But if you say where are these Conquests of our Lord 's to be seen shew us the men that are thus redeemed from their crimes and follies I answer that there are and ever were such men in the World since the Gospel appeared But that their number is small is not from the Religion they profess but because it is not entertained It is because they are false Christians not because the Religion is not able to make them such If we would receive our Lord's precepts and beg his aids and use his assistances and helps we should find a mighty change in the minds of men Lactant. Institut l. 3. c. 26. One of the Ancients tells us that there were daily experiments in his time how far the Precepts of Religion did prevail upon the minds of men And I cannot but take notice of his words to this purpose Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus c. Give me a man says he that is given to wrath to evil speaking and who is unruly With a very few words of God I will render him tame as a sheep Give me one that is craving covetous tenacious I will render him liberal and bountifull Give me one that is fearfull of grief and death He shall soon despise crosses and flames and the torments of a Tyrant Give me one that is lustfull adulterous and gluttonous and you shall soon see him sober chast and continent Give me one that is cruel and bloud-thirsty and that fury shall soon be changed into an unfeigned Clemency Give me one that is unjust foolish and sinfull and he shall presently become just and prudent and inoffensive Thus did Religion doe in those times when it was considered and entertained Those deliverances under the law of Moses were more particular and restrained to the people of the Jews but our Jesus is the Saviour of Mankind He is the authour of eternal salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And he that saves the World is preferrible to him that delivered the Israelites onely The time was when Religion and all the more eminent dignations and favours of God seemed to be inclosed and confined within the narrow compass of the land and people of the Jews There had God his Temple and dwelt among them to them he gave his responses from heaven There were his Prophets and they had his Law amongst them He had not dealt so with any nation and for his judgments they had not known them Psal 147.20 In Judah was God known His Name was great in Israel in Salem was his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion There brake he the arrows and the bow the shield and the sword and the battel Psal 76.1 And What one nation in the Earth was there like that people 2 Sam. 7.23 Among them he wrought his Wonders and the Gentiles were so far from being bettered by those Wonders that they were to their loss They were strangers to the Commonwealth and to the mercies of Israel Their land was the glorious land and the Valley of Vision when others sate in darkness Nay which is more still the Messiah was promised to them and to be of their seed The Apostle in sew but very comprehensive words reckons up their Prerogatives To whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9.4 The deliverances that were wrought by Moses and Joshua c. were for the sake of them and they were but the Saviours of the Israelites But our Lord is the Saviour of Mankind of the Gentile as well as Jew He is that light which lighteth every man that comes into the world That Sun of righteousness whose light and influence is not confined to any one nation or kindred but displays it self upon all the nations of the Earth The partition wall is taken down and the difference between man and man is taken away And whoever comes to our Jesus shall in no-wise be cast out Now all the faithfull are the children of Abraham And God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.34 Upon the birth of Jesus the Angel tells the shepherds Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people Luke 2.10 And the heavenly Host praised God and said Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men v. 14. Our Lord came not to save the Jews onely but all that believe And 't is worth our observing after what manner the love of God in sending his Son is expressed Not as confined to the Jews any longer but as reaching to the race of Mankind God so loved the world not the Jewish people onely that he gave his onely begotten Son c. John 3.16 After the same manner the Apostle speaks of this love of God After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared Tit. 3.4 Our Saviour is a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the glory of the people of Israel Luke 2.32 Our Lord hath delivered Mankind Moses and Joshua delivered the Israelites onely Sampson dyed and by his death destroyed the enemies of the Hebrews Our Lord by his death destroyed the enemies of Mankind The Sacrifices of the Law at the most attoned for the whole Congregation of Israel But Christ gave himself a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2.6 He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole World 1 John 2.2 Our Lord tasted of death for every man Heb. 2.9 And would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 And what the men of Dan said to Micha's Levite that it was better for him to be a Priest to a tribe than to be a Priest to one man is accommodable to my present purpose He is the great deliverer that rescues Mankind rather than one people And such an one is our Jesus the Saviour of the World By the Religion of Christ Jesus we may be justified and acquitted from that guilt which admitted no attonement from the law of Moses Though in the law of Moses several oblations were prescribed and allowed to expiate for sins of Ignorance yet there was no expiation allowed for him that sinned presumptuously but such a sinner was to be cut off from among God's people Numb 15.30 31. There were many sins of this high nature that the law was not furnished with an attonement for as may be seen Levit. 20. Among these wilfull murther was to be reckoned as a sin that admitted no sacrifice of attonement And to this sense are the words of the Psalmist understood when he prays to be delivered from bloud-guiltiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
office too mean for us in which we may do any good office to one another Here is enough to extinguish for ever all our ambition and pride and contempt of our poor Brother Nothing that we can do can be called a great condescension after this humiliation of the Son of God IV. Of resignation to the will of God This our Lord was the most conspicous mirrour and example of He was a man sin onely excepted like one of us sensible of hunger and thirst of pain and sorrow and these things pained his flesh as they do ours His soul was sorrowfull and very heavy His sweat was like drops of bloud great was his agony and his sorrow beyond expression He saw before his eyes a most painfull and a most shamefull death He is about to drink a most bitter cup. These things were grievous to his humane nature and therefore he prays that if it were possible this cup might pass from him but after all he submits himself to the will of God Not as I will but as thou wilt And how instructive is this to us We sinners may be ashamed to murmur when our Lord resigned himself Well may we submit under our little and deserved evils when he that was without fault resigned himself up to God Mat. 26.39 V. Of the greatest Charity to Mankind Greater love than this hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but a very few examples in our books of such a Degree of Charity Some few I'll grant have done this none have gone beyond this besides our Lord Jesus For he died for his Enemies and for the Ungodly This example should constrain us to do good to all even to evil men and to our greatest Enemies Rom. 5.6 VI. Of the greatest fortitude and the truest courage He bore witness to the truth with his bloud and was stedfast in the profession of it to his last breath The most sharp and shamefull death the most barbarous usage and treatment could not prevail upon him to deny the truth or to fall into an impotent passion and revenge himself He does in cold bloud chuse rather to dye the worst kind of death than to quit the profession of the truth or to destroy his Enemies This is indeed an argument of true greatness of mind We are much mistaken in our conceit about Valour or fortitude To Forgive an Enemy and to chuse to dye rather than to do an evil thing speaks a generous and a great mind and is a certain proof of Courage and true Fortitude But he is a man of a weak mind who will do an evil thing to save his life and revenge himself upon him that affronts him or does him wrong Revenge speaks a defect of wit and courage The meanest creatures they are who are peevish and waspish and prone to bite him that toucheth him Leniter qui saeviunt sapiunt magis Anger resteth it in the bosom of fools Non est magnus animus quem incurvat injuria They are but little and feeble folk that are ruffled by every injury or calumny The more impotent and weak any creature is the more easily provoked and nothing is a more certain sign of a narrow and mean soul than is revenge Quippe minuti Semper infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio continuò sic collige quòd Vindicta Nemo magìs gaudet quà m faemina c. Well so it was our Saviour shewed great Courage and resolution and hath given us therein a great example of Christian fortitude and resolution I shall now make some application of what hath been said I. What hath been said may serve to recommend to us a suffering condition which Christ hath sanctified by his own Sufferings When we suffer we are like the Author and finisher of our faith It becomes us not to be dismayed with our sufferings who profess a faith in a crucified Redeemer For by sufferings our Religion was planted by sufferings it grew up and prevailed in the World This was the way in which Jesus went before us into his glory And if we suffer with him we shall likewise be glorified together It is no little comfort to us to think that our Lord hath led us the same way and that he did overcome the world after this manner which is indeed the noblest conquest of it II. We may hence be exhorted to a frequent mediation of the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ Form what hath been said it appears plainly that we are nearly concerned in these things For Christ did not suffer upon his own account but upon ours and we are very much concerned in the benefits of his death 1. As we expect our pardon upon the account of his merit and satisfaction He was a sacrifice which made attonement and expiation for our crimes as he died for our Sins 2. As we hope for an eternal inheritance upon the account of the death of Christ who hath made way for us by his death and by death entered himself before into an eternal inheritance 3. As we are confirmed in the truth of his holy Religion by the Testimony of his bloud with which this new covenant between God and man was ratified and confirmed 4. As we are constrained by the glorious example he gave us in his sufferings to patience and charity and self-resignation c. of which he hath given us the most powerfull example III. We may hence be exhorted to a frequent and diligent partaking of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which is appointed as a standing memorial of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ We ought not onely to embrace but welcome all these opportunities as those which lead us to the contemplation of Christ's death upon which our hopes to depend It is an unspeakable privilege that we are admitted to this favour And had we the due sense which we ought to have upon our minds of the love of God in giving us his Son and the love of our Lord in giving up himself to death for us and the unspeakable benefits which thence accrue to us we should need no words of persuasion no law or secular interest to invite us to the doing of that which is so plainly our duty and so much our interest to doe Our spiritual hunger and thirst are the onely safe and lasting principles as well as the acceptable ones from whence we ought to be moved If our souls be once possessed with an ardent love of God and our Blessed Saviour we shall not make excuses and shall be so far from that that it will not be an easie thing to stay away and nothing less than a violent detention will keep us back And thus I have from the sufferings of Jesus made it appear that he is the Christ Before I proceed to speak to the resurrection of Jesus I shall say something of his Burial Of the Messias it was foretold
yet it is possible to discern true miracles from lying wonders Else our Saviour's miracles had been in vain and could not have been brought as a proof that he was the Christ the Son of God We may in this weighty matter be preserved from mistake if we consider it with that due application which becomes us I shall therefore now prove That our Saviour's were true and unexceptionable miracles My meaning is that they were a good proof of his doctrine and that he was what he professed himself to be the Christ the Son of God And for the farther proof of this I shall offer the following particulars to be considered not onely separately but in conjunction with one another 1. The Authour of these miracles was Jesus a person of a most innocent and usefull life Had he been a profligate person or had he been ever detected of an untruth the miracles which he did would not have been enough to gain him credit He was far removed from ostentation and vain glory a great example of meekness and humility of purity and peaceableness of an ardent love to God and contempt of the World Nothing but impudent malice could accuse our Lord. He did good to all and did not hurt the poorest and vilest man in the world He did not come to destroy but to save the lives of men He gained no wealth by his works who had not where to lay his head He desired no applause for he charges those that saw his works that they should tell no man He affects no Dominion and did not make his power of doing these works a step to worldly greatness Indeed he bids John Baptist's Disciples shew John the things which they saw and heard but this was an effect of his Charity to them or to their Master and not because he affected popular fame He was so innocent a person that the very Judge who delivered him to death did pronounce him innocent and he that betrayed him was overtaken with that horror that he went and hanged himself He was judged a righteous person by strangers and his enemies were forced to make use of false and incoherent witnesses of loud clamours and the specious pretence of Caesar's friendship to procure his death He spent his time in doing good and was the greatest example that ever appeared in the world of the most spotless purity the profoundest humility and the most inflamed and universal charity The miracles of such a Person are of mighty force For if an holy and good life do very much commend a Doctrine surely such a life as our Saviour's was accompanied with the mighty works which he did is of great moment to assure us of the truth of what he taught 2. I consider next the doctrine which the works that Jesus did do confirm This doctrine was like Jesus himself holy just and good It is the wisest and the best Religion in the world and that which tends to make men good and happy It does not consist in a number of ceremonies and rituals a few small and trifling opinions it is not a doctrine which promotes a secular and worldly interest that indulges men in their lusts and onely robs them of their wealth It is a doctrine that is holy and innocent that teaches us to love God with our whole heart and our neighbour as our Selves It permits us not to doe any evil and requires us to doe all the good we can It is so far from allowing us to doe an injury that it will not suffer us to revenge it It teaches us to be humble and modest chast and temperate very frequent and very fervent in our prayers to God sincere in all our promises and professions and very bountifull in our mercy which we shew to the poor and miserable A Religion that requires the Service of the heart that lays before us the best precepts and propounds the most incomparable rewards It abstracts us from the world and puts us upon pursuance of life and immortality It does not onely forbid Adultery Murther and Theft but every impure thought every angry word every covetous desire It comports with our wisest faculties quiets our minds perfects our natures kills our lusts and joys our hearts It bids us doe as we would be done by obey our Superiours be gentle to our Servants kind to the poor just to all men It allows us not to think any evil and does strictly require that we speak evil of no man It forbids not onely all swearing but all dissimulation and every idle word It commends to us patience contentedness resignation to the will of God and a thirst after heaven and heavenly things A Religion that is able to make us very wise and very happy rendring us at once at peace with God and with one another and filling our souls with a peace that passeth understanding It is the best security and the greatest blessing to Kingdoms and Commonwealths and all societies of men It disowns every thing that is unjust and untrue that is sneaking and unbecoming that is low and mean It designs to conform us to the likeness of God And whoever looks into its laws may soon discern that it is a blessed institution and not a systeme of craft and worldly policy to keep the world in awe withall It is full of weighty principles of divine and heavenly precepts of the most endearing and pathetick motives to obedience It hath nothing trifling in it but is fraught with a wisedom that is divine and is placed above the contempt and scorn of men It commends it self to the consciences of all that are ingenuous and inquisitive And no man will speak evil of it but a fool that understands it not or the debauched sinner who is condemned by its precepts and denounced against by its severest menaces When I speak thus of Christian Religion I speak of it as it is in its self and to them who give up themselves to the obedience of it Christianity I know is depraved and greatly corrupted by the Church of Rome and there are but few of those who understand their Religion better that have any more than a form of godliness when they continue enemies to the power of it 3. I consider in the next place the great design of the miracles which Jesus did We shall find that they tended to the destruction of the Devil's Kingdom It was most maliciously and foolishly said by the Pharisees that our Lord cast out Devils by the Prince of Devils Matt. 12.24 This is sufficiently refuted by our Saviour Every Kingdom says he divided against it self is brought to desolation ver 25. and every City or House divided against it self shall not stand And if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself How shall then his Kingdom stand And if I by Beelzebub cast out Devils by whom do your Children cast them out therefore they shall be your Judges The miracles which Christ did destroyed the Devil's Kingdom
a doctrine which Christ never taught and which contradicts our sense and our reason at the same time And the stories which they tell of the sweating and motion of their Images serve to advance the worshipping of Images In a word their works are trifling and vain and their doctrine is impious and false and to say the least of it not revealed by God 3. The miracles which Christ did were seasonable and necessary at that time to confirm his doctrine whether we consider the obstinacy of the Jews or the Idolatry of the Gentiles Upon both accounts it was needfull that the Christian doctrine should be confirmed with miracles and so it was But the Popish miracles are out of time there is no need of them to confirm the Christian doctrine where it is already planted Miracles are for the sake of unbelievers and as the world grew Christian they ceased nor is it to be imagined that God will work them without any cause at all In the old Testament we shall find that the greatest number of miracles were wrought by Moses their Law-giver in Egypt and in the wilderness before and upon the giving the Law no man wrought so many miracles nay not all the succeeding Prophets together as he wrought Thus was the Law confirmed And when this was done you rarely read of miracles wrought afterward when the Jews had received and continued in the profession of the Law of Moses The greatest number that were wrought afterward was when there was the greatest reason for them and that was after Jeroboam had revolted from the worship of God and set up his Calves in Dan and Bethel and no less than ten Tribes revolted with him Then indeed there were some number of miracles wrought to convince them of their sin and reduce them from their Schism Then was the Altar at Bethel cleft in pieces Jeroboam's hand withered and restored as miraculously upon the prayer of the Man of God And these miracles were wrought in Bethel among the Schismaticks which were to be convinced and reduced Then Elijah shut up the Heavens is miraculously fed by the Ravens multiplies the meal and raises to life the Widow's Son he calls for fire from Heaven and fasts forty days and destroys the Captains and their fifties by fire which he called from Heaven He divides Jordan with his Garment and is miraculously taken up into Heaven And Elishah during this time did many wonderfull works also He divides the river heals the water encreases the Widow's oil foretells that the Shunamite should have a Child and raised it from the dead He removes the death that was in the pot miraculously feeds the people heals Naaman of his Leprosie He causeth Iron to swim strikes Gehazi with a leprosie and the enemies of Israel with blindness and his dry bones after all these things which he did in his life restored one that was dead to life again Thus in a little time many miracles were wrought more than had been wrought before and after for some hundreds of years So that the great number of miracles were wrought upon the giving the Law and upon the greatest defection from it and that to confirm the truth and convince gain-sayers But what means the Church of Rome to boast of miracles If they be wrought in her own Communion they serve no purpose There 's no need of a miracle where men believe without it Their miracles are done at a great distance from us who are to be convinced and such they are which we cannot see at all or else we may easily see through them Of one thing we are sure viz. that their doctrine is false and then we shall have no cause to be drawn aside with lying miracles The Israelites had warning in this case and so have we Christians also not to believe against our rule any pretence whatsoever Deut. 13.1 Gal. 1.8 9. And we are forewarned of false people who should pretend to miracles Matt. 24.24 2 Thessal 2.9 Rev. 13.13 I shall proceed to consider the miracles which are storied of the Heathens I will not descend to all the stories that may be found upon record to this purpose because besides that we want sufficient Evidence of the truth of those matters of fact so they are not worthy of consideration being things of trifling regard and such as import no advantage to mankind Origen contra Cels l. 3. Such is that which Celsus mentions of Abaris who could fly into the air and keep pace with an Arrow in that flight And that of the speaking of an Image in Valerius Maximus Valerius Maxim l. 1. c. 8. Augustin de civitat Dei l. 10. c. 16. The cutting a Whet-stone in two with a Rasour by Attius Navius The sweating of an Image of Apollo at Cumae and of that of Victory at Capua and that of the Shields which were gnawed by the mice the extraordinary swelling of the Lacus Albanus That of the Serpent which followed Aesculapius when he sailed to Rome and of the Vestal Virgin which took up water out of Tiber and kept it in a Sieve These things are trifling and mean and they who report them do it not with sufficient assurance but upon traditions and common fame and not upon their certain and personal knowledge For what is storied of Vespasian and Adrian's curing the blind I shall not need to say any more than this That if those reports be true they are far short of what our Saviour did nor do we read of any who laid down their lives in testimony thereof And as I do not deny that there have been providential miracles out of the Church of God so it is not to be wondred at that the Devil should exert his utmost power to keep men in errour and as much as may be endeavour to imitate God And more particularly still to consider what is storied of Vespasian and of Adrian I shall desire it may be considered That what is reported of Vespasian to this purpose cannot fairly be denied Tacit. Histor l. 4. it being affirmed by very good Authours And therefore I admit that he did such miraculous cures as are told of him Sueton. Vespasian But then it is to be considered that he was not onely an excellent Prince but that very person who was to execute God's displeasure against the Jews for rejecting and crucifying Jesus And no wonder that God should honour him with an extraordinary power whom he employed in so great a work especially if it be considered that upon his coming to the Empire at first as Suetonius tells us he wanted majesty and authority which was supplied by this means Nor is there any thing in this that does at all derogate from the works of Jesus But then what is storied of Adrian to the same purpose we have not the same cause to believe Aelius Spartianus Adrian and the very Historian which reports it gives us at the same time ground to believe that what is
he took care of the Levitical Priest-hood also And where he had cleansed the Leper he takes order that the Priest should not lose the profit which in such a case he was wont to receive He wronged no man and though he were poor yet he took care to give every man his due and to reserve something for the poor also His righteousness was so exemplary that the Jews who thirsted after his bloud knew not how to effect his death They had procured false witnesses indeed but their testimony was so incoherent and so lewd that the Jews themselves were forced to use another device since that frequently made use of against his followers viz. to represent him as an Enemy to Caesar And now Pilate to approve himself to the Roman power delivers up Jesus to be crucified But still he pronounced him innocent who gave him up to be crucified He washes his hands and declares himself openly in behalf of Jesus What follows does eminently belong to our Jesus as it was spoken of the Messias Having Salvation The very name Jesus by which he was commonly known and called speaks Salvation And it was given him by the direction of an Angel Mat. 1.21 because he was to save his people from their sins And as he came to save what was lost so we shall find that he fulfilled that design and answered that blessed Name by which he was called he saved some from hunger and thirst some from diseases and possessions some from sickness and others from death and all that believe on him from Hell and the wrath which is to come For what follows in the Prophet that he was to be lowly agrees exactly to our Jesus For whether by lowly be meant poor as that Hebrew word used in the Prophet signifies or meek as it is there rendred by the LXXII Interpreters whose rendring St. Matthew also follows It is certain that our Jesus was both poor and meek in a very eminent degree So poor that he had not what the Foxes did not want where to lay his head And for his meekness and lowliness of mind he was the most eminent and unparrelled example that ever was in the world I shall proceed now to the consideration of the death of Jesus and those particulars which do more immediately relate thereunto And not to insist upon every particular which makes to my present purpose I shall take notice First of the kind of his death and that was the death of the Cross A death it was that Jesus one would have thought should not have died For besides that it was the vilest and most ignominious death a death of slaves and the most profligate villains Besides this it was not like to be the portion of Jesus Sanhedr cap. 7. I. Because it was not a Jewish punishment but a Roman one The Jewish four Capital punishments were stoning burning strangling and killing with the sword II. Because if this had been one of the Jewish punishments yet it could not by the Jewish Law have been the lot of Jesus For whereas the high Priest Pronounced him guilty of Blasphemy and they who were by him judged him thereupon worthy of death Levit. 24.16 we know that stoning was the death appointed in that Case not onely by the after constitution of the Jews but also by the Law of Moses But it was foretold that the Messias should suffer this kind of death And God's decrees and Counsels shall come to pass The Jews had a figure of this in the Wilderness Our Jesus put them in mind of it in these words As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up Joh. 3.14 The story is very well known The people for their sin were bitten with fiery Serpents and many of them died The people beg of Moses in this distress that he would intercede for them that the fiery Serpents might be removed Moses prayed to God in their behalf and by God's direction he makes a Serpent of brass and put it on a pole and they which were bitten looked upon this brazen Serpent and were healed Numb 21. This Serpent that was lifted up in the Wilderness was a type of the death of Christ and of the kind of his death and the effects of the brazen Serpent upon them who looked on it did typifie the virtue received by true believers from the death of Christ To this purpose this of the brazen Serpent is applyed by our Saviour Dominicam crucem intentabat Tertullian adv Judaeos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. pro Christian Apol. II. Moses made that Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. in IV. Reg. Quaest 49. and by the ancient Christian Writers is frequently mentioned as a type of the Cross and passion of our blessed Saviour And that it is rightly applyed by Jesus and his followers I shall shew against the Jews Certain it is that the Jews do allow that this brazen Serpent was a figure of something else Vid. Buxtorf Hist Serpent Aenei c. 5. Just Martyr Dialog cum Tryph. and that it had a spiritual sense and meaning And when Just in Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew insisted upon this as a type of the death of Christ and appealed to the company what reason excluding that could be given of this matter one of them confessed that he was in the right and that himself had enquired for a reason from the Jewish Masters but could meet with none The Authour of the book of Wisedom calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wised 16.6 7. a symbol or sign of Salvation For he that turned himself towards it says he was not saved by the thing that he saw but by thee that art the Saviour of all It was an extraordinary and supernatural thing that the likeness of a Serpent should cure the venomous bite of a living one Abravenel R. Bechai in Num. 21. Philo Jud. de Agricultura Leg. Allegor l. 3. The Jewish Writers confess it to be miraculous and that there was in it a miracle within a Miracle Philo the Jew as I intimated before in the fourteenth page of this discourse does in several places mention the difference between the Serpent of Eve and the Serpent of Moses or this brazen Serpent of which I am now speaking He makes one directly opposite to the other and that which deceived Eve to be a symbol of voluptuousness and in token thereof doomed to goe upon his belly Gen. 3.14 But this of Moses to be a symbol of fortitude and temperance That was the destroyer of mankind this the Saviour of the Israelites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. every one that sees it the brazen Serpent shall live Very true For if the mind bitten with Eve's Serpent which is voluptuousness can spiritually discern the beauty of Temperance i. e. The Serpent of Moses and through it God himself he shall
might not attend unto their pain Maimon H. Sanhedr c. 13. viz. Frankincense in a cup of Wine For this they ground themselves on the words of Solomon Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish and wine to those that be of heavy heart Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more This was the constant practice of the Jews and there is a tradition among them that the Ladies of the City of Jerusalem were at this charge of their own good will towards the poor Sufferers But for all this practice what God foretold was fulfilled Matt. 27.48 with Psalm 69.21 Joh. 19.28 29. Prov. 31.6 7. The Souldiers when they had crucified Jesus part his garments and made four parts to every Souldier a part but when they came to his coat which it seems was woven and without a seam because they could not part that they said among themselves let us not rend it but cast lots for it whose it shall be And so this seemed to be a very casual and contingent thing yet was this not without the particular providence of God in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Psalmist they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture Psalm 18.22 with Joh. 19.23 24. The Psalmist predicted of the Messias in these words All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him Let us hear now what the Evangelist tells us as to the verifying of this prophecy He tells us that when Jesus was crucified they that passed by reviled him wagging their head and saying thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three days save thy self if thou be the Son of God come down from the Cross There were others that said 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 Psalm 22.7 8. with Mat. 27.39 The Psalmist reports the very words which the Christ should speak upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And we find that Jesus about the ninth hour cryed out Eli Eli Lama sabacthani i. e. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And if the Prophet Isaiah tell us when he reports that he poured out his soul unto death that he did also make intercession for the transgressors I am sure St. Luke tells us that Jesus when he was upon the Cross interceded for his greatest Enemies praying for them and saying Father forgive them for they know not what they doe Psalm 22.1 with Mat. 27.46 Isai 53.12 with Luk. 23.34 The same Prophet describes the patient sufferings of the Messias in these words He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before her Shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth Never was this Scripture so eminently fulfilled as it was by Jesus He endured his pain and contempt with a most unparallelled patience He was betrayed by a false Disciple and with a fraudulent kiss Another swears he does not know him the rest leave him in his extremity He is stricken by the hand of a rude Officer oppressed in the place of Judgment condemned to die without sufficient Evidence he is spit upon buffeted hooted at and reviled They carry him from Caiaphas to Pontius Pilate before whom he answers with silence and an unheard of patience From Pilate he is conveyed to Herod and is silent before him also thence he is returned to Pilate neither one nor the other could find any fault with him His enemies thirst for his bloud are loud and clamorous our Lord who suffers holds his peace Isai 53.7 Mat. 27.14 Luk. 23.9 11 14. Though the sufferings of the Messias were particularly predicted as hath been said and they were very severe yet we are assured that a bone of him should not be broken This was intimated in the Law of the Paschal Lamb a very remarkable type of the death of Christ by which it was provided that not a bone of the Lamb should be broken Abravenel in Ex. 12. This is said to have been so appointed for the honour of the holy oblation and was of perpetual obligation and not peculiar to the Passeover of Egypt Now this was actually fulfilled in the body of Jesus though it were very unlikely it should have happened so For besides that our Saviour's enemies were barbarously cruel towards him they had a custom among them to break the legs of the crucified and were at this time especially carefull about it because of their approaching Sabbath and had actually broken the bones of the two Malefactors which hung by him and were come to the body of Jesus for the same end But finding him dead they pierced his side but brake not his bones not without a very remarkable providence of God And this was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled A bone of him shall not be brokea Exod 12.46 Joh. 19.36 If what hath been said be considered duely we shall have great cause from the sufferings of Jesus to believe him to be the Christ I come now to enquire into the causes or reasons of the sufferings of Christ For it cannot be supposed that Christ who was a most innocent person should suffer a most painfull and ignominious death without some weighty cause and great ends And what those are you may learn from the following particulars 1. He suffered in our stead and to procure our pardon and acceptance and Salvation We do believe that he suffered for us men and our Salvation and maintain against the followers of Socinus that this death was a piacular Sacrifice and that his sufferings were a vicarious punishment upon the account and for the expiation of our sins Or that he died to make satisfaction for our sins For the proving of this let us consult the holy Scriptures and we shall find that they do abundantly teach us this truth It is granted on all hands that the Prophet Isaiah Chap. LIII speaks of the sufferings of the Messias And he gives us such an account of them as speaks them to be undergone not onely for our sakes but in our stead also Thus he is said to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows v. 4. And if those words do not import this sense yet those which follow do very much confirm us in this belief He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed v. 5. These words do plainly import that the fault was ours and that for that fault the Messias suffered It was our transgression and our iniquity but the wounds
that he should not onely die but be buried and not onely buried but honourably interred also And what was foretold of him was fulfilled in our Jesus though it were very unlikely to have come to pass That the Messias should be buried is foretold by the Psalmist Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell or in the grave neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see Corruption We have no dispute with the Jews about the burial of Jesus for they who grant that he died will not deny that he was buried it being the custome of the Jews to allow burial to all men even to the greatest malefactors whatsoever Psal 16.10 with Act. 2.31 and Chap. 13.35 But it was likewise foretold that the Messias though he were to suffer an ignominious death should be honorably buried This was foretold of the Messias and was eminently fulfilled in our Jesus Of the Messias it is said that he was cut off out of the land of the living And then it follows And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth That is his enemies designed him the burial of a malefactor and he who dies among such is likely to be buried with them also but the Messias having done no violence would be rescued by the providence of God and honourably buried Isai 53.9 We have another Eminent prophecy of the Messias which cannot be denyed to belong to him by the Jews themselves where among other things it is foretold that his rest shall be glorious which words may well be allowed to predict the honourable burial of the Messias Abravenel upon the 53. of Isaiah brings these words as a proof that what is said Isa 53.9 he made his grave with the Wicked cannot belong to the Messias because it is said that his rest shall be glorious In which he grants two things First that the 11th Chapter of Isaiah is to be understood of the Messias and we find him accordingly expound it of him Secondly that these words his rest shall be glorious may well be expounded of the honourable burial of the Messias For else what cause had he to say that these words are opposite to those if they do not belong to the same matter Isa 11.10 Abravenel on Isa 53.9 And as this Jew hath justified those Christians who understand this place of the burial of the Messias so it is very certain that the place hath been understood to belong to this matter by the Ancient Writers of the Church The Vulgar Latin renders these words his rest shall be glorious erit sepulchrum ejus gloriosum And we find the Greek interpreters elsewhere render the word rest to this sense Just Mart. pro Christian Apol 11. Erit in pace Sepultura ejus Cypr. adv Judaeos l. 2. v. Hieron Epist ad Marcell as signifying burial Thus he shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds which words Justin Martyr understands of the Messias is by the Greek rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e his burial shall be in peace And this place we find was understood of the honourable burial of the Messias by the Ancients I shall now shew that these things were fulfilled in our Jesus Though he were crucified under the Roman power yet was he buried contrary to the custome of the Romans who left those that were crucified to the injuries of the air and Voracity of the fowls Again though Jesus died between two theives and died as a malefactor and though his enemies designed nothing more but an ignoble grave with the wicked yet it was brought to pass by the providence of God that his dead body was buried with the rich and that great honour was shewed him in his burial The body of Jesus was begged by a rich man named Joseph 't was lapped in clean linen and laid in his own new Tomb. Nicodemus a Ruler of the Jews and a Master of Israel brings a mixture of Myrrh and Aloes The good Womans pretious Ointment was poured out for the burial of Jesus And when the Sabbath was past several Women brought spices that they might anoint him In a word great care was taken about his burial by the rich by the honourable and the devout It was done with care and with cost and by Persons of the greatest rank and quality Not to say that in after times the place where his body had lain was visited frequently and greatly adorned But I shall not need to insist any farther upon this but shall proceed to consider the Resurrection of the Messias Matt. 27.57 Joh. 5.1 10. with ch 19.39 Matt. 26.12 Mark 16.1 CHAP. VIII The CONTENTS Of the Resurrection of Jesus That we have sufficient evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead That we have the most unexceptionable humane Testimony Why the same number of men are called the eleven and the twelve elsewhere when they were but Ten John 21.14 Explained This confirmed by the Testimony of an Angel and by Divine Testimony That Jesus removed all cause of doubting of the truth of his Resurrection That there were a select number of Men chosen to be witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus That these witnesses as also the Evangelists are worthy of belief That it was foretold that the Messias should rise from the dead The words Ps 11.5 This day have I begotten thee are justly applyed to this matter This proved against the Jews at large That Jesus rose from the dead is an undeniable proof that he is the Messias and of the greatest importance to us Of the time when Jesus rose from the dead Why on the third day And how he could be said to rise on the third day who was but one whole day in the Sepulchre and how this agrees with Matt. 12.40 where Jesus said he should be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth The third day on which Jesus rose considered as the first day of the Week IF the sufferings and death of Jesus will afford us any arguments to prove him to be the Messias the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead and his exaltation to God's right hand will much more afford us pregnant and unexceptionable proofs that he was the Christ the Son of God and that his Religion which he hath taught us came from God And for the better speaking to this matter I shall First shew that we have sufficient evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead Secondly that this is an unexceptionable proof that he is the Christ Thirdly I shall consider the time when Jesus rose from the dead viz. the third day I shall shew that we have sufficient evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead By sufficient evidence I mean such as is enough to satisfie any honest and inquisitive mind as much not to say much more as we have for any matter of fact which we were not the eye-witnesses of As
the Ancient writers of the Church upon this occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Histor Eccles. lib. 10. c. 4. c. i.e. What King says he was ever of so great power as to fill the ears and the tongues of all the inhabitants of the earth What King ever made laws so pious and sober as could prevail upon the inhabitants of the whole earth from one end of the earth to the other Who ever was able to void the barbarous and cruel customs of the Heathen by mercifull and gentle laws Who ever met with so long and great an opposition and had force enough not onely not to be extinct but to thrive and flourish under this oppression Who ever sent about the world a people obscure and scarcely heard of before Who ever bestowed on his Souldiers such a spiritualarmour that they gave proof to their enemies of minds hardy and strong as the Adamant What ever King shewed such puissance and force after his death Who ever erected such Trophies over his enemies Who ever filled all places Countries and Cities of the Greeks and Barbarians with stately palaces and consecrated Temples And for his disciples the first preachers of the Gospel what were they No Princes of an Ancient bloud but obscure fisher-men No select Orators from Rome or Athens but poor illiterate Galileans No great Captains or Commanders but men of great simplicity and peaceableness They were men very unlikely to doe any great things having no reputation for depth of wisedom or any thing of power or worldly greatness Such were the first planters of the Gospel And who would look for any great success from so small a beginning Who would have believed that such men as these had been big enough to have grapled with the wisedom of the Greeks the power of the Romans the malice of their Countrey men the Jews with the rudeness and hardiness of all the Heathen world A man might as well have believed that a few Shepherds might have driven Hannibal from the gates of Rome Or that a few peasants had been able to drive Xerxes with his great multitude out of Greece or that a single and an unarmed man could be able to put to flight the stoutest Regiment or Legion of Souldiers a man might as easily have believed that a few Children had been able to take the strongest Garrison as that these men should have been able to have stood up and prevailed against the Devil and all his complices against all the policies and powers all the wit and malice of a wicked world and so far to prevail too with the preaching of a Christ Crucified as to perswade the world to forsake their worship of false Gods whom their fathers had worshipped and to own a Crucified Saviour Certainly they that could doe this as we know they did had an almighty power to their assistance None but God could have done this whoever does but rightly consider and weigh it It must be an infinite power that by such weak means could bring such great things to pass 2. For the Doctrine it self if we duly consider it we shall find it very unlikely to prevail upon the world whether we consider 1. The credenda or matters of saith that it did contain which must needs seem very uncouth and strange if not very unreasonable to the world As that the world was made and made of nothing when ex nihilo nil fit was a maxim in the Heathen Philosophy That there is but one God when in the Heathen world there were thought to be many Gods and many Lords That though there were but one God yet there were three persons and these three were one This must needs be a strange Doctrine at Rome or Athens That they must believe Jesus and the Resurrection was so strange a thing to the Athenian Philosophers that they encountred St. Paul and some called him babler and others were so ignorant of what was meant by the Resurrection that they took it for a God He seemeth say they to be a setter forth of strange Gods because he preathed unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus and the Resurrection And they affirmed that he brought certain strange things to their ears Act. 17.18 20. He preached Christ Crucified who was unto the Jews a Stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness 1 Cor. 1.23 They are taught to place their hopes in a Crucified Lord and to own him as their onely Saviour and Redeemer whom they had never seen or heard of before whom none of their Philosophers had spoken of They must beleive the Resurrection of the dead which they had not heard of before And that there is no name under Heaven by which they can be saved but by the name of Jesus And this they did which they could never have been perswaded to have done had not these things been from God to whose miraculous providence this success must be ascribed But then if we consider 2. The agenda or precepts of the Gospel they were such as were very unlikely to have obtained in the world had not these things been from God For what is it that the Gospel teaches them To deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts to walk righteously and soberly and Godly in this present world It forbids not onely the doing injuries but the revenging of them It forbids not onely evil actions but an evil thought and intention of the heart It does not onely forbid adultery but also a wanton glance and is so far from allowing murther that it most severely forbids hatred and rash anger It not onely forbids perjuries but requires of us that we should not swear at all It ties our hands locks up our eyes chains our thoughts and restrains all the irregular desires and warmer propositions of flesh and bloud It will not allow the wisest Philosopher to make any ostentation of his parts or learning Nor the greatest Captain or General to boast of his valour but teaches them both to be very humble and very peaceable It teaches us to undervalue all the grandeur of the world all its riches and honours and pleasures and commands us rather to foregoe them all with life it self than to deny the saith of Jesus It requires men to love God with all their heart and their neighbour as themselves To forgive their enemies to pray for their persecutors to do good to those that do evil unto us It forbids us to give blow for blow or railing for railing It commands us to give Alms to the Poor and to give to every one that asketh be he friend or enemy good or bad thankfull or ungratefull and when we have it commands us to make no boasts or brags but to expect a recompence onely from him that sees in secret It lays a great restraint upon our tongues which it obliges us most severely to keep in order It will not allow us to speak evil of our Brother to call him fool or Raka It forbids us to
as most men bring to famous plays or comedies This contemplation would enforce the one to acknowledge that the prophecies in old time came not by the will of man The other that Jesus the Son of Mary was he of whom Moses and all the Prophets spake Christ was to be born of the Tribe of Judah and of the house and family of David And to that purpose that Tribe and that family must not onely continue but continue so distinct that it might be known who belonged to the one and the other It is not a common thing that any family and kindred continues so many hundred years And indeed it was not likely that they should have continued and continued distinct and separate considering the great changes that passed upon and threatened them either with utter ruine or confusion They were in great danger of one and the other in the days of Ahaz and in the captivity of Babylon And in after times the house of David lay neglected for many years but so it was they are not quite destroyed till this Son of David is born The birth of Jesus makes good what God had promised of old time And the Divine Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews does near the time when Jesus lived and to the Jews themselves who had the opportunity of knowing the truth in this matter affirm that it was Evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah Heb. 7.14 And Jesus was known to be and commonly owned to be the Son of David Mat. 1.1 What God had promised of old he and he was onely able to doe it in due time made good The Messias was to be born before the destruction of the second Temple and while the Jews were a distinct people and Polity He was to add Glory to the latter house and to appear before the Jews were quite scattered abroad This was foretold of the Messias Gen. 49.10 Hag. 2. Mal. 3. The Jews before Jesus was born were in great measure in the hands of the Romans and Herod of an Idumoean extraction had for some time lorded it over them but then he is born while the Jews continue a distinct people live by their own laws and in their own land and goes into that Temple which according to the foregoing Prophecies he was to enter into and render glorious by his presence and conversation The great deliverer comes at his appointed time viz. at the declension of the Jewish Polity and before the expiration of the times predicted of old And though the Jewish affairs were very low and their polity near to an end yet is Jesus born before their final destruction which was at hand For the Counsel of God that shall stand It was not very likely that he who was born at Bethlehem beyond the intention of his Mother and reputed Father should thence go into Egypt and at his return go into Galilee and live there but both the one and the other were predicted of the Messias and how unlikely soever they were to come to pass they were fulfilled in our Jesus He was carried into Egypt upon occasion of the cruelty of Herod and at his return thence into Galilee upon occasion of Archelaus his reign in Judaea and the warning which Joseph received from God in a dream Hosea 11.1 with Mat. 2.15 Isa 9.1 2 3. with Mat. 2.22 Who would have expected a Prophet then in Israel where prophecy had ceased ever since the days of Zechary and Malachy and there was now no such kind of men known among the Jews Or that this great Prophet who was born in Judaea and near the great City of Jerusalem should live in the remote and obscure Countrey of Galilee That he should live in a Countrey from whence there was hardly ever known any Prophet to proceed and where he was like to continue with little notice regard or observation And that he that lived in so obscure a Countrey should do so great and stupendious works to the wonder and astonishment of those that saw them That such an illustrious person should proceed from so obscure a Countrey Joh. 7.41 If we go on to consider the death of Jesus we shall find all things agree to the predictions of old and came to pass in such a manner as speaks a miraculous providence of God That he who was born should die hath nothing of wonder in it But it is very strange that he should deliver him to death who at the same time pronounced him innocent That he should dye upon a Cross whom the people were so forward to have stoned That he should be Crucified who if he had been guilty should by the law of the Countrey have been stoned That he who had so many enemies should yet be betrayed by one of his own disciples That he who had the bag and had all therefore that Jesus had should betray him for so vile a price as thirty peices of Silver That the money for which he was sold this price of bloud should be employed in a work of mercy to buy a field to Lury Strangers in That he should drink Vinegar on the Cross instead of a Narcotick potion of Myrrh-wine contrary to the constant custome and usage of the Countrey where he suffered That the Souldiers should cast lots for his Coat contrary to their constant custome when they had parted his Garments and did so by them who were Crucified with him That he should dye among thieves and malefactors who spent his time in doing good That he who lived so usefully should be scoffed and taunted at when he hung upon the Cross and that the multitude who are wont to pity the dying Criminal should put off all humanity and in a set form of words deride him in his greatest misery That Jesus should hold his peace who suffered wrongfully when his enemies were impatient and clamorous and the whole creation groaned and was disordered That when it was the custome to break the bones of the Crucified and 't was practized at that time upon them who suffered with Jesus and they who were concerned came with an intention to break his also that yet a bone of him should not be broken That he who was Crucified which was a Roman punishment Casaubon Exercitation p. 464. edit Francf 1615. and none of the Jewish capital ones should be buried also contrary to the practice of the Romans who did not bury those who dyed upon a Cross That he who dyed among malefactors should not be buried with them also That he who dyed so ignominious a death should have an honourable burial That persons of the highest rank and Character should agree together in his honourable interment These things are so strange and so surprizing so much beyond what any History besides does afford us that if we believe but the matter of fact which we have all the reason in the world to believe we cannot but find great cause to adore the all-wise God who accomplished in Jesus whatever was
foretold of the Messias If we now proceed to the consideration of the Resurrection of Jesus we must be forced to acknowledge the overruling hand of God That he who dyed rose from the dead was an argument beyond exception of a Divine power man could contribute nothing toward so stupendious a work Nay there was all done that could be done by men both to hinder his Resurrection which Jesus had foretold and to hinder the spreading of it and the belief thereof in the world His enemies were prepared to do all they could and they did it by making his Sepulchre sure by sealing the stone and by setting a watch Mat. 27.66 This they did to prevent the Resurrection of Jesus But all this would not do They who had power to put Jesus to death have no power to hinder his Resurrection When this succeeded not the next course they had to take was to hinder the belief of the Resurrection of Jesus Though they could not hinder him from rising again yet they apply themselves vigorously to stifle the truth This was their next care To this purpose they give large money to the Souldiers that they might give out that his Disciples came and stole him away by night Mat. 28.13 But they labour in vain Jesus was risen there were so many witnesses of this truth that there is no stifling of it And after all this Jesus having sufficiently convinced that Generation of the truth of his Resurrection ascends up into Heaven and his Holy Religion is preached in the world It prevailed in spight of all the opposition it met withall It was embraced by men who were curious and inquisitive It approved it self to the consciences of all the lovers of truth And though it were opposed by power and craft and the combined force and malice of Jew and Gentile it prevailed against all by patience and meekness and the Divine blessing which did attend it These things duly considered do abundantly prove that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God Who would not says an excellent Person acknowledge the Divinity of this Person and the excellency of this institution that should see infants to weary the hands of hangmen for the Testimony of Jesus And wise men preach this Doctrine for no other visible reward but shame and death poverty and banishment And Hangmen converted by the bloud of Martyrs springing upon their faces which their impious hands and cords have strained through their flesh Who would not have confessed the honour of Jesus when he should see miracles done at the Tombs of Martyrs and Devils tremble at the mention of the name of Jesus And the World running to the honour of the Poor Nazaren and Kings and Queens kissing the feet of the Poor servants of Jesus could a Jew Fisher-man and a Publican effect all this for the Son of a poor Maiden of Judaea Can we suppose all the world or so great a part of mankind can consent by chance or suffer such changes for nothing Or for any thing less than this The Son of the poor Maiden was the Son of God and the Fishermen spake by a Divine spirit and they catched the World with holiness and miracles with wisedom and power bigger than the strength of all the Roman Legions In a word the things foretold of the Messias and fulfilled in Jesus were so many and so strangely fulfilled so much without any humane assistance and so centrary to all expectation and all the endeavours used to hinder the foretold event that he who considers these things with care must believe that Jesus is the Christ and that his Religion is true CHAP. XI The CONTENTS The Christian Religion more Excellent than that given by Moses and consequently the best in the World The Pagan Religion not worthy of regard The wiser Heathens guilty of great inconsistencies and evil Principles The Stoicks upon sundry accounts very blameable The Law given by Moses came from God in what sense it was a perfect Law It was not unalterable A general distribution of the Precepts of that Law The defects of it I As a rule of life Many of its Precepts not good in their own Nature They obliged the Jews onely and were annexed to their Land or some part of it Many of them Political II The reward annexed to the Obedience of that Law was but Temporal III It was not attended with the promise of Divine assistance IV Nor was there that hope of pardon which was afterward given in the Gospel The Sacrifices allowed to that purpose very defective This shewed at large For some sins no Sacrifice was allowed Sacrifices were not pleasing to God of their own Nature The Expiation did not depend upon the value of the oblation He that brought an Expiatory sacrifice was not allowed to eat any part of it The repetition of the Sacrifices another Argument of their weakness In some cases the Sacrifice was but one of those things required in order to pardon The Legal Sacrifices were not designed to continue for ever That the defects of the Law of Moses are supplied in the Christian Religion Of the excellent Precepts of the Christian Religion Of the promise of Eternal life therein clearly revealed and of the great moment of it Of the Divine assistance attending this Religion Of the assurance of pardon from the Christian Religion and the sure foundation which it lays for the quieting the Consciences of Men. The usefulness of the foregoing discourse A more particular inquiry into the great Ends or Causes for which the Law of Moses was given The Conclusion of this Discourse THAT Jesus is the Christ and consequently that the Religion which Jesus and his followers taught came from Heaven hath been in great measure demonstrated already For the farther proof of this truth I shall consider the Religion it self which Jesus and his followers taught and prove that it is a more excellent and perfect Religion than that which was delivered to the Jews by the hands of Moses and consequently imcomparably the best Religion in the World I say the best in the World for so it must be if it once appear that it is more perfect than that which was taught the Jews by Moses For though the Religion of Moses were defective when compared with that of Jesus yet it was true however and came from God But for the Pagan Religion how ancient soever it were it was false and impious not revealed by God nor worthy of him inconstant and various trifling and silly It carried men away from God to the Creature It taught men to worship not onely the Host of Heaven but stocks and stones and dumb Idols the very Creatures which they did eat the Evils which they feared the very Devils themselves whom they did not love It prescribed impure Rites and Ceremonies put men upon cruelties to their own flesh and to their Children It was so gross and so silly that the wiser sort of Heathens though they complied
was weak and had not this promise of the Spirit annexed unto it Rom. 7.5 Gal 4.9 Phil. 3.3 with Rom. 8.3 Gal. 3.3 Heb. 7.16 And upon the account of its weakness it is very frequently called flesh in the new Testament as the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit upon the account of that power enabling us to obey with which it is attended And the legal ordiances are called weak and beggarly elements or rudiments And indeed the law of Moses might be justly called weak as compared with the Doctrine of the Gospel for the law was not able to effect what the Gospel hath done it gave not life Gal. 3.21 Rom. 7.5 8. Act. 15.10 it did not furnish men with power to yield an inward and spiritual obedience Sin was forbid indeed by the law but not kept under and restrained It directed mens obedience but did not powerfully assist them It was a yoke but not an easie one as that which Jesus puts upon us but such as the Jews knew neither how to bear or to break Gal. 4.3.24 And hence it is that they who were under the law are represented as in a State of Slavery and Servility Whereas the law of Moses was weak and they to whom it was given did transgress it and were obnoxious to a curse God does promise to the Jews to enter into a new and better convenant with them Jer. 31.33 after those days saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people I shall in the next place take into consideration The assurance of pardon of sin which the Gospel gives and consequently the foundation it layes for the quieting our consciences far beyond what was done by the law of Moses I have before shewed the defectiveness of that provision by Sacrifices which was made in the law of Moses I shall shew that this is supplied in the covenant of grace made by Christ And this was foretold very particularly as a special and peculiar grace belonging to this new covenant as it is distinguished from that between God and Israel by the mediation of Moses which God had promised to make God promises not onely to write the law upon their hearts and consequently to work in them the saving knowledge of himself but more especially assures them of their pardon and remission Jer. 31.34 For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more There is nothing bears so hard upon a man as his guilt does And in many things we offend all We are all guilty more or less and consequently obnoxious to the horrors of our conscience and the wrath of God This is the great torment of life and there is no trouble like it A guilty mind bears harder upon us than any outward trouble And then he that hath sinned is anxious and suspicious he is not easily assured of his pardon he that broke the Law of Moses was liable to the Curse of it And though Sacrifices were allowed I have shewed the defects of that provision But the Gospel gives us the utmost assurance of our pardon upon terms that are gentle and reasonable and by no means to be refused What-ever our sins have been yet upon our repentance and sincere obedience for the future we are sure of God's favour and of his being reconciled to us He beseecheth us now to be reconciled to him upon these gentle and easie terms This is the Tenor of this new covenant or covenant of grace of which Jesus is the Mediator He hath procured this for us he hath purchased this by his merits sealed it by his own precious bloud assured it to us by his Resurrection and powerfull intercession he confirmed it by stupendious Miracles proclaimed it to all the world by his messengers and given us the signs and evidences of it by his holy Sacraments and solemn institutions There is nothing wanting to ensure this our pardon unto us Here 's no shadow left for our doubt or anxious fears we have all the possible assurance which we can desire Rom. 5.8 9 10. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more then being now justified by his bloud we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life These last words contain an argument invincible and altogether unanswerable and such as affords the strongest consolation If God looked after us when we were his avowed enemies if even then he gave up his most dear Son to death and at so great an expence restored us to favour surely he will now not abandon us to destruction He that was so kind to his enemies will not now forsake his friends So great and dear a love will not be extinguished It was a great price and an instance of the greatest love by which we were reconciled when we were enemies 't was by the death of the Son of God We had little reason to expect this favour and this expence But now we may be saved without his giving up his Son again to death and need not therefore doubt that we shall be saved by his life The Jew under the law of Moses had great cause to fear for when he transgressed and that he did when-ever he continued not obedient to all the words of that law he put himself under the rigour and curse of the law But God hath now made a better covenant with us and given us the greatest hopes of pardon upon our repentance and sincere though it be not sin-less obedience to the laws of Christ Here is pardon to be had for all manner of sin There were many sins under the law of Moses as hath been observed for which no remission was to be had from any Sacrifice allowed by that law He that was guilty was liable either to death or to excision Mat. 12.31 We are better provided for by this covenant of grace All manner of sin and blasphemy says Christ shall be forgiven unto men Blasphemy as hath been observed before was one of those sins for which there was no expiation allowed under the law of Moses But even for this sin there is pardon in this covenant of grace For our Soviours words do not speak of the event of things but of the provision which is now made Blasphemy shall be forgiven 1 Tim. 1.13 16. i. e. there is pardon to be had for it And he who was himself a Blasphemer tells us that he obtained mercy nor does he onely tell us that but also that he therefore obtained mercy for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe Our Saviour goes on whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him Matt. 12.32 There were those who spake against Christ The Person