 53. And then for his death that is not onely foretold but the manner and minutest circumstances of it also That he should be crucified Zech. 12.10 Ps 22.16 That he should be betrayed by his disciple and familiar Psal 41.9 That he should be sold for thirty pieces of silver Zech. 11.12 And crucified among thieves Isa 53.12 That on the Cross they should give him vinegar to drink Ps 69.21 That his garments should be parted and that lots should be cast upon his vesture Psal 18.22 That he should be derided and scoffed at even when he was under his sufferings Psal 22.7 8. That he should intercede for transgressours Isa 53.12 That he should suffer with a Lamb-like meekness Isa 53.7 And that notwithstanding all the malice of his enemies yet his bones should not be broken Exod. 12.46 That the Messias should be buried is also foretold Psal 16.10 And honourably interred also Isa 53.9 And that he should rise again Psal 2.7.16.10 And ascend into heaven Psal 68.18 And that the Gentiles should serve and acknowledge him Isa 49.6 These things are predicted of the Messias in the old Testament we are now to consider whether we can find them fulfilled in our Jesus And if we do we may very safely conclude that this Jesus is the Christ I shall not
chains and death it self cannot stop its course It must needs be a good cause that bears up against all the malice the meanaces the punishments that a wicked world could devise or inflict Aye and that persons of all sorts and degrees should seal this Doctrine with their Bloud too young as well as old rich as well as poor people as well as their Teachers women as well as men those that were remote and far distant from one another Nemo gratis malus It cannot be imagined that so many persons of all sorts and so remote from one another should conspire and consent together to bear witness to a lye That they should venture their lives and all that which the world calls good upon an untruth Certainly no man can be so fond as to believe this This Martyrdom of Christians and the growth of Christianity under it is a good proof that Jesus is the Christ and that the Religion of Jesus came from God For certainly had it not been from God it could never have born up from so small a beginning against so mighty an opposition And therefore it was a wise speech of Gamaliel to the men of Israel who were so forward to persecute the first preachers of the Gospel I say unto you says he refrain from these men and let them alone for it this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest happily ye be found to fight against God Act. 5.38 39. And this he well perswades from the destruction of Theudas and his Complices and also of Judas the Galilean and those that obeyed him To which may also well be added this that whoever since hath pretended himself to be the Messias or his forerunner hath been so far from perswading it that he hath indeed come to nought and miserably cheated and abused his credulous followers Thus we know that about two and fifty years after the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans Buxtorf Lexicon Rabbime in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there did arise a certain man that pretended himself to be the Messias and was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of a Star alluding 'tis like to the prophecy Num. 24.17 but this man was destroyed by Adrianus with many thousands of the Jews besides So that now the Jews are not ashamed to call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Son of a Lye Maimon Epistol ad Judaeos Massilienses Maimon tells us of another who deceived the poor Jews under a pretence that he was the forerunner of the Messias who having boasted vainly that he should rise again after his death in token that he came from God was beheaded by a certain Arabian King and so perished and left the Jews that gave him credit in great calamity and distress It were a very easie thing to give in an account of the cheats and impostors who have arisen in the several ages of the world Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 4. c. 6. Hieron Catal. Scrip. Eccl in Agrippa Origen contra Cels p. 44. Vorstii observat ad Gantz p. 292. Juchasin fol. 38. Zemah David p. 150. under a pretence of being the Messias or his forerunner by whom the Jews have been miserably imposed upon and deluded from time to time This is reported not onely by the Christian writers but by the Jewish also The Jews have often been frustrated in their expectations and the cheat hath quickly been discovered And they have for many Generations expected their Messias in vain There hath appeared no man under pretence of the Messias or his forerunner but he hath soon come to nought And no wonder for a lye though it may prevail for a while will not obtain long The heat of persecution will fetch off its paint and false colours 'T is truth alone that can endure a Trial. Facile res in suam naturam recidunt ubi veritas non subest A lye may for a little while out-face the truth and prevail upon the easie and credulous part of mankind especially where it meets with no severe and potent opposition but when once the Authours of a forgery are discovered when they are brought to punishment who contrived the cheat and were the abettors of it then it falls to the ground and spreads no farther It hath not power enough to stand up against so great a violence But Christianity prevailed in spight of all the malice and force and combined endeavours of the Devil and all his instruments to root it out CHAP. X. The CONTENTS What was predicted of the Messias was fulfilled in our Jesus This appeared in the birth of Jesus in his Office and Character in his Works in his Sufferings and Resurrection and the spreading of his doctrine The adoreable providence of God in bringing Events to pass This shewed in very many particulars This is a farther proof that Jesus is the Christ IF what hath been said before be duly considered we shall upon sufficient evidence conclude that our Jesus is the Christ and that the Christian Religion came from God Not that I have said all which might have been said in so weighty an argument but that which hath before been insisted upon is sufficient to convince a lover of truth That there was a Messias promised and described in the old Teslament is not contested between the Christians and the Jews nor do the Jews deny that Jesus lived and that he suffered by the hands of their forefathers as we say he did We believe the writings of the old Testament which the Jews themselves acknowledge to be Divine Neither they nor any man living hath any just cause to call in question the authority of the books of the New Testament which give us an account of the birth and life of the miracles and doctrine of the death and Resurrection of the Ascension and intercession of Jesus Here 's nothing reported in these books in it self incredible nothing that is light and trifling nothing unbecoming God nothing against good manners but we have the same reasons to believe the truth of these things which we have for any other History which we do believe without doubting The same we have and much more Allowing then but the truth of the matter of fact which we have no shadow of reason to call in question it will abundantly appear from what hath been said that Jesus is the Christ For there was not a word that fell to the ground which was predicted of the Messias but it was fulfilled in our Jesus There was nothing so minute or small but it was accomplished and fulfilled Let us to this purpose recollect those particulars mentioned before and consider their exact accomplishment in our Jesus I will begin with his birth We find that the first promise which was made of the Messias was under the Character of the seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15 And this Woman was to be a Virgin also according to
of Jesus was contemned and reproached for the meanness of his birth the poverty of his condition or freedom of his conversation and afterwards for the ignominy of his death But this sin did not exclude the possibility of repentance and the hope of pardon Here 's pardon for every sin the Gospell invites and receives the vilest sinners but shelters them not if they continue to wallow in their mire We may learn what sins have been forgiven from the words of the Apostle Such were some of you but ye are washed 1 Cor. 6.9 11. c. They had been Fornicatours Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners Such the Christian Doctrine found them but it did not leave them such They were cleansed of these impurities They were washed sanctified and justifyed in the name of the Lord Jesus Tit. 3.3 5. and by the Spirit of our God It was a wretched plight in which the Gospel found men when it first advanced in the world They were foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hatefull and hating one another Good God what a wretched condition was this How was thy Creature made in thine own Image deformed What a darkness and disorder hath spread it self upon the intellectual world Men retained the same shape and figure that they had from the beginning They were of an erect or upright stature They were not overgrown indeed with horns and hoofs and claws but otherwise they were at best but brutes in humane shape Their manners were crooked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. their minds were bowed down to the ground they were salvage and ravenous as wolves and bears But were these Creatures out of the reach of this mercy tendered in the Covenant of Grace By no means These men were saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Our Lord came to call sinners to repentance And the greatest sinners were pardoned Those who had worshipped Idols who had been possessed by Devils and who had persecuted the Church of Christ In a word by our Jesus Act. 13.39 all that believe are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the Law of Moses It is true indeed that our Saviour hath said Matt. 12.32 that whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him And it is the onely sin which is excepted Those words of our Saviour if rightly understood are no objection of weight against what hath been said before viz. that the Gospel affords a pardon for all manner of sin For this supposes that men assent to the truth of the Christian Doctrine and embrace it Now that sin against the Holy Ghost of which our Saviour speaks is of such a nature as supposeth the person guilty of it to be one who not onely does not assent to the truth of the Christian Doctrine but resists the Evidence and Confirmation of it which was effected by the Holy Ghost and does calumniate and blaspheme the Divine Authour of that Evidence Those Pharisees who imputed what our Saviour did to the Prince of the Devils did not believe the Doctrine of Christ Nor can any man who assents to the truth of the Christian Doctrine be guilty of that sin against the Holy Ghost of which our Saviour speaks The Holy Ghost in that place is not considered as the Third person of the Trinity and the authour of holiness in us in which respect every act of profaneness might in some sense be called a sin against the Holy Ghost but is considered there as a Witness to the truth of the Christian Doctrine And upon that account that blasphemy is said to be unpardonable He that was guilty of that sin was one who rejected the Christian Doctrine It is no disparagement to the most effectual Medicine in the World that it does not cure that diseased person who refuseth to apply it The Gospel affords a pardon for every sin but there is no hope for him who rejects it It was a charge of old against Christian Religion that it invited and gave hope of pardon to the most profligate sinners Origen contra Celsum l. 3. Celsus long agoe objected it against our most Holy Religion He says that in other mysteries the profane were dismissed and none was called in but he who had pure hands who was wise in speech free from vice c. But says he among the Christians are called in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Whoever is a sinner a fool or childish or miserable such says he does the Kingdom of God receive But as Origen answers well these vile men are not presently admitted to the participation of the mysteries of this Religion but to the Cure which it works upon them It gives them pardon upon their amendment The Jews from their Sacrifices had hopes of pardon but they were but faint hopes if compared with what we have under the Gospel of Christ God hath given us the utmost assurance For 1. He hath given up his beloved Son to death 2 Cor. 5.7 Joh. 1.29 1 Pet. 1.19 Eph. 5.2 Rev. 1.5 Heb. 12.24 Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us He was that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World Here 's a Sacrifice without spot of an infinite price and value a Sacrifice of a sweet-smelling Savour A Sacrifice which God provided and accepts Our Saviour hath washed us from our sins in his own bloud We are by the Gospel brought to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel The bloud which Jesus shed does not onely speak better things than the bloud of the Legal Sacrifices ordained by the hands of Moses but also better than the Sacrifice which Abel offered up Heb. 11.4 with Gen. 4.4 For though Abel were a righteous person though he offered a more excellent Sacrifice than his brother and God did declare his acceptance of his sacrifice by a visible token from Heaven Though Abel offered his Sacrifice by faith and be justly celebrated among the worthies and the faithfull Though God bore witness to his righteousness and though he being so long since dead yet he speaketh yet for all this the bloud which he offered is not to be compared with the bloud of Jesus And could any thing have been said more to the advancing the value of the bloud of Christ And its efficacy to procure our pardon than that it speaks better things than that of Abel Heb. 9.12.25 Heb. 10.2 ch 9.13 14. 2 Cor. 5.15 Heb. 2.9 Joh. 3.17 This Sacrifice need not be repeated as the Legal Sacrifices were This Sacrifice ' purges the Conscience the legal ones did but sanctify to the purifying of the flesh This Sacrifice is of value sufficient to procure pardon for the whole race of mankind and is not confined in its virtue