Age. Increase of wickedness not only in themselves but others hath made some so impudent as to scoff at Religion and blaspheme Christ While they see those who acknowledge him do no better than themselves they are inclined to think that their belief makes them no more worth than those who have none at all Nay since they concur with them in their wicked practises they imagine that their fear of Hell and hope of Heaven is no part of their belief but only of their profession The hands of Infidels are strengthened in their impieties by the perfidiousness of ungodly believers They joyn with them to pull down Christian belief and make that be thought nothing which doth nothing above what infidelity doth And therefore let all those who love the memory of our Saviour who love their posterity and would not have them in danger to be drown'd in a deluge of infidelity put a stop to it by holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience 1 Tim. iii. 9. Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity and endeavour all he can to support the honour of his Name and of his Religion by a strict observance of all his holy commands They who believe not or mind not what they believe may think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you 1 Pet. iv 4. But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Jude 20.21 And that now is the next thing which flows from hence If we believe the Record or Witness which God hath given of his Son it contains in it the greatest joy in the World For this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son But I must refer that to another Discourse alone by it self Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the holy-Holy-Ghost GLory in the highest Let the Holy and undivided Trinity be for ever glorified by all Mankind especially by all Christian People who are made partakers of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit Blessed be God I most thankfully receive the manifold testimony which he hath given of his well beloved Son and humbly bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family of Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by the same spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith that being rooted and grounded in love I may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that I may be filled with all the fulness of God And God forbid that any Soul who hears the voice of these Witnesses of God should refuse and turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven and hath declared to us the unsearchable riches of God's grace and the whole counsel of his will O that all they upon whom the glorious Gospel of Christ hath shined may most heartily believe in his Name Let them all be knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge And God forbid that any of them should hold the truth in unrighteousness But as they have received Christ Jesus the Lord so let them walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as they have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving And quicken that faith O thou author and finisher of it that it may work with great power in all Christian hearts and mightily bow their wills to forgo any of their own desires rather than displease thee and forfeit thy love and favour Let it inable them to overcome the World that they may be no longer slaves to the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life but conquering all these may yield themselves unto God to be the servants of righteousness and obey from the heart that form of doctrine which is delivered unto them And may the powerful working of faith and love and hope make all our duty easie to us that we may ever render thee cheerful as well as constant service May thy testimonies be our daily delight and the rejoycing of our heart May we love them above gold yea above fine gold May they be dearer unto us than thousands of gold and silver May we daily renew our strength and run and not be weary and walk and not faint May the holiness of our lives bear witness to the sincerity of our faith that others may glorifie thee our God for our professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ And we obtaining a good report by faith and carrying this testimony out of the world with us that we have pleased thee thou mayst receive us to thy self to be glorified with thee and to rejoyce in thy love towards us for ever Amen THE END Our Lords Ascension Acts. 1 9. And when he had spoken these things while they be held he was taken up a Cloud receiued him out of their sight to And while they stedfastly looked toward heaven behold two men stood by them in white apparell H. Which also said this same le sus shall so come as you haue seen him go into heaven THE WITNESSES TO CHRISTIANITY OR The Certainty of our FAITH and HOPE In a Discourse upon 1 S. JOHN V. 11. PART II. By SYMON PATRICK D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by E. Flesher for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXVII TO The most Reverend Father in God GILBERT By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of His Majestie 's most Honourable Privy Council c. May it please Your Grace TO cast your eye upon the Second Part of that Work the First Part of which I took the confidence to address unto your Grace the last year It is concerning that ETERNALL LIFE which was with the Father as St. John speaks and now is manifested to us by his Son Jesus Christ who hath published the most gracious Purposes of God the Father towards us The thoughts of which as they cannot but be at all times exceeding welcome to Devout Christians especially to those who are faithfull Ministers in Christ's Kingdom so never more then when they
the heir of all things He is called by the same name that they were If there were no other reason for it his office would give him a title to it because he is the Lords Christ anointed by God to the highest dignity and government under him not only over that Country but over all Nations on the Earth who by believing on him were all to be made a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people 1 Pet. ii 9. But to show his most excellent greatness he is called the Son of God with two marks of his preeminence above all other who have had that name First he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Son that eminent King the King of Kings like to whom none ever was For secondly whereas those sons of the highest spoken of before were to die like other men Psal 82.7 and to fall like one of the Princes in other Countries He is called the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that God who liveth xvi Matth. 16. that is of the immortal eternal God And by consequence is like his Father an everlasting King of whose Kingdom as the Angel told his Mother i. Luke 33. there shall be no end Thus the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews who understood this language well enough hath discoursed in the First Chapter Where he proves that Jesus is the Son of God in a more eminent sence than any Angel in Heaven according to those ancient prophecies before named concerning David and Solomon as you read ver 4 5. From whence the Jews learns to call the Messiah who they confess is in those places mystically spoken of by that name of the Son of God Which the Apostle there shows is the greatest name of excellence and signifies the highest honour and dignity such as God hath conferred upon no other And then he proceeds to show that according to other prophecies which speak of his supereminence his Throne is for ever and ever ver 8. For God who is his God in a peculiar manner loving and rewarding him hath anointed him with the oil of gladness preferred him that is above all that partake of Kingly dignity ver 9. He hath made him indeed his first-born the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth as S. John speaks i. Revel 5. to whom we are to submit our selves with the greatest devotion of spirit and from whom we may then expect Protection Blessing and the noblest Rewards For he is the long expected Son of God who excells all other that were ever called by that name the King of inconceivable Majesty whose splendor could not so much as be fore-shadowed by Solomon in all his glory Thus Nathanael I observe puts these two expressions together in his confession of our Saviour out of a vehement affection redoubling his words Thou art that Son of God thou art that King of Israel i. John 49. This is the business upon which we are to examine these Witnesses we are to consider what they say to this point that the Lord Jesus was sent from God as Moses had formerly been only Moses as a Servant but he as a Son according to what you read iii. Heb. 5 6. with a fulness of authority with all the power of God so that we may confidently rely on every thing that he hath said as the very mind and sence of God This if we can hear them speak they are witnesses so beyond all exception that we cannot chuse but reverence him and receive him and obey him and put our trust in him and rejoyce in his royal favour and love evermore For the first three are no less persons than the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost Whose gracious assistance let us humbly implore that this and all other our works may be begun continued and ended to the glorifying of his holy Name A PRAYER O Father of lights from whom cometâ— every good and every perfect gift illuminate my mind in these Meditations that I may be able to enlighten others anâ— lead them into a good understanding in aâ—â— things Guide and direct my thoughts thaâ— I may reason and discourse aright Shine intâ— all our Souls by the light of the glorious Gospâ—â— of Christ John 6.40 that we seeing the Son may believe on him and being made thy childreâ— by adoption and grace may be daily more anâ— more renewed by thy holy Spirit Settle iâ— our Souls that mighty faith whereby we may have power and strength to have victory and to triumph over the Devil the World and the Flesh Strengthen it every day by constant Meditation on those things which thou O Father Son and Holy Ghost hast so many ways declared to us that it may grow still more victorious and we may feel the happy fruit of it in greater joy and triumph of spirit in assured expectation of the Crown of righteousness which thou hast promised to all faithful Souls O that none of the inticing allurements of this world may ever more deceive us and steal away our hearts from our true happiness nor any of the troublesome passages of this life ever hereafter dishearten us and divert us from the pursuit of it But the Faith of Christ may so intirely possess our hearts as to keep us stedfast and upright in the midst of all the temptations of what kind soever they be that assault us And looking up unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith we may still say with true resolution of spirit Thou art the Son of God most high thou art the King of incomprehensible Majesty thou art the Lord of all We will constantly adhere to thee as thy faithful subjects We will follow thee in faith and love and patient obedience to the very death And hope that as we feel by thy power in us we are the children of God so we shall be heirs heirs of God joynt-heirs with thee O blessed Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion for ever Amen CHAP. II. Concerning the Witnesses in general and the Testimony of the FATHER in particular IF any man urge us to receive a thing which is new and strange we either turn away our ears if we take him for a frivolous person or else require him to show us good evidence for what he says if he seem to be wise and serious And the more importunate he is to be believed the more earnest we are to know what he hath to show for himself and to call for his proofs in which if he fail or they come not home to the purpose he is so far from gaining any credit with those who examine them that they prove a very considerable argument against him Especially when he pretends to come from God and to bring us messages from Heaven we all expect the clearer and diviner demonstrations before we can resign our mind unto him For that which is to make all things credible must have very
numbred with thy Saints in glory everlasting Amen CHAP. IV. Concerning the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST WE have heard the WORD speak enough in his own behalf and I do not think it needful to hear that Witness any further Let us attend now to the Testimony of the third person in the holy Trinity and hear what the HOLY GHOST saith who we shall find upon due examination agrees perfectly in the same thing and declares that Jesus is the Son of God Witness that glorious appearance of the Divine Spirit upon him when he was baptized and the great gifts and endowments thereof wherewith ever after that he was filled himself and filled others For here we may note three things as we did in the opening of the testimony of the other two Witnesses I. The first is that when the Spirit of God descended upon him immediately after his Baptism and in an illustrious manner remained on him as S. John Baptist testifies it did i. John 32 33. then the Holy Ghost bare witness of him that he was the Son of God In our reflections upon which we are to consider distinctly first how it descended and then that it remained and abode upon him And for the better understanding of both these we must know that when the Jews would express any visible appearance of the Majesty and glory of God they call it the SCHEKINAH that is the Habitation or dwelling because God showed himself thereby to be extraordinarily present and that he did as it were dwell in that place to afford those to whom he so manifested himself his gracious help comfort or instruction This is the name they give even to that Presence of God which was in the most holy place the Glory of the Lord which appeared upon the Cherubims because He dwelt there and took up his rest among them by this token of his presence with them So He himself had spoken xxv Exod. 8. Let them make me a Sanctuary that I may DWELL among them That is the Glory of the Lord which ABODE upon mount Sinai xxiv 16. came and took up its residence there in the Sanctuary From these two places they gave it the name of dwelling or abode And tell us that from the day that this Schekinah as they speak or Divine presence dwelling among them rested on mount Sinai at the giving of the Law it never departed from Israel till the destruction of the house of the first Sanctuary by the King of Babylon after that the Divinity or this glorious token of the Divine presence did not dwell among them They are the words of R. Bechai upon Gen. xlv But that which had been so long absent returned now in a far more glorious manner than ever not to dwell in an house of stone but in the Temple of our Saviours body as he calls ii John 21. For when Jesus was baptized Lo the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him iii. Matth. 16. Every word of this verse is very observable For the opening of the Heavens in the prophetical writings as Grotius hath observed upon xix Revel 11. still precedes some great Vision And that which he with John Baptist now saw was the Spirit of God that is such a glorious appearance of the Divine majesty as I before mentioned For the Rabbins often call the Ruach Hakkodesh or the HOLY GHOST by the name of Schekinah or the Divine presence gloriously appearing among them So Elias expresly tells us in his Tisbi * Vocab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and gives this reason for it because it rested or dwelt upon the Prophets and was a great token I may add of God's presence with them Whence it is that where the Hebrew Text as he goes on saith The spirit of Jacob revived xlv Gen. 27. R. Solomon expounds it thus the Schekinah or the HOLY GHOST rested on him which was departed and as it were extinct before because of the grief and sorrow wherein he had been drown'd For the Holy Ghost say they rests not upon the melancholy but only on those who are of a chearful spirit Thus when Hannah said to Eli who fancied she was drunk No my Lord I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit the Talmud expounds it in this manner Thou art not to govern in this case the Schekinah and the Holy Ghost is not upon thee as appears by this that thou hast judged me guilty when I am innocent It is all one then in their Language as I observed also before in the conclusion of the second Chapter to say that the Divine Majesty or that the Holy Ghost is upon any person And therefore I doubt not but there was a glorious appearance of the Majesty of God at our Saviours Baptism some great unusual brightness signifying the Divine presence and the Spirit of God coming to dwell in him It is not indeed mentioned in express words that there was such a Schekinah or Majestical appearance of the Glory of the Lord but it must be understood to be meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirit of God According to the dialect of that Nation who call the Holy Ghost as I said by the name of the Divine Majesty or Presence and so might call that Majesty by the name of the Holy Ghost or spirit of God And Justin Martyr saith expresly in his disputation with the Jew that at our Saviours Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fire was lighted in Jordan That is as I understand it such a Divine glory appeared as there was among the ancient Israelites which had I told you the resemblance of a very bright fire Which so good a man would not have had the boldness to affirm if it had not been the constant tradition which passed among them or rather the constant sence they put upon this place Just as when the Apostles were baptized with the Holy Ghost a fiery substance gathered it self about their heads in token of a Divine presence among them so when our Lord himself was baptized with water there was the like but far more glorious appearance which spreading it self from his head round about made the River out of which he was newly come look as if it were on a flame as a sign that he should baptize not with water but with the Holy Ghost and with fire And so Grotius hath observed that in the Gospel of the Nazarens there were these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 straight-way a great light shone round about the place which the Syrian Churches also acknowledge in their Liturgy All which make it apparent that Holy men thus understood the descent of the Holy Ghost as I have explained it And indeed S. Luke tells us iii. 22. that it descended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a bodily form or appearance There was some visible matter broke out of the Heavens which being the place of light and glory we can expound to be nothing
men in former times but had not such strength to enforce it Blessed be God should we all say A PRAYER BLessed be God who hath not done so for any people He hath shown us HIMSELF his WORD and the HOLY GHOST Israel hath not seen his Glory so as it shines in our eyes And as for his Power and Might they have not known them no more than the Promises and the Laws whereby he now governs us He hath given us a better Covenant founded upon a better Bloud which hath brought in also a better Hope and is confirmed by a more powerful Spirit Blessed be his Goodness that our eyes read and our ears hear those things which many Prophets and righteous men desired to see and hear but could not see nor hear them For it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto us by them that have preached the Gospel unto us which the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into O Bless the Lord with us ye Angels of his that excel in strength praise him and magnifie him for ever O all ye Powers of the Lord bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever O ye Spirits and Souls of the righteous bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever Praise him all ye Apostles and Prophets praise him all ye Martyrs and Confessors praise him all ye glorious Lights who have made the Gospel of Christ to shine throughout the world Praise the Father Almighty praise his Eternal WORD praise the Holy Ghost who have made our Faith to stand not in the wisdom of men but in the mighty Power of God Praise him for the Incarnation the Life the Death the Resurrection the Ascension and the Glorification of the Lord Jesus who hath given us strong Consolation by that sure and stedfast hope which throughout all these means he hath setled in our hearts O praise him for his marvellous love to us whom he hath called after a glorious manner and by an amazing vertue to the knowledge of Christ by whom his Divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness And make us who are so nearly concerned in this love to be very sensible how great it is which hath not only called us to his Heavenly Kingdom but made us sure and certain by so many Witnesses that Jesus is the Lord of all the King of infinite Majesty Power and Glory Let our Souls never cease to show forth and publish the vertues and powerful operations of him who hath called us into his marvellous light Let our mouths be filled with his praise all the day long who out of the riches of his mercy hath made us who were not his people to be a chosen generation an holy nation a peculiar people to himself O that our Faith may grow exceedingly and be deeply rooted and grounded in our hearts And as it stands upon the surest foundations so we may be built up in it with the most assured confidence and stand unshaken and immoveable in it unto the end And as thou hast differenced us from all other people in the clearness of that Light which lets us see that ours is the most holy Faith so help us by thy grace to distinguish our selves from all others by holding the mystery of Faith in a pure Conscience and by the upright actions of an unblameable life O that the light of Christians may so shine before men that others seeing their good works may glorifie thee our Heavenly Father O that it may disperse the darkness which over-spreads so great a part of the world That all impostures may be discovered and they that live in error may be brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus O that his Dominion may reach from Sea to Sea even unto the worlds end Let them who dwell in the most desert places kneel before him and his enemies lick the dust Let all Kings of the Earth adore him and all Nations do him service Kindle in the hearts of Princes and Nobles an holy ambition to advance his Glory Inspire the hearts of all Bishops and Priests with an ardent zeal for the conversion of Souls And dispose the hearts of those who are in error that they may be apt and ready to receive thy sacred truth Plant thy Gospel where it hath not yet been and replant it where it hath been rooted out And give us grace who have long been thine own vineyard to bring forth plenty of good fruit That our lives may be as holy as our faith and we may convince Jews Turks and all other Infidels that thou art among us and that Jesus whom we worship is the Lord. To him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Glory and Praise among all mankind and throughout all Ages world without end Amen CHAP. X. Other necessary Vses we are to make of their Testimony THere is no great skill required to see the difference between that Holy Religion which we profess and all others that are entertained in the rest of the World Some we must have and it is as palpable that this is incomparably the most excellent as it is that there is any Religion at all There is no Nation so barbarous but pays some respect and ceremony to use the phrase of Tully when he defines Religion to some Superiour and more excellent Nature which we call Divine Though they are ignorant what kind of God it becomes them to have yet they know a God must be had and must be worshipped Their own mind teaches them this as soon as they cast their eyes upon the admirable frame of the World which all naturally conclude must have had some most wise and mighty Builder But what respect and reverence that is which will be pleasing to him they are very uncertain it is manifest by the various ways they have invented to express their Devotion They all with one consent acknowledge a necessity of a Revelation to instruct them for there is no Nation but pretends to have received some things by the instinct inspiration or apparition of their Gods That which pure natural reason dictates is not to be found simple and unmixt in any Nation under Heaven For if we should stand meerly to that it hath ever resolved that the worship of God consists in the study of Wisdome Justice and all other Vertues Which as they are most eminent in God so he is best pleased with them in us And they that addict themselves to resemble him in this manner are the men that shall obtain his favour There are a number of notable sayings both in Heathen and Christian Writers to this purpose But when all this is said and acknowledged Men will offend against these Rules of Vertue and what shall they do then what will make him satisfaction and procure a reconciliation with him whom they have reason
be more imployed to know the truth and certainty of this then to know what the Good is we shall enjoy which will be best known by possessing it And herein now we may admire the Goodness of God and see how liberall he is of his bounties where we are capable to receive them Though he hath said little to make us particularly understand the LIFE of the next world yet he hath said very much to assure us that there is such an happy Life Where we can understand and comprehend his mind there he fully expresses himself and therefore where he is more silent it is no doubt because should he speak of such matters we cannot understand him We are able to conceive any thing that he shall declare for the reason of our hope and the ground of our faith and it highly concerns us to be very well satisfied in the foundation of such expectations in a future World And therefore herein our gracious God hath not been sparing to reveal himself but hath granted us the strongest Evidences for our claim to such an Inheritance Which makes me conclude that if we were as capable to receive instruction concerning the Inheritance it self and to have a Terrier as I may call it or particular description of that heavenly Country of the manner of their Life and all the fruits growing there delivered to us He that hath been so large in the assurances he hath given us would not have denied us also this satisfaction Well therefore it is for us that this is the onely reason why we want it and know not what we shall be because we cannot till we be changed be made partakers of so great a knowledge And well is it for us that we have also so good a cause to think that this is the onely reason because God hath manifested himself so fully to us in other things that belong to our happiness by giving us the most firm grounds whereon to build our future hopes This is the thing which this present Treatise chiefly intends to shew as God himself speaks concerning the promises of the New Jerusalem xxi Rev. 5. that these Words are faithfull and true There is no couzenage or deceit in these promises no fraud or collusion in the drawing them up nor any alteration in God's mind since they were made and he hath set such seals to them But I may say as he there doth to St. John who it 's possible might doubt of what the Angel had shewn him Behold or as Andreas Caesariensis reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold behold I make all things new See here and observe I my self who sit upon my Throne assure thee of the Certainty of these Visions If thou wilt take my word I here pass it to thee that I will fulfill all these promises Such I say is the unquestionable credit of the Words of ETERNALL LIFE God himself hath spoken them He hath bid us believe them yea he hath said we must account him a liar if we do not rely upon them For this saith St. John is the Record that God hath given us eternall Life and this Life is in his Son Before I come to a particular examination of all that hath been said and done to verify this let me note these two things First that the Apostle saith we have a RECORD of this truth which is attested from the mouth of severall infallible Witnesses who have deposed what they saw and heard about it to the satisfaction of all those that will consider their testimony There being such a RECORD that is that Jesus is the Son of GOD we have no reason to doubt of the Eternall Life he promises but upon the very same grounds that we believe the one we ought to believe the other If the Father the Word the Holy Ghost and all the other Witnesses have proved the former by undeniable testimonies then at the sametime they proved this also that we shall live by him For 1. it is evident that if Jesus was the Son of God sent by him in a speciall manner into the world to act in his stead we are to believe all that he says of himself or that others by his commission and authority have declared him to be Now if we look into his Gospell we shall find that he most earnestly affirms himself to have been before Abraham was viii Joh. 58. and to have had a Glory with God before the world was xvii 5. and to be so one with the Father that the Father was in him and he in the Father x. 30 38. And they who were his inspired Witnesses whom he said he would send as the Father sent him xx 21. and who were filled by him with the Holy Ghost declared him to be God's WORD who in the beginning was with God and was GOD i. Joh. 1 2. the image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and the character of his person who in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens were the works of his hands i. Col. 15. i. Heb. 3 10. From all which we may certainly conclude that he is not onely the Son of God in regard of his Authority but by Nature begotten of him before all worlds of one substance with the Father And therefore We may be confident 2. that he being thus nearly related to God must needs know his mind and be acquainted with his most secret purposes and resolutions To which he was so privy that he says he was then in heaven when he was come down to reveal them to men iii. Joh. 13. So that we may safely look upon the promises he makes us of ETERNALL LIFE as the declarations of God's gracious will and pleasure which shall undoubtedly be fulfilled No man indeed as St. John speaks i. 18. hath seen GOD at any time the onely-begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him For who could dive into God's mind and tell us what was in his thoughts What man could enter into his breast and see what was in his heart to doe for us None but his onely-begotten Son who being in his bosome and privy to his most secret Counsels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath declared or expounded him i. e. his hidden will and decrees which else had not been revealed to us It is the opinion of Maimonides in severall parts of his Works * L. de Fund Legis cap. i. n. 10. More Nev. part i. c. 37. 54. c. that when Moses prayed God to shew him his Glory he meant his Essence of which he desired to have a distinct conception as it is in it self such as we have of a man when we have seen his face and by the image of him remaining in our mind can distinguish him from all other men But there are other of their Learned men who by his Glory understand the Rewards he will give the pious and the prosperity he sometimes bestows on the
was attested by chosen persons to whom he shewed himself openly And then he was lifted up from the earth in another more noble and sublime sense then he had been before upon the Cross Then Angels came in bright array to testify to him what he had said of himself xiii Joh. 31 32. that God having been glorified in him had glorified him in himself This was a very glorious testimony that indeed he hath Life in himself and shall be the Authour of eternal Life to us And therefore he is called the Prince or Authour of life iii. Act. 15. because by that which overcame death his resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c * S. Cyril ib. in xii Joh. 28. we know him to be LIFE and the Son of the living God But of this more hereafter 3. Another Act whereby this saying I will glorifie thee again was verified I take to be his Exaltation by God's own right hand to the throne of glory in the heavens This he prayed for with the greatest ardency and the most assured expectation xvii Joh. 1 2. because God the Father he saith had given him power i. e. the promise of it over all flesh that he might give eternall life to as many as God had given him This promise I understand it was made to him when God uttered this voice from heaven I have both glorified thee and will glorifie thee again Then God gave him a power to raise up all as he had lately done Lazarus and to give them immortall happiness of which as he had then the grant so he now desires in this prayer to be put in possession And therefore when he says vers 1. Father the hour is come glorifie thy Son c. I take the meaning to be as if he had thus spoke Now is the time to doe that which thy voice from heaven assured me should be done viz. to glorifie me in so compleat a manner that I may glorifie thee and give eternall life to all the faithfull This he spake with eyes lifted up to heaven from whence that voice came which bare witness of him that he should be glorified more then ever and gave him authority to lay claim to the highest power of bestowing immortality Which power when God the Father had actually put into his hands according to this prayer and his own promise of which he could not fail having ingaged himself before a multitude to glorifie him then being made perfect he became the Authour of eternall Salvation to them that obey him v. Heb. 9. Then he was made a Priest for ever vii 16 17. not after the Law which was but a weak institution but after the power of an endless Life whereby he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him He can raise up us and all that succeed us as well as he did Lazarus and others in whom he gave onely a little taste of his power to give us Life that shall never die This now is the Third Testimony of the Father who in the audience both of Friends and Strangers said He had both glorified him and would glorifie him again That he had was then very well known and it was as certain because he said it that he would doe the same again By the testimony also of sufficient persons it appears that he made good this promise even at his Death after which he raised him out of his grave and lift him up far above all heavens that he may be glorified once more 2 Thess i. 10. by raising us up from the dead and promoting us to eternall glory with himself O wonderfull News Athanasius in Assumption Christi He that was lifted up to hang on a Cross is preferred now from his grave to a glorious throne And to come at it he takes a journey through the air the clouds running under his feet become his chariot the sky opens to him and the heavens with open arms receive him the troups of Angels joyn together in triumphall Songs and persuade his amazed Disciples to keep that day a festivall on earth as they did in heaven Do not stand gazing here say they any longer but go and preach this wonder to the world By his departure represent his coming again for so shall he come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven O how wonderfull are thy works O Lord which give us hope as the blessed St. Paul said when he thought of these things that we shall then be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we be ever with the Lord. We can doe no less then to those voices which came so oft from heaven to testifie this adde our poor voice of praise and thanksgiving saying with the Angels when He came into the world GLORY BE TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST and with the multitude when they met him at mount Olivet Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord PEACE IN HEAVEN AND GLORY IN THE HIGHEST Cyrill Hieros in occurs Domini Glory be to him who is the Fountain of Life coming from the Fountain of Life the Father Glory be to him who is the River of God proceeding from the Divine Abyss and inseparably one with it the Treasure of the Father's Goodness and of ever-springing Blessedness the Water of life who gives Life to the World the increated beam of the Father of Lights from whom he is undivided who being in the form of God took on him the form of a Servant not lessening the dignity of his Divinity but sanctifying the mass of our Humanity Him the Angels praise the Archangels worship the Authorities reverence the Powers glorifie the Cherubims doe him service the Seraphims acknowledge his Divinity the Sun and Moon minister to him who hath broken in pieces the gates of Hell and opened the gates of Heaven and abolished Death and confounded the Devill and dissolved the Curse and made Sorrow cease and trodden Sin under foot and restored the Creation and inlightened the World And therefore let us sing hymns to him with the Angels and rejoyce in the light of the glory of God with the Shepherds and adore him with the Wise men and joyfully magnifie him with the blessed Virgin and confess him with Simeon and Anna who were glad to see his Salvation that so we at last may also be possessed of eternall good things through the grace and the bowels of mercy and the loving-kindness of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. VII Concerning the Testimony of the WORD the Second Witness in Heaven IF we had no farther Witness of this Truth but that which hath been already produced we might well rejoyce in the comfort which God the Father hath given us and rely upon Jesus as the Authour of Eternall Life to all those that obey him
and true Witness the beginning of the Creation of God iii. 14. By the name of AMEN which he gives himself he would have them understand that by him all the promises made to the Church shall undoubtedly be fulfilled according to that of St. Paul 2 Cor. i. 20. In him all the promises of God are Yea and in him Amen He may be believed for he is a Witness who affirms and testifies nothing but the very truth which can never fail because he is the Efficient cause of all things by whom they were at first created and by whom mankind is now repaired and therefore is the Head of all creatures especially of all Christians who shall rise again from the dead to immortall life So I expound the last words the beginning of the Creation of God as Andreas Caesariensis doth who takes in both senses of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I have of the word Creation which signifies not onely Principium the beginning or originall but Principatum the principality or dominion which the Son of God hath over all creatures of which he is the Authour What may we not expect from so great a Prince who hath such an absolute command over all things And why should we doubt of his Sovereignty who appeared in such an amazing splendour to St. John and proclaimed in these and other such like Titles the supereminent glory of his Majesty Or why shoul◠we question his truth who had approved himself so many ways the true and faithfull Witness especially by sending the Holy Ghost as you shall hear presently to bear witness to him according to his promise We ought to rely upon his word and to fear nothing but lest we should reject or distrust the testimony of a Person so great and so just whose power appeared from his very first entrance into the world to be so far transcending all creatures that the Apostles might see before his ascension to the glory wherein St. John beheld him that as he had the Words of eternall Life so he had that Life in himself which in due time he would bestow upon them For though He had all the passions of a man Greg. Nazianz orat xxxv p. 575. yet he had all the perfections likewise of God that none might be so profanely contumelious as to contemn his Deity because he took upon him the grossness of our Humanity He was born of a woman but she a Virgin that was humane this Divine He was wrapt in swaddling-cloaths when he was an infant but shaked off the cloaths that wrapt him in the sepulchre when he was dead He was laid in a manger but then glorified by Angels pointed to by a Star and worshipped by the Wise men He was driven into Egypt but there drove away the errours of the Egyptians The Jews saw no beauty in him but he shone upon the mountain brighter then the Sun prefiguring the glory to which he should ascend He was baptized and tempted as Man but he took away the Sins of the World and got the victory as God He was hungry but fed many thousands and is himself the heavenly Bread which giveth life He was thirsty but gave the waters of life and made rivers of living waters flow from those that believed on him He was called a Samaritan and they said he had a Devill but he put Devills to flight and tumbled whole legions of them into the deep and made the Prince of Devills fall like lightning from heaven He was sold for thirty pieces of silver but purchased the whole World with the great price of his own bloud He was led as a sheep to the slaughter but was the Shepherd of Israel and now is of all the World He was dumb as a lamb before the shearers but is the WORD preached by the voice of one crying in the wilderness He was wounded and bruised but healed every sickness and all manner of disease He was lifted up on the tree and there fixed but restored us to the tree of life and saved the thief who was crucified with him He laid down his life but had power to take it again and the veil rent the rocks were cleft and the dead were raised He died but he gives life and by death extinguished death He was buried but rose again out of the grave He went down into hell but he brought up Souls with him and ascended into heaven and will come again to judge the quick and the dead and to examine all such discourses as detract from his glory O my Soul for ever praise him and let thy heart rejoyce in his holy Name Love him as thy Life confide in his word depend on his power and expect from him the blessing of Eternall Life For he is the AMEN the faithfull and true witness who cannot lie the beginning of the Creation of God whom all Creatures without a voice confess to be their Lord. The Heavens cry Proclus Orat. xiii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was God who bowed them and came down to be a man for our sakes The Sun cries It was my Lord who was crucified in the flesh at the light of whose Divinity I was afraid and withdrew my beams The Earth cries It was He that formed me who suffered which made me quake and tremble at the horrid fact The Sea cries He was not my fellow-servant who walkt with one of his Disciples upon my back The Temple cries He that was worshipped here is now blasphemed and therefore I rend my garments Nay Hell cries He was not a mere man who descended hither for whom I received as a Captive I found to be the Omnipotent God And if we ask the heavenly powers and desire the Angels and Archangels and the whole host of heaven to tell us Who was he that appeared on earth and was crucified in the flesh they will all answer aloud in the words of the Prophet David The Lord the God of hosts he is the King of Glory To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. VIII Concerning the Testimony of the HOLY GHOST the Third Witness in Heaven NOW I proceed to examine the Testimony which the Third Witness in Heaven gave concerning this future state which is the HOLY GHOST the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity Who openly assures us by as many ways and by the same means that we have eternall Life in Christ Jesus as he did that Jesus is the Son of God And that I may not be tedious in a business wherein we have already received such satisfaction let us take but a small taste of those three Testimonies of the Holy Ghost which I alledged in the former Treatise I. And first you know that there was a visible appearance of the HOLY GHOST at our Saviour's Baptism when the Divine Glory came down from heaven and rested on him in the sight of John the Baptist whereby he was persuaded that this was the Messiah the King of
Amen CHAP. IX Concerning the Witnesses on Earth and first of the WATER YOU have seen already how many there are that solicit our affections and perswade us to believe in the Lord Jesus and heartily consent to him in whatsoever he requires So many that how we should deny him after He himself hath appeared so often with the promises of Eternall Life and the Father also and the Holy Ghost have commended him to us as the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Glory it is harder to give any reason then it is to prove that he is the Son of God and that in him is ETERNALL LIFE For as if these Witnesses were not sufficient or that we may be born down by numerous Testimonies there are Three more who are our Neighbours as I may say with whom we are well acquainted and whose witness none could ever deny that speak the very same thing and affirm it as strongly as the other that God hath given us Eternall Life and that it is in his Son Jesus Let us call them in too and hear what they say in the same order wherein we examined them before in the former business first taking the Testimony of the WATER then of the BLOUD and then of the SPIRIT Of the WATER BY Water I have shewn we are to understand either that Purity whereof it is the Instrument which was most eminent both in Christ's Doctrine and Life or else Baptism both John's and his own by which he appeared to be the Sâ—n of God Let us have so much patience as to hear all these once more and consider what they say to the point in hand I. And as for the Purity and Holiness of his Doctrine there is much in it to perswade us that he hath Life in himself and will bestow it upon his Followers Certain it is that 1. it naturally lifts up the Mind towards heaven and disposes those that entertain it to look for Eternall Life for which it is but a preparation For it teaches us to abstract our hearts from this Flesh wherewith we are cloathed and from this World wherein we live as not worthy of all those thoughts and that care which we are apt to bestow upon them The very intent and purpose of it we cannot but see is to wean our minds from earthly injoyments and to take off our affections from the pleasures of sense to make riches and the praise of men seem little things and to give us contentment with our portion of present goods though never so small in short â—o render us something like to God himself whilst we are at this distance from him What can any man make of this but that it is a preparation for another life an Institution which designs to form men and make them fit for an higher World Do but take a review of that Compendium which I have drawn of this Doctrine in my former Book and you will be satisfied that it is nothing else but a contrivance to make us heavenly and intends to guide us to such a Life as is a prevention of Heaven a beginning of the celestial state whereby we shall live in part as men of another World and not of this Which future World 2. it is manifest his heavenly Doctrine supposes or else it would be so far from that Wisedom which was eminent in him that it would be the greatest absurdity that can be imagined For it teaches us if his service require it to deny our selves even in the most innocent and lawfull injoyments of this life to forsake father and mother and houses and lands for his Name 's sake yea to lay down our very lives rather then forsake his Doctrine and violate his commands These are express Lessons which his Sermons teach his Disciples but are things so sublime so much above the reach of flesh and bloud that it would be the vainest thing in the world to propose them to mens observance without the hope of something in another life to reward such hard services He would have had no followers on these terms had he not made it as plain and evident as the rest of his Doctrine that He would be the Authour of Eternall Salvation to them that would obey him Men were not so fond of troubles and torments and death as to expose themselves to the danger of them if they had not seen the greatest reason to believe that their Master would recompense their present Sufferings with a future happiness so incomparably greater that it would be the highest folly to avoid them None can suppose the Authour of such a Religion to be so weak as not to understand that men would never embrace this profession unless at the same time that he called them to this high pitch of piety he called them also as the Apostle speaks to his kingdom and glory And therefore without all doubt our Lord took care to preach this as the principall thing and to give good assurance of a blessed state to come because without this it had been the most ungrounded and foolish undertaking that ever man went about to perswade the world to be so mortified to quit all present possessions and to part with their lives for his sake He must have been the most unreasonable of all other men in preaching such Doctrine and supposed the World void of all reason if he expected to have it believed had he not been certain himself and been able by evident proofs to perswade others that all those who hearkened to him should be no losers but exceeding great gainers by quitting all things upon his account If he had not held this truth in his hands as clear as the Sun that they who would follow him should be immortally happy he might have stretcht them out long enough before he had drawn so much as one follower after him The Trees would as soon have followed him as Men who would never have stirr'd a foot in such a narrow path unless he had shewn them plainly that it led to Everlasting Life Let us consider and illustrate this a little Would not he expose himself to laughter and scorn that should earnestly perswade his neighbours to go and labour hard in his fields all day by which they should get just nothing for their pains at night Would it not seem a piece of strange mockery and contempt of us and as strange a folly in him that should invite us to enter into his service which he confessed would make us sweat and ingage us in many toilsome imployments and when we inquired what wages he gave should be able to assure us never a farthing that lay in his power or will to bestow upon us Would they not be equally ridiculous he that should make and they that should embrace such a proposall Might not such a trifler expect rather to be kickt then to be followed by the multitude Should we not hear them expressing their indignation in such speeches as these What Do you take
thy Majesty O thou most mighty Jesus whose power is not the power of flesh and bloud but the power of God who raises those to life who are dead Great was the joy which filled thy Disciples hearts when they first saw thee alive from the dead and called thee their God Georg. Nâ—comed Serm. ix None can understand the beauty of that sight O the brightness of that appearing What a light diffused it self then through the whole Creation What a fragrant smell did the very earthquake breath forth when like a publick crier it proclaimed the Resurrection What was the savour of the ointment which was then poured out How was the whole world then transformed and made new The Angels themselves leaped for joy to see it How sweet was the sound then of their doxologies With what divine splendours were they then adorned How beautifull did those preachers of thy resurrection appear and how great was the glory and the happiness which they came then to proclaim O those Words of theirs which brought us the news of victory over the Enemy which proclaimed the destruction of Death and published thee to the World the Resurrection and the Life O that sweet and above all things desirable voice of thine which by the women that were carrying spices to thy grave sounded joy to the World The Heavens then opened their gates and received the glad tidings which were brought to us as if they had been their own The Intellectuall powers rejoyced and took a pleasure in our happiness The Spirituall as well as Sensible World was inlightned The clouds of sadness were dispelled from one end of the world to the other and the rays of joy possessed all Guilty Nature put off the robes of heaviness and was cloathed with garments of light The hand-writing of the Curse was torn in pieces and promises of Blessing were sealed in the room thereof By that new Salutation when thou saidst ALL HAIL the world was filled with the sweetest and everlasting joy For thou art the Preacher and the Cause and the very Exultation of all joy the Authour of good things the giver of pleasure the joy which can never be taken away the sweet light the spectacle above all others desirable the intellectuall tranquillity and peace Wisedom it self and Power Incorruption and Eternity Security and Delight the onely unchangeable and inconceivable Beauty Sanctity it self and Honour and Righteousness and Glory above measure glorious O how many Names would my Mind bring forth to express thine unutterable excellency It is onely my weakness that hinders and want of words But thou who art the infinite not to be named Good far above all the titles that Mind can invent who regardest not words but rather an inflamed heart who thy self broughtest the joyfull news of thy Resurrection shine now into our Minds by the bright beams of thy appearing Let us see intellectually the superexcellent beauty of the intellectuall Sun Let us inwardly injoy the incomparable sight of our Lord and Master Let us hear his divine voice speaking some sweet and joyfull word to us O thou gracious Lord come and draw us from these present thiâ—â—◠〈…〉 deeps and 〈…〉 never-decay 〈…〉 the quires of those that keep perpetuall festivals above For thou art both light and life and resurrection and the joy of those that triumph in the heavens To thee it becomes us to give together with the Father and the Holy Ghost glory honour and adoration now and ever world without end Amen CHAP. XII Concerning the Testimony of the Holy APOSTLES of our Lord. THere is nothing now wanting to compleat this Discourse unless it be to shew that if the Testimony of the APOSTLES of our Lord be at all intended when St. John saith He CAME by Water and Bloud and the Spirit as in the former Treatise I proved we have reason to think it is they also bear Witness to this Truth and by them God hath given us this Record that we have Eternall Life and that this Life is in his Son That Jesus had Disciples the Talmudists themselves confess who tell us in the same place where they speak of his being hanged on the evening of the Passeover that they were five MATTHAI Talmud Bab. Tit. Sanhed c. vi NETZER NEKAI BUNI and THODA They do not love to speak the truth but to the Four Evangelists to which perhaps they have respect they have added one more and report not one of their names aright except the first and in the last have a little varied from the Name of Judas the Brother of St. James But thus much we gain from their own Records that known Disciples our Saviour had who professed to believe on him and owned him for their Lord and Master These persons we can make no question would be carefull to communicate to the World what they had received from him because they lookt upon him as the Son of God and estemed his words as so many Oracles which his Crucifixion could not disparage Accordingly there are Books that pass under their Names besides the four Gospels which no man ever laid any claim to or pretended to be the Authour of but onely themselves and therefore we have no cause to think they were not of their inditing Now if you examine them you will find that after his Ascension to heaven and the coming of the Holy Ghost their business was to go about and preach this Truth and the certainty of it to all the World as their Lord and Master had delivered it to them They were so fully perswaded of it that they could not forbear to publish such glad tidings of great joy to the whole Earth It was the very end of their Apostleship and that which moved them to undertake so great a task as St. Paul tells us when he calls himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of Life which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. i. 1. appointed by God that is to publish the promise of Eternall Life which he had received from Christ Jesus who would certainly give it to all that believed on him And it is the very Character which the other great Apostle gives of himself 1 Pet. v. 1. that he was a Partaker of the glory that shall be revealed This incouraged him to be a Witness of the sufferings of Christ as he saith just before and not to be daunted as he had been though he followed him to a cross because now he clearly saw he had a right as a Friend of his so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Philem. 17 * Vid. Scipion. Gentil ibid. to a share in that unseen glory where He was which should one day be revealed In this they desired that all mankind might have a portion with them 1 Joh. i. 3. by becoming Members of their Society And therefore it was the constant strain of all their Sermons to invite them to it by shewing that Jesus
in heaven binding whom it would and loosing there according to the power given him As a lion let loose among a company of foxes so did he fall upon the societies of Daemons and Philosophers and like a thunderbolt struck through all the armies of the Devill who was so afraid of him that he trembled at his shadow and ran away if he did but hear his voice He delivered the incestuous Corinthian to him being far distant from the place and again he snatcht him out of his hands being perfectly acquainted with his devices And in like manner he taught others by the same severity not to blaspheme But let us not content our selves merely to admire him let us not onely be astonisht at him let us imitate and follow him What though we cannot doe such miracles as the Apostles did and there is no hunger and other miseries to be endured the times being peaceable and quiet God be blessed yet there is their piety and the holiness of their life to be transcribed which was no less admirable And this is the noblest conflict this is the syllogism which cannot be contradicted this by our Works Should we discourse never so excellently but live no better then others we gain nothing For unbelievers do not mind what we say but what we doe saying Do thou first of all follow thine own words and then perswade others For if thou tellest us of millions of good things in the other world but art so intent upon the things of this as if there were no other we believe thy works rather then thy words For when we see thee greedy to snatch other mens goods bitterly bewailing thy friends deceased and in many other things offending how shall we believe thee that there is a Resurrection Thus unbelievers are hindred from being Christians And therefore having seen how glorious our Saviour is Id. Homil. xii in Johan being instructed in his Religion and made partakers of so great a gift let us lead a life agreeable to our principles that so we may injoy those good things which Christ hath promised For He therefore appeared not onely that his Disciples might behold his glory in this world as they say they did i. Joh. 14. but also in the world to come For I will saith he that where I am they may be and see my glory And if he appeared so illustriously here what shall we say of his glory there O happy thrice happy they more happy then can be expressed who shall be thought worthy of that glory Which if we should be so unhappy as not to see better had it been for us if we never had been born To what purpose do we live and breath what are we if we miss of that Light if we may not be permitted then to see our Lord and Master If those who enjoy not the light of the Sun lead a life more bitter then death how miserable will their condition be who are deprived of that light This loss will be punishment sufficient though this is not all they must expect For being banished from this Light they shall not onely be cast into outer darkness but there burn perpetually and miserably consume and gnash their teeth and suffer a thousand other miseries Let us awake therefore let us look about us let us use our utmost endeavours that we may enjoy the happiness Christ designs for us and be far remote from the river of fire which runs with great noise before the dreadful tribunall Into that if we fall there is no redemption And therefore let us purify our life let us make it bright and shining so that we may have boldness of access to the blessed sight of our Lord and obtain the promised good things through the grace and loving-kindness of Christ Jesus by whom and with whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory world without end Amen CHAP. XIII The Vse we are to make of this RECORD I. AND in the very entrance of so pious a design to improve the great grace which Heaven hath bestowed on us it becomes us to stand amazed at the transcendent love of God our Saviour who not contenting himself to have thoughts and intentions of good towards such wretched Sinners hath been pleased to make us a gracious promise that he will bless us and to acquaint us by no less Messenger then his own Eternall Son appearing from heaven in our flesh with the secret purposes of his heart to give us the greatest Blessedness There is nothing so astonishing as this whether we consider the incomparable excellency of the Good he designs us or the favour he hath done us in revealing it to us or the glory of that person by whom he reveals it or the certainty we have that this is a true report that God hath given to us Eternall Life and this Life is in his Son O most joyfull news shall we poor mortalls live for ever and live there where Jesus is May such as we presume to expect such glory honour and immortality as he hath brought to light by his Gospell O wonderfull love which might have concealed its kindness and yet eternally obliged us It had been enough if we had got to heaven without knowing before-hand we should be so happy Why should such offenders injoy the comfort of hoping for so great a Happiness while we are here in these earthly prisons Might we not have been well contented to creep upon our hands and knees to so high a glory Had we not been fairly used if with our heads hanging down and not daring so much as to lift up our eyes to that holy place we had travelled through this world and at last found our selves beyond all expectation at rest with Jesus But O the love of God which hath bid us hold up our heads and look above and behold our Lord in his glory and hope well yea be confident that he hath seated us together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus We are indebted to him beyond all thoughts for promising us so freely out of his exceeding great love and giving us so evident a right to such glory and honour as our own unworthiness and guilt forbad us to promise our selves or to have the least expectance of And what is it that he hath so freely promised To look into that high and holy place where he is at some distance to behold his glory to have an Angel come sometimes to visit us and bring us some message from him in some of the suburbs of heaven And a great favour too I assure you A very singular kindness it ought to be esteemed if we vile wretches may be permitted to be so happy as but to come near the gates of the celestiall palace Well would it be for us to come but within the sound of those melodious hymns which the heavenly host continually sing or to live but in some of the most remote corners of that heavenly countrey and there enjoy for
find him false and guilty of forgery in any other relation they had no reason to call in question his honesty and faithfulness in this report which is the more considerable because there were others who heard it as well as he who might be appealed unto and askt about it One of those who were there present and heard it together with him was S. Peter a man timorous enough and apt to deny a Truth and therefore of no such courage as to support a Lye with the danger of his life Who writing to Christian people as S. John here doth commends this voice to them as a sure witness of that Truth which he was shortly to seal with his Bloud and professes his own sincerity in the relating of it Read with attention 2 Pet. 1.14 15 16 17 18. where he tells them that our Lord having shown him he must shortly die when it is no time to dissemble with God or Man he would endeavour to settle in their minds such a solid ground of faith that when he was gone they should stand unshaken if they did but remember it And that it was not a thing he had received by hear-say much less a devised story that had been forged in his own brain but a matter of which he was an eye and ear-witness of which he and others also had a certain clear and perfect knowledge For they saw then the glory wherein Jesus was and they heard the forenamed voice come from that excellent glory which could be no other but the glory of the Father Then and there in that Mount Jesus received from the Father honour and glory when there came forth from the mouth of God this voice in all their hearing This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Here it will be necessary to take notice that the voice as all of them relate it was directed not to him but to those who were there present with him None of them say that it spake thus THOU art my beloved Son c. according as S. Mark and S. Lake report the former voice but they unanimously tell us in these four places which I have named that it was delivered in the other form THIS is my beloved Son c. As if He spake to the company that attended him and bade them observe that here He owned this person to stand in such a relation to him as he and John Baptist had professed The former voice might come for his sake but there being no need of his further satisfaction this was for theirs that they might stedfastly believe and that they might be competent witnesses of him and perswade others to the belief of that which upon their own certain knowledge they could affirm was the very mind and will of God I shall have occasion hereafter to make a further enquiry into both these Testimonies which the Father gave to his Son Jesus and therefore I shall now dismiss them with some observations concerning this which will much help to illustrate it and add to the force of it The First is that our Saviour having at this time sequestred himself with three of his Apostles into an high mountain to pray to God was transfigured before them as he was praying xvii Matth. 2. ix Luke 29. so that his face did shine as the Sun and his very garments were all glistering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Greg. Nazianzen speaks * Orat. 35. p. 575. showing before-hand what he was to be hereafter and making an introduction to the glory in which he should shine in the high and holy place at the right hand of the Father where he makes perpetual intercession for us For to shine as the Sun is a phrase expressing something belonging to celestial Majesty in the Kingdom of the Father xiii Matth. 43. The white and splendid garments also it were easie to show were proper to Kings and those who waited on them iii. Revel 4. The Ministers and royal attendants in the Heavenly Court were wont always to appear in such radiant brightness though short of this wherein our Saviour now began to shine as the King ere long of Heaven and Earth For so S. John says i. 14. We beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father And S. Peter when he speaks of this says 2 i. 16. We were eye-witnesses of his MAJESTY Of which that they might be assured this was a true representation you may observe secondly how they saw a very great Glory appear and approach towards them called by S. Mark and S. Luke simply a Cloud but by S. Matthew xvii 5. a bright cloud which had usually been the token of the presence of the Divine Majesty And therefore it is called by S. Peter in the place before named ver 17. the excellent or magnificent glory and the voice which came out of it is said ver 18. to come from Heaven because it came forth from the presence of God of which this bright cloud was the visible sign For so He appeared anciently to the Israelites in a cloud that had a splendor or shining light in it like to the hottest fire which sometimes brightly glistered and sometimes was obscured So you read xix Exod. 18. that the LORD descended in fire upon the famous Mount Sinai and a little after xxiv Exod. 16 17. how the glory of the Lord dwelt upon that Mount and the cloud covered it i. e. the glory of the Lord for the space of six days and then on the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of that cloud And the aspect of the glory of the Lord was as fire that burnt or glowed with great ardency in the sight of the children of Israel That is on the seventh day that Glory was revealed and broke forth out of the cloud wherein for six days it had been wrapped up and hidden from their sight And so you read in the xl Chapter of that Book that as soon as Moses had reared up the Tabernacle for the constant habitation of this Divine presence the cloud covered it and rested upon it without and the glory of the Lord filled it within ver 34 35. which is presently after explained to be a fire which by night appeared upon the Tabernacle to guide them in their journey This is that bright flame which frighted them when they murmured against Moses called the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud xvi Exod. 7.10 and xvi Numb 42. threatning to devour them if they were not more obedient Such a glory but more pure and more delightful to behold there was now upon this Holy Mount as S. Peter calls it to make them apprehensive that now they were in the presence of God who as he did on that Mount to speak in the words of Tertullian initiate their forefathers in the Religion of Moses by showing his glory and by his voice so here on this * Agnosce formam loci c. L. 4.
the voice spake of him alone and none else there being no body but He to be seen by his Disciples when it came forth from the presence of God So you read in all the Evangelists that the cloud which appeared over-shadowed them viz. Moses and Elias whereupon the Disciples were afraid as S. Luke tells us ix 34. as they that is Moses and Elias entred â—â—to the cloud imagining it is like that it would approach nearer and spread it self over them who dreaded to enter into it as they saw those two persons did But there was no danger it only parted Moses and Elias from Jesus and left him alone and then came the voice out of that cloud where Moses and Elias were with God giving their assent to what it said This is my beloved Son hear him Him I say Non Mosen jam Eliam as Tertullian * L. 4. adv Marc. C. 22. I now observe interprets it Not Moses and Elias who were shown as his language is in the prerogative of brightness and then dismissed as being now discharged both of their office and of their honour Thus I have briefly explained the second Testimony which God the Father gave him in the audience of three of his Disciples who had a vision also at the same time of the glory wherein he was to shine after his departure out of this world To which testimony our Saviour would not have those Disciples as yet to add theirs but to keep this as a secret till he was risen again from the dead xvii Matth. 9. It was fit for the Father alone to speak now from whom they were to learn what Jesus was that being fully satisfied they might be the better able to speak of him then upon their own knowledge who had been eye and ear-witnesses of the honour and glory which he received from God the Father when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this voice S. Peter I told you openly avers 2 i. 17 18. he and others heard when they were with him in the holy mount But if any one should be so suspicious and distrustful as to think that the Testimony of three persons is not sufficient to beget belief in us of such a wonderful thing as this is that God declared Jesus to be his Son though there is no just reason to doubt of any thing that is established out of the mouth of but two good witnesses yet such was the condescension of God the Father Almighty that he was pleased a little before our Saviours decease which Moses and Elias spake of to give his testimony to him again and to declare this more publickly which was shortly to be proclaimed in all the world III. For this Third voice which the Father was pleased to send from Heaven to bear witness to him was not heard by so few as two or three but by a great multitude of people which makes our belief of this Truth to rely still upon surer grounds For you read in the xii John 1 2 c. that a great company of people having heard what a miracle our Saviour had wrought upon Lazarus whom he raised from the dead a little before at a neighbouring town flockt out of Jerusalem to meet him as he was coming thither to the seast of the Passeover And being convinced that he was that King of Israel whom the Lord by his Prophets had promised to send in his name they met him with Palms of joy and triumph in their hands and with the loudest acclamations of praise in their mouths spreading their garments also in the way as other Evangelists tell us to do him the greater honour and wishing him all prosperity in his new Kingdom In this croud or among the rest of the people who were come to worship at the feast there were certain Greeks as you read ver 20. who were desirous to see Jesus whom the multitude thus magnified and it is likely wish'd to have some proof given them that he was such a person as fame reported him Now the first thing our Saviour answers to those who presented them to him which must be diligently noted is that ere long He should be glorified But first he must take the Cross in his way and then the glory he should attain thereby would be exceeding great for his death would produce most precious fruit and be the means of enlarging his Kingdom and bringing innumerable such Gentiles as these were unto God ver 23 24. And thereupon He perswades his Disciples ver 25 26. to adventure their lives according to his example for the good of mankind which would redound also very much to their own honour As they might see already in Moses and Elias who appeared S. Chrysostom thinks for this end among others to strengthen and encourage their Christian resolution in their sufferings * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 56. in Matth. but should be more fully satisfied when they saw him ascend to that glory after his sufferings of which they had beheld but a shadow when those two illustrious persons came to wait upon him A difficult work indeed it was at the thoughts of which He himself could not but be something sad ver 27. and wisht according to the inclinations of Nature there were some other way if God pleased to deliver mankind But since he had sent him into the world for this end that he should lay down his life for our Redemption he resolves presently to submit to God and desires only this one thing of him ver 28. Father glorifie thy Name As much as to say I know thou art my FATHER and since it is thy pleasure to which I will always submit behold I offer my self now to be an instrument of thy glory by my passion as I have been hitherto by my preaching and the works thou hast done by my hands I am content to receive the glory which I expect and just now told my Disciples I shall receive in this way of humble suffering thy will and pleasure I am desirous thou shouldest first be glorified and if my death will serve that end I am ready to part with my life for I know thou wilt be much more glorified by my Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven There is no reasonable doubt to be made of the truth of this interpretation for they glorifie God most remarkably who die for the testimony of the Truth xxi John 19. It is a great honour to him that they love him more than their lives and will take his word for their recompense in an invisible world This our Saviour himself calls Gods being glorified in him xiii John 31. and therefore I make no question he desires here that his Fathers Name may be glorified by the same means Now to this humble request of his God the Father replies by a voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie
it again You remember what S. Peter says in the place often cited already 2 i. 17. that our Lord by the former voice from Heaven received honour and glory from God the Father and there is as much cause to think that in this there was the same design to do him honour by a declaration of the glory he should shortly receive at the right hand of God The very connexion of these words with the foregoing will not let us expound them otherwise For having told his Disciples the Son of man should shortly be glorified but first he must glorifie God by his passion and then he doubted not but God would glorifie him with himself as he speaks xiii 32. that is by the very same means glorifie both himself and his Son who had glorified him Yes says God himself from Heaven I have both glorified my Name by what he had done for Jesus and by him and will glorifie it again by that which remained still to be done And indeed 1. it did him a great honour that God was pleased to return any answer to him who had before called himself his Son x. 36. and had just now addressed himself to him as his Father calling upon him twice by this Name Father save me from this hour ver 27. Father glorifie thy Name ver 28. It was as much as to say He owned the relation allowed his pretences and intended to justifie them more and more by his Divine approbation For 2. the Answer it self is a plain promise of the honour he would confer upon him hereafter by his Resurrection and Exaltation when he again glorified himself by glorifying the Lord Jesas You read expresly in the foregoing Chapter that the Glory he had gotten before was by glorifying of his Son for he says xi 4. the sickness of Lazarus was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby And therefore when he says he will glorifie himself again the meaning is that as they had seen his glory xi 40. in the raising of Lazarus from the dead and in all the other miraculous works which Jesus had done for which the people gave him glory v. Luke 26. vii 16. xix 37. So he would glorifie himself more by the Resurrection of Jesus himself from the dead and by his Exaltation to an Heavenly Kingdom For it was the working of the might of his power as the Apostle S. Paul speaks i. Ephes 19. which he wrought in Christ when the Father of glory raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Now he glorified his Son Jesus indeed as S. Peter speaks iii. Acts 13. and gave him a name which is above every name that every knee should bow to him and every tongue confess him to be the Lord but it was to the glory of God the Father as S. Paul tells us expresly ii Philip. 11. Hereby he glorified his own name as by this voice from Heaven he said he would whose power goodness and wisdom will be for ever magnified and celebrated with the highest praises by the whole Christian Church for setting such a glorious Prince over them who is not ashamed to call them Brethren and yet hath all things put in subjection under his feet that he may protect succour and bless them here and eternally Now by making this promise to the Lord Jesus of glorifying himself by glorifying him in this manner He plainly bare witness to him that he was what he pretended to be very dear to him his only begotten Son and no deceiver as they falsely and blasphemously said who were loth to be governed by him They ought presently to have glorified God by honouring his Son and acknowledging him for their Lord and Master who had such power with God already that he would give him whatsoever he askt xi John 22. and was shortly to receive greater even all power in Heaven and in Earth xvii 1 2. For this voice you may observe was uttered at such a time and so loud that the people who stood by heard it ver 29. Those who were at some distance indeed hearing only the sound thought it had been a clap of thunder but they who were nearer heard it so distinctly that they were of opinion an Angel spake to him God that is by the Ministry of an Angel For what is said in one place of Scripture to be done by Angels who are his principal servants is in another said to be done by God As the Angel of the Lord we read vii Acts 30. appeared to Moses in the bush and in the next verse it is the voice of the Lord which from thence is said to come to him In like manner the Angel is said ver 38. to speak with him in mount Sinai where we are told in the book of Exodus xix 20. the Lord came down and called Moses up to the top of the Mount and there spake to him as here he did to our Saviour Who tells the people it was not for his sake that God spake now to him it was for theirs whom he would have to know that when he was lifted up from the Earth by hanging upon the Cross which was a step contrary to all mens opinion to his Exaltation in the Heavens he would draw all men to him bring even the Gentile world into subjection to him and bow their hearts to acknowledge his Divine authority which the Jews opposed He needed no further confirmation of this truth himself who knew how dear he was to God and that he would glorifie his Name in him but that his Disciples might be more confident of it and the people more inclined to believe it when they heard it preached God spake the very same now in the ears of a great many which he had done before to him and a few besides in the former voices from Heaven It is true indeed He is not called here Gods beloved Son in express terms as he is in the other places But this is so plainly supposed and strongly inferr'd as I said from the voice which now spake that it puts the matter out of doubt as much as the former If he had falsely and proudly laid claim to this high relation to God whom he calls his Father we may be confident God would never have honoured him with such an answer but either have been silent or said the quite contrary telling him before all the company that he would not glorifie himself by preferring but by putting to shame such an one as he who thus arrogantly took upon him to be the Son of God It is contrary to all reason to think that God would stoop to seek the glory of any person as our Saviour expresses the honour he had done him viii John 50. but one who
stood so nearly related to him as to be his Son and therefore worthy to be glorified by him again and again until He had fully judged as he there speaks between Him and his Adversaries who denied him to be the Christ but was pronounced by God to be the Prince of life To conclude this you may note that not long before God spake in this manner from Heaven to them our Saviour had said That they had not heard his voice at any time v. John 37. John the Baptist had and so had three of his Disciples And therefore John bare witness of him whose testimony he says was true ver 32. though he did not stand in such need of it as if his credit could not be supported without it No He appealed to him merely because they had such an high opinion of him ver 33 34. otherwise he had a greater testimony than that of John ver 36. which was not only the works that he did which testified of him that the Father had sent him but the Father himself who sent him note this for he appeals now to what the voice from Heaven said he has born witness of him ver 37. And if they had had any goodness in them ver 38. they would have received him whom the Father sent When did He send him but when he spake by that voice from Heaven which now he utters once more in other words for their greater and fuller satisfaction when many of them were assembled together that they who had not hitherto might hear his voice as well as Jesus himself and his Apostles and be awakened hereby to attend to what the other witnesses of him should say especially after he was risen from the dead I should pass now to the Examination of one of them were it not fit before I part with this to take notice of a Tradition which runs among the Jews concerning this way of Revelation by a voice from Heaven which they say was very usual in those ages The Doctors deliver so their words are in the Babylonian Talmud * In the title Sanhedrim cap. 1. that from the death of the latter Prophets Haggai Zachariah and Malachy the Holy Ghost was taken away but yet notwithstanding they had the Ministry of the Bath Col i. e. the daughter of a voice By that name they call this way of Revelation because they say it was not a full and strong voice which they heard but a voice coming out of another voice and heard when it was gone Just as sparks say they are called Bene resheph the sons of an hot coal because they leap out of the fire so is this called the daughter of a voice because it resulted from a voice and came as it were out of the womb of it being a kind of Eccho after something that was spoken which they could not understand but only caught hold of this tail as I may call it and conclusion of it And they would have us believe that as under the first Temple they had the benefit of Prophecy Urim and Thummim and the Holy Ghost so this succeeded them under the second Temple and was proper to that age of the world being then only in use when all the other were wanting Hence many Christian writers of these latter times have fancied that God therefore declared Jesus to be his Son by a voice from Heaven because it was the only way wherein he then communicated his mind to the Jewish Nation Paulus Fagius think was the first that started this notion of the Bath col which was a praeludium b◠imagines to that true Divine and Heavenly voice which was to speak to them indee◠from Heaven that is our Lord Jesus Christ To whom the Bath col it self gave testimony when it said This is my belove◠Son in whom I am well pleased But 〈◊〉 name shows it was not the true voice from Heaven but a mere type signification and testimony of that true voice and word of God which was to come shortly and speak to them To whom alone this Bath col told them they must all hearken Thus he writes upon the Chaldee Paraphrase * In xxviii Exod. 30. And he had said the same before in his notes upon the Fifth Chapter of Pirke Avoth where his word◠are that God would accustom the world 〈◊〉 little by this beginning to that true Heavenly voice our Saviour Christ who was to follow in whom hereafter the Father would be heard But I think there is reason to doubt o◠all that the Jews say about this matter their brags being many times beyond the Truth and devised to obscure the glory of our Saviour Who it is most likely had that honour done him now by these voices from Heaven which was not usual in those days for he himself tells them as I observed before Ye have not heard his voice at any time v. John 37. As for that which they pretend that this Bath col or daughter of a voice was peculiar to the times of the second Temple it is so far from Truth that it is contradicted by some of themselves who find instances of the contrary in the Holy Books God called out of Heaven to Abraham every body knows by his Angel Gen. xxii 11 15. And Maimonides * More Nevoch part 2. cap. 42. observes that he spake to Hagar and Manoah's wife though neither of them he says had any thing of the spirit of prophecy but only heard the Bath col Which interposed if we could believe others in the case of Thamar And often whispered to Moses as the writer of his Life in many places affirms Nay they tell us in the Eleventh Chapter of the forenamed Title in the Talmud that Nebuzaradan heard this Bath col before the destruction of the first Temple bidding him make a fresh assault upon Jerusalem and not be discouraged in his attempt nor fear the fate of Senacherib For the time is at hand that the Sanctuary shall be destroyed and the Temple burnt But that there was any such thing under the second Temple I see no ground at all to believe It is far more probable that they have devised a number of such stories as we read in their Books merely to gain some credit and reputation to their Doctors Can any man of sence imagine that God would bid Jonathan hold his hand when he was beginning to Paraphrase upon the Prophets saying to him by a voice from Heaven Who is this that reveals my secrets to the sons of men And that he like a bold fellow stood up and said I am the man who undertake it for thy honour and not my own And yet Elias Levita has the confidence to tell us in his Preface to these Paraphrases that as Jonathan was going to do as much for the Holy writings as they call them as he had done for the Prophets he was absolutely prohibited by another voice from Heaven which said Is it not sufficient that thou
others are said to have seen God who beheld some very bright appearance an extraordinary light shining before their eyes which excelled all that ever they had seen or could imagine and was the token of the Divine presence Thus Moses was afraid to look upon God iii. Exod. 6. and the Elders of Israel are said to see the God of Israel xxiv 20. which places Maimonides thinks are to be understood of the Vision of God with the eyes of the mind But the Text is plainly against him which tells us there was a visible appearance of some unusual astonishing brightness And therefore he confesses that if any man do conceive those words are to be interpreted of some created light as he speaks * More Nevoch Part. 1. cap. 5. and many other places that is the visible apparition of a Divine Majesty or of an Angel there is no danger in such an apprehension And indeed no man can seriously read the Books of Moses but he will see plainly they speak of a sensible glory which was exceeding dazling and sometimes too great for the weak eyes of men to behold I have described it before when I told you it was nothing else but a flaming light which shone from that amazing devouring Fire which appeared in the cloud to the children of Israel Thus Abarbanel expounds that place I mentioned before xvi Exod. 7. In the morning then ye shall see the glory of the Lord. Which is not to be understood of the providing them bread or flesh in an extraordinary manner but of the Fire which appeared to all the people to reprove and punish them for their murmurings And so Lyra says it was an unusual refulgent brightness or lightning representing the Divine power ready to chastise them for their mutiny against his servants And it is very common in the New Testament to cal◠such a great splendour by the name of glory As the shining of Moses his face i◠called by S. Paul 2 Cor. iii. 7. the glory 〈◊〉 his countenance And in the same stile he◠speaks of the light of the Heavenly bodies when he says 1 Cor. xv 41. There is on◠glory of the Sun another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in glory that is in the brightness and splendour of its light Such a glory it was that now S. Steven beheld but far more splendid more pure and illustrious than the light of the Sun or any other that has been mentioned which was a representation of the presence of the Divine Majesty who used in this manner to make men sensible of his transcendent invisible glory And there in the Divine presence he saw our Lord in the most high and honourable place next to God the Father himself For that 's the meaning of his appearing at the right hand of God or of that great glory he saw in the Heavens the right hand being the principal place belonging to the Heir of the Crown when he appears together with the King his Father And therefore the Divine writer to the Hebrews says there never was any Angel seen there They only stand or minister before God or before his Throne but to which of them did he say at any time Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool i. Hebr. 13. This is the prerogative of Christ alone the great King the Heir of all things whose glory the Psalmist describes in that place cx Psal 1. from whence these words are cited that is prophecies of his Kingly power in the Heavens as S. Paul clearly expounds this phrase of sitting at Gods right hand 1 Cor. xv 25. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet He is a King and he reigns and he hath a Throne i. Hebr. 8. but when he is compared with God the Father Almighty the fountain of all power and authority and when he appears together with him to show that he reigns under him and for him he is represented as sitting at the right hand of God or the right hand of the Throne of God For so his Kingly power is expressed in other places He is set down on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens Hebr. viii 1. xii 2. that is He reigns together with God the Father in the Celestial glory For the throne of God signifying in the Scripture phrase as the forenamed Maimonides observes that place where God's Majesty manifests it self in a visible splendour and glory the sitting of our Saviour at the right hand of that Throne or that glory denotes nothing else but his being seated in the highest honour that can be given to any one in the Heavenly places next in greatness power and majesty to God himself under whom he is the King of Angels and Men and all Creatures There was nothing of which this holy Martyr was more assured To whom this Heavenly King appeared not in his usual posture of sitting at God's right hand as one possessed of his royal power but standing there as if he was ministring in the Heavenly Sanctuary in the quality of a royal high-Priest for that was the posture of those that ministred in the Temple cxxxiv. Psal 1. for the comfort of all Christian people and of himself especially or rather as ready to come to take vengeance of those implacable enemies who had killed him and now persecuted his servants which was a notable instance of his royal power at God's right hand For there the Psalmist says he must reign till he hath subdued all those that oppose his authority and troden them under his feet And as for the second enquiry how he could know this to be Jesus whom he saw in this Heavenly Majesty It is easily resolved that He appeared to him with such a countenance as he had here upon Earth only more shining and bright as being now in the glory of the Father And so he tells the Jews I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God That very person he means who used to call himself the Son of man whom you crucified and dishonourably treated I now see so exalted that I had rather die as he did than not confess him to be the Son of God as he said he was when he died This is the first testimony which was given to this truth by the WORD Who bore witness in a most illustrious manner to himself when he appeared thus to a person of the greatest credit in the Divine glory and in the highest place of Celestial dignity as the King of Heaven that is and risen up from his Throne as if he was coming to be avenged of his adversaries to succour all his servants and to welcome this Martyr into glory with himself So S. Steven verily thought for he resigns up his Soul to Jesus with the same confidence and almost in the same words that Jesus gave up his to God the
God promised to send to rule over them He takes the Book out of the right hand of him that sate on the Throne ver 7. which signifies that he is next to God the Father of all at whose right hand he stood in power and glory As appears also by his being seated in his Throne for the thrones of the Eastern Kings to which these expressions allude were wide like one of our Couches in which more than one may sit and by his having the principal Angels the seven spirits of God at his command to imploy where he pleased Who together with the rest of the Heavenly host and with the Christian Church make their acclamations to him ver 11 12. as worthy of the most supreme power and dignity which they express in as many Names of praise as there are principal Spirits of God when they say Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 1. power and 2. riches and 3. wisdom and 4. strength and 5. honour and 6. glory and 7. blessing And then immediately he hears every Creature joyning him in their Doxology together with God the Father saying ver 13. Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever But the more fully to represent his Divine power you may observe that he appears in another Vision to him in the very same state and majesty wherein God was wont to make himself present in the times of old Then you read that the Lord made the clouds his chariot and walkt upon the wings of the wind ciii Psalm 3. that is came to them by the ministery of Angels who appeared in bright and shining clouds to do his will with great expedition every where For so it is expounded in the xviii Psalm 10. where instead of clouds it is said He rode upon a Cherub and did flie yea he did flie upon the wings of the wind That is there was a token of his presence by the majestick appearance of Angels who were ready to be imployed by him and immediately to execute his commands For to ride upon any thing as Maimonides observes * More Nevoch Part. 1. cap. 70. is in the Holy Language to rule to govern to have an absolute power over it and dispose of it as one pleases And therefore to ride upon a Cherub or to make the clouds his chariot which are the very same because the Angels appeared in glorious clouds is to send those Heavenly Ministers whither he thinks good to perform his pleasure Whence it is I suppose that the Psalmist says elsewhere lxviii 34. his strength is in the clouds because he is powerfully present by them in all places For as Andreas Caesariensis hath truly observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in his Commentaries upon the Revelation a cloud in the Sacred writings is ever a Minister about Divine businesses and perpetually imployed in them because they are above us and are very swift as the Angels are in their motions and are both dark and bright a fit emblem of the glory of the Divine Majesty which is inscrutable by us Now just in such a glorious Majesty and mighty power did S. John behold our blessed Saviour making the clouds that is the Angels his chariot in which he sate as a Lord to whom they were to do service So he tells us in xiv Rev. 14. And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sate like unto the Son of man having on his head a golden Crown and in his hand a sharp sickle Where by cloud the forementioned writer understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Angelical power of which this white that is bright cloud was a representation ministring to our Saviour For S. John saw him upon this cloud and sitting there as if it were the Throne or Royal Chariot of this Prince Who sate there with a Crown on his head denoting his Royal authority and that of Gold to show by what is most precious among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the splendour and greatness of his Majesty and with a sickle in his hand to signifie that he hath such a power as to be able to cut down Kingdoms and States with as much ease as we mow a field of corn All these three last expressions set forth the highest dignity and most royal power and therefore so doth his sitting upon a cloud or being carried by Angels as Kings were anciently and still are in the Eastern Countries by their servants Which kind of speech and other such like phrases in the holy Language as riding upon the wings of Angels denoted by the clouds and wind signifie the exercise of his Kingly power by their Ministry Who are ready to fly any whither to convey his orders and execute them throughout the world Where he being present by them as a King is by his several Ministers in every part of his Dominions he is said to sit upon them as if whither-soever they go they carried him Thus the ancient Books speak of God the Creator and Governour of all and thus our Saviour teaches S. John to speak of him which is a sign that he is the Son of God who sends forth the Angels to minister for them especially who shall be heirs of salvation And therefore in another Vision which is all I need mention xix Rev. 11 12 c. He saw him again coming out of Heaven with the Royal ensigns of his victorious power over those who had opposed his authority For behold a white horse which was proper for a conqueror and one sitting upon him whose name was called the WORD of God Who was clothed he tells us with a vesture dipt in bloud that is with a purple garment such as Kings use to wear and his eyes sparkled or rather flamed like fire to denote how terrible he was to his Enemies and there were on his head many Crowns because he had already conquered several Kingdoms and Provinces and was now going to subdue more being attonded with all the armies in Heaven who waited upon him to minister to him in this war till as he was of right he was actually acknowledged by humble subjection to him to be KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS And what greater argument can there be of the power of our Lord and of the truth of these Visions whereby the WORD of God who hath the lineaments of future things in his mind as Irenaeus speaks represented how God would hereafter dispose of the affairs of the world than his possessing himself of a Kingdom and perswading so great a part of mankind to submit to him though a King invisible merely by the preaching of such men as S. John The event hath proved it was no delusion when he heard those great voices in Heaven saying xi 15. The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever
testimony of my self because I do but repeat the very same thing which the Father hath said before me For though alone as I have confessed heretofore my testimony of my self is worth nothing and cannot challenge belief yet added unto so high a testimony as his it ought to be duly regarded and accepted But besides this I must add another consideration of great moment Which is that the Testimony of the WORD concerning himself now that he is in the Heavens is of great validity even singly considered though it had no such authority alone when he was upon the Earth For during his stay here on Earth it could not appear by his bare saying so that he was the Son of God the King of Israel because he was in a poor mean and low condition altogether unlike a King And therefore if the Father and the Spirit had not testified so much none could have believed on him But when he was in the Heavens then what he said of himself carried great authority and power with it because he could not say those words to any one but he must appear as a King in glory There were things as well as words to speak for him At the same time that he bare witness of himself they to whom he spake must needs see the truth of his Testimony by the royal state and majesty wherein they beheld him If the question should be whether a person be alive his own appearing in Court would be the best testimony that could be given of it If whether such a one be a King his sitting upon his Throne with his Crown on his head in his royal Palace and his Ministers round about him would be the surest evidence that could be desired to put it out of doubt In this case therefore where the question is whether Jesus be the Son of God or no there cannot be expected a better resolution of it than his own witness to himself by appearing upon the Throne of his Glory There several persons of unblemished credit beheld him and had the confidence to venture their lives upon the certain knowledge they had that they were not deceived From thence he spake to them and directed them to speak and carry his messages to others that they might believe on the Name of the Son of God And let it but be remembred which I noted at the beginning that we are now examining those witnesses which speak from Heaven and not those which speak on the Earth and then you will soon discern that these testimonies of the WORD though concerning himself ought to be received with great reverence and to be judged very full and powerful to prove Jesus to be the Son of God Especially since besides his own word for it we have also the word of the Father who several times called him his Son and that before he took this honour to himself A PRAYER LET all mankind therefore honour thee O blessed Jesus even as they honour the Father Be thou adored every where upon Earth with the same reverence and love wherewith all the Angels in Heaven worship thee whom they and we acknowledge to be the LORD the WORD of God the Wisdom of the Father the bright morning Star the Light of the World the Prince of Life the Heir of all things the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS God blessed for ever Thou art the King of glory O Christ Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father The Beginner and the Finisher of our Faith the Judge of the World the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey thee O how happy are they that know thee and stedfastly believe in thee and sincerely love thee and heartily obey thee and have a good hope that thou wilt bless them and imploy thy power for their promotion to that glory wherein thou reignest I rejoyce to hear thee say that thou who wast dead art alive for evermore Amen and hast the keys of Hell and of Death I thank thee for appearing so often to assure our Souls that thou sittest at the right hand of God and hast all power in Heaven and in Earth Great is the consolation which thou hast given us by the sight of that Glory wherein thy first Martyr beheld thee ready to succour all thy faithful servants Marvellous was thy work O Lord for which all thy Church will for ever praise thee in calling S. Paul to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God Adored be thy glorious Majesty which appeared to him for this purpose to make him a Minister and a Witness of what he saw and heard that he might go and open the eyes of the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in thee O how full of comfort is that Revelation which thou hast made of thy self to thy servant John Who received the brightest discoveries of thy glory in Heaven when he was in the most desolate condition upon Earth who beheld thy care over thy Church and thy conquests over thine enemies thy Priestly and thy Royal power to the perpetual joy of those that love thee and the terror of all those that oppose thee O blessed Jesus far be it from any of us in the least to contradict thy will who art so highly advanced far above all principality and power and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come May every Christian Soul be so sensibly affected with the belief of thy Glory as to prostrate it self before thee and say with the same spirit that thy blessed Apostle S. Paul did when thou appearedst unto him Lord what wilt thou have me to do May that ardent love burn in every one of our breasts towards thee and towards one another which was in thy beloved Disciple who bare record of thee and testified to us these things And may none of us prove so false and unkind as to leave our first love but our work and charity and service and faith and patience may be ever commended by thee and the last be more than the first Then shall we be able with a chearful countenance to look up unto thee and to think of thy majesty and glory with exultation and triumph and not with terror and amazement of spirit We will joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall we rejoyce We will rejoyce even in the midst of tribulation and though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil but stedfastly looking up unto Heaven call upon thee O Lord Jesus and beseech thee to receive our Spirit Into thy hands be they recommended both now and ever with most earnest desires and hope that thou wilt help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud and make them to be
might have opened their eyes to see who our Saviour was without any further telling For what could He say of himself more than this Miracle spake which others reported not He It told them loudly enough would they have heard that he had the power of God in him one of whose prerogatives it is cxlvi Psal 8. to open the eyes of the blind And John Baptist also had told them plainly that he saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and it abode upon him i. 32. Here was an unexceptionable witness of the truth of this story which John presently published And they had reason to believe him because he that authorized him to administer that Baptism which they received gave him this for a sign whereby he should know the Christ when he saw him Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God ver 33 34. He could be no less on whom such a Divine Glory not only descended but also remained and took up its abode with him That 's the last thing to be considered and the chiefest of all He had not a mere glance of this visible Majesty which did not make a transient appearance but he saw it remaining on him It staid for some time there as if it intended to make him its habitation and dwelling place And so it did for as He saw the visible Divine majesty or glory remaining on him then so the thing signified by it continued alway and made all see if they would attend that he was the Sanctuary or most holy Place in which God was and had taken up his residence for ever The body of Jesus as I said before is now become the Temple of God not made by man but by God himself in the Virgins womb There God manifested himself perpetually by sensible effects as I shall show you presently declaring Jesus to be his Son in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily After this visible Majesty disappeared the presence of God within him was very apparent For he came away from Jordan saith S. Luke full of the Holy Ghost iv 1. And having been tempted a while in the wilderness he returned from thence in the power of the Spirit into Galilee ver 14. There he taught in his own City and opened the Book at that very place of Isaiah where he said The Spirit of the Lord is upon me which Scripture was that day fulfilled in their ears ver 18 21. And at Cana in that Country he began to work miracles and manifested forth his glory ii John 11. That is showed indeed that the Divine Majesty spoken of before remained in him Of which glory they did not see so little as a flash or two but they beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father i. 14. He cast about every where such rays of glory and majesty as declared him to be no less person than God's only begotten Son and these they beheld and were constant eye-witnesses of to the end of his life For he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him x. Acts 38. This was all his business to bestow benefits upon mankind and to relieve those who were otherways helpless but only by a Divine power As was notorious in his frequent dispossession of Devils and opening the eyes of him who was blind from his birth and after that raising Lazarus from the dead in which great work they saw the glory of God xi John 40. Who did not give the Spirit by measure to him that is with such restriction as he himself gave it to his Apostles at the first But the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hands as the Baptist speaks iii. Joh. 34 35. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell i. Coloss 19. So that none could have any thing of the Spirit but from his hands and he could communicate what he pleased Which is a sign that he was the place where the Divine majesty and the Holy Spirit now dwelt and had taken up its residence among men who must all repair to him if they would receive the Holy Ghost or any blessing from above What greater argument could there be that he was the Son of God than this that he had all things now put into his hands to do what he pleased on Earth and received the Holy Ghost in such a visible Majesty as a pledge that he should shortly have all power in Heaven too at the right hand of God It was fit that this glorious testimony of the Holy Ghost to him should be accompanied with the voice of God which came out of that or the like cloud saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So we shall have still farther reasons to acknowledge him if we do but make these following Reflections upon what hath been here discoursed One is that here was not so little as the appearance of an Angel to him by whom God declared his will to the Prophets but a far more illustrious manifestation of the Divine Glory which came down upon him and declared him more than a Prophet Maimonides doubts not to say * More Nevoch Part. 3. cap. 45. that all Prophecy was by the mediation of Angels xvi Gen. 9. xxii 15. Moses himself began to be a Prophet by this means iii. Exod. 2. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the Bush For which cause he thinks God afterward appointed two Cherubims to cover the Ark that the people might be bred up in the belief of Angels And God is said to dwell between them and to ride upon them because all Prophecy was carried by them from God to men But here is something far beyond this way of communication between God and Men. For not an Angel appeared or spake unto him But that Divine Glory which dwelt between the Cherubims descends upon him and makes him its resting place and God himself speaks to him at the same time out of that Glory calling him his Son and bidding all hear him This was a manifest declaration of his high and singular prerogative and a sign that no less than the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him So that he knew as I said before the mind of God not by Visions and Dreams or by mediation of Angels but by a more intimate familiarity with God dwelling and residing in him For you may observe further which is another thing very remarkable that though there had been formerly an appearance of a Schekinah of the Divine presence that is or glory of God when the gifts of the Holy Ghost were imparted to some persons Yet we never read that this Schekinah came down upon any man much less that it remained on him but upon Jesus only
taken the boldness to foretell and promise such a thing as this from God the Father what hope had he to make it good if he had not been sure that the Father and He were one as he speaks vers 20. of that xiv Joh. and that what He said was by his Authority who would justifie his word Nothing could have been more vain or done him greater discredit after all the glory he had got than to give this as a sign of his truth if he himself had not been sure that God had given all things into his hand and that he came out from God and was going unto God as it is xiii Joh. 3. And what greater argument could there be that he did not assume a Dignity or Title which he had no right unto than the verifying his word in so hard and difficult a case as this even then when his Enemies thought he could do nothing because he was dead and buried This must needs make the Apostles as sure as he was for his confident belief could not work belief in them and therefore He did fulfil his promise and indued them with such power from on high that in a moment He brought all things which he had taught them to their remembrance enabled them to speak with all manner of Tongues to make a Man whole with speaking a word nay to raise the Dead and to give the Holy Ghost likewise to others who believed their word How came He by this power if indeed He was not the Lord of all Why did nor his Word dye with Himself and fall to the ground if he usurped upon the prerogative of God and laid claim to a glory which was none of his How could it come into any Mans mind let me ask again to promise such a thing as this if he did not know what he could do And could any man do such a thing if he were not more than a man even the King of infinite power at the right hand of God So the Apostles could not but conclude when they felt the effects of his royal power in their own hearts and when they could make others feel them by innumerable benefits which they bestowed both on their Souls and Bodies To be able to do such things on Earth as he had done shewed plainly what He was but to be able to make others do more wonderful things when He had left the World was still a more convincing Argument that all things were put in subjection under his Feet Nothing now was more evident to them than this great Truth whatsoever distrust of it they might have before With this mighty Inspiration all their doubts were blown away like the Dust before the Wind. This fire which appeared on their Heads purged their Souls quite from all the reliques of Infidelity if there were any remaining They could do nothing now but speak the praises of Jesus and proclaim Him with these Tongues to all the world to be the Lord with a zeal as hot as fire The People indeed it may be said did not hear him foretell this glorious day and make any such promise of the Holy Ghost and therefore how could it convince them I answer it is confessed that He did not speak of this so plainly to them as He did to the Apostles and therefore I have not alledged it all this time for that purpose but only to show that they to whom he so often gave hopes of the coming of the Holy Ghost upon them had reason to rely upon its Testimony when it came even upon this account that it was the performance of his gracious promise to them There are many proofs which we produce seem to carry less force in them than really they have when careless minds stretch them too far to prove more than was intended The Jews were to be convinced by it upon another score not by the fulfilling of his particular promises to the Apostles which could work no further upon the People than they believed their testimony who came with such power from Jesus to them But I must add also that our Saviour had said something of this to all the people at a publick Feast vii John 38 39. And when he was arraigned he openly declared to the High Priest and the whole Senate that they should presently receive sensible tokens of his Majesty which now they so affronted For when they adjured him to tell them whether he was the Christ the Son of God xxvi Matth. 63. though he knew they would neither believe him if he told them nor give him a good reason if he argued with them why they did not believe xxii Luke 67 68. yet he told them in express terms that he was ver 64. And then adds these remarkable words Nevertheless I say unto you i. e. though now you do not believe what I have told you yet mind what I say hereafter from this moment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 xxii Luke 69. or very few days hence you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power Which can refer to nothing but the mission of the Holy Ghost which presently ensued and was a certain argument that he was at God's right hand ii Acts 33. When this came they could not but see unless they would be wilfully blind that he was possessed of the Kingdom he had so much spoken of It was an irrefragable testimony that he was the Son of the Blessed and could the less be gain said because he told them before-hand they should see what they would not then believe That is have a manifest demonstration of his glorious Majesty in the Heavens Which if it would not move them nothing remained but to see him after another fashion coming in the clouds of Heaven as it there follows To destroy that is such incredulous wretches who killed their King and persisted so obstinately in their rebellion that they resisted the Holy Ghost whom he sent to convince them of their crime and convert them to his obedience So it is interpreted xxii Luke 27 31. II. For the power of it was so great that setting aside this consideration if he had said nothing at all to them or his Apostles of his sending the Holy Ghost yet its coming in this manner was an evident testimony both to them and all others that he made a just claim to be their King He could not else have scattered such royal gifts so bountifully among them as the manner of Emperors was in their Triumphs and of Kings at their Coronation This showed that indeed he had the power which the Jews denied him It vindicated his rights which they would have taken from him It made it appear he was what he pretended and that not He but they were the guilty persons who had condemned him for saying he was the Son of God This was the very end of its coming as our Saviour also told his Apostles a little before his death xvi John 7 8 9. where He
unto them So S. Paul writes to the Thessalonians 1 ii 8. every one of whom he exhorted and comforted and charged as a Father doth his children ver 11. But he never used any flattering words towards them nor spake as pleasing men but God who trieth the hearts nor carried on any design of covetousness or winning of glory to himself nor would be in the least burdensom to them but was gentle among them even as a nurse cherisheth her own children ver 4 5 6 7. Show me the man that ever spoke with such wisdom and judgment as they did and with so much tenderness of heart None but their Master ever preached or wrote with so Divine a Spirit which John the Baptist describes in such words with which I shall content my self as prove the excellence of his Person from the excellence of his Doctrine which he delivered unto men They are in the iii. John 31. where he says He that COMETH from above is above all He that is of the Earth is Earthly and speaketh of the Earth He that COMETH from Heaven is above all That is He who appears from Heaven with such a Divine Authority who delivers the mind of God in so rare a manner that one may see he hath been with God must needs excel all other persons in dignity Moses and the Prophets and me also who am of an Earthly extraction born like other men and can speak only like a man poor and low things in comparison with those which that Heavenly teacher delivers who I must needs again confess is far superiour to me because he is not a mere man but comes from Heaven and so is above all Prophets whatsoever who had more of the Earth than of Heaven in them that is knew none of those secret counsels of God concerning mans everlasting bliss nor could direct us in so short but plain and sure a way to it as he hath done And then it follows ver 32 33. And what he hath seen and heard that he testifieth c. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God That is he speaks such things that a man may easily see he is the only begotten of the Father who is in his bosom and knows his very mind having as certain an understanding of Heavenly things as we have of what we see and hear And therefore whosoever believes him does no more but assent to God whose words he speaks by a particular commission he received from him to act in his Name It is very observable that just after the mention of these Witnesses 1 John v. 10. S. John adds that He who believes not this record which God gives of his Son hath made him a liar as on the other side John the Baptist here says That he who doth receive his testimony i. e. believes solemnly acknowledges God to be true From whence I conclude that what is said in this Epistle hath a relation to that which is writ in the Gospel which I take to be no more than this That the Divineness of Jesus his Doctrine the purity and Heavenly strain of his discourses his preaching as if he had heard and seen the Father and knew the state of things above his speaking the Words of God not as anothers like the Prophets before him but as his own was a great testimony to him that he was sent of God in that quality that he pretended So that they who received him did but rely upon the Truth of God and give up their faith to him who hereby as well as other ways perswaded them that this was his Son 2. But then that which I mainly insist upon is this second consideration That his pure most holy Doctrine and Life was a great argument of his Divinity because this was part of his Doctrine that he was the Son of God For who can think that a person of his vertue who taught men both by word and deed such reverence to God and such justice and charity to men could be guilty of putting such an open affront upon the one and such an abuse upon the other as to challenge this title and propound himself to be received in this quality if he had not a just and undoubted right to it He that came with so much sanctity and holiness in all his other words and all his other actions one cannot but conclude was as holy and free from sin in this as much as in any thing else that he said he was the Christ and perswaded the people to believe he was the Son of the blessed This is certain He affirmed himself to be the Christ the Son of God first to his Disciples And that both before his sufferings xvi Matth. 16 17. ix Mark 41. and also after his resurrection xxiv Luke 46. And then to others also who were as yet none of them as 1. to the woman of Samaria iv John 26. Then 2. to the blind man whose eyes he opened ix John 35 36 37. And lastly he asserted it when he was brought before his Judges as you have heard already and this very matter was brought in question yea when they adjured him by the true God and as he bare any respect to him to tell them the very truth in this thing Now who is there that would not infer from hence that all the rest of his Doctrine being so opposite to all lying and every other vice and his whole life giving such a proof of his perfect vertue that they had nothing to ground a charge upon against him but merely this profession of his own wherein if he had pleased he might have been silent it is not in the least credible that a person of his integrity should after so long speaking truth now at the last be guilty of speaking a lye And 2. a lye of such a dangerous consequence as this by which if it were one he and a world of Souls must be undone Yea 3. that he should tell it so often to so many persons And that 4. before the Magistrates who are Gods in this world And that 5. when they were desirous and very importunate to know the truth Yea 6. before God himself by whose name he was solemnly adjured to speak nothing but the truth How is it possible that such a man as he should be so void of all fear of God as to offend him in so high a manner There are none sure whose unstandings are sound or whose consciences are not crackt who can so much as fancy much less perswade themselves to believe that a person whose innocence was so great that all the false witnesses they could find men who cared not for their own lives could not be masters of his should now in such a serious manner when he was going out of the world put such an horrid cheat upon it and with the loss of his life too upon a shameful gibbet as
even when thou wast scorned and rejected of men Great was the splendour of thy Majesty under the mockery of a Crown of Thorns and under the reproach of the Cross it self And great was thy Love O thou Lover of Souls who wouldst shed thy own most precious Bloud to work and confirm thy Faith in our hearts that believing on thee we might have life through thy Name O how expensive was thy Love which never thought it had done enough till thou hadst assured our hearts by giving thy self for us How infinitely are we indebted to thee who hast so dearly purchased our eternal joy with thy most bitter sorrows I ought to have the greater regard to all that thou hast said either concerning thy self or concerning the obedience I owe thee or the happiness thou hast promised me because thou hast sealed all in so sacred a manner and chosen to die that thou mightest bear witness to thy Truth For this end thou camest into the world and hast honoured thy self with the Name of the True and faithful witness the beginning of the Creation of God who hast shown us the path of life by thy bloudy and most ignominious death O that none of us who are called by thy Name may ever prove so base and unworthy so ungrateful and disrespectful to thee so insensible or forgetful of thine amazing goodness as to forsake that course which thou thy self hast begun and into which thou hast led us by thine own example Let none of us prove unlike thee who art the beginner and the finisher of our Faith Let us never degenerate from the Original from whence we come nor dishonour the very Author of what we are by actions unworthy of his children But be pleased graciously both to excite and assist our pious endeavours to follow thee and to witness a good confession as thou hast done at least in our lives and conversation That they may testifie to all how much we reverence thee by our observance of thy commands and justifie the truth of thy Word that thy yoke is easie and thy burden light by our chearful free and ready observance of them And if thou wilt have us to witness a good confession also by our bloud or by parting with any thing that is as dear unto us for thy names sake O that we may then imitate thee the true and faithful witness by continuing faithful to thee unto death Let no Soul of us ever faint in our mind much less draw back for fear of any thing that may befall us But still go on and couragiously meet whatsoever opposes us in our way to Heaven Help us to stand fast in the Faith to quit our selves like men and to be strong as becomes thy faithful servants and souldiers who have vowed to be true to thee unto our lives end O Blessed Jesus who can think that he does or endures too much for thee Who can complain of thy service or repine at the sufferings it may require When he thinks of thy labour and pains to secure our hope in God of an eternal redemption from all miseries and troubles and from all sin the cause of them by shedding thy own most holy bloud We are unworthy to bear the Name of thy servants if we should be so ungrateful to thy memory as not to celebrate that love with perpetual praises and thanksgivings And how fearfully shall we reproach our selves if we continue to commemorate it and yet grudge to deny any thing for thy sake or behave our selves as if we would renew thy sufferings by our continued sins Far be it from any of us to think any thing so dear to us as Truth and Righteousness that holy Truth which thou hast delivered to us O that we may read with such an affection the whole history of thy love and all the Laws thou hast left to govern us and the gracious grants thou hast made us as if we saw them written in thy most precious bloud By which thou hast testified the greatness and sincerity of thy love and assured us of the truth of thy Word and consecrated thy self also to be a merciful and faithful High Priest who canst have compassion on us and ever succour and relieve us when we are tempted as thou wast And may we be so sensibly affected herewith as to depend on thy intercession with the stronger Faith and with greater care and diligence tread in those steps which thou hast in such a manner markt out to us and persist in them so stedfastly that none of the terrors of this world may make us step aside and turn from thy Commandments Give us grace O Blessed Lord in the worst condition to express that resolution that undaunted resolution that constancy that confidence in God that zeal for his honour and glory that charity towards our enemies that humble resignation and that patient meekness which appeared in thee under thy greatest sufferings Arm us with the very same mind and spirit which we see in thy self That we who believe in a Saviour who abased and humbled himself so low who was so content to be poor and little regarded to bear all the slanders and scorn as well as the cruel torments which the malice of men could inflict upon him may not be proud and insolent covetous and ambitious impatient of pain or a little disparagement but constantly endeavouring to conform our selves to thy glorious pattern which we have before us may rejoyce in that faithful saying That if we be dead with thee we shall also live with thee if we suffer we shall also reign with thee Amen Now unto the faithful Witness the first-begotten from the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen CHAP. VII Concerning the Third Witness upon Earth the SPIRIT THere is one Witness more that remains still to be examined whose testimony was notorious and very well known for it was upon the Earth viz. that of the SPIRIT In the sixth verse S. John brings it in after the other two I have now treated of though in the eighth Verse it be set before them And there he adds this illustrious character of it which is not given to the two former it is the SPIRIT that beareth witness because the SPIRIT is the TRUTH Which is not to be understood as if the other two were not Witnesses for they are called so expresly in this eighth Verse or as if they were not truth for I have abundantly proved that they are But this mark is set upon the SPIRIT to denote it to be the most eminent Witness of the Three The witness or that Witness that which excels the other two in clearness and notoriousness that which was alwayes accounted most powerful to prove a truth that against which nothing
Are not the Witnesses good who affirm that Jesus is the Son of God Have we not examined them and find no cause why we should reject them Or will you receive nothing upon the credit of a Witness That 's a very strange obstinacy which rejects so certain a way of knowing many things that cannot be otherways known For the notices of things do not come to us all one way but by divers means either by our Senses or by our Reason and Discourse or by Report By all these ways the knowledge of things is conveyed to our Mind And if we refuse to be informed by any of them there are a great number of things certainly true and of great consequence to us of which we must remain ignorant That there are other Countries far distant from this where we live and that such and such things are there to be had and have been there done most Men can know by no means but only by report for there are but few that can go and see And he that will not receive the testimony of another in this case deprives himself of a considerable piece of knowledge whereof others partake and which might be as useful to him as it proves to them But if for this wilful loss he shall pretend to assign a just cause saying that he cannot believe any thing unless it be demonstrated to him by clear and evident consequences from Principles of known reason he will become ridiculous For it is absurd to expect the knowledge of any thing in any other way but that which is proper for its conveyance to us To demand a proof of a matter of reason from our senses or for what we discern by our senses from our reason is equally ridiculous and so it is to demand an evidence for things of Faith which we know by report only either from our Senses or our Reason That there are some things come to our notice only by Faith is plain from what passes every day And it is as plain that they must be proved to be true in their proper way that is by the soundness of the Testimony upon which we receive them As no man requires a reason for what he sees and feels nor asks that he may see with his eyes that of which he reasons and discourses so he ought not to seek for a testimony of sense or reason for that which he can know by no way but by report As for example no Man demands a reason to prove that the Sun shines In this his sense gives him satisfaction and if he were born blind no reason could prove to him that it was not Night Nor does any man that is in his wits require that he may behold God with his eyes whom he knows by discourse and the reason of his mind and knows him also by that to be invisible In like manner it is altogether preposterous when a man comes and reports that such a person dyed on such a day to ask for a reason to prove it or to demand that he may see it for it is impossible to see him dye again upon that day That is not a thing to be known either of those ways by sense or reason but only by the testimony of others who were present at that time and are we think worthy of belief Why do we ask then for any other proof that Jesus was born of a Virgin at such a time did such wonderful works preached such an holy Doctrine was crucified dead and buried rose again from the dead ascended to Heaven and sent from thence the Holy Ghost These are not things now to be seen or felt nor can we gather them from the meer discourse of our own reason which tells us nothing of them But we have them by report from a great many Witnesses who say they saw and heard and felt all that which they would have us believe There is no other use of reason in this case but only to examine and judge whether this report be credible and founded in the testimony of God Now that is evident to any impartial enquirer from what hath been said concerning these Witnesses whose report there is no reason to suspect as it is certain it can never be disproved Why should we then be so much our own enemies as to deprive our selves of this saving knowledge of Jesus Christ That is why do we not give credit to the report of these Witnesses concerning Jesus since by the only proper means whereby such things can be proved I have made it good that the Father declared him to be his Son and He appeared in Glory to testify to himself and the Holy Ghost demonstrated he could be no less and his Life Death Resurrection and all the rest of which there were so many upright Witnesses assure us that it is a certain truth Would we be so difficult to be perswaded to go to a Man or a Place where several honest neighbours informed us upon their word nay upon their life we should be promoted to great honor or be possessed of a fair estate Do we not believe one another in our daily traffick and drive considerable bargains merely upon the credit we give to some persons who inform us of the advantage we may make by them Do not men undertake long journeys and more dangerous voyages merely because they are told that such an one is dead to whom they are heir or that such rich commodities are to be had in exchange for meaner goods Who is there that does not desire his Witnesses may be accepted and their testimony taken for good proof either to clear his innocence or to settle his estate Now says the Apostle immediately after the alledging of all these Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth to prove the truth of Christianity If we receive the Witness of men the Witness of God is greater for this is the Witness of God which he hath testified of his Son The meaning of which is this If men whose honesty you cannot impeach give their testimony in a Court of Judicature it is never disallowed nor can you be permitted to set it by and make nothing of it but it is necessarily admitted for an end of strife The weightiest causes are decided all matters depending are determined and judged according to the evidence that is given by witnesses of unblemished faith In the mouth of two or three witnesses as the known saying was every word or rather matter is established That is brought to an issue and concluded if any controversie have arose to unsettle it Nay the testimony of one man if we have no reason to suspect his credit is in our own private thoughts though not in Law satisfaction great enough to assure us of the truth of what he says And we think it such a reproach to give him the lye that we cannot but believe him finding a desire in the same case to be believed our selves Now if things stand thus between us and
does it sneak into nothing when we look up unto Jesus and remember that He was the Son of God and yet endured it as he tells his Apostles xv John 18. and thought himself never the less glorious It cannot be help'd but we must be scorned sometime or other if we will follow him unless we could perswade all men to bear us company But this is our comfort and encouragement that this is the way to glory and that now we are conformed to our Saviour who by the shame of the Cross hath got himself immortal honour and that the Father at present approves us the Word delights in us the Spirit of God and of Glory rests upon us all these Heavenly Witnesses esteem and love us and are pleased to see us behave our selves worthily as Jesus did 2. And if from hence we pass through many tribulations and encounter such troubles and hardships as we are all desirous to avoid they will not be able to affright or daunt him who hath this faith thus planted in his heart For greater is He that is in us than he that is in the WORLD Did not the ancient Worthies and great Warriers against the WORLD wade through very great difficulties in the strength of a Faith which was much weaker than this of ours How did all those brave men whom you read of Hebr. xi obtain a good report but through faith when it had not received this promise ver 39. Surely we that understand more than they did we who know the Son of God is come not only by WATER but by BLOUD and who know that Eternal life is in him and have received the Holy Ghost and are made partakers of such glorious Revelations in the Gospel of his grace and who know the certainty of those things wherein we are instructed we I say cannot but take the courage in the power of such a Faith to behave our selves valiantly and with Christian resolution in such like straits and dangers as made their fidelity so remarkable Read what S. Peter says to encourage us 1 iii. 14 15. But if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you As if he should have said It may seem a strange folly to suffer so much as you do and you may begin to be startled at the troubles which befall you but bear a reverend regard towards God who hath called you to this state of Christianity do but stand in awe of his Authority who hath bid you hear that is obey Jesus whatsoever it cost you and do but tell every Man what reason you have for what you do and suffer and what hope you have in him upon this account And then they will either cease to trouble you or you will cease to be troubled for what they make you suffer Now what are the reasons of our Christian hope and patience but these which we are here treating of If we alledge these to our selves or to others it will soon appear that we are no fools in exposing our selves to any dangers for righteousness sake The Father hath bidden us be true to it so hath the Word and so hath the Holy Ghost every one of the other three also call upon us to be couragious for it is a worthy cause wherein we are ingaged and we shall not lose our reward Here are reasons enough and they are stronger than all their adversaries The World hath nothing to oppose so weighty as these Witnesses every one of which I might show you if it would not prove too tedious lay an obligation on us not to be moved from our stedfastness but to take up our Cross and to follow Jesus And I the rather pass by these because I think they are generally of less force than the other part of the WORLD which uses to assault Mankind more dangerously 3. I mean the alluring and inticing enjoyments here below which we are too prone to comply withall They are of an inveigling and insinuating nature and may get admittance by their soft violence when the other cannot prevail by more rough opposition We are apt to fortifie our selves against evil things and are many times angry they should attempt to over-master us but to the good things of the WORLD we lye naked and open and there is a treacherous party within that is willing they should enter nay ready to open the doors to them And they are of three sorts as the forenamed place in this Epistle tells us the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life ii 16. All that the WORLD contains in it for the captivating of an earthly Mans affections and satisfying his desires is comprehended under one of these three Names For the understanding of which you must know that the Hebrews have a manner of speech which expresses the Object by the Act and the clearest interpretation of these words is grounded on that use of theirs So that by LUST we are to understand all those things that gratifie some appetite of pleasure wealth or greatness and by FLESH which is not here as it is sometimes a general word it is most agreeable to understand the lower and duller senses which lye most in the flesh and are affected with things that have some grosness in them And then the whole phrase LUST OF THE FLESH that sort of things which give content to the touch the taste and smell such as are meat and drink and perfumes and other voluptuous enjoyments which I need not name but are sometimes particularly called FLESH And then by the LUST OF THE EYES we are to understand such things as belong to the higher and more renned sense of seeing viz. Gold and Silver precious Stones and Jewels Lordships and large possessions noble Houses and rich Furniture beautiful Pictures and fair Gardens fine clothes and costly attire all that is comprehended under the name of Riches which as Solomon observes yields only this satisfaction to the owner that he beholdeth them with his eye There is little in these things but what is all lodged in this sense and therefore they are called the lust of the eye because it loves to look upon them and when that is done they can do more for him Only they may prefer a man to that which he calls the PRIDE OF LIFE which signifies all those things that flatter and please the inward sense our fancy or imagination Such as are great offices and places of Dignity noble Titles all the Honour and Glory of the World together with the esteem at least the applause and commendation of men which is wont to follow them One or more of these three sorts of things every man naturally hunts after and his desires prick him forward in its pursuit For these are mens
in your breasts and preserve the fire for one hour from going out and you cannot imagine till you try to what an heavenly temper it will purifie and refine your Spirits It will make you heartily in love with the Life of Christ here which leads to such a blissfull Life in the other world You will zealously follow those holy desires and resolutions which you will necessarily feel it inspiring you withall And you will not suffer any temptation whatsoever to divert you from that earnest pursuit but still be saying as St. Austin begins and ends his Confessions Thou Lord hast made us for thee and our heart is uneasie and restless untill it repose it self in thee Who being that Good which needs no good art always at rest for thou thy self art thine own Rest But to understand this what man will give to man what Angel to Angel or what Angel to man Let it be askt of thee let it be sought in thee let it be knockt for at thee So so shall it be received so shall it be found so shall it be opened Amen III. And the more we think of it the more we must needs still desire it because our Understanding being filled with the knowledge and our Will with the love of the chiefest Good we shall sensibly perceive a Divine joy resulting from these and flowing into our heart with inexpressible pleasure For it is essentially included in every act both of that Knowledge and that Love as may be clearly discerned by what hath been already said We are now compounded of different and sometimes contrary passions which frequently disquiet us and disturb our peace by falling out with our Reason and with one another But in that blessed LIFE there will be no such troublesome mixture no fear no sorrow no hatred no anger or any the like remaining But joy alone advanced to the greatest height of glory will be left in the possession of the whole Soul and have the sole Dominion of it to it self The reason is because we shall for ever have the presence of the greatest Good which will exclude the presence of any evil to give us the least fear of losing what we love That 's the originall of all our Passions As we are glad when we enjoy any thing that we love so we are troubled when we want it or when we lose it and we are full of care and solicitude when we eagerly pursue it and rise up in hatred and displeasure at that which opposes our desires When Love then is secure by the possession of that Supreme Good whom no evill can approach the cause of all other passions will be banished and Joy alone be left to triumph in the conquest of them For which cause this heavenly Joy must needs be the more excessive when we shall have nothing else to do but to rejoyce This will mightily increase the greatness of it that there will be no employment for the rest of our Passions which here whether we will or no take their turns together with it and consequently there will be nothing to diminish the greatness of it by any trouble or disorder that can be given it For the proof of which I need onely refer you to the foregoing discourses and desire you to reflect upon what you have read of the Knowledge and Love of God You could not but observe how joy and pleasure was so inseparably knit to them and interwoven with them that I could not well speak of them but I must touch upon this also 1. As for the first of them we all feel a certain complacency which our very Senses as well as our Understanding takes in objects conformable to them even before our appetite moves at all towards them Truly the light is sweet says the Wise man and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun xi Eccles. 7. Look then how much the Divine Light excells all other and how much the Majesty and Splendour of the Authour of Nature is beyond the best of his Works the glory and brightness of the Sun and so much sweeter and more pleasant will it be for our Mind to be filled with that Light and to behold that first and Originall beauty from whence all other are derived We cannot think of God and of our Saviour now without a singular joy and therefore we shall not be able to SEE them without an excess of it 2. And secondly as for Love Joy is a no less necessary attendant on it or rather is intwined with it being nothing else but that delight and pleasure which springs up from the sense of any Good that we have taken possession of So that look how great the Good is to which the passion of Love hath carried us proportionable will be the Joy when we feel that we are owners of it And if it now please us so much to think that we are really beloved of God and of his Son Jesus what an endless pleasure will the sense of their Love yield us when it hath placed us in Heaven Do but consider now how vast the Love of the Lord Jesus is in coming down from Heaven to us and that he knows better reasons of his Love then we do and that his own pleasure is concerned in loving us and that he cannot but finish his Love to those who are purchased with his Bloud and are of his Spirit and it will give a marvellous satisfaction to your heart at present But what it will do then when he will have expressed all his Love to us and perfected his kind intentions towards us we are not able to tell We can onely consider a little farther how he hath plainly told us that they who love him will rejoyce now because he is gone to the Father xiv Joh. 28. And therefore it must needs be an additionall pleasure in the other life to see what we here believe our Dearest Lord shining in the Glory of God the Father and inthroned on the right hard of the Majesty in the Heavens It will be an exceeding high satisfaction to us to behold him who loved us so much and was so ill requited for it by men so gloriously rewarded for it by God himself But it is so easie to apply what hath been said to this purpose that I shall leave such considerations as these to your own diligence and note something that is not altogether so obvious 3. Which is that pious Souls will considerably augment their joy by the reflexions they will make upon their happiness and the strong attention of their mind to their own delight and pleasure For we are never so truly delighted as when we find that we are not deceived in the comfort and contentment which we promised our selves and when we take notice of all the pleasing motions that are in our hearts and duly mark and observe the sweetness of them Before this reflexion and self-observation our Souls are onely touched by the Objects
particularly what the LIFE of the Body shall be after the Resurrection because I have been longer then I intended in describing the operations of our nobler part about its highest Good It shall be sufficient to give you but these two marks whereby to know the exceeding happy condition to which it will be promoted First it must needs be transformed into a very noble Being which is to be the companion of such an exalted Soul and be capable to comply with it in these sublime operations We reade much of its brightness and glory which the Scripture seems to say shall be so great that it will contend with the splendour of the Sun it self And we may very well believe it seeing it is to be the Vesture of a Spirit so illuminated by the Vision of God For which reason among others it may be that the Apostle calls it a Spirituall Body Which as it needs no supports of meat and drink and is made immortall and no longer liable to any disease so is it of a purer sense and a quicker power then this present flesh moving with so much agility and ease that we shall feel it is no burthen to us And the Apostle indeed tells us which is the Second thing that Christ by his power which is able to subdue all things to himself will fashion it like to his own glorious body iii. Phil. 21. Now what the brightness of that is you may guess by the Visions of the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul The first of which when he saw our Saviour transfigured in the holy Mount Matth. xvii was so overcharged with joy that the sight put him in a manner beside himself For he knew not saith the text what he said when he uttered those words Let us make here three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias He knew indeed that it was good being there ix Luk. 33. though he scarce knew where he was This was the onely thing in his thoughts that they should be most happy men might they never stir from that glorious place but always remain thus transported as at present he was Let us be fixed here was his wish let us always live in such pure light and enjoy such beautifull sights from whence he was loth to take his eyes or to leave such good company as now appeared in glory v. 31. And yet this you must remember was no more then a glimpse of that Glory which our Saviour was to have after his Resurrection and which he now shines in and shall one day be revealed Judge then by this what happy creatures they will be whose bodies shall be made like that glorious body which when it was but a while transformed in this world made the place seem no less then a Paradise How illustrious will the condition of true Christians be when they shall not merely dwell in such Tabernacles as St. Peter wisht but in bodies resembling that which was so transfigured or rather of a far greater splendour there appearing then as I said but a twinkling of that Glory of our Saviour to whom we shall be conformed For if you observe it afterward when the Heavenly light of our Saviour's glorified Body incompassed the other Apostle St. Paul to whom he appeared in his way to Damascus he could not look upon it as St. Peter had done upon the other but it was so shining that it put out his eyes he continuing three days without sight ix Act. 9. And for any thing we know he had never recovered the use of them more had not the same Jesus restored his sight to him by a Miracle These senses of flesh were not able to bear a Light so effulgent It was to deprive them of all their operations to approach near to such a brightness And yet such glorious creatures will our Lord make his faithful Servants So astonishing is his love that he will never cease his kindness to them till they be numbred among his Saints in glory everlasting that is till he impart his own most excellent glory to them Which signifies that they must be wonderfully changed from what our bodies are now in this vile state wherein they are not capable to behold such a glory as shall then be revealed But the serious belief and hope of it founded upon the word of our Saviour and of those who were eye-witnesses of his Majesty is a marvellous comfort to us and should make us study to purify our selves more and more and to perfect holiness in the fear of God We should cleanse and refine our affections and render them still more spirituall and heavenly that being less moved with the things of this world and finding our inclinations weaker towards them we may more readily and chearfully comply with the will of God and prevent as much as we can the resurrection of the dead when we shall have no lust to doe otherwise then as God would have us but shall intirely please our selves in accomplishing his good will and pleasure For the more faithfully and eminently any persons serve the Lord Christ out of pure love to him and to his Christian Brethren the greater marks of his favour will he set upon them Their very Bodies it is probable will shine in a greater glory and be made so much the more illustrious according as their light here shone brighter before men and moved them to glorify their heavenly Father For St. Paul seems to teach not onely that the bodies we shall have after the Resurrection will differ as vastly from those we have now as Earth does from Heaven but that those heavenly bodies which we shall put on will differ very much among themselves in brightness and glory As the glory of the celestiall bodies is one and the glory of the terrestriall another so he tells us among the celestiall there is one glory of the Sun and another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one star differeth from another star in glory So also is the resurrection of the dead 1 Cor. xv 40 41 42. That is some will have bodies more bright then others and shine as Stars of a greater magnitude to note them to be persons of eminent rank who have done very glorious service to their Lord. The Martyrs for instance whose bodies were slain or burnt to ashes for Christ's sake we may well suppose will be more splendid then those who were laid in their graves in peace Nay the Church in St. Austin's time out of their great affection to them wisht to behold the scars of those glorious wounds which they received for Christ's sake shining with a peculiar glory in their immortall Bodies And perhaps saith he L. xxii de Civ Dei c. 20. we shall see them For it will not be a deformity in them but a dignity and in the body will shine the beauty of their vertue more then of their body This the Writers whom we call the
shone as the Sun though this may reasonably be thought as I shewed in the former Treatise to be a representation of his Ascension into heaven where he shines at the right hand of the Father and is the Lord of glory And therefore I shall onely observe two things first the words now added to the voice formerly delivered secondly the manner wherein they were spoken in the audience of those Apostles I. As for the words now added in this second voice to those of the first wherein he had declared him as he doth here again his beloved Son in whom he delighted they are these HEAR YE HIM Which are the very words that Moses spake to the Children of Israel when he prophesied of the Messiah and said xviii Deut. 15. unto him ye shall hearken And it may be one reason why Moses was now present when God spake these words in the Mount that he might consent to this truth which was now so solemnly pronounced in his hearing that Jesus was the Great person of whom he had prophesied Now God bidding the Apostles HEAR HIM and Moses himself to whom they had hearkened all this while being content that he should take his room it is an argument of something to be declared by him that Moses had not spoken And what should that be but onely the words of Eternall Life which was but obscurely intimated and shadowed in the ancient Law but by him was preached so clearly and distinctly that the voice of the Heavens is not more audible There is nothing I shall shew in due place that our Saviour preached so frequently nothing upon which he insisted so long and earnestly and took such pains to settle in mens minds as this belief that Eternall Life shall be the portion of all that doe well And therefore when God the Father bad them hear him who made it his principall business to publish this glad tidings to the World it was the very same as if this Voice had said in express words This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased believe it He shall give you eternall life This is the Commandment his Father gave him as you heard before xii Joh. 50. This is the will of him that sent him vi Joh. 40. This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternall life 1 Joh. ii 25. And therefore he stands engaged to bestow it and we agree with him for it when we enter into his service For you may observe farther that as to hear Moses was to embrace the Covenant that God made with them by him so we can understand no less by hearing the Son of God then our entring into the New Covenant of which he is the Mediatour which is founded upon better promises then the former whereby we have a title to a celestiall not an earthly inheritance whereof he is the Lord and to which he hath engaged himself to be our Conductour And indeed Moses and Elias who were never called the Sons of God much less by a voice from heaven so termed appearing now with our Saviour in glory it was a notable sign that He should be taken up to a far greater glory then theirs and have power of changing men into such a condition as that wherein he was now transfigured and in the mean time should preach that life and immortality which they saw conferred upon those two persons to honour him Whom the Disciples you may observe again saw in a glory so much greater then the Law-giver himself now had that if the voice from heaven had been silent it would have been an argument our Saviour should be the Lord of glory For when they desired to make their abode there and for that purpose to build three Tabernacles they say one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias putting him in the first place before the other two which they would not sure have done had not Moses and Elias done reverence to him as a greater person then themselves I shall end this with a Tradition among the Hebrews which if it signifie any thing may serve to shew that Jesus is their long-expected Christ For R. Bechai saith * in xlix Gen. 10. that when Jacob speaks of the coming of Schilo he comprehends not onely the last Redeemer the Messiah but the first Redeemer also i. e. Moses who shall have the honour then to attend upon the Messiah and enter into the holy land according to what the Masters say upon xv Exod. 1. where the words are then Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall sing And in the great Commentary upon Deuteronomy they write as the same Authour goes on that God said to Moses Because thou didst give thy life for them in this world desiring that God would blot his name out of the book of life to preserve theirs in the world to come i.e. the days of the Messiah when I shall bring Elias to them you two shall enter in together Which may possibly be the meaning of those words i. Joh. 21. Art thou Elias and he said I am not Art thou that Prophet i. e. Moses who alone was worthy of the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prophet above all others Now if there were any ground of such expectation that these two should come in their own persons you see it here fulfilled on this holy Mount where Moses who was so much in mount Horeb and Elias who used mount Carmel now appeared and had communication with him about his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 departure out of this world unto his heavenly Kingdome ix Luk. 31. The Mount where they met and where Jesus was transfigured is generally believed to be Tabor as Hermon a little hill near Jordan there is a tradition was the place from whence Elias was taken up to heaven In these two Mountains saies Proclus * Orat. viii our Lord Jesus was proclaimed the Beloved Son of God from whom we may expect immortall bliss At Hermon when he was baptized in Jordan on Tabor when he was transfigured and appeared in a glory as much greater then Elias's as the high mountain Tabor was above the little hill of Hermon And so was fulfilled says he that prophecie of the Psalmist lxxxix 12. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoyce in thy Name In both places was published this joyfull news that God had sent his Son to be the Saviour of the World First in the mount from whence Elias was transported into heaven and then in the mount where he came to attend on our Lord when he was transfigured God the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confirming his Sonship proclaimed again with a loud voice This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him For he that heareth him heareth me as Proclus there glosses and he that is ashamed of him and his words of him will I be ashamed in my glory Let us listen to him therefore and since we hear him say as I noted before Verily
and the last i. Rev. 11. and turning about to see who it was that spake to him our Saviour appeared in the form and shape of a King and Priest shining in glory as you reade vers 12 13 c. And thus he concludes his Revelation as he had begun xxii 13 16. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end c. I Jesus have sent my Angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches Which is a demonstrative argument that Eternall Life is in him and that he wants no power to effect any thing he hath promised being equall to the Father Almighty whose Name else he would not have assumed II. And if we examine the sense and meaning of this Name we shall still be farther convinced that he will undoubtedly imploy his power to bestow upon us that Eternall Life which is in him For when the Almighty calls himself the First and the Last he either declares that he is the ETERNALL who gave being to all things and remains after they are all dead and gone or else as Oecolampadius and Calvin understand those words in Isaiah that he is the IMMUTABLE from first to last constant to himself and his promises Which is the gloss of R. Solomon upon the words who refers them to the help and assistence which God would give to the last as well as the first of Abraham's children What he had been to Israel the same he would still be He had at the first taken them to be his people and therefore in the latter days he would still own them and shew his speciall affection to them I see no reason why these two expositions should be thought so inconsistent as to exclude one the other when they may both be very well joyned together And then our Lord intends by the assumption of this Title that St. John and all the Christian Churches should look upon him as the Eternall God able to perpetuate his love and mercy towards them world without end and as alway the same unchangeable Wisedom and Goodness whose mind and will is no more alterable then his power but remains as firmly fixed as God the Father Almighty doth So that look what God the Father now is or hath been or what himself hath ever been to the body of his Church the same He will still continue immutably to our endless happiness If God the Father was and is and will be the Alpha or beginning the same is He likewise All things come from him to his Church of which he is the Founder by him it subsists and continues and he hath such a creative power in him that he can give all blessings even Life everlasting to it For though we die yet he is the Omega who remains still in being after all the world is buried in its ruines and therefore can quicken our dust and ashes and gather them up to himself and make them glorious God the Father raised him from the dead and gave him glory and therefore seeing He hath the same power as appears by these titles He can doe as much for us and give us a glorious resurrection In this God the Father faithfully fulfilled the promises he had made him of glorifying him with himself and therefore we may be confident he will be as true to us and make good all the promises he hath left us for our incouragement in his obedience because he is perfectly such as his Father is And to come a little nearer to that interpretation which Rabbi Solomon gives of the words of the Prophet where this expression is first used our Lord would have us think that as God the Father Almighty having begun to shew mercy and favour to Israel would not fail to go on and continue the same kindness to the end so He being likewise the ALPHA having begun that is to raise himself a Church and to doe great things for it even to die and purchase it with his bloud would undoubtedly be the OMEGA finish that is his own work and bring that of which he had laid the foundation to an happy conclusion never ceasing his kindness till he had perfected his Saints in that Life he had begun to bestow upon them Or as he began in this world to raise men from the dead to bestow upon them other great benefits to make them very precious promises of greater favours and to seal them with his bloud so he would have them rest assured he would continue to the end to doe them good and at the last raise all his faithfull servants from the dead and take them up to live with himself and in the mean time perform every other promise he had made for their present satisfaction and support in this troublesome world As he died for them so he would have them make account he lived for them because he is always the same at last the very same that he was at first And therefore since he lives they might expect to live also III. But he did not leave them merely to draw these inferences themselves from that great Name whereby he now made himself known to St. John but immediately after he had told who he was he more clearly and particularly declares this very thing that he hath Life in himself For you reade that St. John beholding him in such glory with a countenance as bright as the Sun when it shineth in its strength which was a sight too strong for our weak eyes to look upon i. Rev. 16. fell at his feet as one dead He was as much astonished at his presence though he knew Jesus loved him as St. Paul was while he was a persecutour of him Which shews that our Lord appeared now in a most amazing glory too splendid for the capacity of his best Friends to endure long without the danger of ceasing to be men For so far were those words which our Lord spake from giving him life that like to those who heretofore beheld the glory of God he was more astonished at what he saw then comforted with what he heard and thought it is probable he should die presently and give up the ghost But in this trembling fit Jesus was pleased graciously to approach and laying his right hand on him bad him not fear nor let that Majesty of God which he beheld in him cast him into such a great consternation It is true indeed says he vers 17. I am the first and the last as I said before that is am invested with all the power of God bearing his Name and Authority but there is so much comfort in this that it ought rather to have transported thee with joy then struck thee with terrour For as it there follows vers 18. I who call my self Alpha and Omega the first and last am he that liveth and was dead I the very same person who loved thee and the rest of mankind so well as to die for you and never made use of my power to your hurt am
also to confirm our Faith and Hope and make us rejoyce in hope of the glory of God And so much may suffice to have been said of the Witness of the HOLY GHOST which perfectly agrees with the other two of the FATHER and of the SON who are all one you see still in their Testimony as well as in their Nature So I express'd my self in the Conclusion of my former Discourse about these Three Witnesses * Chap. iv pag. 235. supposing these words though few would have sufficiently testified my right belief in the Holy Trinity and that none would have imagined I waved the farther explication of that passage THESE THREE ARE ONE because I entertained a sense of it differing from that of the Catholick Church I was not conscious to my self of any such Heresy and therefore had no reason to be solicitous to prevent this accusation by diverting from the subject I had in hand unto another Argument But some I have heard have been so unkind to say no more let them examine their hearts from what grounds as to whisper such suspicions And therefore I judge it necessary to take occasion here to declare that I believe these three to be one in the same sense that all Catholick Writers have done who have treated of the ever-blessed Trinity And St. Augustine assures me * L. 1. de Trin. c. 4. that every one who meddled with this argument before him intended to teach this according to the Scriptures That the Father Son and Holy Ghost enjoy the divine Vnity of one and the same Substance in an inseparable Equality Haec mea fides est quia haec est Catholica fides as he concludes that Chapter This is my Faith because it is the Catholick Faith We have but one God because there is but one Godhead and they that are of him have relation to One though we believe them to be Three For this is not more God and that less nor is this before and that behind nor are they separated in will or divided in power nor are any of those things to be found there which belong to divided Beings but to speak all in a few words there is One undivided Godhead in severall Persons as in three Suns cohering together there is one commixture of Light They are the words of St. Greg. Nazianzen Orat. xxxvii p. 601. whom these Whisperers sure if they have read him take for a Catholick Writer in his Discourse concerning the HOLY GHOST To which I will adde what St. Aug. again writes in his Book of Faith to Petrus Diaconus Chap. i. If there should be one Person of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as there is one Substance there would be nothing that could be truly called a Trinity And again if as the Father Son and Holy Ghost are distinct from each other in the propriety of Person they were also severed by diversity of Nature there would indeed be a true Trinity but this Trinity would not be One God But because it is the Trinity in one true God it is true not onely that there is one God but also that there is a Trinity therefore that true God is in Persons Three but in one Nature One. Thus our Blessed Saviour Cateches xi St. Cyrill of Hierusalem observes doth not say I am the Father but I am in the Father And again he doth not say I and the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 am one but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are one That we may neither exclude the Son from the Godhead nor confound him with the Father One as to the dignity of the Divinity because God begat God One as to their Kingdom for the Father doth not rule over some and the Son over others as Absalom who opposed his Father but over whom the Father reigns over those reigns the Son One because there is no difference nor any distance between them for the Father doth not will one thing and the Son another One because the Son doth not make one thing and the Father another but there is one Workmanship of all the Father making all things by the Son I suppose this excellent Man will pass for orthodox among our Censurers though he mention many other regards wherein the Father and the Son I may adde the Holy Ghost are one besides that of their Divinity And therefore I may justly wonder why any should find fault with me if they be so well skill'd in Christian Writers as no doubt they would be thought for saying these three are one in their Testimony as well as in their Nature I took it for a Catholick Exposition else I would have rejected it And if this was its onely fault that it was too short I hope they will rest satisfied now that I have made it longer Unless they be in the number of those whom a late Pamphlet speaks of who judge their Brethren as if they had a faculty to see into their hearts and resolve not to be satisfied with any words they can speak though in all appearance they have no other design in the world but onely according to the best of their understanding sincerely to serve God and his Church As for those who would have a farther search made into this Mystery I leave it to themselves if they please thus to imploy their time after they have considered what the most Catholick Writers have thought of such inquiries We ought to acknowledge saith St. Gregory Nazianzen * Orat. xxvi p. 445. One God the Father of himself and unbegotten and One Son begotten of the Father and One Spirit having its Substance of God of the same nature the same dignity the same glory and the same honour in all things the same but onely that he is not unbegotten as the Father nor begotten as the Son These things are to be known these things are to be confessed within these things we must fix leaving that long babbling and profane novelty of words to those who have nothing else to doe And the forenamed St. Cyrill passes the same sentence on those who curiously pried into this Secret in his days He that begot says he onely knows him that is begotten and he that was begotten of him knows him that begat him Believe then that God hath a Son but how do not enquire for if thou dost thou shalt not find Tell me first who he is that begat and then I will tell thee who the begotten is But if thou canst not know the nature of him that begat do not curiously ask after the manner of the Son 's being begotten ☜ It is sufficient to piety to know that God hath onely one Son one naturally begotten who did not begin to be when he was born in Bethlehem but was before all worlds The Holy Ghost hath in the Scripture revealed no more he hath not told us any thing of the generation of the Son out of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why then dost thou
Wisedom of God when he had quitted the empty pleasures of the World However fabulous this Story may prove which seems to have been composed in imitation of that Vision of Hercules which many Greek Writers mention you may make it true if you please For behold how the true Wisedom of God our Blessed Lord and Saviour presents himself to you He hath appeared in most admirable beauty and a glorious form to many of his Servants which they have described and left us the picture of In his Gospell he is so lively expressed that we cannot if we look upon him but behold him as the onely-begotten of the Father the brightness of his glory and the character of his person Would it would but please you to listen to the offers he makes you the portion of Life and Glory hereafter together with true peace and contentment here which he will assure to you O that you would but draw a lively image of these things in your mind and represent the King of glory as soliciting your heart to his service Do you not believe that it would be infinitely more obliging then such an apparition as that now named Would it not more easily make you abandon the sinfull pleasures of this world then the other made him forsake the lawfull Would not the beauty of our Saviour and the splendour of his glory in the heavens set before your eyes be more inamouring then any imaginary or reall beauty whatsoever Would not these words of his be more piercing then any other I will give to him that overcomes to inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son Would it not transport our hearts with joy to hear that he will be contracted to us and assure us of such a dowry with himself in the heavens Would it not make all his commands so far from being grievous that we should think them sweet and delicious above all the pleasures wherein sensuall men are drowned He can make no doubt of it that hath not lost his reason and is able to understand what the difference is between such a certain truth as this and a dream and between the commands of our Lord and the obedience which that youth undertook to perform Jesus is certainly in the heavens He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high He unfeignedly wishes we would be espoused to him He will settle an eternall inheritance upon us and He doth not require us to go into Monasteries and deserts to live like Hermites and Anchorets to immure our selves from all society though if he did we should have no ill bargain of it but onely to retire seriously into our selves and there often meet with him to live soberly righteously and godly while we are in the world to let no company draw us from his precepts nor suffer any creature to rob him of our affection And what a reasonable demand this is you will then see when you heartily believe this ETERNALL LIFE which he hath promised Believe and then you will think there is nothing too much or too hard to be done or suffered for the attaining such a glorious Life with our Saviour Which moved St. Stephen to suffer stoning and St. Paul to be in deaths often and St. John to endure banishment in a most desolate Island and worse things afterward that they might be so happy And let us with honest hearts desirous to be what God would have us beg the assistence of the HOLY GHOST to guide us in this way of understanding which we shall find incomparably the best to settle in our mind a sense of the happiness to come For when the Soul comes to the perfection of the Spirit Macar Hom. xvi xviii wholly purged from all affections and united to the Spirit the Comforter by an unspeakable communion so that by this heavenly mixture it becomes worthy to be a spirit it is all Light all Eye all Spirit all Joy all Rest all Exultation all Love all Goodness and Sweetness It becomes hereby privy to the Counsels of the Heavenly King and knows his Secrets It hath a confidence in the Almighty and enters into his Palace where the Angels and the spirits of the Saints are though it be as yet in this world For though it hath not attained the intire inheritance prepared for it there yet it is secure from the Earnest it hath received as if it were crowned and possessed of the Kingdome Who would not labour then to be so happy not onely hereafter but also here Georg. Nicomed in concept S. Annae there in possession and here in hope What a work is it to ascend up into heaven What laborious steps can lead us to so great an height What are the sweats of this mortall life to those eternall recompences By what pains shall we be worthy of friendship with our Maker How shall we make our selves a proper habitation for him to dwell in For he hath said I and my Father will come and dwell in him that loves me and keeps my Commands This is the end of the Good we have in hope this is the heavenly Kingdom this is the enjoyment of eternall pleasure this is the never-ceasing joy the perpetuall triumph the retribution transcending all our labours nay all understanding There are no labours no not in thought equall to this recompence of reward They all fall so infinitely below it that for mean for inconsiderable pains our transcendently-good Lord will give an enjoyment far surpassing all our thoughts All humane endeavours are of no account though we should wear out a whole life in them compared with the future Blessedness Though we should sustain a perpetuall combate all our days though they should be prolonged to an hundred years or to twice as much or thrice or a thousand times and all this while we should contend in a vertuous course we shall seem to have done nothing when we come to confer it with what we shall receive And therefore let us gladly by such small and poor labours strive to purchase these super-sublime recompences and treasure up these never-consuming riches I call those poor and small which not onely seem so to all but the perpetuall combate of an whole Age the most unwearied pursuit of vertue the most incessant and fervent pains in its service For such are the Goods which our munificent Lord will give in exchange for them such are the superabundant riches of his retributions such is the Hyperbole of his loving-kindness and goodness that for few things he will give infinite for beggery the greatest riches for perishing things Goods that last for ever These let us seek and dedicating our selves wholly to the Lord make haste to the obtaining so inestimable a Good Let us consecrate Soul and body to him and be fastened to his Cross that we may be worthy of his Eternall Kingdom giving glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever
no Impostour For though you may fansy a man tickled with so much vain-glory that he will not stick to embrace death when he cannot evade it rather then unsay what he hath published though he know it to be false yet this is all that can with any colour be supposed No such person can be conceived willing to seek death to offer himself to it to go to the very place where he knows it waits for him when he may as well avoid it and designedly put himself into those hands which it is apparent are resolved to kill him No though fame be his design yet the preservation of his life without all doubt is his greater concernment and if he can he will enjoy both his fame together with his life But if any body will be so extravagant as to fansy that He might intend to get fame even by running himself into this danger let him observe farther 2. what our Saviour met withall in his passage to his death which would have stopt such vain forwardness For there was something so dreadfull appeared to him in the way to his Passion that when it approached he fell into an Agony A great horrour seized on him which declared how much Nature was against his proceeding Whose strong and violent inclinations would have prevailed against a fancy and vain humour if he had not known that he was ingaged in a good Cause and did not deceive the World Such terrible apprehensions as then presented themselves would have made him take the opportunity of the night and consult for his safety if he had been a Deceiver and not very well assured that this was the way to everlasting Life And then if you consider again 3. that he was not hastily hurried to the gibbet but had a long time to weigh what he was about to suffer it will seem incredible that he should not repent of his obstinacy if he had been conscious to himself of any falshood For though in a sudden heat of mad zeal a man may be supposed so foolish as to maintain an untruth with the hazzard of his life yet the sight of long-continued torments set a great while before his eyes would make him in all likelihood confess the truth But 4. that which quite overthrows this idle supposition is that the kind of his death was such as could procure him nothing less then glory and fame there being nothing more infamous and reproachful then to die like a vile slave upon a Cross This he could not but foresee would expose him to the scorn of all the World did not something else gain him more credit then this could do disgrace And so it proved afterward notwithstanding all the Miracles he had wrought his Crucifixion was the laughter of the Gentiles and a stumbling-block to the Jews From whence we may conclude that if we will but allow him to be a man of common sense he would not have taken this way of all other to procure fame No course he could have thought of to propagate his Doctrine would have been more mad then this if it were not taken as in all reason it ought to be for a token of his sincerity and truth in what he preached which would be published he knew to his immortall honour and glory in all the world But dying such a death as he did there could be no hope it must be farther considered 5. that his Doctrine should be so much as published by his followers much less received by others unless he were both sure himself that it was the truth and that he could make the truth of it appear to them And then what would have become of all the glory for which it is supposed he might be tempted to part with his life All that he could doe to secure his Disciples that he preached nothing but the truth and to incourage them also to preach Christ crucified which was a most odious and dangerous undertaking was to tell them that He would rise again the third day and appear alive to them Now it is as manifest as the Sun that if he knew himself to be an Impostour he could have no hope that God would raise him up again and it is as manifest on the other side that if he did not rise again there was no hope that his Apostles would preach him because he had proved himself a liar and if he was not preached by them there could be no hope of glory and fame and consequently he would never have died in expectation of that which if he did but abuse the World he knew could not possibly attend upon his Name For it is visible it must either have been buried in silence or else remembred with reproach He himself having blasted it by failing in the performance of his word But I have said enough of this and therefore shall consider onely one thing more 6. what it was that comforted our Saviour and supported his spirit upon the Cross Was it the hopes he had to be cried up by his followers and magnified every-where when he was dead and gone for a man of an invincible spirit No He comforted himself with the thoughts of his own integrity He humbly addressed himself in prayer to God He relieved himself with the thoughts that he was his Father to whom therefore he commends his spirit and breathed out his Soul in a pious confidence that He would receive it and glorify him in the heavens For a little before he suffered he lift up his eyes thither as St. John testifies and said Father the hour is come glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee c. I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to doe And now O Father glorify thou me with thy own self with the glory I had with thee before the World was xvii Joh. 1 4 5. And when the moment of his departure was come and he was just expiring on the Cross He cried out with a loud voice that all might hear him Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And having thus said he gave up the ghost He that shall impute all this also to vain-glory we may rather conclude takes a pride in cavilling and contradicting and hath lost all sense of the Nature of man which finds no inclinations in it to be thus audacious For how can he repose any hope in God who at that very instant when he expresses it is committing the greatest open affront unto him imaginable Our Blessed Saviour was ever a devout worshipper of him and in all his ways acknowledged him and therefore since he did thus seriously betake himself to him in his sorest distress it is apparent he was perswaded of his own sincerity and truth which God the searcher of all hearts knew to whom therefore he appeals and was confident he should live with him for ever and be able to give Eternall Life to others III. But what need is there to insist any
spitefull Pharisees he imputed all his Works to the Devill Which blasphemy I have shewn in the former Book is so manifestly confuted by his holy Doctrine and Life that they must be no less foolish then malicious who regard it We ask no more but to allow such things were done as the Gospell reports which they dare not deny us and then their great uncertainty what to say against them shews how forcible they are to convince all indifferent men that he came from God whose finger they were pointing them to him as the Person whom they should hear and obey And that they were a plain demonstration of his power to give Eternall Life to all his followers will appear from these following considerations I. If they confirmed all his Doctrine to be the Will of God then we ought to look upon this as firmly establisht by them for it was a known part of his Doctrine that God sent him to proclaim his purpose of giving everlasting life by him to all those who should believe on him vi Joh. 38 39 40. iii. 16. There is nothing in this assertion needs proof but that they confirmed his Doctrine this being it is apparent to all a constant part of it in which the Blind man thought he could presently satisfy any reasonable person when he said If this man were not of God he could doe nothing ix Joh. 33. That is no such Miracle as that was of opening the eyes of one born blind a thing the world had never heard of since it was first created till that time He preached nothing but piety and holiness He lived as he preached both his Sermons and his Conversation were above all that ever had been for Sanctity And his Works being so also much beyond the most famed Prodigies the world had ever boasted of it was an unanswerable argument that God was in him who was never known to have let such things be done before in the compass of so many Ages and therefore would not let them now doe their first Service to the countenancing of a lie And therefore to these our Lord often refers them as there was reason for a proof of his Divine Authority For if a false prophet could doe such wonders how should there be any possibility of ever knowing a true Reade x. Joh. 37 38. xiv 10. xv 24. That which is most proper for me to note is that in that xiv of St. John when he bids them look upon his Works as the best glass that then was wherein to see his Divinity he was discoursing on this very subject that He was the Life ver 6. and that He was going to the Father to live with him and to prepare a place for them c. ver 2 3. Of this he could not give them a better evidence then the Wonders he had wrought untill his Resurrection After which indeed he saith ver 12. they should doe greater works then these which would more plainly tell them that he was with the Father It will not be unprofitable if I open the whole discourse from vers 2. where he tells them with a solemn profession he would not abuse them that in his Father's house are many Mansions and that he was going away indeed from them but it was in order to prepare a place for them He departed he would have them believe not merely to go to rest himself after all his labours but to take up lodgings as one may say for them in that blessed Rest prepared for the people of God Now the consequence of this he tells them in the next words ver 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also He assures them that is he would not lose the pains he had taken to procure such a happiness for them but see them safe there where they should have their share with him in that very bliss which he was about to receive And where I go ye know and the way ye know ver 4. As if he should have said You understand well enough what I mean for I have often spoke of these things I go to Heaven to live with God and to give life to those that believe on me which that you may not miss of I have shewn you both by my doctrine and my example the way that leads to it Alas replies one of his Apostles who seems to be the slowest of all other to apprehend his meaning or give credit to him Lord we know not whither thou goest and how can we find the way ver 5. No saith our Saviour to him again that is strange I my self am the Way from whom you might have learnt how to arrive at this happiness And that this is the true way which I have described you need not doubt for I am the Truth that is the teacher of truth who have demonstrated severall ways that what I declare is the very mind and will of God And the same arguments which prove me to be the Truth evidently shew also that I am the Life who will conduct you to that bliss unto which I am now going And no man cometh to the Father and that Eternall life which is with him but by me that is by believing my words and following my steps ver 6. And therefore if you had minded me and my words as it follows ver 7. If ye had known me ye would have known my Father also you would have known it is my Father's purpose to give you Eternall life And from henceforth sure you will not doubt of it now that I have revealed it so plainly that I may say you know him and have seen him Upon this Answer of our Saviour another of his Apostles wisht they might but see the Father and that would be sufficient ver 8. He desired that is there might be some such Divine appearance to them as there was to Abraham and others of the Patriarchs in old time and they would trouble him with no farther questions about this matter How saith our Saviour have I been so long with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip that is understood what kind of person I am Dost thou not see that I am the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth the express image of his person and the brightness of his glory Was there ever such an appearance of God in the world as thou seest in me All the Fathers enjoyed was but a little glimpse of the Divine glory in comparison with that which now shines upon you in my face And therefore why dost thou ask to see the Father as if there was nothing of him in me I tell thee He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And so it follows ver 10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me the words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self but the Father that
from the Messiah should begin to raise the dead when he went to take possession of his throne A plain sign that he is the Resurrection and the Life from whom we may confidently look for bodies not onely bright as the Moon but that shall shine according to his faithfull promise like the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father Concerning which things if the Apostles had written false and there had not been many able to bear record of the rising of these holy persons and coming into Jerusalem as well as of the rising of Lazarus there would have been pens enough in those days imployed to confute them and proclaim the forgery And these Jews would have been as carefull preservers of such confutations as of any their most beloved Traditions which can never doe them so much service as those volumes would have done VI. Nor is there the least shadow of reason to question the Testimony of those who saw him ascend into heaven and as a token of his being inthroned there received from him ten days after the gift of the Holy Ghost Which compleated the demonstration of his power and purpose to give Eternall Life to all his followers For 1. His very Ascension into heaven as it breeds in us a belief of a glorious state in the other World so it evidently shews that it is possible such as we may be translated thither And though our Bodies now be but lumps of living clay yet they may one day be snatched as he was from this dull globe to shine among the Stars And the Angels also appearing both at his resurrection and ascension and waiting upon him unto heaven shew that its gates are no longer barred against us but set open again to give us a free admission into it For they who were set to watch the way to Paradise and guard it so that none should enter voluntarily lent their assistence to transport Him thither after they had brought the joyfull news of his being risen from the dead 2. But this is the least comfort we receive from thence for his glorification at God's right hand when he came thither advances our hope to a greater height and shews that it is not onely possible but certain we shall be taken up above to be with him His Kingdom it is apparent now by his sending the Holy Ghost is supereminent over all and nothing can be out of the reach of his power For it is a power over all Creatures in heaven and earth and under the earth who doe obeisance to him and cannot resist him ii Phil. 10. 1 Pet. iii. ult And a power to doe all things for God hath put all things under his feet 1 Cor. xv 27. A power of conferring all dignities and honours iii. Phil. 21. and of removing all impediments to our preferment He having the keys of hell and death i. Rev. 18. In short a perfect power to doe all things to make us glorious For in that he put all in subjection under him he left nothing that is not put under him as the Apostle argues ii Heb. 8. And though he hath not yet exercised his whole unlimited power as it there follows yet we are sure he hath it because we see by manifest arguments Jesus crowned with glory and honour for the suffering of death By which the all-wise God thought fit to consecrate this Captain of Salvation who he designed should bring many Sons unto glory together with himself 3. Which He will not fail to doe we may be sure being thus perfected and compleatly furnished for the very purpose because this Royall power wherewith he is invested is a kind of Trust and he hath received it as St. Paul plainly supposes 1 Cor. xv 24 25 c. where he speaks of his Kingdom not onely for himself but for the good of all those whom he rules and governs For the Apostle concludes that he having a Kingdom which must at last be resigned into the hands of God the Father will first put down all rule all authority and power and leave no enemy unconquered no not Death which will onely be the last that shall be subdued but subdued and destroyed it must be ver 26 27. Nay our Lord himself acknowledges his Kingdome to be a trust when he says xvii Joh. 2. Thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternall life to as many as thou hast given him Whence it is that he often protests it is his Father's will that of all he hath given him he should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day c. vi Joh. 39 40. For as the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me ver 57. And in express terms he saith as I have shewn before that he went away to prepare a place for us And therefore is bound by his office we may conclude to promote us to that glory and honour in the heavens which it is his Father's will he knows should be bestowed on us 4. And who can doubt at all of his fidelity in this who was so faithfull in all other things most punctually for instance making good his promise of sending the Holy Ghost as an earnest I have often said of this immortall inheritance None can imagine he will now prove negligent in that which by his place he stands ingaged to perform when upon Earth he did the will of him that sent him with such exactness that he rewarded him for it with that high dignity which he now enjoys in the heavens Therefore his greatest care was to assert and prove his power to give Eternall Life Of his will he thought there need not much be said for none could doubt of it after they saw him die for them and then express such love after his resurrection as to send the Holy Ghost upon them 5. This is abundantly sufficient to secure all considering persons of so desirable a Good Which the Apostles began confidently to expect as soon as ever they were satisfied of the resurrection of our Lord from the dead Before he ascended to heaven their thoughts ran thither and they began to see that he was the Lord of life and glory For as soon as St. Thomas was convinced by a palpable demonstration that he was risen he cried out My Lord and my God xx Joh. 28. This is the first time that any of his Apostles gave him the title of their GOD when they were fully satisfied as Grotius observes by his Resurrection that he would give Eternall Life to them And then it was also you may note that he first gave them the title of his Brethren who should share with him in the glory to which he was going xx Joh. 17. xxviii Matth. 10. Go tell my Brethren that they go into Galilee c. In which words he alludes as Eusebius observes to those xxii Psal 22. I will declare thy name unto my
brethren He never called them so before till he was after a new manner declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead And now to own them for his Brethren was as much as to say that they should be made the Sons of God by their resurrection and be coheirs with him To prove which new Brotherhood the Apostle to the Hebrews brings that place of the Psalmist now mentioned ii Heb. 11 12. He is not ashamed to call them Brethren saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren Whence he is called the first-born among many brethren viii Rom. 29. Whom he bids them that first saw him alive again inform that he ascended to his God and to their God and to his Father and their Father to shew them that they might safely repose such a confidence in God as he had done and hope to be raised by him from the dead as he was and receive a portion with him in the heavenly inheritance 6. This Relation which he owns to us gives us the greatest confidence to look upon him as our HOPE as St. Paul speaks 1 Tim. i. 1. the HOPE of Glory 1 Col. 27. For it is certain that when any person is advanced to a throne his bloud is thereby inriched all his family I mean are raised and dignified his children especially put into the quality of royall persons though never so mean before nay made capable of succeeding him in his state and greatness Now our Lord hath a family as well as other persons all those who believe on him being acknowledged by him not onely to be his brethren but his children who living by his faith are really descended from him and therefore by his resurrection are also begotten again unto a lively hope of an incorruptible inheritance 1 Pet. i. 3 4. Whence the same Divine Writer who observes how he calls them Brethren immediately shews how he owns a nearer relation to them saying Behold I and the children which God hath given me ii Heb. 13. who in him are all advanced to the highest honour His glory makes them illustrious for if children saith St. Paul then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ viii Rom. 17. Who is not to be considered merely as a single person but as the Lord and Head of a Body or Corporation of men who are so one with him that the raising him to so great a glory as he inherits is the raising and ennobling them A sure pledge that is that the same shall be done for the Members which was for the Head who will not be without them but make them partakers of the same benefit which is bestowed on him He is like the first-fruits as St. Paul discourses in his Chapter of the Resurrection 1 Cor. xv 20 c. a second Adam the head and beginning of a new Creation by whom all shall as surely be made alive as in the first Adam all died 7. Why should we doubt of it since he was carried to heaven as they that received the Holy Ghost testified to appear before God with his bloud for us ix Heb. 23 24. This is a very great argument that we have Eternall Life and that it is in him for this Sacrifice of himself being accepted by God the Eternall SPIRIT which offered him to God presenting him before him without spot or blemish must needs take away sin and remove all hindrances to our admission into the very same place where he is as that Epistle proves at large By this offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liberty and freedom without any lett or impediment to enter into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus x. Heb. 14 19. Who is such an High-priest over the family of God as is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens viii 1. and being consecrated for evermore is become the Authour of eternall Salvation unto all them that obey him v. 9. vii 28. 8. To whom therefore we ought to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith that he will not fail to imploy his power to make us happy with himself Which you may consider once more he most earnestly prayed for when he was on earth it being one of his last requests to his Father that those whom he had given him might be with him where he is that they might behold the glory which he hath given him xvii Joh. 24. And therefore having obtained such a power over all as hath been described by his precious bloud which he was then going to offer we may rest assured he will not let us be without that of which he was so desirous before he left the World now that he is in heaven with full power to fulfill his own desires For it is unreasonable to suppose that a Friend who carnestly beseeches another to grant us a favour will not most readily doe it himself when he becomes as able to bestow it as he of whom before he askt it But the fear of swelling this Treatise into over-great a bulk makes me pass over these things with the bare mention of them and omit many other I shall put an end therefore to this last Testimony of the SPIRIT with those remarkable words of St. Peter in his second Epistle ver 3 4. of the first Chapter Where he saith as we translate him that the Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises c. The meaning of which in a larger form of words is plainly this Account that grace and peace which I have wisht you in abundance ver 2. from God and our Saviour no small blessing For God hath in a most excellent omnipotent manner bestowed on us all things that are necessary for our future happiness and felicity and for our present conduct in piety which is the onely way to that Eternall life And if you ask me how he hath given us these things in so resplendent god-like a manner I 'le tell you it is through the knowledge of him that hath called us that is through Jesus Christ the true Word of God who hath called us to piety and happiness And if you enquire again how you shall know that what he saith is true and that he calls us not merely from himself but from God who directs us by him in the right way of godliness which will bring us to everlasting Life I 'll resolve you in that also for he hath called us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by so it is in the margin glory and vertue How we come to render it to glory and vertue I know not for it makes the sense obscure whereas otherwise it is perspicuous and clear and as if the Apostle had said The Glory and Vertue which accompanied
his preaching or presently followed it is a very strong argument to induce you to believe that he taught the way of God in truth having revealed all things pertaining to life and godliness as God himself attests For by the Glory wherewith he called us i. e. preached the Gospell and perswaded us to believe we are to understand his Transfiguration on the holy Mount where they saw his glory ix Luk. 32. and to which the Apostle afterward appeals ver 16 17. of this Chapter as a justification of the truth of their Ministry The coming down also of the Holy Ghost at his Baptism the voices from heaven in one of which God said he would glorifie him again as he had done already and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles are here also to be understood by Glory for by these we are called and moved to receive the knowledge of him And then by Vertue is undoubtedly meant that very thing which I last treated of his mighty power in miraculous works and the mighty power of the SPIRIT in raising him from the dead For it is well observed by Drusius and others that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue in these holy Writings never signifies as it doth in heathen Authours Piety and morall goodness in opposition to Vice but power and might in opposition to weakness And therefore by this word the Greek Interpreters of the Old Testament render the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes the Greatness Majesty and height of God's excellency and sometimes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies strength and stoutness According to which in the New Testament it denotes either the mighty power of God as here in this place or else our courage and valour as in the fifth verse of this Chapter But it is no-where found in the sacred style used for piety and therefore we must not render the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to but by vertue that is the power and mightiness of God's arm or strength as the Scripture speaks by which our Saviour convinced the World that God the Father had sent him to give Life unto it Thus the Apostle St. Paul saith which will very much explain this that He was raised up from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the glory of the Father vi Rom. 4. That is by his glorious power as Camero well renders it for his power appeared most gloriously in that wonderfull Work whereby as St. Peter here speaks he called us to believe on him So we are to understand him it appears by another Argument For if we should say we are called to glory understanding thereby heaven we could not be said to have precious promises as it follows hereby given to us For this would be to say that by calling us to heaven he hath called us to heaven But if we take these words the other way then the sense runs currently and delivers to us this excellent Truth That by such means as I have treated of the Descent of the Holy Ghost the Transfiguration of our Saviour the Voices from heaven the Miracles he wrought the might of his power which wrought in him when God raised him from the dead he perswaded men to receive him as the onely-begotten of the Father who was come by his authority to shew them the true way to everlasting life By these we know that we are not cheated but that he who hath called us is the Son of God by whom we are sure to attain everlasting life if we follow those directions he hath given us which will infallibly bring us to it And then the next words ver 4. are still more pertinent to my purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by which GLORY and VERTUE are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises We are so sure to attain eternall life that we have many promises of it which are so strongly confirmed that we cannot doubt of them being delivered in such a divine manner For when he gave them it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by glory and vertue with such demonstrations of his Authority to promise them and of his power to make them good that we cannot but depend upon his word None I suppose question but by these great these precious yea exceeding great and precious promises he means those of raising us from the dead and carrying us to heaven to live with God and that eternally These are the chiefest things of which our Lord hath given us such assurance when he called us to believe on his Name Things which as much exceed all that was promised Israel as the heavens are wider then the smallest spot of this earth More precious are they then all lands if they flowed with milk and honey more to be desired then gold yea then much fine gold then all the gold of Ophir more to be valued then the Crowns of Kings which are not so much as an Emmet's Egge in comparison with this Happiness Now as there is nothing that can be compared with these promises so we have no testimony on Earth comparable to this of the SPIRIT that exceeding greatness of his power whereby these promises were brought to us and assured to be infallible For by this we know that He hath all power in heaven and earth and is able to doe whatsoever the Father Almighty doeth that is give life to the dead which is the property of the Almighty alone So the Enemies of our Religion are forced to confess who say there are three keys which God keeps to himself and commits to none of his Embassadours the keys of the womb the keys of heaven and the keys of the grave Thy power saith Joseph Albo speaking of God is not the power of flesh and bloud for the power of flesh and bloud is to put those to death who are alive but thy power is to raise those to life who are dead The very same we may justly say of our Lord Jesus Christ who challenges this power to himself as I have noted before out of the first of the Revelation where he tells St. John I have the keys of hell and of death ver 18. He was no ordinary Embassadour but can doe more then any whom God sent into the world ever did or could He can raise even the dead bodies of his subjects to life again And when he hath lifted them out of the dust if I may apply the Psalmist's words to this purpose can set them with Princes even with the Princes of his heavenly Court to praise and bless his love among those great Ministers the Angelicall powers for ever and ever Which is a power he doth not assume to himself vainly but was conferred on him by God the Father who raised him from the dead and gave him glory wherein St. John beheld him when he said I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for evermore Amen and have the keys of hell and of death Great is
called The LORD is there was exceeding great no less then eighteen thousand measures round xlviii Ezek. 35. this Answer is returned that the difficulty is small For some behold the very light of God others onely see it obliquely and have no more but a certain obscure duskish image of it There are but few of the former saith the Glosse there who have the Light in its power but of the other who have a weaker ray obliquely and at a distance there are very great numbers Which agrees with those words of our Saviour In my Father's house are many Mansions as they are expounded by the two St. Gregories Nazianzen and Nyssen and others who by a Mansion understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Nazianz. Orat. 33. c. the rest and the glory which is laid up there for the blessed but suppose some to be in a higher others in a lower condition proportionable to the vertuous dispositions they carried out of the world with them Which being very different they believed some to see less and others to be like Gorgonia the Sister of St. Greg. Nazianzen whom in the conclusion of his Eleventh Oration he supposes to be in the clear light of the glorious Trinity 4. But it would take up too much room in this Treatise if I should enter into that discourse and therefore I proceed to consider that though they made this difference according as we see in a City to follow the former comparison some are accounted the chief others the more inferiour streets and houses and some are nearer unto others more remote from the royal palace yet they did not imagine those mansions to be dark nor those that were in them to have their eyes shut up with sleep but all to enjoy the light of life They lead as another Jewish Writer * Vid. Jo. de Voysin de Jubilaeo L. i. cap. 16. speaks a most sweet life in that light which is the figure and resemblance of the supreme light to which they shall be admitted at the last Thus Moses and Elias appeared in great splendour at our Saviour's transfiguration on the Holy Mount where they talkt and discoursed with him about his departure that he was to accomplish at Jerusalem Which shews they not onely continued in being but had sense and motion and lived in much happiness and bliss Which we are not to take for a singular privilege indulged to them for the Apostles you may observe again lookt upon our Saviour as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exemplar or pattern to which God had determined they should all be conformed viii Rom. 29. And their conformity to him here in this world being so exact that they passed the very same way to bliss that he did through most cruell sufferings they could not doubt but upon their departure the conformity would still hold as exactly That as He when he died immediately went to Paradise where he promised the good Thief should be before his Resurrection so they should enter into the same blessed place immediately upon their death and live there in a joyfull expectation of him to come and change even this vile body that it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conformed to his glorious body iii. Phil. 21. And this is the sense also you may observe once more of the Voice from heaven which commanded St. John to write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. xiv Rev. 13. With which the Spirit immediately joyned its testimony saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea i. e. it is certainly true believe what the voice says from henceforth or now at this present I promise them a blessed rest from their labours and their works shall follow with them that is they shall be refreshed with a sweet remembrance of what they have done and suffered for Christ Jesus It is uncertain indeed whether the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to be referred to the former words Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord or to those that follow Yea saith the Spirit But either way our Church understands it in the same sense as appears by the Funerall office Where referring it to the former sentence the words are thus recited I heard a voice from heaven saying Write From henceforth or Now at this present time blessed are the dead c. They are not onely in expectance of future blessedness but in possession of an happy state already and find inconceivable satisfaction in venturing their very lives for Christ's sake who for this very end as St. Paul observes laid down his life for us that whether we wake or whether we sleep we should live together with him 1 Thess v. 10. There are those who from this word Sleep by which the state of the dead is frequently called in these books there being nothing liker Death then Sleep would inferr the perpetuall motion and operation of the Soul before the Resurrection For it is very busy and active even when all the Senses are lockt up by sleep and hath at that time received very high illuminations from God which is a sign that if the body were quite dead it would not be without them Aristotle I find in Sextus Empiricus * L. viii adv Mathemat p. 312. observes thus much that in Sleep when the Soul is by her self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resuming her own nature she prophesies and foretells things to come and declares saith he hereby what she shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when by death she shall be separated from all bodily things By which consideration St. Austin tells us that Gennadius a famous Physician in his time and very religious and charitable was wonderfully inlightned when he was in doubt whether there was any life after death God saith he * Epist 100. ad Euodium would by no means desert a mind so well disposed but there appeared one night to him in his sleep a very handsome young man who bid him follow whether he should lead him Which he thought he did till he came to a Citie where on the right side he was saluted with the sweetest voices that ever he heard which the young man upon his inquiry what this meant told him were the hymns of the Blessed and of the Saints What he saw on the left side he did not well remember but awaking he lookt upon this as a dream and thought no farther of it Till some time after the same young man appeared again to him another night and askt if he knew him To which he answering Yes very well he askt him where he had seen him And Gennadius presently related how by his conduct he was once led to hear the hymns and see the sight before mentioned Here the young man askt him whether he saw and heard what he related in his sleep or waking In my sleep said Gennadius True said the other and now thou seest me in thy sleep dost thou not To which he consenting his instructer proceeded to ask
defrauded themselves and took the meat as we speak out of their own mouths for the good of others whom they desired to breed up in Christian piety This shews the wonderfull innocency and goodness of these men who got nothing by the Gospell no not what they might have lawfully and justly taken but onely studied how to win Souls to Christ In short he calls them and God also to witness how holily how justly how unblamably they behaved themselves among those that believed ver 10. The first of which words refers to God the second to those actions which belong to humane society and the third to those which every man is bound unto severally by himself in none of which could He Silvanus and Timotheus be charged with any misdemeanour On which argument he once more insists 2 Tim. iii. 10 11. being so confident of his unreprovable vertue that he desired nothing more of all that knew him but to be followers of him and to walk so as they had him for an example 1 Cor. iv 16. iii. Phil. 17. All which I have the more particularly noted because it is from these men that we receive the testimony of Jesus Who they assure us chose to die the most shamefull death when he could have avoided it and with the greatest confidence when he was expiring commended his Spirit into the hands of God Which is an unquestionable argument that he believed and was assured that he should be with God when he went from hence and be able to doe for his followers all that he promised Which they tell us moreover God justified when he raised him from the dead and carried him in their sight up into heaven and afterward sent the Holy Ghost upon them to testify that he was still alive and possessed of an unseen glory In which they also tell us he appeared to severall persons as I have already related One of which was caught up into heaven and heard such things there as made him wish for nothing more then to leave this earth and to be with Christ To whom the Angels they also assure us witnessed upon severall occasions For they attended him at his birth and in his life and when he died and after his resurrection and when he ascended into heaven From whence he sent them many times as ministring Spirits to his Apostles of which we have very large testimonies in the whole book of the Revelation From all which we may safely conclude that there can no other reason in the world be given why any man thus informed should not believe the Gospell but onely his own desperate wickedness For the things propounded therein are most desirable above all other It reveals such a wonderfull love of God to mankind that all men would rejoyce to hear the news of it were they not averse to those pious and vertuous courses whereby they are told they must attain it Nothing attracts all hearts so much as the hope of a blessed immortality which is testified to us so credibly in the Gospell that nothing could make men turn their ears away from it by infidelity but onely the incurable wickedness of their Nature which will not let them part with those vices which the Gospell says they must quit for so great a Good In one word there is nothing in this Book but what is sutable to all mens desires save onely the holy rule of life and therefore it can be nothing else but their hatred to this which makes them reject all the rest They would follow their nobler appetite after those good things which the Gospell promises if they had not perfectly given up themselves to those baser appetites which must be denied for their sake For if our Gospell be hid saith St. Paul in the place before mentioned it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. iv 3 4. That which the Gospell reports is as clear as the noon-day Nothing can be more visible then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light or the splendour of the Gospell of the glory of Christ By which saith Theophylact the Apostle means the belief of these great Truths that Jesus was crucified that he was received up into heaven and that he will give future rewards This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 splendour the Apostle speaks of which if any man do not see after such evident demonstrations of these things it is his wickedness hinders him And such men after they have long resisted the light fall under the power of the Devil so inevitably that he blinds their eyes Mark as St. Chrysostom observes that the Scripture calls severall things by the name of a God not from their own worth and excellence but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the weakness of those who are subject to them Thus Mammon is the God of some and the belly the God of others and the Devill the God of all such persons because they are basely inslaved to the love of mony and of their fleshly appetite and He rules and governs them as absolutely as if he were their God Yet he hath no power quite to blind their eyes as he farther observes before they disbelieve that which is so credibly reported by such Divine arguments for as the very words of St. Paul are he blinds the minds of them that believe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they became infidels of themselves and having given themselves over to unbelief against such miraculous evidence of the truth of the Christian Faith God gives them over to him to whose service they have so slavishly devoted themselves that they cannot be recovered but as they deserve must unavoidably perish From which miserable condition let all those who are inclined to infidelity take care to save themselves by timely considering those Divine demonstrations which these holy men of God have reported to us who beheld our Saviour's glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth i. Joh. 14. Upon which words hear what the same eloquent Bishop writes who thus summs up a great part of the evidence we have for the Christian belief The Angels appeared in great glory upon the earth to Daniel S. Chrysostom Hom. xii in Johan David and Moses but they appeared as servants as those that had a Master It is the peculiar glory of our Saviour that he appeared as a Lord as having power over all and though in a poor and vile fashion yet even in that the Creation knew its Lord and Master A Star from heaven called the Wise men to worship him A great company of Angels often attended him and sang his praises To whom others succeeded who published his glory and delivered this secret Mystery one to another the Angels to the Shepherds and the Shepherds to those
in the city and Gabriel to Mary and Elizabeth and Anna and Symeon to those in the Temple Nor were men and women onely transported with the pleasure but an infant that had not seen the light leapt in its mother's womb and all were strangely lifted up in hopes of what was a-coming These things all fell out straightway after his birth But when he appeared in the World there were more Miracles and greater then the former appeared again For not so little as a Star and the Heavens not Angels or Archangels not Gabriel or Michael but the Father himself proclaimed him from heaven and with the Father the Comforter came down with a voice and remained on him And therefore well might the Apostle say We have seen his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father And not by these things alone but by those which followed after For now not merely Shepherds and an aged Prophetess and reverend men published the glad tidings of the Gospell but the voice it self of the things he did louder then the sound of any trumpet which was heard presently every-where For the fame of him saith the Evangelist went into all Syria and revealed him to all and cried every-where that the King of heaven was come to men For Daemons every-where fled and got away and the Devill departed and Death began to give place and not long after quite vanished and all manner of infirmities were loosed and the tombs dismissed the dead the Daemons left those that were mad and Diseases those that were sick Wonderfull and strange things were to be seen which the Prophets desired to see and did not For one might have seen eyes new made paralytick lims strengthened motion given to withered hands and lame feet ears that were stopt up opened and the tongues of the dumb loosed In one word like an excellent workman that comes into an house which is decayed and rotten by time he repaired or re-built rather humane Nature For who can tell how he made the Souls of men new which is a greater wonder then all the rest For the wills of men oppose their cure which the body doth not They will not yield we see no not to God himself And yet these were reformed by him and all kind of wickedness expelled Nor were they onely freed from Sin but like the bodies to which he gave the best habit after he had cured their diseases they were advanced to the highest degree of vertue A Publican became an Apostle A persecutour a blasphemer a reproacher of Christianity turned the Preacher of the Word A thief was made a Citizen of Paradise and a strumpet became illustrious by a great faith And abundance of others worse then these were listed in the number of the Disciples till whole cities and countries were strangely reformed by the Gospell Who is able to declare the wisedom of his Precepts the vertue of his heavenly Laws the excellent order of his Angelicall Conversation For he hath taught us such a life he hath given us such laws and instituted such a polity that they who use them though before the worst of men straightway become Angels and like to God according to our power The Evangelist therefore recollecting all these things the Miracles he wrought upon mens bodies upon their Souls and upon the elements the Precepts the secret Gifts the Laws the Polity the power of perswasion the future Promises his Sufferings he pronounced this wonderfull lofty voice We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth For they did not admire him onely for his Miracles but for his Sufferings As for example because he was nailed to a Cross and scourged because he was beaten because he was spit upon because those buffeted him to whom he had been a benefactour upon the account even of these which seem most shamefull that voice is worthy to be repeated again because he himself hath called this a Glory For then Death was destroyed the Curse was dissolved Daemons were put to shame and he triumphed over them openly and the hand-writing of sins or obligation to punishment was nailed to the Cross and cancelled And besides these wonders which were invisible there were others apparent unto all which shewed he was the onely-begotten Son of God and the Lord of all the Creation For while his blessed body yet hung upon the Cross the Sun withdrew its beams the earth was astonished and wrapt in darkness the ground shook the tombs were broke open a great many dead people walkt out of their graves and went into the City the stone upon his grave was rolled away and he arose He that was crucified he that was fastned with nails to the cross he that was dead arose and filling his Apostles with great power sent them to all the World as the common physicians of humane Nature the rectifiers of mens lives the sowers of the knowledge of heavenly Doctrine the loosers of the Devill 's tyranny the teachers of the great and hidden Goods the preachers of the glad tidings of the immortality of the Soul the Eternall life of the body and the rewards which as they pass all understanding so never have any end These and many more such like this blessed man beholding which he knew but was not able to write because the world could not have contained the Books he cried out We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Who is now as able I may adde to give us new bodies and inconceivably-improved Souls and then to perpetuate the happiness of both in heaven as he was to cure diseases and raise dead bodies and purify mens minds when he was here on earth Let our conclusion therefore as he says elsewhere be sutable to our discourse Hom. xiii p. 607. 5. And what 's so sutable as Doxologies and giving glory to God in such manner as is worthy of him Not by our words onely that is but much more by our deeds So our Saviour himself exhorts us saying Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven For there is nothing more bright and shining then an excellent conversation as one of the wise men hath said The ways of the just shine like the light And they shine not onely to those that light their lamps by their works but to all that are near unto them Therefore let us pour oyl continually into these lamps that the flame may rise higher and the light shine more abundantly Having received such grace and truth by Jesus Christ Id. p. 611. let us not grow the lazier by the greatness of the gift For the greater honour hath been done us the more we are bound to excell in vertue Let that therefore be our business to purify our selves so throughly that being thought worthy to see Christ we may not at that Day
true that Jesus lives and is the Lord of all and will give Eternall life to his servants worth more then all the pains they can take for it but which cannot be wone by trifling and careless endeavours and yet offers it self graciously to those that will accept of it on most reasonable terms which we cannot refuse without the greatest disrespect to God and danger to our selves Consider then I beseech you what is the wisest course for him to take that believes all this and doth not think we have been all this time discoursing of a fiction Is every man that reads these things resolved to become a new creature and to say as St. Paul did after he had seen our Saviour Lord what wouldst thou have me to doe or as the Israelites who beheld no such sights as are set before our eyes All that the Lord our God speaks to us we will hear it and doe it O that there were such an heart as it there follows in every one of us that we would mind these things and no longer neglect such great Salvation For what will become of us if being thus convinced what we ought to doe we should put away this Blessedness from us and judge our selves unworthy of Eternall life God forbid that we should be so wicked and so miserable Shall such glorious things and so certain be proposed to us and few or none regard them A Kingdom a Crown of glory lie before us and we scornfully overlook it Wo be to us that the Father from heaven should speak so often and so loudly and we not hearken to his voice That the Eternall Word should appear in glory and we fools be taken more with fading beauties That the Holy Ghost should descend from heaven and the Devill still carry all before him That the Lord Jesus should shed his precious bloud for us and we not part with a vile affection What is become of our wit where do our Souls dwell or what company have they kept that they are grown so void of all reason Or do they think themselves so wise that they have found something better then God something more valuable then Eternall life and more certain too When did the World get it self made so great a Good On what day was it that it engaged hereafter to be more constant to its Friends Where are the Witnesses and the Seal to this bond Ah wretched fools that we are to let our Souls be cheated so easily of such an happiness or rather thus to impose upon our selves with such weak and childish imaginations Is any thing here grown so big that we cannot see the disproportion between it and Heaven or is this World of such grand concern to us that we cannot be at leisure to hear what our Saviour offers us Have we no greater regard to these Witnesses then to suffer them to be baffled by every fleshly reasoning though never so silly and inconsiderable Let us bethink our selves a little better Let us doe them so much right as to examine them impartially and then if they deserve not belief let the Devill and the World take all But if they declare beyond all exception that Jesus is the Lord and hath Eternall life and will bestow it on those that obey him let us not be so bold as to slight him any longer but go and humbly tender our hearts to him and give him thanks that he will accept them Is his yoke think you uneasy and his burthen too great a load What was the load then which he carried when all our sins were laid upon him what a yoke was the Cross it self and all the indignities that he suffered And yet for the joy that was set before him and which he hath now set before us he endured all with admirable patience And indeed what can be too hard for him who knows he labours for an infinite reward Do we not all part with things very desirable for a small gain we are to get by the exchange And how earnest how fierce are we to drive on such a bargain How contentedly can the tradesman lose his dinner on the market-day rather then lose a customer by whom he hopes to gain a shilling All the traffick in the world is carried on by giving one thing for another and many times upon a little advantage And therefore what makes us so unwilling to part with any thing in the world that God calls for when he offers to give us goods of inestimable value in the room of it It is not a small portion that he assures us in his love but he says we shall inherit all things and that for ever When we have served him threescore years and ten and who is there alas that serves him so much he doth not promise to settle on us an estate of so little as fourscore score or an hundred years of incomparable happiness in the next World though we count it no mean bargain here to part with a Lease of 70 years for one of 80 that is of equall value but more then so many Ages more then millions of lives even an Eternall life with himself in the heavens Is there not a vast difference Is not the disparity inconceivable between what we lay out and what we receive and between the bargains we are so greedy of here and this happy exchange which God offers us Why then is it neglected as if it were too dear at the rates on which it is proposed Are we not willing to give so much for it Or is not the security good which God gives us for those heavenly possessions Look over the Evidences again which we have examined and you will be ashamed to call them in question And if you be satisfied it will be a greater shame not to pursue this gainfull purchace with the same eagerness care and diligence that we do our severall imployments in this world We ought to account that day best spent not wherein we have got the most money but wherein we have made some considerable improvement in true wisedom and done some singular service to our Lord Jesus who is our hope And in all our externall affairs let us exercise such justice charity thankfulness and contented humility that we may be able to say if any body ask us what we are doing We work for Eternity And that we may doe so and not like Esau sell our inheritance for a mess of pottage which will not be worth the tears it will cost us in this world if ever we reflect upon our folly let us often cast our eyes upon this Happiness frequently meditate on the joy of our Lord and study seriously those holy Writings wherein these precious promises are recorded The Jews are so proud of their Law which hath no such Jewels in it neither that they fansy the Angels contended with Moses about it and would needs perswade him that it belonged to them * Pirke Elâ—â—zer Cap. XLVI I am sure St.
and a glory Let us deceive the grave and make that peculiar which is common By death let us make a purchace of life Let none of us faint in our undertaking nor be desirous to live here any longer Let us make the Tyrant despair of moving others by seeing our constancy Let him appoint our sufferings we will put an end to them Let us make it appear that as we are Brethren by birth so we are in all things else not excepting death Such was the resolution saith he of these men who did not serve pleasure nor suffered themselves to be governed by their passions but purified their bodies and their spirits and in this manner were translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to that life which is incapable of any passion and free from all the troubles and miseries to which here we are exposed It would be too long to relate the speech of the Mother who likewise gave an illustrious testimony of her faith in God and hath left a rare example to all posterity of constancy and patience under the greatest sufferings The Apostle himself hath perpetuated their Memory in his Epistle to the Hebrews and made it sacred to all generations Where it will stand to our great confusion if we should not learn of those who had so great a Faith under so dark a revelation What would not these persons have done saith the forenamed Father if they had lived in our times who were so courageous before the sufferings of Christ and the glory I may adde that followed after If without example they behaved themselves so undauntedly what rare Souls would they have been with one especially with the example of Christ Jesus Such we ought to strive to be not onely as they were but as we conceive they would have been under our Master Strengthened I mean as St. Paul speaks with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light i. Col. 11 12. And so we shall if the same spirit of faith be in us that was in them For it tells us how Jesus went this way to heaven and that if we overcome we shall shine with him in his glory and sit down with him in his throne and inherit all things There need no more be said to encourage even those Christians who have been most delicately bred or that are of the tenderer Sex to wade through the greatest difficulties Let them but look up unto Jesus and He will inflame them with such ardent love that they will be glad to follow him to his Cross if they must go that way to come where He is This moved Dorotheus and divers other Courtiers who as Eusebius * L. viii Eccles Histor c. 6. reports were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Emperour's Bedchamber and in such high favour that they were no less beloved then if they had been the Emperour 's own children to prefer the reproaches and pains of piety and the new-devised deaths they were to suffer for its sake before all the glory and delights wherein they lived And St. Peter we are told by Clemens Alexandrinus * L. vii Stromat p. 756. seeing his own Wife led to death rejoyced at the grace to which she was called thinking now she was upon her return home And chearfully exhorting her to proceed to the execution he called her by her name saying onely these few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 REMEMBER THE LORD That was sufficient he knew to make her constant and courageous It being a faithfull saying an undoubted principle of Christianity on which we may ever safely build For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. ii 11 12. And it was no less stedfastly believed that they who suffered with him should also reign with him in a greater glory then others as we heard before from St. Paul who saith their afflictions would work for them a most ponderous crown of glory Nay they gave the like encouragement to all those who did any eminent service to our Blessed Lord. They that laboured hard for instance in the Word and Doctrine St. Paul saith were worthy of double honour or reward in this World 1 Tim. v. 17. Which few receiving but quite contrary they were least esteemed as he himself found by experience who took the most pains there was the greater reason to hope to find it in another life when the chief Shepherd appearing they were sure to receive an excellent crown of glory 1 Pet. v. 4. To every Saint our Lord promises a crown of glory as those crowns were wont to be called that they used in times of greatest joy the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 added to it which is never used in any other place of Scripture and is that whereby some of the crowns given to persons of desert in other Nations are called denotes I think something extraordinary in the glory of those good Shepherds who fed the flock of God according to the directions the Apostle had been giving them The Martyrs we are sure expected it who building on this foundation that they who suffer with him shall reign with him gave God thanks when they received the sentence of death and went to the execution singing and expired with hymns in their mouths and exhorted others in the midst of their torments to the like chearfull constancy Of all which I could produce instances out of the Ecclesiasticall story but I shall onely set down that of Liberatus and his Monks Who defending the Christian Faith against the Heresy of Arius when they were condemned to be thrown bound into a ship full of faggots and there to be burnt in the midst of the Sea sang aloud this hymn Victor Uticensis L. iv Vandal Persec Glory be to God in the highest Behold now is the acceptable time Behold now is the day of Salvation in which we suffer punishment for the faith of our God And why should not this faith much more easily comfort us against the death of our dearest Friends when we can reasonably hope they depart from us to go into the eternall Happiness of a better World Their gain is so great which they have made by the exchange that we ought not so heavily as we are wont to take our own loss This Photius represents very handsomely to his Brother Tarasius after he had said a great many other things to stop the tears that he shed immoderately for a daughter who was dead Suppose saith he Epist ccxxxii p. 352. thy Daughter should appear to thee and taking thee by the hand should kiss it with a chearfull and smiling countenance saying My Father why dost thou afflict thy self in this manner why dost thou bemoan me as if I was gone to an evill condition My lot is faln