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
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
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
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
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
the Chief Priests and Scribes were sore displeased and said unto him Hearest thou what they say Iesus said unto them yea Have ye never read Out of the months of Babes and Sucklings thou hast perfected Praise And now v. 14 15. He cures the Blind and the Lame openly in the Temple And when the Chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the Children crying in the Temple Hosanna they were enraged One would not think that after the multitude of Miracles that our Saviour had now been doing for above three Years together that the curing the Lame and Blind should so much move them But we must remember that though his Ministry had abounded with Miracles yet the most of them had been done about Galilee and in Parts remote from Ierusalem There is but one left upon Record hitherto done in that City And that had so ill a Reception that they sought his Life for it as we may read Iohn V. 16. And therefore we hear not of his being at the next Passover because he was there only privately as an ordinary Jew The reason whereof we may read Iohn VII 1. After these things Iesus walked in Galilee for he would not walk in Jewry because the Iews sought to kill him Hence we may guess the reason why St. Iohn omitted the mention of his being at Ierusalem at the third Passover after his Baptism probably because he did nothing memorable there Indeed when he was at the Feast of Tabernacles immediately preceding this his last Passover he cured the Man born blind But it appears not to have been done in Ierusalem it self but in the way as he retired to the Mount of Olives for there seems to have been no body by when he did it but his Apostles Compare v. 2. with v. 8. 10. of Iohn IX This at least is remarkable That neither the Cure of this Blind Man nor that of the other Infirm Man at the Passover above a twelve Month before at Ierusalem was done in the sight of the Scribes Pharisees Chief Priests or Rulers Nor was it without reason that in the former part of his Ministry he was cautious of shewing himself to be the Messiah And by repeated Miracles done in their sight before the People of provoking the Rulers in Ierusalem where he was in their Power But now that he was come to the last Scene of his Life and that the Passover was come the appointed time wherein he was to compleat the Work he came for in his Death and Resurrection he does many things in Ierusalem it self before the face of the Scribes Pharisees and whole Body of the Jewish Nation to manifest himself to be the Messiah And as St. Luke says Chap. XIX 47 48. He taught daily in the Temple But the Chief Priests and the Scribes and the Chief of the People sought to destroy him And could not find what they might do for all the People were very attentive to hear him What he taught we are not left to guess by what we have found him constantly Preaching elsewhere the Kingdom of God's being come and requiring Repentance But St. Luke tells us Chap. XX. 1. He taught in the Temple and Evangelized Or as we translate it preached the Gospel Which as we have shewed was the making known to them the Good News of the Kingdom of the Messiah And this we shall find he did in what now remains of his History In the first Discourse of his which we find upon Record after this Iohn XII 20 c. he fore-tells his Crucifixion and the belief of all sorts both Iews and Gentiles on him after that Whereupon the People say to him v. 34. We have heard out of the Law that the Messiah abideth for ever And how sayest thou that the Son of Man must be lifted up Who is this Son of Man In his Answer he plainly designs himself under the Name of Light which was what he had declared himself to them to be the last time that they had seen him in Ierusalem For then at the Feast of Tabernacles but six Months before he tells them in the very place where he now is viz. in the Temple I am the Light of the World whosoever follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of Life As we may read Iohn VIII 12. IX 5. He says As long as I am in the World I am the LIGHT of the World But neither here nor any where else does he even in these four or five last days of his Life though he knew his hour was come and was prepared for his Death v. 27. And scrupled not to manifest himself to the Rulers of the Jews to be the Messiah by doing Miracles before them in the Temple ever once in direct words own himself to the Jews to be the Messiah Though by Miracles and other ways he did every where make it known to them so that it might be understood This could not be without some Reason And the Preservation of his Life which he came now to Ierusalem on purpose to lay down could not be it What other could it then be but the same which had made him use Caution in the former part of his Ministry so to conduct himself that he might do the Work which he came for and in all parts answer the Character given of the Messiah in the Law and the Prophets He had fulfilled the time of his Ministry and now Taught and did Miracles openly in the Temple before the Rulers and the People not fearing to be seized But he would not be seized for any thing that might make him a Criminal to the Government And therefore he avoided giving those who in the Division that was about him enclined towards him occasion of Tumult for his sake Or to the Jews his Enemies matter of Just Accusation against him out of his own mouth by professing himself to be the Messiah the King of Israel in direct words It was enough that by words and deeds he declared it so to them that they could not but understand him which 't is plain they did Luke XX. 16. 19. Mat. XXI 45. But yet neither his Actions which were only doing of Good nor Words which were Mystical and Parabolical As we may see Mat. XXI XXII And the Parallel places of Matthew and Luke Nor any of his ways of making himself known to be the Messiah could be brought in Testimony or urged against him as opposite or dangerous to the Government This preserved him from being Condemned as a Malefactor and procured him a Testimony from the Roman Governour his Judge that he was an Innocent Man sacrificed to the Envy of the Iewish Nation So that he avoided saying that he was the Messiah that to those who would reflect on his Life and Death after his Resurrection he might the more clearly appear to be so It is farther to be remarked that though he often appeals to the Testimony of his Miracles
large here by St. Luke it is plain that the Answer of our Saviour set down by St. Matthew Chap. XXVI 64. in these words Thou hast said And by St. Mark Chap. XIV 62. in these I am Is an Answer only to this Question Art thou then the Son of God And not to that other Art thou the Messiah Which preceded and he had answered to before Though Matthew and Mark contracting the story set them down together as if making but one Question omitting all the intervening Discourse Whereas 't is plain out of St. Luke that they were two distinct Questions to which Iesus gave two distinct Answers In the first whereof he according to his usual Caution declined saying in plain express words that he was the Messiah though in the latter he owned himself to be the Son of God Which though they being Iews understood to signifie the Messiah Yet he knew could be no Legal or Weighty Accusation against him before a Heathen and so it proved For upon his answering to their Question Art thou then the Son of God Ye say that I am They cry out Luke XXII 71. What need we any further witnesses For we our selves have heard out of his own mouth And so thinking they had enough against him they hurry him away to Pilate Pilate asking them Iohn XVIII 29-32 What Accusation bring you against this man They answered and said if he were not a Malefactor we would not have delivered him up unto thee Then said Pilate unto them Take ye him and Iudge him according to your Law But this would not serve their turn who aimed at his Life and would be satisfied with nothing else The Iews therefore said unto him It is not lawful for us to put any man to death And this was also That the saying of Iesus might be fulfilled which he spake signifying what Death he should dye Pursuing therefore their Design of making him appear to Pontius Pilate guilty of Treason against Caesar Luke XXIII 2. They began to accuse him saying We found this Fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is the Messiah the King All which were Inferences of theirs from his saying he was the Son of God Which Pontius Pilate finding for 't is consonant that he examined them to the precise words he had said their Accusation had no weight with him However the Name of King being suggested against Jesus he thought himself concerned to search it to the bottom Iohn XVIII 33-37 Then Pilate entred again into the Iudgment-Hall and called Iesus and said unto him Art thou the King of the Iews Iesus answered him Sayest thou this of thy self or did others tell it thee of me Pilate answered am I a Iew Thine own Nation and the Chief Priest have delivered thee unto me What hast thou done Iesus answered My Kingdom is not of this World If my Kingdom were of this World then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Iews But my Kingdom is not from hence Pilate therefore said unto him Art thou a King then Iesus answered Thou sayest that I am a King For this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness to the Truth Every one that is of the Truth heareth my voice In this Dialogue between our Saviour and Pilate we may Observe 1. That being asked whether he were the King of the Iews He answers so that though he deny it not yet he avoided giving the least Umbrage that he had any Design upon the Government For though he allows himself to be a King yet to obviate any suspicion he tells Pilate His Kingdom is not of this World And evidences it by this that if he had pretended to any Title to that Country his followers which were not a few and were forward enough to believe him their King would have fought for him if he had had a mind to set himself up by force or his Kingdom were so to be erected But my Kingdom says he is not from hence Is not of this fashion or of this place 2. Pilate being by his words and circumstances satisfied that he laid no Claim to his Province or meant any Disturbance of the Government was yet a little surprized to hear a Man in that poor Garb without Retinue or so much as a Servant or a Friend own himself to be a King And therefore asks him with some kind of wonder Art thou a King then 3. That our Saviour declares that his great business into the World was to testifie and make good this great Truth that he was a King i. e. in other words that he was the Messiah 4. That whoever were followers of Truth and got into the way of Truth and Happiness received this Doctrine concerning him viz. That he was the Messiah their King Pilate being thus satisfied that he neither meant nor could there arise any harm from his pretence whatever it was to be a King Tells the Jews v. 38. I find no fault in this man But the Jews were the more fierce Luke XXIII 5. saying He stirreth up the people to Sedition by his Preaching through all Jewry beginning from Galilee to this place And then Pilate learning that he was of Galilee Herod's Jurisdiction sent him to Herod to whom also the Chief Priest and Scribes v. 10. vehemently accused him Herod finding all their Accusations either false or frivolous thought our Saviour a bare Object of Contempt And so turning him only into Ridicule sent him back to Pilate Who calling unto him the Chief Priests and the Rulers and the People v. 14. Said unto them Ye 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 these things whereof ye accuse him No nor yet Herod for I sent you to him And so nothing worthy of Death is done by him And therefore he would have released him For he knew the Chief Priests had delivered him through envy Mark XV. 10. And when they demanded Barrabbas to be released but as for Jesus cryed Crucifie him Luke XXIII 22. Pilate said unto them the third time Why What evil hath he done I have found no cause of death in him I will therefore chastise him and let him go We may observe in all this whole Prosecution of the Jews that they would fain have got it out of Iesus's own mouth in express words that he was the Messiah Which not being able to do with all their Art and Endeavour All the rest that they could alledge against him not amounting to a Proof before Pilate that he claimed to be King of the Jews or that he had caused or done any thing towards a Mutiny or Insurrection among the People for upon these two as we see their whole Charge turned Pilate again and again pronounced him innocent For so he did a fourth and a fifth
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
upon you And ye shall be witnesses unto me unto the utmost parts of the Earth Their great business was to be Witnesses to Iesus of his Life Death Resurrection and Ascension which put together were undeniable Proofs of his being the Messiah Which was what they were to Preach and what he said to them concerning the Kingdom of God As will appear by what is recorded of it in the other Evangelists The day of his Resurrection appearing to the two going to Emmaus Luke XXIV They declare v. 21. what his Disciples Faith in him was But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel i.e. We believed that he was the Messiah come to deliver the Nation of the Iews Upon this Iesus tells them they ought to believe him to the Messiah notwithstanding what had happened Nay they ought by his Suffering and Death to be confirmed in that Faith that he was the Messiah And v. 26 27. Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself How that the Messiah ought to have suffered these things and to have entred into his Glory Now he applies the Prophesies of the Messiah to himself which we read not that he did ever do before his Passion And afterwards appearing to the Eleven Luke XXIV 36. He said unto them v. 44-47 These words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me Then opened he their Vnderstandings that they might understand the Scripture and said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day And that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem Here we see what it was he had preached to them though not in so plain open words before his Crucifixion And what it is he now makes them understand And what it was that was to be preached to all Nations viz. That he was the Messiah that had suffered and rose from the Dead the third day and fulfilled all things that was written in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah And that those who believed this and repented should receive Remission of their Sins through this Faith in him Or as St. Mark has it Chap. XVI 15. Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved But he that believeth not shall be damned v. 20. What the Gospel or Good News was we have shewed already viz. The happy Tidings of the Messiah being come v. 20. And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following What the Word was which they preached and the Lord confirmed with Miracles we have seen already out of the History of their Acts Having given an Account of their Preaching every where as it is recorded in the Acts except some few places where the Kingdom of the Messiah is mentioned under the name of the Kingdom of God Which I forbore to set down till I had made it plain out of the Evangelists that That was no other but the Kingdom of the Messiah It may be seasonable therefore now to add to those Sermons we have formerly seen of St. Paul wherein he preached no other Article of Faith but that Iesus was the Messiah the King who being risen from the Dead now Reigneth and shall more publickly manifest his Kingdom in judging the World at the last day what farther is left upon Record of his Preaching Acts XIX 8. At Ephesus Paul went into the Synagogues and spake boldly for the space of three months disputing and perswading concerning the Kingdom of God And Acts XX. 25. At Miletus he thus takes leave of the Elders of Ephesus And now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone Preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more What this Preaching the Kingdom of God was he tells you v. 20 21. I have kept nothing back from you which was profitable unto you but have shewed you and have taught you publickly and from House to House Testifying both to the Iews and to the Greeks Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Iesus Christ. And so again Acts XXVIII 23 24. When they the Jews at Rome had appointed him Paul a day there came many to him into his Lodging To whom he expounded and testified the Kingdom of God perswading them concerning Iesus both out of the Law of Moses and out of the Prophets from Morning to Evening And some believed the things which were spoken and some believed not And the History of the Acts is concluded with this Account of St. Paul's Preaching And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired House and received all that came in unto him Preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Iesus the Messiah We may therefore here apply the same Conclusion to the History of our Saviour writ by the Evangelists And to the History of the Apostles writ in the Acts which St. Iohn does to his own Gospel Chap. XX. 30 31. Many other signs did Iesus before his Disciples And in many other places the Apostles preached the same Doctrine which are not written in these Books But these are written that you may believe that Iesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his Name What St. Iohn thought necessary and sufficient to be believed for the attaining Eternal Life he here tells us And this not in the first dawning of the Gospel when perhaps some will be apt to think less was required to be believed than after the Doctrine of Faith and Mystery of Salvation was more fully explained in the Epistles writ by the Apostles For it is to be remembred that St. Iohn says this not as soon as Christ was ascended For these words with the rest of St. Iohn's Gospel were not written till many Years after not only the other Gospels and St. Luke's History of the Acts but in all appearance after all the Epistles writ by the other Apostles So that above Threescore Years after our Saviour's Passion for so long after both Epiphanius and St. Ierome assure us this Gospel was written St. Iohn knew nothing else required to be believed for the attaining of Life but that Iesus is the Messiah the Son of God To this 't is likely it will be objected by some that to believe only that Iesus of Nazareth is the Messiah is but an Historical and not a Justifying or Saving Faith To which I Answer That I allow to the makers of Systems and their followers to invent and use what distinctions they please and to call things by what names they think fit But I cannot allow to them or